UNWRAPPING GOD'S GIFT FOR THE NEW YEAR

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We started 2011 not knowing what theyear had in store for us, but as the dayswent by, so did the manifestation of

God’s love and faithfulness increase in our lives andthe work he has assigned us. Yes we did run the race,fought the fights, shed all the heartbreaking tears, ex-perienced and triumphed over some if not all kindsof temptations, trials and difficult times, all becauseHe has been faithful to His promise to never leaveor forsake us - Heb. 15:5b.

Some days brought a feeling of loneliness, hope-lessness, disappointment, and even occasionalthoughts of suicide in hopes of ending the anxieties;but the Lord saw us through in one way or another.It is about time we reconsider and reposition our-selves for the season of overflow by unwrapping thegift God has given us the New Year.

The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14,12“Not that I have already obtained all this, or havealready arrived at my goal, but I press on to take holdof that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13.Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet tohave taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgettingwhat is behind and straining toward what is ahead,14. I press on toward the goal to win the prize forwhich God has called me heavenward in ChristJesus.”

God gave us a precious gift 2000 years ago that stillremains unwrapped by some of us. Some of us re-ceived it 50 years ago, and some just a year or a weekago. We are more fascinated by what is written on itand how beautiful the gift is, but we have not takenthe time to carefully open the gift to uncover itsdepths and see what it really takes to possess whatChrist has purchased for us.

Henry AyensuPublisher

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Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Henry AyensuFranklin Kwaku Kyei

Pas. Abraham ObadareDr. Myles E. Munroe

Joyce MeyerDr. Ralph F. Wilson

Jimmy EvansDr. William D. Watley

Dr. Kelafo Collie M.D. Elsie Osae-Kwapong

Rev. Nick Anane-AgyeiCre8ive House

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The name Adonai is translated Lord in the Bible. Adonmeans, “steward administrator, master, or Lord.” The

addition of ai to adon intensifies or elevates its meaning, changing it to mean “the ultimate Lord,

the Supreme Lord, or Lord of all.”

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WHAT IS IN THE WRAPED GIFT

In the wrapped gift that Christ purchased and paid for on thecross is our salvation, healing, deliverance, peace of mind, joy,love, prosperity, good family, good job and above all, a goodlife, not to mention the tough times that come with the package.

To possess all these and enjoy them in the New Year requiresus to humbly serve the Lord with all our hearts, minds andsouls; believing that he is able to accomplish his purpose in usirrespective of what we bring to the table. Just like Ruth wasasked to do in Ruth 3:7-15, God is saying to us, “Bring me theshawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, Boazpoured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle inher hand.

Ruth the Moabite, believed and trusted Boaz with her life underhis feet, not knowing what might happen, but hoping for thebest; and experienced the covering of love, 6-fold blessings fromthe harvest, and above all, a repositioning into the lineage ofChrist, that changed her destiny forever. As Christians and chil-dren of the Most High God, we have the same privilege as Ruth,but how we unwrap the gift of God in Christ will, however, de-termine how far and how much we can possess and take holdof its contents.

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, and joint heir in the King-dom of God has committed himself in an unshakable lovecovenant to transform our lives and all that concerns us: ourfamilies, businesses, finances, to bring purpose and meaning toour lives. He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and bur-dened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Rest is, there-fore, what we have been called to walk in, even in the face oftrials and difficulties; if only we would learn to mix the Word ofGod with faith in our hearts (Heb.4:1-11).

There is rest in Christ for all who would unwrap the gift ofChrist with expectation, faith, and obedience in 2012; for if Goddid not keep His Son from us, but offered him as a sacrifice forus, nothing will be too much for him to hold back from us tomake our lives better. Let us accept the challenges of 2012 withboldness, knowing that unwrapping the gift we have been given,and launching out into the depths of Christ, will cause the pres-ence of God to go with us, and bring us rest in 2012 (Exodus33:12-15). Unwrap the gift of Christ, and seek the depths hid-den in Him; trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean noton your own understanding and you will end this year with suc-cess and rest for your soul. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU

Editor of the Adonai Magazine Send your letters and suggestions tothe editor at [email protected] or call: 347 449 5892

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All too soon the year 2011 is in our rearview mirror.We have been offered a new year with new op-portunities and unknown challenges. What we do

with the openings and challenges we encounter will de-termine how we end it. We, as usual, have begun pump-ing ourselves full of messages of blessing; messages thathype our hopes and mask the challenges awaiting us. Thetruth we seem to overlook is that some of these messagesdo not reflect the biblical prophetic trends on the groundand of the times.

It is time for us to wake up to what is clearly written andprophesied about our days in the infallible Word of God,to avoid the perennial disappointments and disillusion-ments encountered in the course of the year when wewake up to situations and conditions that are contrary toour Santa Claus expectations for the year.

I would that some of our pulpits would for once stay trueto the prophetic declarations about the end days, and thechallenges thereof, and speak the truth to the pews, tomake us better prepared. No amount of “positive expec-tation services” can alter the biblical declarations aboutour days. They point to the persecution of those who willdare to live godly in Christ; apostasy in the church to pre-pare the way for the manifestation of the antichrist; warsand gathering storms of war around us; a perpetual stateof anxiety in nations. This laundry list of prophetic trou-bles is the divine proclamation for our days. They cannotbe wished away by anointing services, or “spinned” asgood times by any objective and sincere bible student orpreacher.

The Church of God does itself no good playing the os-trich and proclaiming peace and progress in the face of in-cessant attacks on marriage and the family, and moralperversions engineered by the liberal systems of the daythat are drumming out the voices of sanity all around us.Such messages may be good for some, but not the pew

that is at the receiving end of the worker lay-offs and fore-closures resulting from the economic and financial diffi-culties of the times; the pew that is at the receiving end ofthe youth rebellion that is giving headaches, heartaches,and sleepless nights to Christian parents. Yes, not for thefamilies in the pew that face the challenges of divorce andbroken homes everyday, as iniquity multiplies and peo-ple’s love for righteousness grows cold. These are the in-disputable prophetic biblical trends of our times that wemust truthfully and diligently equip ourselves to face in2012 and beyond.

We need to understand that pumping ourselves full ofnon-biblical steroids of positive thinking will never changethe realities on the ground. We are overcomers not be-cause there is a nonexistence of crises; otherwise whatthen would we overcome? We are men and women offaith not because we are, or shall be, insulated from crises,or immune to them. We are called overcomers, and peo-ple of faith, because we came, we saw, faced squarely andconquered that which was supposed to bring us to ourknees in defeat; by the blood of Jesus, the knowledge andpower of God, and through faith, hope, obedience, en-durance, and perseverance .

Yes, the bible says the times would be difficult as the endof days draw near. The bible says there is coming a time ofshaking on the world that will affect even the Church ofGod (Hebrews 12:26-27). The good news, however, isthat the same bible says,” The Spirit of God will lift up astandard of victory for us, for where sin abounds, gracemuch abounds; and THE PEOPLE THAT DO KNOWTHEIR GOD SHALL BE STRONG AND DO EX-PLOITS” (Isaiah 59:19; Joel 2:28-32; Romans 5:20;Daniel 11:32); for therein lies our victory; our unshakablefaith in the unfailing God (I John 5:4).

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU

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The Gathering Storm

Franklin K. Kyei


TEL: 347 203 8013


The power of religion lies in its ability toserve as a substitute for the Kingdom andthus hinder mankind from pursuing the

genuine answer to his dilemma. A study of the na-ture of religion and how it impacts the process ofman’s search for the Kingdom will uncover sev-eral signiPcant truths.

Consider some of the critical ways religion im-pacts the message of the Kingdom. Religion pre-occupies man until he Pnds the Kingdom.Religion prepares man to leave earth; however,the Kingdom empowers man to dominate earth.Religion is reaching up to God; the Kingdom isGod coming down to man. Finally, religion wantsto escape earth; the Kingdom impacts, inQuences,and changes earth.

Perhaps this is why Jesus addressed the religiousleaders of His day so strongly when He said:“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,you hypocrites! You shut the Kingdom of Heavenin men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, norwill you let those enter who are trying to” (MaS23:13). On another occasion Jesus stated, “I tellyou the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutesare entering the Kingdom of God ahead of you”(MaS 21:31b).

It seems clear from these words that religion isone of the greatest obstacles to the Kingdom. Per-haps this may be cause for us all to take anotherlook at the power of religion over our lives, cul-

ture, and society.

Christianity as a religion is well known, well es-tablished, well studied, well researched, wellrecorded, and well distributed; but liSle or noth-ing is known about the Kingdom. As a maSer offact, most of those trained in official institutionsto understand the Christian faith and propagateits purported message, graduate without ever tak-ing a single course in Kingdom studies. ORen, nosuch course is available. Me result is that few so-called ordained ministers and priests have any for-mal instruction at all in any Kingdom concept.Meir priority is in propagating the Christian reli-gion rather than the message and concepts of theKingdom of God.

Mis perpetuation of the Christian religion and itsrituals, customs, and rites has leR a great vacuumin the world that must and can be Plled only byunderstanding the Kingdom.

True disciples of Christ need to learn what a king-dom is, what it consists of, how it functions, and allthe components that make a kingdom unique inorder to be effective in sharing this life-trans-forming message with others. You cannot appro-priate what you don’t understand nor experiencewhat you postpone. Me Kingdom is the most im-portant message mankind has ever received—amessage the whole world desperately needs tohear.

Religion vs The Kingdom

Dr. Myles MunroeFor Books or Teachings by Dr. Myles Munroe on CD, audio or video tapes, call or visit us at:Bahamas Faith Ministries International. The Diplomat Center, Carmichael Road. P.O.Box N-9583, Nassau, Bahamas Tel: 242) 461-6400.. Fax: (242) 361 2260







Joyce MeyerFor more on this topic, order Joyce’s four-CD series Why Do I Do the Things I Do? You can also contact usto receive our free magazine, Enjoying Everyday Life, by calling (800) 727-9673 or visiting www.joyce-meyer.org. Joyce Meyer is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries,Inc. She has authored more than 90 books, including Battlefield of the Mind and Living Beyond Your Feel-ings (Hachette). She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds ofstations worldwide. For more information, visit www.joycemeyer.org.

Oh, the Rich Rewards of Waiting Your Turn

Remembering where you came from makes youthankful. In our early days of ministry on theroad, Dave and I used to sleep in our car in fast-

food parking lots because we didn’t have enoughmoney to stay at hotels. I shopped for my kids’ clothesat garage sales. At the time, I was worried and frustrated half the timebecause we just didn’t know where the money wasgoing to come from to pay our bills. But God alwaysprovided for our needs. Now I understand He was tak-ing us through a process of gradual growth. At Prst itseemed like nothing was going right for us. But therewas a lot of spiritual growth happening under the sur-face. Are you tired of going through the process of gradualgrowth? Let me offer you some words of encourage-ment: Your time is coming.

Hanging On to Hope at Critical Times Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) says, “But those who hope in theLord will renew their strength. Mey will soar on wingslike eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they willwalk and not be faint.”Some of us need to have a transition in the spirit. Weneed to show God we’re going to be happy trustingHim, knowing that when the time is right, He’ll comethrough for us. And in the meantime, we’re going to becontent to serve Him in every way we know how. We can’t despise small beginnings. We can’t allow our-selves to think that we shouldn’t have to go throughdifficult times to get where we’re going because God isusing all of that to help us grow and mature. It’s only through hard work, praying, waiting on Godand doing the right thing for a prolonged period of timethat we can be fulPlled and have what God wants us tohave―and that’s the fruit of the Spirit, which includespeace and patience.

Waiting On God Is Always the Best MoveWhen we’re impatient and hasty with God, we can betempted to look for quick Pxes and end up making de-cisions that always cost us greatly in the end.Remember the story about the Prodigal Son? He did-n’t want to wait for his inheritance, so he asked his fa-ther to give it to him early. When he got his inheritance,he squandered it and got himself into a desperate situ-ation (see Luke 15:11-24). Me good news is that his father welcomed him backwith open arms. He gave him a brand-new outPt andthrew him a homecoming party. But one thing we tendto miss from this story is that the son still lost his in-heritance! You know, when we make mistakes due to a hasty, im-patient aSitude, God will forgive us. But if we decide tobe patient, trusting in God’s timing and His plan, we’llbe in a position to receive so much more.

Receiving the Peace and Joy We NeedDuring difficult times of waiting, we need to know howto receive from God. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all yethat labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”(MaShew 11:28 KJV).With God’s help, we can have the pleasure of waitingwith a good aSitude. We can do the right thing repeat-edly, whether or not we get the results we want. We canwatch God do a work in a marriage that’s tough to stickwith. We can trust Him with a child who’s hard to man-age. We can have faith in God for things that seem ut-terly impossible.God’s grace doesn’t just save us. It allows us to live withpeace, power and supernatural patience because nomaSer how things look on the surface, we know thatGod is faithfully at work.Remember the law of gradual growth? All good thingstake time…but when our blessings Pnally come, we’lllook back on the hard times with a refreshing aSitudeof thanksgiving and praise.

Why Do I Do the Things I Do?




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UNWRAPPING GOD'S GIFT FOR THE NEW YEAR