Christ Our Wisdom and Power Ministries

1 Cor 1: 24, 30 .... Jesus Christ is our Wisdom, Power, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption

You are here: Home / Archives for Bible Characters

Bible Characters

HEALTH ARTICLE – 14: THE HEALING VALUE OF EXCERCISE (3)

by Leave a Comment

What kind of exercise should I do?

  • A well-rounded fitness program should incorporate three basic components: 1) cardio-vascular endurance, 2) strength building for muscular strength, and 3) For flexibility. Following this guideline, any program you select should include exercises that increase heart and lung capacity, stretch tight muscle groups, and strengthen weak ones. Many people tend to neglect stretching exercise and end up with lower back pain.  

Aerobic Exercise (three times a week)

1.         Cardio-respiratory fitness refer to how well the lungs deliver oxygen to the blood and how well the heart and circulatory system send blood and its nutrients throughout the body. Programs that develop heart and lung capacity are often referred to as Aerobic, and they accomplish their goal by elevating the heart rate for a sustained period. Aerobic exercise typically serves as the foundation for any fitness program, since a healthy heart and lungs are essential to the safe and skillful performance of almost all exercises and sports.

2          Minimum of twenty minutes three to five times a week is recommended

  • Choose any activity that uses large muscle groups that can be maintained continuously, and that is cardio-respiratory in nature.
  • Examples include brisk walking, swimming, jogging, running, bicycling, cross-country skiing, skating, stair climbing, hiking, dancing, basketball, soccer, and racquetball.
  • Intensity or the speed of the workout is crucial and is measured by how fast the heart is made to beat.
  • The target heart beat is 65 to 90% of your maximum safe heart rate. Sustain this rate for some length of time.
  • To determine your maximum safe heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Your target heart beat is 65 to 90% of this number.
  • So if you are 40, your target heart rate is between 117 and 162 (220 -40 =180. 180×65% = 117; 180 x 90% = 162).

Strength Building exercises (three times a week)

  • Muscular strength and endurance exercises use progressive resistance to increase the size and strength of muscle fibers, resulting in greater physical ability to perform work.
  • Recommend…..minutes three times a week
  • Weightlifting machines such as the Nautilus, are typical of the types of resistance equipment used.
  • Push-ups, chin-ups and curls produce similar results but require no special equipment.
  • Strength-building is also an effective way of improving general fitness, converting fat to muscle, and increasing metabolic rate.

Stretching Exercises (once or twice a week)

  • Ten to fifteen minutes once or twice a week is great added to other exercises. For example in the use of AB-Doer.
  • Flexibility training is an aspect of fitness that is often neglected. However, forty percent of your body is muscle, including some 650 voluntary muscle (muscles over which you have control).
  • The goal of flexibility training is to increase the …range of motion around a joint.
  • As muscles become stronger through exercise, they also become tighter unless flexibility training is done.
  • Use, slow sustained stretches rather than bouncing, as bouncing can create microscopic tears in your muscles which will scar over as they heal and further diminish your flexibility.
  • Stretch at the close of your exercise as your muscles are more limb then.
  • For a warm up, do your regular exercise at a slower pace for the first few minutes.
  • It is wiser to vary your exercise so you are constantly working on a variety of muscles.

How to get a Trainer

  • An athletic club, start a club in your church or video in your home.
  • Buy a book on exercise, with pictures showing each exercise. Your Personal Trainer is excellent.

How much exercise should I do?

  • If you have not been exercising start slowly
  • If you have a health problem, check with your doctor
  • Enjoying your exercise is critical because you will continue for months and years to come.

Finding time to Exercise

  • Every time you exercise adds an hour of life to your life
  • Since exercise makes you healthy, you get more done in less time. You are more alert.
  • You get creative ideas when exercising, which make you more effective.
  • Devotional time to worship, listen to bible, teaching or motivational messages while exercising
  • Exercise with your spouse, children or a close friend and utilize the time building the relationship.

Walking

  • This is the best exercise for the body when done regularly. Four or five times a week is ideal with occasional long walks.

Walking versus jogging

  • Mile for mile, jogging burns only about 20% more calories than brisk walking says James M. Rippe, MD
  • Jogging jars your body with  triple your body’s weight every time you impact the ground, increasing the possibility of joint injury.

Handling a common difficulty –

1. Sore muscles

  • From the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles. This occurs because your body burns off both fat and muscle cells as you burn calories.

2.  Blisters

  • Blisters can be avoided by starting slow, wearing an extra socks, having comfortable shoes, and dry feet. If blisters strike, it is best to protect them, and let the fluid be re-absorbed into the body.

What does the Bible say about exercise?

The Bible, both in the old and new testament, is mostly silent and speaks indirectly of physical exercise. However in one verse it speaks plainly of its added value to the body (possibly its positive effect of extension of lifespan here on earth), while urging believers to strive for spiritual excellence which profits both in this life and the life to come.

8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (1 Tim 4:8).

So if you could only do one, either physical or spiritual exercises, then do the spiritual ones. However, if  you can couple the two together, for example, by praying and/or listening to audio recording of scriptures, and receiving creative flow from Almighty God as you exercise, then perhaps you can do both.

Even though bodily exercise is only for this life, this life could last eighty years. And to perhaps extend them to one hundred, will bring glory to God, since He has established a covenant of health with us.

19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).

  • We need to take into account the context in which Paul wrote 1 Tim. 4:8: no cars, walked everywhere they went, no automated equipment, but worked hard physically all the day long They did moderate level of exercise particularly walking.
  • In all, I think it brings glory to God to do a moderate amount of exercise. It saves me 50% on my doctor’s bills, so now I have money to invest in other things, and it helps keep me alive, so I don’t leave my wife as a widow, or our children fatherless.

HEALTH ARTICLE – 13: My Hugiano Diet Tray

by Leave a Comment

Each Family should have a family diet plan.

The goal I have for my family called the “Family Diet” or Hugiano Diet Tray would be: whole Grains, Legumes, Vegetables, Raw Nuts, Vegetables, Raw Seeds, and Fruits. These constitutes 80% of our calories intake.

Cooked Fish and Poultry is 10% while cooked lean meat is 1%, which I rarely eat. The other 9% calories intake would come from raw seeds and raw nuts (5%), fats and oils from veggies (3%), soy milk and yogurt dairies (1%). As we age and monitor our general well-being and medical data such as cholesterol levels, we could become more radical and move towards the perfect Genesis Diet outlined in Go Natural.

This is our health plan which we have started on, mine being more radical. For example, we now stock our fruit and veggies tray on the counter for everyone to pick as they pass by making us to be less hungry before our major meals. I keep a plate of it in my office and even in my car keeping me from visiting fast foods restaurant during my afternoon commutes in the city. I am still working on drinking the right amount of fluids to cleanse my system because of the frequency of urination that had troubled me in the past.

Personally I hope to reduce my beef consumption to near zero, or monthly only edible sparingly at home or at social events. I have substituted regular dairy product with soy milk (although my other family members sometimes use lactose-free milk). In all these changes, I first experiment them on myself for a week or two and then explain to them the benefits I am getting from them. They usually follow my advice and thereafter we are all on board.

My modified Family Diet tray (or “Dunamis-Hugiano Diet” tray for a healthy lifestyle) in calorific terms based on the Genesis Diet and Meat Diet (Gen. 1:28-29; 4:4; 1 Tim. 4:4-5; Col. 2:16).

  1. Fruits 10%
  2. Vegetables 30%
  3. Legumes 20%
  4. Whole Grains 20%
  5. Raw Seeds 2%
  6. Raw Nuts 3%
  7. Veggie Oil including Butter 3%
  8. Soy Milk/Yogurt 1%
  9. Fish/Poultry 10%
  10. Meat 1%
  11. Total 100%

You need to design your own family diet plan in line with the Genesis diet. Pray and ask God to give you ideas for a healthy food plan which greatly affects your daily lifestyle.

HEALTH ARTICLE – 12: THE HEALING VALUE OF EXERCISE (2)

by Leave a Comment

From to the Mayo Clinic website, 7 benefits of exercises, regardless of your age, sex or physical ability are as follows:

No. 1: Exercise controls weight

Exercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn. You don’t need to set aside large chunks of time for exercise to reap weight-loss benefits. If you can’t do an actual workout, get more active throughout the day in simple ways — by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or revving up your household chores.

No. 2: Exercise combats health conditions and diseases

Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent high blood pressure? No matter what your current weight, being active boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol and decreases unhealthy triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly, which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, regular physical activity can help you prevent or manage a wide range of health problems and concerns, including stroke, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, depression, certain types of cancer, arthritis and falls.

No. 3: Exercise improves mood.

Need an emotional lift? Or need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance and yourself when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem.

No. 4: Exercise boosts energy

Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance. Exercise and physical activity deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and help your cardiovascular system work more efficiently. And when your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you have more energy to go about your daily chores.

 No. 5: Exercise promotes better sleep

Struggling to fall asleep, or to stay asleep? Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. Just don’t exercise too close to bedtime, or you may be too energized to fall asleep.

No. 6: Exercise puts the spark back into your sex life

Do you feel too tired or too out of shape to enjoy physical intimacy? Regular physical activity can leave you feeling energized and looking better, which may have a positive effect on your sex life. But there’s more to it than that. Regular physical activity can lead to enhanced arousal for women. And men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than are men who don’t exercise.

No. 7: Exercise can be fun

Exercise and physical activity can be a fun way to spend some time. It gives you a chance to unwind, enjoy the outdoors or simply engage in activities that make you happy. Physical activity can also help you connect with family or friends in a fun social setting. So, take a dance class, hit the hiking trails or join a soccer team. Find a physical activity you enjoy, and just do it. If you get bored, try something new.

Is Milk a Necessity for Children?

by Leave a Comment

1 Peter 2:1-3 (AKJV)

1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking’s, 2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

I would say everyone living today was once a child. No one was born an adult. Well, Adam and his wife Eve, from bible records were made as full-grown man and woman.

Since we were all children at one time or the other, there was need for us to drink milk.

I have never heard of anyone who said that he is a father to God, or brother or sister to God, or even god-father to God. Everyone who is a Christian is only a child of God irrespective of age, race or gender.

 What is milk to children?

Milk is sustenance to children. Milk is their food and it keeps them alive and growing. Children have this natural desire and instinct to drink milk. They cry for it and the parent recognizes the fact that they are hungry and takes care of that need. I also know that children cry for different needs, but the most important of all is for food, and thereby sustenance.

Our milk as children of God is the word of God. Do I have that desire for God’s word? Do you have that desire for God’s word? Do you see God’s words as sustenance for your life?

Milk is like the manna God gave to the children of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land. They were sustained by God.

As we eat physical food to sustain our physical bodies, we also need spiritual food for our spiritual growth and sustenance.

When we starve our spiritual being, we are going to suffer from spiritual kwashiorkor. We would know very little about our father God and have less of His virtues.

 How do we drink the milk of His word?

Jesus said’ man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from his mouth’.

We obtain the milk of God’s word by going to our Father. Open his word he has given to us, the bible and allow the Spirit of God to direct you and illuminate scriptures to you as you study.

 Excuses

Do we have excuses of no time or we are too busy with other affairs of life? Let us not be like the rich fool in the bible who said he wanted to break down barns and build bigger barns, and yet not rich towards God. We should realize that all we have and all we are belongs to him. So my friend, take time out of your busy schedule and have an alone time with your father, God, who is the creator of the heavens and the earth.

God bless you.

Esther Agbi

DEC. 31 2018/2019 NEW YEAR PRAYERS

by Leave a Comment

2019 THEME:

Retaining the Hid Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge of Christ [Col. 2:3]

[aka Know the love of Christ…… filled with all the fullness of God: Eph. 3:19]

Isaiah 55: 9-11 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Psalm 36:7-10 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

Col. 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Eph. 5:17 (NASB, NIV)  So, then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Eph. 3:16-19 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Mon Dec. 31 2018 – Tues Jan. 1, 2019 (New Year worship/thanksgiving/prayers)

All the prayers should be prayed in Jesus name. Also cleanse yourself regularly with the blood of Jesus.

Celebrating the divine exchange of Christ on the Cross

Recite and thank God for each of these victories Christ obtained on the cross for us & thank Him for it daily:

  1. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven (Isaiah 53:4-5)
  2. Jesus was wounded that we might be healed (1 Peter 2:24)
  3. He was made sin with our sinfulness that we might become righteous with His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21)
  4. He became our wisdom, power, redemption, sanctification (1 Cor. 1:24, 30)
  5. Jesus died our death that we might share His life and Spirit (Rom. 6:23; Rom. 8:1-4)
  6. He became poor with our poverty that we might be rich with His riches (Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 8:9)
  7. Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory (Rom. 8:17; Heb. 12:1-2; 1 Peter 4:13)
  8. He endured our rejection that we might have His acceptance as children of God (Matt. 27:46; Eph. 1:5-6)
  9. Jesus became a curse for us that we might receive His blessings (Gal. 3:13-14)

Praise Worship:         Confession: Eph. 3:1-21; Psalm 147:1-20      Text: Isaiah 55:1-13

 Read Isaiah 55 thoughtfully & prayerfully, praising God for the assurance of His word [Isaiah 55:9-11]

  1. Thank God for His manifold wisdom in Christ Jesus that He has revealed to the church [Eph. 3:1-9]
  2. Thank God His eternal purpose is accomplished by the church & principalities must bow [Eph. 3:10-11]
  3. Thank God for His grace & mercy, for His unfailing love & your many testimonies in 2018 [Eph. 3:16-19]
  4. Thank God for the boldness & access we have to Him through our Lord Jesus [Eph. 3:12; Heb. 10:19-25]
  5. Bless Him for His abundant care & provision by the unsearchable riches of Christ [Isa. 55:1-3; Eph. 3:8]
  6. Ask God for His Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ in 2019 [Eph. 1:17-18]
  7. Thank God that His awesome power in Christ subdued satan in 2018 & He will in 2019 [Eph. 1:19-23]
  8. Thank God for your family, for life & victorious testimonies over many obstacles in 2018 [Psalm 121]
  9. Thank God for healing the wounds in your heart and filling your heart with praise [Psalm 147:1-7]
  10. Thank God for healing all the diseases that befell you in 2018. They will never return [Psalm 103:1-5]
  11. Worship God for His awesome power. Pray each verse of Psalm 147 in the spirit [Psalm 147:1-20].

40 Days Prayer & Fasting Starts on Wed. Jan. 2, 2019 – Sun. Feb. 10, 2019

Repentance, Brokenness & Fruit of the Spirit (Week 1: Wed. Jan 2 – Sat. Jan. 5 2019)

Praise Worship:         Confession: Rom. 6:1-23; Exodus 20:1-26      Text : John 3:1-36

  1. Lord, I repent of all my sins and rededicate my life to you. I bow in deep contrition (Luke 18:1-6)
  2. Lord, I forgive all who offended me. Release me from all captivity by others (Matt. 18:21-22; Eph. 4:32)
  3. Lord, thank you for delivering me from the power of sin, hell & the grave (Gal. 3:16-26; 1 Cor. 15:34-58)
  4. I reject every idol of the heart. I worship only the true and living God (Exod. 20:4-6; Ezek. 14:1-11)
  5. Lord, heal my wounded broken spirit and cause the joy of salvation be mine again (Psalm 51:1-19)
  6. I reject every spirit of pride and complexities inimical to the gospel of Christ (Phil. 3:17-21)
  7. Oh Lord, shine your incomprehensible light over my soul (Gen. 1:1-3; John 1:1-5)
  8. Lord, I am a child of light; grant me the grace to be sober and watch (1 Thess. 5:5-6; Phil. 2:12-16)
  9. Lord fill my heart with the desire for holiness and godly fear (Isaiah 3:1-26; Matt. 5:1-113; Heb. 12:1-29)
  10. Lord, make me a broken believer. You are the potter and I am the clay. Break and mold me (Jer. 18:1-6)
  11. Lord, let the fruit of the Spirit of humility, meekness and gentleness flourish in my life (Gal. 5:22-23)
  12. Lord, fill my heart with your Spirit of love. Cause me to love the brethren genuinely (Heb. 13:1-3; Jh. 3)

Transformed into His Image & Likeness (Week Six: Feb. 3 – Feb. 9, 2019)

In this last week, our aim is to become like Christ in every way. To be Christ like, we must bear His earthly image and later His heavenly image. His image is all we need to be filled with the fullness of God. Pray the following prayer with the picture of Christ in your heart.

Praise Worship          Confession: Gen. 1:26-31; Phil. 2:1-30      Text :  Col. 3:1-25

  1. Lord thank you for making me in your image and likeness by the order of Christ (Gen. 1:26-27)
  2. Lord you gave me dominion and authority, I exercise them in Christ (Gen. 1:28-31; Mark 16:15-18)
  3. I mortify my body; I seek the things that are above; conform me to the image of Christ (Col. 3:1-10)
  4. Thank you for circumcising my heart, for baptism, & spiritual renewal (Ezek. 36:26-27; Col. 2:11-13)
  5. Lord, I groan; prepare me; let my body, soul & spirit be full of your life and vitality daily ( 2 Cor. 5:1-10)
  6. Lord fashion out your image, I bear His earthly image & shall bear His heavenly image (1 Cor. 15:45-50)
  7. Lord, remove every veil over my heart and let your word dominate my thought life (2 Cor. 3:1-16).
  8. Lord Jesus I behold your glory, transform me into your image daily by your Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17-18)
  9. Breathe of God fill my soul, sanctify me and preserve me spirit, soul and body (Gen. 2:1-7; 1 Thess. 5:23)
  10. Lord Jesus, let your marks reflect on my body daily and your grace be with my spirit (Galatians 6:17-18)
  11. Lord, I bless you for your forgiveness …. & I thank you for renewing my youth as an eagle’s (Ps. 103:1-5)
  12. Spirit of the Living God, prepare me while I live to incorruption, glory and power (1 Cor. 15:39-44)
  13. The fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ. Thank you Lord, I am complete in you (Col. 2:9-10a)
  14. Thank you for the total defeat the enemy suffered on the cross, He has no power over me (Col. 2:14-15)
  15. Lord, thank you for dwelling in my heart by faith and for your root of love in my heart (Eph. 3:16-19)
  16. Lord fil my heart with humility. Instruct & transform my mind to be like yours (Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Cor. 2:16)

God Bless you immensely.

Bishop Dr Joseph and Pastor Dr Esther Agbi

Prelate and Founders of Christ Our Wisdom Ministries.

GIVING THANKS TO GOD FOR 2018 (by Dr Joseph Agbi)

by Leave a Comment

Bible Nugget 01

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. [Psalm 103 v 1-5, NKJV]

Prayer Nugget 01

Magnify the LORD, O my soul and all within my being exalt His holy name. Worship the Lord O my soul and do not forget any of His benefits. For the great blessings He has done for you in your entire life. For saving you by revealing to you the knowledge of His only begotten Son. For overcoming trials and temptations and being there for you in times of trouble. For preserving your life from all types of danger, destruction  and death. For restoring your health – body, soul and spirit. For crowning you with His lovingkindness and tender mercies. For satisfying your mouth with precious things so your youth is renewed like the eagle. Bless the LORD O my Soul. Amen!