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Exceptional piece. Highly recommended!

- fabian musoro (7 months ago)

About the Book


"Money Won't Make You Rich" by Sunday Adelaja is a guide to financial prosperity that challenges readers to rethink their beliefs about money and wealth. The author emphasizes the importance of developing a mindset focused on creating value, investing wisely, and prioritizing personal growth in order to achieve true wealth and abundance. Through practical advice and inspiring examples, Adelaja encourages readers to shift their perspectives and take action towards building a sustainable and fulfilling financial future.

Henry Alline

Henry Alline Henry Alline’s early years He was born and received his early education in Newport, Rhode Island and his family moved to Nova Scotia in 1760, when he was 12 years old. When he was nine he began to read theological works and became somewhat mystical, but after years of soul-searching and spiritual conflict he was powerfully converted in 1775, simultaneously receiving a call to the ministry. Alone and desperate he prayed until…’redeeming love broke into my soul… with such power that my whole soul seemed to be melted down with love…and my will turned of choice after the infinite God. A year later he began to preach. His preaching career His preaching career lasted until his death eight years later. He was an itinerant preacher in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in an ever-widening circuit, beginning what became known as the ‘New Light’ movement and which is still the greatest revival that Canada has ever seen. He preached the new birth powerfully and effectively and his admirers compared him to George Whitefield and John the Baptist. Considered an emotional and dangerous fanatic by some and a ‘ravager of congregations,’ the Congregationalists withdrew his right to preach in their churches, so he spoke in barns, houses and the open air. In all he began eight ‘New Light’ Congregational churches based on his non-Arminian but anti-Calvinist views of free-will and predestination, and his strong rejection of outward religious form. Ironically, despite his indifference regarding baptism, his major 19th century influence was amongst the Baptists of eastern Canada, many of whom were his converts. Despite possibly unorthodox views and methods, his ministry was without doubt that of an extraordinary revivalist. Alline’s sermon style was always simple and extemporary, using a few simple, understandable points to help the unchurched to grasp the simple truths of the gospel. As with other itinerant revivalists, his objective was to lead the hearers to a point of decision – to accept or reject Christ as Saviour and Lord, which opened the door to the “new birth.” Doubtless, his sermons were repeated over time, but he was never in one place long enough for his listeners to notice. Alline also employed the ministry of prayer and of singing, writing many hymns which were helpful in communicating the gospel. A collection was gathered after his death and was reprinted at least four times in the United States, and several were included in the standard hymnals of the 19th century.

The Harvest of Homemaking

I have been a homemaker for over eighteen years now, and I feel confident saying it is a difficult and demanding job. What is more, it is a job with a massive PR problem. “It’s a soul-crushing grind!” some say. Others ask, “Do you work?” Public opinion on the nature of homemaking has not been subtle. For a generation at least, homemaking has been spoken of as a prison-like existence that stifles a woman’s gifts — as though homemakers have less ambition than others, less ability, less scope, less understanding. This propaganda effort has been radically effective, shaping the imagination of many women who find themselves at home for one reason or another. It takes little effort to see our calling and the work therein through the lens of resentment. Lately, there has been some pushback to the public opinion that homemaking is a life of boredom and ease, but it has been of the worst kind: long-faced social-media posts bemoaning how no one appreciates your work; TikTok videos telling everyone that because your family failed to notice the work you did, you feel invalidated as a person. This too is the fruit of worldly propaganda — and it too will have devastating effects. Homes in the Great War Homemakers often find ourselves without support — not physical support, the absence of which is so loudly reflected on, but rather the spiritual support of understanding why this field of work is glorious, worthy, essential, God-honoring, and strategic. We need an understanding of the value of the home that is strong enough to endure the tumultuous cultural winds around us. We need to see clearly how we are serving God in and with our work. “The Christian home is an essential work of the Christian resistance.” The Christian home is an essential work of the Christian resistance. In any war, it is customary to target your enemy’s supply lines, manufacturing plants, and headquarters. In our spiritual war, the Christian home is all of those things. Why then would it surprise us that the enemy would like to see the home destroyed? Why are we surprised by the obstacles we face — by the threefold resistance of the world, the flesh, and the devil? We have been cleverly fooled into thinking that the obstacles we face at home are due to the work being unimportant, insignificant, unappreciated, or mindless. We should have noticed that anything under such attack from both without and within must be desperately important. Beautiful or Embarrassing? You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, Your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. (Psalm 128:3–4) Scripture is the basis for my commitment to being a homemaker, and if I never saw any other reason to love it, never saw the fruit, never understood the importance of the role, that should still be enough. Paul lays out the importance of older women teaching younger women to be “self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled” (Titus 2:5). And Proverbs 31 describes a glorious picture of the woman who is clothed in strength and dignity as she gives herself to the needs of her household. At this point, some readers may have rolled their eyes because I mentioned Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 in the same embarrassingly uncool paragraph. Why is that? Could it be because you have been trained to despise passages like these? Could it be that you have listened to countless people explaining them away? Could it be that you have taken in enough worldly propaganda that you feel free to look down on the tone of the word of God and those who embrace it? I am asking you to consider that perhaps you have been played. You have been had. You have welcomed the lies of the world into your home and given them authority in your life. To say, “Women, be self-controlled, pure homemakers who love your husbands and children” is to speak a biblical, God-fearing statement. I am asking you now to listen to your own heart’s response to that. Is your heart bridling? Is it angry? Are you ready to post angry comments on my ignorant or backward ways? Well, think about what you are doing — it’s not me you are despising, but the words of God. What does your response say about where your heart is? Harvest of Homemaking I say that raw obedience to God’s word is enough, and in a sense it should be. But it is far from all that we are given. When I read those sorrowful monologues about the mental load, about how much it all weighs on the poor woman, about how unfair it all is, about how husbands should be responsible for far more housekeeping, all I can see is that women are suffering from the horrible pairing of trying to do the Lord’s work with the attitude of those who hate him. There will be no joy of obedience there. There will be no fruit of free giving there. There will be no strength and laughter and dignity there, because there is a thick fog of accusation, discontent, and envy. “The end of all our small daily plantings may be a harvest of staggering beauty.” I have come to realize through the years that the countless tasks I do that no one notices still shape our home and the people in it. Every meal I lay on the table is a small picture of the feeding of the five thousand. My meager offering, broken in the hands of Jesus, will feed generations of children. This home — the flavors and the smells and the atmosphere of love — will by God’s grace shape people who will go on to be the mothers and fathers of thousands. Is there any other work I could be doing that would be this exponentially fruitful or influential? A hundred years from now, I hope there are people who do not know my name or remember me, but nevertheless carry about with them seeds of faithful living that were first planted in the soil of this home. Do you have the burden of a million duties on your mind? Ask the Lord to establish the work of your hands. He makes valuable all that is done in him, so ask him to do so with your messy duties. Rejoice in him as you offer yourself as a living sacrifice — a sacrifice that cooks and cleans and blows noses and folds clothes and lays a table and looks after the ways of your household. He is shaping something of great beauty and strength that is far beyond our own capacity to imagine. May God give us all eyes to see it, and hearts to imagine it. The end of all our small daily plantings may be a harvest of staggering beauty. Article by Rachel Jankovic

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