Dear Partner,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I believe the Blessing is fully operational in your life in Jesus’ Name.
We celebrate the goodness of God to us in 2020. We have determined in the Freshdew Circle of Partnership that there is a lifting up for us this year despite the obvious “casting down” going on globally. Our case is literally different. Hallelujah!
In my country Nigeria, we celebrate our 60th anniversary. I invite all our non-Nigerian partners to celebrate with us as God is faithful to us. We look around and there doesn’t seem to be much to celebrate. A lot of people get embarrassed at these circumstances of chaos, corruption and increasing poverty but refuse to ever have an identity crisis. God is all-knowing and if He chose to plant me in this blessed country then, there is good here. He promised me that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. I choose to see my country through God’s eyes. With what eyes do you see your country? Every country has good in it and the citizens of that country must have the loudest voices about such good. For us as believers, it is not blind patriotism but it is faith. Hallelujah!
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV
It’s time to grow up and be like God. Begin to see things the way God sees them and call things the way God calls them. Children do not talk like adults and adults do not talk like children. We have talked like spiritual children about Nigeria – it’s time to grow up.
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Romans 4:17 NKJV
What does God see when He sees Nigeria? That is what we should see.
What does He call Nigeria? That is what we should call this Nation.
1. Nigeria: A Springboard for The Word A Springboard is a thing that lends impetus or assistance to a particular action, enterprise, or development.
Impetus is the force that makes something happen or happen more quickly.
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15 NKJV
8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 NKJV
1 Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
4 Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.
6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.
8 And there was great joy in that city.
Acts 8:1-8 NKJV
Nigerians are everywhere preaching the Word! They are bringing great joy to many a city. How did they get to those cities? The “persecution” of poor education, unemployment, and lack of equal rights caused the “brain drain”. Do you see the persecution only or do you also see the impact in ways that CNN will never report to you? As a pastor in a growing and thriving local church, I see the impact our church members make when they relocate to other countries. They are quickly recognized as springboards for the Word and the move of the Spirit and they eagerly engage the communities they find themselves in with the preaching of the gospel. Even in South Africa, with its history of xenophobia; a lot of the worship and praise songs have their origin from Nigeria. It is called reverse missionaries’ syndrome and brings to mind a news flash I came across years ago [I cannot recall the source].
News Flash
“Once evangelicals went from the U.S. to Asia, Africa and Latin America to
spread the gospel. Now, reverse missionaries from the developing world are
importing their own brand of Christianity.
While no one has tallied exactly how many preachers from the Southern
Hemisphere are currently working in the U.S., at the very least they number in
the thousands. According to Dale Irvin, a professor at the New York Theological
Seminary, the group is filling a void left by preachers from Western Europe,
who are no longer coming to the U.S. in the numbers that they once did. Over
the last few years, the movement has been ‘growing exponentially, and it will
continue to do so,’ explained Scott Temple, the national director of
intercultural ministers for the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest
Pentecostal organization. He cites his church as an example: in 1990, only one
African pastor led an Assembly of God church in the U.S; in 2002, there were
three; and in 2004, there were 20. Today, there are over 70. ‘They are
themselves the products of missionaries, and they’re often very conscious of
that,’ said Tony Carnes, president of the Values Research Institute, who has
studied churches in New York since 1985. Carnes’s 2007 survey found 17 percent
of all English-speaking New York pastors are foreign-born. ‘It’s the
19th-century movement coming back,’ he said. At the forefront are preachers
from Nigeria, Brazil, Ghana and Korea”.
2. Nigeria: A Source
of Wisdom
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
Job 12:3 NKJV
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
Job 13:2 NKJV
19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.”
20 And Joab said to him, “You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king’s son is dead.”
21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran.
22 And Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite. “So Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready?”
23 “But whatever happens,” he said, “let me run. “So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain, and outran the Cushite.
24 Now David was sitting between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate, to the wall, lifted his eyes and looked, and there was a man, running alone.
25 Then the watchman cried out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he came rapidly and drew near.
26 Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “There is another man, running alone! “And the king said, “He also brings news.”
27 So the watchman said, “I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. “And the king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good news.”
28 So Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, “All is well!” Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king, and said,”Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king!”
29 The king said, “Is the young man Absalom safe? “Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about.”
30 And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.
31 Just then the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “There is good news, my lord the king! For the LORD has avenged you this day of all those who rose against you.”
32 And the king said to the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe? “So the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm, be like that young man!”
2 Samuel 18:19-32 NKJV
In our nation are sources of wisdom. Joseph became a solution to the nation of Egypt. So many Nigerians are solutions in the countries where they find themselves but CNN will not report that. When Joseph was a shepherd boy, he did not look like a Prime Minister, when Charles Omofomah was asleep in the market in Kano one night, he did not look like the Vision Bearer of The Carpenter’s Ministry already impacting the world even after his passing. There is someone great on the inside of you. There is greatness in our nation.
I have some more interesting news flashes.
News Flash
Wole Soyinka
Nobel Prize Winner 1986
Part of the Speech given on the day the Prize was given:
“Dear Mr. Soyinka, In your versatile writings you have been able to synthesize a very rich heritage from your own country, ancient myths and old traditions, with literary legacies and traditions of European culture. There is a third component, a most important component in what you have thus achieved – your own genuine and impressive creativity as an artist, a master of language, and your commitment as a dramatist and writer of poetry and prose to problems of general and deep significance for man, modern or ancient. It is my privilege to convey to you the warm congratulations of the Swedish Academy and to ask you to receive this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature from the hand of His Majesty the King”.
News Flash
Nigerian makes breakthrough in car design
New York, US, 01/24 – A Nigerian, Jelani Aliyu, has recorded a major breakthrough in the automotive industry in the US, with the design of a state-of-the-art electric car. “Chevy Volt”, described as an “American Revolution”, was designed by Aliyu at the US-based world’s largest automaker, General Motors (GM) plant in Detroit. A statement issued in New York by GM Tuesday, stated: “GM’s most electrifying advanced technology vehicle is the Chevrolet Volt concept, a battery-powered, extended-range electric passenger vehicle”. “It uses a gas engine to create additional electricity. The technology behind the Volt concept, GM’s E-flex System, allows electricity to be produced from gasoline, ethanol, bio-diesel or hydrogen, helping to provide a global solution to diversifying transportation energy sources,” it said. It said that the car was developed by its lead designer “a soft spoken native of Nigeria and 1994 alumni of CCS, Jelani Aliyu after a 10-month marathon sprint to bring the Volt to reality”. The CCS is the College for Creative Studies for automobile design in the US and it produces designers for all the automakers in the country. “The marathon started with tough competition amongst eight designers and their concepts that were developed in two short months, with 7 of the 8 scale model concepts reviewed and eliminated,” it noted. According to the statement, “Jelani’s model…design incorporates many design elements to complement the electric technology driving the car as well as his love of nature and the ergonomics of a vehicle one can enjoy nature in”. Aliyu, who hails from the northwestern state of Sokoto, was born in 1966 in Kaduna and is married with two children. He attended Capital School, Sokoto and Federal Government College in the same town, where he received an award as a student in technical drawing and creative art. In an interview with PANA on telephone from Detroit, Aliyu said: “The Chevy Volt is my concept and design and was last week showcased at a motor show in Detroit and will also feature in another one this week in Washington DC”. “I draw a lot and also designed my own cars and even built scale models of them, complete with exteriors and interiors, so that is from where get my inspiration,” he said. He said that he had a brief stint at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where he initially planned to study architecture, but later got a scholarship from the Sokoto government to study in the US. “In 1990, I got admitted into the College for Creative Studies (CCS), Detroit, Michigan, in the United States to study Automobile Design and completed my four-year degree programme in 1994,” the auto designer said. Aliyu also said that during his studies he received two awards from Ford Motor Company and Michelin, US. He began work in GM in 1997, as part of a design team for the Buick Rendezvous, which he served as its lead interior designer, before he was transferred to Germany to work at GM`s division in Europe in 1999. He is now a senior and lead exterior designer at GM headquarters, where he is working on various GM models, with some of them now on sale in the US, Canada and Europe.
News Flash
Nigerian girl, 15, flies plane in US
A Nigerian teenager, Kimberly Anyadike, has become the youngest black female to ever fly from one end of the United States of America (USA) to the other in an aviation exercise called cross-country flight, according to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The 15-year-old, whose parents are Nigerians, broke the U.S. record and entered into record books on Saturday, when she flew a single-engine Cessna plane from Compton Woodley Airport in Compton, California to Newport News, Virginia, making 13 stops along the way.
Anyadike also became the youngest African American female pilot to complete the journey.
She learnt to fly both an airplane and helicopter at age 12 at Tomorrow Aeronautical Museum in Compton, which offers aviation lessons in an after-school programme for disadvantaged youths. It was their plane she flew on her cross-country trip, news report said.
The museum’s founder, Robert Petgrave, said Anyadike was the one who came up with the idea for the trip. But he had told her “it was going to be a daunting task. But she replied to me saying, ‘I’ve got big shoulders. I can do it.’ And so we got it fixed up.”
She was accompanied during the historic flight by an adult safety pilot and an 87-year-old Tuskegee Airman, Levi Thornhill. “Tuskegee Airmen” is the popular name given to a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II.
About 50 Tuskegee Airmen autographed the young pilot’s plane after the journey. Anyadike said she wanted to inspire other kids to really believe in themselves.
3. Nigeria: A Store House of Wealth22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.
Proverbs 13:22 NKJV
20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.
Proverbs 3:20 NKJV
1″Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held —
To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:
2’I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.
Isaiah 45:1-3 NKJV
3 For the LORD is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
Psalm 95:3-4 NKJV
With the ravaging of our economy triggered by poor leadership and the mounting national debt threatening to overwhelm us and even wipe out the future of the next generation; it seems difficult to see this storehouse of wealth. It is there, untouched.
There are hidden riches and storehouses of wealth in Nigeria. Hidden not from God’s people like before but hidden for God’s people; God’s people who will no longer be heavenly useful and earthly useless. People who will open up their spirits and receive good ideas from God; who will courageously take the riches that God has put in this nation for us. Here are some more news flashes…
News Flash
The Nigerian economy is dominated by crude oil, which accounts for about 10% of the country’s GDP, 70% of government revenue and more than 83% of the country’s total export earnings, according to OPEC. Nigeria is the world’s 8th oil exporter, and its oil reserves are estimated at about 35 billion barrels. The country also has become one of the lead exporters of liquefied natural gas, which accounts for an additional 15.5% of exports. The country also extracts tin ore and coal for domestic use. Nigeria’s other natural resources include iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc and arable land. Another key sector of the Nigerian economy is agriculture, which employs 36% of the workforce and contributes for about 21.2% of GDP. The Southern and Central regions of the country produce yam, rice, and maize while the Northern regions produce sorghum, millet, rice, and livestock farming. Other major crops include beans, sesame, cashew nuts, cassava, cocoa beans, rubber, soybeans, and bananas. Nigerian agriculture is mainly centered on subsistence farming and it is not modernized enough.
The industrial sector makes up 25.7% of the GDP and employs 12% of the workforce. Its development has been constrained by power shortage. The largest industries in the country are the petroleum industry, tourism, agriculture, and mining. The petroleum industry currently suffers from oil theft, which is believed to cost the country potential revenues valued as much as USD 10.9 billion. Significant oil losses are also recorded due to oil spills. Services represent 52% of the GDP and employs 52% of the population. Financial sectors, telecommunications and retail especially, are very dynamic. Tourism is also a significant sector, and to foster its growth, the government has established the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and National Orientation. However, this sector still struggles from the country’s poor power supply, insufficient road infrastructures, and a poor water quality.
News Flash
Nigeria also has a wide array of underexploited mineral resources which include natural gas, coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc. Despite huge deposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy.
According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Nigeria had an estimated 36.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2009, (ranking around the 10th largest in the world behind: Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Venezuela, Russia, Libya…). The majority of reserves are found along the country’s Niger River Delta and offshore in the Bight of Benin, the Gulf of Guinea and the Bight of Bonny. Current exploration activities are mostly focused in the deep and ultra-deep offshore with some activities planned in the Chad basin, located in the northeast of the country.
Nigeria’s oil reserves could dry up in the next 50 years, according to energy officials for Africa’s largest oil producer, citing a downward trend in production over the last five years. Many attribute the decline to ongoing violence, not depleted resources.
Open your eyes to the opportunities that exist in this storehouse of wealth. Poor management of our discovered resources has not depleted the resources that God has blessed this nation with.
Yes, the terrain may be dangerous and challenging but that is usually the kind of conditions in which you find the resources of the earth. Man goes to the Amazon and to the Atlantic in search of wealth but Christians will relocate from the Storehouse of wealth because of NEPA and Bad roads and crime. They would rather relocate to where they will be second class citizens, face racism, lose their children but worst of all, many plant themselves squarely out of the will of God for their lives
Partner, I encourage you to brace yourself and “quit ye like men” and let the leading of the Spirit come into operation in your career and your business and let God lead you to where He has reserved the fatness of the earth for you.
When next you look at Nigeria what do you see? With what eyes do you see? God’s or yours? I see my country through God’s eyes. I see a springboard for the Word, a source of wisdom and a storehouse of wealth. Hallelujah!!
As a gift to all our partners this month, I have a gift voucher, coupon code: Fd920Identity for a very old classic message: Identity Crisis. Incidentally, it is the very first episode I preached on Freshdew in April 1998. The sound may be hollow (it is 22 years old!) but it is audible and the Word is still relevant today.
The coupon is for a one-time use on the Freshdew e-store. Click this link to go to the store.
I continually encourage you to let others know about Freshdew and what God is doing through us – in the Circle of Partnership. Our website freshdew.tv is up and running for you to engage, explore, and be enriched by all we have there.
You can contact us at info@freshdew.tv and on our phone lines. The phone line for calls from within Nigeria is 0700-FRESHDEW, which is 0700 3737 4339. For calls from outside Nigeria, the number would be: +234-700-FRESHDEW, which is +234 700 3737 4339. Our WhatsApp line is: 0809 111 1154. For calls from outside Nigeria, the number would be: +234 809 111 1154. These lines are open from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily, except on Sundays, when it is open from 2:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily.
Love and Blessings,
Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.)
