Take My Hand Inspirations

Sunday, 22 March 2020

51: DIVINE HELPERS FOR "REAL TALK"

Take My Hand Inspirations

There comes a time in life when you declare: “Enough is enough!” Then you get up and do something about it. Because, if you don’t do something, it just won’t get done; and you’ll be sitting around complaining until no one wants to be around you.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Isaiah 61:1-2 and also read verse 3).

Those who are called by the Lord to go out, we are known as the sent ones. We are given the Spirit of power, and of love and of sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) because we know that the anointing we have received for this job will be met by strong opposition: spiritually, emotionally and physically, especially through financial blockage. Lord help us!

When Jesus sent out the 70, they came back marveled by the miracles done in His name. Jesus understood their joy which confirmed their faith, but He also cautioned them that: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Read Luke 10:17-20).

Satan is a roaring lion ever and always ready to kill, steal and destroy what God has created—the human body and the human soul. The body is easy to destroy for Satan, but the soul part of us is his challenge. In what ways Satan can destroy the soul?

The answer to this very question is what God, our Father, and Rev. Peter Osei Akwasi Anyamesem, my late father, have empowered and equipped me to do. This is my very mission as part of the Great Commission given to all believers by Jesus Christ to get up and do—to preach, to heal, to set the captives free as I lead them to see who Jesus is. Take My Hand Inspirations Mission is the teaching-evangelizing call I have been given to go out and reach children and teens through Real Talk. Lord, raise up divine helpers for Real Talk!

OVERVIEW

REAL TALK TEACHING TRACTS are designed for elders, the Mentors—pastors, parents, teachers, community leaders—to talk one-on-one and face-to-face with our young people from the rural villages to the high-speed cities of Ghana, West Africa, then the whole of Africa, then the whole world, who have so many questions about their specific life’s issues. "REAL TALK" means to talk about issues real to our youth today concerning sexuality, gender inequalities, what friends to make, even how to dress to express their real identity. And these conversations are to be facilitated in THE CHILDREN’S CHURCH. It’s time we, the elders, become the face of guidance for our youth and not negative social media and inexperienced peer influence. (It is acknowledged that there is positive social media and well-intentioned peer influence, yet both are being booted by Satan’s weapons of warfare).

These tracts are designed into Series to be printed on a 6-month cyclical scheme. For example, Steps to Salvation Series is now on the market from January to June. The Armor of God Series is scheduled to be printed for the July-December 6-month cycle. “REAL TALK “ is meant to transform lives of children and teens during CHILDREN’S CHURCH SERVICE as they are CHILDREN’S CHURCH MATERIALS; and by no means a substitute to Sunday School materials. In fact, we provide a whole training program designed in structuring the Children’s Church’s Order of Service, thereby endorsing our mission with this proposition: “Multiplying Our Children’s Churches with Real Talk!”

MISSION

This work is commissioned to snatch our children out of Satan’s grip with Steps to Salvation series; to produce an army of spiritual warfare fighters with Armor of God series; to equip future generations with Holy Spirit power with Fruit of the Spirit series; and to add a new series every six months for our children to live Biblically and closely with older Christian people in their lives. Each series includes 10 lessons (or conversations for the soul part of us) for a group of ten youth with a certificate of completion and a graduation program (optional) onto the next series. Some Series come with colouring sheets to add to the implanting of the scripture into young souls.

OBJECTIVES

*To supply the combined 15,000 established Children’s Churches across EVERY DENOMINATION IN GHANA with REAL TALK TEACHING TRACTS.

*To reach out to youth across the nation and globally (across all denominations) to win their souls to Christ Jesus while structuring and building up their Children’s Church Order of Service.

*To revive the children’s church today to create a safe haven for our adolescent souls to grow up strong in the lord and in the power of his might!

WHO WILL BUY IT

These TRACTS are for every home, church, school, or community club/organization that works with children and teens; and can be purchased by caring adults or organizations involved in the lives of young people. Currently, REAL TALK is sold through Assemblies of God, Ghana Bookshops nationwide.

THE NEED FOR REAL TALK TEACHING TRACTS FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS

Children and Teens, especially, are making new friends everyday with: Negative Social Media, Other Inexperienced Peers, and The Occult. Where do concerned Parents, Teachers, and Elders fit into this list? Let’s critically examine the outcomes of these “strange” friendships.

The Rise in Numbers of:

• Unexpected Teenage Pregnancies

• Illegal Abortions

• Deaths due to Experimentation with Drugs , Alcohol and Smoking (overdosing, organ failure, cognitive disorders)

• Possession by Pornography

• Obsession with Gambling / Occultist Rituals for “quick cash”

• Cases of Armed Robbery and Murders

• Cases of Suicide

• Cases of Madness due to failed interpersonal relationships with those who can help: We, the Parents, Teachers, Elders

THE SOLUTION: “REAL TALK” TEACHING TRACTS

These “Soul Conversations” you are about to have with your children or teens—the Youth—are designed to aid you, the Parent, Teacher, Elder, in teaching Biblical Truths, and at the same time, help you to “talk” to and with (not at) your children or adolescents about their inner life: how they feel, what they think about, and what actions they will take based on the decisions they will make, prayerfully with your guidance. Your role as Parent-Teacher-Elder is to open them up, in an atmosphere of love, to the revelation that JESUS CHRIST CARES ABOUT EVERYTHING they are going through and wants to allow them to CHOOSE THE BEST SOLUTION: Believing and trusting Him to be Lord and Saviour over their lives.

ABOUT THE FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF TAKE MY HAND INSPIRATIONS MISSION

Madam Patience Osei-Anyamesem, M.Ed., Ph.D., is a born-again Christian serving the Lord in the Assemblies of God, Ghana as a Deaconess, a Bible Teacher and Sunday School Superintendent; a Children's Ministries Representative; and Secretary to the National Director of A/G, Ghana Children's Ministries. She is Headmistress of Global Village Christian Academy Int'l School; Operations Manager and Editor-In-Chief for PepParadise Society Ltd. She is also author of The Classroom Laboratory: A Course for the Practical Teacher and Blog Take My Hand Inspirations: Conversations with the Soul which you are now reading. She is Founder and Director of Take My Hand Inspirations Mission which includes publishing and training “Real Talk” and uplifting the world with Light In Me Productions, an “abled” youth performing arts ensemble. Her personal motto: “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life because God will make a way!”

SUCCESS

REAL TALK TEACHING TRACTS will meet its success when it reaches and saves the souls of over 1000 children and teens across the nation. Even one soul is precious. Your contribution will help us meet our national printing target of 1,400 Series Packs of Armor of God for the July-December 2020 cycle at a cost of GH¢50,000.00 ($10,000) (£7,200) and also makes you part of God’s Great Commission. This target is to be met by 31^st May 2020.

When Christians across all denominations unite, we can work miracles in the lives of our young people. Please contact me at email: jesuspatience@gmail.com or whatsapp/Mobile Money: +233-(0)54-763-0369. Any financial support from you or your organization or individuals you know goes to saving precious young souls. BE A DIVINE HELPER AND GIVE SATAN THE BOOT!

© 2020 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by Take My Hand Inspirations Mission. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Take My Hand Inspirations

Saturday, 25 January 2020

50: Dealing With Death

Take My Hand Inspirations

Wellness Series

Life comes with choices. Choices bring about change—either positive or negative. For example, we choose which course to take in school. We choose our friends and partner for life. We also choose what we eat, how we dress, where we go to worship. And we choose to stay sober or addicted, married or divorced, close to Jesus or far away. With our life choices come change. We change in the way we think, speak and act (behave) as we experience the results of the choices we make. That is how we grow up or grow down or not grow at all.

Growing up means you are matured in your thinking, speaking and doing. You have learned the lessons from your choices and now know what to accept and what to avoid; and who to accept and who to avoid. Growing down means you made choices and when you’re given back the results, you hide from taking responsibility for your action (the consequence of the choice you made). So, you constantly shift blame on others for what is happening to you; and look for “friends” who will join you in your self-pity party, ignoring the opened door through which you can repent and try again.

But the most dangerous is not growing at all. To be stuck at a point in life and not to be able to move forward is like being alive, but dead to life. There are some changes in life we cannot avoid, neither can we make a choice whether or not to go through them: puberty, menstruation, adulthood, menopause and death. We cross over into these changes without a choice. And we must find ways to “process” what is happening to us at that time in a healthy manner so as to come out with our heart singing the song, “It is well with my soul.” The man who composed the lyrics to this song lost almost everything worth living for: all five of his children and business, all snatched away instantly and tragically.¹ How did he push forward to be able to not only write but also to sing those lyrics?

Not growing at all means you have given up on life. You don’t care what happens to you; you’ve lost hope in a better tomorrow; and, if you don’t do something now, you will stop going to church, reading the Bible and praying. Your faith will stop and you will become the walking dead (still breathing, physically aging, but dead on the inside, the soul-side).

Passing through puberty requires a lot of conversations with peers and adults who are compassionate who want to guide you through it successfully. For girls, menstruation is part of puberty and with it choices about pregnancy and abortion. For boys, the choice of masturbating and choices about sexual experimentation are a giant temptation. What you do during puberty today makes you into the adult you’ll become tomorrow. And as we age through adulthood, the consequences for each action we make become so evident in how they effect our spouse, our children, community and society at-large. Menopause for women brings its own course of challenges through which we must pass to become effective grandmothers.

But the change of death can be paralyzing. The death of a spouse you’ve become one with for so many years, leaves a hole in your life so big, you feel you want to jump in it and be swallowed up with that lost loved one. The death of a father or mother or sister or brother, too, creates that same vacuum in your life and your soul wants to follow them to wherever they are so that you can see and talk to and hug them again, just one more time. And the death of a child is so wrenching, a pain inexplicable, such a horrible shock to your psyche that you don’t know how to keep from going mad.

You remember all the bad things you have said or thought or done to them; crying in repentance. Then you remember all the good times you had together; crying for one more day and another day and another knowing that the days are all gone.

That hole can be filled with what you choose to fill it with: depression or celebration. The death of a loved one can stop your soul from living if you choose to stay in that darkness. Depression is a feeling of unhappiness and lacking hope for a bright future. It is also a period of no activity because usually you sit still in a dark place pondering over all that is wrong in your life and embracing your sadness. And that hole can swallow you whole if you stay there too long.

Then there is the choice of celebration. To celebrate means to take part in special enjoyable activities in order to show that a particular occasion is important. For the Christian, we have Someone and something to celebrate. Only Jesus can save the soul from dying. And He has what we humans, subjected to unavoidable changes, can drink as the remedy that brings wellness to our souls after the tragedy of the death of a loved one. That remedy is His Holy Spirit—our Comforter and our mercy, our grace, and our strength to climb out of that dark hole with praise to sing:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows life sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well, with my soul

Refrain

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live;

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

The sky, not the grave, is our goal;

Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!

Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

The celebration is called life. We must continue to live it and to change it into the likeness of Jesus’ Great Commission every day and in every way in order to put joy back into our own souls as we strive in our purpose for the salvation of all the other souls yearning for our hands to pull them out of their terrifying darkness. Are you ready to continue journeying on this path called life growing up in the purpose for which you were born? Then shake depression off, and let’s get going….let’s keep on growing . . . up!

This is an introduction to the next series of this blog. It is called the Wellness Series. Let’s hold hands as we walk toward our wellness in 2020.

© 2020 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by Take My Hand Inspirations Mission, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd. Publishers. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

1. It Is Well With My Soul is a hymn penned (written) by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss. First published in Gospel Songs No. 2 by Ira Sankey and Bliss (1876). Shortly after receiving a telegram from his surviving wife “Save alone….” Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, and he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Artwork: Painting Crying Child by Kent Cotrell, Black House.

Take My Hand Inspirations

Sunday, 29 September 2019

49: It's Time to S--T--R--E--T--C--H!

Take My Hand Inspirations

Stretch has several different meanings:

1) (verb-action) to go as far as or beyond the usual limit;

2) (verb-action) to spread over a large area or distance;

3) (noun-something) a continuous period of time.

All these meanings add up to one thing: pushing yourself beyond what you normally say, think or do into saying, thinking or doing it differently, but in a better way with more souls over a period of your lifetime.

As humans, we are creatures of habit. Once a habit—a routine pattern of actions—is established in one’s life, especially a bad one, it’s very hard to break it unless a hammer comes crashing down on it and shatters all your sensibilities waking them up to what’s really going on around you.

Take Stanley for instance, a guy of 22 years who, by nature, is happy-go-lucky. Nothing really bothers him. He’s easily forgiving; overlooks offenses, even apologizes first when he’s not wrong—a peaceful, well-mannered brother everyone loves to hang around. But one day, he lost it, and killed his best friend. Now, locked away in prison, another dear friend visited and asked: “So what happened, dude; didn’t take you for the violent type?” Stanley stared absently with no remorse into his buddy’s empathetic eyes and simply said: “He touched my girlfriend.” “What do you mean by ‘touched’? Did he rape her?” “She was not his, but mine. He had no right to take what’s mine.” “What did she have to say about it?” Silence.

Stanley was a creature of a bad habit. As long as things were going well for him in terms of relationships, he could thrive as a person who seemed pleasant and fun-loving. But the instant the slightest rejection presented itself—the girl he loved actually not loving him but loving someone else—it broke something in him. So he snapped. We all have our breaking points, that end where all you know is tested and you must make a clear decision—either accept the change that is coming and find a way to adjust to it; or to simply break into pieces, fall apart.

This is the State of Adolescence today. Today’s youth between the ages of 10 and 30 years are so stretched in the wrong direction, that their choices are causing them to break into pieces as they try to establish their identity and where they “fit” in their microcosm (small) social groups while facing the blaring ideologies of their parents and grandparents, both liberal and conservative. And the bridge over which youth and elders communicate has turned into a cracked chasm where neither the youth nor their elders—parents and grandparents and other older generational mentors--can talk to each other.

The Results are Devastating. It appears that statistics out there concern American or European youth, but African youth are equally troubled with their own statistics of suicides, teen pregnancies and abortions, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, prostitution, armed-robbery and identity issues creating a whole “secret” gay and transgender community whose members end up committing suicide due to lack of counseling and care by concerned elders they themselves reject and refuse to listen to. For lack of knowledge and for lack of hope, our youth are perishing.

DOES ANYBODY CARE?

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good (Genesis 1:31).

Creation is an action propelled (fueled) by vision using the tools of mind (thought), word (Let there be), and hands (picking, sewing, nailing, molding, and shaping). Our Creator God used all these tools—His mind, His word, even His hands—to bring forth you and me and everything natural we see.

Good and goodness have so many different definitions. Both can be described as a condition of the quality of something (very satisfactory, of high quality, pleasant, interesting). It can also be used to express how morally right a person is by religious principles (i.e., setting a good example for children). It also conveys the status of our health (to be in good health). It can also emphasis a large number, amount or level of something (a good-sized crowd, a good chance of something happening, or having a good day).

Lastly, goodness can be an exclamation of graciousness (thankfulness) or surprise at how well something has turned out.

It’s time elders stretch beyond their comfort zone and become a mentor to our youth, even if it’s just one. It’s also time for the youth to stop running away from elders who genuinely love them and sit down and tell at least one elder how they feel and work together to find godly solutions to their problems.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER (Hebrews 13:8). THE WORD OF GOD IS JESUS CHRIST (John 1:1). DON’T BE AFRAID TO PICK UP THE BIBLE AND DO WHAT IT SAYS. LIVES ARE AT STAKE; AND WE HAVE THE ANSWER.

Let’s get into the GOOD HABIT OF SHARING GOD’S LOVING WORD which shouts to the youth how good they are.

TAKE MY HAND INSPIRATIONS “TEEN TALK” Series

are conversations involving Youth and “Parents”. We must take time to examine and heal our own souls to be able to bring other souls with us to our heavenly home. This requires talking to each other in a teachable environment: the church, school, community at home; or wherever you find yourselves together.

In each series, there are 10 lessons, or conversations, for parents, teachers, mentors and leaders prepared by the Holy Spirit to talk with the children and teens they care about. Each series is designed for a group of 10 participants. At the end of the Steps to Salvation and Armor of God series, a certificate is available for our young people to graduate onto the next series. The Fruit of the Spirit series includes colouring pages for a group of 10 participants.

At the end of the Fruit of the Spirit series, the participants perform in a choreography or drama to demonstrate how to bear and use these fruits in our daily lives. Training is available upon request for each series. We can come to your church, school, club or community to train Adults who want to train up Children and Teens in the way they should go .... (Proverbs 22:6).

To purchase your series and to schedule training, call or whatsapp us at +233-(0)54-763-0369; email: jesuspatience@gmail.com; or visit Take My Hand Inspirations on Facebook @preciouslordleadme.

What does every person that comes in contact with you take away with them after they have left your presence? Did you make that person—small or big, young or old, Black or White, rich or poor, etc.—feel or become better? If yes, your Fruit of Goodness is singing a song of sunshine.

But if a person feels worse after leaving your presence, take a time out! Forgive yourself for troubling their soul with your personal trauma or insulting or ignoring them or violating their integrity or rights in some way. Forgive yourself and try harder—STRETCH--again the next time or with the next person. Oh, learn this lesson quickly, Dear Christian. Christ is coming soon!

The Fruit of Goodness is brought forth by your words. What you think about yourself are your silent words privately talking to you. And Satan goes to war in the silent zone. Be careful! What you say about yourself are your spoken words talking about you, describing who you are. And the principalities (Satanic elements) in the air will snatch those words and make them a reality in your life. Be careful!

So right now take one child or teen and with him or her together proclaim: I am gorgeous. I am a very good creation of Almighty God. As the Trinity God is alive in me, I hold the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in my soul—and we are bold and beautiful! Watch out world, I am coming to shine! Satan, move out of my way! My Fruit of Goodness is busting loose and bursting out! It shall follow me all the days of my life. And it tastes so good!

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! (Psalm 34:8).

© 2019 by Take My Hand Inspirations, a division of PepParadise Society Ltd Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Take My Hand Inspirations