Great who?

On discussing recent trends in publicity and adverts of church ‘power-packed’ programmes in Ghana:

"Why not say, ....
the man of the Great God
instead of
....the great man of God?"

asked by Mrs. E.B. Quarcoo-July 2009

Are we excessively qualifying the servant/man of God yet failing to give proper recognition to the Incomparable God, who is much greater than the human vessels He chooses to use?

Food for thought!
Lady Akofa.

Brown Gold

Ghana, formerly called the Gold Coast, is one of the world's mine for gold, you know that? Cocoa has also been a major incoming generating product for Ghanaians. My late grandfather (maternal side) was a cocoa farmer. I remember eating cocoa with my cousins from our grandmother's farm as a kid... Fresh cocoa handpicked from the farm, busy mouths and licking fingers......ooooooh! Oh, I'm loosing track of my thoughts with memories of childhood farm adventures... sorry! :) And soon, the world will be clamouring for Ghanaian crude oil.

We are one blessed bunch of people. I do hope we know that and appropriately show our appreciation to the Giver of All things. Oh, I hope so.

I'm gonna introduce you to one of our local products and I'm recommending it hands downs! No arguments...Drum roll, please....!

BROWN GOLD

This is natural cocoa powder, no sugar, no malt, no milk added but processed to retain the natural ingredients. For a sweet tooth like me, I normally add a lil' milk to my beverage to neutralize its bitter taste. But I don't even add sugar. So I've shelved Nestle's Milo, Ovaltine and all other beverage products for Brown Gold.

Nutritionally it's good for your blood. For ladies who try this product, you're likely to tell the difference at that time of the month.

BTW: I know the PR person for HORDS, the company which produces Brown Gold. She's gonna have to pay me BIG time for free online publicity! Hellooo.... where art thou? I'm waiting.....! LOL!:

Well, I'm only recommending a good food product... I've not yet found a side effect except a good sleep when taken at night as real, hot cocoa, especially without sugar! Take it from a sweet tooth! :)

hot Brown Gold + cool weather = my utopia world,
Lady Akofa.


My good friend... the first commentor has prompted me to add this: The farm trips were vacation days trip, to the village okaaay? Not my regular lifestyle, which is why they were fun trips to the farm. Sort of like the reality series, Survivor, lol! Now I'm making it worse.... Bye, bye! :)

Days of Rain

These are the days of plenty rain! The cloudy weather make for cool days.
Plus +++
I'm loving it all. Thank you, Daddy God!


"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."

Genesis 8: 22

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

'Blogless' bringing you food-FULL links

It’s been a while I know. You definitely miss me too, don’t ya? These days, I’ve just been speechless, wordless… ‘blogless’, although there are lots things of happening. I have too much on my heart to share but just don’t know where to start from. If you ever come back and see mumbo jumbo on this blog, know where it’s coming from… hehehe!

So being ‘blogless,’ I would compensate by recommending these links, on one condition! You have to promise to return to my blog, okaaay?........ Deal?......... Okay, we have a deal.

At For Love of Cooking, the author combines her love of cooking, photography and blogging to create yummy looking posts. Do I see mouths watering? Hehehe! Have fun while you’re there.

And then check out Nududu for African dishes. While you are there, do note that a few recipes include unmeasured ingredients. That’s typical of most African cooking that I know, we just know what will be enough for any number of people. If you ask any African woman to give you a recipe listing quantities, you’re likely to get, “add a lil’ sliced tomato or pour a lil’ oil in the pan but not too much and let it sit for a while,” etc. The African woman just knows, hehehe! You get my drift, don’t ya? But that shouldn’t deter you from visiting Ndudu, and possibly trying out the dishes.

Talking about measuring and quantities, that’s one of the reasons why it’s seems exacting to cook foreign meals, apart from the unavailability of the ingredients. Getting out those measuring instruments and measuring out ingredients takes the fun away from the cooking process...sigh… but I would love to try out foreign foods more often soon.

See? The ‘blogless’ lady has said a mouthful!

Heeey, what’s for lunch?
Lady Akofa.

Not a Word... but see

This.

Extending the hugs to my bloggy friends and readers.

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

Not a Word... from the Mango House

:) ,
Lady Akofa.

Trusting ...

Trusting that what Jehovah says He will do, will be done.

Trusting God’s Sovereignty and His mysterious, unfathomable ways. I shouldn't question His ways, however foolish they may appear to me. Indeed, the foolishness of God far outweighs the highest wisdom of man.

Trusting my Papa God, that He is in control. He knows and does what is Best for me.

Trusting my Papa God doesn’t mean complete absence of questions from within or without. But rather choosing to listen to and uphold God’s WORD and His Faithfulness above those unanswered questions and daunting voices.

Trusting Him doesn’t mean I’ve finally figured out how things will work out or that I’ve figured out my future. Instead it requires admitting that I don’t know and don’t have the power while God KNOWS and HAS the POWER to do all things.

Trusting God doesn’t always mean that I am happy-go-lucky all the time. The choice to bank all my hopes on my God, who is Invisible yet OMNISCIENT and ALMIGHTY, accompanies tears, fighting fears of the unknown and frequent reaffirmations of my faith in Him.

Trusting that He is the Master and He knows what He is doing. I am just a mere servant. He, the Creator and I, the creature.

My times are in His Hands. He is the Beginning and the End.

May the God of Hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15: 13

June 3rd, 2009
©Lady Akofa.

Adventures in Nkↄm Nkyere 2

First of all, let me reiterate that I don’t know all there is to fasting. So I consider this to be a journey.

Secondly, I fast not because I think it works per say. I fast because I have faith in God. Faith that if God chooses to work in this manner and has commanded that I do so, then it’s for His Glory. Of course, there are some things that simple prayer will not be enough. Granted. Make sure you check the bible passage I've linked.

Stephanie asks in response to my previous post, "What have you found in fasting? Answered prayer? A closer connection with God? Great Sensitivity to the Spirit?” I actually think she has already taken words out of my response, to some extent in her comment.

Admittedly there are days I fast amiss; it almost seems like a hunger strike. However, on days that I purposefully fast, I’ve found that I’m much more alert and unusually eager and open to hear from God. My prayer times are often richer during those times even if few minutes are spent in prayer.

I’ve seen God loosen the grips of a besetting sin as I combined fasting with accountability, searching God’s Word and other spiritual disciplines. I’m also experiencing gradual deliverance in a long-standing spiritual issue and won’t back down till I see the promised victory with my two eyes and live liberated as God intended.

It's possible that if you've never had any long standing issue like an unsaved family member, or a wayward child, or a marriage that is falling apart before your very eyes, etc you may not be motivated to seek such drastic measures as sacrificing your meals for focused prayer at all. After all, what's there to labouriously pray for? I used to think like that. Read on. There is a bigger reason for such an endeavour.

I remember one time in my BA days when I fasted with the fellowship group. I didn’t have a class that day and my roommate had gone out, so I was alone in the room. There was nothing pressing to pray about; I was just seeking God’s face, talking to Him as I slowly walked back and forth in my room. As God drew me to His rich, loving presence, I felt drawn to kneel and bow down. But it wasn’t enough. After a while, the Holy Spirit drew me further down to lie prostrate before the Almighty Jehovah. How could I not? Like Isaiah, I am unworthy to stand before the Lord.

I’ve never gone on a long fast, I prefer the once or twice per week discipline unless the LORD calls me to do otherwise someday. I actually have such a profound respect for those who have gone on long fasts at some point in their lives and are living the fruit of what they prayed for.

I would encourage that anybody willing to explore this to first of all dig the Bible asking that God direct the search. See how the practice started in the Old Testament, when and why God commanded it, how it was done and is supposed to be done up to the New Testament days. It could be a whole new adventure! That’s why my post title is “Adventures in Nkↄm Nkyere.”

Finally, fasting like other disciplines of grace, such as prayer, personal Bible Study, Evangelism, Solitude, Fellowship, etc are all means to an end. Some disciplines are for healing, deliverance, telling others about Jesus Christ, growth in character, unity in the Church... the list is endless. They all work together for an Ultimate End and Treasure.

But what’s the Ultimate Treasure in my opinion?

Intimately knowing God through Jesus Christ, His Son. A deeper and richer experience of God. Can anything or anybody be of more worth than knowing Him?

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

Book review: Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough

Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough: A Guide to Nine Biblical Fasts by Elmer L. Towns, Regal Books, CA, US; 1996

I repeat my disclaimer: I’m not an expert in fasting and I think I would pass away if I ever tried Moses and Jesus’ 40-day fast. Leave it to the fast-perts!

I’ve read several books on prayer and fasting, most of them borrowed from friends. I was searching for something new and different sometime last year and I found Elmer L. Towns’ book at the bookshop. I’m glad I bought it even though I’d never heard of Elmer Towns at that time.

Towns gives several definitions of fasting, with insightful historical backgrounds to fasts. Based on Isaiah 58 he classifies fasts using 9 biblical characters and their aims for going on a fast. So there is the Saint Paul fast for major decisions, the Widow’s Fast for helping the needy, etc. This categorization was refreshingly new to me. At the end of each fast chapter, Towns gives helpful guidelines to steer the reader to make definite decisions and take purposeful notes. This has been useful for me, although I must say that I still have a looong way to go.

I know this is such a brief book review... but that's the point. To get you to buy or borrow and read the book! :)

I highly recommend reading Towns’ Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough: A Guide to Nine Biblical Fasts, if you’re seeking to enrich your experience in this discipline of grace.

Now I leave you with a quote from the book:

“If you say you will fast when God lays it on me, you will never fast. You’re too cold and indifferent. Take the yoke upon you.” –Dwight L. Moody ----Page 212.

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.

Note: I hope to answer Stephanie's question in my next post.

Adventures in “Nkↄm Kyere”

As a kid, I was a skinny, underweight girl who had to be coaxed, scolded and beaten to eat her food. I simply didn’t like to eat. Not until I went to the boarding house in secondary school. The food often consisted of two ladles of rice or less, to my dismay. There was no food to waste like I did back at home those days. I remember the first vacation, I came home and savored the homemade groundnut soup and like Oliver Twist, asked for more. It’s said that you sometimes don’t value some things until you’re deprived of it for sometime. It was then that I began to appreciate and value meals. And today I do enjoy my meals, although my friends still think I’m a bit picky about what I eat. Ahem... let’s just say, I’ve improved?

But I do want to discuss another perspective: abstaining from meals for spiritual purposes. Yep, I’m talking about the ‘glorious’ spiritual discipline known in English as ‘fasting’. Before I go any further: I make a disclaimer, I’m no expert in fasting, I’m just sharing a few thoughts on my experiences so far.

I like the way “fasting” is expressed in my mother tongue. We call it, “Nkↄm Kyere,” transliterated as “hunger engage.” Pronounced, "N-korm chI-rI." One engages hunger as a discipline for a higher purpose. I remember a friend used the expression, “putting my stomach down; sacrificing my stomach for prayer.” These expressions in no way suggest passivity; one has to take on this activity. See the image above? At the time of taking the picture, I was... uurm... heavily pregnant with mangoes. Hehehe! :) But there is a reason to periodically "put my tummy down".

When I started fasting, it wasn’t out of a personal conviction rather I fasted along with my Hall (Dormitory) fellowship group. It was a once in a month call to fast mid-week and meet at lunch time in the Hall Chapel to pray. Those were incredible times of student corporate prayer as God showed up in power and we, in exchange, were spiritually nourished.

I remember the terrible ways of breaking my fasts; sometimes eating roasted peanuts and banana, other times eating too much solid food to break the fast as if to make up for all the food I didn’t eat during the day. Pathetic wasn’t it? Oftentimes, I woke up the next day with stomach aches knowing very well I would have been better off had I broken my fast with juices or porridges instead of solid food. If the advice from the great Christian authors didn’t deter me from such foolishness, experience has definitely taught me better.

It was more difficult to keep on with this discipline on my own when I left school. Since then fasting hasn’t been a steady practice but a seasonal spurt. I remember one work day, I purposed to “put my stomach down.” I had to go for an impromptu meeting out of the office and there was this secretary bringing in trays, tea cups and lovely pastries. I simply forgot when I saw all the goodies and helped myself. Oops! And this is not the only time I’ve slipped. But the fallen toddler always rises up again to walk, isn’t it so? So do I, grace being on my side.

I’m wondering, do Christians really fast at all as a personal discipline? Or are they just silent (Matthew 6: 16-18) about it when they fast? What has your experience been? I don't want to start a bragging discussion about who has fasted longest and what not, so just think about it, you don’t have to comment.

God bless ya,
Lady Akofa.