WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Memorial of Sts Timothy and Titus
Monday, 26th January, 2025.
Theme: Develop and accept the Spirit of Collaboration
(2 Tim 1:1-8:, Ps 95, Mk 3:22-30)
Today, we celebrate two important collaborators of St. Paul in his pastoral ministry. One of the tools that Paul used in his ministry was the spirit of collaboration or what is popularly also known as team work. Because he realized that he couldn’t have done the work alone. And truly no one can do the work of God alone. Definitely you would need people to help you to accomplish the mission of Christ in your life. Timothy and Titus journeyed with Paul on his various missionary journeys and enormous pastoral duties. He also put Timothy in charge of the church in Ephesus,whiles Titus was in charge of that of Crete. As the apostle to the gentiles and the greatest missionary of all time, St. Paul couldn’t have achieved this feet without the collaboration of some of this people. They were both gentile converts who were not Jews.
Jesus Christ who was God and our Savior for that matter sought out for collaborators. He realized that he couldn’t do it alone. That’s why he had to appoint the twelve apostles to assist him and also continue the work after his death. Aside his apostles, he chose some of his disciples and even sent them on mission, according to the gospel passages. He couldn’t have done it alone, not at all. Precisely why he told his disciples to pray to the master of the harvest to send more labourers to his vineyard. The kingdom business is too big for anybody or any group of people to accomplish alone.Not even Jesus was able to finish it in his life time, not to talk about us.
Beloved, it is very sad when some of us behave as if to say that we can do all the work of God. How possible can that be? Please have you ever sat down to think about it? The fact that you alone can’t finish the work. Someone was one time complaining that another person was taking her work, hence she was fighting the person in the church. She succeeded in discouraging the young lady,who finally had to leave the church. What a sad story. Will you not even appreciate the fact that someone wants to help you to spread the work of God?. Some of us behave as if God is for us alone, or we are the only children of God. Even if God is for you alone, his work can’t be accomplished by you alone. You need people to help you.
The point is that our very mission that has been entrusted to us to do can’t be accomplished by us alone. You need people to assist you in order to accomplish this individual task. Salvation of souls is a collective efforts. You even need people to help you to attain salvation. You can’t achieve it alone. Then why are you discouraging people who also wants to contribute their little to promote God’s kingdom? We all have our various roles to play to achieve this collective objective. That’s why God has endowed us with various gifts for such purpose.
Begin to learn to believe in team work and collaborative ministry as well. Involve people in your line of duty. Groom people to carry on with the work you are doing. Believe in division of labour. Some of us wants to do everything without considering involving people. How long will you survive? In no time you would be tired. Some have tried and they are already tired, they wish to quickly handover to others.
May the Holy Spirit grant us the grace today so that we can learn to employ team spirit in our various ministries. Amen .
Have a Blessed Week.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Tuesday, 27th January, 2026.
Theme: Jesus came for Everybody
(2 Sam 6:12-15,17-19, Ps 24, Mk 3: 31-35)
The Lord Jesus didn’t come for a particular group of people. He came for the entire humanity. Precisely why he indicated in today’s gospel that his family or his brothers and sisters are those who obey his word. The only qualification to be part of this family is the fact of accepting him as your personal savior. God’s salvation is for all.
The family of Jesus least expected him to make such comments. These were people who were concerned about him, probably they came to send him home to have some rest. He had been moving around preaching and teaching without any rest. Then he kind of ignore them. I can imagine how they were embarrassed. But yes it is true that he belongs to every family, especially those who obey his commandments. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew or not, slave or a free man, once you accept him into your life,then you form part of his family.
It doesn’t matter where you are coming from or the kind of life you have lived before, God can still use you. Just avail yourself. You can become a great instruments of God. Don’t belittle yourself or look down upon yourself. Thinking that you are nobody to become an instrument of God. You are more than qualified provided you accept his message of salvation. You don’t need to come from a recognized Christian home or a prominent family. If God was able to use pagan kings to accomplish his mission, then he can use you. We have had great people of God who were fetish priests and what have you. Some of these people are coming from typical fetish homes. But today they have become great instruments of God. They have even succeeded in converting almost their entire family.
Sometimes some of us behave like the Jews who thought that God was for them alone. Others were not qualified to be called children of God. We also think that some people don’t deserve to even be in the church. We are the only true children of God. Why because maybe we think we are holier than the others. We are living a perfect live, whiles others are very sinful people. We have even taken the place of God in our churches and societies.
May the Holy Spirit help us always not to look down upon people in his house . Amen .
Have a Blessed Day. Shalom.
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Wednesday,28th January, 2026.
Memorial of St Thomas Aquinas
Theme: Be a good-fruit bearing child of God
(2 Sam 7:4-17, Ps 89, Mk 4: 1-20)
The Parable of the Sower draws our attention to the fact that, the Word of God must be allowed to bear fruits in us as children of God. We are called as children of God to bear fruits, the ones that will last forever. The tree that doesn’t bear fruits will be destroyed. And of course, we are expected to bear good fruits and not bad ones.
The gospel points to the fact that, our reception of the Word of God is very important so far us its impact on our lives is concerned. The Word of God does not fall in a vacuum. The soil for the reception of His Word is the heart of every child of God. The gospel points out four different forms of Christians in relation to the reception of the Word of God. The first category are those who hears the Word without understanding it and the devil comes to steal it from their heart. The second are those who receive the Word with joy but have no root so when tribulations and difficulties come, they easily fall away. The third are those who allow worldly anxiety and pleasures to choke the Word received and bears no fruit. The fourth is the expectation from every Christian; the good soil which receives the Word of God and bears fruits abundantly. But the question is, where do you and I belong?
The very heart which is supposed to be receptive to the word of God has become full with worldly concerns. We have not created any space for His Word to get a place in us. Man has occupied himself with so much worries about the world. God has been neglected to the background. All is about money and riches, but unfortunately these things will all pass away. When we die, we are not carrying along any of these things. Remember heaven and earth will pass away, but His Word remains forever.
My dear friends, the truth is that unless we are connected to Christ who is the true vine, we cannot bear any fruit on our own. As the gospel of John indicates, we have no power on our own to bear fruits if we are not connected to Christ (Jn 15:4-6). We can truly do nothing on our own if we are not in union with Christ.
Our way of life will truly show whether we are bearing good fruits or not. It is our good deeds that will testify to the world that we are bearing good fruits. It is not about being eloquent about the word of God, but living what we preach. As Pope St. Paul VI once said and I quote “ the world need credible witnesses not eloquent preachers”. The life of hypocrisy has become too much among Christians. As a result, our lives are not transforming the societies we find ourselves. We are failing to become the conscience of the people. We are also following the crowd to promote the wrongs in society. We have become what I call “ Compromising Christians” . How can we bring positive changes in society with such attitudes?
May the Holy Spirit help us to always accept the word of God and bear fruits as good disciples of the Lord. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day. Shalom.
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Thursday, 29th January, 2026
Theme: Nothing can be hidden forever
(2 Sam 7:18-19,24-29, Ps 132, Mk 4:21-25)
Jesus is pointing out in the gospel of today that, we can’t hide anything forever. The Pharisees and the Scribes were living double lives. They pretended to be holy people, meanwhile they were doing evils secretly. People saw them to be righteous leaders, but in reality they were wolves in sheep skin. No wonder Jesus called them hypocrites, who were like white-washed tombs.
Friends in Christ, a number of us are the Pharisees and the Scribes of our time. In fact, our lives are full of hypocrisy. We pretend to be holy people in the sight of society, but in secret we are doing evils. If people should get to know the kind of things that you and I get involve in secret, some may collapse. Because they can’t imagine that we are capable of doing such evils. May be you engaged in certain bad behavior and you think that it will remain secret forever. One day your cup will be full, and it will be a huge embarrassment for you and your love ones.
Please don’t disappoint your love ones and those who trust you. Some people hold you in high esteem and believe in you so much. They can never and will never associate you with such bad deeds. For your own good image and for the sake of your fans, please repent from such behavior. Don’t think you are a smart person and can keep such secrets forever. Some people are more smart than you, but today their bad secrets are out and this has brought huge shame to them and their families and love ones. We are all culprits in this and there is no need to be pointing fingers at any body. We all have our dark secrets which we need to change from.
Again, Jesus is inviting us to live good lives. People will know us by our deeds. By our fruits, they will know where we belong. We can never pretend to be good people, whiles in reality it is not the case. If you are a good person, your good works will speak for you. Your way of life will tell the world where you belong.
May the Holy Spirit help us always not to live double lives. Amen .
Have a Blessed day. Shalom.
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Friday, 30th January, 2026.
*Theme: *With Jesus there is Hope*
( 2 Sam 11:1-4,5-10,13-17,Ps 51, Mk 4:26-34)
Jesus uses the Parables of the Growing Seed and that of the Mustard Seed to teach that his presence brings differences in our lives. The mustard seed is the smallest seed but grows and becomes a very big tree, which becomes very useful to both man and animals. In the beginning, it seems not to have any good future, but later it proves it doubters wrong. It present a hopeless beginning, but later becomes a very useful tree.
The farmer who scatters the seed has no idea how the seed germinates and grows. Initially it seems a hopeless venture for the farmer but with the finger of God in the whole process, there is joy at the end of the tunnel.And that is the Jesus factor.
Beloved, It doesn’t matter where you are coming from or your humble beginning. You may be a carpenter’s child or from a poor background just like Jesus. But ones the favour of God locates you, your story will definitely change. People will be very surprised just like the case of Jesus. Therefore, don’t belittle yourself or anyone because we don’t know what tomorrow holds for all of us. Just remain faithful to God. Great people mostly have humble beginnings.
It is only God who can change you from nobody to somebody. People can write you off, thinking that you don’t have any future. But when divine favor locates you, your story will change. Don’t allow inferiority complex to control your life. As if to say that you can’t become anybody in life because of where you are coming from. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from okay. God is able to make the impossibilities to become possible. To put hope into hopeless situations. To put life into dead situations.
Some of us belittle ourselves too much. As if God doesn’t have the power to change your story. Jesus will let your star shine for nations to come and bow to you. God will raise you to be among kings and queens. Who was David to become King of Israel? But when the favor of God located him, the impossibilities became possible in his life. Look up to God, the author and finisher of our faith. It is only God who can turn things around in your life, but not human beings. Human beings will discourage you, look down upon you, insult you, disregard you.
Don’t give up on yourself. Once there is life there is hope. Life is a sign of hope. Bring Jesus into the situation and things will turn around. I give you Jesus today. Be a beacon of hope in your family, church, work place and everywhere.
May God grant us the grace to always trust His promises in our lives and the fact that he can change our story. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day
Shalom🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Saturday, 31st January, 2026.
Memorial of St John Bosco
*Theme: *Don’t be Afraid*
( 2 Sam.12:1-7,10-17, Ps 51, Mk 4:35-41)
The disciples of Jesus were entertaining fear because of the storms on the sea and the fact of thinking they have been overcome by the storm. Meanwhile, Jesus was in the boat with them. Why should they entertain fear when Jesus is with them in the boat? Of course, this is a normal human tendency, but we must wake up from our shackles of fear and trust the power of Jesus always. He rebuked the storm and the waves of the Sea and they obeyed him.
We have allowed fear to rule our lives. Fear is a powerful force the devil is using to intimidate believers. As a result, we are not able to stand up in faith and fight the devil through prayer. We tend to think that the forces of the world are more powerful than God.
Don’t allow situations of this world to frighten you to the point of becoming very fearful in life. The storm is a symbol of the difficult challenges you and I are facing in life. The boat is the world we find ourselves. Sometimes we begin to think that Jesus is not in the difficulties we find ourselves, therefore we allow fear to take charge. Jesus is with us in all the human situations that we find ourselves. In our moments of difficulties, he is so close to us than before. He is closer to you than your soul. Jesus never abandons his people to perish in the moments of challenges in life. Stand up to the situation and with the grace of God, you shall overcome it. No situation is bigger than Jesus. The fact of the disciples calling on him was a symbol of pouring out their hearts to Jesus in prayer. They called on him and he answered them. Remember they went to Jesus but not to any other sources of powers. Seek the face of the Lord in your moments of distress.
As I have always been saying, what God can’t do doesn’t exist. He is capable of anything. We have allowed situations to bully us too much. As if to say, this situation is impossible to overcome. Some of us have allowed human beings to bully us in life. We have come to fear certain people as if they are powerful than God. Please don’t let anybody to frighten you in life. Those people are not God and they can never be. The power and the authority given to us is far far greater than whatever powers they have. Don’t give any chance to the power of fear in you. You are bigger than fear.
We only need to grow in our faith in Jesus. It takes a strong faith to overcome difficult moments in life. We have to also persist in prayer in order to overcome these mountains in life. Never give up in your situations. Jesus is about to step in your situation. Things seem so difficult to bear, but with Jesus in your boat of life, there is hope. He brings hope to hopeless situations. When everybody has given up on you, there Jesus the mighty one comes in to change your story.
May God increase our faith not to allow fear to rule our lives. Amen.
Have a Blessed Weekend.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
