Presentation of the Lord
Monday, 2nd February, 2026
Theme: Lead your Child to Jesus
( Mal 3:1–4, Ps 24, Heb. 2:14-18,Lk 2:22-40)
Joseph and Mary presented the child Jesus in the temple, according to the Jewish customs. The fact that the first male born child must be presented to the Lord. In other words, Joseph and Mary taught the child Jesus the ways of God from his childhood. They led him to know God, of course we know Jesus was God, hence he didn’t need any presentation from the parents. But this was done to fulfill their customs and to give parents an example.
Our children are gifts from the Lord. Therefore, it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to let them know the one who gave them to us. We have to let them fall in love with Christ. They can’t know Christ if we don’t guide them to know him. We need to teach them how to pray, read the bible and taking church seriously. This is what Joseph and Mary did, which all parents must emulate.
I must admit that some parents have failed in this regard. Some of us couldn’t lead our children to Jesus. And today they have become wayward. Some of them don’t know God and live ungodly life. Our children are not rooted in God because we didn’t help them to establish a strong relationship with Jesus. The principle of catch them young is very important in child upbringing. You can control them a lot when they are young but not when they reach certain stages. Start to train them in the Lord from childhood and they will not depart from it. As scripture says, train the child in the ways of the Lord, and when he grows he will not depart from it.
Beloved, it is also true that some parents are making all efforts but their children are not co-operating. We need to also intensify our prayers for such children in those moments. The devil also seeks to destroy our children when they know their future. Hence, we need to battle it spiritually to bring change in the life of these children. St. Monica accordingly prayed unceasingly for the conversion of his son Augustine of Hippo. Which came to pass one day. Never give up on your child. It is only God who can change that child. Persevere in prayer, because one day a miracle will happen in the life of that child.
Stop cursing your children and using bad words when they offend you. Always speak good words and invoke the blessings of God upon them. Because that is our wish that they become great personalities for us.
Invest in the spiritual lives of your children. As you are struggling to give them proper education, give them Jesus too. It will be a useless venture for your child to be an academic giant but a moral dwarf. Unfortunately, that’s what most of us have made our children to be. The best treasure you can give your child is Jesus. Salvation is the best gift you can offer your child.
As we celebrate the Day of Consecrated life, we pray for more vocations in this way of life. A
Consecrated life ( also known as religious life ) is a state of life in the Catholic Church lived by those faithful who are called to follow Jesus Christ in a more exacting way. In celebrating this day, we are also called to dedicate our entire life in serving the Lord as the Consecrated people do.
May God give us the strength to bring up our children in the ways of the Lord and also to serve him with our whole being. Amen.
Have a Blessed Week.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Tuesday, 3rd February, 2026.
Memorial of St Blaise
Theme: Jesus, our Deliverer and Healer
( 2 Sam 18:9-10,14,24-25,30-19:3 Ps 86, Mk 5:21-43)
Jesus is our mighty healer and our deliverer. The story of the woman who suffered from hemorrhage for twelve good years and the little girl who was raised from death, should give us hope in Jesus. The fact that with Jesus in our boat of life, there is no need for us to be afraid and be hopeless.The ruler had hope in Jesus that even though his daughter was dead, Jesus had the power to raise her up.
We are told in the gospel that the woman who had the hemorrhage had gone to various physicians and other places for healing but she wasn’t successful. Accordingly, she had spent all that she had, but her situation even got worse. This is a difficult health condition for an individual to battle with. My mothers and sisters really understand what it means to bleed for twelve good years. But when she met doctor Jesus her story changed. Jesus was her last stop.
Sickness as a human suffering is very devastating among us. Jesus in his manifesto indicated that, he was sent to preach good news to the poor and to set captives free(Lk 4:18). Sickness is part of this human captivity for which Jesus came to deliver us from. Beloved,we have a God who is able to heal all our diseases (Ex 15:26b). He sends his word and heal all our infirmities ( Ps 107:20).
Scripture says through his strips we receive our healing. I don’t know the kind of illness which is troubling you in your life, but I pray today that you experience the healing touch of Jesus our master. Just trust in his power of healing. Don’t give up, your time of deliverance is just at the corner. I want you to encourage someone to continue to look up to God and not give up. Someone is about to give up on his condition of ailments or life situation, be the source of strength for such person. For some of us even doctors have given up on us. It seems that we are going to live with such conditions till our death. For some of us it is a particular sickness which has been troubling the family and sadly there is no cure for us. I give you doctor Jesus today. There were equally some people whom doctors gave up on them, but today Jesus has healed them totally from the power of such illnesses. Yours is even something little before him.
Sicknesses have made people to commit suicide, have made people to lose their faith in God, have made people to lose everything in life. But Doctor Jesus is the answer to these troubles in our lives. May be yours is a spiritual sickness, but Jesus is able to heal. Don’t go to any Mallam, or medicine man or a fake pastor. That sickness is something too small for him to cure. If the woman who suffered from hemorrhage for twelve good years received her healing after encountering Jesus, then your moment of deliverance is just at the corner. The same thing can be said of the man who was paralyzed for thirty-eight good years(Jn 5:1-18). Your time will come. Your God hasn’t abandoned you so continue to persevere.Emmanuel is with you in the moments of your struggles with that illness or difficult situation.
May Jesus heal us from all our physical and spiritual diseases. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Wednesday, 4th January, 2026.
Theme: Acknowledge your Sins
( 2 Sam 24:2,9-17,Ps 32, Mk 6:1-6)
David in the first reading acknowledged his sins before God when it was pointed out to him by the prophet Gad. We do remember also that he repented from his sins by taking Uriah’s wife, Beersheba and causing the death of Uriah, . It was the prophet Nathan who was sent to him by God. David sang Psalm 51 to ask for forgiveness from God. The man David was loved by God because of his humility of accepting his sinful acts when pointed out to him. He has equally become a great figure admired by all because of this nature of his.
Beloved in Christ, there is one thing accepting your sinfulness and another repenting from it. If you don’t acknowledge your sins or mistakes how do you change from it or them. No one is righteous as the scripture says. But some of us behave as angels as if to say we are not human beings. Accepting ones sinful nature is a sign of Christian maturity. A matured Christian is the one who accepts his humanness before God.
The bible tells us that the righteous man sins seven times a day (Pro 24:16). But the difference is that, he doesn’t stay in the sin but makes efforts through the grace of Christ to rise up. Whiles the arrogant stays in the sin and perishes. We are all making efforts to grow in holiness in this earthly pilgrimage. The levels of growth in holiness is different depending on your relationship with God. But the truth is that no human being can attain the fullness of holiness on earth here unless in heaven. The day when your life expires on this earth and you reunite with your maker, then he grants you this fullness of what we have all been yearning for.
Any Christian who claims not to be a sinner is an arrogant Christian and is sick of spiritual pride. We are all sinners before God seeking for his mercy everyday. A mature Christian acknowledges his sinfulness or his nothingness before God and seeks for his mercy everyday. Until we acknowledge this fact , we will be deceiving ourselves and others. Unfortunately, some so called pastors are deceiving people with such teachings. Please my brother or sister shine your eyes and learn about the things of God properly so that you are not deceived.
May the Holy Spirit help us to always allow the grace of God to overcome the sinful tendencies in our lives . Amen.
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
