WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Monday, 30th March,2026.
Theme: Don’t allow evil to rule your life
(Is 42: 1-7, Ps 27, Jn 12: 1-11)
The forces of evil are strong to the extent that when you allow yourself, they will control your life. The Pharisees and the Scribes allowed jealousy and envy to control them, hence they continued to pursue evil. Because Lazarus became a living testimony of the great deeds of Jesus, they planned to kill him too to prevent people from believing in Jesus. In order to protect their evil intentions, they continued to pursue evil.
Evil triumph in souls full of jealousy and envy. It doesn’t matter whether you are a minister of God or even an angel. Satan and the bad angels were with God in heaven, but when they allowed evil to enter their hearts they became anti- God. We can fast for forty days and nights, but if we don’t allow the spirit of God to take charge of our lives, we can still be instrument of Satan. The truth is that most of us in the church have become instruments of Satan and some of us have matured to become diabolic. The fact that you stand at the pulpit to preach or go to church doesn’t mean his spirit dwells in you. We are not better than the Pharisees and the Scribes in terms of religiosity, but still evil thrived in them.
Beloved in Christ, let’s be opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I know we are all weak beings, but with the grace of God we can become powerful instruments of God. We should not become brood of vipers in the house of God or in our societies. Ask yourself whether your deeds put you on God’s side or on the side of Satan. It is time to repent and come to the Lord in this Holy Week. Let’s die with Jesus with all these evil tendencies and resurrect with him with new life.
May God help us not to be controlled by evil. Amen.
Have a Blessed Holy Week.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Tuesday, 31st March,2026.
Theme: Be Faithful to Your Words
( Is 49: 1-6, Ps 71, Jn 13: 21-33,36-38)
A number of times, most of us are able to give promises. But when it comes to fulfilling it then we fall short. Peter was also in the same situation. He promised to follow Jesus wherever he goes and even promised to lay down his life for Jesus. In reality these were just empty promises. It was the same person who denied him three times.
Some of us easily condemn Peter, but the truth is he is better than us. To be different then we have to stand by our words. This attitude helps to build trust. People will begin not to take us serious if they realize that we only give empty promises. We need to stand by people whom we have given our word, even if it will cost us our life.
Sometimes we need to have the courage to bear shame, disappointments, frustrations for people whom we care about. Continuous failure of disappointing people makes us liars. And that is what some of us have become. I know we can’t be perfect all the time but we can do our best through the strength of the Holy Spirit.
May God grant us the grace to always stand by our words. Amen.
Have a Blessed Day
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Wednesday, 1st April, 2026
Theme: Avoid being money -conscious.
( Is 50: 4-9, Ps 69, Matt 26: 14-25)
Scripture says that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Yes it is good to have it, but there is danger when we behave as if our whole life depends on it. Material things are to support our living on this earth. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his own master made money his major preoccupation in life. He went to the leaders to offer his help to kill his master if only they were willing to pay. He was an opportunist. But unfortunately, he regretted later and to took his own life. The sad aspect is that he couldn’t even enjoy the money.
Some of us love money and material possessions even than our fellow humans. We will kill our fellow humans for this. After all this,most of us are not even able to enjoy these things before we die. So the question is, where are we going with them?
The very things we are struggling day and night for becomes a useless venture after all. Life is not all about money. Hence, let’s us stop amassing wealth without working for our salvation. They are only to help us serve God and our brethren better. Remember, when you die you are not going to be buried with them. You will leave them behind for people to enjoy. And mostly they are enjoyed by people who didn’t even know how you acquired them.
As Ecclesiastes will say ” Vanity upon vanity, all is vanity” . Let’s not allow money to control our lives.
May Jesus grant us the grace not to allow the power of money to rule our lives. Amen. Have a Blessed Day
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper
2nd April, 2026
Theme: Wash one Another’s Feet
( Ex 12:1-811-14, Ps 116, 1Cor 11:23-26 Jn13:1-15)
The washing of feet by Jesus symbolizes humility and service. The fact of bending low to wash the feet implies one must bring himself or herself low to our brethren. We cannot serve if we don’t humble ourselves. It takes a great effort to be humble, especially as leaders. The temptation is for people to serve us because we feel that we are the bosses and the people are the subjects. It becomes more of master and servant relationship. This should not be for us Christians.
As leaders, we are to come to the level of the people. We are to identify ourselves with them. As Jesus told his disciples, those who want to be their leaders should be their servants. To be servants here or to serve here means to sacrifice all we have for the good of our people. We are supposed to be working for the common good and not for our own interest. We must spend our time, our material possessions and all our resources for the good of others. It means we are not to be self-centered, because it is not about us.
Our preoccupation always is to work for the good of others. As a leader if you bring yourself to the level of the people it doesn’t mean you are not carrying yourself well.Unfortunately, this is the mentality of most of us. Am always sad when I hear this.
The I syndrome should be tamed with the grace of God. The egoistic character should not control our lives. The secret in life is that when you make others happy and prosper in life, then you also become happy and prosper. There is always joy when you put smiles on the faces of people. This has always been my feeling. Proud people cannot be humble. They full of themselves. They always feel they are important than everyone and above all. This attitude according to Christ is not Christian, it belongs to worldly people.
As St. Augustine of Hippo once said” it was pride that made angels to become devils, but it was humility that made humans to be angels . Therefore check your pride and humble yourself.We are called to render service to our people in humility. It is only by doing so that we become the image of Christ in our societies.
May Jesus grant us the grace to allow the power of humility and service to be our hallmark. Amen. Have a Blessed Triduum.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
DO NOT FABRICATE STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE
(Is 52:13-53:12, Psalm 31, Heb. 4:14-16; 5:7-9, John 18:1-19:42)
My dear people of God, I would like to reflect with you on this theme on this Good Friday, the Passion of our Lord because we are not different from those who killed Jesus innocently. Jesus suffered in the hands of the Jewish leaders not because he committed any crime, but because the Pharisees and the Scribes fabricated stories to make sure they put him to death. They incited the people against Jesus out of jealousy and hatred. More people were believing in him,therefore they had to discredit him and finally kill him. They thought by discrediting him, they will succeed by preventing the people from believing in him. But since that strategy was not working, then they had no choice than to eliminate him. This phenomenon is the order of the day in our current society. The Pharisees and Scribes have become many among us and you and I are also part of it.
In Matt 25: 57-68, Mk 14: 53- 65 and Lk 22: 66-71, we are told the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death. But they persisted by getting false witnesses to testify falsely against him. Accordingly, their false testimonies did not agree but they still had to create lies to achieve their diabolic agenda. If someone has not done anything wrong do you have to by force create lies to implicate the person? Jesus was crucified on the cross out of lies. It was lies that made him to suffer even though it was divinely planned. They hated Jesus to the extent that they planned to kill Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Why because he made many people to believe in Jesus which was a dislike to the Jewish leaders (Jn 12:10-11).
My dear friends in Christ, we are not different from these people. Some of us may even be worse than them. Because we want to discredit people and make them unpopular, we create all sorts of lies about them. So that people will see them to be bad people. In fact, this is what the Jewish leaders succeeded in getting people to buy into their lies. Definitely,even in evil you will get people to follow you. Do not think that because you have people sharing in your evil plans so you will succeed. Even if you succeed that will be temporal. Evil can never triumph over good. There was Good Friday but remember there was Easter Sunday as well. The evil plans that you have created about your brother or sister because of hatred and jealousy will one day come to an end. Even after his resurrection, the Jewish leaders paid the guards to lie that it was his disciples who came to still his body whiles they were asleep. But that fabrications could not discredit the resurrection message and could not stand the test of time. The lies will one day come to an end (Matt 28: 11-15). Our lies about people will one day betray us and only bring shame to us. Pilate himself realised that they hated Jesus and wanted to release him but because of becoming unpopular, he had to give in to their demand. Some people have died innocently because of the lies of others. Some have become mad, whiles some are in prison, some are also going through all forms of emotional torture because of the lies of some of us. It is pathetic this situation is very much alive among Christians and more especially among priests and religious. People who are supposed to know better and lead us in the right way. Jealousy and hatred is evil and we must all guard against it. They can lead us to do very diabolic acts which make us agents of the devil and not of God.
When people are creating lies about you because they want to discredit you, do not be worried your God will fight for you. You may be suffering the consequences of these lies but it is a matter of time. These same people will come to appreciate you and give good testimonies about you. With time you will be vindicated. God walks on crooked ways and some of these situations become means that God uses to make his will become a reality in our lives. Do not become bitter about such situations and people. It is a moment for us to also mature in our Christian journey. Do not hate them because of their evil deeds against you. Rather love them and forgive them because you are an ambassador of Christ. Let people see the difference between you and the people who are not in Christ. Sometimes it is difficult as human beings but with the grace of God we can easily let go. We only imprison people in our hearts if we refuse to forgive them. This is not helpful for our health and our total wellbeing.
Today Jesus wants us to check the things we say about people which ends up crucifying them. Things which are lies and we have to change from. Let us be charitable to our brothers and sisters and appreciate who they are. We are gifted in different ways and this should not be a cause of hatred and division among us. May the grace of this day help us avoid tarnishing the image of people out of hatred and jealousy. AMEN.
Do not lie about people. Don’t crucify people with lies. Appreciate the gifts of others.
I wish you a fruitful triduum and a happy easter in advance!
REV. FR. Akakpo Matthew
WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION
4th April,2026
Holy Saturday,Easter Vigil
Theme: Persist in Your Period of Waiting
(Matthew 28:1-10)
The period of waiting is sometimes very frustrating for most of us, because of the prolongation of this period. The case was not different for the disciples of Jesus. Their master had been killed like a common criminal, giving a shameful death. But they hoped for his resurrection on the third day. This three days seems to be so long for them. They wished it could have taken place so quickly, in order to shame the Jewish leaders. Who thought that was the end of Jesus. But they didn’t know that death could not hold Jesus captive, even in the grave, Jesus is still Lord.
Sometimes we become a mockery in society, to the extent of even contemplating suicide. The Lord will surely answer our prayers at the right moment. God has not forgotten you. It doesn’t matter how long you have endured these sufferings in life. God is about to step into your situation and change your story.
Continue to persevere in the difficult moments in your life. Tell yourself that I will never give up. I will continue to pray till something happens. Tell someone also never to give up. Once there was Good Friday, then surely there will be Easter Sunday. Your Easter Sunday is about to manifest. No situation is a hopeless one before God. Remember no condition is permanent. It is a matter of time. Keep on trusting the Lord. If the situation is weighing you down then tell yourself, it is well with my soul. We are Easter people and alleluia is our song.
May the resurrection power of Jesus help us to always endure in our waiting. Amen.
Happy Easter
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
