WORDS OF LIVING WATERS DAILY INSPIRATION

Memorial of Pope St. Leo the Great
Monday, 10th November, 2025.
Theme: Don’t live misleading Life.
(Wis. 1:1-7, Ps 139,Lk 17:1-6)

Jesus is warning us in the gospel to beware of giving bad examples to people. This was the kind of life the Pharisees and the Scribes were living. They were living scandalous lives, causing many people to deviate from the ways of God. Their way of life was causing a number of people to sin.

We are supposed to lead people to Christ. Our way of life is supposed to bring people closer to the Lord. We are to help people to discover Christ in their lives. Our lives must be shining examples to people in the church, the work place and the society at large. Unfortunately, we are living scandalous lives. Our lives have made people candidate of hell. Beloved,don’t let people become thieves,liars, fornicators, gossip, cheats, etc because of us. We can’t say everybody is doing it so we must also do it. You should be different from the masses. At least be the conscience of the people.

Some of us also encourage others to do bad things through mere words. Sometimes people may be quarreling, instead of bringing peace we rather fuel division among them. Some of us are even the source of these divisions among people.

Again we refuse to rebuke people who are doing the wrong things. Sometimes out of fear of the person, or the fear of losing our relationships or the benefits we get from them etc. Jesus is saying that we should be bold enough to point out the wrongs of people. When someone is swimming in sin point it out to the person. Don’t be afraid of the person, even if the person is your boss. But that should be done in a fraternal way. As in a lovely way to win him back for Christ. Never give up on stubborn sinners, one day you will win them for Christ.

Action speaks louder than words. Therefore be a credible witness for Christ, and I bet you your life will change a lot of people. Remember ” The world need credible witnesses not eloquent preachers”

May God help us with His grace to make our lives as signboards to him. Amen
Have a blessed Week.
Shalom
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew

Memorial of St. Martin of Tours
Tuesday, 11th November, 2025.
Theme: Don’t boast of your Christian duties
( Wis 2:23-3:9, Ps 34, Lk 17: 7-10)

Jesus in the gospel reading of today is warning us against boasting when performing our Christian duties. He said we should only say ” We are unworthy servants;we have only done what was our duty” Lk 17:10 . In other words, whatever we achieve in line of our Christian duties, we should attribute it to the grace of God. It is not by our own might, neither by our strength, but by the spirit of God.

But sometimes some of us who call ourselves Christians attribute great deeds in our lives either to people or other sources of powers. Sometimes we give credit of successes in our lives to our own efforts. Mostly you will hear I did this and that, but hardly will you hear by the grace of God I was able to do this. That is why James will say we must always use the expression if God permit I will do this or I will go here.

Without God we are nothing and we can’t achieve or do anything. So stop saying I will do this or I will go to this place without any reference to God. What about if you wake up and you are sick, can you still go to the place? Or if you are not able to wake up at all, where is the power to go or do what you were saying. It is the grace of God which is carrying us along and not by our own power. Yes it is true that our efforts are also necessary, but that alone can’t suffice. You need God to bless these efforts to produce success.

This implies that it takes God and us to achieve something in life. But it is also true that God can bless us or perform a great deed in our lives without any efforts from us. That is why he is God and not a human being. We still have the people of Lystra (Acts 24:5-18) among us, who always attribute great deeds in our societies to other sources of powers other than God. These powers they think are powerful than God.

The commonest among us is about our so called men of God. I have heard one of these pastors on our media platforms saying that it is by my grace . It is no more by the grace of God but by their own grace as human beings. They have now taken the place of God in the lives of the people who follow them. Their followers have also made them gods in their churches and in their lives. They honor them more than God who created them. Some of these so called pastors are not using the power of God, so we shouldn’t be surprised if they fail to give honor to God. They are rather honoring the sources of their powers which sometimes we may not know.

But some of our brothers and sisters are genuinely using the power of God in performing these mighty deeds. But the problem is they have allowed pride to rule them, thinking it is by their own power that they perform such great deeds. But we do forget that it is God who has endowed these gifts in us. We are able to do what we are doing because it is God who is performing his mighty deeds through us. Without him we can’t do anything on our own. It is normal for human beings to attribute the credit to us as it happened to Paul and Barnabas in Lystra, but we have to resist it totally. Let’s follow the example of Paul and Barnabas who corrected the mindset of the people. Give the glory which is due Jesus to him and not to ourselves. Remember we can’t do anything without God.

May the Holy Spirit help us to always give the credit which is due God. Amen . Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew

Memorial of St Josaphat
Wednesday, 12th November, 2025.
Theme: Show Gratitude Always
(Wis 6:1-11, Ps 82, Lk 17: 11-19)

Leprosy was a pathetic and a disgraceful condition among the Israelites and their neighbours. Among the Israelites it was even worse (Lev. 13: 1-2, 44-46). The person became totally an outcast until he or she recovers from this disgraceful condition according to their religious customs. The chief priest examines the individual to confirm the disease and now pronounce the person unclean to the entire Israelite’s community. The individual must appear publicly as an unclean person by wearing torn clothes and let their hair hang loose. On top of this, the leper must cry out unclean, unclean when they come into public so that no one will come into contact with them. Your movements were really restricted and until you are cleansed you remained an outcast. This was really a difficult situation that any human being can find himself or herself. Even your family cannot come closer to you because of your condition. No wonder Naaman (2 Kings 5: 14-17) in the Old Testament was ready to do everything possible to express his gratitude to the man of God. After washing himself in the river Jordan and was cleansed, he returned to show appreciation. Jesus came to provide the antidote to this virus of leprosy.

Ten lepers were healed by Jesus but only one of them came to thank God. In fact, he came praising God with a loud voice; and he fell at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Understanding the nature of this condition among the Israelites, will let you appreciate what this man did to thank Jesus. Even if he rolled on the ground to express this joy, it would still be understood by those who know the disgraceful nature of this condition. But surprisingly, only one person came to show appreciation out of the ten. He was even a Samaritan, a foreigner. Which implies the other nine were Jews, who did not see the need to come back and thank Jesus. When they needed His help, they cried out to Him but easily forgot to come back and thank Him. Maybe they thought because they were Jews it was the duty of Jesus to take care of them. Their prophets were called to minister to them and since they considered Jesus as a great prophet, then it was their right to receive such an attention from Him. Hence there was no need to come back and thank Him, because he had only performed His duty.

The Samaritan could not hide his joy for being set free as a leper. He publicly sang the goodness of God to express his appreciation. Naaman who was also a non- Jew saw the need to come and thank the man of God. He knew what it meant to be healed from leprosy. We should be full of joy and be witnesses to the great things that Jesus does in our lives. There are a lot of spiritual and physical healings which goes on in our lives but sometimes we fail to acknowledge and appreciate these happenings. Some of us even think that it is the duty of God to take care of us. Hence, when He does something for us, we fail to thank Him. Even if it is the duty of God, He still deserves our appreciation. The most important thing we should be thankful to God always is the gift of life. If you have life then there is hope. We don’t need to have so much before we know that God has been gracious to us. In the same vein, we should be appreciative to our fellow human beings, when they do something for us. Some of us there is nothing that people will do for us that we will appreciate. Nothing seems to be anything to us, apart from what we do for people. For that we want appreciation, but we don’t want to appreciate others. Please, this is not a good Christian spirit.

May God grant us the grace always to be appreciative in our lives. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom.
Rev. Fr. Matthew Akakpo

Thursday, 13th November, 2025.
Theme: Don’t be Panic about End Time Events
( Wis 7:22-8:1, Ps 119, Lk 17: 20-25)

The issue of the end of the world has been an old age bother to humanity and the time of Jesus was not an exception. Jesus warns us in the gospel of today of the fact of being careful not to be misled by false teachers. He said that false messiahs and prophets will appear to produce great signs to lead people astray(Matt 24:23-28). It happened during the time of Christ that some false prophets were playing with the emotions of the people. They were giving false predictions about end time. That really made people to panic a lot even about their very existence. They made people to be so afraid about this event.

The situation is not different from our time. Before the year 2000, some false prophets predicted that the world will come to an end in 2000. Some scientists also predicted of a rock which would descend from the sky to destroy the whole world. In fact, this event brought fear and panic in the whole world. I learnt some people even sold their properties, a number of relationships broke up, people started going to church to be saved, and a lot of people were living in fear. Because they didn’t know at what point this event will take place.

The phobia of this event is not different from death. Almost all of us are afraid of death. How would you go to heaven if you don’t want to die? There is no need to be afraid of it because no matter what one day you would die. The important thing is to work hard for our salvation. If I should say death is coming right now, the way people will be running for their lives is funny but the same time sad.

But must we be afraid about the second coming of Christ? Of course not. That’s is why he told the Pharisees that the kingdom of heaven is already with us. And that is Jesus himself. The fact that if we accept him as our personal saviour and obey his commandments, he lives in us and we also live in him. Therefore we are assured of our salvation in him. It will rather be joy for us to experience the end time event. It would not be a moment of panicking because we have prepared ourselves always for the Lord. Jesus himself in Matt 24:36 says that neither he nor the angels know that day except the father. Hence, it calls for watchfulness.Why do we have to let someone to predict when Jesus will come before we start preparing? And that brings about the fear because we are not ready and we think that we will go to hell. As Christians our joy is to see the Lord to judge the living and the dead. Because this is our faith and hope to meet the Lord at the end of our lives.

We have allowed ourselves to be fooled by these stomach pastors and prophets. We behave as if we don’t read the bible. Please let’s wise up if not they will continue to fool us and be robbing us of our monies and properties. Some of us have become religious prostitutes because we are confused in life and don’t know what exactly we want in life.

As one saint said that he will continue to do what he is doing when he hears the Lord is coming,because he knows that he is always doing the will of God. There will be no need to be panicking because his Saviour is coming. The point is he is ready for the Lord.

May the Holy Spirit help us to always avoid fear and panic surrounding his second coming. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew

Friday, 14th November, 2025.
**Theme: This world will end one Day **
( Wis 13 :1-9,Ps 19,Lk 17:26-37)

Jesus in the gospel of today describes the nature of the end times. At the end of the world, the angels of God will separate the good people from the bad. For the good people,they will go to heaven to be with God, his angels and saints forever, whiles the bad ones will be tormented in hell. But more particularly, Jesus is warning us about the fact of the end of this world where he will come to judge the living and the dead. This world will one day come to an end, where everything material will be destroyed. Hence, it is a passing world. One day you and I will die. Death is inevitable, no one will remain a rock on this earth.We should therefore never put our hope and trust in things which will one day fade away, but rather strive for the salvation of our souls in heaven. This is the message of Christ for us today.

The truth is that when you die the world has come to an end to you. But not to others who are alive. Our life will come to and end one day. And we will face judgement after our death on this earth. No one knows when this moment will come, hence it calls for vigilance and watchfulness.

Some of us live our lives as if there is no judgement after our life on this earth. We are not working for the salvation of our souls. We have concerned ourselves with too much worldly things, and have neglected God. We don’t care about things of God anymore. We spend a lot of time with things of the world than things of God. We are all victims of these situations.But at the end of the day those things can’t secure us our salvation. It is a wake-up call to all of us. Because we don’t know the hour the Lord will call us.

We shouldn’t allow people to deceive us so that we live a loose life in this world. It is after our death before we will realized it, and that will be too late to make amends. By then your fate has already been determined. If you have anything to do about your life, then it is the now. Tomorrow or the next seconds is not for you.

How many things are we carrying with us when we die? Your coffin can’t carry all your belongings with you. Even if they bury you with your car, how many of your things can your car carry? The wife of Lot lost her life because she was blinded by material things.Reflect about these realities of life.

Remember heaven and hell are real, don’t be deceived. Hence live a good life so that you can join the saints in heaven. Don’t live to regret it just like the rich man in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. Like I know is always too late. And they say it is the philosophy of the fools . Ask yourself, if I die right now can I stand upright before God? If yes then continue your good works but if no then we have to change.

May the holy spirit give us the strength to live lives as people who are going to be judged when our lives expire on this earth . Amen
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.

Saturday, 15th November, 2025.
Theme: Never give up in Prayer
(Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9, Ps 105, Lk 18:1-8)

In the gospel of today, Jesus uses the Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge to encourage the disciples to continue to persevere in prayer. You can pray but if you don’t persevere, you may not see results.Whoever perseveres in prayer receives a positive result.

The widow could have easily given up after being ignored by the judge . But she never gave up. She remained focused and determined until she achieved a positive result.

Continue to wait on the Lord in prayer. Your right moment will come. It is a matter of time and your story will change. Never give up, surely God will answer you at the appointed time.

Someone has given up in his situation. You think that God has abandoned you and the fact that God can’t do it for you again. Please nothing is too late for him to do and nothing is too hard for him to do. In fact, God is never late in any situation. He is always on time.Nothing is impossible for God to do and as I always say what God can’t do doesn’t exist

It doesn’t matter how long you have been waiting on the Lord. You only need to wait on him for his own time. This is the challenge of us Christians, the fact of waiting. The spirit of waiting eludes us most of the time. We fail to wait and as a result, we end up going to other sources for help. Please have the courage to wait on the Lord, whiles you continue to seek his face in prayer. God’s time is always the best. As humans as we are it is not easy to wait, especially when it seems to be delaying. If you should find yourself in such situations you would understand. Please try to sympathize with such people and encourage them. Maybe if you were in their shoes, you wouldn’t have survived.

God would come to your aid and deliver you. Your moment will come. God will shame those who think all is over for you. Just trust him and hope in him. We have a God who never fails, so never give up. Stop crying and be strong because your moment of deliverance is just at the corner. Your God has a track record of doing mighty deeds in our lives. He has never fail and he will never fail you.

I know you are going through a lot, and your pillow is soaked with tears. In fact, you are going through hell.It seems God has distance himself from you. God will intervene at the right time. Keep on with your spirit of patience and waiting. Your time will surely come okay.

May God strengthen us never to give up even in difficult moments. Amen. Have a blessed Weekend.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew