Ise Oluwa

Here is a recording of about 30 adults singing "Ise Oluwa," a Nigerian song. The words are Ise Oluwa Kole baje oh. The translation is "What the Creator has made can never be destroyed." The teacher who taught it, did not mention much about the piece and tried to compare the Creator and not being destroyed to energy, and how it just changes to something different. However, I see differently. The song itself, as you'll hear, starts in unison and then splits to three-part harmony. Not the best quality but the beauty of the song is still there. With the video, I have added a few photos taken of our Creator's creation. It will never be destroyed just like our souls, for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

(Rochester, NY skyline)

(Lake Ontario, NY)

(Sunset on Lake Michigan)

(Early morning, King's Domain, OH)

(Lake Ontario, NY)

Psalm 139: 13-18

"For you formed my inward parts..."

             Father, as I was being formed in my mother's womb, only you saw my creation. You were the potter, and I was the clay being molded by your divine will. 

"My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret."

             Lord, even amongst all the chaos of this world, you took the time to form together my body, which, would one day be returned in service to you! Abba, you knew the length of my arms and feet before they had a shape. You knew the number of hairs on my head! All of this you determined and saw before my heart began beating. 

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" 

(Fearfully set apart) 

             Before the world began you recognized my as a child! Father, you knew my life would be set apart! I would wander away from you, only to return, like the prodigal child, to you, my Heavenly Father. I pray that you will teach me to understand the depth and the meaning behind being "fearfully set apart." Each and every day teach me, and reveal to me the magnitude of being a son of yours! 

              Only you saw my "unformed substance" as it was hidden in "the depths of the Earth." Only you saw the days that were laid out for me. 

"In your book were written, everyone of them, the days that were formed for me."

• You saw my birth
• You saw the days that I would travel as a lost sheep. Building my existence on things that would only corrupt and tear me apart from the inside. 
• You saw the nights I would cry in desperation to you, tormented by the unrecognized sin in my life. 
• You saw the day my mother would pass away. 
• You then saw how her death would lead me to an acknowledgement of your existence and how you are greater and can never be taken away! 
• You saw the day I would meet the spiritual mentor that I had unknowingly searching for, which would lead to a renewed and desire to serve and follow you.  
• You saw everything. 
• You see everything. 
• You see what is ahead of me. 
• You see the day I will join my brothers and sisters in the promised land! 

                 Abba, with each breath I take, may I never forget of the intimate relationship I have with you through Jesus Christ. May I never forget the intricate time you took forming me and shaping out my days! May this knowledge and truth  fill me and fight off the lies the enemy tries to throw at me attacking my identity. When I am faced with a lie, may you remind me that You, the most supreme being, created me! I am just a fragment of your beautifully painted canvas, but you know about me! You know everything about me! I pray Lord, that I will not remember this out of selfish ambition, but out of complete and utter joy for you; out of a recognition of your omnipotence! 

"How precious to me are your thoughts O God! if I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake and I am still with you!"

                   To think of your great mind O Father, is to settle with knowledge that is unfathomable! You, who causes the sun and moon to rise, who separated the Heavens, the earth, and the sea,  who provides for the robins in the air, and the lilies in the fields, takes the time to form each precious body and breath life into them! 

The Awakened Sinner

O my forgetful soul, 

Awake from they wandering dream;

turn from chasing vanities,

look inward, forward, upward

view thyself,

reflect upon thyself,

Who and what thou art, why here,

what thou must soon be. 

Thou art a creature of God, 

formed and furnished by him, 

lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;

Dost thou not desire to know God's ways?

O God, 

Thou injured, neglected, provoked Benefactor

when I think upon thy greatness and they goodness

I am ashamed at my insensibility, 

I blush to lift up my face, 

for I have foolishly erred. 

Shall i go on neglecting thee, 

when everyone of thy rational creatures 

should love thee, 

and take every care to please thee?

I confess that thou hast not been in all my thoughts, 

that the knowledge of thyself as the end of

my being has been strangely overlooked, 

that I have never seriously considered

my hear-need. 

But although my mind is perplexed and divided, 

my nature perverse, 

yet my secret dispositions still desire thee. 

Let me not delay to come to thee;

Break the fatal enchantment that binds

my evil affections,

and bring me to a happy mind that rests in thee, 

for thou hast made me and canst not forget me. 

Let thy Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ, 

for I am slow to learn;

And hear thou my broken cries. 

--Puritan Prayer for "The Valley of Vision"