LIFE: ALL THAT MATTERS

ARCHER VICTOR PAAKWESI

 Chapter 1:

Beware of FRIENDS

Friends are to keep us very happy and relaxed, but if you have a friend
and you don’t know how he/she thinks about you then please disdain
from that friend of yours. Some friends when they see God lifting you
up from grass to grace then they come in. They will behave as if they
care about you but no they don’t care. When you get a job and they
don’t they will be like ’this boy or girl wants to go higher in life, we
shall see’, then at that time they will either kill you or make your life
miserable. There are some types of friends that you have to be aware of:
1. Painful friends:
Painful friends are types of friends that you make that you won’t
know that they despise you. These types of friends always feel pain
when they see God bringing you up from grass to grace and from the
short quarters to the headquarters. Once upon a time when I was in
J.H.S I used to have a lot of friends but unknowingly I did not know
most of them despised me so, the day to the B.E.C.E came and it
came over. Now we were waiting for our results and it came and I
had 7 ones and my friends had 3 ones and 4 ones. To my amazement
I went to them and told them they were like not that happy. So I
don’t know what I have done to them, so I abstained from them. So
you have to be cautious of yourself.

2. Peer Pressured friends:

 These type of friends will pressure you to do something you have not
done before and will always tell you to continue doing. Some of
them will let you commit a sin like going for abortion, pregnancy,
and even stealing and rape etc. These friends can pressure you to go
to the clubs with them and drink all kinds of drinks you haven’t
drank before. There was one friend I used to have who had this kind
of lifestyle “womanizing”. This friend has been watching porn and
does not know Christ. But I urge you to be careful of all of these
friends and if you can’t change them abstain from them

3. Friends of benefit :
These are friends that gain benefit from all that you do be it good or
bad. Some of these friends gain benefits from our progress, up
gradations, and our goals and achievements. Others rather do gain
benefits from these in a negative way hurting you the individual. So
beware of all these types of friends and abstain from them if they do
not change.

4. Some friends are like brothers:

These are best friends that are like brothers to you. They do help in
all times of need and do not want to look for your downfall. These
friends do not like intruding on your private matters and are always
helpful. There’s a saying, “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
These friends always lookout for you all the time. They don’t even
get worried about their problems and look out for solutions to yours.
Their kind is very rare.
In conclusion to all these types of friends, you have to be careful in all
your choosing of friends and even if you need a friend get the one who
can be of help in your needs. I have a friend and his name is Jesus
Christ. He is always there for me and you can also make him your friend
if you want to.
 Chapter 2:

Know what you want in life

Some individuals do not know what exactly they want in life. You
can go and ask them about what they want in this life? They will tell
you many things and when you ask them they will start mentioning
money, good wife and many other things but all of these comes with
one thing and that is hard work. You need to work hard to get things
easy on your way. And also persevere all other negative thoughts that
may come your way so you can achieve what you want in life. You
have to know what you are working hard on. Is it money? , is it a
good wife or husband? , is it a good family? , but whiles working
hard, be praying on it and God will answer the prayer. I had a friend
who by God’s Grace is a professor now. This friend of mine was a
very hardworking guy. Sometimes he comes to class late and when
the teacher ask him “why are you late?” his response is “I was
learning”. And today he is a professor in I.C.T and Engineering at the
University Of Lancaster, Britain. Some people need to set their target
(mindset) on what exactly they want in life and they have to pray on
it, work hard on it and achieve it. You also have to have faith in
yourself that you can make it. If you don’t have faith then you can’t
become what expect from your life.
 Chapter 3:

Attitude in life

Attitude is the “advance man” of our true selves. Its roots are inward
but its fruits is outward. It is our best friend or our worst enemy.
Attitude is more honest and more consistent than our words. It is an
outward look based on past experiences. It is a thing which draws
people to us or repel people from us. It is never content until it is
expressed. Attitude is the librarian of our past. Attitude is either
inherited or picked from someone. Some people have some attitude
that is very bad. Others have worsened attitude. And few have good
attitude. These attitudes might be controversial and might not. For
example, an old woman who is tired and wants someone to help her
and finds one but because of the good attitude of that person she has
found, she blessed him, but for the vice versa it will receive curses on
your life. If you really cherish your life so much then you have to
make sure you do good through-out of your life. Those who imitate
good values or attitudes are always blessed wherever they step and
those who imitate bad values or attitudes are sometimes either
cursed, or death awaits them. So please, all should abstain from bad
attitudes. Bad attitudes are not being helpful to others, jealousy,
hatred towards your friend and the rest. Try to show good values and
attitudes to make sure you do not attract death as a penalty or curses
as a result of it. Also be careful who you trust at the end.

CHAPTER 4:

DO YOU LOVE GOD OR YOUR LIFE OR BOTH

Loving God is easy because He loves us unconditionally without

reproach. God first loved us. In the bible, God loved us and is seeing
for all of us to repent on the day of the coming of Christ Jesus our
Lord. When you read John 3:16 in the bible: it reads “For God so
loved the world that He gave his only son (His half spirit), and
that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but will have
eternal life.” You need to know how God loves you because God is
like a Father to us all that when we ask Him for anything in faith He
will give it to us. When you also read “1John 3”, you will see God’s
unconditional love towards us. You have to love God at all times
because you might not know the time you will be in need of
something you will want him to help you in and when you ask him in
faith believe that you have received. Loving your life so much that
you even worship your life and think maybe you won’t die and leave
your life to somewhere, this is not true. There is life after death and
that life is in heaven where you are building your treasures. When
you read John 14:1-3 in the bible, “it says let not your hearts be
troubled believe in God believe also in me (JESUS). For there are
many mansions in Heaven. If not so, I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I
will come again to receive you unto myself that where I am there
you may be also.” So clearing some confusion here, you will be
building your mansion in heaven by the good life you live on earth.
You don’t have to relent loving your life. You can love your life and
you can love God because loving your life only is not the right thing
to do. Do not forget your maker in Heaven and live life at its best. So
the question is “do you love God, your life, or both”?

CHAPTER 5:

RESPECT IN LIFE

Having some kind of respect for yourself in life is an opportunity for

most of us. Respecting the elderly and living with it is a great
opportunity because it attracts blessings. For instance, an elder asked
for a direction to a place with “please”, and you responded with
“please” you can help the elder can attract blessings. The elder will
pronounce blessings on your life which will open more doors for
you. But if you have bad respect for elderly people you will not be
free in life. Every day you will keep showing this bad respect
towards people and even your parents. It can also lead to madness in
some other cases. The likely ones are that it can lead to death and to
curses in your life. You won’t know what to in life, neither will you
know your left and right to success. Respecting the elderly badly can
make them feel hurt and will do all of the above effects. Some of
them are not humans. Some were sent for some specific tasks and
some are believed to be angels sent from God to man. Respecting the
elderly so good can make your life so bright and also make God so
happy because God lives in you and if He lives in you everything
you do he can see it. Everything you watch He can watch it. So
respect in life for not only the elderly but young ones, parents,
siblings, and the family as a whole can bring success to you in life.
So as you are growing up you have to bring out the good part of you.
Make sure you don’t show the bad part of you.

CHAPTER 6

BE GENEROUS IN LIFE TO OTHERS

Generosity can attract many open doors in this life. If you are
generous, then you are blessed in your life, because being generous
can make you receive unto yourself what you have given. Even God
said in His word that give and it shall be given unto you. Pressed
down, shaken together and running over shall men give unto your
bosom God has a generous, if you don’t have a generous heart then
you are lacking. God is a generous God not looking for people to
lack but seeking for people to give what he has blessed you with.
God also loves a cheerful giver. For instance, if someone asks you
for something like money and you have some and you give the
person but it’s not from your heart then remember God will not be
happy. But if you give to the person cheerfully you are going to be
sad. Generosity can take you far in life and can even do justice to
some people who need help in life and goodness can also take far
together with generosity. If you want your life your life to yield good
fruits, then start being generous to others cheerfully and I promise
you it can take you far in life. Your life can prosper if you generous
in life. So beloved, be generous cheerfully and not because you are in
a bad mood does not let you do alms giving in bad mood but give
cheerfully from the depth of your heart.

CHAPTER 7

BE HUMBLE IN LIFE

Humbleness could lead you far in life too. If one is humble then one
is so blessed with life because humbleness is just like you are living
with God. Being humble is just like you are not in a hurry in life, you
are just patient waiting on God to do a miracle in your life. Be so
humble in life that, people will start asking and start imitating you or
copying the way you are so that you may bring changes in one’s life
and the world at large. Being humble in life can open many good
doors for you. I once had a friend who was so humble that he even
gives me advices on how to live my life. This guy does not worry
himself doing the unthinkable, he is always patient and today he is
also living in luxuries. He once told me, “Paakwesi, do not forget it
that in the bible, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand
years as one day to the Lord God, so just Humble yourself so that
God will use you to get there in life”. Ever since he said that I have
been humble all along and that saying he said has changed my life
totally that I can’t even imagine that this is me that God is using to
bless others in this life. People have been imitating me all along and
this has made me like a photocopier machine that others come to
copy and ever since I gave my life to Christ my life has not been the
same up till now. I give all my reverence to God. I know this chapter
is not much but I will urge everyone of you to be humble totally.

CHAPTER 8

BE GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING

Be grateful to God in all aspects of your life and not only God but to
everything and everyone for you will be blessed by just saying
“thank you”. Others may go with it in the form of a song, some in
prayer and some in words. But they have to come from the depth of
your heart. Let God know that you are really thanking him for all and
not for something that has happened to you or a disease you passed
through and now you are free. Just saying thank you to him can open
many doors for you in life. If you are living in poverty and you are
not grateful to God then you are making a huge mistake. Do you
know why you are making a huge mistake? It’s because you do not
value what God has given to you. Look at the gift of life He has
given to you and watch how you go out and come back the same in
any way. God really deserves a “thank you”. These are some ways
of you saying thank you to God: “you woke me up this morning,
you started me on my way, you put food on my table, and you
gave me a brine new day. Oh lord I am grateful, yes I am
thankful, gratitude is the attitude to the altitude. What can I give
that you have not given? What do I have that’s not already
yours? All I possess is this life you have given me. You can say
this in the form of a song or prayer. But you have to make sure it is
coming from your heart. The “you” in the above context means God
and by so doing this I promise you, you will love the results and if
after the results are positive you must not stop giving thanks to God
because God is love and if God is love then you.

CHAPTER 9

LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Living your life to the fullest is just like a canned milk bought and
left there to check the day it will expire. If you say because of
 poverty, you will end your life. Then my brother and my sister you
have committed a grave sin because there’s a reason God created you
into this world and for you to achieve this purpose you have to be
ready to persevere all kinds of hardships in your life and make sure
that you don’t bombard any of your ways in life. And also if you say
that because of your life being so difficult you don’t think you can
move on. See let me tell you something, when I was born my
mother’s siblings hated me for no reason but I still kept on with the
flag. I came from a not too rich family that means middle class
family. Sometimes what we will eat is a problem but we still kept on
with the flag. Prophecies were coming here and there about me and
today here I am the backbone of my family I have helped them to the
fullest. You don’t have to give any reason for a humorous act like
suicide or ending your life you. You have to keep on living for life is
good. God gave us one life because he wants us to live and to live
life to the fullest. You have to cherish the life God has given to you
and be grateful to Him day and night. There have been stories about
broken heart and these stories have led others astray to do the
unthinkable by ending their lives. I urge each and every one to
cherish his or her life. If eating the right way will lead you to a longer
lifespan then do it, because that is the right thing to do. Live life and
live it well and don’t forget you only live once.

CHAPTER 10

LIFE IS FULL OF DIFFICULTIES

There is no life that you will not face hardships. This is why you have to
build yourselves with the word of God in order to be in the right way.
Some people do ask God, “Why did you bring me into this country?”
They go on to ask, “Did you bring me here to suffer?” If you are living a
life full of hardships, then I will suggest you be a prayerful person and a
reader of His word and I promise you as time goes by you will see some
changes. In all my life, I have also faced many hardships. Before gaining
admission into Senior High School (S.H.S) I had a terrible disease that I
couldn’t find a cure and one Professor in medicine told us that she has
found a cure and it is Chemotherapy. Before they found a cure they run
tests and if I remember one of them was Bone marrow. So they said I
had A.L.L (Acute Lymphoid Leukemia). I was admitted to the Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital, and started treatment but that was not the end. After I
completed my 3 years treatment. I was free to go to school. So I offered
science as a course of study while in school and after that in Form 2 few
days for us to vacate and go home for vacation I had a problem in my
brain and that also led to another disease called Pneumococcal
Meningitis. I couldn’t remember what happened to me but my
classmates narrated all the story to me. But I did not care about all that
because I believed in one person and that person is Jesus Christ. So I
kept on moving on in life. All that I am trying to say is that every life
has hardships and difficulties if you will only give your life to Christ
Jesus then your life will be in His hands. You will have to persevere
through these hardships and make a way out with the word of God.

CHAPTER 11

CHANGE YOUR DESPAIR TO HOPE

If you have faith in Christ Jesus, then you will be able to cast out fear
and doubt and be a victor. If you are someone who always fear
something, then you have to start having faith in Jesus. Because through
were all things made and through him we are victors over every bad
thing in this world. When you read the book of Hebrews you will
understand what it means to change your fears to hope. I once had
another friend who was in the same course with me back in high school
and this person was always scared that even W.A.S.S.C.E (West African
Secondary School Certificate) she was scared. But I asked her do you
have faith in yourself that you will do well. She said a little and I told
her that she has to make sure she has faith before she goes into the
exams hall. By the Grace of God immediately she gathered a lot of hope
and she did well with enough A’s.
In conclusion, I would like to say that Christ is the only true savior in all
our trials. We need to put our trust in the lord for a great reward. I like
the PENSA (Pentecost Students and Associates) motto, “CHRIST IN
YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY”. God bless you as you read this book to
enrich your life in all. My prayer is that God continue to revive you as
you read this book. God bless you.