Unknown to most people, garden egg is one of the greatest food, in terms of health benefits, for pregnant women.

 

Promotes weight loss

Eating of eggplant especially the greenish type is beneficial in weight reduction because they contain low carbohydrates and calories essential for weight management.

Overweight individuals who want to lose weight or those who wish to retain their normal body weight can add eggplant to their diet as well.

 

 Rich in antioxidants

Anthocyanins, nasunin and flavonoids are important and powerful phytonutrients and antioxidants in eggplants that help to protect the body system and add many health-promoting benefits to the human body.

Anthocyanins are responsible for the deep purple color of eggplants and also helps in preventing the development of cancer as well as other diseases that result in bacteria.

Anthocyanins found in eggplants possess antioxidant properties that are responsible for protecting the whole body system.

 

Rich in Vitamin B

Garden egg is a natural source of vitamin B’s such as thiamin, niacin, B6 and pantothenic acid that helps the body in the proper use of fat and protein; and also contributes to the nervous system positively. It helps in brain development and also helps in making sure that the immune and nervous system works properly.

 

Promotes healthy bone

They contain a good amount of potent minerals such as folate, manganese, vitamin K, magnesium, vitamin C and copper that help in bone strengthening and general bone health.

Consuming eggplant regularly is highly beneficial in preventing the risk of bone degradation and osteoporosis.  Garden egg also contains some amount of iron and calcium aids in reducing the chance of osteoporosis, thereby keeping your bones strong and healthy.

Helps in digestion

Garden eggs are fibrous fruits that help in proper food digestion and control of bowel movement. Due to this fiber content in the fruit, they reduce constipation and improve digestion.

Garden eggs are believed to be one of the greatest sources of dietary fiber which is an essential element in any balanced diet.

 

Good for pregnant women

These fruits are packed with minerals, vitamins and other nutritional properties that play a key role during pregnancy.

The properties in garden egg help both pregnant women and unborn children for healthy situational conditions.

Garden eggs are also rich in folic acid which is beneficial to pregnant women. Folic acid protects infants from neural tube defects that do occur.

 

Read Also: Impressive health benefits of pineapple

 

Prevents anemia

Garden egg has been found to serve as a natural medicine for treating several health conditions such as bronchitis, colic (pain in the abdomen caused by obstruction of the intestine); stress relief, headache, and others, if consumed daily.

Garden egg is a rich source of iron, which helps in increase in the red blood cell in the body, thereby aids in fighting against anemia or deficiency in iron.

 

Prevents diabetes

Garden eggs which are a source of soluble fiber and carbohydrates can help in the control and prevention of diabetes.

Foods are rich in fiber and carbohydrates help in the regulation of blood sugar levels and glucose absorption.

 

Maintains blood pressure levels

Garden eggs contain a high amount of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. These minerals contained in it helps in maintaining electrolyte balance in our body.

It aids in neutralizing sodium effects in the body, thereby controlling blood pressure levels.

An antioxidant in garden eggs known as chlorogenic acid also helps in reducing cholesterol levels in the body.

 

Prevents heart diseases

Garden eggs are rich in vitamin B1 and B6 (thiamin and niacin). These vitamins are essential in the body for the proper functioning of the heart and cellular respiration. It’s rich in potassium also helps in blood pressure regulation.

Vitamin B1 deficiency leads to cardiovascular problems. Therefore foods rich in vitamin B1 play a vital role in ensuring a healthy nervous system and improve the proper functioning of the cardiovascular.

Vitamin B6 helps in maintaining a healthy nervous system. Consuming garden eggs can greatly help in preventing heart disorders.

Source: finelib.com

 

By Faith Oyedepo

Dear Reader, you are welcome to another edition of this teaching series for the month. I have shown you some of God’s desires for your marriage which entails purity and God’s provision of favour and abundance for your home. Today, I shall be exploring the topic: Marriage Is for Better Living.

Marriage was instituted for better living for mankind. It is not to bring hurts or constitute a hindrance. If you want your home and marriage to exhibit a better living, God must be at the centre of your heart and home. You have to be open to His Words and follow His instructions.

The Bible says: And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).

God made man with a desire to please and follow His will as obtainable from scriptures. Many people want to eat the fruit of a happy and glorious home, but not many are willing to be obedient to the terms of the covenant. Without obedience, the fruit of a good home cannot be obtained. The Bible says: If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: (Isaiah 1:19)

A good home is a possibility, but only those who are ready to obey the terms of the covenant can have access to it. There are some obedient people that are presently eating the fruit of a good, fulfilled marriage. You too can join them if you wish; God is no respecter of persons. Marriage is meant to be sweet, enjoyable and failure-proof. However, to enjoy this, God must be at the centre of your home.

Family life originated from the Lord, so He alone can give you the kind of experience He has ordained for you in marriage. Countless people are having a near death experience in their family today.

Some have had many wives and are still dissatisfied. Others are separated, while some live a cat and mouse life, wishing that someone would deliver them from it. Success in marriage is not by luck, you have to programme yourself for the type of success you desire.

As a born again child of God, enjoying a better family life is your birthright. It is God’s will and desire for you to enjoy an exciting marriage, home, life and family.

So, apart from making God the centre of your family, you must also tell yourself continuously that family life is meant for better living and you must obtain this better living in your home. It is meant to build you and not break you. The Bible says: Two are better than one… (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

Family life was created to help man and not hinder him; it is not meant to make life worse. If that is what you have been seeing in homes around you and may be yours, I declare to you that it is not what God desires for you. Whether you are a father, mother, husband, wife, child or relation, say boldly with sincerity from your heart that you are a help to others in the home.

Marriage is meant to bring you satisfaction. You should liken yourself to a tree, which could serve several purposes such as being converted into paper, firewood, rubber and used to build a house etc. If you build your depth in marriage and profitably tap from the resources therein, you become a man and woman of many parts; useful in many areas of life.

Don’t accept less than what God has purposed for you. Don’t allow the devil to cheat you into believing that a better family life and marriage are not for you to enjoy. Your family can still stand out; your situation can still change. The breath of life can still find its way into your family, if you will co-operate with God.

Read Also: God’s ultimate desire for your family (2)

One way to enjoy the better living ordained for your marriage is to discover your God-ordained place in the home and operate within your perimeter. As a wife/mother, God has placed you beside that man and those children, so you can help them.

As a husband/father, God has placed you beside that woman and children, so you can help them, be an example to them and bring them up in the right way. It is not the teachers’ responsibility to train your children. Children, God put you in that family to be a blessing (Psalm 127:3).

Are you a source of pleasure or pain to your family? If you are about getting married, are you ready to be a help to your mate? Or are you just looking for someone to service your needs? If you are not ready to be a helper, retrace your steps.

To be a help transcends all areas of life. If one party is faltering, the other needs to lift him or her up. The Bible says: For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow… (Ecclesiastes 4:10).

No matter how much your success, your connection or family members will also need to succeed. If you ignore their progress, you may eventually be faced with mending their failures. You are also meant to be a financial helper to your family.

Money has divided many families. Don’t let it bring division into yours. Ensure that members of your family stand as helpers of one another in all aspects of life. However, being a helper comes with grace, which can be received when you are born again.

To be born again means accepting Jesus as Lord and personal Saviour of your life. You can do this by saying this prayer in faith: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for delivering me from sin and satan to serve the living God and thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.

Congratulations! If you prayed this simple prayer of faith with me, you are now born again and a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily, obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).

With this, you are guaranteed all-round rest and peace in Jesus’ Name! Call or write to share your testimonies with me through contact@faithoyedepo.org, 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building A Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).

By Faith Oyedepo

 

Dear Reader, you are welcome to the second series of this teaching. May the almighty God enrich you as you pay attention to His Word in Jesus’ name! I told you last week that God’s glorious desire for your marriage rides on the foundation of your purity.

Keeping the marriage bed undefiled paves the way for a fulfilling marital experience, void of guilt and shame. Today, I will be looking at Divine favour, as God’s ultimate desire for you.

A fulfilling marriage is a function of God’s favour.  Once your marriage is fashioned according to God’s Word, you procure His favour, which is often irreversible. The Bible says: Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord (Proverbs 18:22).

God’s favour upon a man is what distinguishes him from others. Even men are compelled to favour whoever incurs the favour of God. This favour comes when your ways, including your marriage pleases God. The Bible says: When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7).

When you secure God’s favour, you progress and succeed effortlessly in life. Success in life and marriage is not a function of your smartness or connections, but a function of God’s favour, because the Bible says: The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them(1 Samuel 2:7-8).

The favour of God elevates you to greater heights that qualify you to be envied by men. When you walk hand-in-hand with your spouse, people see the glory of God upon you; which brings honour and opening of great doors of opportunities. Singles will desire your type of marriage, because of the good hand of the Lord upon your marriage. God’s favour also secures for you liftings and promotions, which also affect your financial and material prosperity.

God created marriage to give man an easy access to His favour, so that he can live a sweatless life. This shall be your portion, in Jesus’ Name!

Marriage generally gives you a sense of accomplishment. It is your passage from one phase of life to another; it is a step towards your desired glorious future. Every young man or woman has a dream or vision of the kind of home he or she would like to have.

No one envisions troubles or divorce for him or herself. Everyone dreams of a joyful, peaceful and fruitful home. God created marriage for the fulfilment of these dreams and aspirations. You will not be disappointed in Jesus’ Name!

One of the blessings that God’s favour secures for you is abundance. The first family that ever existed was born into abundance. The Bible says: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat (Genesis 1:28-29).

Abundance talks of surplus, prosperity, plenty, increase etc. The Lord’s desire for your home is abundance. Prosperity is meant to be your portion not only in your office, Church, or with friends, but most especially in your home.

God has said concerning your home that it shall be: … a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not (Isaiah 58:11). This means you will not be short of provisions at home both spiritually and physically. It is written: And thou shalt have goats’ milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance for thy maidens (Proverbs 27:27).

God has not changed His mind concerning you. He wants your home not only to reflect increase, blessing and joy but to reflect holiness, righteousness, grace and peace.  Both sides of the coin are necessary; you can’t have one side without the other. You can’t desire the Lord’s prosperity and increase in your home and reject His holiness and righteousness.

Read Also: God’s ultimate desire for your family (1)

 

Abraham, the father of faith, enjoyed abundance and: …was VERY RICH in cattle, in silver and in gold (Genesis 13:2 Emphasis mine). But how did the Lord bless Abraham?  Did he just wake up one day and saw riches, cattle, men and maid servants, etc.?  No!  The Lord was able to bless Abraham and his household because he fulfilled a major requirement (Genesis 18:17-19).

The Lord’s will and desire is to see you and your household swim in abundance but are you willing to fulfil the requirements? God can’t afford to bless some men financially because they just use the money to acquire more wives and begin to do things that cause their household to turn from God.

It was Abraham’s diligence in commanding his children (household) in God’s ways that secured abundance for him and generations after. He was not only an example of what the Lord required. God was able to say, “I know him.

He will make sure everyone follows his example. In your home, can you boldly say others can follow your lifestyle?  Can they look at how you live and see God’s glory, holiness and commendation?  If you can’t answer this questions positively then something is wrong somewhere.

You need to follow the instructions you have heard God speak concerning your home, family, marriage, parents before you can see His promises come to pass in your life.  For almost every instruction God gives, there is a reward because for almost every reward or promise of God there is a responsibility.

Abundance in your family is God’s desire for you.  However, it must be accompanied by a God-fearing lifestyle for not only you but your family. The first step to abundance is God’s presence in your heart and home. Make this your decision today by saying this prayer in faith: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for delivering me from sin and satan to serve the living God and thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.

Congratulations! If you prayed this simple prayer of faith with me, you are now born again and a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily, obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).

With this, you are guaranteed all-round rest and peace in Jesus’ Name! Call or write to share your testimonies with me through contact@faithoyedepo.org, 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

 

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building A Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).

 

With Pastor Faith Oyedepo

 

Dear Reader,

You are welcome to the last segment of this teaching for the month. I believe the previous teachings have not only been a blessing to you, but to your family as well.

It is my prayer that your spiritual life will be engraced to be more effective and you will gain more command by this, in Jesus’ name!

A successful marriage requires commitment to one’s spouse. No amount of prayer, fasting, and “sleeping” in church can take the place of commitment in marriage.

Marriage is not a temporary arrangement, but a lifelong commitment.  If this is true, you may wonder why the divorce rate is so high, even among Christians.  The reason is that many couples are not committed to each other.

Commitment is the framework on which a marriage is built. A man and his wife must, therefore, be totally committed to each other spiritually, physically, emotionally and otherwise, and this will in turn bring security.

A successful marriage must be exclusive, involving one man and one woman, in one lifetime relationship. Each spouse must be committed to “forsake all others”.

The home, like any other organisation needs to be managed. It has to be ruled and its affairs controlled and directed in order to find fulfilment and joy in it.

A glorious home is not a product of wishes, fasting or prayer. It is only attained by operating in the wisdom of the most High God.

It is not enough to build one; it has to be sustained and maintained also. This week, I will be teaching on the missing link between couples.

Time Investment

Many couples have time for themselves within the first few weeks of marriage and afterwards never do. This becomes even worse when they start having children in the family.

This is the reason many marriages that start off so sweetly fail, as a couples who think they know each other find out that they really don’t.

Investing time with your spouse will help build trust, confidence, peace, knowledge and a better understanding in your relationship. It will help you know each other better.

The true nature of man appreciates being noticed because man is a living thing. There is nothing as hurting as when one party is neglected in a marriage.

Many men just see their wives as a good cook, cleaner, mother of their children and keeper of the home and nothing more.

This is so, because time has not been invested to know who their wives really are. 1 Peter 3:7 admonishes: Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them (wives) according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Every man should invest time enough to be knowledgeable about his wife.  You must spend quality time with your wife so much that you know her taste for things like toiletries, wears, colours and her likes and dislikes.

The woman, on the other hand, should invest quality time enough to know her husband’s taste for things too.  You must be concerned about his well-being at work, business or career, his success and professional accomplishments.

Usually, while a man craves respect from his wife first and then others, the woman’s self-worth is in place when she is loved and appreciated, first by her husband and then others.

Secondly, time must be invested on children to meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.  A child is a gift from God, a blessing to the family and a unique blend of husband and wife (Psalm 127:3).

This is why time must be created for them too.  This will build love, security and trust. The best environment to raise a child is at home and as parents, God mandates us to fulfil this task.

Once you learn to order your priorities aright, you will find that the time invested in meeting their needs will not be in vain.

The time invested in building a solid foundation for those children is not wasted. Even when they leave home and are in a place where you cannot see them physically, the knowledge of what they have been taught becomes a guide.

Invest with them regular time such as play time, homework and assignment time; be available to answer their questions and teach them to seek after the Word of God.

Wife, if your husband is the busy type, use the wisdom of God to get him to create time for the children.  Time is a very important thing you should invest on your children, not money.

Read Also: Setting a solid foundation for your home 4

For instance, there was a time when our children would come to me with questions that I felt their father should hear and be the one to answer.

I would walk them to his study door and leave them to go in and meet him. Afterwards, they would come back excited and smiling, having had their questions answered.

In time, they could confidently go to him and any time they entered his study, he would set them at ease by asking, “How was school today? What did you do at break-time?  Did you eat your school lunch?”  This type of intimacy and open communication was very useful for their emotional stability.

Finally, time should be invested for your parents, relations and in-laws but this should be done with wisdom.

The following are the things men and women would like to find in a spouse:

What a woman wants in a husband

• Someone who will spend time with her and talk with her.
• Someone who will be tender with her.
• Someone who will be her spiritual leader.
• Someone who will be a good father to her children.
• Someone who will be a good provider.

What a man wants in a wife

• Someone he can have fun with!
• An interesting and exciting sex partner.
• A good homemaker, and a good mother to his children.
• A financially responsible partner.
• A wife who will respect and admire him.

Grace to hear and do these becomes available when you accept Jesus Christ and become born again. If you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and personal Saviour, say this prayer in faith: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood. I accept You as my Lord and personal Saviour. Make me a child of God today. Thank You for delivering me from sin and satan to serve the living God and thank You for accepting me into Your Kingdom.

Congratulations! If you prayed this simple prayer of faith with me, you are born again and now a child of God. He loves you and will never leave you. Read your Bible daily; obey God’s Word and seek Christian fellowship (John 14:21).

With this, you are guaranteed all-round rest and peace in Jesus’ name! Call or write to share your testimonies with me through contact@faithoyedepo.org, 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

For more insight, these books authored by me are available at the Dominion Bookstores in all Living Faith Churches and other leading Christian bookstores: Marriage Covenant, Making Marriage Work, Building a Successful Home and Success in Marriage (Co-Authored).