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Thank you, I won’t complain

It’s such a simple statement that carries so much in it. We take for granted the simple gratitude that God is due in our lives because of the overwhelming circumstances that life brings to us, good or bad. But have you ever taken the time to consider how ungrateful we are as human beings. Every single difficulty brings complaining yet every single little blessing does not bring with it the reciprocal gratitude it so deserves.

This is more evident when we look at the exodus from Egypt to the promised land. Along the way the children of Israel reflect this common attitude amongst mankind so accurately. Let us read:

“And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

This is a fascinating story for me because it shows our very short memory of all the good the Lord does for us. When it comes down o facing trouble, our selfishness is exposed and we forget all that the Lord has done and is capable of doing. We are quick to react to trouble by even blaming God for the blessings He has given us like the children of Israel:

“Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Fear brought about amnesia of what God had done for them. This becomes a repeated script by the Israelites. They sing this song time and again when trouble comes to them in the wilderness. You see it is very easy to forget the goodness and might of our father when we face trouble. We forget how faithful He is and how faithful He has been when trouble surrounds us. We so easily jump to tantrums and complaining when we think our lives are being inconvenienced or done for but we forget that the lives we complain about are all owed to Him. It is because of Him that we even have the lives and luxuries we have and had it not been for Him we would have been destroyed.

Like the children of Israel, we forget that where we are is because of His grace shown to us by removing us from where we were! Why do I say this is? Remember when God appears to Moses in the burning bush He says this:

“I have heard the cries of my people and have come down from heaven to rescue them.”

It was their cries that brought them to this point in the desert where they had to face the Egyptians again. It was because they were uncomfortable in Egypt that God came to take them out yet when they are out and faced with challenges they say to Moses “you should have left us in Egypt because we told you we didn’t want to leave.” They act as if they were forced to leave Egypt. This is the very same attitude that we adopt when we face trouble. We complain to God as if He is the one that brought trouble upon us!

Gratitude towards Him for all that He does for us is limited yet we complain freely. Can you just take a look at your life and where God has taken you from and then think about how much time you have spent complaining vs how much time you have spent being great full, tell me how that tallies? We are swift to complain but very slow to show gratitude. Our response towards what God does for us and how good He is and has been to us, even when underserved, should be that of gratitude.

We should always say Thank you, I won’t complain!!!!
"THE WORDS or story of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: Now in the month of Chislev in the twentieth year [of the Persian king], as I was in the castle of Shushan, Hanani, one of my kinsmen, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the surviving Jews who had escaped exile, and about Jerusalem. And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who escaped exile are in great trouble and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its [fortified] gates are destroyed by fire. When I heard this, I sat down and wept and mourned for days and fasted and prayed [constantly] before the God of heaven, And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments, Let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to listen to the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You day and night for the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins of the Israelites which we have sinned against You. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. [Deut. 6:1-9.] Remember [earnestly] what You commanded Your servant Moses: If you transgress and are unfaithful, I will scatter you abroad among the nations; [Lev. 26:33.] But if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the farthest part of the heavens [the expanse of outer space], yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My Name. [Deut. 30:1-5.] Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere and fear Your name (Your nature and attributes); and prosper, I pray You, Your servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was cupbearer to the king"
Nehemiah‬ ‭1:1-11‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

Let us delve into this:
  1. he first thing we see in this passage is that Nehemiah receives a bad report of Jerusalem and the remnant that escaped captivity. Nehemiah had not himself been to Jerusalem but his brethren had been and he enquired about the state of things. Nehemiah was dwelling in a palace, yes as a servant, but his circumstances were better than most and he could have dwelt in this comfort without worrying about how his brethren were doing. But Nehemiah, being a man full of the love of God, worried and cared deeply about what happened to others and not just himself. The first lesson we learn from Nehemiah is that irrespective of our circumstances, our primary care is not into ourselves but for the welfare of others. The Apostle Paul put it like this when explaining it: “Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves].” Philippians‬ ‭2:3‬ ‭AMPC‬‬. The Apostle Paul is admonishing us to lay aside selfishness and consider others even more than we do ourselves because this is a true display of the love of Christ living in us. You see until we consider others more than we do ourselves, we will not understand intercession and we would not have the heart of intercession. That drive to lay aside our own comforts in order to stand in the gap for others and allow God to bring about healing and salvation because of our intercession. Prayer and intercession calls us to be selfless!
  2. Secondly, when Nehemiah get the report from Hanani his response is a response of love and deep affection for others. He says: “ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.” The knowledge of the distress that others faced caused Nehemiah to weep before the Lord and fast and pray, it did not cause him to blame and point fingers. It did not cause him to mock and scorn. Today, we who call ourselves by the name of Jesus are very quick to judge, mock and scorn when we learn of things that befall others who share the same name. We are very quick to call it God’s judgement (true as it might be), we sit in our high horses and pedestals and pass judgement as if we are innocent. See, Nehemiah understood that no one was innocent, he understood that Israel had got what they deserved because of their sin but even then, he did not just sit and judge but he went to the God of mercy to cry, fast and plead on behalf of the children of Israe. Here we learn that a heart that is always turned towards God is not quick to run to judgement but is always willing to stand in the gap even when it knows that the punishment that has befell someone is due because of their sin.
  3. Thirdly, let us look at the actual prayer of Nehemiah. “And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments, Let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to listen to the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You day and night for the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins of the Israelites which we have sinned against You. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned.” Nehemiah‬ ‭1:5-6‬ ‭AMPC‬‬. The Lord who keeps covenant and mercy for them that love Him. See Nehemiah understood his standing with God. We cannot come to God in intercession when we ourselves are not in right standing before Him. Prayer is a sacred time between us and God where we come, not just to ask, but where we come to commune with God. Our God is an Holy God and requires us to come before Him in such holiness (which is given us through Christ Jesus). We cannot come before God to intercede and pray for someone or for a nation without a proper relationship with the one who is our redemption. Nehemiah was very clear when he came before God that he was coming for Israe and not just himself. He came as a representative of a nation and as a representative he understood that whatever prayer he prayer should include himself. When we stand in the gap, we stand as proxy for the one whom we stand for, thus we carry what they carry. Nehemiah understood this that is why he did not exclude himself in this practice of intercession but was specific to say “both I And my father’s house have sinned. Now when we look at his prayer further, there are 3 specific things that Nehemiah prayer and intercedes on behalf of. First it’s himself, then his father’s house (his family) and then lastly his nation. Intercession has to stem from a recognition of oneself’s shortcomings or sin and then spread to the family and the country. Until we come as a worthy sacrifice before God, there is nothing that we can say that will turn God’s heart toward our intercession and prayer. Nehemiah understood that it started with him.


What is Nehemiah saying to us today: there are 4 areas I want to touch briefly on before I close.

A) before we can even begin to look at our country and the turmoil and unrest we see and say let’s pray for our country we need to look at ourselves. I speak now with my fellow South Africans. We are full of hate and resentment because of the injustice of our past and the continuing inequality we see each and everyday. We harbour this hate in the form of unforgiveness and even though we dress it up and hide it very well, it has a tendency of bursting out whenever we are pushed to a corner. Until we can go to God with a pure conscience, to repent of who we have become because we have taken things into our own hands instead of giving them to the Lord, we will continue to cry in prayer to no avail because our motive is not pure before God. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:2 that: “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits (the thoughts and intents of the heart).” What are the thoughts of our heart? Let us recognise that our thoughts are evil and let us come before God in humility and repentance to ask Him to cleanse us and purify us before Himself.

B) We need to look at our families and dig deep into the sin and evil covenants that might exist in our bloodline. I say bloodline because God has said: “The Lord is long-suffering and slow to anger, and abundant in mercy and loving-kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generation. [Exod. 34:6, 7.]”
‭‭Numbers‬ ‭14:18‬ ‭AMPC‬‬. Our repentance when it comes to our families must look backwards. We might be suffering with things as a result of what our forefathers did and let into their bloodline and thus it becomes important to focus on repentance in our families. Some families are full of hate and unforgiveness to the point where people don’t speak to each other whilst being of the same family. God cares about family hence our intercession and repentance needs to focus on this, rebuilding family bonds and peace.

C) The church. Our churches, the so called congregations of believers are den of prostitution, fornication, lust, unholy sacrifices, and many more detestable things to the lord. A so called man of God can go sleep around and then have the audacity to stand in the pulpit and speak the word of the Lord. We have become like what the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1: “Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves]. And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], Because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it). [Jer. 2:11.] For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one, And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another–men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution. And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome, Until they were filled (permeated and saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, iniquity, grasping and covetous greed, and malice. [They were] full of envy and jealousy, murder, strife, deceit and treachery, ill will and cruel ways. [They were] secret backbiters and gossipers, Slanderers, hateful to and hating God, full of insolence, arrogance, [and] boasting; inventors of new forms of evil, disobedient and undutiful to parents. [They were] without understanding, conscienceless and faithless, heartless and loveless [and] merciless. Though they are fully aware of God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them themselves but approve and applaud others who practice them.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:21-32‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

This has become the perfect picture of the church today. We have abandoned all Godliness for entertainment. We cover sin instead of exposing it. We protect those that are in positions of authority when the take advantage of the flock and we forget the victim of that sin. We pat each other on the back and stand to forgive one another even if we are not the ones who have been wronged. We are more interested about how much we collect every Sunday when we meet rather than taking care of the widow and the orphan. Fully knowing the truth of God we continue to muddy it so that it promotes our agenda and not God’s agenda. Even those of us who think we are living right are stuck in a cycle of judgement to a point where we have made mockery of the power of the gospel. We stand in our high podiums and hand out judgement without love. We forget that greatest commandment is first to love. The church has become a place of hurt and destruction than the place of love and healing it was meant to be. In fact it has become so bad that witchdoctors are promoted to positions of authority in our churches because they can perform magic and we no longer test the spirits. The more sophisticated of us stand in podiums arguing about theology and doctrine from a place of pride and self importance, devoid of love. Unless we as the church go back to our first love and go back to doing the first works, we will continue to feel good about being ineffective in the communities which we are supposed to serve and love. The first portion of that passage in Romans goes like this: “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. [Hab. 2:4.] For God's [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification], [Ps. 19: 1-4.]”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1:16-20‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

It is the gospel of Christ that is the power of God into salvation. Let us go back to the gospel of Christ. Let us go back to the first works. Let us repent and go back to the true gospel because it is only when we do this that we, as the church can stand in the gap and pray for the nation. Right now we are as corrupt as they are! God says: “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

The healing that our land so craves is on us as the church. If we repent from our wicked ways and we humble ourselves in prayer then God will hear and forgive us and heal our land. A corrupt church is a gateway drug into damnation for the nation!!!!!!

D) the Nation. We live in a nation that has made a point of turning away from God. We have made the law of God to have no effect and have enacted laws of men that go against the laws of God. (I will not go into this more, will save it for another day). We are a nation that has not treated the stranger and the foreigner amongst us well. We have abused, killed and burnt the foreigners amongst us and have found ways of justifying our actions. We have not treated each other well but have continuously abused one another, the stronger exerting their strength on the weak. We are built upon a foundation of segregation and oppression and all our attempts at reconciliation have only been a show or a stage play for everyone to see without bringing true forgiveness and reconciliation. You see there is no true reconciliation without Jesus Christ. If this country is to see true forgiveness and reconciliation, then we as the church need to stand in the gap for our nation. Praying for our institutions and our leaders. Praying against powers and principalities that are running riot in our country. Praying for our court and institutions of higher learning. Praying for justice and for peace. But this only works if we, like Nehemiah understand that where our country finds itself is not only because of some few people in government but we all need to take responsibility and go before God as a man standing in the gap and building a hedge or wall. We are called to rebuild the walls not just in our lives but in others also and the first step in true repentance. And we cannot say we have forgiven if we have not truly reconciled because Jesus didn’t give us a ministry of forgiveness but He gave us a ministry of reconciliation.

I can liken this nation and many nations of the world to these words by the prophet Ezekiel:

“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭22:23-29‬ ‭KJV‬‬

But this is what the Lord says:

“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭22:30‬ ‭KJV‬‬

God is not searching for a crowd, a church, a prophet or a pastor. All He needs is a man who would stand in the gap. Nehemiah, having seen what had happened to Israel, didn’t call a prayer meeting or a day of fast. In his little space he feel down before the Lord in prayer and fasting and stood in the gap for a whole nation, and God, because of the sincerity of his heart, heard him and answered him. Yes, the rebuilding work needed more hands, but the spark and the seed for all the work needed just one man to stand in the gap.

What I am saying. Unless we, individually make the decision to be that man that God speak about to the prophet Ezekiel, we will continue to see the consequences of our sin ( individually, as a family, as a church and as a nation) continue to ravage our countries. Whichever country you are in today, choose to be that man that God is looking for and go into your room and shut the door behind you and then turn your eyes to heaven in repentance and say I and my family have sinned against you God. My church and my country have stood against your will. So today I stand in the gap and I repent of all our sin that we have committed before you.

You know which sins your country has committed and you can stand in the gap and build a hedge!!!!

Nehemiah chapter one is a call to prayer it is an individual call to prayer, to not sit and wait but to let the love of God in you lead you to your knees. I challenge you today, let the lesson of Nehemiah light a fire under you to cause you to go to God in repentance and be a rebuilder of walls.
One of the most interesting fact in this world is that we actually take most things by faith. Irrespective of what it is, we need a sprinkling of faith to hold on to such things. Think about it this way, when you get a job, through the interview, the entity interviewing you takes a step of faith by hiring you because they “believe” that you are the ideal candidate for the position they have advertised. They use all available information at their disposal to qualify this belief but at the end of it all it’s a belief. They do not actually know if you can do the job or not but based on what you are telling them, they take you at your word that you can. There are many other examples of things that we begin because we trust or because we have faith that they will work out. Not all of them do but even then, our faith is not completely diminished when they don’t.

It fascinates me then when people speak about God not doing certain things and using that as an excuse for their lack of faith in God. Think about it, you don’t dispute the existence of a company just because they don’t meet your own expectations! The objectives are set by the entity and not you, yet when it comes to God we want to dictate our own expectations to Him. Now go with me to this passage:

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

But without faith it is impossible to please God! We have expectations yet lvl the faith to cause God to be pleased. We need to check ourselves, where is your faith? Some of us even go as far as doing things or even engaging in certain practices because we think we should assist God but where is your faith when you are unable to surrender to Him and let Him do it? How do we claim to believe in Him and who He is yet still want to interfere even where He has said just stand still. I’m encouraged by a passage in the book of Exodus:

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭14‬:‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! This is what having faith is about. Stand in what Hod has said and see Him do it because He is faithful to His word! The Bible also reminds us that He is not a man that He should lie or the son of man that He should repent. If He has said it in His word then my job and yours is to stand on that word and see the salvation of the Lord. We begin everything in faith and let Him see it to completion. As you begin whatever it is that you are beginning remember:

Now, Faith!!!!!!!

Not tomorrow Faith, or next week Faith or whenever Faith buy Now Faith. Stand in Faith as He who has promised is faithful!!!!
It is amazing to me how we use grace today. We, taking away the original meaning of the grace of God, have substituted it with mercy. Mercy and grace are two different phenomena and I think that if we can truly understand grace the way God originally meant it, we can move away from being timid warriors to becoming true strong warriors for the kingdom of God. We fight as if we are defeated not appreciating that the victory that we need to conquer the wits of the enemy is already given us through the grace of God. It is surprising to me that when I read the word of God, in many instances the grace of God what is given to empower whereas the mercy or mercies of God is what’s given for shortcoming. Now, think about it in this way:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

First let us look at this as we set the foundation for our discussion today:
  1. Common to man - meaning no temptation that is extraordinary has befallen me and you. Now why would the Apostle Paul speak in this manner, well I posit it is because Christ lived as a man (the Bible says he sinned not) so He set for us an example of how to live a pure life as a man.
  2. God is faithful - in all our temptations we need to always know that we have a faithful God. If you go back to the beginning of this passage (beginning of the chapter) you learn that the Apostle Paul is speaking about how God walked with the children of Israel through the desert! How as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night He was with them throughout their walk. How He showed His faithfulness to those whom He had called out of slavery into His maverlous promise.
  3. Hi will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you can bear - He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what He has already equipped you to face. In fact not just to face but to conquer. Now, we can put this in another way, God will not suffer you to be tempted above the grace He has given you! Not you ask me, mfundisi where are you getting that? Go with me to Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;” Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬ the grace of God which bring egg salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts! Okay, so grace is a presupposition for righteousness. By this I mean that when you have received the grace of God which leaders unto salvation you have also received the manual for righteousness. The reason we are called the righteousness of God is because we have the empowerment of grace to live righteously.

Now when I started I said, a proper understanding of Grace will cause us to stop living a timid and fearful life as children of God but spur us into a bold and righteous life. Grace, in its essence, is the empowerment for righteousness. Empowerment against a sinful life.

Now how does this teaching of grace plays itself out in the word of God?

Well, it’s actually a long story that I will try make short today for you.

Go with me to the book of 1 Peter 5:12,

“By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The Apostle Peter, having taught about the life we aught to live as children of God concludes in this manner that all he has taught is the true grace wherein we stand!!!

Reading this statement by itself makes no sense and adds no value in one’s life but when we read it in the full context of the book of 1st Peter there are some nuggets that we can draw out for our walk with Christ. I will deal with a few today:

  1. The grace of God is brought to us at the revelation of Jesus - “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;” 1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭13‬ ‭KJV‬‬. You cannot live a righteous life without having a revelation of Jesus Christ in your life. The revelation of Christ is the introduction of the grace of God in our lives. Whilst we were dead in our sin, it was the mercy, not grace of God that rescued us but at this revelation of Christ in our lives, the grace of God which teaches us to live soberly and to shun all unGodliness is also given us that we may live a life of righteousness.
  2. Grace calls us to forsake former lusts - “as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:”1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭KJV‬‬. When we have this grace of God there is an expectation of a change in our lives. We aught to throw away the things that use to hold us captive because now we are empowered to deal with them. Let me put it like this, in the beginning when God created men He commanded that man should have dominion over His creation. But when sin came in we lost our place of dominion to the point where today you have people who are ruled by trees. Commanding them when they should smoke and when they should drink, that is a display of our fallen nature but when Jesus is revealed, in the fullness of his grace, we are set back in our original position. That’s why I don’t understand a Christian who claims to bot be able to stop drinking or smoking once they are born again because they continue to let what they should dominate dominate them!
  3. Grace leads to holiness - “because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭KJV‬‬. God is not crazy!!! He will not command you to be something He has not equipped you to be. That’s why he does not command people who do not know Him or have a relationship with Him to be holy but only those who have been afforded the grace of God, the empowerment that comes through the revelation of Christ.
  4. Grace is equipped and strengthened through the word - “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭KJV‬‬. You cannot understand grace and walk fully in it if you are not desiring the word of God sincerely!!! This is the milk and meat we aught to live by to ensure a walk of righteousness, to ensure a walk full of the grace of God. Now if we do that then we will cast aside all timidity and all fear because we would know the power and authority we have been given through this grace. We can become an army, a great army when we understand the power of the word of God and the spirit of God in us. In the book of Ezekiel 37:1-14 we read a story about the valley of dry bones. It is only through the word of the Lord and the Spirit of the Lord that the dry bones become a great army. Let us read it:… Ezekiel spoke the word of the Lord to the bones and then the wind (spirit of the Lord) came upon the bones to give them life. Unless we have the word and are filled by His spirit, the grace of God which empowers will not work for us. There is a prerequisite for this grace to work in our lives. We are called to be an army, a powerful and not timid arm for the kingdom of God but we cannot do this if we do not understand the weapons of our warfare. Grace is a weapon we need to understand and use fully for our walk with God in this world!
Most of us today are too focused on what those around us are doing. How they react to what we do and how they view us. We act or react to their actions without proper consideration for what the Lord has said. God’s word is true in spite of our circumstances. This is the truth which we need to hold on to and not be swayed by what others think or what they do but hold on to the true word of God. We do not understand that by looking at others and not following the instruction of God we might be giving away the blessing of God for momentary pleasure. There is a man in the bible who gave away his kingship because of his focus on people. We read in the 1st book of Samuel:

“And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal. And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
1 Samuel 13:3-14

“The people”. Saul was a people pleaser and it seems his focus was more on what the people thought or did rather than on the instruction of God. Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for him at Gilgal for seven days so that Samuel could come and make a sacrifice before Israel went to war. There are a few things to note on the passage above and let us list them out:
  1. It was Jonathan who had slain the Philistines but Saul announced the victory as his own. He wanted all of Israel to know that Saul, not Jonathan (his own son), had slain the Philistines. “And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.” It was all about Saul to the people.
  2. “And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. And Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.” Saul waited for the time which the prophet had told him to wait. You see it wasn’t the waiting that had caused Saul to do the unthinkable and offer the sacrifice which was forbidden by law to do for him but it was when the people were scattering from him that he asked for the offering and offered it himself. The apple of his eye, the people, were deserting him and in order to keep the people Saul saw it fit to go against the word of God to please people.

It is amazing to see that even today many of us still follow the pattern of Saul. We end up getting involved in certain things and behaviours because we are more interested in pleasing people (friends, family, colleagues, leaders, etc) than pleasing God. We do not hold the word of God in the regard it deserves. Saul knew that it was not allowed for him to do the offering but because he was more interested in the people rather than God he decided to do that which he knew was against the word of God.

This is not the only time Saul did this, even after God had given him a second chance and clear instructions on what to do He did what pleased the people in spite of the fact that it was against the instruction of God.

Today many of us live with different pressures, be it at home, work or around the social circles we find ourselves. These pressures challenge our moral fibre and moral being and when our focus goes away from doing what the word of God has instructed to pleasing those around us or trying to gain favour with them, we compromise our own moral compass and show God that He is not priority in our lives. Jesus put it like this is Matthew 6:33:

“Seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Jesus’ instruction was to keep our focus on God and trust that He will deliver on everything else we need if our eyes are stayed on Him. Today we are tossed and turned by every wind of doctrine, seeking to be pleasers of men rather than God.

Choose today to fix your eyes on Him and not be pressured into standing or acting against His word just because you want to gain favour with people. Remember, He is above all and He knows all. Let it be about God and not about “The people”.

In the beginning

It's such a common phrase that we like to use all the time. In the beginning of the day. In the beginning of the week. In the beginning of the year.

There are many beginnings that we come across and most of us have developed a habit of setting goals for most of the beginnings we encounter. We set targets of what we want to achieve and then measure success by how much we have accomplished of the targets we have set ourselves. Today, I want us to look at beginnings in a different manner. In fact I want us to look at the beginning of all beginnings and align our thinking according to how this beginning was set up. The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis chapter 1 this:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

Genesis 1:1KJV

The first few words of this passage are what fascinates me: in the beginning God….

We are not given or told about the beginning of God but what we are told is that He already was in the beginning. God, existed before our beginning. This is a stark reminder that everything we begin, we should acknowledge the one who is already present at all beginnings because as we read in John 1,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John 1:1-3 KJV

All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made!!!

It's a bold statement by the Apostle John. It's a statement declaring that all things were made by him. If He (being God) is the source of all things then shouldn’t He be at the beginning of all our beginnings. See the goals and targets we set ourselves, our new year resolutions are things we want to have or to do yet we neglect Him in our beginnings by whom all things are made. How do we suppose we will have what we set ourselves to have if we neglect the source of those things in our beginning? Without him nothing was made that was made, so the word of God reminds us. As the source of all things, shouldn’t we also seek what we need and want in Him to ensure that we get whatever it is we are looking for. The Bible reminds us that:

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Matthew 7:11 KJV

This year as we begin let us choose to make our requests known first to Him who is the source of all things before we make them known to the world. Can we make knowing Him the first thing we seek this year and let Him then who was there in the beginning begin to direct our lives to the purpose for which we were born!!!

He is the Lord of the beginning!!!

Sometimes when we read the Bible we look at the hero of that story, the man that God used above everybody else and we neglect to see all the lives along the road which interacted with our hero to get him/her on their path to destiny. What we need to understand is that some of our destinies are not just to to get to the end of the road but to get to significant points along the road to the end. There is an amazing scripture in the book of Acts:

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭13:36‬ ‭KJV‬‬

'After he had served his own generation by the will of God'. This is an amazing passage for me because it shows that David’s life was full of purpose, but also that the purpose was according to the will of God. Now something interesting comes up here, the end of the destinies we set for our lives are not only determined by what we set but by The Lord. Let me give an example,

David was a man of destiny. We don’t know what David’s ambition or destiny that he had set in his heart was and where it would lead him to. We don’t know what his dreams were as he was busy herding his father’s sheep. What we do know is, a chance meeting with Goliath set him up as a champion of Israel. I say a chance meeting because he was not part of the army. He wasn’t in the war itself but was sent by his father to go check on his brothers and bring them food.

A chance meeting was the set up he required for the destiny God had for him. We see in the book of 1 Samuel how even the prophet himself, when sent to go anoint the next king of Israel when he saw the firstborn of Jesse he was convinced that he was the one to be king of Israel, but for God to intervene.

Now, when God has set up His destiny in us or His will for our lives He uses any and every situation we find ourselves in to advance that will and purpose. There are a few interesting interaction in the book of 1Samuel between David and Jonathan that are worth having a look at to make this point:

“Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭18:3-4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Jonathan was meant to be the next in line to the kingship of Israel. It was the way of things and his rightful inheritance but the first interaction between the two, as a symbolic gesture of a transfer of destiny, Jonathan takes off his robes, his garment and his sword and puts them on David!!! His princely garments and sword!! So we are shown how when our manly destiny collided with the will/destiny that God has laid on us, one will bow down to the other. The destiny of Jonathan had to bow down to the destiny of David because David’a destiny was fostered by the will of God!!! When destinies collide, the will of God prevails

. “But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭19:2‬ ‭KJV‬‬

When Saul wanted to kill David, the will and purpose of God in His life couldn’t allow Saul to prevail such that it caused Jonathan to go against the wishes of his father and his own inheritance to warn David and to devise a scheme to ensure that there was evidence that Saul indeed was plotting against David!!! When destinies collide, the destiny of men will even fight to protect and promote the destiny and will of God!

“Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭20:4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Jonathan, in service to the will and destiny of God in David, submitted to service of the will of God in David. When destinies collide, the destiny of Man will always bow itself down to the destiny or will of God!!!

See, I’ve looked at David as an example but the trail of destinies laying themselves down for the will and destiny of God, is all over the word of God. A few examples:

Hosea, as any other man would not have chosen for himself a wife of whoredoms but in servitude to the will of God, Hosea had to lay down his will and destiny.

Ezekiel, like any other husband would have loved to mourn for his wife, but his will had to bow down to the will and destiny of God and not mourn for her.

Gideon, would have continued to cowar and hide because of the Medianites that were destroying Israel, but the will of God for him to be saviour of God’s people could not allow him to stay hidden but called him a mighty man of valour!!!!

Abraham and Sarai could have raised Ishmael as their own son, they had every right to, but the will of God to give Abram and Sarai a son of their own to inherit and become their legacy was too much for Ishmael who was the will of Abram and Sarai!!!

As we begin this year and set our goals in an attempt to shape our lives let us consider that God’s will is what will prevail. The Bible tells us: “Many plans are in a man's mind, but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand. [Job 23:13; Ps. 33:10, 11; Isa. 14:26, 27; 46:10; Acts 5:39; Heb. 6:17.]” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19:21‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

The will and destiny or purpose of God always prevails! Set your goals in the knowledge that God has the last say. Know that even when God shows you what seems impossible, He is the one that will cause it to prevail. Even when everything around you seem to be standing in the way of what God has told you about His will for your life, even when what God has shown you seems to be opposite of what you currently see know that He will cause those things to:

bow down to His will,
he will cause those things to work out for tour good and fight for His will for your life
He will cause those things to protect His will and destiny in you, and
He will cause those things to serve His will for your life always.

It is always the will of the Lord that prevails!!!!!!

“…And when you pray,…”

I like how this statement starts, it doesn’t say ‘if you pray’ but ‘when you pray’. It means that prayer is a pre-requisite and not a nice to have. We need to treat prayer in our lives as a pre requisite for everything that we need and not as a nice thing to do or something we only do when we find ourselves in trouble. Prayer is how we communicate or commune with our father in Heaven. We reach God through this, even prayer and if we are to constantly be walking how God instructs us to walk in His word then prayer is vital in ensuring that we are in constant communion with our heavenly father. Our passage today comes from the book of Matthew:

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’”
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Matthew 6:5-15

Jesus’ first instruction on how we should approach prayer is found in the beginning of this passage: And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. So there is a way not to be when we pray. We should model our prayer life not after those who seek the attention of others in communing with God but ours should be a sacred act of deliberately submitting ourselves to God, to His glory, to His fatherhood and bring our heart before Him without reservation. Some pray to show others their eloquence and how much they know God. Prayer to them is a front, to gain praise for themselves and it is a public display to which the gain belongs to them and not to God. Jesus instructs His disciples to not act like this in their moment of prayer. He instructs them that prayer is a private time between God and yourself. It is not to be used as a public show or a spectacle but it is a private sacred moment of interaction between the individual ad his creator. So location is important in our prayer lives.

The second important thing, as important as the first is this: Jesus tells His disciples that when they pray, they should not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. He finishes with this statement:

‘Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.’

So when we come to God in prayer we should know exactly what we have come for because God already knows why we are there. Our prayer should be direct, now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say concise but I said direct. Directness does not mean shorter but it means clarity in what we have come to God for. Jesus tells His disciples that many words or babbling is not the way to come before God but directness and clarity of heart and mind is what’s needed because God already knows what we are going through and what we are there to say anyways. To me this is the same as when I speak to my parent, I don’t go around in circles but instead talk directly to them what I want or what’s in my heart. Prayer can be the most powerful place of revelation and clarity with God and at the same time can also be the most intimate space of vulnerability and sincerity that we can have with God, because God is our father.

This is the format that Jesus gives to His disciples for prayer:

‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name.’

Acknowledging God for who He is and giving Him His place in our lives sets the tone of the relationship we have with Him and how we come to Him in prayer. As a child to a father, but He is not just a father to be loved but to be revered. That is why Jesus reminds us by instructing His disciples to say ‘Hallowed be you name’.

‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

His kingdom come. What a surrender this is. We come to God to submit ourselves to the benefit of His kingdom and allowing His will to work through our lives. ‘Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.’ This is what the king David tells us in one of his psalms (Psalm 100:3). This is a reminder that every time we come to God we should acknowledge His role in our lives. We should acknowledge that He always knows best and His will is superior to our, in this we show surrender to Him and His will.

‘Give us today our daily bread’

His mercies are new every morning and every day He has something for us that we need. Every day has its own problems and issues, in fact Jesus says this in Matthew 6:34: ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’

We ask for daily bread because we need new mercies every day. Our capacity does not allow us to constantly be focusing on tomorrow, ours is to walk each day for God as if it was the only day we have. So even in our prayer we focus on the day because that is what we can properly comprehend and manage. When we try to run around looking at tomorrow, today’s trouble has a way of tripping us so that we do not get to the tomorrow we are focusing on. Daily bread is what we need hence our Lord teaches us to ask for what we need in order to make it through the day.

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’

This is a tough one for me. I think sometimes we take for granted the forgiveness that we receive and we hog it because we feel we deserve forgiveness but do not treat others the same way that we think we deserve. Many of us ask God for forgiveness whilst we keep holding grudges on others and not forgiving them. Jesus teaches us that prayer should go both ways, directed at God and yet also convicting us to be like Him. In this way prayer is not only omnidirectional in that it’s us to God but it is also reflective in that it looks at our own behaviour towards others. Forgive our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. What if we haven’t forgiven our debtors? Should we be forgiven even if we do not forgive? Jesus reminds us in this way: ‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift’.
He reminds us that our relationship with God ought to always influence our relationships with one another. So as we are forgiven so we should forgive.

‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one’

Lead us not into temptation – God does not tempt us but when we decide to let our evil desires overtake us faculties we are tempted. Jesus was remind His disciples (and also us) that we can ask God to override our faculties and remind us when we are going astray. And then He says but deliver us from the evil one. The bible reminds us that the devil seeks to devour us all the time so we constantly need deliverance that comes through our surrender to God.

He then re-emphasises the need for forgiveness. He says when we forgive others then our father in heaven will also forgive us but He also gives a warning that if we do not forgive then we will also not receive forgiveness from our father in heaven. Jesu reminds us and teaches that when we pray, forgiveness is important and we ought to always forgive so that we also can receive forgiveness.

So when we pray, we need to settle in our heart to forgive so that God forgives us in return as a consequence of our forgiving others. When we pray we need to acknowledge who God is and how much we depend on Him. When we pray, let us put God first and understand that He, and not us is the foundation of all we need. And when you pray, put God first!!!!!

I have loved you
I have loved you says the Lord!!!

“I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,”
Malachi‬ 1:2‬ KJV‬‬

I have loved you, yet you say wherein hast thou loved us. This is a statement that fascinates me. It fascinates me because God is speaking to the children of Israel that he chose out of all nations of the earth, even says:

“The Lord did not set His love upon you and choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people.”
Deuteronomy‬ 7:7‬ AMPC‬‬

It’s amazing how much we as people get excited over things that excite God. It is not what you possess physically that has made God to choose you but out of love He chooses us for His purpose and will. I have loved you! When God has His eyes set on you in loving you, there is no escape. We see throughout the books of the Old Testament how God’s love for the children of Israel is shown through how He cares for them and turns them into a nation that puts fear into the hearts of man. He turns a nation of slaves into a mighty army and gives them peace. He walks with them in the desert for 40 years and does not neglect them even if they try Him time and time again through their sin. His hand of mercy and grace is never lifted from them. Even when they have sinned so much so that He allows other nations to come against them and take them into captivity, His love is not stilled and because of this love He promises that He will leave for Himself a remnant and that Israel will be great again. A people that have seen such grace and mercy. A people who have seen such goodness and such love still does not comprehend love. God says I have loved you, yet they say wherein have ye loved us? Imagine that. Human beings sometimes can be so fickle and, in our fickleness, lose focus on what matters. Loose focus on the love of God that He gives to us time and again. Israel was a nation born out of love, with God showing them favour. Even though Jacob was younger than Esau, God showed favour and loved Jacob, even allowing him to take his brother’s birth right because of the love God has for him.

I have loved you!! Is a declaration of constancy of love and the endurance of the love of God over His chosen people, but a people who do not understand what love is cannot fathom it even when He stands in front of them.

You see, there is a need for us to understand the love with which God loves us. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John‬ 3:16‬ KJV‬‬

This is the love that you and me have been given. This is the love that we have received freely. Yet some of us today still ask the question, wherein hast thou loved us.

God, the creator of all things left His throne, clothed Himself in human flesh. Came down on earth to live as one of us. Preached the good news of the kingdom and of salvation. Was falsely accused, beaten and scorned. Was hung on a tree at Calvary and took up one Him that which is contrary to His nature (sin) and died. He went to hades to get the keys of death then rose again on the third day into glory. He has given us (those who believe in Him) His Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us and to guide us unto truth. Yet we still ask Him, wherein hast thou loved us? I have loved you.

Child of God, saints, and friends. Never doubt the love with which God has loved you because your life is plenty evidence of the love with which you are loved. Our eyes need to be open to seeing this love each and every day. When we know every day how much we are loved, we cannot help but honour the one who loves us with a great love. He says in the book of Jeremiah chapter 31:3

“The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
Jeremiah‬ 31:3‬ KJV‬‬

It is this everlasting love that calls us unto Him. It is this love that compels is to live for Him. You see love is always available for those who would receive it. Even today, His love is available for those who desperately need it. That’s why He says in Jeremiah 29:13

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah‬ 29:13‬ KJV‬‬

All we have to do is turn our hearts towards Him and seek after Him. The Bible encourages us to:

“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:”
Isaiah‬ 55:6‬ KJV‬‬

I have loved thee, yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us? It is in His love for us where we find love. Love for Him and love for others. We claim to have love, yet we still ask Him, wherein hast thou loved us?

Today, this love is searching after you. He is calling you and is waiting for your response to Him. He is saying, today, if you hear this word do not harden your hearts like many before you have done. Today if you hear His voice allow His love to come to you and allow Him to rule and reign in your heart that you may know the fullness of His love!!! Today allow Him to open your eyes and your heart so that He can say I have loved you!

Today, if you want to allow His love that heals your soul. His love that does not condemn but rather comforts and restores. His love that thinks only good for you. His love that has been and continues to be patient with you. His love that is full of kindness and goodness. His love that has offered you a new life, an everlasting life. His love that was willing to lay down His life for you to be reconciled to Him. His love that is the fullness of His glory and majesty. All you have to do is ask Him to fill you with His love. Pray with me, say:

Father. Today I lay my life and my heart before you. You know the deepest thoughts of my heart, my deepest secret desires. You know the pain I have inside and all the unforgiveness that I still harbour towards myself and others. No one knows me like you do and today Lord, please pour out your love into my heart. Remind me that you have loved me. Let your love heal me, let it restore me. Pour out the fullness of your love so that I may be changed. So that I may love myself like you do and love others as myself as you have commanded. Most importantly Lord pour out the fullness of your love so that I may love you (honouring you and keep all your commandments). All I am is yours oh Lord so saturate me in your love. I give you my heart. In Jesus name. Amen!

Have a blessed day.

Faith not fear
There are many things that we can attribute out lack of faith on. Sometimes it is because of a lack of knowledge of who God is and who we are in Him. Sometimes it is a lack of knowledge of the scriptures and the promises given to us in them. Other times it’s merely that we don’t have understanding of what the scriptures are saying and thus miss out on exercising our faith on them. And lastly, fear creeps in and we are so consumed by it that we have no space for faith. The Bible tells us this:

A

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
Hosea‬ 4:6‬ KJV‬‬

  1. My people perish or are destroyed for lack of knowledge, this is what God says to the prophet Hosea. We are destroyed because we lack knowledge.
  2. Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.
  3. Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

B

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
2 Peter‬ 1:19-21‬ KJV‬‬

  1. The Apostle Peter speaks about a sure word of prophecy which we do well to take heed of. When we do not listen to what the scriptures (prophecy) as the Apostle Peter is referring to here then we do not know what God has promised to us who believe. It is impossible to have faith on a promise you do not know.
  2. He also goes on to say that this word comes as a light shining in a dark place unto dawn. Knowing that it comes not from men but from God. So when we hold on to these promises we are holding on to the promises of God and thus our faith is encouraged that if God has said it then He will do it.


Today though I want us to focus on fear as a deterrent to our faith. Now my focus on fear is because the Apostle Paul tells us that fear is a spirit, and that it is one that does not come from God. We read:

“when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,”
2 Timothy‬ 1:5-9‬ KJV‬‬

The Apostle Paul in speaking to Timothy is reminding him of the faith that is in him. He is reminding him to hold on to that faith and not let it go faint. He reminds Him that the gift of God in us builds up our faith. Let us delve deeper into this passage:

  1. A reminder of faith. Faith, like any other thing in us needs to constantly be exercised in our walk with God because our walk with God is first based on our belief and trust in Him. We are reminded in the book of Habakkuk 2:4 that we ought to live by faith. This notion of a life of faith is taken even further in the book of Hebrews 11. Here we are told that without faith it is impossible to please God because he that comes to God must believe that He is (or He exists) and that He is the rewarded of them that diligently seek Him. This is actually explain d earlier in this chapter in verse 3, it says: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews‬ 11:3‬ KJV‬‬ through faith. So our understanding of the ways of the operations of God are through faith. The Apostle Paul here is just reminding Timothy that the power and gifts of God in him might not be tangible but they are real and they are accessed through faith.
  2. Stir up the gift. The gift of God needs the fuel of faith in order to operate fully in our lives. It is through faith that we see the evidence of the miraculous or the unseen. The Bible says God spoke the world into existence. Words which are unseen became the foundation of the world we see. So many times we speak words which can cause damage to or build up a person. These words are unseen but their impact or their power is seen in the evidence of the person they are spoken to. The Bible tells us in Ephesians: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men.” Ephesians‬ 4:8‬ KJV‬‬. It is God who gave gifts to me. In Romans we also read: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans‬ 12:6-8‬ KJV‬. The apostle Paul is admonishing Timothy to use his gift, to stir it up. To stir up is to cause something to come up or to increase passion for the thing. The Apostle Paul is saying to Timothy through faith stir up your gift, use it to the benefit of the body of Christ. Do not just sit on it but use it because it is given for the benefit of many. It was St Augustine of Hippo who said on his book entitled On Christian Doctrine: a gift given is for the enjoyment of others and if it is not used for the enjoyment of others then it is a gift wasted. What the apostle Paul is doing encouraging Timothy to do is use the gift in you in faith. Trusting that since it was given God wants to use it for the body of Christ.
  3. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. Fear creeps in when it comes to us using the gifts God has given us. Sometimes fear can praise you so that you can sit with a needed gift and not be able to use it because of the fear of failure, but worse than that, fear paradises your faith! See the spirit we have been given, the Holy Spirit who lives on the inside of us is a spirit of power! Acts 1:8. That word power means the ability or capacity to act in a certain way. This means the spirit we have been given enables us and capacitances us to act out the gifts that God has given us through His spirit. When the Apostle Paul says God has given us a spirit of power what he is saying is that we are enabled to operate in the gifts that God has given us! So use your gift because you were not only given it but also the ability to use it! Fear cannot stop you because it doesn’t form part of what you have been given. We have been given a spirit of love which we are told in 1 Corinthians 13 that it fails not. The spirit we have been given cannot fail so be sure that the gift God has given you is adequate and cannot fail because it is given in love. The spirit of love in you is to ensure that as we operate in faith in what God has given us we trust and know that He will ensure it fails not. We have been given a spirit and f a sound mind. We can discern when and how to use this gift God has given us because we can, as they say, read the room. We can be rational in the operation of the gifts God has given us. The Apostle Paul is encouraging Timothy to apply faith and reason to the operation of his gift and be sure that God has enabled him and will ensure the success of his gift. He is encouraging him to throw fear aside and have faith in God!


Lastly the Apostle Paul tells Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel! Saints, I believe that fear has stopped a lot of us from living a full life where we not only fulfil the purpose of God through the use or application of the gifts of God in our lives but also where we do not have the necessary impact where God he placed us because we are too busy being scared of doing what God has called us to do and thus holding back because of a spirit of fear. Fear is a spirit and where we choose not to exercise our faith and stir up the gift of God within us we allow the spirit of fear to occupy that space. Today I urge you to ask yourself these simple questions:

What have I not done which I knew to do because of fear?

Where have I been disobedient to the call or instruction of God because of fear?

Where would I be had it not been for the spirit of fear holding me back in my life?

Ask yourselves these question and take this stand with me today to confess the true word of God and to hold on to faith. Pray this prayer with me today:

Father in heaven, I come before you just as I am. I’m sorry for the excuses I’ve made because of allowing the spirit of fear in my life. I’m sorry for not using what you have given me and allowing fear to take centre stage. Where I have not done that which you have wanted me to do I’m sorry. Where I have deliberately or unknowingly been disobedient I repent and ask for your forgiveness. Where my life has not gone the way it should because of fear I repent. Today Lord I choose to hold on to faith. Faith in you and faith in your word. I choose to believe what your word says about me and I choose to stir up the gift in me through faith and to start walking in faith. Help me to identify the gift where I haven’t and help me to identify opportunity to use my gift for your glory! Today Lord I choose faith over fear! In Jesus name! Amen!

Today I wanted to talk about an issue that some people struggle with. It's a silent struggle that is often never detected until its too late. It is a very sensitive issue so I have decided to not record this but write it down and only share with a handful of people. As always, our reference for everything is scripture so let us get to it. In the book of psalms 24:1,

The earth is the Lord ’ s , and the fullness of it, The world, and those who dwell in it.
Psalms 24:1 AMP

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it!!! Everything in this earth belongs to the Lord and to no one else. All things belong to God, all things. The psalmist continue to to say "the world and they that dwell in it", meaning everything in the world belongs to God including all of us who dwell in it. That means even I do not belong to myself but belong to God. If then I belong to God, I have no right over my life.

Let me put it this way, if I take what belongs to somebody else it is called stealing.

Which leads me to the issue I want to speak on today, suicide. Many people do not want to talk about the problem of suicide because mostly we only encounter it once it has happened. Most of the times we don't have the time to intervene because we cannot pick up the signs and by the time we do it is usually already late. It cuts dee for those remaining but we rarely think about the one who has done it. Now, I just want to say this, it is God who owns everything in this world including us. So when we decide to take that which belongs to God we steal from Him. Our lives belong to Him and we have no right to take them because they don't belong to us.

Most people usually have good reason, well I say good I actually mean good to them. They justify it through many ways but none of the justifications actually mean anything. Let's look at how God responds when we question His authority:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel [questioning my authority and wisdom] By words without knowledge?
Job 38:1‭-‬2 AMP

God questions Job's bickering and questioning of His authority. So many times when we go through difficulty we question God's authority and presence because we figure if it was according to our will we would not have allowed it to go that way. What we forget is that God sees and knows tomorrow. We make decisions based on all current information but He makes decisions based on His intended outcome with our lives. In Isaiah 46:10 the Bible tells us:

Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past; For I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, And from ancient times the things which have not [yet] been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will do all that pleases Me and fulfills My purpose,’
Isaiah 46:9‭-‬10 AMP

He declares the end from the beginning. He knows our end so He prepares us for our journey. We may think that we do not need trouble but we are reminded ghat God who knows the end from the beginning allows some situations so that He can prepare us for where we are going. Now I'm not saying it doesn't scar or hurt what we go through but this is what I'm saying:

We have a heart of flesh. The reason I believe is that even when flesh gets cut it heals and comes together again. It may leave a scar to show the world that there was once a wound but it also leaves a testimony and builds us strength inside. The Bible tells us in Revelation 12:11,

And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.
Revelation 12:11 AMP

By the word of their testimony!!!! Pain develops a testimony and through our pain we are trained to face more adversity because this walk of following Christ is not easy so we need to stay strong and look to Him when faced with adversity. The scars are our battle wounds.

It is hard, but God knows why. Sometimes He tells us, sometimes we know much later but sometimes we never know.

He owns us and suicide is never an option. I just had this in my heart today and thought to share.

The Lord bless and keep you.

Oh wretched man that I am!

Human nature, or human instinct is a powerful thing that is a continuous struggle in our Christian walk. The reason we struggle with it is because our Christ or spirit nature when we get born again stands in stark contrast to our flesh/human or sin nature that is prevalent. The Apostle Paul put it like this:

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Romans 7:19-25 KJV

The Apostle Paul here is speaking about two contrasting laws that are prevalent in human nature and how these battle within each and every one of us.

Now, I must say this, I am not a sin apologist and never will be. Sin should always be dealt with according to the disdain it deserves but we who judge those that fall into or commit sin are to be careful of the lessons these behaviours or scandals teach us about. If we do not learn from these and if we are not always careful to observe these we might find ourselves being consumed by the same sinful desires that consume those we judge and scorn at. I believe that is why the Apostle Paul was careful to say these words:

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV

The law of sin works in our bodies and the law of Christ and grace works in our spirit. The Apostle Paul is saying here that in the battle between my body and my soul I ensure that my body is kept under subjection so that my soul triumphs. How then do we keep this body under subjection and how do we ensure that the soul triumphs. I believe there is a way of doing this and making it a practical day by day experience which we constantly seek to grow from. My body mostly speaks to my senses because it is them that may cause me to sin. My senses drive my desires and thus drive me to feed them so they may feel satisfied. For an example, usually a person lies because they feel an overwhelming sense of wanting to protect themselves or someone close because they are of the view that revealing the truth would be detrimental to themselves or those around them. This means the lie is a mere act of covering an even bigger issue. So when we sin in our body it is because we have purposed to feed our desires above all else. It is a lustful eye that would lead a man who is relatively happily married to pursue another women going against the nature of the spirit which is the written word of God. The bible tells us not to commit adultery but if the man does not feed his soul with the word of God then his inclination would be towards feeding his fleshly desires then allow the faith that comes by hearing the word of God guide him away from such sinful actions.

In fact if we are not careful we can be so indulgent in our behaviour towards our flesh to the point that even things which we know to be sin we would not only engage in ourselves but endorse. This endorsement is as a result of the constant feeding of our fleshly desires and the ignorance towards the spirit of truth. The Apostle Paul, speaking to the church in Rome in the first chapter warns us that such indulgences can lead to God washing His hands of us, so as to say, and giving us up to these desires completely. He puts it like this:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
Romans 1:21 – 25 KJV

God gave them up!!!!!! It’s almost like saying God handed them over to the same indulgences they ignored Him for. They became too important in their own eyes and their pleasure became more important than the truth of God and the fear of the Lord. So then what am I saying?

‘Unless we put our flesh under subjugation and allow our spirit to be fed on the true word of God, on the living word of God. We run the risk of always choosing indulgence over righteousness.’

Unless we choose to make it a daily struggle to fight against our unrighteous fleshy desires, no matter how anointed or called we think ourselves to be. We would fall in to the same trap that has tripped many a children of God before. We have a fight going on inside of us, a fight between the law of the flesh and the law of the spirit!! We contend with this fight each and every day but the bible reminds us:

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”
2 Cornthians 2:4 KJV

We have a guarantee of success as long as we have God on our side. Christ is our triumph and if we are always found in Him, we are guaranteed triumph!!!!
You see, we should be those who are on the side of truth. Jesus says this in the gospel of John chapter 18:37 “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” KJV

Friends, all we need is truth. The gospel of Jesus, the true gospel is in us if we are on the side of truth. You see we live in a generation that has sought to teach Jesus without truth, this is a fallacy. We are called to speak truth because we hear the Lord of truth. He says to the apostle John in chapter 14:6 “I am the truth”. He is “The” truth. No one else comes to God except through him. In fact let us read this passage:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” KJV

He says He is the only way to the father yet you hear all sorts of bastardisation of the gospel out there today, and when you look around to see who will stand for the truth you find none. Friends we are not only called to be on the side of truth but also to stand or contend for the truth. In Jude verse 3 -4 we are told this:

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” KJV

Jude says we must contend for the faith, warning us that there are men who creeps amongst us, ungodly men who try to turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness (defined as behaviour that expresses a strong desire for sexual activity). Now Jude here was directly addressing sexual sin that was being introduced by those who were creeping in within the saints, abusing God’s grace for their own gratification and he says we must contend for the faith. To contend is to struggle to summon or to assert something as a position in an argument. There is a need to ensure that we do not remain silent when we see abuses of this our faith but that we strongly object to these in every way possible because we ought to be defenders of this faith. Uncanny individuals have introduced strange doctrines in our faith and they have been successful in this because we, who should have been contending for this faith have done nothing. We have sat aside idly whilst charlatans have creeped in to belittle the gospel of Christ which was paid for at a great price. The Apostle Paul, writing to Titus says this:

“Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”

Paul is saying a few things here which I want us to look at:
  1. He is saying we should be holding fast to the true teachings of the word given us (here he is especially speaking about those in positions of leadership - bishop) but the bible tells us that he who desires a position of a bishop desires a good thing (1 Timothy 3:1). So we all ought to hold on to the true teachings of the word of God.
  2. Paul also says there are many vain talkers and deceivers. Friends, it’s almost as if Paul was prophesying about this time we live in. There are many speeches we hear from pulpits today that have nothing to do with the word of God. Even when we look at the lives of our leaders, they don’t reflect a life befitting that of a true walk with our Lord Jesus or even His word. The gulf between what the bible teaches and the lives of our leaders in the church is huge. These individuals don’t only talk vainly, without substance but also deceive God’s people through false teachings and false prophecies. Child of God, be careful not only that you save yourself but also that you save others by speaking against this behaviour where you see it. It’s not me who is saying that we should speak against it but the Apostle Paul in this passage says: Rebuke them sharply!!!!!
  3. The apostle Paul says of them: “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake”. These people ought to be stopped because they lead people astray for their own financial benefit. They are in it for the money and not for the true salvation of souls.
  4. He then says we must rebuke them sharply, not only for the sake of others but also for their own sakes.


Saints, we need to contend for the faith but the starting point is ensuring that we, are walking the right way. We ought to be like Paul saying:

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” KJV

The starting point of our contention for the faith is to ensure that we have received the true gospel. Once this is done then we can help others receive the true gospel. I want to challenge us today, to go put your walk against the word of God and where you see spots turn to Him in repentance and a willingness to be converted and see how God is faithful with our lives when we give them to His hands. Allow the gospel of truth to transform you and to work out the truth of God in you. Allow the gospel of truth to be your life and contend for the faith. Rebuke those that pervert this gospel because it is our inheritance.

It is only through a surrendered heart that God can inculcate this gospel of truth in us. Today pray with me and say:

Lord of truth. I come before you just as I am. Re-educate me in the gospel of truth and fill me with your truth. I want to know the true unadulterated gospel. I want to contend for the faith in truth, not only in what I say but in how I live my life as an example of truth. Give me the strength to rebuke that which masquerades as truth but is not. Give me the boldness to stand for truth in my daily walk!! I love you Lord and all I seek is truth of this gospel. In Jesus name. Amen.

Day and night

There is no better way to say all the time then saying day and night. If you want to be specific on the times that someone must do something you say day and night to ensure no loopholes or excuses in what they are doing.

When the Lord spoke to Joshua at the death of Moses He was speaking to a man that already was going above and beyond the minimum requirements. He was already doing more than others did. Let us go see what I’m talking about:

“ And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.”
Exodus 33:7-11 KJV

This passage shows us a scene in the desert where Moses would go into the Tabernacle of congregation. The bible tells us that when Moses went into the Tabernacle of congregation all the men of Israel would stand at the door of their tents and watched after Moses until he came out. They stood there in worship until Moses left. Their time spent in Worship, or in the presence of God was limited to how much time Moses spent in the presence of God in the Tabernacle of congregation. But Joshua son of Nun remained even after Moses had left the Tabernacle. Joshua was a man who sought the face of God for Himself and was not limited by the time His leader spent in the presence.

Joshua learnt the experience of being in the presence of God but was not at all satisfied by Moses’ experiences. He wanted to remain in the Tabernacle to spend time with God by himself. It is with this context that we read the following passage then:

“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Joshua 1:7-8 KJV

When God is speaking to Joshua in his commission to he leadership of the children of Israel He says this: Meditate on this book of the law day and night! Now God is talking to an individual who was already doing more than others. Joshua was already spending a lot of time in the presence of God. He was not just doing the bare minimum but was going the extra mile in spending time with God. God was instructing Joshua that in order to be able to do the work that is set before him the law should be on his mind all the time. Joshua needed to immerse himself in the word of God all the time, that’s why the Lord says Day and Night!! Day and night. Not when you feeling down, or when you feel like it or when you in trouble. The instruction to meditate on the word was not dependant on things that fluctuate and change. It was not dependant on how Joshua felt or how busy his day was. I t was dependant on something that is inevitable, Day and Night!! We always have day and we always have night. The Lord was expressing to Joshua the importance of constantly meditating on the word of God! Understand that there were other things which could have occupied Joshua or taken his focus away from God and because God knew this His encouragement to Joshua was to meditate on His word day and night. When we meditate on God’s word day and night, this passage tells us, we are able to ensure we do according to how the word instructs.

Let us be careful to observe the word of the Lord. Let us meditate on the word of God, Day and Night!!!!!!! It is this that will help us to observe it and to do it.

The greatest of these is love

If you can try to find one definition of love today in our world it seems there really isn’t. People associate love to all kinds of things and feelings. In fact most of the times when people want to get you to go along with their preferences on anything they will try to wrap it up in some level or definition of love that they have, it is always fascinating me that love has been used to define or describe all sorts of things that when we go to the original meaning of it (according to the bible) would not fit what we have made it to be today.

Anyways, I digress. Mine today is not exactly to look at the definition of love but to speak about love in the context of the world we live in today. How are we to display Christ and His gospel to a lost world with an inaccurate definition of love?

To clearly deal with this we need to go look at the beginning:

“And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 11:13 KJV

Moses, in this passage speaking to the children of Israel equates love for God to keeping His commandments. How we show love to God and how we show that we love God is by walking according to His commandments. So we see that love is an action word and we can see it not only claim it.

The Apostle Paul, in his thesis on love in the book of 1 Corinthians goes into lengths to explain what love is and how important love is in the walk of power, the walk of the gospel that we walk as children of God. The Apostle Paul speaks about love as the most perfect thing or the more excellent way. Let us read a bit of 1 Corinthians:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body [a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJ

Love is the central thing. The Apostle Paul urges us to exercise whatever gift God has given us through the filter of love. But the big question is how we love in a world that hates anything to do with God. In a world that tries by all means to diminish or totally eradicate God in all public squares, how do we who have learnt to love through Him show that same love to this world? How do I love those that hate me for my beliefs or those that hate my God because of their own indulgences and motivations? How do I show this love to a world that has completely redefined what it is to love? A world that says to tell someone the truth is not love especially if that truth doesn’t agree with their notion of truth. In a world of relativity, how does the absolute of love show itself?

Today I want to take two paragraphs or so to speak to this dilemma. We find some of the answers to the prevailing questions of our times in the following passage:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not [b]puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, [c]thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is [d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13: 4-13 NKJV

Love suffers long and is kind – We love this world and all its people with the provision that the love we give might not be reciprocated. We do not love this generation because of how much they praise us and how hungry they are for God but we love them because they need God and the only way some of them will have to meet God is through us. If God is love then we love them so that they can see God and in doing that we don’t give up on this generation irrespective of whatever persecution might come our way, we love.

Love does not envy, does not parade itself and is not puffed up – in loving this generation we cannot, I repeat, we cannot think of ourselves better than them. We need to understand the mercy we have received to be children of God and give them the same mercy in all things. They will falter and continue to falter, sometimes by mistake and sometimes intentionally but that cannot cause us to withhold the love of God.

Love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked and thinks no evil – Our response and our actions to loving this generation must always respond kindly. It must never be triggered to respond rudely but continuously respond in kindness.

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth – Truth is central to how we love this generation. Although they might not like nor accept the truth we have to share but we cannot give up in sharing the truth with them. Truth is the only way to set this generation free and if we ever try to sugar coat truth or not give it as it they we cripple this generation and are not acting loving towards them.

Love never fails – everything else we can try to help this generation, if it does not amount to love, then it will fall short. This generation needs love more than anything because in all their shortcomings, love is the only guarantee to bring them back to God because Love never fails!

Love is the greatest of all and what we owe this generation above all else is love. The love of God. So let us go out and choose to love!!!
In the book of 2 Corinthians we read: “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!”

2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC

The Apostle Paul says ‘the old has passed away’ meaning all old or former dispositions (physically and spiritually) have been erased existence and what now exists is a new creation with a new moral, physical and spiritual dispositions. In fact, Jesus, speaking to Nicodemus, says something similar. We read in the gospel of John:

“Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.”

John 3:3 AMPC

So Jesus, in addressing Nicodemus tells him that to inherit the kingdom of God one needs to be born again, or born anew. You see, Jesus is trying to impress to Nicodemus that Heritage, belief and spiritual dispositions do not matter or are of no value without being made new through being born of the spirit and not of the flesh. This means a change in heritage (no longer having the heritage of this world or culture that you were physically born into but of a culture you have now been spiritually born into), a change in belief (no longer observing beliefs or rituals you were physically born into but now observing beliefs and rituals you have now been spiritual born into) and a change in spirituality (meaning no longer spiritually inclined to the old dispositions but now only spiritually inclined to Christ who is the your new heritage, the author and finisher or our faith).

Jesus is talking here to a Jew, born into Judaism and fully observant of its heritage and customs, to its beliefs and to its spirituality. He is addressing an age old issue of identity and all He is saying to Nicodemus is this:

“If you are in Christ (if you want to be of the kingdom of God), you need to lose everything you were brought up with and completely become new in not just your beliefs but also your thinking and actions. You see, what is born of a duck will look like a duck, walk like a duck, act like a duck and have a similar perspective to the duck that it is born of. So if we are born of God, then our culture, heritage, beliefs and spiritually must resemble Him.”

Now, I know I’ve been going around in circles but I needed to lay a proper foundation upon which to address this issue which burdens my heart so deeply today.

Ok, here it is. Today I want to address the emergence in the African church (maybe more specifically, the South African church) of this African spirituality. I’ve seen people move from ancestral worship in their private space and are now advocating for it not only in the public space but in the sanctuary of God, which is to be held in absolute holiness. Most of these argue that certain aspects of the Christian faith are based on the heritage of Abraham who was a Jew and when you hear the Jews in the Old Testament pray and mention God of Abraham they are praying to God pleading through their ancestor Abraham. Others have even taken this further to say that dead people are spirits and because of this they have a closer connection with God and so if we pray through them (meaning fi we observe the customs of ancestral worship) then we guarantee that they plead on our behalf and intercede for us to God.

Now, I must admit before taking up my discourse on this issue that I don’t fully understand the arguments raised by this abomination of our true faith and honestly, I don’t really care to understand it that deeply because the foundations upon which it is built are flawed. So let me address this biblically, please bear with me as I want to take a long winded way of addressing it in order to raise my argument against such an abomination fully.

Go with me to the book of Genesis chapter 11 and verse 31, it reads:

“And Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together to go from Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.”

Genesis 11:31 AMPC

So Abram, before meeting with a God who would transform him, was a Chaldean and not a Jew. Well, I know it’s a bold statement to make but it’s there in the passage we have just read. One can even go further to say that the Jews in the Old Testament were praying to a God of someone who was once an Arab and not a Jew. (to this point the Apostle Paul say this: For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision; which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. Romans 2:28-29). Well, let us clarify this further. In Genesis chapter 12:1-3 we read this:

“Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others]. And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and [a]curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].”
Genesis 12:1-3

Let us break this passage down:

Abram, a Chaldean, is called by God away
  • From his country (God is separating him from his country)
  • From his relatives (God is separating him from his relatives)
  • From his father’s house (God is separating him from all of his father’s house)


God is separating Abram from all that he knows and all that he identifies himself with. In fact, I could even go as far as saying that God is calling Abram to be new, to separate himself with all things old and allow God to rebuild him from scratch. God goes on to tell Abram the reason for this separation: “I will make you a great nation”.

He is calling Abram out of his past into a new future whose architect is God!!! Abram’s life up to that point was shaped by his country, relatives and father’s household but God had to call him out of all of that so that He could make him a new nation whose architect and foundations is based only on God. So Abram does as God had instructed but for this one thing:

“So Abram departed, as the Lord had directed him; and Lot [his nephew] went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.”
Genesis 12:4 AMPC

Lot was never part of the equation when God instructed Abram to leave yet when Abram carried out God’s instruction he went with him. (that’s a sermon in and of itself so let me not digress). In order for God to make Abram the nation He wanted him to be, there was a need for Abram to leave the old behind so that he may be made new. Along their journey (Abram and Lot), issues arise. There is quarrel between their herdsmen and for the sake of peace they decide to go their separate ways. For the first time after Lot leaves, Abram is truly separated from his father’s house. As soon as this happens, we then read this:

“The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your posterity forever. And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted. Arise, walk through the land, the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it to you.”
Genesis 13:14-17 AMPC

When Abram was truly separated from all that which God had instructed him to be separated from, then God speaks again to Abram to show him the reach of the call of God in his life to separate himself. Abram is no longer a Chaldean of Haran or of Ur (God had called him to separate himself from this identity) but he has become a child of God, a seed through which God will not only build a new nation (Jews) but through which all nations of the earth will be blessed. Abram now is truly separated to be made new. I f you read further in Genesis chapters 15 to 17 you start to see the unfolding of the plan of God in and through the life of Abram. Some points to note for this discussion are:

  1. God promises Abram an heir through which He would make him into a nation.
  2. Abram believes God and God counted it to him as righteousness.
  3. Abram offers an offering as a show or sign that God will do what He said.
  4. God gives Abram a glimpse into the future of the Israelites (Jews) and also his own future.
  5. God makes a covenant with Abram to give his descendants the land He had promised Abram.
  6. Abram’s name is changed from Abram (High, exalted father) to Abraham (Father of a multitude) for God said to Him “I, have made you the father of many nations”.


Now, I went through all of that to come to this point:

Abraham is a new creation (as specified by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5). He is no longer a Chaldean but a new nation whose architect is God alone. But how does this address this advent of African Spirituality and its arguments? Well, let’s go through this in detail:

1. The Jews were a nation made in the blueprint of God. The design and architect of their heritage, laws beliefs and spirituality were all crafted by God (as seen in the books of Exodus, Leveticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, in the most part). These were laws and ordinances were not made of man but of God. So their culture, as captured in the scriptures, is the culture of God and not of man. We cannot therefore put our culture above that which is captured in the scriptures because ours is man-made and scriptural one is God given.
2. “Through you, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed!” – True blessing comes from no one else but Christ who is a descendant of Abraham. There is no ancestor or forefather (however you want to call it) who can intercede for you or through whom you can be blessed except the one born of Abraham’s descendants. This is the covenant God made and is making with us today.
3. Father of many nations. Abraham was made father of many nations and also caused nations and kings to come from him. Moreover, He is the father of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ by whom we have been adopted into Christendom. He is my father also and thus if I am in Christ, my worship is to his God who has become my God.
4. New creature. See like Abraham, when we are in Christ, all our old nations, relatives, beliefs and spirituality passes away (meaning we dissociate ourselves from it) and we become a new creation. Now the bible, through Abraham and many of the patriarchs and through Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, becomes our new culture, land, belief and spirituality. Our lives are no longer directed by our physical heritage (the heritage we were born into physically) but are led by our spiritual heritage (the heritage we were born into spiritually when we became born again). We cannot therefore hold on to the practices that glorify anything else other than God and yet still claim to belong to Him.

I would like to conclude with this:

“Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world. They proceed from the world and are of the world; therefore it is out of the world [its [d]whole economy morally considered] that they speak, and the world listens (pays attention) to them. We are [children] of God. Whoever is learning to know God [progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God by observation and experience, and to [e]get an ever-clearer knowledge of Him] listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us. By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.”
1 John 4:4-6 AMPC

We are of God and hence our heritage and culture is of God. It is left for those who are of the world, who have the spirit of error, to mix the things of the world with the things of God if they so choose or to go after the things of the world despising the things of God. We who are born of God cannot. Truth is, if we are in Christ we are a new creation. Old things have truly passed away and all things have become new. That is why the Apostle Paul urges us like this in the book of Romans:

“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].”

Romans 12:1-2 AMPC

We need to be constantly transformed by the renewal of our minds so that we are not held to people or culture’s standards but that we hold ourselves to God’s standard. A cultural revolution is what being a child of God calls us to. A perfect and complete transformation from all we hold dear to what God in His word has instructed is necessary. We should not and we cannot allow such abominations to stand on the pulpit of God’s temple and distort the true faith by leading God’s people away from truth into practices which do not form part of our new God created culture. We need to hold on to biblical principles and not man-made principles which come from the spirit of error.
Human beings are the most interesting of creatures because they are the only ones out of God’s creation that have decided to reject the source of their being to try and live life outside of Him. I have never seen a fish try to live outside of the water because it understands that it was created from water. In Genesis 1: 20 God says this:

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”
Genesis‬ 1:20‬ KJV‬‬

It is out of water that the creatures of the sea were created and in verse 22 it is in the water where their blessing lies.

In verse 11 of chapter 1 of Genesis God commands the earth to bring forth vegetation and trees. And thus every tree you see is always thriving when it is connected to the source of its creation, the ground. You see the tree understands that winter will come and it will lose all its leaves and fruit but in all this understanding the tree will cleave to the ground and not let go of it because it knows that in the right season, it’s leaves will sprout and be green and it will bear its fruit again.

Likewise, God commanded human beings out of Himself and thus we are at our best position when we are found in Him. It was Augustine who said:

“He has made us for Himself and our lives are restless ‘till we find rest in Him”

We were created out of a source which is God. He says in Genesis 1:26

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Genesis‬ 1:26‬ KJV‬‬

It is out of all of Himself that He commanded us. We are made in Him by Him and for Him. If you continue to verses 27 and 28 you see that the blessing that came or that God proclaimed over our lives was based on us remaining in Him and being like Him.

So, whichever season we find ourselves we ought to cleave to Him like the tree because He is the source of all of our being. That is why the Apostle Paul said the following in Acts 17:28:

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
Acts‬ 17:28‬ KJV‬‬

He is our source and we cannot be alive and thrive except in Him. But we are very quick to want to let go and blame our source which is God when we go through tough seasons, yet I’ve never seen a tree leave the ground in winter because it understands that only by cleaving will it thrive in the right season.
We all have known on of those people that everyone calls wise. They can dissect and explain everything they engage in. In fact, you don’t want to be caught on the opposite side to them when engaging in a debate because they can reason away anything they believe to be the correct or true thing. Human nature is to praise these people and look up to them because of their inherent wisdom and their ability to reason things to the core. Now, reason is important in the way we understand things so that we are able to explain them but reason alone, or reason for reason’s sake cannot be enough in understanding life in its entirety. There are things even science fails to explain in the world we live in today and if we are dependent on reason alone then we fall short of understanding. In the book of Proverbs King Solomon tells us this:

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

Proverbs 4:7 NIV

The king here is encouraging us to pay the ultimate price for understanding. What this doesn’t explain though is that sometimes the price we have to pay is the price of faith. Faith, by itself, we are told is the way of life for all those who call themselves by the name of the Lord and who are just. “The just shall live by faith” the bible tells us. How then do we pay this price of faith and does it mean that we let go of reason when we hold on to faith?

I do think that reason goes hand in hand with our faith in God as what the bible tells us can be historically verifiable and the evidence of our faith is seen through what God does in our lives. The Apostle Paul takes this notion of faith payment to a higher level when he discusses the power of salvation/ power of the gospel that we receive through faith. In the book of 1 Corinthians we read:

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
1 Corinthians 18-25

The message of the cross/ the message of salvation is foolishness to those who are perishing. So to the wise (human wisdom) the Apostle Paul says that the message which is received both by faith and reason is foolishness to them, because they use human standards to judge the plan of heaven. When they do that, according to their standards the plan of heaven, God coming down in human form to die on the cross as a gift to humanity so that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but receive eternal life, does not make sense. It is foolishness because they are looking for the wisdom or pattern of this world of salvation. They fall short of accepting this salvation and receiving this power of God not because it is not available to them but because they think themselves wiser than they are. The expectation from them is that God should follow their human pattern of doing things so that He fits into their boxed mind set of how things should be. The Apostle Paul goes further to say that God’s foolishness is wiser then the wisdom of men and God’s weakness is stronger than the strength of men.

What the Apostle Paul is saying to us is that Faith and Reason go hand in hand. Our faith cannot be blind but we cannot also live a life of pure reason without faith because we would start to shun God because we don’t understand. He is encouraging us to hold on to God’s wisdom and trust that His wisdom is better than ours. Trusting that He knows more than we do. So take this year to depend on His wisdom and knowledge and trust that it is always better than you think. Seek to understand His wisdom because, as King Solomon advices:

“Though it costs everything you have, get understanding!”
Our God is a God of order who orders everything according to His time and will. He is never caught unaware of every little thing that happens in our lives and because of this we can be guaranteed that when we decide to surrender all that we are to Him it will be taken care of. In the book of Revelation we read:

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Revelation 13:8

“The lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. God’s plan for salvation was laid before the world even began. He knew that humans born of love could misuse their free will to rebel against Him. He knew that the result of such rebellion would be death and decay and He would need to pay the price for their redemption in order to redeem them back to Himself. God used this foreknowledge to prepare the sacrifice and give it even before the foundations of the world were laid. So, it did not take men’s actual rebellion against God for Him to come up with a salvation plan. Even before sin, the plan for redemption was already set in motion.

What does this really mean to me? Well what I think it means is that God has set out all we need for every possible decision that we will make for our lives. For our sin, salvation has already been provided! For sickness, healing has already been provided as He has said in His word:

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 KJV

By His stripes we are healed! He received those stripes thousands of years ago, but in receiving them, before I was even a though, He knew that my body would need healing one day. So in sickness I do not fret because I know the provision for healing was given thousands of years ago the price for healing has already been paid.

Then what shall I do? How shall I act in my life when I face trials and when everything is seemingly going wrong? Ours is to remember that He has already made provision for it before the foundations of the world and what He requires of us to access the provision is only believe!!! The bible puts it like this:

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4 KJV

His just shall live by faith!!!!!! Made simple, only believe what God has promised in His word!
You see, from the beginning God’s spirit has always sort a man who would carry it through a generation to shew the goodness and majesty of God. His spirit has always revealed God’s redemptive power through the ages by endowing men to be kings, judges or prophets, etc. over a generation to give direction to His people and to shew the glory of Almighty God over the earth. These men have been driven by a desire for righteousness and a desire to see the goodness of God. They were inspired by a surrendered heart to be used for the glory of God, sometimes even in spite of themselves. Allowing the spirit of God to show Himself or tell His redemptive story through their lives. God, in all His glory, is interested in a surrendered heart. When He speaks, His word is for the individual, irrespective of the crowd that might hear His word. We are called as individuals to a salvation that works individually in the hearts of man. It speaks to every individual and each one of us must choose whether the word spoken will benefit or not. The writer of Hebrews chapter 4:1-3 says this:

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” KJV

You see the writer says the word was preached to both us and them but it did not profit them because they did not mix it with faith. They did not believe and thus did not receive the redemption of God that was promised and presented through the word which is Jesus the Christ. This word, presented as the ultimate plan for redemption to reconcile man back to God walked amongst them, performing miracles even but some who saw did not believe in the word and thus did not receive the freely given redemption of God. You see, mankind deludes himself into thinking that there is something he can do to attain unto his redemption, but the Bible tells us something different in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus (chapter 2:1-9):

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” KJV

He says God in His great mercy and love quickened us whilst we were yet dead in our sin. His love and grace provided a way for redemption for us because nothing else could give us the redemption necessary for our sin and separation from God to be wiped clean and for us to receive redemption that would take us back to where we were in the beginning. This world is fallen and we walked according to the standard of this fallen world whilst we were dead in our sin. Lastly he says we are saved by grace and not by works so that no one can boast!! You see, salvation and redemption is only through Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who through grace bore our sins so as to redeem us back to God.

Even today, this grace is available and sufficient as the writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 4:6-7;

“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, to day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” KJV

Friends, today, if you hear His word do not harden your heart (as long as it is called today). This might be your opportunity for the word of God to speak to you, to speak to your heart. He, is the only way to redemption. Apostle Peter says this in the book of Acts chapter 4:12;

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” KJV

It is only through Jesus’ name that we man can be saved. Today, yield to this name and accept the redemption that only comes the redemption that only comes through this name. if you want to do this you can pray this prayer wherever you are:

Holy father. I come just as I am today. Today I choose to open my heart to you and receive the word you speak to me. I know that I need redemption and that this redemption comes only by one name, Jesus the Christ. I lay my life before you and ask you to come into my heart. I choose redemption today. Jesus, I give my life to you today. Rule and reign in my heart and teach me your word. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to walk in your redemptive ways. I love you and I choose you today. In Jesus name. Amen. Well friends if you prayed this prayer, you have taken the first step towards your new beginning. The bible tells us in Acts chapter 3 verse 19:

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

Repent and be converted. A walk of conversion is one of walking according to the word of the Lord always. If you would like more information on the step you’ve taken and how to walk this walk of redemption that only comes from God through Jesus Christ the Messiah you can get in touch with us for more information.

What do you have in your hand?

Today our reading will start from Exodus 4:1-2, it says:

“And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.”
Exodus 4:1-2 KJV
In this famous story of Moses, God reveals to us a very important and interesting truth:

Everything we have He can use for our good and for His glory!

What is more important though and what I would like us to focus on today is the gifts that God has given us. The bible reminds us that “the gifts of God are without repentance”. Now all of us are born gifted (because each and everyone of us was born for a specific purpose). The gifts that God has given us are not for us alone. I mean imagine this, if a gifted singer never sang in public or cut an album but sang only in isolation, what good is his/her singing gift then? Rather, when they sing in public (or in a congregation of people) the ones who are listening are blessed and encouraged by the gift they hear or see. To quote from one of my favourite Christian philosophers, St Augustine of Hippo on his book titled “On Christian Doctrine, he says the following:
“A gift given is for the enjoyment of others, and if it is not used for the enjoyment of others then it is a gift waisted.”

The gifts that God gives each one of us are useless when we sit on them and not use them. Imagine if Joseph (who was gifted in interpreting dreams) sat on his gift and never used it, we might not even be talking about him because he would have rotted in jail had it not been for him using his gift. His gift propelled him from jail into being the second most powerful man in Egypt. The bible tells us that:

“A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.”
Proverbs 18:16

Now back to the passage we read in Exodus, Moses held in his hand a rod. Now this rod, as far as we know, was an ordinary rod but put together with the power of God this rod accomplished a lot. Some of the things that Moses accomplished with this rod are these:
  • It turned into a snake and swallowed the snakes of Pharaoh’s magicians.
  • It was used to part the red sea.
  • It was used to bring water out of a rock.
  • It caused Joshua and the army of Israel to prevail against their enemies.


You see, before Moses met with God at Sinai through the burning bush he probably thought this was just an ordinary rod. Maybe it wasn’t even his favourite rod, we don’t know. What we know is that God in all His wisdom and knowledge knew that Moses would have that rod in his hand on that day and God was able to turn Moses’s ordinary rod into Israel’s rod of Salvation. Now, what gift or talent has God given you? What saving grace are you busy sitting on?

Your gift may just be what you need to come out of whatever jail you might find yourself in presently. It might be the one thing that will bring about your promotion and propel you t better heights. Now you may ask, but how can my little gift do this. Well let me break it down for you:
  1. Your gift is God given. – It is God who gives gifts to all men but even more, when you are in Christ you get a special bonus. Let me show you: “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Ephesians 4:7-8. It is not only the gifts we are born with but God has given to us gifts to serve Him.
  2. Your gift is a get out of jail card. – Today we speak of Joseph the prime minister of Egypt because he used the gift God had given him. We speak of Nehemiah because of his gift of organisation and management which he used to bring together a nation to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We speak of Esther because she was able to use her gift of beauty to save a nation from annihilation. I can go on and on taking about people who have done amazing things through the use of their gifts and talents.
  3. Your gifts plus God’s power and wisdom can do amazing things. – See, God knows how to use our gifts perfectly because He gave them to us and only He can direct us in the right path to using our gifts for His glory.
  4. Your gifts devoid of God’s power and wisdom can bring about much destruction and decay. – need I say more? We see it in the world around us today. We see it in politics, movies, music and many other things. This does not mean though that we need to be scared of using our gift.

What shall we do then and how shall we do it?
I quote St Augustine of Hippo earlier because I think the quotation is as relevant today as it ever was. I also think it is relevant here, our gifts are to be used to the benefit of others!

Also, we cannot divorce our gifts from the power and wisdom of God for if we do that then we put ourselves in trouble.

Lastly, I want to encourage those of us who do not know what we are gifted in to look at what you have in your hand. By this I mean look at what comes naturally to you and what you tend to gravitate towards then get actively involved in serving others wherever you find yourself because the gifts we are given are meant to serve others and not only ourselves as Jesu told His disciples:

“And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.”
Mark 10:44 KJV

Greatness in the kingdom of God is found in service. As we engage in service to others, God will give us the wisdom and opportunity to use those gifts to propel us to new heights!!!!

When dead men fart

Some topics are very interesting to write about because they allow you to be expressive and to sort of ‘speak you mind’. Not so the when it comes to the word of God because what needs to be said has already been said through the pages of the scriptures. In fact, to be more precise, what needs to be said about your life has already been written and you can choose to conform or to rebel, hence my topic for today.

Now, today I find myself in an interesting space. I find myself questioning myself of my motives about ‘my life’. I say ‘my life’, but it actually is not my life but God’s. in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 we read this:

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”
2 Corinthians 5:14 - 18 The Apostle Paul is actually speaking this about our Christian walk and our Christian life. He posits the following points in this passage:
  • We thus judge that if 1 died for all then all died. – So according to the Apostle Paul, we died with Christ when He died for us.
  • That He died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him which died for them and rose again. – The ones who live owe it to the one who died to live for him and no longer for themselves (put in simple English).
  • If in Christ = New creature. – It always fascinates me that the Apostle Paul chose to use the word creature and not human being or man. He understood that man was a sinful creature that was beyond redemption lest he gives himself up to the love of an immortal God. He understood that when we choose Christ our lives should not be the same as they were and they also should not look the same as the people around us hence he chooses the word creature to define what we become when we are in Christ.
  • Old things pass away, behold all things new. – the need for renewal is so evident in the statement the Apostle makes because he understand that Christ didn’t just come to make us better but to completely change us. That is why when Jesus is speaking to Nechodimus He is explicit to say to him, “you must be born again”. Being born again is not a promotion but a remaking. We need to understand that when we are born again we are being made new not being made better. Nothing of my old self can continue to exist if I am a child of God and claim to be born again.
  • All things are of God. – This, for me, is one of the most interesting statements of this passage. The Apostle Paul says all things are of God, no longer of me or of my feelings. No longer of my wants and needs but of God. So, all my sinful nature should fall away because I understand that if I am in Christ everything ceases to be about me and all things become about God.
Now, all this said the question I keep coming back to is this:

“How can I claim or even assume to make any decisions about my life if it does not belong to me anymore. If all things are of God then that means God is the one who needs to be making decisions about things.”

I hear a lot of Christians speak of how much God knows them and loves them and understand them in spite of the sin they choose to cling to and be unrepentant about. We have made doctrine to justify living however we like even though we keep claiming that our lives no longer belong to us. We assume that God, because He loves us, leaves us to mess up time and time again without any consequence. We forget this very important thing that if I take what does not belong to me and use it for my pleasure without the permission of the owner, it is regarded as stealing. How then do I boastfully judge that God would not judge my stealing for what it really is?

Now, why this topic? Why when dead men fart? Well, if you have ever been to a morgue (I haven’t been myself), I’m told that when corpses fart it is an unbearable stench such that it would actually clear a funeral home. I want to end this by positing something to you my Christian brothers and sisters:

“I posit that our ignorance or dare I say blatant disregard for our state of death causes us to ‘fart’ by making decisions about our lives or making decisions about things that we really do not own (when we claim to be in Christ. Jesus is the Lord (owner) of our lives. It is the hour to fully and truly surrender and allow the one who lives in us to dictate every area of our lives and if we do this then we allow Him to fully be revealed in and through our lives!!!”
Truth speaks out

We should be those who are always found on the side of truth. Jesus says this in the gospel of John chapter 18:37

“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”
John 18:37 KJV

Friends, all we need is truth. The gospel of Jesus, the true gospel is in us if we are on the side of truth. You see we live in a generation that has sought to teach Jesus without truth, this is a fallacy. We are called to speak truth because we hear the Lord of truth. He says to the apostle John in chapter 14:6 “I am the truth”. He is The truth. No one else comes to God except through him. In fact let us read this passage:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 KJV

He says He is the only way to the father yet you hear all sorts of bastardisation of the gospel out there today, and when you look around to see who will stand for the truth you find none. Friends we are not only called to be on the side of truth but also to stand or contend for the truth. In Jude verse 3 -4 we are told this:
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” KJV

Jude says we must contend for the faith, warning us that there are men who creeps amongst us, ungodly men who try to turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness (defined as behaviour that expresses a strong desire for sexual activity). Now Jude here was directly addressing sexual sin that was being introduced by those who were creeping in within the saints, abusing God’s grace for their own gratification and he says we must contend for the faith. To contend is to struggle to summon or to assert something as a position in an argument. There is a need to ensure that we do not remain silent when we see abuses of this our faith but that we strongly object to these in everyway possible because we aught to be defenders of this faith. Uncanny individuals have introduced strange doctrines in our faith and they have been successful in this because we, who should have been contending for this faith have done nothing. We have sat aside idly whilst chalatans have creeped in to belittle our gospel which was paid for at a great price. The Apostle Paul, writing to Titus says this:

“Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.”
Titus 1:9-14 KJV

Paul is saying a few things here which I want us to look at in a bit of detail:
  1. He is saying we should be holding fast to the true teachings of the word given us (here he is especially speaking about those in positions of leadership - bishop) but the bible tells us that he who desires a position of a bishop desires a good thing (1 Timothy 3:1). So we all ought to hold on to the true teachings of the word of God.
  2. Paul also says there are many vain talkers and deceivers. Friends, it’s almost as if Paul was prophesying about this time we live in. there are many speeches we hear from pulpits today that have nothing to do with the word of God. Even when we look at the lives of our leaders, they don’t reflect a life befitting that of a true walk with our Lord Jesus or even His word. The gulf between what the bible teaches and the lives of our leaders in the church is huge. These individuals don’t only talk vainly, without substance but also deceive God’s people through false teachings and false prophecies. Child of God, be careful not only that you save yourself but also that you save others by speaking against this behaviour where you see it. It’s not me who is saying that we should speak against it but the Apostle Paul in this passage says: Rebuke them sharply!!!!!
  3. The apostle Paul says of them: “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake”. These people ought to be stopped because they lead people astray for their own financial benefit. They are in it for the money and not for the true salvation of souls.
  4. He then says we must rebuke them sharply, not only for the sake of others but also for their own sakes. Saints, we need to contend for the faith but the starting point is ensuring that we, are walking the right way. We ought to be like Paul saying:


“But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 AMP‬‬

The starting point of our contention for the faith is to ensure that we have received the true gospel. Once this is done then we can help others receive the true gospel. I want to challenge us today, to go put your walk against the word of God and where you see spots turn to Him in repentance and a willingness to be converted and see how God is faithful with our lives when we give them to His hands. Allow the gospel of truth to transform you and to work out the truth of God in you. Allow the gospel of truth to be your life and contend for the faith. Rebuke those that pervert this gospel because it is our inheritance.

It is only through a surrendered heart that God can inculcate this gospel of truth in us. Today pray with me say:

Lord of truth. I come before you just as I am. Re-educate me in the gospel of truth and fill me with your truth. I want to know the true unadulterated gospel. I want to contend for the faith in truth, not only in what I say but in how I live my life as an example of truth. Give me the strength to rebuke that which masquerades as truth but is not. Give me the boldness to stand for truth in my daily walk!! I love you Lord and all I seek is truth of this gospel. In Jesus name. Amen.

“Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
Matthew 13: 13-15

After Jesus had washed the feet of His disciples, He instructs them to follow in His footsteps by doing what He had just done for them for each other. It takes a very humble and great leader to wash the feet of those that are under Him. It is rare, maybe even unthinkable for a master to wash the feet of His servants or disciples but Jesus does this for His disciples as an example of leadership that He wants them to emulate, and by extension the type of leadership He wants us to emulate.

He gave us an example of servant leadership and how we ought to consider ourselves as leaders, not as being above and on top but as being the servants of everyone. Leadership, according to Christ, is about servant hood. Once we understand that then we have understood the essence of leadership. God, by allowing us to lead, has given us the greatest privilege of all which is to serve His people and to show them the love and the care that God showed us when we were dead in our sins.

Now I know that the world has given us boss mentality leadership, the mentality that I must be seen as a leader and if I have to do something where no one will see or acknowledge me then that is not leadership. Well I would like to impress to you today that what the world has taught us is not a biblical type of leadership and we need to change our view of leadership. Ok, let me start here, Go with me please if you will to the book of Acts chapter 13 and verse 36.

"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption" Acts 13:36 NKJV

Now this scripture speaks of David the King as a servant of the will of God and how He fully served the purpose of God in his generation. You see all of us here did not arrive here by mistake. You might have, at some point thought leadership was not for you but I'm here to let you know that God almighty has ordained each and every believer to a life of service and through our service we lead others. You see through our service we show the love of Christ to others and in turn encourage them to follow our example. Christ himself did not just give us instruction on being servants as leaders but gave us example after example of His leadership skills through service. Go with me to Matthew 14 and let's start from verse 13. This is after the beheading of John the Baptist (Jesus's cousin). Now when Jesus was busy mourning the death of His cousin in a very cruel way He was encountered with a problem of a hungry crowd who had been following Him He had compassion on them and healed their sick. He even went further and fed them when He didn't have to because He understood that He was in their service. Now this is the first point I want to make:

1) Servant hood is not dependent on your feelings or circumstances but as a leader you are always called to serve, whether it is convenient or not!

2) As a leader you need to develop a passion for the things of God! - Now this David we are speaking about had a passion for God and was so passionate for God that He stood up against a giant because he could not stand by and let God be mocked. Go with me to the book of 1 Samuel 17 and we will read verse 23-26.

“And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
1 Samuel 17:23-26

Look, passion for God and the things of God comes from knowing and understanding the word. Saints, we need to get into this book and let this book shape us because if we do not do that then we deny ourselves the full knowledge of who we are and what we can do in God. Anyway, David's passion and understanding of God, kindled as it was during his shepherding days whilst he fought against a lion and killed it with his bare hands made him understand that God would not forsake the one who trusts in Him. Wherever we find ourselves our passion for the things of God need to be evident. Remember the scripture we read in acts, in says after David had served the purpose of God, not his own purpose, but the purpose of God. Let me tell you, the purpose of God for your life is linked to where God has placed you, where you find yourself. David was in Israel, and He served the purpose of God in Israel, He made Israel a prosperous and Fearsome nation and through Him serving the purpose of God he received a blessing and not only for himself but for all his generations. That is why Solomon, his son, was able to say in Proverbs 10:22 that the blessing of The Lord maketh rich and added no sorrow because of what his father, David did through service.

3) As a leader you need to understand that you are an example and you must strive at all times to be above reproach. Now I know that this point is a controversial one, seeing that I am talking about David, the same man who killed another man because he wanted to hide his sin. In 2 Samuel 11:1-3 we see what not to do as a leader. Saints, you cannot be above reproach if you are not busy doing what God has set for you to do where God has placed you. When King David was supposed to be going to war, he stayed behind and lay idle in his palace. Because he was not where he was supposed to be he ended up falling into sin but had he been where he was supposed to be, serving the people of Israel by leading his army to battle, He would have not been found in the situation he put himself into. Be careful that you are serving where God has commissioned you when you are supposed to be there because that can be your saving grace, service sometimes helps us to avoid certain other things.

4) Now my last point I want to make to you today is this: (God rewards service)

In the following passages we see a few examples of service rewarded.

- Psalm 92:12-14
- John 12:26
- Hebrews 6:10
God rewards service. Whatever time, money or energy you use in service to God will not go unnoticed, He will reward your service. Jesus put it nicely when He said to His disciples that whoever wants greatness amongst them must be servant of all. 1 Peter 5:6 says "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you."

A life of service is a life of humility!!!

He's got you

I hope and pray that you are doing well today. I hope you are using every available moment to reconnect with Almighty God through His word and prayer, and that you are also spending time connecting or reconnecting with one another in your families because our God is a God of family. God greatest gifts to men is Himself and one another, that is why when Jesus is asked what the greatest law is He answers by giving two laws. His answer is found in the book of Mark chapter 12 from verse 28 to 31, let’s read it. It reads like this from the King James Version:

“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
Mark‬ 12:28-31‬ KJV‬‬

So saints our love for God is not only shown in how we claim to love Him but its evidence is seen in how we love one another. Well, this is not the message I want to share with you today. My message today is from the book of Psalms chapter 91. This whole chapter is amazing. David, in this book reassures us that our help and salvation is assured if we choose to dwell in the secrete place of God. He assures us that by doing so we ensure that the might of God and the heavenly hosts become our own personal body guards. I’m going to read a few verses out of this book and discuss with you what David is as saying with these words about God and about us when we choose to make our dwelling in God’s secrete place.

Psalm 91, from verse 1 (King James version). And it reads like this:

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Psalms‬ 91:1‬ KJV‬‬

Now the two words I want us to focus on in this verse are dwell and abide, what do they mean?

To dwell means:
• To live as a resident, or
• To keep the attention directed to, or
• To speak or write of insistently

All this means is that to dwell means to full dedicate one’s body, mind and soul to a place or to a subject. To constantly be thinking and meditating about something.

To abide means:
• To remain stable or fixed in a state, or
• To confirm to, or
• To wait patiently

This verse tells us that he who dwells in the secrete place of the most high, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Now, you can only be under the shadow of something if it is bigger than you and if it stands between you and the sun. What David is saying to us here, especially at this time, is that as long as we choose our dwelling as that secrete place with God, he will constantly be a shield over us in all circumstances.

Now let’s read on:

“I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”
Psalms‬ 91:2-6‬ KJV‬‬

2-6 God shields us as long as we remain in the secrete place. The word pestilence is defined as a contagious or infectious epidemic decease that is virulent and devastating. I would think that this is a perfect description of what the world is facing today. But David guarantees that we will be safe as long as we stay in the secrete place. In fact from verse 7 he says this:

“A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”
Psalms‬ 91:7-10‬ KJV‬‬

Today, rest in His secrete place saints with the full confidence in His word which we have just read. David says in psalm 138:2

“I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”
Psalms‬ 138:2‬ KJV‬‬

David finishes psalm 91 with a guarantee and a promise, let’s read it in verse 16. It says:

“With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
Psalms‬ 91:16‬ KJV‬‬

Saints, my admonition to you this day is this:

Stay in the secrete place of the most high and He will take care of the rest. Trust Him, trust in His word which is Jesus our Lord and Saviour and know that God holds us in the palm of His hands. All we have to do is stay in the secrete place. Stay in the word and stay in prayer.



"Set me on fire for you!"

Many of us have, at one point or another, have prayed this prayer. Many of us have asked God to set us on fire for Him or for His kingdom. What does it really mean to be on fire for God? What does it really mean to be totally consumed by God so that we burn with this unquenchable desire to live fully for Him? So the Bible touches on this a bit, let’s go there: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” Matthew‬ 3:11‬ KJV‬‬ The prophet John here speaks of this in relation to baptism. There are many way we can look at this:

  1. Fire burns – When the prophet John is speaking of the baptism of fire we need to understand that there are things in our lives or even parts of our lives that will burn because of this baptism, this is purely because of the natural characteristics of fire. Jesus’s baptism of fire means certain things (those which are flammable will burn.
  2. Fire purifies – Gold is purified through fire. The rock that gold is found in is burnt through high temperatures to bring about the purity of gold and burn all other unwanted minerals that associate themselves with the gold. In our lives also this baptism of fire is meant to bring about a high level of purification to ensure that we become the gold which Jesus instructed we must become. In the gospel of Matthew chapter 5 v 48 we read: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” These are the words of Jesus. He was calling us and is still calling us to a higher more perfect level of purification of our souls and actions.
  3. Fire consumes – “Our God is a consuming fire.” There are things that don’t belong and have never belonged close to fire. When they are engulfed in fire they are totally consumed and no semblance of them remain because of the fire that consumes them. We are called to be these objects, to be totally consumed by the fire of God so that no semblance of our old self is evident but that the newness that comes by being in Christ is what is seen every time someone looks at us. We are supposed to be consumed by this consuming fire who is our God so that only He is visible and seen through us, through our actions, speech and thoughts. Through everything concerning us.


Many of us have read this and been like, “Lord Baptise me in your fire”. Now let’s speak about this fire. Do we really understand what we are asking God when we ask Him to baptise us in His fire?

One of my favourite quotes on this fire business is by John Wesley who said “every morning when I wake up I set myself on fire and see who will come watch!”

All Wesley was saying is that every day he loses himself and allows himself to be consumed by God and who He is so that his (Wesley’s) character and demeanour, his being becomes like that of Christ. To be set on fire is painful because it means something must burn and be completely consumed in us. It means we lose who we are, our wants and needs for who He is. It means we completely decrease to a point of non-existence so Christ can fully be revealed in and through our lives.

John the Baptist understood this when he said the one who comes after him will Baptist in the Holy Spirit and with fire because as we lose ourselves, the fullness of God, which is His spirit is revealed in and through us as we are consumed by the fire of God. So today, I urge you to pray to God to set you on fire, so that your audience can see Christ revealed!!

Have a blessed day.


It is Good

In Genesis chapter 1 all the way to chapter 2:7 we are given the account of creation when God created and made the heavens and the earth and everything in it. He (God) spoke the world into existence, this we learn in Genesis chapter 1. When He spoke things into existence through creation we are told that He saw it and said it is good, meaning He examined what He had created and found it to be good. In verse 31 of chapter 1 of Genesis the bible tells us that God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.

Now let us go read the following scripture:

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Genesis 2:4-7 KJV

It is interesting that after God had seen all that He had created and said it was good, in chapter 2 we are told that when God had made the heavens and the earth no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up from the ground for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth and there was no man to work it. Men, both male and female had already been created in chapter 1 verses 27-30. Created in the image and likeness of God. How then is it that we are told in the second chapter that there was no man to work the ground?

Go with me to Hebrews 11:1-3 and let’s read:

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

The bible tells us that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see! God demonstrates this principle to us in the first book of the bible and in the first two chapters. The bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God, why do you think this is? Faith was the first thing demonstrated to us by God. He called things into existence that were not and then He saw them before they even appeared and He said it is very good. He went as far as making men and giving them dominion before men was even made. God, through His faith (demonstration of the working of Faith) saw what He purposed and rejoiced in it.

But God did not end there, He then proceeded to water the earth so that what He had seen through faith could be seen or manifest in the flesh. It’s the same with us today, first we must believe to the point where we can see what we are believing for but we do not end there, we then need to water our ground so that what we have seen through the eyes of faith can be seen in real life. We see this in the following passage:

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:26

God has called us to live by faith in Him but also God has called us to work, because faith must be coupled with works. For an example, if you are believing God for a job yet not applying for a job then your faith is dead but if you then apply because you can see the kind of job you are trusting for then you are putting work to your faith. God has given us a faith view on things. We can call them, see them and add works so they come to pass. God called the things of the earth into existence, saw them and rejoiced in them then watered the earth so that those things He had created could come into being.



Fit for purpose

Rain is meant to water the ground but only in the area where it rains. It is however possible to still receive some of the water coming from the rain if it is not all absorbed by the ground and flows towards where you are. When we position our standing in God we need to be careful that we do not lose the purpose of our salvation and start to focus on all the things that do not add to our salvation. The Apostle Paul put it like this:

“But I keep control of my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
1 Corinthians 9:27

We can only do this if we remain walking in Christ with full conviction of the gift of salvation which we have received. When we do this then the promises which are given us in the word of God become our inheritance as children of God. Remember, God is not a respecter of men.

“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”
Acts‬ 10:34-35‬ KJV‬‬

His concern is that we stay in Him and live righteously as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 that we must seek the kingdom of God and righteousness first and then all these other things that people worry about will be added to us. Most of us get side tracked by seeking additions before we seek what is actually important. How we remain fit for purpose is by remaining focused on the goal of our salvation and focused on Christ the author and finisher of our faith.

Now let us look at a few things that will help us to remain fit for purpose:

It is only through us allowing the word of God to transform us as we hear it that we are made fit for what God has set for us to do. You see, a gospel that is only spoken and not lived cannot transform a world in need of love and salvation. It is only when our gospel becomes a continuous, lived experience that it impacts and transform a dying world.

When we only speak and not do what the word teaches then we are hypocrites and not true representatives of who God is. It is only in true obedience to God’s word that we remain fit for purpose and this obedience needs to be a consistent continuous obedience. We cannot take a break at being obedient and then expect God to continuously be faithful.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy‬ 2:15‬ KJV‬‬

The word doesn’t say study to speak yourself approved but rather to show. So our studying is not merely for information purposes but for transformation of our lives. The Apostle Paul put it like this:

“For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
Romans‬ 2:13‬ KJV‬‬

When we decide to not listen to the instruction of God and not follow His word, he can withdraw His blessing permanently in our life:

“And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.”
1 Samuel‬ 13:13-14‬ KJV‬‬

You see, Saul was anointed king of Israel (the first ever human king of Israel for that matter) but because of his disobedience he removed himself from being fit for the purpose that God had for the king of Israel and thus lost this gift of kingship because of lack of obedience.

You see to remain fit for purpose we need to continue in obedience and knowledge of what God requires of us as his children, We need to be doers of the word of God so that we remain the salt of the earth because if we do not do this we lose our saltiness and our purpose because the purpose of salt is to salt everything it comes into contact with but without its saltiness, it cannot do this.

Today ask yourself this question:

Are you fit for purpose????


All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John‬ 1:3-4‬ KJV‬‬

So, I once watched a movie, one of these time space travel fantasy types. It’s quite amazing when even through something as simple as a movie you can glean how lost men as a species is. We are so lost that we would rather believe in the existence of extra-terrestrial life rather than believe in the giver of life. It’s so amazing because today you have millions dedicated to finding out if there is extra-terrestrial life but you are shunned when you even mention the word God in some circles. We have blinded ourselves into thinking there is goodness without Christ. We have lied to ourselves that light can exist in us apart from God. We claim mere mortals who are full of faults as the greatest heroes of the universe when we do not even understand the vastness of the universe. We have become gods in our own eyes and we speak of the human spirit and the human will as superseding all. That is why John, in the verses following the passage we have just read says this:

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” John 1:9-11

He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. This statement is more true today than it has ever been. Christ is shunned, even sometimes by those who claim to believe in Him because it is politically incorrect to point out that He is the only way to God. Many of us have succumbed to the pressures of the world to claim equality to all religions or to deny religion completely for the so called superior reason of science.

What is even more troubling is that even within the 4 walls of the church we have turned our sermons into motivational speeches, designed to unleash the greatness within us. We speak of life as if we are the architects of it. As if somehow God consulted us in designing life and designing its purpose. I’m actually reminded of the confrontation we find in the book of Job, after Job had gone on about his own righteousness. God, in His response to Job asked him questions that revealed the fickleness of our lives and righteousness. God exposed the decay in humanism and self-dependence and showed Job that wisdom did not lie with men but with the designer of all life. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture and wisdom is found in understanding this.

All things were made and created through Him. In Him was life and the life was the light of the world. We need to boldly speak this word of truth and declare it so that we can live it because therein lies wisdom! Therein is our life sourced! Therein is all life originating!

In Christ!!!

God IS

Often times there are debates about who God really is and how can we define Him but I think what we need is given to us in scripture if we are careful to just read it properly, without prejudice.

In Genesis 1:1 God uses the name Eloheem. This name is a plural of the name Eloah so the name of God as introduced by Himself is plural in nature. From the beginning God refers to Himself in the plural and not singular form. Let read in Exodus 3:14:

“And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.”
Exodus 3:14

I AM THAT I AM. That word AM is the word Hawyaw in Greek meaning to be or to become or come to pass. In Hebrew it is the word Hawvaw or Havah meaning to be. Now understand that in those days and in that culture the name of a person was a way to define their nature or character. That is why is certain instances when God was about to use a person He would change their name. For example:

  • Abram (meaning exalted father) changed to Abraham (meaning Father of multitude)
  • Jacob (meaning sup planter) changed to Israel (meaning may God prevail)
  • Saul (meaning asked for) changed to Paul (meaning humble)

 So the name of God defined who God was or is. It defined the character and nature of God. So when Moses enquires as to the name of God in Exodus 3 what he is really asking about is the nature of God. That is why then the answer God gives is very interesting. Read from the Amplified bible this is what it says:

“And God said to Moses, I Am Who I Am and What I Am, and I Will Be What I Will Be; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you!”
Exodus 3:14

This is how we can break down God’s answer:

  1. I AM WHO I AM – What God is saying is that His being is defined in His character and His character is the fullness of who He is. You see what God is saying to Moses is that nothing outside of Himself can define who He is.
  2. AND WHAT I AM – But it is not enough to only focus on His character. You also have to look at His actions in order to fully understand and comprehend His name.
  3. AND I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE – God adds a third dimension to how He defines Himself. He tells Moses that it’s not enough to just look at His character and what He does because this does not cover the fullness of who He is but in understanding who He is, you also have to know that He can reveal Himself in different ways. So to confine Him to one thing will be to only define one part of His character.


In fact we see this in scripture as different people, living in different times and faced with different challenges call God different names (or define different characteristics of God). Here are but a few examples:

  • Elohim – Genesis 1:1 (Plural form)
  • Elohay Kedem – God of the beginning (Deuteronomy 33:27)
  • Elohay Mishpat – God of Justice (Isaiah 30:18)
  • Elohay Selichot – God of forgiveness (Nehemiah 9:17)
  • Elohay Marom – God of heights (Micah 6:6)
  • Elohay Mikarov – God who is near (Jeremiah 23:23)
  • Elohay Mauzi – God of my strength (Psalm 43:2)
  • Elohay Tekilati – God of my praise (Psalm 109:1)
  • Elohay Yishi – God of my salvation (Psalm 18:46)
  • Elohay Kedoshin – Holy God (Leviticus 19:2; Joshua 24:19)
  • Elohim Chaiyim – Living God (Jeremiah 10:10)
  • Elohay Elohim – God of gods (Deuteronomy 10:17)


And many more.

His characteristics are so many which is why the bible says all things were made through Him and by Him. The characteristics we see in nature testify of His nature and character.

From sons (slaves) to Sons

We have been adopted into the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul He has given us a spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba, father. This adoption was at a price and I think it is demonstrated even better in the story below, let’s get into it.

“And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?

Matthew 27:11-26

When Jesus was being accused by the chief priests and elders of Israel He did not answer them. He did not defend Himself to them so as to fulfil what the prophet Isaiah had prophesied about Him in Isaiah 53:7

“He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.”
Isaiah 53:7

Now in the former passage from the book of Matthew in verse 16 the bible calls Barabbas a notorious prisoner but when we look at the same passage in the boom of Mark 15:7 it goes further. Barabbas is said to have been involved in an insurrection and to have been amongst those which committed murder during the said insurrection. In Luke 23:19 Barabbas is said to have been the one responsible for raising a riot and for murder.

Now, Barabbas’ full name was Yeshua BarAbba which is translated, Jesus Barabbas. The name BarAbba means son of the father, so his name actually meant Jesus, son of the father. We know from the gospels that Jesus referred a lot to Himself as the Son and also referred to God as His father. So, here we find two men who share a name set for crucifixion and Pilate is offering the children of Israel the release of one of these men. We see this in verse 17 of Matthew 27. This was because there was a custom in Jerusalem that allowed Pilate to release one prisoner from death selected by popular acclaim.

Now listen to what the people say in verse 22:

“Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?”

Pilate makes a distinction between the two men as they both shared a name. Let us sit a bit here on this issue of similar names. Notice I said similar and not same, to clarify this let’s go to the gospel according to John:

“You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.”

John 8:44

*Also refer to John 8:23; 27; 30-36; 38-44

Jesus Barabbas is, according to John the son of the devil. Although the names sound and look the same they actually mean the exact opposites. The one is son of the devil and the other son of God. Remember Mark and Luke tells us that Barabbas was a murderer and Jesus calls the devil a murderer from the beginning. Barabbas was like his father in that he did exactly what his father, the devil, was doing. Now on the other hand Jesus who is also called the Christ is the son of God and in Him was the fulfilment of holiness in that no blemish was found which made Him the perfect sacrifice for our sin.

Here we see Jesus’ redemptive work at play as He redeems a murderer from sure death and takes his place. He is sacrificed and is sent to Golgotha to die instead of a murderer. In all of this God shows us that He is the redeemer and is the perfect sacrifice for our sin. Our redemption could only come through a perfect sacrifice (as through the fulfilment of the law) and Jesus was that perfect unblemished sacrifice.

So Jesus moved us from being sons of the devil, through His death on the cross, to being Sons of the most high God. Our redemption is not at all dependant on anything we can do for ourselves but through Christ by grace we receive the redemption from sin and the adoption as sons of the living God.






Big roofs are reserved for big houses

Now this might seem a straight forward enough statement. I mean, it follows that if I build a big house, it will also have a big roof. In fact it would not make sense to do something else other than the obvious. Well, when it comes to building houses maybe this is straight forward but I think this concept applies to more than just house building. I think when we really think about it, this concept also applies to our lives and our walk with God. In fact I can rephrase this statement to this:

Big anointing is reserved for big character!

God is very much interested in our character irrespective of how anointed we are. In the book of James we read this:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
James 1:22-25

James reminds us that the word of God that we read or hear should not just end by being a story we tell but it should influence our actions. How we walk and talk and do everything that we do. As children of God there is an expectation that our character will be shaped by the word of God. Our reaction to things and our everyday actions are measured against this standard of the word of God and thus in order to get to this point where we walk according to the word of God the Apostle Paul reminds us of this:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:1-2

Be ye transformed! There is an expectation that when a sinful man encounters the transformative power of the word of God and surrenders to it, that power transforms him into a new creature. No longer holding on to the standards of this world but to a higher standard of the word of God. Transformation is a kind of rebuilding of one’s character to be like that of Christ. Not just settling for what is easy or comfortable but making the decision to leave it all behind, to give oneself fully to the dictates of the word of God. This in turn brings about a shift in character and readies one for the purpose that God has for their lives.

Now, I said big anointing is reserved for big character! What I meant by this is that when a man of weak character is anointed, that anointing has the tendency to crush him because he does not have the character to sustain it. Allow me to make these two examples:

David, a man after God’s own heart. When David is but a youth he is anointed King of Israel by the prophet Samuel. The bible tells us this about the anointing of David:

“Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
1 Samuel 16:13-14

When David was anointed king of Israel the spirit of the Lord came upon him and left Saul. So David, although rightful king of Israel had to go through more than 23 years of tribulation and running away from Saul because God had to work on the character of David. You see God knew what David had to do and what he was going to face when he became king of Israel and so allowed him to go through all the tough times to teach him and to sharpen his character. That is why David was such a good and memorable king of Israel because his character was sharpened through trials. On the other hand you have David’s son, Solomon. Now Solomon was blessed and anointed by God with Wisdom and riches. There was no man wiser than Solomon and there was no man richer than him, but in all his wisdom and riches, Solomon’s first act as king of Israel he does exactly what God had instructed the Israelites not to do.

“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
1 Kings 11:1-4

Solomon went against the word of God. When we read in chapter 3:1 of 1 Kings we see that the first thing he does is marry an Egyptian woman. The character of Solomon was not steady enough and thus the anointing on him lead him unto stray women. You see it was the same women who eventually lead him away from God.

Unless we are careful with our characters, we will be led astray by things of people who do not know God. Things will become our God as some have been led astray by the love of money. Be careful of the anointing because if your character is not right it will destroy you. You cannot put a roof of a big house on a shack, check yourself. If your character is not fit for anointing then let the word of God transform you into a house ready for a big roof.
Rooted “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2:6-7

Being rooted in Christ means to be unshaken and unmoved in the gospel of His truth. I would like to tell you a story that reminded me of this. It goes like this:

So as I stood on the beach today, enjoying the waves crashing at my feet (I have to admit, some were crashing a bit higher than my feet), I had an epiphany. As I stood in the sand and wave after wave kept coming at me, some very small such that they didn’t even reach me but some so big that even my shorts got wet I realised something. Every time a wave crashed on me and the water retreated something interesting was happening. As the water retreated, my feet sank deeper into the sand. Now, the bigger the wave the deeper my feet sank when the water retreated and as for those waves which didn’t even touch my feet, I gained absolutely no depth into the sand. I realised that this is exactly what James means when he says:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4

This is how our lives as children of God pan out. It’s like when we decide stay grounded in Christ (stand on the sand on the beach) trials and tribulations are bound to come. In fact Christ promised us not only that they will come but they will be multiplied. Some of these will not reach us because of the hedge of protection God has around us. Thank God they don’t, but they also have very little impact on our relationship with God. Other though will reach us and they will test us hard when they do (wet us) and maybe it will hurt a lot and make us feel like retreating from the place where we are grounded in Christ (sand) but what we don’t understand at the time is that when these trials and tribulations are over we will find ourselves deeper in Christ then we were before the trials came. The trials may look like giants, but they serve a purpose to root us even more in Christ and to deepen our relationship with Him. That is why the writer of James says “consider it pure joy”. He is saying, consider it the pinnacle of untainted joy when you face these Big Waves because even though they will wet you, even though they will make you extremely uncomfortable, the end of it all when the waves have retreated will be a deeper grounding in the sand where you stand.

There is also another thing that happened whilst I stood on this beach at this particular day. When one of the big waves came crashing at me and shook me, as I was trying to stand firm my sunglasses fell from my head and were taken back into the ocean by the retreating water. This too ministered greatly to me. You see sometimes when these trials and tribulations come, they take a piece of us with them. Sometimes they take that which you value and hold dear away from you so that you focus on God as your everything is not blurred by things but it is only on Him. They also take parts of us that are no longer fit for purpose because maybe it was time for me to get new glasses but I held on too long to the ones I had because I loved them. The bible reminds us that we are to love the Lord with all. Sometimes we try to divide this love we ought to have for God to other things that we think add value in our lives. Sometimes God will allow these trials to take away that which we hold dear so that we only focusing on Him. Like David says in the psalms:

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
Psalm 20:7

Our trust should always be on Him because we are rooted in Him!!!!!

Social capital

"And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them; Until the Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising. And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage."
Joshua‬ 1:12-18‬ KJV‬‬

When you read this passage it shows you how essential we are to one another. It reminds me of how essential it is for us as believers to not only strive for individual success but to always strive to see our brothers and sisters in faith also reach and achieve their successes. I also, in pondering about this passage, started to think what a focus on individual success means, and what I have seen is that when God blesses an individual and the focus of that individual is only on themselves and not on being an aid to other believers to also receive their blessing, this blessing can be dangerous. Many of our brothers and sisters have been pulled away from our fellowship because they received the blessing and then forgot that their journey is not only about them but also about the society of believers God has put around them. Unlike the Reubenites who left behind their inheritance in order to ensure that the rest of their brothers also took hold of their inheritance, these brothers and sisters, deceived by this blessing start to think of themselves better than everybody else because they have attained. This causes them to think of themselves better or of a higher standard than others forgetting that God reminds us in His word that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In doing so, they mess up the Godly and brotherly relationships that sometimes took years to build because of this newly attained status. Most of them, their end is spiritual death, bitterness and anger because life becomes more about things then about relationships. It is a sad thing that their focus is taken away from the true gospel into the gospel of riches. I fear if we do not continue to pray for them and love them no matter where they go, they might wake up to find that with all the riches in the world without social capital you are still alone.

King Solomon put it like this:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

The importance of social capital is in the value those round us add to our lives. When we invest in those around us we are only investing in ourselves. We are investing in our support structure. Two are better than one!!!


Grace and Mercy

“Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” Jonah 2:1-2 KJV

“When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.” Jonah 2:7

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah 4:1-2

“The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:41

Note:
The grace of God that is freely available is shown and given to us when we repent (turn) to God (from our wicked ways). Note that Jonah says that when we repent and meet God’s conditions for repentance (Jonah her is speaking about conditions pertaining to works which was the case under the law) then He shows His mercy, but Jesus gives us a new way, He says that when we turn from our sins and accept Him as our Lord and Saviour we receive the grace and mercy of God. This is because He, Jesus, is our everlasting sacrifice.

Jesus goes on to say that the men of Nineveh shall condemn us if we continue to fail in repentance and in meeting God’s condition. I think Jesus says this because of the following:
  1. To meet God’s condition is easy for us then it was for the men of Nineveh. It is by grace we are saved through faith and that not of ourselves but Christ paid the ultimate price for us. Imagine if Nineveh only needed to repent from their wicked ways without having to take up a national fast?
  2. A one greater than Jonah speaks to us. Jonah was sent by God but today we hear from God Himself saying we need to repent. We have access to His word which is Him, we can know Him in all of His character.
  3. Grace flows out of our repentance and obedience.

But more than this, I think God not only introduces His grace to us but He also shows how He created us to show the same mercy to all those around us knowing that His grace and mercy is freely available to those who are willing to repent and accept Christ, our everlasting sacrifice.


Creating the atmosphere for the glory of God (the power and purpose of praise & worship)

First I would like to start by explaining what the Glory of God is (what some would call the Shekinah glory of God).

The glory of God is who God is in His entirety. It is the manifest presence and power of God in our midst. It has been defined as an experience but I believe that it is something that we ought to long to have in our daily lives. Something that we were born for. See when God created you and me He created us to live in an atmosphere of His eternal presence but unfortunately sin entered the fray and we had to be separated from this optimal environment.

We were created holy to have communion and fellowship with a Holy God. It is because of our sin that we find ourselves separated from God and throughout the ages God has given us (time and time again) a blueprint of how we can again live in perfect communion and fellowship with Him. [I mean, He gave His son to redeem us to Him and if we follow His blueprint we can live in this optimal environment of His glory and presence everyday.]

Hebrews 12:14 tells us that without holiness, no one will see God. Meaning without holiness, we will never experience His Shekinah glory.

Now let us see how to create this atmosphere or this environment for the glory of God. Go with me to 2 Chronicles 5 and let's read from verse 1. We will labour through the whole chapter and then we will exegete the text to get some few points that will give us the steps to creating the atmosphere for His presence through praise and worship. This is straight after King Solomon has finished building the temple of The Lord.

“Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was in the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came; and the Levites took up the ark. And they brought up the ark, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring up. Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor numbered for multitude. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims: For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that priests could the not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.”

2 chronicles 5

Now let’s break this text down into simple steps:

Step 1- we need to approach God in sacrifice in our praise and worship

Romans 12:1 says that we ought to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable which is our reasonable act of worship. Our sacrifice to God needs to be complete and we cannot afford to hold back if we are to live constantly in His glory. In verse 6 of the passage we just read it speaks of an immeasurable sacrifice that Solomon and all the congregation of Israel gave to God. We cannot afford to be half-hearted and distracted by circumstances in our lives when we come before God in praise and worship. See we need to know that God is the one who takes care of the problems in our lives and our part is to create an atmosphere or environment for Him to come in all His glory and when He is come He will take care of all issues.

Step 2- we need to give thanks

Giving thanks is based on what God has done and it helps take our eyes off from our current situation and helps us focus on God as we thank Him for all that He has done in our lives. It is all about Him and none of it is about us so all the focus needs to be on Him. When we do that and put Him first we exalt Him because His word says in Nehemiah 9:5 that His name is exalted above all the praise we can give Him. Step 3- we need to empty ourselves of anything but the Word of God.

You see many times we are distracted by the cares of this world and our minds are filled with all kinds of junk. It makes it difficult for us to focus on God when our minds are on other things but when we make the conscious decision to empty ourselves of ourselves and focus on Him then we can create that atmosphere where He can come and fill us with Himself. With His glory and His presence. [in verse 10 we are told that the ark of the covenant had only the word of God - the Ten Commandments- in it and nothing else. Emptied of all things but the word of God]. Now when I say fill us with His presence I should have actually said He will drench us in His presence because the bible tells us that when we accepted Christ and were baptized in the Holy Ghost, we were filled with His spirit, which is His presence. What I'm actually talking about here is me and you actually living in His presence. Let me illustrate, if you drink water for an example you are filled with that water, but if you jump into the ocean you are completely surrounded and covered by the water. The water is all around you. That's the kind of presence and glory I'm talking about today. God's glory all around you empowering you in everything you do.

Step 4- we need to be sanctified and be ready to give God our best

God deserves our best. He should be first in our lives and in everything we do. The bible says that God searches the heart (Hebrews 4:12). We need to be sanctified, tested against the word, and no one can do this better than ourselves because we know ourselves and what we get up to when no one is watching. We need to be found Holy before a Holy God so that he may, in fellowship, send His holy presence to us. We need to be ready with our best. (See v11-12)

Step 5- we need to praise Him with all our might

The bible tells us God is Alpha and Omega in Revelation 1:8&11. Also in 21:6 and 22:13. David in Psalm 150:6 that let everything that hath breath praise The Lord. We ought to remember in our praise and worship that it’s not about how we feel or about that girl or that boy that I want to impress. It's not about my spouse or about my children or how people will look at me if I go crazy. It's all about Him and we ought to lay everything on the line for Him. Lay it all down because if we don't, whatever our care, it becomes the wait that pulls us down and moves us away from creating that environment for His Shekinah glory to come.

You can even see in Acts 2 that the glory of God (in this case the spirit of God) came as the saint were waiting and praying and giving their best to God. They had prepared. The environment, they had created the atmosphere through prayer and waiting and focusing on doing well. They had kept themselves holy and sanctified whilst waiting for the power of God to fall on them. It came as tongues of fire to them and with it came the power to minister. A once shy and scared Peter (the same one who denied Jesus three time) suddenly was emboldened to stand in the assembly of multitudes and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of salvation. You see friends, praise and worship is not just about songs but it is about the attitude of our hearts expressed outwardly. If you burn with desire to put God first and worship Him inside your heart, I guarantee you that you cannot help yourself but express it outwardly. It needs to begin from the inside, from our hearts and as we do that we honour and glorify God and He can't help but release His glory on us because we were created to worship Him.

I want to end with this: God's glory, His fullness can only be found in Jesus Christ. See throughout generations it has always been hidden in Christ and it is only in Christ (the rock) that we get to partake of God's glory.
- We see this in Exodus 33:21- And Revelation 21:23
- Christ has always been and will always be the glory of God and in Him we have access to the glory of God which we receive.

The Lord bless and keep you


A life of purpose

Our lives are not given us so we can do as we please with them. We are created for a purpose which we were designed specifically for to fulfil on this planet as we prepare for our true and eternal life after this. We have been borrowed this time by God to do exactly what He created us for before we glory with and in Him in eternity. Ours is to discover, understand and cultivate this purpose for which we are and to live out this purpose. You see ladies and gentlemen, contrary to what scientists and all these other learned people will have you believe, you are not a cosmological mistake of evolution. You are a carefully designed being, created in Christ Jesus to fulfil a specific purpose. I like the way that the apostle Paul puts it in his letter to the church of Ephesus in Ephesians 2:10;

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

You see in the book of John, the apostle John says in chapter 1:10-11 that: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." We need to be conscious of the fact that it is only when we are in Christ that we are in our perfect environment and without Him the odds are against us.

You see however you came into this earth is of no significance. I don't care if you are a product of a broken family or rape or incest or whatever you are, listen to me, Jesus was not surprised by your conception and you coming on this earth, your purpose and destiny was carefully planned before you were born. God in Jeremiah 1v6 says this: "before you were formed in your mother's womb I knew you". So understand that who you are and who you become has nothing to do with how you came about and what you current circumstances are like.

Now, let's get into this purpose thing. We are all created for a purpose and it is only when we live out our purpose fully that we live a fulfilled life. Like Paul, we can be able to declare when at the end of our lives that "I have finished the race!!" We have our own race to run that is set in front of us but God will not and cannot coerce or force any one of us to do His will (that is to live out our purpose), that choice is all up to us. He gave us free will so we are able to decide and determine how we should live. It requires us, ladies and gentlemen, to surrender our lives truly and totally to Him for Him to direct us to our purpose and this act of surrender is not a once of act but a continuous daily act of surrender. That is why the apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 urges us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice meaning to continually surrender our bodies and lives to God in an act of worship. When we do this as an act of worship then God pursues and directs our steps and we are able to live out our purpose. Remember that we didn't appear out of thin air but we were created and who better knows how we fully function except the one who designed and created each one of us. You see God, even in the beginning, had a purpose for us when He created the first man. Knowing that we would rebel and turn away from Him He went ahead and created us.

God gave us the will to choose to live for Him or not to. When men had strayed away from Him, God first brought the law, remember Paul in speaking about the law in the book of Romans especially chapter 5 tells us that the law was given to expose and magnify the existence of sin but grace came only through Jesus.

You and I were created for purpose and full of purpose. Whether we live out that purpose is another question.
In all your getting, get understanding

“HEAR, MY sons, the instruction of a father, and pay attention in order to gain and to know intelligent discernment, comprehension, and interpretation [of spiritual matters]. For I give you good doctrine [what is to be received]; do not forsake my teaching. When I [Solomon] was a son with my father [David], tender and the only son in the sight of my mother [Bathsheba], He taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live. Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth. Forsake not [Wisdom], and she will keep, defend, and protect you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation). Prize Wisdom highly and exalt her, and she will exalt and promote you; she will bring you to honor when you embrace her. She shall give to your head a wreath of gracefulness; a crown of beauty and glory will she deliver to you. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many. I have taught you in the way of skillful and godly Wisdom [which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God]; I have led you in paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps shall not be hampered [your path will be clear and open]; and when you run, you shall not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” Proverbs 4:1-13 AMP

The way we gain understanding is by taking instruction from our father and listening carefully to His words. The word of our father (God) is the bible and in it He speaks giving instruction in the way we ought to live our lives if we want a certain outcome. The interesting thing is that He (God) advices us not only of the outcome of living right but also of the outcome of not living in right standing with Him. When we heed His instruction we reap the rewards of our obedience. Solomon also tells us that if we walk in such counsel we will not stumble in our walk but will always walk without being hampered and when we run we will not stumble. This is the instruction that keeps us upright.

When we apply what the King Solomon says in this passage to our lives, we realize that if we live our lives according to the instructions in the word of God, through Christ Jesus, then all the promises of God (as the word says For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us (2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV)) will come true in our lives. I think most of us do not want to live a half fulfilled life because of our own doing. Our disobedience will lead to missed opportunity and unfulfilled promises.

If we are not careful to obey what the word of God is telling us then we will continue to live a life of missed opportunity and unfulfilled promises and all these other things because we miss the point of obedience. Obedience to God is not for His sake, it is for our sake because out of our obedience (out of our understanding the word of God and applying it in our lives) springs forth life. The writer, at the end of verse 13 tells us that instruction from our father (God) is our life so he warns us to guard instruction and take firm hold of it. What he is in essence saying is that when we receive instruction let us be careful not to contravene it because it might lead to death. Why I explain it like this is because the bible says in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NLT)”

To become disobedient is to sin or rebel against God (I Samuel 15:22,23). “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:22, 23 KJV)”

So we need to obey God by doing His word. When we have understanding, which is the interpretation of spiritual matters, then we are able to live in the blessings of God as they are promised as a by-product of our obedience.

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. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof. Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand. The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head. The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. (Deuteronomy 28:1-44 KJV)

The dependency here is obedience. If we choose to obey, then the word says the fruit of obedience will follow us. All these blessings are as a result of obedience, but note also that all the curses are as a result of disobedience. We need the choose obedience every time even when it seems like we are not reaping the fruit of our obedience. As much as there is a blessing attached to obedience, this should not be our drive to obey but our drive to obey should come from the fact that we are in Christ and we belong to God. We obey Him not for what He can give but for who He is!!!


You cannot change the will of God for your life in any way. All that you can do is choose either to obey or to disobey. (Ask Jonah). What is interesting is that in order to do this you first need to know what His will for your life is. Now if you go with me to the book of acts:

“For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Jesus is telling His disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. We have had about this power for a long time, we know about it now. What I mean to do with us is to focus on what this power does and then how this Spirit of power reveals the will of God for our lives and equips us with the gifts we need to walk in the will of God for our lives.

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was the precursor for the release of this power through the Holy Spirit. This means that if we have the Holy Spirit in us, we are the people of power. But also since it was released after resurrection it also means we have been resurrected! The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:7 says that we have this power or we carry this power in these earthen vessels (this treasure Paul speaks of is the power giving Holy Spirit that dwells in our mortal bodies and works in and through us in power and glory).

Without the Holy Spirit we are powerless to accomplish the will of God for our lives. He empowers us to become everything that we ought to be. That is why irrespective of how many prophets have prophesied on you about what you will become, if the Spirit of God/ Spirit of power does not dwell in you, the power that ought to accomplish the word released over your life is not there. That power is found in Him (the Holy Spirit) and we need to allow Him to dwell in us so that His work is fully accomplished in us.

So, let’s look at what this power does

There are many examples both in the old and new testaments of what the Spirit of power does when we allow Him to dwell in our lives, but I’ll take just a few:

1. Judges 3:9-11 -The Spirit causes us to prevail or overpower our enemies.
- He brings peace as long as He dwells within us.
2. Micah 3:8 - He gives you the power to speak against the ills or wrongs in the body of Christ.
3. Romans 8:2 - the Spirit gives life (He births the will of God in our lives so we may live to become all that we were born to be) - the Spirit shifts your focus. When He dwells in you, your focus becomes fixed on the things of the Spirit and not on the things of the flesh. You begin to do what Jesus tells His disciples to do in Matthew 6:33.
4. Acts 2 - In this passage we see the Spirit of God working through Peter, the man who denied Jesus when he was being persecuted. See it doesn’t matter what your past is, when the Spirit of power dwells in you He will empower you with boldness to do that which you were once afraid to do because when He comes to dwell in you He takes over and substitutes your weaknesses for His strength that is why the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Now, how does the Holy Spirit reveal the will of God for our lives and how does He equip us with gifts?

Go with me to Ephesians 4:7-11

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;”

In this passage we are shown how the Spirit of power, through whom Jesus operates, has not only revealed the will of God for our lives in the different gifts or offices (as we like to call them) but it says when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and He gave gifts to men. Now I feel we need to delve a bit deeper into this passage, specifically verse 8.

First, it says 'When He ascended up on high'

This means He first descended. Let’s look at this deeper in the book of Psalms 16:10

“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

It says thou wilt not leave my soul in hell. That word for hell there is the word Sheol. Now, before the death and resurrection of Jesus, when a soul died they would go to Sheol. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man we are told that Sheol is divided into two sections. The first is a section of torment and fire where all the wicked would go and the second is a place called Abraham’s bosom where all the righteous would go. So, when Jesus died He first descended to Sheol (Hell) and Hades. So when the Apostle Paul is speaking of Christ ascending He is ascending from Sheol.

Secondly it says 'He lead captivity captive'

This just plainly means that since He is the firstborn of the dead He needed to lead them from that place of Sheol (the righteous) into heaven.

The last part of this verse I want us to delve in a bit more deeper. It says ‘and He gave gifts to men’. Before I explain this further, go with me to psalm 68:18-19

"Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah."

Here, David says thou has lead captivity captive; though has received gifts for men. Meaning the gifts He gives through the Spirit of power in the passage from Ephesians, He received in Psalms. Now who did He receive these gifts from: remember the crowd He was leading captive: you had Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, David.... the list goes on. So the gifts in these men was what He received because they did not need them anymore. They were going to heaven to be with God! But we, I and you still need these gifts in order to fulfil the will of God for our lives. See we all have not only been shown the will of God for our lives through the Spirit of power but through the same spirit we have been given the appropriate gifts for the work ahead of us.

Today, allow the Spirit of Power to dwell in you. Don’t make Him a guest in your life. Rather sign over full control and authority of your life to Him. If you choose to do this, He will not only reveal God’s will for your life but will also endow you with the gifts you need to accomplish everything God has for you.


Today, I just wanted to share with you something that I have been reminded of. Sometimes, when we go through tough times we can't help but question whether we are well positioned or out of position and whether life would have been different or easier if we lived at a different place or maybe in a different time. I have asked myself these questions before and I must say until now, although I knew the answer, it hadn't sank down the way it has today. The Apostle Paul speaking to the church in Athens in the book of acts puts it this way:

“The God Who produced and formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade shrines. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything, for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people]. [Isa. 42:5.] And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes), So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.”

The other side of victory
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:36-39

It's surprising that we always quoting this scripture, especially verse 37 which says that 'we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us', yet we continue to live a life of defeat and strife. We live as if we are going through the war and are expected to partake in the war by rolling up our sleeves and fighting yet the bible tells us that we are more than conquerors. We live defeated as if we really do not know who we are.

Now, what does it mean to be more than a conqueror?

To explain this I think it is vital to first explain what a conqueror is and after that we can measure ourselves against what a conqueror is. A conqueror is, according to the dictionary, someone who is victorious by force of arms. Meaning to be a conqueror you need to go through or rather be involved in the battle.

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

1 Samuel 17:47

In this scripture we see David facing the giant Goliath, a man who has been taunting the Israelites for a long while and has caused men of war to run and cowar. David, knowing the God he serves declares it to Goliath and all the Philistines infront of him that the battle is the Lord's and He will deliver the whole army of Phillistine into the hands of Israel. So God fights our battles. That means God is our warrior and conqueror that is why the Apostle Paul calls us more than conquerors because we don't get involved in the fight yet we enjoy the spoils that comes with the victory. Now, if we are more than conquerors why then do we continue to live our lives as if we are going through the war? Why are we not living our lives as more than conquerors? Why are we, as the children of God (than conquerors ) living defeated lives? Shouldn't we always then remind the devil where he belongs, under our feet! Shouldn't we constantly rub it in his face that he has been defeated? Shouldn't we put him in his place so that we can focus on our assignment here on earth which is to make disciples of all nations?

Does this mean things are all smooth and hunky dory? Of course not, we still going to go through tribulations and persecutions (Jesus promised us these) but when we go through these, we can go through them rejoicing because we know who we are, and we are living our lives beyond victory. We can do this if our focus is on our victor, even Jesus Christ! That is why the writer of the book of James encourages us to count it all joy when we go through trials and tribulations of any kind, because if we do that it means we know that trial and tribulations do not define who we are but they are there, as he says, for the testing and proving of our faith. So today, let us make a consented effort to live our lives on the other side of victory knowing that the victor (Jesus) has already got us the victory in everything that we face.

You, are more than a conqueror!!!!!!

“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
Hebrews‬ 10:38-39‬ KJV‬‬

We who believe in God are meant to live by faith. Now this phrase “the just shall live by faith” is found in a few books in the Bible. What is amazing is that in its first mention in the book of Habakkuk it is in the same context as in Hebrews.

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4

It is used as a reminder that we have to hold on to the faith we have in God knowing that a failure to do this will lead us down a path of destruction and of not pleasing God. It would lead us to want to take matters into our own hands and to respond with regret and despondency when things don’t work out. In this passage the writer of Hebrews just reminds us that people of faith are not those who turn back at the sight of any opposition but they are those who persevere through everything, knowing that their perseverance is a path unto God’s deliverance and salvation. He emphasizes it in this manner:

“for we are not of those that turn back and are destroyed but of those who persevere unto salvation”

It is through faith that we conquer. It is through faith in God that we keep moving no matter what because we know that He is a God of His word, performing His word that He has given. Now this doesn’t mean we don’t face any challenges but like the writer of James says, when we do face challenges we consider them pure joy, knowing that it is but a sharpening of the weapons of our warfare, even our faith.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

If our attitude is that every trial and tribulation we face is just a way of sharpening our faith, then our perseverance in going through those trials with faith is repaid by victory in Jesus, through faith. Our part, what is expected of us as believers in this life is to have faith in God and know that He remains in charge of all things irrespective of what the world thinks. My fellow ambassadors of the kingdom, know ye not that our Lord, even Christ himself, also suffered and faced trials in His life on earth, but the Bible reminds us that for the joy laid before Him, He considered this nothing! Let us then, through faith in Christ, endure and persevere knowing that our God is always in charge of all things at all times!

“THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:36-39

It's surprising that we always quoting this scripture, especially verse 37 which says that 'we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us', yet we continue to live a life of defeat and strife. We live as if we are going through the war and are expected to partake in the war by rolling up our sleeves and fighting yet the bible tells us that we are more than conquerors. We live defeated as if we really do not know who we are.

Now, what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? To explain this I think it is vital to first explain what a conqueror is and after that we can measure ourselves against what a conqueror is. A conqueror is, according to the dictionary, someone who is victorious by force of arms. Meaning to be a conqueror you need to go through or rather be involved in the battle.

“All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
1 Samuel 17:47

In this scripture we see David facing the giant Goliath, a man who has been taunting the Israelites for a long while and has caused men of war to run and cowar. David, knowing the God he serves declares it to Goliath and all the Philistines infront of him that the battle is the Lord's and He will deliver the whole army of Phillistine into the hands of Israel. So God fights our battles. That means God is our warrior and conqueror that is why the Apostle Paul calls us more than conquerors because we don't get involved in the fight yet we enjoy the spoils that comes with the victory. Now, if we are more than conquerors why then do we continue to live our lives as if we are going through the war? Why are we not living our lives as more than conquerors? Why are we, as the children of God (than conquerors ) living defeated lives? Shouldn't we always then remind the devil where he belongs, under our feet! Shouldn't we constantly rub it in his face that he has been defeated? Shouldn't we put him in his place so that we can focus on our assignment here on earth which is to make disciples of all nations?

Does this mean things are all smooth and hunky dory? Of course not, we still going to go through tribulations and persecutions (Jesus promised us these) but when we go through these, we can go through them rejoicing because we know who we are, and we are living our lives beyond victory. We can do this if our focus is on our victor, even Jesus Christ! That is why the writer of the book of James encourages us to count it all joy when we go through trials and tribulations of any kind, because if we do that it means we know that trial and tribulations do not define who we are but they are there, as he says, for the testing and proving of our faith. So today, let us make a consented effort to live our lives on the other side of victory knowing that the victor (Jesus) has already got us the victory in everything that we face.

You, are more than a conqueror!!!!!!

"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

Revelation‬ 12:11‬ KJV‬‬

Let us imagine an archer in a war. He carries a bow and an arrow. The bow by itself has limited usefulness to the archer without the arrow, same as an arrow by itself has limited use without the bow. If we imagine, from the above scripture that the blood of the lamb is the bow and the word of our testimony is an arrow, things get a bit more interesting. The bow is already prepared for us, as Christ has already paid the price for or victory. The blood was shed at Calvary making sure that we are at weapons ready state and equipping is for all we would need for the battle.

The arrow, well let’s look at how the arrow is made?

The arrow has two major components; wood and steel.

1) Firstly, the wood needs to be cleaned, to be made smooth. 2) If the wood is not made smooth, the friction caused by the coarseness prevents it from flying smoothly through the fingers of the archer towards its intended target. No archer would dare shoot such a wood through his bow, lest he injures himself and is not able to fulfil the purpose intended for his weapon. 3) The tip of the arrow is made of steel. The steel needs to be first cut to size (that’s why you will see God take a big man, cut him down to size and then use him. Look at the story of Job, the apostle Paul, and many more) then it must be hammered to the right shape (the arrow head must have I tip otherwise it is unable to penetrate its intended target. How do you fulfill your purpose when you don’t take the time to immerse yourself in your purpose and in understanding what your purpose is about? The apostle Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15-16 about this very same issue of immersing yourself in your purpose) and then it must be made smooth and sharpened by grinding it against a rough stone (it is not only fit that you study and upskill yourself. It is also prudent that God allows you to go through trouble so that this can shape you to the form and the shape He wants you to be because He knows best where He wants you to penetrate and He knows the level of sharpness you ought to be in order to succeed in your purpose)

So if our testimony is the arrow, this is what God needs to do with us: 1) Make us smooth. (That’s not an easy process as He has to cut all other things protruding through us. In other words, He has to prune us and cut off all those parts that may cause us to hurt His kingdom when He gets ready to shoot us through His kingdom to the world to fulfil the purpose for which He was shaping us. He has to remove the bark covering us to expose our true inside self. He has to polish us into a smooth texture.) 2) If our testimony is smooth, it can fly smoothly to reach its intended target. 3) Having our tip made of steel means firstly we must be cut to size (some things must be cut off us so we are the right size). The Bible, on multiple occasions reminds us that God uses and chooses the lowly things, the despised things of this world to shame the wise. Sometimes you can be too wise and too big for God to use you. Sometimes even if God is using you and you start to become too big for any good He will cut you to size (Baalam, numbers 22). Secondly, we must be hammered to the right shape so we can do what we are intended to do (now this process is quite interesting. If you’ve ever seen steel being shaped: first it is put in the fire, extremely hot fire and whilst it is hot it is then put against a Steele block and knocked by a Steele hammer). Thirdly, the steel must be made smooth and sharp so it can penetrate the target when it reaches it.

So, with all that said, the writer of the book of James summarizes it like this:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James‬ 1:2-4‬ NIV‬‬

He urged us to consider the “testimony” (Arrow) building process pure joy, meaning the ultimate experience of joy because he understood that the process was necessary for us to get to weapons ready state! He understood that whom God will use greatly He will hurt deeply. He understood the value of trials as an arrow preparing process and that without this process our victory is incomplete. He understood that fulfilling our purpose and calling in life was an end product, not only of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross but of becoming trial shaped and sharpened arrows!

I’ve seen a little bit of this process in my life and I’m seeing more and more of it every day.

Consider it the ultimate form of joy my brothers and sisters when God drills you to shape you to who He created you to be!
So, I have found this to be both an easy subject to write on and a very difficult one at the same time. In my quest to writing about this subject I kept going back and forth without settling on how to address it. It wasn't until sometime later that started that I realized why I had been unable to write about truth. There were lessons that I still needed to learn about what truth is that had I written without learning them, I would have not been able to comprehensively divide this word Truth.

See, most of us live with assumed truth. We take it as gospel truth and because of it we reject anything contrary or that sounds slightly different out of hand without even examining it. This for me has been the experience of the last few months within the body of Christ. I have come to the realization that our assumed truths have caused divisions within the body because we think that we are arbiters of truth to the exclusion of everyone else. We even have scripture to back up the truth we assume and look down and call false whoever doesn't align to our assumed truth. One of the most important things, I have found, in the life of a truth seeker is not how steadfast you hold on to your assumed truth but it is the constant questioning and reasoning of that very assumed truth in order to eliminate biases caused by assumed truth.

In most instances there are a few things that causes us to remain bias towards our assumed truth and I would like to go through a few of them today:

1. Vessel - For us we usually measure or judge people according to the past records we have of them. I say this because if someone has lied to me in the past I tend to assume lies out of him more often than not. We ascribe measures of reliability to different individuals based on past experiences with them. The Bible shows us though that this is not a full proof measure or gauge of truthfulness. In the book of Galatians we see this:

“Now when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him face to face [about his conduct there], because he stood condemned [by his own actions]. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat [his meals] with the Gentiles; but when the men [from Jerusalem] arrived, he began to withdraw and separate himself [from the Gentile believers], because he was afraid of those from the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocrisy [ignoring their knowledge that Jewish and Gentile Christians were united, under the new covenant, into one faith], with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas (Peter) in front of everyone, “If you, being a Jew, live [as you have been living] like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how is it that you are [now virtually] forcing the Gentiles to live like Jews [if they want to eat with you]?” [I went on to say] “We are Jews by birth and not sinners from among the Gentiles; yet we know that a man is not justified [and placed in right standing with God] by works of the Law, but [only] through faith in [God’s beloved Son,] Christ Jesus. And even we [as Jews] have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law. By observing the Law no one will ever be justified [declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty].”
Galatians 2:11-‬16 AMP

Paul opposes Peter because those who saw Peter as a vessel of what was right followed him even when what he was doing was not right. They did not judge truth by what Christ taught but by the actions of the vessel they had assumed truth from. They followed Peter who, because of a change in circumstance was changing his behaviour and gravitating back to a lie he used to know. Those that had their assumed truth based on the vessel which is Peter and not based on the author of truth which is Christ Jesus, followed without question the actions of the vessel even when he was moving away from truth. (There is more to say on this but for now I will hold it there)

2. Experience - Experiential truth is a powerful thing. When we associate certain experiences with truth in our lives more often than not we build serious defences of truth around these experiences and anything contrary to our experience we discard as being untruthful. We put a lot of emphasis on these and use them as weapons of delivering truth even when their impact has the opposite effect to the intended use. Let's look at the book of Job:

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, “If we dare to converse with you, will you be impatient [or offended]? But who can restrain himself from speaking? Behold, you have admonished and instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have helped the one who was stumbling to stand, And you have strengthened feeble knees. But now adversity comes upon you, and you are impatient and intolerant; It touches you, and you are horrified. Is not your fear of God your confidence, And [is not] the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope? “Remember now, who, being innocent, ever perished? Or where [and in what circumstances] were those upright and in right standing with God destroyed? As I have seen, those who plow wickedness And those who sow trouble and harm harvest it. By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they are consumed. The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken. The lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered. “Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men, Dread and trembling came upon me, Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my skin stood on end! The spirit stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; A form was before my eyes; There was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying: ‘Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He? Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He? God puts no trust or confidence, even in His [heavenly] servants, And He charges His angels with error. How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, Whose foundations are in the dust, Who are crushed like a moth. Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces and destroyed; Unobserved and unnoticed, they perish forever. Is not their tent-cord drawn up within them [so that the tent collapses]? Do they not die, and yet without [acquiring] wisdom?’”
Job 4:1-‬21 AMP

Eliphaz speaks to Job based on his knowledge and an experience he had. Without a proper understanding of the source of Job's troubles. Eliphaz assumes that his experience can explain Job's situation fully. His assumed truth pushes him to speak against what he determines is Job's folly in complaining to God about his current situation. His assumption of sin on Job's part is a narrative that fits very well with the experience he has just had and thus, without even trying to ascertain the facts, starts passing judgement to a man he calls his friend. Our assumptions of truth based on our experiences are very dangerous and powerful weapons, able to crush and demonize well-meaning individuals and condemn them. If job was not a man of strong character who understood his standing before God, he could have been crushed and destroyed by these accusations based on assumed experiential truth. Assumed truth based on experience can cause us to think we have the whole truth but used out of context it can cause harm and damage to others.

3. Emotions - Emotions are good because of what they bring in us. How they help us learn and experience the world around us, but in many instances we sometimes use our emotions to pass truth judgements on others without gathering fact. Let me make an example: we are very quick to gravitate towards what makes us feel good. If someone says something that agrees with our feelings towards something or someone we are very quick to believe this even when we have not seen any evidence of truth about what they are saying. This is how the apostle Paul speak on attempting to counter this bias that has existed since time in memorial:

“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
1 Corinthians‬ 9:19-22‬ KJV‬‬

He says this because of how people easily gravitate towards what appeals to their emotions. Some of us don’t want to hear the opposite of our assumed truth because it doesn’t correspond to our emotions and how we like to feel so we reject it out of hand instead of following logical reasoning to discover the real truth.

So I know I haven’t really explained truth but I think before we explain truth we need to do away with prejudices and assumptions of what it is and clear our minds so that we look straight at Jesus, who is The Truth!!!! Now, in looking to Jesus consider this:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
2 Timothy‬ 3:1-17‬ KJV‬‬

Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof - our God is full of power. Not only the power to save but the power to do all things, which is why nothing is impossible with God.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God (not only the parts we like or the parts that agree to our theology or doctrine but All scripture).

Jesus, the word of God is The truth!! We cannot find truth in our assumptions and prejudiced but in the Full word of God!!!! All of it, not just the parts we like but all of it!! In order to get to truth, we need to use the same logic in understanding and explaining all of it!

The Lord bless and keep you.
This is a question that we, as humanity, have grappled with for generations. We have attempted to answer this question to suit who we think we are, yet truth remains unchanged by our futile attempts. Hitler tried to define truth based on atheistic philosophies but this didn’t change truth. He concluded that if evolution is meant only to keep the strong within a species surviving then his Nazi ‘pure bred’ Germans were the strong and he needed to utterly destroy every other race. This, some may say was based on a misinterpretation of theses philosophies but is it really?

There is another man though who grappled with the issue of truth, his name was Pontus Pilate. When the Sanhedrin wanted him to persecute (kill) Jesus Christ he struggled with this very same notion of truth. In John 18:33-40, during the exchange between himself and Jesus (The Truth), Pilate asked the right question in v38 but what was fascinating is that he did not wait to hear he answer. Pilate, standing in front of truth asked: “What is truth?”

“Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.” John 18:33-40

 I imagine if he had stood, if only just for a minute, Jesus who is the truth would have freely revealed Himself to Pilate.

Isn’t this true also for most of us, that we stand in front of truth yet we have not seen it. We argue our feelings when the word of God has already deliberated on a matter. We want truth to be accommodative of our feelings, of our perspective. But if truth is absolute in its nature, how then can we expect it to be relative when it comes to our situations. We pray about things which the Bible has already revealed, assuming that somehow we can reason with Almighty God to somehow accommodate us just this one time because it will make us happy. Truth is not dependent on me and you, it has already been revealed in the scriptures. That is why the apostle Paul reminds us that we have been given all we need for life and holiness because we have been given The One and Only Begotten (the word that was there in the beginning).

So, what is truth? In fact to be even more precise in my question, what is The truth for the situation you are facing?

Are you sick? What is truth?

Are you hungry? What is truth?

Are you faced with a difficult decision? What is truth?

Ours, when faced with a truth deliberation, is always to go to the word of God and understand that whatever the word says, THAT IS TRUTH!

Have a blessed day and may you live in truth from today.

In the beginning was the word.

What does statement mean exactly? In Genesis 1, the first verse we are told in the beginning God! So the word and God both existed, in the beginning.

The most amazing thing though is the line after that first one in John chapter 1. It says, the word was with God and the word Was God. Meaning that the word was in Him and whatever He spoke (using the word) that was also Him. Okay, let me clarify this, Proverbs 23:7 states:

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” Proverbs‬ 23:7‬ KJV‬‬

“O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Matthew‬ 12:34‬ KJV‬‬

These two passages, taken together tells us that who a man is, is how he thinks and when he speaks he speaks who he is!

So if God, in the beginning spoke the universe into being, it means the words He spoke were able to create because He is the creator. So, going back to John1, we read further, in verse 3 and we are told that all things were made through Him (the word. God) and without Him was not anything made that was made! If we delve deeper into this we understand that at the core, everything (creature or otherwise) that was made, has a God DNA in it. I mean think about it, if glass is made of sand, although it has different characteristics and looks and feels to sand yet it retains some of the building blocks contained in sand at its core. When you make something out of another thing, though you can bend and shape it according to your will, it doesn’t loose the DNA of the thing it was made out of.

So, if we are then made in the image (the Hebrew word tselem - meaning a phantom or resemblance) and likeness (from the word dmuwth which comes from the Hebrew word damah - meaning to compare, similitude) of God, this means that we have the same DNA of God in us. Please note I’m not saying we are the same as God but that we have, at the core, the same DNA as Him because we are made from Him.

That is why the words we speak or that come out of our mouths become extremely important. For an example, unless my heart is filled with joy, try as I may, I will never be able to speak it let alone live it. That’s why king Solomon in Proverbs 4:23 urges us to guard our hearts with all diligence because out of it flows the issues of life. If our hearts are transformed to reflect the Godly DNA that we possess then what we say is also transformed to reflect what is in our hearts and we are able to live a life full of God’s love and life because our words create for us what is already reflected in our hearts.

To close, throughout the scriptures we are constantly reminded of the power of words and this reminder should serve as a note to us today that unless your heart/mind is transformed to be like God’s word, your life, even if you become rich and can live in luxury, will never be able to fulfil the potential that you were born with because that comes through acting similarly to our creator, by speaking the word not as we have heard it but as we become it!!
A rudderless ship will go in the direction of the winds, because we have lost our identity as the church today we have allowed every wind of doctrine and craze going on in the world to shape our doctrine. There is no difference to what is in the church and what you find in the world today.

You want strife and hatred, is in the church today. Women and child abuse, in the church today. Theft and robbery, in the church today. Sexual indulgences, in the church today. Unforgiveness, in the church today. Murder and jealousy, in the church today.

This is not the true identity of what a church of Christ should look like. We have been so outward looking that we have forgotten to look inside. We are busy pointing to the spec in our neighbour’s eye whilst there is a log in our eye. It’s become about our agenda, and not really God’s agenda. We want messages that tickle our ears and whisper sweet nothings to us instead of hard hitting conviction.

We want God to affirm our sin so that we can indulge without guilt. In fact, we want this affirmation so much so that we even find it where it does not exist. We do all this in the name of love and grace, only because we have given away the knowledge of what love (honouring God and keeping all Him commandments) and grace (the empowerment to shun evil and sin) really are. We are so self-centred to the point that even our prayers and our worship is focused on us and what God can do for us. It’s about me, me, me!!!!!

The sad part in all of this is until the church finds its true identity (representing Christ on earth) we will not be able to change our world. Ours, as told in the word, aught be a peculiar message. A message that stands in contrast to the world but we see today that what is taught in our pulpits and alters is only about feeding our enlarged egos and nothing about glorifying a majestic God!!! We have lost our way and yet we stand with our chests puffed out because we think we know God and He knows us. Jesus, after sending His disciples 2 by 2 to teach the word reminds them when they bring a report of what happened:

They say even evil spirits listen to us... but in response, our Lord says this: “do not celebrate that even evil spirits listen to you (in other words do not celebrate the power of God working through you) but that your name is written in the book of life (celebrate The power of God working in you).

Just as simple as writing your name in the book of life, God can remove your name from the book of life. Today, if you are not sure that your name is written in the book of life. If you’ve been living this life by presence and show. If the power has been working through and not in you. If you Barbour, resentment, jealousy, envy, anger, hatred, greed.... whatever it is that you have justified for a time and have gotten comfortable living with it, I want to give you this chance, this opportunity to ensure that your name is written in the book of life. It’s not about your position or standing, today God wants to bring us back to basics, back to the cross of Calvary, back to the word of truth and a lifestyle of truth! Today He wants to set our crooked ways straight. Today He’s calling us back. Come join me and let’s pray together. Come let us reconcile ourselves to God so that in so doing we may take up the mantle to reconcile ourselves to one another and to be true ministers of reconciliation. Let us be reconciled first that we may minister this ministry of reconciliation.

It is very easy for us who claim knowledge of truth to forget that how we teach those that Christ has called to Himself and given us the privilege to take care of is essential. It is essential that we feed them a balanced diet. It is essential that we nourish their souls with the good news of Christ. Now good news does not only mean that we teach only that which makes people feel good about themselves and want to chase after material gain, but it also means that we show that a constant repentant heart is what God requires. The Apostle Paul puts it in the following manner:

“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.” 1 Corinthians‬ 9:19-23‬ KJV‬‬

My brothers and sisters it is important that we teach not just the blessings of Christ as if there were no condition to them at all. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6 especially verse 33 that if we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness then all these things we need or that some spend their whole life seeking after will be added unto us. It is also vitally important that we do not become fear mongers in our quest to instilling righteous discipline in those we take care of because we cause, in their eyes, God to be a monster who is only interested in being feared. The Bible also reminds us that we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind.

Imagine if we taught those who are still growing of the spirit of power. Rather than to instil fear over sin we could teach power over sin.

Imagine if we taught them about the spirit of love. Rather than instil judgement and resentment we could show them love manifest.

Imagine if we taught them about the spirit of a sound mind. Rather than let them be overcome by the fear of disappointing God we could teach them to boldly profess the confessions of their faith and logically defend them.

Brothers and sisters, teachers of the word, all I want to say is mind your privilege when you teach or live the word of God because it is given us so we could have life, to the full, until it overflows. So it could unshackle us from the spirit of fear not tie us back up in fear. We are given this word, Christ Himself, to experience the full life that God has for us living in His will on earth as it is in Heaven!

Please let’s mind our privilege because the task upon us, to teach and admonish, is a privilege given by God Himself for the sake of His children!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

In essence what I understand this passage to be saying is that God always takes the long term view in His plans. He has set us to each play a part to His ultimate plan for this world. When He works in our lives He is not troubled by the things which trouble us because He always looks at the desired end product, no matter how far away it is. When we get to know Him and to know ourselves in Him we start to have the same perspective He does. We start to view things in our lives not for short term gratification but like the Apostle Paul in Romans 8: 28-31

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being]. What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] [Ps. 118:6.]”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:28-31‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

If then we know that all things, I mean all things work together for our good. If we know hat as we face whatever is coming against us God is with us and for us, then we know that His long term plan is working perfectly for our benefit (for our good).

It matters not what we face because even in the face of adversity we have the full confidence that God’s plan for our lives is moving full steam ahead! His plan is never derailed by circumstance, but whatever we face becomes fuel towards the fulfillment of His plan for our lives. It’s like whatever the devil tries to bring against you always works to nudge you towards the perfect plan of God for your life. Adversity shouldn’t trouble you, it’s shouldn’t bring you sorrow because it will not destroy you. It will not be the end of you!!! What it’s there to do is to become the fuel through which the perfect plan and purpose of God for your life is fulfilled.

You see when the devil brings heat in your life, through test and trials, do not discard because the hurricane plan of God for your life needs that hot surface air to gain more momentum. Now if you study hurricanes and their formation you will know that when surface water is warm, that warm air can turn a small storm into a hurricane. So the devil doesn’t know that by bringing heat to you, He is turning you from a small storm into a hurricane for the kingdom of God, but remember, hurricanes take time to form. That is why Solomon says He has made everything beautiful in His own time!!!!!!! Your are being made beautiful for the plan of God for your life, don’t despair!!!! Keep pushing!! Keep hoping!!! Keep believing!!!

The Lord bless and keep you.
If you've ever seen a puppet show you'll agree with me that the master is the one who controls every movement that the puppets make, he is like a choir conducted and the instrument players at the same time. What is even more fascinating is the careful intricate design of each puppet. Each one different and individually designed to show of the skill of the puppet master. Now, the puppets do not have free will. They cannot choose to dance by themselves without the will of the master. They cannot sit when the will of the master is for them to move. They are fully dependent on the will of the puppet master.

Similarly when we become Christian, our will needs to line up with the will of the Master (God). God wants to be our puppet master, to order each and everyone of our steps and to lead us in all goodness. The bible says this:
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Psalm 139:14

This psalm shows the intricacy and detail God engaged in when designing each and every one of us. We all have a specific purpose that we are born to fulfil under the sun. Unfortunately we are born into sin and are corrupted from birth until we make that decision to make JESUS our Lord and Saviour. What is fascinating to me is that even in speaking about this JESUS, He is described first as Lord (master) before He is described as Saviour meaning that even if He is not your Saviour He remains your Lord. This we find in the following passage:
"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Acts 2:36

Now, our master has given us something called free will. Unlike the puppets which cannot move without the master, we have free will to do as we please even to disobey the master. God desires to be our puppet master but in that He has left the choice all to us. It is interesting to note that even when we do make JESUS our Saviour we can still continue to not allow God to be our master. In the book of Joshua 1:7-8, we read this:

"Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Joshua 1:7-8

In this passage God is telling us that when we choose to do EVERYTHING according to the word of the Lord and we carefully observe all our actions to make sure that we do not depart from it to the left or to the right then our ways (everything we engage in) will be prosperous. So we can guarantee the end result of everything in our lives by making sure that we live our lives according to the word of God.

What this means in simpler terms is this:

"When we align our will to the will of the master, choose to be controlled and directed by him (like a puppeteer with his puppets) in everything, then we have guaranteed success and we can guarantee a prosperous life."

The question then becomes how? How do we align our will to the will of the master?

Romans 12:2 says be transformed by the renewal of your mind. All this means is that if anything in you clashes with the will of the master than you need to change it to fit into the master's will. It is all about Him. The same way the puppet show is all about the master even though we watch the puppets and not the master, so are our own lives about God (our puppet master) although the show is played out in our everyday lives. We are just puppets in His show and He desires that our will align to Him because it is only then that we receive every good thing and fulfil our purpose!!!

Know (perceive, recognize, and understand with approval) that the Lord is God! It is He Who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His]! We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. [Eph. 2:10.] (Psalm‬ 100‬:3‬ AMP)

"Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."
Genesis‬ 18:14‬ KJV‬‬

Ask yourself this question this morning, is there anything too difficult for the Lord? Friend, we have a power on the inside of us greater than anything you can imagine. Whatever we face, whatever comes our way should never get us down because we understand that by Him all things were made that are and we understand that the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. Nothing can ever outdo our God. His might is far beyond whatever issue you might face.

What is even more interesting is that we are guaranteed victory, He tells Abraham that at the appointed time, according to the time of men this will happen. Now you might be in a similar situation to Abraham and Sarah. It might be that you have lost all hope because you have passed the age of fruitfulness in the area that’s troubling you. It might even be that what you had hoped for has died on the inside of you because your hope has been deferred long. This morning, be reminded that nothing is difficult for God. Nothing is impossible for the Lord. Let today be the day you ask everything you are facing: ”is there anything too difficult for the Lord”.

Whatever you are facing, let your response be to ask is there anything too difficult for the Lord.

Are you in need, ask your need is there anything too difficult for the Lord

Are you in trouble, ask your trouble is there anything too difficult for the Lord.

Whatever you may be facing, ask this question is there anything too difficult for the Lord

Now let me turn this around, what mountain is standing in front of you today? Jesus, in demonstrating this very same topic put it like this:

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Mark‬ 11:22-24‬ KJV‬‬

Now I ask again, what mountain is standing in front of you today? How high is it? How wide is it? How big is it? Is there anything too difficult for the Lord?

The mountain facing you is not high enough, not wide enough and not big enough to withstand the might of our God!

Building without a master builder is a waste of time. Building without a master plan is just asking for disaster.

I like what David is saying here. He says except the Lord build a house, they that build labour in vain. It means it is only when God is the master builder does your labour have meaning.

It is possible to be found in the presence of God doing work or building what God has not told you to nor given you the anointing to do. If you find yourself in this place, your work (all of it), is vanity. A chasing after the wind. In fact it is possible to do good work but not the right work. When God has given you work to do it is the right work, might not be necessarily good sometimes but it is Right. Now, before you get all excited let me explain myself, when God in some instances in the Old Testament sent some of His prophets to the nation of Israel, He would command them to do right but not necessarily good! It was right for Elijah to ask the widow to make for him first a cake before making for herself and her son. If Elijah lived with us today we would call him all sorts of names but what Elijah understood was that the widow was commanded by God to feed him, so he understood that the meal and the oil would not run out and that the widow would not die because God had told him that the widow was going to take care of him. Let’s read it:

“And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”
1 Kings‬ 17:7-9‬ KJV‬‬

So Elijah knew His sustenance was with the widow, which is why he was bold to ask the widow to make food for him first.

Saints, let us look on the inside and find what God has not only called us to be but what He has also anointed us for. When we do this we allow Him to fully use us in His master plan. We also allow ourselves to receive everything He has for us.

Unless the Lord build a house, they labour in vain they that build it.

“What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?”
Ecclesiastes‬ 1:3‬ KJV‬‬

There is no profit to the labour that we set for ourselves because nothing gained in this world can ever be taken with when we depart. Jesus puts it like this:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Matthew‬ 6:19-21‬ KJV‬‬

But how do we lay this treasure up and except we allow God to not only be the builder of our houses (or work) but to also be the builder of our lives. For this we have to remember that the apostle Paul calls us to die to self and be alive in Christ. He calls us to lay down all that we are so that Christ can live in us. He calls us to be new creatures not to be new human beings. This is important, in fact let us read:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”
2 Corinthians‬ 5:17-18‬ KJV‬‬

If any man be in Christ he is a new creature. We are supposed to be a completely new species of human, not lead by our own selfish ambitions but fully lead by the spirit of God displaying the true nature of Christ in all we do. This is how we escape the vanity of human ventures in order to be man and woman of purpose, by laying down our lives so Christ can live in us to fulfil His purpose for our lives. The apostle Paul in this passage of 2 Corinthians 5 says “old things have passed away; behold all things are become new.” How many of us have really let go of old things? How many of us have been completely renewed? How then do we claim to be in Christ if we do not fulfil the criteria set out in this passage by the Apostle Paul? If we claim to be in Christ yet continue to live in our old ways then guess what, all our toil is vanity of vanities!!!!

Today I urge you my brothers and sisters. Choose Christ and do not hold on to old things or your old ways. Choose to be made new in Him and to fully surrender your lives to Him because He is the only one capable of renewing your life and putting you on a path to fulfilling your destiny.

The Lord bless and keep you.
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1:22-24‬ ‭KJV‬‬

A christianity that is only spoken and not lived is devoid of the power to transform lives. See, our lives were transformed by one act of love, at hats why we are here today. Love purposed to set us free and to restore us to the original purpose of our design and love paid the price for the restoration. Now if we aught to be like Him and show the same conviction, we aught to live a life full of practical love.

The bible reminds us that we are a product of love. We owe it all to love. But what is even more fascinating is that when Jesus is ask d which is the greatest law? He answers that it is to love God and love people. So how do I love God and how do I love my neighbor?

“And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭11:13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

In this verse, Moses tells the children of Israel that loving God means keeping all of His law! This is further spoken of in scripture in 1 John 5:3-4 that loving God I keeping His commandments.

Jesus doesn’t only tells us that loving God is the culmination of all the law, no. He also tells us that one which is similar to loving God is loving your neighbour as yourself.

I’m always amazed by how Jesus answers questions. He always answers fully so as not to leave room for interpretation. Now how do I love my neighbour? The book of 1 John is very impressive in defining this love for us in that it clearly stipulates how we show love towards one another. We are told in 1 John 3:17 that,

“But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭KJV‬‬



John is telling us that love has to be practical. We have to show love, that is it’s true power and true nature. It is when we show love that we reveal to each other and to the word that God truly lives in us. When Jesus is speaking to his disciples he says the following:

“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

‭‭John‬ ‭13:35‬ ‭KJV‬‬ But how do we show this love that it evident to the world? Not by kisses and hugs but by taking care of each other’s needs. By making sure that our actions speak the loudest about how much we love one another. Until we are willing to show love through actions to our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, God who is love does not live in us. Not my words, God’s words.

I’m encouraged by the letter written to Philemon by the Apostle Paul. In it he admonishes Philemon to show love to the one who wronged him but in his admonishing of Philemon he present himself as the one who will pay the price of this reconciliation. Christ paid the price for our reconciliation with God and then handed over the ministry of reconciliation to us. The church is divided as it is today because in our ‘wisdom’, we have neglected to do the one thing the Bible tells us never fails, to love unconditionally.

This love is not an impossible love because the ability to love is given us by the love we receive from the father. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:19 that ‘ we love because He first loved us’. Meaning our ability to love stems from the love He has showed us, since the beginning of time.

Saints, let me close with this:

I was telling this story to the guys who were at home cell on Thursday. When God stated teaching me about love I was still at varsity. Now I had a friend who invited me to her cell in her residence. When I was there that day they asked me to share. I started sharing about love and how it keeps no record of wrong. The stares, if looks could kill, you wouldn’t have known me. The same friend who invited me spoke about how she was raped by her uncle and she can’t forgive and God understands. I mean, how can she be expected to forgive such. At the time, I had no answer for her and needless to say, I was never invited to share again in that cell group. But if I were to encounter the same question today I would be reminded of the story of Jesus, who when he hung on the cross and was being beaten, not only forgave but showed love in that he interceded for the people that beat and stabbed him. His response to adversity was to show more love. Can we purpose today to not only show love to those who love us but moreover can we show love to those who persecute us because of the example Christ showed us? He loved so we must love!

The Lord bless and keep you. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:11‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

In essence what I understand this passage to be saying is that God always takes the long term view in His plans. He has set us to each play a part to His ultimate plan for this world. When He works in our lives He is not troubled by the things which trouble us because He always looks at the desired end product, no matter how far away it is. When we get to know Him and to know ourselves in Him we start to have the same perspective He does. We start to view things in our lives not for short term gratification but like the Apostle Paul in Romans 8: 28-31

“We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being]. What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] [Ps. 118:6.]”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:28-31‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

If then we know that all things, I mean all things work together for our good. If we know hat as we face whatever is coming against us God is with us and for us, then we know that His long term plan is working perfectly for our benefit (for our good).

It matters not what we face because even in the face of adversity we have the full confidence that God’s plan for our lives is moving full steam ahead! His plan is never derailed by circumstance, but whatever we face becomes fuel towards the fulfillment of His plan for our lives. It’s like whatever the devil tries to bring against you always works to nudge you towards the perfect plan of God for your life. Adversity shouldn’t trouble you, it’s shouldn’t bring you sorrow because it will not destroy you. It will not be the end of you!!! What it’s there to do is to become the fuel through which the perfect plan and purpose of God for your life is fulfilled.

You see when the devil brings heat in your life, through test and trials, do not discard because the hurricane plan of God for your life needs that hot surface air to gain more momentum. Now if you study hurricanes and their formation you will know that when surface water is warm, that warm air can turn a small storm into a hurricane. So the devil doesn’t know that by bringing heat to you, He is turning you from a small storm into a hurricane for the kingdom of God, but remember, hurricanes take time to form. That is why Solomon says He has made everything beautiful in His own time!!!!!!! Your are being made beautiful for the plan of God for your life, don’t despair!!!! Keep pushing!! Keep hoping!!! Keep believing!!!

The Lord bless and keep you.

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