“This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.” (Titus 3:8NIV) 

Here Paul is telling Titus that God’s people must be taught in his meetings the need to devote themselves to doing good works. So, it is not sufficient to teach the brethren about their rights and privileges in Christ. They also have to be taught how to respond to those things. 

You know it is interesting to learn of how we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. It is also great to learn of how God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness or how we have been given the fullness of God in Christ or how we now have authority to trample on the devil and his hosts or how we can now resist the devil and watch him flee from our lives. All these things are interesting to know and learn – they bless the heart. 

But why has God done all these things for us? It is for us to be responsible. And in what ways are we to be responsible? In doing good works! God has done all these things for us so that we can take advantage of them to do good works. So, there is a need for us to be continually reminded, urged and encouraged to do good works, as we fellowship with one another.

Now that is what Paul is saying to Titus in our opening text. He is saying it is your duty to teach those who have trusted in God to devote themselves to doing good works. And he says about the same thing to him in verse 14 of this same chapter. He says, “Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.” (Titus 3:14NIV) 

So, God’s people have to be devoted to good works. I have to be devoted to good works. You also, if you are a child of God, have to be devoted to good works. We all have to be devoted to good works. Otherwise, our lives will be unproductive. If you, then, don’t want to be an unproductive Christian, give yourself to doing g

ood works. 

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My word for you, as you start this new day, is that you must never again waste your time meditating on the successes or the failures of the past, except there are lessons you wish to learn from them. Rather, focus on taking advantage of the grace of God to be all that you can be and to do all that you can do at the moment. Otherwise, you may paralyse your own advancement.

Look at Paul the apostle, for example. He started out as a young man, persecuting the church and doing all kinds of wicked and injurious things to others (Gal 1:13; 1Tim 1:13). But when the Lord appeared to him and saved him, he started working in newness of life. Yes, initially, people, especially believers, still related to him on the basis of his past. They related to him with utmost watchfulness, for they were not sure that his salvation claims were genuine (Acts 9:26). But he would not allow that to deter or discourage him. He simply took his mind off all the bad things he had done, things which God, of course, had already forgiven him for, and began to live the rest of his earthly life in righteousness and in service to the Lord. 

Several years later, when this apostle would write to the Philippian-church, he still brought to the fore the same spiritual principle by which he had been living, saying:

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things…” (Phil 3:12-15NIV)

Look at that. This man not only knew his purpose in life but also how to accomplish it. That was why he said that he was not going to dwell on the past at all, whether good or bad. Of course, at the time he was writing this letter, God had already used him to do a lot of good things. But just as he would not allow the bad things he had done before becoming a Christian to affect his usefulness and effectiveness as a Christian, so also would he not allow the good and beautiful things he had done as a Christian to get into his head or to make him think that he had arrived. And that was because he knew that, as long as there was breath in him, there would always be room for perfection in godly living and room for improvement in quality and quantity of service to God and mankind. 

In the same vein, we too must learn to focus on what we need to be and do now and not on what we used to be or used to do. Yes, if there are lessons of the past that we can bring to bear on what we are doing now, we should take them and apply them wisely. But we must never measure our relevance or usefulness now using the failures or the successes of the past. 

Yes, people will often want to deal with us on the basis of our past; they will want to accept or reject us on its ground. So, it is really a good thing to have a good past, to have records of great things done in the past. That may make way for you on some occasions. But those who show you any kind of favour on the basis of your past good works will still demand that you justify what they have done for you. So, everything still depends on how focused you are at the moment on being what you can be and on doing what you can do.

In any case, the point I am making is that what is gone is gone. What you did with your life, good or bad, is already in the past. And you cannot in any way make it better or worse. So don’t waste time pondering on it. And don’t waste your time with individuals who may try to make you dwell on it. What counts now is what you do with your life now. So, focus on the present and, of course, on the future God has prepared for you. And may the favour of God continually rest on you.

Have a wonderful day.

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“I have thought deeply about all that goes on here in the world, where people have the power of injuring each other. I have seen wicked men buried, and as their friends returned from the cemetery, having forgotten all the dead man's evil deeds, these men were praised in the very city where they had committed their many crimes! How odd!” (Eccl 8:9-10TLB)

One main way to keep a town, city, country or organisation in stagnation, misery or poverty is to continually praise or reward wickedness. Unfortunately, many people do not understand this. Therefore, because of fear, greed or love for the praise of men, they praise wickedness where they should condemn it or reward wickedness where they should punish it. Then they sit down and wonder why there is not much growth, development, prosperity and safety where they are. Isn’t that odd?

Well, that is exactly the situation Solomon is dealing with in our opening bible text. According to him, he had been to funerals of wicked people and had seen how even victims of their wickedness spoke well of them. But they knew in their hearts that these people deserved no form of praise or commendation. Yet hypocrisy, fear or greed would not allow them to say the truth that they knew about them. And Solomon is asking if that is not odd.

Now perhaps you have once attended a funeral in which those who were asked to speak spoke ill of the dead person. I have never attended one. And I am sure most of those who have attended funerals at different times and of different persons will agree that people hardly speak ill of dead people at their funerals, even if they have been direct victims of their wickedness. Why is this so? Hypocrisy! 

Hypocrisy is the major reason we will be singing the praise of a wicked person, whether they are dead or alive, even when we have been victims of his wickedness. Today, we often see those who have hurt their own people terribly and oppressed them in many ways being praised and commended in religious houses by the very same people they have been oppressing, especially when they make some huge donations. What is behind such things? Hypocrisy!

But as Solomon tells us, it is odd and actually foolish of us to function in this manner and still expect a better society. It is foolish of us to continually speak and sing in praise of wickedness and still expect it to go away from our society. That will never happen. It will never happen because what we are doing is counter-productive. 

See, we cannot be strengthening evil with our words and songs and expect those doing it to stop. They will not stop. Instead, they will continue to act under the assumption that we are okay with whatever they do. And even when they know that we are not fine with their wickedness, they will still continue to perpetuate it, as long as they can induce us to sing their praises instead of saying what we really think and know about them. You can see why vote buying, vote selling and other similar nonsense are widespread in our land. 

In any case, if you and I want to break the wings of evil where we are, we have to begin to call it what it is, instead of singing its praise, maybe out of fear, hypocrisy or greed. But are we going to do that in our homes, schools, offices, neighbourhoods, cities and religious assemblies? May God grant us sufficient willingness and courage to always do so, for our good and for the good of those generations of people that may come after us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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“This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” (Isa 48:17NIV)

Without doubt, these are days of famine for us in Nigeria. These are days in which the hard and diligent work of many is not yielding much fruit of prosperity and enjoyment for them. How, then, are the people of God to survive such times? How can they thrive during these days of adversity and severe lack that we have been plunged into?

The answers to these questions are seen in our opening bible text. There God tells us in very clear terms that He is the only one that knows and can teach us what is best for us in life and also guide us in the way we should go. That being the case, we should turn to Him in prayers, so that He will fill our hearts with the exact knowledge of what is best for our sustenance and thriving during this period and also lead us in the way to experience and enjoy it.

As we see in the bible, there was a time Isaac was confronted with some years of famine. Exactly what was responsible for this famine we are not told. But we are told that he wanted to go and live in Egypt because of it. Why? That was what his father, Abraham, did when he too was confronted with a similar situation. He went down to Egypt to live. And he left there prosperous. (Cf. Gen 12:10-20; Gen 26:1-2)

But what works for a man’s parents may not work for him. The business your friend is doing, which is making him millions in naira or dollars, may fail horribly in your own hands, even if you are operating under the same conditions. And this is one of the reasons we need God to lead us into what is best for us, instead of adopting other people’s template for prosperity.

Thankfully, Isaac had God on his side, committed to leading Him into what is best for him. And He showed up at the right time and stopped him from going down to Egypt. He told him to stay where he was and that He would bless him there. So, he stayed in Gerar and was led by God to engage in farming. And because he was obedient, he became so wealthy through farming that he became the envy of everyone around him. Yet all this happened in a time of famine. (Cf. Gen 26:2-25)

In like manner, if God will show us what to do with our lives, time, energy, resources, skills and education, we will be made so rich that we will abound in good works and generosity everyday. And no number of days or years of famine will be able to limit us or rob us of joy, peace and enjoyment of life. 

But as I said before, what will work for you may be different from what will work for me. For example, even though farming was what God led Isaac to engage in when he was confronted with those years of famine, it was not what He led Elijah and the widow of Zarephath and her son to do in order to survive the three and a half years of famine that came upon their land. As He made very clear to them, what they needed at that time was the miraculous and not an engagement in farming or some other enterprise. Otherwise, they would not survive, even if they worked hard and diligently. So, the widow and her son, who still had some food with them, had to support Elijah, who had the anointing for the miraculous, with the little food they had. And that was how the three of them were preserved during those years of famine. (Cf. 1Kings 17)

Now what do you and I need to thrive during this period? Is it a change of business or job? Is it a change of location? It is a miraculous touch of God on certain things that belong to us or that we are doing? Or is it an act of generosity, forgiveness or restitution that will result in open doors of divine provisions? Whatever it is that we need, God knows it and is willing to share its knowledge with us. We just need to call upon Him, and He will answer us and tell it us, even if it is something great and unsearchable (Jer 33:3).

Have a blessed day.

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Why is it important that you experience true rest and comfort in every area of your life? It is so that you can focus on building your life, home, business and whatever else you desire to build or experience progress in handling. We all know that there are things that we cannot build in times of war. That is because we may not have the resources, time or effort to spare on building them. And even if we have the means to build certain things in a time of war, there is every tendency that they may be lost to the war. 

For instance, Solomon shares this testimony with King Hiram of Tyre, when he was set to build the temple of God in Jerusalem:

“You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet. But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster. I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, 'Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.'” (1Kings 5:3-5NIV)

What, according to Solomon, prevented David from building a temple for the name of the Lord, even though it was his utmost desire to do so? Wars! The man fought wars all through his life in order to give his people rest from all their enemies. And though God was with him in all his campaigns against his enemies, he was already an old man with hands full of blood by the time he had enough rest and peace to build Him a temple. So, God told him to leave the building of the temple for his son, Solomon, who would be king after him, which he did. That, of course, means that though he was the one that fought for rest for his country, it was his son, Solomon, that enjoyed the fruit of that rest fully. (Cf. 1Chro 22:7-10)

What is the point of that? It is that there is a measure of peace we must have in our lives in order for us to be able to accomplish certain dreams of our hearts. That means if we use all our lives fighting wars, dealing with all forms of trials and challenges, there are beautiful things we may not be able to do in our lifetime. Yes, God is able to make us walk in victory over any form of challenge or trial that the enemy may throw at us, as long as our trust is in Him. But there is nothing as good as having total rest from life's trials or challenges that could distract us or engage us in things that will prevent us from realising certain good dreams and visions of ours.

Perhaps, as you are reading this, you are already considering certain things you have always wanted to do for yourself, God, your family or your society, which you have not been able to do because of some challenges you have faced or are facing. It may even be that every time you think of doing these things something always comes up that takes the time, resources, energy or opportunity to do them away from you. And you have been wondering and saying to yourself, “Will I ever be able to do these things?”

Well, what you need is rest, enough measure of rest to focus on doing what you want to do. And the only one that can give it to you is God. Notice that Solomon, in the bible text above, was very clear in telling Hiram that God was the source of his rest. It was God that silenced all the enemies around him, so that none of them could think of waging war against him. And He can do the same thing for you. In fact, if you have already come to Him through faith in Christ Jesus, you have already come into His place of rest, for the bible says those of us who have faith in the Lord Jesus have entered God's land of rest. Remember also that our Lord Jesus says that He will give rest to anyone who comes to Him. (Cf. Matt 11:28; Heb 4:3)  

What you need, then, is to begin to take steps to experience the rest that God has already provided for you to fulfil every good purpose of your heart. And one of such steps is to devote yourself to studying the word of God and practising what it teaches on living a life of rest. Another is to always commit everything you desire to do into God's hand in prayer, knowing that you can only accomplish what He enables you to accomplish. Then you must also learn to resist in the name of Jesus whatever Satan is doing to upset your peace or take away your rest. Otherwise, he will always do whatever he can to keep you restless, distracted and troubled, so that you will not be able to focus on doing much good. 

Go, then, and give yourself to doing these things. And you will not only experience abundant rest in your life, you will also find yourself making tremendous progress in doing those beautiful things your heart has always yearned to do, which you have not been able to do for years or months. Amen

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God, as we are shown all through the Scriptures, loves and cares about us. So, regardless of what we are faced with in life, He is always on our side. It may not look like He is on our side. But He is. In fact, His promise to us is that He will never leave us nor forsake us, regardless of the situation we may be in (Heb 13:5). He has also assured us that He will work for our good in every situation (Rom 8:28). We, then, are the ones that need to build our confidence in Him, so that even when it does not look like He is near or with us, we will know in our hearts that He is with us, working for our good, and function accordingly.

Why did Joseph survive everything he went through in life before he became the Prime Minister of the Egyptian nation of his time? It is was because he always functioned with an abiding consciousness of the presence of God with him and for him. In other words, this man knew that, regardless of what he went through, God was with Him and that He would fulfil all the things He had shown him about his life. That was why, instead of griping or grumbling, he behaved himself responsibly and with a heart of integrity and purity as a slave and as a prisoner. And when the time came, he and others who knew his story could plainly see what God had been doing in his life and with his life, even though it did not look like He had been with him all along. (Cf. Gen 39-41)

Now, often, our thought is that if God is with someone, everything would be smooth and wonderful for him. But that life is smooth and wonderful for someone does not mean that God is with him. And that life is hard and unpleasant for someone does not mean that God is not with him. Who could think God would be with a slave like Joseph in his house of slavery? Or who could think that God would be with a prisoner like him in his prison house? Yet He was with him in all these situations and eventually made everything work for his good, so much so that he became the second-in-command of the king of Egypt.

Furthermore, who would think that God was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when they were being bound and being carried into the furnace of fire that King Nebuchadnezzar had prepared for those who would not worship the image of gold he set up? I mean that it did not look like God was with them when the king was scolding them and insisting that he would have them thrown into the furnace of fire, if they would not bow to his image of gold. Yet after they had been thrown into the furnace of fire, God showed this heathen and ruthless king that He had been with these men all along to protect them. So, even though those who carried them to the furnace all died from the flames of its fire, for the command was urgent and the furnace was terribly hot, nothing happened to any of these men. In fact, there was no smell of fire on them when they came out of the furnace. Glory to God! (Cf. Dan 3)

So, even if it does not seem like God is with you in that situation you have found yourself, don't throw away your confidence in Him and start misbehaving. Instead, embrace this admonition to us from the writer of the book of Hebrews: “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay.”” (Heb 10:35-37NIV)

Did you see that? God will certainly reward our confidence in Him in the face of the challenges of our lives, if we will not faint. In other words, He will not disappoint us. No, we may not see what He is doing now to change our situations or to make them favourable for us. But He will not disappoint us or be slow in vindicating us. What we, then, need is to maintain our trust in Him and be patient. And at the right time, all that He has been doing to protect, favour and elevate us will become visible to us and to others around us. Then through us He will be glorified and worshipped. 

So, stop complaining or misbehaving because the circumstances of your life right now are not pleasant or as favourable as you would want them to be. No, do not quit the life of faith because it does not look like God cares about you anymore. That is because God, your Father, cares very much about you, is with you and is also working everything out for your good. And my prayer is that you will be where He wants you to be, doing what He wants you to do, when the time comes for all that He is doing on your behalf to show

 forth. Amen.

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“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28NIV) 

Why will the Lord give this kind of bold invitation? It is because He has what it takes to give anyone that comes to Him rest. No religious leader anywhere in the world has ever given anybody this kind of assurance of rest. Only the Lord has.

So, are you tired of life in any way? Jesus is saying to you today, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” Do you feel the weight of the challenges and trials of your life crushing you? The Lord is saying to you today, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” Do you feel dissatisfied with your life or home or health in any way? The Lord is saying to you too, “Come to me, and I will give you rest.” 

Now you do not need to wait until you are totally crushed or subdued by those things that are upsetting your life and peace before you come to the only one who is able to give you rest and satisfaction. No, you do not have to wait until you come to your wits' end before you come to Him for rest. If you wait any longer, you may just lose your life or those things you are fighting to keep in the process. So, hurry up now and go to Him, and He will give you rest.

But then, coming to the Lord Jesus Christ alone is not sufficient for you to experience the rest He gives. There is another important thing you also need to do, which is seen in what He says next in that passage of the bible where He asks us to come to Him for rest. And what does He say? He says:

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:29-30NIV) 

Did you see that? In order to find the rest the Lord gives we need to humble ourselves to learn from Him. That means we need to be educated on how to experience rest in life. There are habits that lead to the experience of rest and habits that lead to the experience of sorrow and pains. And until we humble ourselves to learn from the Lord through His word and begin to cultivate those habits that lead to the experience of true rest, we will never enjoy rest or peace in our lives.

Now one of those habits the Lord will want us to learn from Him is that of casting our cares and burdens on Him through prayers. For instance, the bible says, “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” (Ps 55:22NIV) Also, it says this: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1Peter 5:7NIV) Did you see that? The Lord cares about us and is able to sustain us and give us rest, even in the most difficult of situations. However, if we want to enjoy His sustenance and rest, then, we must learn to give our worries, anxieties and burdens over to Him. 

Unfortunately, many who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ have not learnt to do this. They have not learnt to trust Him with their burdens. They still want to carry them by themselves. That explains why many of them often look depressed, confused, disheartened and discouraged, even though they are with the Lord Jesus. Perhaps the reason depression and confusion have not left your life is that you too will not give your burdens to the Lord. But you need to do so. Otherwise, what is the point of coming to the Lord, when you will still not allow Him to help you or save you?

So, if you have come to Jesus already, then, cast those burdens and weights that are crushing your life and stealing your peace and rest on Him, as you pray to Him about them. Stop trying to carry them by yourself again. And once you have given them to Him, allow Him to handle them in His own way. Don't try to teach Him what to do or how to solve your problems. If you already knew what to do, then, you would not need Him. But since you don't know what to do, allow Him to fully take charge. And I am certain that as you begin to do this, you will find the rest He has promised and g

iven for your soul.

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“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.” (Eph 5:17NIV) 

As Paul shows us in our opening text, it is foolishness not to know the mind of God about life in general and how to conduct ourselves in response to it. If we don’t know what God thinks of life as a whole and how we are to handle it, then, there is no way we will be able to live our lives to please Him. And if our lives are not lived to please Him, then, we have wasted them.

See, God did not create us to live for ourselves. Nobody creates anything for that thing to exist for itself. Rather, we create things (machines, organisations, systems, processes and so forth) to serve our purposes. And if they are not going to serve the purpose for which we create them, we end them. 

In the same vein, God created us to live for Him; He created us to live to bring Him pleasure. And that is one point that everyone in this world needs to get. You have not been created to live for yourself. You have not been created to live for your husband or wife. You have not been created to live for your friends, neighbours or colleagues at work or in school. In short, you have not been created to live for any created being or thing. The only person you have been created to live for is the one that created you, and that is God. (Cf. Rom 14:7-8; Rev 4:11)

If you, then, believe that God is your creator, your most important goal in this life must be to live to bring Him pleasure. Yes, in bringing Him pleasure, you are also going to be bringing pleasure to many other people in your life. But essentially, He is the one you have been created to delight. And if you are not living to bring Him pleasure, then, you are not fulfilling His purpose for creating you. Therefore, you are wasting your life and are in danger of being permanently and forever discarded by Him.

Unfortunately, many today are wasting their lives without knowing it. They are wasting their lives because they are not living them for God. They are wasting their lives because they are not living them in the will of God. Yes, they may be good and kind people, individuals who are doing their very best to make the world pleasant for themselves and others to live in. But as long as they are not doing what they are doing on the basis of faith in God and a desire to please Him, they are not living for Him but for themselves. 

Such people may not even agree that they are living for themselves and say that it is other people they are living for. But the truth is that in doing whatever they are doing for others, it is still themselves they are trying to please and satisfy. And since they are living to please and satisfy only themselves, they are not fulfilling God’s purpose for creating them. They are merely wasting their lives. And they are never going to get His praise on the day that He rewards all men.

Now I don’t want to want to waste my life in this world. Rather, I want to live it to earn the praise of the one who created me. And I am sure you too won’t want to waste your life but will want it to count for something before God, when all has been said and done. But we are going to waste our lives, if we do not live them in the will of God. And if we do not want to live our lives outside the will of God, then, we need to know His will, which takes us back to what Paul says. He says, “Do not be foolish but understand the will of God.”

How, then, do we know the will of God for us in this life? First, it is by continually asking Him to reveal it to us, that is, in prayer (Col 1:9-12). And since He has said everyone who asks receives, we can be sure that if we ask Him to make His will known to us about life, He will do so and do so according to our needs. Second, we can know His will by giving ourselves to the Holy Scriptures. Paul says every scripture is inspired of God to teach us, correct us, rebuke us and train us in righteousness, to the end that we may be perfect and thoroughly furnished to know and do the will of God in all things (2Tim 3:16-17). So, give yourself to the Scriptures. 

Third, we can know God’s will through fellowship with other children of His. We have not been called by God to live alone but to live in His family. And it is only as we truly fellowship with other members of this family that we can attain perfection in our knowledge of God and of His will. So, take your fellowship with other people of God, especially those of your local assembly seriously. And as you devote yourself to these things, may your heart be continually flooded with the absolute knowledge of God’s will for you in all things, so that you may not waste your life.

Do have a great day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will continually equip you with all that you need to make the most of His blessings in your life. Amen.

In the parable that our Lord Jesus Christ Jesus shares about a man who entrusted some of his properties to a number of his servants, we get to see that our God is a God who considers people’s abilities before entrusting things to them. In other words, God will never entrust to us anything that He has not given us the capability to manage and prosper with. Truly, we may not manage well or profit with what He has given to us, as the Lord equally shows us through that parable. But that will not be because we lack the capability to manage it or prosper with it; rather, it will be because we are lazy, unfaithful or faithless. (Cf. Matt 25:14-30)

Since this, then, is the case with God, we too, who are His children, should learn to imitate Him and function with the same mindset or mentality. In other words, we too must learn to consider our capability to manage things or people and prosper with them before going for them. Otherwise, we may end up ruining whatever we acquire or have entrusted to us, our reputation or even our very lives.

What was the problem with the prodigal son? Why did end up being miserable in life? Was it because he left his father’s house with his inheritance? No! Of course, he should not have left a father who loved him and cared very much about him. But that was not the problem. The problem was that he took something that he had no capability to manage and prosper with. Therefore, he suffered terribly for doing so and almost lost his life in the process. And if his father had not been a loving and forgiving one, he would most likely have died before his time in misery, pains and shame. (Cf. Luke 15:11-32)

So, before you go for anything in life, before you even start asking God for anything in life, first, consider your capacity to handle it. See, God, as our loving Father, will never give us anything that He knows He has not given us the capability to handle. He will not give us a scorpion as food, even if we are asking for it, or a snake instead of a fish. Rather, He will give us only that which He knows we can handle and prosper with, even if we do not ask for it. (Cf. Matt 7:9-11)

However, if we pressure Him long enough to give us what He does not want to give us or decide to use whatever means we see to get for ourselves what we want, He may just allow us to have our way. And then, like the prodigal son, we will sooner or later realise that only pains, sorrow, misery and death await anyone who goes for what God has not given him or provided him with the capability to handle. (Cf. Numbers 11)

Therefore, again, before you go for that job, sign that contract or go for that house, consider your capability to handle it. Yes, before you enroll for that course in school, embark on that project or engage in that love affair, be sure you have what it takes to excel in it. Then before you take that loan, and sometimes people may need to take a loan to get some things done, consider your capability to make good use of it and to also repay at the proper time. Otherwise, you may end up making life miserable for yourself and even others in your life. 

My prayer is that my loving God will continually increase your capacity to tremendously prosper with whatever He delivers to you in life, so that your life may daily attract more and more good things, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"” (2Kings 1:13-14NIV)

The story of how Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume two companies of soldiers and their two captains is without doubt a very popular one. As the story goes, the king of Israel once sent a captain of his army and his company of fifty men to bring Elijah to him anyhow. Why? It was because the latter had pronounced a judgment of death on him for consulting Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, for healing instead of consulting God. Unfortunately for those soldiers, Elijah was not at all in a mood to condone any form of arrogance at the time. So, he called down fire from heaven to consume them. 

Now when the king of Israel heard about that, he got even more upset and sent another captain and his company of fifty men to get Elijah to come to him. In like manner, Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume them as well. And they were consumed. 

But did that stop that stubborn king from sending more soldiers to arrest Elijah? No! He still sent yet another captain with his company of fifty soldiers to arrest the man of God. Why? He was a wicked person that cared about no one but only about himself and whatever he wanted. And the world has never been in shortage of people like him, people who don’t care at all about whose lives get ruined or destroyed in their quest to have certain things, get to certain positions or punish certain people that they see as enemies.

If you, then, have your way, avoid any form of dealings with such people. Otherwise, they may end up sacrificing you one day for their selfish desires. And that was what happened to those soldiers of King Ahaziah. They were sacrificed by him for nothing. And the same thing would have happened to the third captain and his fifty men that he sent to arrest Elijah, if that man had ignored the signs of death that were staring him in the face.

As a soldier, that captain had no choice but to obey his master, even if he was being sent to his death. But he also knew that he did not have to die a needless death. All he needed to do to avoid that was to pay attention to the signs left behind by those soldiers before him who died while trying to arrest Elijah and use them to his advantage. And that was exactly what he did, as we see in our opening bible text. He could see that Elijah could not be arrested like any common criminal. You had to beg and persuade him to follow you to wherever you wanted him to go, even if it was a king that you wanted him to meet. Otherwise, you may end up dead in the process. So, he literary begged Elijah to spare his life and those of his men and follow him to the king that had wanted to see him. And that man of God listened to him.

What is the point of all this? It is that, in handling life’s matters, it is important that we learn to read the signs left behind by those who went ahead of us and not foolishly walk into the traps they fell into. Yes, by praying to God and trusting Him, He can protect us from any kind of trouble. But it is not every trouble that praying to God will save us from. There are some troubles that God Himself wants us to make use of the signs pointing to them and avoid them. And if we fail to read such signs that can keep us safe from certain troubles, God may not do anything else to save us from them. This explains why righteous and good people sometimes perish needlessly. 

So, learn to pay attention to signs of failure, death, danger or destruction left by others for you. That way, you can receive wisdom from God to utilise them and keep yourself safe. For example, if you come to an office or a place where those before you failed woefully, died mysteriously or got disgraced before leaving, don’t just hurry to start doing this and that in that place. Instead, first find out what was responsible for what those people suffered, instead of assuming that you know it all. Otherwise, when signs of danger start showing up, you may not even know at all, not to talk of get yourself ready to deal with what is coming. And by the time you fall the way others fell, you will not even believe it, if you are still alive to tell the story.

Furthermore, learn to pay attention to signs of success left by others for you. That way, you can make your journey to greatness smoother and quicker. But if you are just walking on in life and ignoring all the warning and direction signs left by others, you may end up missing your opportunity for promotion or enlargement before it even shows up. So, be wise and give heed to the signs on

 your life paths.

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"If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?” (Job 31:13-15NIV)

Those were some of Job’s words, when he was labouring to show his friends that he had been leading a blameless life all his life and did not deserve to experience the terrible things that came upon him and his family. And was he right to think and speak like that? No! Was he right to think that his good works were enough to keep evil away from his life and family? No! 

Nevertheless, the things he said about his consciousness of God, which we have in our opening bible text, are worthy of note. According to him, he was conscious of the fact that God was watching his every action and move and would someday hold him accountable for it. What, then, would he say to Him on the day He begins to question him about the way he had dealt with his workers, both male and female? What would he say to God, if he had treated them maliciously and denied them justice or their rights? What would be his excuse for using them despitefully and without consideration?

As he further points out, the same God who formed him in his mother’s womb also formed these workers of his in their mothers’ wombs. Therefore, even though he was occupying a place in life that was better than theirs, he was not better than any of them before God. If he, then, ignored this fact and began to abuse and maltreat them, he would someday have to answer to God for all his crimes. And since he knew that he would have no answer to give Him on that day, he would not treat anybody unfairly, whether highborn or lowborn. Instead, he related to everyone in his life with fairness and justice. No wonder God Himself testified that he was blameless in all his ways and that there was none like him on the face of the earth (Job 1:8). 

In like manner, we too need to function in life with the consciousness that God is watching us and will someday hold us responsible for how we use our positions and how we treat others. What, then, are we going to say to Him, when He confronts us about how we are treating the people in our lives? What are we going to say to Him, when He begins to call us to account for all the cheating, abuses and wickedness that perhaps characterise our ways of dealing with others?

Sometimes ago, the internet was awash with news about a man that so beat his own two-month-old baby that one of the baby’s arms had to be amputated. And why did he treat the baby like that? It was reported that it was because he disturbed his sleep with his crying? But would he be able to say that to God when He eventually confronts him about the matter? 

Now I am not in a position to judge that man for what he did. By the way, God is able to forgive even him for what he did. But I am saying this to let us know that we need to always be conscious that God is someday going to hold us accountable for whatever we say and do to ourselves and also to others, even if men will not hold us accountable. That way, we will think carefully and well before we say or do anything that we will not be proud of before Him.

Mind you, this goes beyond what will happen on the day that God will judge all men and the secrets of our hearts. It also involves what can happen while we are still here in the world. As we see in the bible, there was a day when God confronted King Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, with the truth about his life and reign. God made this man know on that day that He had been watching him all along and examining his actions and motives, so that He may judge him accordingly and at the right time. 

But did he know that he was being watched and examined by God? No! Or did he know that he was daily moving closer to taking the one step that would make the cup of his sins full? No. And why did he not know these things? It was because he was not conscious of God. But when he took that step, God gave His verdict against him, with a writing on the wall of his palace, which says:

“Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." (Dan 5:26-28NIV)

Unfortunately, similar things are still happening to people everywhere in the world today because they are not conscious of God. Everyday God is judging the wickedness and stubbornness of men, just as He is rewarding their goodness and acts of righteousness. And that He has not come to you or me does not mean that He is not coming at all. He will surely come to us someday to either reward or punish us for what we are doing to ourselves and to others in our lives. What, then, shall we say to Him when He comes? Are we even going to be able to speak at all?

Well, these words are coming to you now so that you will be reminded again that we have a God who is watching us and who will not be passive in judging and rewarding our actions and motives, whether they are good or evil. And we will do well to take note of this and begin to handle all our affairs accordingly. May we not be found wanting by Him in any way, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Enjoy your day.

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“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” (Luke 8:14-15NIV)

In our opening bible text, the Lord is speaking to us of a group of people that the word of God is of no value to. These are individuals whose hearts are unguarded, whose hearts are not weeded. According to the Lord, the word of God that falls into such hearts falls right among thorns. Yes, it grows up as to be expected. But it could not produce fruit because it is choked by the thorns all around it. The thorns should have been cleared and removed from that soil, so that they will not hinder the fruitfulness of the seed planted on it. And because they were not removed, they chocked the plants that grew on it and prevented it from producing fruit that would mature.

Now that is how the hearts of some people are. Their hearts are unguarded, unprotected against those things that will not allow them to bear fruit with the word of God. The weeds on the soil of their hearts are not taken care of. So, the word of God they are receiving cannot work in them or be of value to them. 

But what are the weeds keeping the word of God from being of any value to these people? Our Lord Jesus refers to them as the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and an unclean appetite for pleasure. And it is because of these things that they cannot concentrate on working with the word they are receiving. Their hearts are loaded with all kinds of cares and worries. The things they want to do, their ambitions and the pleasure they want to derive from life will not allow them to work with the word of God they are receiving. So, they cannot be fruitful with it. It is of no value to them. It is useless to them. 

Now are you also like that? Is the word of God of no value to you? Is the word of God useless to you? Could it be that you will not allow the word of God to work in you because of your desire for pleasure and your ambitions and anxieties about various things? Then you need to weed your heart. You need to guard your heart. You need to get rid of all these wrong things that are preventing the word of God from working in you. You need to get rid of the wrong ideas, philosophies or traditions you are holding on to. Otherwise, the word of God will be of no value to you. Your life will not be changed by it. Your life will not improve because of it. Christ will not be seen in you. 

What, then, will be the point of reading, studying or hearing His word? Everything will just be a waste. I pray that His word will not go to waste in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a

 blessed day.

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Today, my prayer for you is that God will keep your heart right before Him all the time, so that your Christian race in this life will not be in vain. Amen.

In the book of Acts we have the account of a man called Simon the Sorcerer. This man, as the account goes, used to live in a Samaritan city where Philip first proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when he saw the miracles and wonders that that evangelist performed, he was so thrilled that he too got baptized in the name of the Lord like other Samaritans in the city. (Cf. Acts 8:5-24)

But this man was a sorcerer, one that had amazed the people before that time with his magical powers and sorcery. So, by becoming baptised in the name of Jesus, he was acknowledging that Philip was operating by a greater and higher power. And that is something every child of God ought to keep in mind. We are operating by the greatest power and the highest authority in all the creation of God. Therefore, we should lose all our fears of witchcraft, sorcery and divination. Yes, we should lose our fear of the devil and his demons. That is because we have authority and power over them in Christ Jesus – all of them are under our feet. (Cf. Luke 10:19; Rom 16:20; 1 John 2:14; 1John 4:4)

In any case, having being baptised in the name of Jesus, Simon began to follow Philip everywhere, for he was astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. That means he too began to pose like a child of God, like a true Christian. But when Apostles Peter and John came to that same city and began to lay hands on the believers there to receive the Holy Spirit, the evil in Simon’s heart was revealed.

What did he do? He offered them money to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. Why? He too wanted to be doing what Philip and these apostles were doing. And he was so desperate about doing so that he was willing to pay money for the ability to do so. So, it is not a new thing to have people who will go to any extent, including joining secret cults or using charms and sorcery, to be able to amaze people and present themselves as important in the kingdom of God.

Now how did Peter respond to what Simon did? He responded by saying these words: 

”May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." (Acts 8:20-23NIV)

Can you see that? What was the problem with Simon? It was that his heart was never right with God. He was never truly born again. He never had any part in Christ. But he was moving around with Philip and the apostles. He was very close to them and enjoying their company. He might even have eaten with them on a number of occasions or carry out some errands for them. Yet his heart was not right.

So, that you are coming for church meetings regularly or moving around with preachers and other believers does not mean that your heart is right. Truly, people may not know what is going on in your heart, if it is not revealed to them, as in the case of Simon. They may not know that you are filled with envy, greed, impurity or bitterness. But God knows. You too know. And if you do not repent on time, a day may come when certain occurrences will expose the falsehood and wickedness in your heart. 

Besides, as long as your heart is not right before God, even if you are indeed born again, your experience of the goodness of God will always be affected. This explains why the promotion, healing, fruitfulness, peace of mind or prosperity that some believers are looking forward to may never be theirs. Their hearts are not right. And until they repent, things can only get worse for them. So, always guard your heart with all seriousness and keep all forms of greed, bitterness, envy and wickedness out of it. And may the God of grace enable you to always do so for your own good, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will strengthen your heart to continually trust Him, regardless of the circumstances of your life or of our country, so that He may fulfil all His good intentions concerning you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As many of us can see today, more and more of our young men and women are daily turning to swindling, banditry, money rituals, prostitution and several other vices in order to survive. And despite all the news of the terrible things that are happening to those involved in these evils, most of them are not deterred at all. Instead, they keep overlooking the consequences of what they are doing for the temporary enjoyment they are getting from them. And to make things worse, we now have many parents approving of what these young ones are doing. How sad!

But what is responsible for this kind of attitude? Why will people daily see in the lives of others around them the consequences of choosing to go in certain directions in life and still choose to go in the same directions? One main reason for this is desperation. When people are desperate to survive and to also enjoy their lives, at least, to some degree, they will be willing to do just anything and ignore the consequences.

So, if you find yourself willing to do about anything to survive in this world, regardless of what doing so might do to your soul, to your life and to the people close to you, you must understand that you are desperate. And what is responsible for desperation? It is ignorance of God. 

When people are ignorant of God, they will also be ignorant of His love for them and of His power to take care of them. And when people are ignorant of God’s love for them and power to take care of them, they will not trust Him to take care of them. Therefore, if they find themselves in any situation that threatens their existence or enjoyment of life, they will become desperate in saving themselves from it.

But no man can save himself from any problem or difficulty. It is only the one that God saves that will be safe. That is why our Lord Jesus says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:25NIV) Did you see that? It does not matter how desperate you are to save yourself from poverty, sickness or death, you will not succeed, if that desperation does not drive you to God. And we can see all around us how many, in their desperation to save themselves from poverty, disgrace, sickness, barrenness or death, are ruining their own lives, destroying their homes and making our world a more dangerous place to live in.

So, stop acting in desperation and doing just about anything that comes to your mind in order to enjoy life, get healed, get married or have children. King Saul once acted against the will of God in desperation in order to save his kingdom. Yet he lost what he was trying to save. And if you too allow desperation to make you go contrary to the will of God for your life, you will also end up being a terrible loser, regardless of how hard you try to win. (Cf. 1Sam 13)

But if you hand over your life to God, He will surely preserve it for you and see to it that you have everything you need to live a meaningful life and to also enjoy your eternity with Him. What, then, are you going to do? Are you going to continue to live in desperation and frustrate yourself out of this life? Or are you going to give yourself and your burdens to God and patiently watch Him take adequate care of you? My prayer is that the Spirit of God will cause you to do the right thing about this matter, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1Tim 4:16NIV)

In our opening text, Paul tells Timothy to watch his doctrine closely, that is, apart from watching his life. Now that goes beyond what he is teaching people. It is, of course, important that he should watch what he is teaching people. But whatever he is going to teach is going to be a function of what he believes. So, he is essentially talking about what he believes. And he is telling him that he needs to watch it closely. Otherwise, what he teaches will be wrong.

We too must watch what we believe closely. We need to be certain that what we believe is what God wants us to believe. What we believe about God, about ourselves, about life, about how to relate to people and so forth – we need to be certain that it is consistent with the will of God. And that takes us straight to what Paul says to the Ephesians. He says do not be foolish but understand the Lord’s will. We too need to be certain of the will of God for us. We need to be certain that what we call light is actually light and not darkness. (Cf. Eph 5:17)

Jesus once said to the Jews, “See to it that the light within you is not darkness.” That means a lot to me. It means I am to see to it that what I accept as right is actually right and not wrong. That is because ultimately there won’t be any excuse for believing the wrong thing. There is not going to be any excuse for accepting darkness as light, error as truth. So, we need to be sure of what we believe. (Cf. Luke 11:35)

I wouldn’t know if you have been working on this in your life. But it is what God wants us to be devoted to be doing. This is our responsibility. It is not what anyone is going to do for us. It is what we are going to do for ourselves. We are going to watch our lives. We are going to watch our doctrines. We are going to see to it that these things are in agreement with the will of God. Otherwise, someday, we may just be shocked that what we have been calling light is nothing but darkness. 

Have a great day.

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“Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:19-23NIV)

Did you follow carefully that account? God gave Joseph, a prisoner, success in whatever he did. But you perhaps are not a prisoner. Will this same God, then, not give you success too in whatever you are doing? He will, if you have the right attitude.

See, if you have the right attitude, there is no situation God cannot turn around for your good. It does not matter what people are doing to pull you down or how they are molesting or harassing you, God knows how to turn everything around for your good. He turned everything around for Joseph’s good, when he was a slave. He also turned everything around for his good, when he became a prisoner. God was working with him in that prison, causing all things to work for his good.

Therefore, wherever you are now, know that God is working for your good, if you are one of His children. You only need to have the right attitude and the right approach to everything. And before you know it, His good purpose will manifest in your life – all His good intentions will eventually be fulfilled in your life, as they were fulfilled in Joseph’s case. 

God eventually brought him out of the prison and made him the administrator of the entire nation of Egypt. Later, after his father’s death, his brethren came to beg him to forgive them for all that they had done to him. And look at what is reported in the bible about that:

“But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of man lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” (Genesis 5:19-21NIV)

This man did not hold any grudge against his brethren. Yes, they hurt him. Yes, they offended him. They sold him into slavery and made him experience all kinds of terrible things. But he looked beyond all that they did to him to what God brought about through it. You too must learn to look beyond what people are doing against you. You must learn to look beyond all that they are saying against you to what God is doing with it. He is able to turn the evil that people intend for you to good. Just have the right attitude and always remind yourself that He is for you. And because He is for you, no one can be against you. Also, always remind yourself that He is at work in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.

I pray that your heart will be strengthened with all power to daily walk in patience with God, so that you may receive a fulfilment of all that He has in store for you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."” (2Tim 2:19NIV) 

What are the main points of these words of admonition? The first is that the truth of God never changes. It will always be the same, regardless of the time or location. So, what God says about righteousness will never change. And what He says about sin will never change. It is now up to us to choose whether we want to stand by His word about these things or follow our own opinions.

The second point Paul wants us to pick is that God knows very well those who belong to Him and those who do not. He can always separate His own people from the crowds. Remember that He it was not difficult at all for Him to separate Noah and his family from the world of his days. And it was not difficult for Him to separate Lot and his family from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Also, it was not difficult for Him separate seven thousand people for Himself during the reign of that wicked King Ahab, even though the whole land was overloaded with idolatry at the time. (Cf. Gen 6; Gen 19; 1Kings 19)

Therefore, He has no trouble knowing those who belong to Him in this country of ours, even though our population is now above 200 million people. And if He has no trouble knowing that, you should know that He has no trouble knowing those who belong to Him in your town and in your family. 

The question, then, is this: Does God consider you as one of His own people? Or do you know yourself to be one of His people? And you cannot be guessing here. It is either you know or you don’t know.

In any case, God knows that it is not everyone that calls himself a Christian, that attends church meetings, that speaks in tongues, that prophesies or that works miracles that belongs to Him. Jesus once said to the people that came to hear His sermon: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matt 7:21-23NIV)

Did you see that? Many who attend church meetings, who bear bible names or who do all kinds of things in the name of Jesus will be sorry for themselves when the Lord comes. That is because He does not know them as His people. And why is that? It is because they are not devoted to doing His will. As Paul shows us in that word of admonition to Timothy, those who are calling on the name of Jesus must turn away from wickedness and give themselves to righteousness. It is a must for them to do so. Otherwise, their claims that they belong to Him are false. 

Could it be, then, that our claims of belonging to Jesus are false too? Could it be that each time God looks at us, He simply sees us as self-deluded people, people who are deceiving themselves about their devotion to Him? And that is exactly how He sees us, if, even though we are calling on the name of Jesus, we have refused to turn away from sexual immorality, greed, pride, hypocrisy, lying, sorcery or any other wicked act of men. 

Well, the word of God is coming to us now and telling us to stop deceiving ourselves and face the reality about our situation, so that God can truly save us from those things that are destroying us. And I pray that your heart will be rid of all forms of self-deception, if you are self-deceived, so that you can yield yourself truly to the Lord Jesus Christ and experience His saving power. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it.” (2Cor 10:8NIV)

What kind of authority is Paul speaking of here? It is spiritual authority. He is speaking of the authority to supernaturally affect or transform people’s lives. And who gave him this authority? It was the Lord Jesus Christ. And why did He give it to him? As he himself points out in our opening text, He gave it to him to build people’s lives and not to destroy them. Therefore, whatever he said or did with this authority must be geared towards building lives up and not destroying them. And all church leaders must take note of this.

But then, even though Paul had the spiritual authority to build lives up, if those he was dealing with did not recognise this and relate to him accordingly, his authority to build them up will not be a blessing to them. For example, our Lord Jesus, once after using Peter’s boat to preach, told him to launch out into deep water and let down his nets for a catch. Now Peter had every reason not to be obey His word. He was the professional fisherman and not Jesus. Also, he and his men had laboured all through the night and had caught nothing. So, asking them to go back and waste more time trying to catch nothing was somehow insane.

However, instead for Peter to be arguing with the Lord and telling Him why it was insane for him to do as He had instructed, he said that he would obey. Why? It was because he recognised Jesus as one who had supernatural authority to bless him and his labour. He did not know exactly how things would turn out by obeying Him. But he was ready to obey. And when he did, he and his men received the shock of their lives. They received a miracle of provision that was just too much for them to handle. (Cf. Luke 5:1-11)

Similarly, there was a centurion that once sent men to beg Jesus to come and heal his servant that was sick and dying. And while Jesus was still on the way to his house, he sent some friends again to ask him not to bother to come to the house of an unworthy person like him. Why? As far as he was concerned, Jesus was a man of supernatural authority. And since authority could be communicated and, in fact, is often communicated through words, he reasoned that all Jesus needed to do was to simply give a word of healing for his servant and he would become well. That, of course, was exactly what happened. Jesus, excited because of the man’s faith, spoke a word of healing for his servant, and he was immediately healed. (Cf. Luke 7:1-10)

What is the point I am making? It is that there are people who have received supernatural authority from God to make us experience His goodness, mercy, salvation and protection in various ways. And we must recognise them and relate to them accordingly. We must recognise them and always take their words of authority seriously, regardless how quietly or simply they put such words. Otherwise, certain experiences of transformation, exaltation or salvation we desire to witness in our lives may never happen.

Our Lord Jesus once called His disciples to Him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and illness. All they needed to do, then, was to go out and speak healing and deliverance words to people, and they would be healed and set free. However, He also told them before they left that the working of the authority He had given them was not based on what they said or did alone but equally on how what they said and did were received. In other words, if they blessed someone and the person received their words and acted on them, the blessings of those words would rest upon him and work wonders in his life. But if the person did not receive their words, their blessing would return to them. (Cf. Matt 10:1-10)

So, words of blessing, healing, deliverance and exaltation can actually return to those who give them instead of settling to work in the lives of those being blessed. That is a shocking revelation. And only God knows the number of those who, through ignorance or pride, are daily sending back the words of blessing, healing or transformation that are coming to them from those authorised by God to bless them. 

Perhaps you too are like that. Because of your failure to take seriously those authorised by God to supernaturally build you up and set you where you should be in life, their authority is not working for you. Yes, they pray for you and teach you God’s word to build up your life. But you are repelling their blessings because you are ignorant, proud, bitter or unteachable. You need to humble yourself and change your attitude towards these spiritual authorities in your life. Otherwise, as I pointed out before, there are great experiences of God’s goodness and mercy that you may never have in life.

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“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” (Heb 3:12-13NIV)

One of the things the writer of the book of Hebrews emphasizes all through the pages of the book is the need for every assembly of God’s people to keep an eye on their members. Why? It is so that they will not stray away from the will of God for their lives and be ruined or harm the health of the church. So, if you have any member of your assembly watching out for you and asking you questions relevant to your life and faith, don’t take offence or insult them. They are just fulfilling the law of Christ concerning you (Gal 6:2).

Now I am not saying that it is everyone in your church that is mature enough to know some things about you or to handle certain information about your life. And I am not saying that it is everyone that professes to be a Christian that you can open your life to. Anyone, according to the Scriptures, whose faith-life is not plain for you to see, so that you can tell that they will not injure, pollute or cheat you, is definitely someone you have to be careful in relating to. If, in your judgment, then, there is no one in your assembly that is worthy of knowing what is going on in your life or worthy of keeping an eye on you, you should get out of there and find another assembly where you can freely relate. Otherwise, you will soon enough endanger your faith or life. (Cf. 2Cor 7:2)

So, for your own good, stay in an assembly where you can freely let the brethren know what is going on in your life and also keep an eye on you. Then, for the health of the church, it is important that you keep your life open to the brethren and allow them to be a vital part of it, so that they can continually support you to stay focused in doing the will of God. 

Why do we have many weak and unstable Christians in many of our Christian assemblies today? And why do we have many assemblies in which brethren are bitter towards one another or are constantly quarrelling over one thing or the other? One main reason is that many of us don’t want our lives to be watched or set right by the brethren. What we want is to be able to live as we like without anybody’s interference or contribution. And that is not good for us or for the health of the church at all.

For example, apart from what he says in our opening text, the writer of the book of Hebrews also says this to us: “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.” (Heb 12:15-16NIV) How do we see to it that none of us misses the grace of God, if we do not know what is going on in the lives of all of us? How do we see to it that bitterness or division does not happen in our midst, if we do not know what is going on among us? Or how do we prevent our brethren from falling into the trap of sexual immorality or any other sin that could ruin their lives or marriages, if we do not know what is going on in their lives? It is not possible.

See, we can only appropriately help one another stand firm in the faith when we have adequate information about what is going on in our lives. And we can only truly preserve the health of the church of God when there is sufficient knowledge of what is going on among the brethren. For instance, when the church began to increase in number in those early days, some groups of the brethren began to feel that their widows were not being properly treated by those representing the church in food distribution. What, then, did they do about that? They talked to the apostles about it, and the problem was fixed and the church was strengthened. But what if they had kept quiet about it? It would not have been long before bitterness, anger, hatred and envy filled the whole church and ruined it. (Cf. Acts 6:1-7)

So, for your own spiritual health and for the health of the church of God, keep your life and affairs open to the people of God in your life. And don’t carry around the air of ‘My life is nobody’s business’ or function with the notion that no one would understand you or be able to help you, if you should open up to them. Your life is the business of every one of us. Then your business is to make us know and understand what you are up to in life. And my prayer is that the Spirit of God will enable you to understand and function in this light always, so that you don’t end up falling into Satan’s trap or end up becoming his tool in afflicting the church of God.

Cheers!

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“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Gen 3:7NIV)

What opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to see that they were naked? It was the departure of the glory of God that had been the clothes they were wearing. And what made the covering of the glory of God lift from their lives? It was their disobedience to God's command. 

What is this teaching us? It is teaching us that disobedience to God in any area of our lives that can expose our nakedness and bring shame to us. Then, in our attempt to cover our nakedness and shame, like Adam and Eve, we may find ourselves making garments of leaves for ourselves. But there is no garment that we make for ourselves that can cover the nakedness of our lives. So, unless God Himself covers our nakedness, as He later did for Adam and Eve, shame will not disappear from our lives or from our minds.

This explains why when people expose their lives to shame through disobedience to God and try to cover it up with some garment of their own, they end up exposing themselves to greater shame. Remember David. When he went against the will of God and committed adultery with Bathsheba, the woman became pregnant and both of them were confronted with disgrace. And in his attempt to cover up their shame, he, first of all, became a fraudster. He tried to trick Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, into sleeping with her and taking responsibility for his bastard. But he failed. (Cf. 2Sam 11)

Now when he realised that he had failed, he proceeded to murder the man and to then marry his wife. But did he still succeed in covering his shame? No! Instead, he only made things worse for himself. And if God had not shown him mercy, he would have died because of his sin and all that he did to cover it up. So, however insignificant God's instruction to us may be, we will do well not to disobey it. That is because we may not know where our disobedience to Him will expose our nakedness and make us vulnerable to satanic attacks and the ridicule of men. (Cf. 2Sam 12)

But then, even if we have disobeyed God and, as such, are now confronted with shame or disgrace, attempting to sew our own garments to cover it up and prevent God or men from seeing it can only make a bad situation worse for us. The right thing for us to do is to admit to God that we have missed it and allow Him, in His mercy, to deal with the situation and cover our nakedness for us. This will be our wisdom. And my prayer is that God will step into every situation of your life in which your nakedness is exposed and cause His glory to cover you there and also make you free to soar again. Amen.

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“When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” (Job 2:11-13NIV) 

Why did Job's friends leave their homes to come to him? It was to sympathise with him and also comfort him. And when they came to him and saw his condition, were they able to offer him any comfort? No! As the account shows, when they saw him, instead of comforting him, they all lost their courage. They tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads and began to weep aloud. These were old men and not children. Yet they could not keep themselves from weeping when they saw the condition their friend was in. They were, in fact, so grieved for him that they simply sat down with him, for seven days and seven nights, without saying a word.

That, of course, is typical of the kind of suffering some people are experiencing. It is unspeakable. So, there is nothing anyone who knows them or who cares about them can humanly do for them. They can only weep, cry and be sorry for them. If God, therefore, does not comfort such people, there is no way their pains will not eventually swallow up their lives.

Besides, there are times that man's attempt to comfort you may end up adding to your sorrow. And Job's situation also illustrates that for us. When his friends eventually got a handle on themselves and began to speak to him, their words offered him no comfort at all but more pains. Look at some of his comments about their words: “You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you! If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” (Job 13:4-5NIV)

What did Job call those friends of his that had come to comfort him? Worthless physicians! That means whatever they were saying was not helping matters at all but only making them worse. So, Job told them that it would be better if they would just keep quiet. And perhaps you too are right now feeling the same way about some people in your life that are trying to help you. Perhaps you are feeling or wishing that they would just stop whatever they are trying to do to help you. Why? You can see that what they are doing is not working for you but making things worse. 

Well, whether those with you can't comfort you at all or are simply making your pains greater, I want you to know that God can comfort you and also take away all your pains. Here is what Paul says about Him: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2Cor 1:3-4NIV) Did you see that? God is the Father of compassion. That means He can relate to whatever you are going through. So, instead of hurting you or adding to your pains, whatever steps He takes will be towards showing you mercy. 

Also, He is the God of all comfort. So, not only is He able to comfort you in all your troubles, He is also able to make you a comforter to those in any kind of trouble. All you need to do, then, is to ask for His comfort. Just say to Him, “God, my dear Father of all comfort, please have mercy on me and comfort me in every area of my life where I am now in pains.” And He will answer and comfort you. How He will do so is not what I can say. But I can guarantee that just as He comforted Job in all his troubles and restored him, so that his latter years were better and greater than the former, He will comfort you too and restore you in every area of your life.

Peace!

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“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (Luke 10:19NIV) 

Did you see that? All those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have authority over the devil and all his power. Yes, they have authority to destroy or frustrate the works of the devil wherever they are – and nothing will harm them. 

But is this really true? Is it really true that I have authority over the devil and his demons, authority to limit and frustrate their works? Yes, it is true. Even Satan and His demons know this. They know that I am their master because of the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ has given me. What, then, is the problem? Why am I not using this authority to frustrate and restrain them? One of the problems is ignorance. As long as I am ignorant of the fact that, in Christ Jesus, I am a master of Satan and his demons, I will make no effort to frustrate or hinder their works. 

Unfortunately, many of God's people are ignorant of this reality. And that is largely because their teachers themselves are ignorant of it. So they could not teach it to them. Instead, they keep exalting the devil before them. They keep telling them how powerful and dangerous he is and how only God can handle him. And it is true that Satan is powerful and dangerous and that only God can handle him. But then, God has through Jesus Christ given us His own authority to handle him. This authority is in the name of Jesus. And any time we come against them and their works in this name, they have no choice, regardless of their number or where they have come from, but to bow their knees in obedience (Phil 2:9-11). 

It is now on us to either use this authority or not use it. But know that authority that we won't use is useless. And Satan knows this. He knows that even though we have authority over him, we may not be willing to use it or know how to use it. So, he will keep on doing his own thing in the world, hoping that we won't challenge or stop him. That explains why many things are out of place for many people and in many places. Things are not like that for them because God has permitted them to be so but because they have permitted them to be so by not using Christ's authority to frustrate the devil.

Another problem is unbelief. As long as my heart will not embrace the fact that the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ as the master of Satan and his demons is now mine to use, I will not use it. And there are many of us who have heard again and again that we are no longer subjects but masters of the devil. Yet we are not doing anything about this reality. Why? It is because we really do not believe it to be true. Our hearts still find it hard to agree that we are actually what God says we are in this matter. So, when we are confronted with situations in which we are supposed to stop the devil from working, we start looking for those who are going to help us resist him.

But the bible does not say that we should look for anybody to resist the devil for us or that it is only certain rare believers that can resist him. Rather, it tells us all to resist him and that he will flee from us when we do so (James 4:7). It is, then, up to us to either resist, frustrate and stop him from working in our lives or in the lives of some loved ones or not to do so. 

Another problem is lack of intelligence to use the name of Jesus. It is true that Christ has given us His own authority over the devil to use in frustrating him and stopping his works. It is also true that He says whatever we permit on earth will be permitted in heaven and whatever we forbid on earth will be forbidden heaven. But we must never forget that our authority to use the name of Jesus is delegated authority. That being the case, it has to be used in line with the will of the one who has given it to us. 

What that means, of course, is that we need to continually acquaint ourselves with the will of the Lord Jesus Christ in order for us to be effective in using His authority in this world. If we know His will, then, we will know what we can use His authority to do and what we cannot use His authority to do. And the more we know His will, the more we increase in spiritual intelligence to use His authority. 

But because many of us believers are ignorant of His will in many ways, we often miss it in the way we use His authority. And once we fail, we conclude that it does not work or that it is not everybody that it will work for. But His authority will work for all of us and any of us. It all depends on how seriously we take it and the degree of our intelligence in using it.   

Therefore, my prayer for you today that is God will perfect all that is lacking in your ability to intelligently, boldly and faithfully use the authority that He has given to you in Christ Jesus to frustrate the devil and his works and to establish His will in your life and in your world. Amen. 

Have a lovely day.

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“Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” (1Chron 21:1NIV)

As we see in the bible, one of the schemes that Satan often uses to afflict people is to use those who have authority over them or authority to make certain decisions on their behalf to do things that will expose them to God's judgment. For example, in our opening bible text, we are told of a time in which Satan was bent on afflicting the people of Israel. And what did he do to accomplish his purpose? He incited their king, David, to take a census of them, against the will of God. That, of course, resulted in the death of seventy thousand people among them, individuals that did not send David on that reckless trip that he took. And the number would have been more, if God had not shown the land mercy. (Cf. 1Chro 21)

Also, we are told in the bible of how Achan's decision to steal for himself some of the items devoted to God resulted in the death of his wife and children. As the account goes, before the children of Israel took over the city of Jericho, they had been warned not to take any of the items devoted to God there. Otherwise, their camp would be liable to destruction. Yet Achan coveted some of these items, stole them and hid them away from everybody's eyes. And that, as God had warned, brought defeat upon the nation during their next war campaign. Sadly, when the man would be judged, he was not the only one that suffered for what he did. His wife and children also partook in it, even though the account does not tell us that they were a party to what he did. Thus, they died before their time not because of any wrong thing they did but because the head of their family made a foolish decision that negatively affected them all. (Cf. Joshua 6-7)

Furthermore, we have in the bible a brief account of a man name Hiel, who took it upon himself to rebuild the cursed city of Jericho. Evidently, he was a very wealthy man, wealthy enough to take on the task of rebuilding a whole city. And though nothing in itself was wrong with what he wanted to do, there was at the time a lingering curse of death on the city. As we see in the bible, Joshua, the man of God that captured that city several years before that time had placed a curse on it, which was that anyone who rebuilt it would lay its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son. And Hiel just walked right into the curse by rebuilding the city and lost his firstborn son Abiram and his youngest son Segub in the process. So, those children did not die because of any particular sin they committed against God. Rather, they died because their father, who had authority over them and whom they did not choose to be their father, made a foolish decision that placed them right under a curse of death. (Cf. Joshua 6:26; 1Kings 16:34) 

Similarly, several parents in Bethlehem lost their kids on the day that the Herod that was on the throne when Jesus was born gave an order to have all the boys who were two years old and under in the town killed. Why? Was it because those fathers and mothers were terrible sinners in the sight of God? No! Rather, it was because Satan used the weapon of jealousy to move their king to do something that would throw them into mourning, in his attempt to get rid of the boy Jesus. (Cf. Matthew 2)

What is the point I am making with all these examples I just gave you? It is that it is not every time that people die or suffer terribly in life because they have sinned against God or made some wrong decisions about their own lives. There are times that people suffer or die in life because certain individuals who have authority over them or who are in a position to make some decisions on their behalf mess up. This is why our prayer must not just be that we will not take a step that will put us in trouble or ruin our lives; it must also be that nobody that is a position to make decisions that will affect us will be allowed by God to make any decision that will ruin or destroy our lives. Then, if we truly love the people in our lives and that we constantly make decisions that affect them, then, we must also learn to pray that we will be kept by God from doing anything that will ruin their lives or make them die before their time. 

Now how often are we to offer this kind of prayers? That is not something that I can tell. But I think every day will be a good place to start.

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“And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” (2Tim 1:11-12NIV) 

Did you see that? Paul did not hide the fact that he was going through a very difficult time at the time he wrote this letter. He was suffering. But why was he suffering? Was it because he was a criminal? No! Was it because he was lazy and irresponsible and so could not take care of his basic needs? No! Or was it because Satan succeeded in afflicting him with an illness that made life miserable for him? No!

Why, then, was Paul suffering, if it was not for any of the reasons I just mentioned? As he clearly points out in that text, it was because of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he was preaching that he was suffering. It was because he was proclaiming the truth about Jesus Christ that he was arrested and jailed like a common criminal. 

Nevertheless, this man of God said, “Yet I am not ashamed.” In other words, he was not ashamed of suffering for the Lord. He was not ashamed of being imprisoned for the Lord. He was not ashamed of being insulted and assaulted for the Lord. But can you and I say the same thing? We cannot say the same thing, if we are in any way ashamed of suffering for the Lord. If we are ashamed of being insulted or assaulted because of Him, we cannot say the same thing. And if we are ashamed of our current financial or social status, a status we are in because we would not cheat, steal, lie, falsify figures or get involved in any form of rituals, we cannot speak like Paul.

But we really need to operate from that realm in life in which we are not ashamed of ourselves or our circumstances, regardless of how bad or lowly they may seem. Yes, as children of God, we need to be functioning from that ground where we don't have to hide from any family member, old friend, neighbour, colleague at work or even church member because we are ashamed of our situation in life. And what will make that happen is for us to know in our hearts what Paul knew in his heart and to also have in our hearts the same persuasion he had in his heart.

What, then, did this man know in his heart and what was he persuaded about? It was the fact that the God he believed in was able to preserve everything he had committed into His hand. And exactly what did he commit into God's hand? He does not mention it in his letter. Actually, I am of the opinion that it was his soul that he entrusted to Him, so that He would keep it strong and blameless to the very end. But even if it was something else that he entrusted to Him, one thing is clear about him, which is that he was fully persuaded that God was able to preserve what he entrusted to Him. That was why he was not ashamed at all. He knew that he would end up as a victor and not a loser in life and in God's eternal kingdom.

Now, as I already said, we too need to know whom we have believed in and what He is capable of doing for us. Otherwise, our so-called faith in Him is useless and cannot be productive. To say the fact, one main reason the faith of many in God is not working is that it is not based on sure knowledge. They don't really know Him and what He is capable of doing for them. Once we know Him as we ought to know Him, then, we will never again have any reason to be ashamed in this life. We will just entrust everything about our lives, home, business, education, health, future and so forth into His hands, knowing that He cares about us and will sustain us through life and also preserve everything we have entrusted to Him.

So, as you continue your life's journey this month, be determined to so give yourself to God's word that your heart becomes fully persuaded about who He is to you and what He is able to do for you. Then you will never be ashamed of yourself or your circumstances in life again, for you will know that He is able to keep all that you entrust to Him and also make all things cooperate for your good.

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“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Gal 6:7NIV)

Without doubt, our opening bible text is one of the most often quoted bible verses. That is because it communicates a principle that people can easily relate to. And what is that principle? It is the principle of sowing and reaping.

Now what does the principle of sowing and reaping say? It says that it is what you sow that you reap. And this is not applicable to farming alone; it is equally applicable to other areas of life. What you plant in any area of your life is what you are going to reap there. That is how God has designed life. And there is nothing anybody can do to change it.

So, if you do not like the results you are getting in life, first of all check the seed you are planting. And I am not only referring to the seed you are planting into the lives of others; I am also referring to the seed you are planting into your own life. What kind of seed are you planting into your life? That is what is going to determine how your life will turn out. 

I know that when we are talking about the principle of sowing and reaping, it is either people begin to think about not doing bad things to others, so that you do not reap bad things, or they (especially those who are Christians) begin to think about giving something to God or to a man of God, so that they will reap divine prosperity. And it is true that the principle of sowing and reaping is applicable in these areas as well. But it goes beyond them. It goes beyond how you treat others or whether you give for God’s cause or not. It also involves how you treat yourself.

How do you treat your own life? What are you treating yourself to? What sort of seed are you planting into your own life, into your family or into your business? You may be mindful of the seed you plant into the lives of others because you want your relationships with them to be great. And you may be mindful of the seed you plant into God’s kingdom because you want His favour. But if you are not mindful of the seed you plant into your own life, the favour of God you are getting and the great relationships you have may not be able to stop it from being ruined.

Jesus says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” (Matt 12:35NIV) How does a man become good, according to the Lord? It is by planting goodness in his life. And how does a man become evil, according to Him? It is by planting evil in his life. 

So, it is all about what we plant in our lives. If we are planting seeds of jealousy, hatred, bitterness, deceit or immorality in our hearts, whether through what we say, hear, think or see, that is what our lives will naturally bring out. And it does not matter how hard we struggle against it, nothing will change unless we too change the seed we are planting in our lives. 

Unfortunately, many don’t know this. They want to be good, pure, kind and upright people. And they are praying and trying to be these things. But their effort is not working. And the reason it is not working is that they are not planting the seeds of goodness, purity, kindness and uprightness in their lives. Instead, they are continually loading themselves with impure, unkind and ungodly thoughts and desires through the things they hear and see from wrong friends and the media world. How, then, are they going to become good people? It is not going to happen.

What such people need to do is to change what they are planting into their lives. God told Joshua to cultivate the culture of planting His word in heart morning, night and noon, if he wanted to make his way prosperous and have good success. And I have seen that this is exactly what I also need to do, if I want to prosper, live in health, live in peace and have good success. I must use God’s word to daily plant seeds of peace, prosperity, health and righteousness into my heart. And as long as I am committed to doing this, it is only a matter of time before I begin to harvest peace, prosperity, health and righteousness in every area of my life. (Cf. Joshua 1:8)

Now if you too want what I want in your life, if you want to begin to see goodness, peace, health, prosperity and wholeness in your life, you have got to change the seeds you are planting there. “But what about the bad seeds I planted in my life before and which have become large trees that are now producing all kinds of evil fruit?” you ask. Well, God is able to take care of them. The bible says God is going to cut down and thrown into the fire every tree that is not producing good fruit (Matt 3:10). You just stop planting evil seeds but good seeds in your life. And it is only a matter of time before you start seeing your life bear the fruit of the good seeds you have been planting in it.    

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“Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" For the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him." But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.” (Luke 23:20-25NIV)

From the passage of the Scripture above, it is clear that Pilate knew quite well that Jesus did not deserve to be punished at all, not to talk of being given a death sentence. Yet he gave him a death sentence. Of course, he did this reluctantly. That is because, as we are shown in a parallel passage, right before the people, he washed his hand with water and said, “I am innocent of the blood of this man.” (Cf. Matt 27:24)

But the fact remains that he gave Jesus a death sentence. He gave him a death sentence, even though it was in his place to release Him and let Him go in peace. He gave Him a death sentence, even though he had examined him and found him guiltless. Yes, he gave Him a death sentence, even though his wife had earlier sent a message to him not to have anything to do with the condemnation or death of an innocent and righteous man.

Now why did Mr Pilate do that? Why did he use his office, which was the highest office in the land at the time, to promote injustice, when the right way to judge was very clear to him? It was because he wanted to please the people; he wanted to go with the crowds (Mark 15:15). Of course, he did not see it that way. That was why he used water to publicly wash his hands off the case. But what was that? That was nonsense. He was in a position to use his authority to save an innocent man from a jealous and ruthless mob. But he would not. How, then, could he think a bowl of water was all he needed to free himself from the sin and guilt of murder?

In any case, similar things still regularly happen in the world today. Here and there, we see people who are in a position to promote justice or what is upright act contrary what to what they know and even believe to be the truth. Why? Fear is always the reason. 

When we are afraid of being different, afraid of becoming unpopular with the majority, we may find ourselves throwing away our sense of justice or our duty to give justice in order to please men. And then we will start looking for ways to justify ourselves by saying things like, “If you can’t beat them, you join them,” or “God sees my heart and knows that I am not in support of this.”

But the word of God says ‘No’ to such things. His word commands us never to follow a multitude to do evil (Ex 23:2). And that is not because our refusal to go with the multitude will be easy in every situation. Rather, it is because the will of God is for us to separate ourselves from every kind of evil, even if doing so will set us against the whole world.

To say the fact, there may surely be times in our lives in which our stand for justice or morality will set us against the crowd or the majority. Yes, there may be times in which our refusal to go with the majority in promoting wickedness, injustice or immorality will be the only chance for righteousness to win where we are. And it will be good of us not to be like Mr Pilate but like God the true judge on such occasions. Otherwise, whatever we do afterwards may not have any power to change the history we have already made.

Pilate made history as the head of a supreme court that sentenced the only sinless man that ever walked the face of the earth to death. Yes, God wanted things to end that way. But Pilate did not have to be the one to make it happen. And you also don’t have to be the one to once again illustrate to the world that the natural man will always choose evil over good, if the circumstances are right, when you can be one of those that will be showing the world that God still has righteous people here on earth that will always do His will, even if they have to go against everyone else. 

Which will it be, then? Will you be God’s man or another Pilate? Or shall I say, “Will I be God’s man or another Pilate?” I guess we all will find out someday in eternity.

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“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Rom 12:18NIV)

Those are Paul's words of admonition to us about handling our relationships. According to him, our focus must always be on living at peace with everyone, regardless of our relationship with them. And that is because, as we are further shown in Scriptures, doing so is one main way to see and enjoy many good days (Psalm 34:11-14; 1Peter 3:10-11).

However, there are times that it is just practically impossible to be at peace with some people. That is because they don't want peace and are not ready to let us be at peace. So, we just have to go to war against them in order for us to have peace. 

But then, it is easy to go to war against one that is not close or dear to us in any way. What is not easy is to have to go to war against one that is close to us or dear to us or one that we are even supposed to be protecting. And that is what we see in the case of David and Absalom. 

Absalom was one of David's sons, his third son. And he was very much loved by his father, perhaps because he was the most handsome man in Israel at the time, a young man that had no blemish in his physical appearance (2Sam 14:25). But at some point, pride and treachery filled Absalom's heart and he began to covet the throne of Israel for himself, even while his father was still very much alive.

To cut a long story short, Absalom staged a successful coup, which caused his father David, his household and all his men to run for their lives. So, even though it brought him much distress, David had to go to war against his own son and kill him. Otherwise, he would not be able to keep himself, his wives, his other sons and daughters and all the people who had served him all their lives alive and well. Not only that, he would not be able to restore peace and order to the nation of Israel, as a godly king. (Cf. 2Sam 15-19)

Nevertheless, even though David and his men successfully squashed Absalom's rebellion and killed him and the rebels with him, did he have any cause to rejoice over their victory? No! Instead, the bible says that he was shaken when he learnt of his son's death and mourned greatly for him, wishing that he had died in his place (2Sam 18:33).

Now that is exactly what we too may experience if we have to go against some individuals in our lives. Yes, the war against them may be necessary and unavoidable. But whether we win or lose against them, the outcome will always be a loss. And that will be because of the relationship we have with them and the love we have for them.

For example, there have been people who have had to go to war against their parents, siblings, spouses or children because of their direct acts of wickedness or hostility against them. Would such people be able to celebrate their victory over these loved ones, even if they won? It would take a godless, irresponsible and cruel person to celebrate such wins or victories. That is because that kind of war is usually one that any person in his right mind will want to avoid at all cost, for it is a war against oneself. 

What is my point in sharing all this with you? It is simply that there is a need for us to constantly pray that no one in our lives or who is dear to us will become an Absalom that we will someday have to fight and destroy. That is because if that should happen, it may for the rest of our lives affect our experience of the joy of the Spirit of God in our lives.  

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“But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel — not with any of the people of Ephraim. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”" 

(2Chron 25:7-8NIV)

Those were the words spoken by a man of God to King Amaziah of Judah when he was going to fight the Edomites. And why were they spoken to him? They were spoken to him because he had hired with a lot of money a hundred thousand mercenaries from Israel to fight for him. Why did he hire them? It must have been because he accessed the situation and concluded that his army was not strong enough to defeat the Edomites. 

However, just before they set out, God sent a prophet to warn him not to allow the Israelites he had hired to march with him. According to the man of God, God was not with the northern nation of Israel at that time. And that was because of their idolatry and wickedness. So, for the nation of Judah to team up with them to do anything was to team up with God's enemies. And that would not result in success for them, regardless of how courageously they fought.

Hearing that, of course, was a hard thing for King Amaziah to take in. And that was because of the heavy sum of money he had paid to hire those men. But the man of God told him not to worry about the money, for God was able to restore it to him in multiple folds. All he needed to be concerned about, then, was not losing more than the money he had paid them, not losing his life and the lives of his men as well. (Cf. 2Chro 25:9)

Thankfully, he obeyed the voice of the Lord and dismissed the Israelite mercenaries. And to show him that God was right about them, on their way home, they raided some Judean towns, killed many people and took away their things. Imagine, then, how they would have behaved, if they had gone with him. They may just have turned their back on him in the middle of the fight and helped his enemies to defeat him.

In any case, because Amaziah obeyed the voice of the Lord, He gave him a resounding victory over the Edomites. So, he had his opportunity to learn first-hand that victory comes from the Lord and not from human strength, skill or courage. Unfortunately, he did not learn at all. Instead, he turned away from the Lord to some dead idols and made a quick end of himself and of his reign. (Cf. 2Chro 25:11-28)

Well, the first point of the story is that the only one that gives true victory to people in the face of any challenge or battle of life is God. So, He is the one we are to depend on totally for victory in every situation of our lives. And if, instead of putting our trust in Him, we choose to put our trust in humans or in some worthless idols, we can be sure that defeat is what we are going to ultimately experience, regardless of how courageous we are in facing our lives' battles or trials.

Then another point of the story is that the presence of certain things or people in our lives can hinder our experience of the victory that God has already given to us. And unless we separate ourselves from such things or people, it does not matter how courageously and diligently we face our lives' matters, we won't be able to attain the height God wants us to attain. But what if the people we are talking about are our families? Are we just going to get rid of them like that, simply because we want to experience God's favour or blessings? No!

See, we cannot just separate ourselves from our legitimate relationships as we please. But we can choose not to partake in the sins of others, even if they are our blood. And if we distant ourselves from their errors in that sense, God will know what to do to prevent them from hindering our progress or limiting our experience of His victory in the face of life's challenges.

But there are people that we have the power to choose whether we are going to be with them or not. That is because we owe them no allegiance and are not under any family, job or social obligation to do things with them. And if such people are living contrary to the will of God, we should do our best not to team up with them in doing anything that concerns our progress or peace of mind. Otherwise, they may be the door through which Satan will attack us, steal from us or destroy us. And regardless of how hard we pray or how courageous and diligent we are in such situations, we may not experience victory or breakthrough.

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“Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.” (Philippians 3:1NIV) 

What is Paul saying here? He is saying that he does not consider it burdensome to write the same things all over again to the Philippians. Why is he not sorry to write these brethren the same things all over again? It is because it will help them not to forget any truth they need to imbibe.

Now that is what God does to us too every day. He brings to us the very same things he said to us before. He may say them in different words. But he is continually bringing to us the same message. And until we begin to act on what he is telling us, we have no right to expect him to tell us new things. 

Do you want to grow your faith? Then start acting on what God is saying to you. Don’t just increase your bible knowledge. You actually can do that—you can go Sunday after Sunday to church meetings and increase your Bible knowledge. So, you get to know all the scriptures. You know all the teachings of Paul and all the teachings of John. You may have even memorised all the words of Jesus. But you are merely increasing in Bible knowledge. You are not increasing in character, faith, love and patience. Your life is not changing. Yes, your knowledge is increasing. But it is actually not your knowledge of God that is increasing; it is your knowledge of the Bible that is increasing. 

You must recognise the difference between these two kinds of knowledge -- the knowledge of the bible and the knowledge of God. A lot of people have the knowledge of the bible. In fact, there is increase today in the knowledge of the bible. The bible is now everywhere and not just in its book form; it is also now on cell phones, laptops, androids and so forth. You find it everywhere you go. Also, there are a lot of Bible Schools today. There are a lot of schools of Theology, and people are now getting different kinds of degree, the kinds that none of the Apostles of old had—PhD this and PhD that. 

Now do I have a problem with all that? No! But God does not just want us to increase our knowledge of the scriptures; he also expects us to act on what he is sharing with us. And as I said before, until you start acting on what he is sharing with you, he is not about to tell you any more things. In other words, He will not give you greater revelations of Himself. 

So, if you want to know God better and become better acquainted with His will, begin to take very seriously all that He has been saying to you in His word. And I pray that you will daily find strength to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant day.

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“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31-32NIV)

A lot of times we isolate verse 32 of this text and quote it—preachers do that a lot. We would say, “You will know the truth and the truth will set or make you free.” That is true. But how do you get to know the truth? And that is the question many of us are not asking

Now the first thing Jesus says in the text is, “If you hold to my teaching…” The Greek word used here for ‘hold’ is ‘Meno.’ And it means ‘to continue,’ ‘to abide’ or ‘to remain.’ It suggests the idea of continuity and perpetuity

So, Jesus is simply saying, “If you continue in my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  The key point is that you must continue to study His word. Yes, you must continue to learn from Him. It is not a one-off thing. It is something you do once in a while. It is not something you do for some weeks or months. It is something you must continue to do to the very end of your time here on earth

Well, Jesus says, “If you continue in my teaching, then, you are going to discover the truth for yourself.” How will that happen? I don’t know. What I know is that He says if you just continue in His teaching, you are going to locate the truth. Yes, you will find out all the truth God wants you to know in this life. And this truth will be so clear to you. Then, as a result of the truth you now know, you will find yourself walking in liberty

Do you want to walk in liberty, then? Do you want to walk in freedom in every area of your life? Just continue in the teaching of our Lord Jesus. And you will know the truth that will make you fre

Cheer

s!e.. . . .  .

Cheers!

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“Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.” (Col 4:1NIV)

It is a fact that everyone who invests his money or resources in acquiring something or enjoying some services wants real value for it. This is why we often go into endless bargaining with those selling their goods or services to us. We don’t ever like to find out that we have paid more than we have been offered in terms of goods or services. And nothing really is wrong with functioning like that.

Nonetheless, as those who believe in God and in the fact that He is the Great Judge over all, we need to watch out for greed or the love of money in all our business dealings. Otherwise, in our quest to acquire things or get things done at a good price, we may end up cheating others. And cheating is stealing.

So then, in our opening text, Paul admonishes us, as he admonishes all employers of labour, to provide those who work for us or those who provide us with goods or services with what is right and fair. That means we need to consciously see to it that, in paying people for whatever they sell to us or do for us, we do not pay them less than they are offering us and cheat them of their profit. 

Of course, it is not always easy to tell the real monetary value of all the goods we are buying or services we are getting. So, there will be times in which we will ignorantly pay more or less than the real value of the goods or services we are getting for others. And God can understand our limitations along this line. But when we know exactly the worth of what we are getting from people and yet decide to unduly take advantage of their ignorance and pay them less for it or when we manipulate or threaten them into taking from us something less than what they are offering, we have become cheaters and thieves. We are like the individuals described in Solomon’s proverbs, when he says, “"It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.” (Prov 20:14NIV)

Can you relate to that? You should be able to relate to it. I mean that you probably can remember situations in which you discredited some items you wanted to buy just so you could pay less for them or situations in which you minimized the worth of someone’s services just so you could pay them less than they were offering. Then when you eventually got what you wanted, you began to boast to others about the great worth of what you got. All such things are not righteous. And God, who is the Great Judge over all and who is forever watching us, knows what we are up to and will reward us accordingly here on earth and not just in heaven. 

Now how God will reward us here for consciously cheating others is not something I or anybody can speak of. Sometimes it may be by denying us the enjoyment of what we have gotten or by allowing us to lose more than we have gained. Exactly how He will judge in matters like this is beyond what anyone can really tell. But He will certainly judge them and make sure everyone involved in cheating others gets what is appropriate for them.

So, make up your mind that you will always be careful to give those who make goods or services available to you what is right and fair before God and before man. In fact, it is always better to pay people more than they offering us than to pay them less. That way, we can keep our lives free from the troubles that come with being found by God as a thief of the fruit of other people’s labour. Therefore, when next you want to trick, manipulate or threaten others to take from you something less than what they are offering you, remember that God is watching you and will reward you too accordingly.

Have a pleasant day.

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“It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.” (1Thess 4:3-6NIV) 

That is Paul’s admonition to us. And why am I sharing it with you today? It is because, just as it was in the days of Paul, there is so much sexual immorality in the world now and so many children of God are getting involved in it (1Cor 7:2).

What I am saying is that sexual immorality is no longer a big deal for many children of God as well. They no longer see sex before marriage or sex outside marriage as anything serious. And that is because that is the picture those of the world are daily painting about it. I mean that everyday they do and say things that make adultery or fornication or orgy look great. And they give those who will not join them in this nonsense the impression that they are not normal or that they are greatly missing out on the sweetness of sex.

But what is the will of God for us? As Paul tells us in that text, the will of God is for us to avoid sexual immorality and to learn to control our bodies in a way that is holy and honourable. And notice that it is not sex we are instructed by God to avoid. What we are instructed by Him to avoid is sexual immorality, that is, immoral and improper ways of handling sex. 

Now these immoral ways, of course, include sex before marriage, sex outside marriage, rape, prostitution, sex with animals, sex among people of the same sex, group sex and any other form of impure thing people who are not married may do together with their bodies. It is these that we are warned by God to avoid. In fact, as Paul makes clear in another letter of his, what God wants really is for us to run away from these things (1Cor 6:18-20). 

And why does God want us to run away from sexual immorality? First, it is because it defiles our bodies, which are His temple, and make them unfit for Him to use for His glory. Second, it is because it unites us with people in unholy ways, opening the door for all kinds of problems that should never have been a part of our lives to come into them. Third, it exposes us to both God’s periodic and eternal judgment. Actually, all the sexually transmitted diseases that we know of today are expressions of God’s judgment on sexual immorality and perversion among men. 

So, nothing is wrong with you, if you abstain from any form of sexual immorality. Nothing is wrong with you, if you are not married and are still a virgin. Nothing is wrong with you, if you are not co-habiting with someone you are not married to. And nothing is wrong with you, if you will not give yourself to pornography or any of these sexually explicit materials that are defiling and ruining many lives today.

Yes, as I said before, those of the world around you may try to make you feel that you are not alright or that you are missing greatly by not joining them in their sexual sins. Don’t listen to them or feel bad because of their senseless talks. You are on the right track. And apart from the fact that your life will be kept safe from strange and destructive diseases, someday, the Lord, whom you are honouring with your body, will vindicate you and reward you for staying true to Him.

Do have a great day.

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“It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.” (1Thess 4:3-6NIV) 

That is Paul’s admonition to us. And why am I sharing it with you today? It is because, just as it was in the days of Paul, there is so much sexual immorality in the world now and so many children of God are getting involved in it (1Cor 7:2).

What I am saying is that sexual immorality is no longer a big deal for many children of God as well. They no longer see sex before marriage or sex outside marriage as anything serious. And that is because that is the picture those of the world are daily painting about it. I mean that everyday they do and say things that make adultery or fornication or orgy look great. And they give those who will not join them in this nonsense the impression that they are not normal or that they are greatly missing out on the sweetness of sex.

But what is the will of God for us? As Paul tells us in that text, the will of God is for us to avoid sexual immorality and to learn to control our bodies in a way that is holy and honourable. And notice that it is not sex we are instructed by God to avoid. What we are instructed by Him to avoid is sexual immorality, that is, immoral and improper ways of handling sex. 

Now these immoral ways, of course, include sex before marriage, sex outside marriage, rape, prostitution, sex with animals, sex among people of the same sex, group sex and any other form of impure thing people who are not married may do together with their bodies. It is these that we are warned by God to avoid. In fact, as Paul makes clear in another letter of his, what God wants really is for us to run away from these things (1Cor 6:18-20). 

And why does God want us to run away from sexual immorality? First, it is because it defiles our bodies, which are His temple, and make them unfit for Him to use for His glory. Second, it is because it unites us with people in unholy ways, opening the door for all kinds of problems that should never have been a part of our lives to come into them. Third, it exposes us to both God’s periodic and eternal judgment. Actually, all the sexually transmitted diseases that we know of today are expressions of God’s judgment on sexual immorality and perversion among men. 

So, nothing is wrong with you, if you abstain from any form of sexual immorality. Nothing is wrong with you, if you are not married and are still a virgin. Nothing is wrong with you, if you are not co-habiting with someone you are not married to. And nothing is wrong with you, if you will not give yourself to pornography or any of these sexually explicit materials that are defiling and ruining many lives today.

Yes, as I said before, those of the world around you may try to make you feel that you are not alright or that you are missing greatly by not joining them in their sexual sins. Don’t listen to them or feel bad because of their senseless talks. You are on the right track. And apart from the fact that your life will be kept safe from strange and destructive diseases, someday, the Lord, whom you are honouring with your body, will vindicate you and reward you for staying true to Him.

Do have a great day.

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“Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.” (Ps 31:4NIV)

One of the things God wants all His children to keep in mind is that those of this world do not love righteousness but hate it. In fact, our Lord Jesus specifically says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19NIV) What this means is that none of us should assume that those of this world will love us because we are good to them or because we are doing and promoting righteousness. On the contrary, we can safely assume that they can hate and despise us, even though we are good to them and are devoted to promoting righteousness.

Our Lord Jesus was good to the men of His days. Not only that, everything He did was geared towards promoting righteousness and justice in the land. Yet He was hated and killed for it. And He has told us to expect to be given the same treatment by those in our world. In other words, we can expect hostility in this world. We can expect those of this world to seek our downfall or destruction, even though we are good and kind to them. (Cf. John 15:18-19)

Does this, then, mean that we are at the mercy of those of the world? No, we are not at their mercy. We are not at their mercy because God is able to protect us from all their schemes and plots to harm or injure us. And one of the ways to receive His protection from them is to ask for it. 

For instance, in our opening text, David asks that God will keep him free from the traps set for him. Why? According to him, it is because God is his refuge. Is God your refuge too? Is He your safehouse? If He is your refuge and safehouse, you too should always feel free to ask Him to keep you from whatever traps set for you by the wicked around you.

Now when we are talking about a trap, we are talking about a hidden plan to catch and disgrace or destroy someone. For instance, Luke tells us in Acts of the Apostles of a time in which more than forty Jews came up with a plot to kill Paul. These men actually swore that they would not eat or drink until they got rid of him. And what did he do to deserve death from their hands? Nothing! His only crime was that of preaching the good news about Jesus Christ and promoting His righteousness. (Cf. Acts 23:12-13)

In any case, these men set a trap of death for Paul and used their religious leaders to cover it up. But God exposed their plot to a nephew of Paul. So, he went to tell Paul who was still being held in the barracks at the time. And when Paul told the commander there, he lost no time at all to give order to some of his men to take him to safety. That was how God freed this apostle from the trap of death set for him by his enemies and made him live longer to preach the gospel and promote righteousness here on earth. (Cf. Acts 23:16-32)

In like manner, God is able to free you from every trap of the enemies around you and even of those who relate to you like friends but who are actually enemies on the inside. Mind you, He does not need to reveal to you what they are planning against you in order to keep you safe. That is because it is not your knowledge of the traps set for you that will keep you safe; rather, it is God Himself that will keep you safe. 

So, you should not just be praying to God to expose the plots of the wicked to you; you should also and more importantly be praying that He will keep you safe from them. And if you take praying like this seriously, you can be sure that God will keep His promise of protection to you and see to it that every step you take does not lead you into any trap of the wicked. But then, be sure that you, like Paul, are also fully devoted to living for God's righteousness and praise. Otherwise, He may just not see any reason to keep you safe just for you to continue to promote wickedness in the land.

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“Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler's snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 124:6-8NIV)

Among the things we are taught in Scriptures is the need to add vigilance to our devotion to prayer. Why? It is because we have an enemy that is always going around looking for opportunities to devour us. And this enemy is not a human being but the devil himself. So, it is not enough for us to be praying to God to keep us safe from his schemes and traps. It is also important that we watch the way we live our lives and conduct our affairs, so that we will not give him any room to work in our lives and destroy us. (Cf. Matt 26:41; Eph 4:27; 1Pet 5:8)

But then, regardless of how prayerful and careful we are with our lives, we may still fall into certain traps of the devil. For instance, as prayerful, diligent, Godfearing and careful as Joseph was in the house of Potiphar, he still someday fell into the trap of the man's wife. And even though he ran for his life and made sure he had nothing to do with that woman, he still ended up in the prison for a crime he did not commit. (Cf. Gen 39)

However, since it was because this man was honouring God that he became a victim of the lies of that wicked woman, God, at the right time, broke the snare that caught him. So, instead of wasting away in that Egyptian prison, he escaped to live and fulfil his destiny in life. And just like the psalmist in our opening text, he too was eventually in a position to sing and bless God, saying, “The snare has been broken, and I have escaped.”

What about Daniel? When his enemies in the royal court of King Darius realised that they would never be able to pin any crime on him, not because he was smart in covering his crimes but because there was really no crime to cover, they decided to set a religious trap for him. They seduced the king to issue an irrevocable edict against anyone that prayed to any other god or man but the king himself. Why did they do this? They wanted to weaken Daniel spiritually. (Cf. Dan 6:1-9)

See, the people Daniel was dealing with at that time were not just some street thugs or overly ambitious people but educated, rich and influential sorcerers. And for them to come up with a kind of plot that would hinder Daniel from praying to God for a whole month, they must have learnt through experience that his relationship with the living God was the source of his spiritual power. I mean that these people must have tried severally to hurt or get rid of him through their diabolical powers, when they could not pin any crime on him or physically assault him, seeing that he would always have a heavy presence of guards with him as one of the three presidents of the entire empire. But they could not.

So, very clearly, it was when they saw that he was not someone they could defeat in competence, in spirituality or through physical attacks that they resorted to setting for him a trap that would either weaken him spiritually or make him disobey the king. And as far as they were concerned, there was no escape for Daniel this time around. That was because any of the two options would ultimately make it possible for them to get rid of him. 

Unfortunately for these people, Daniel once more proved himself to be smarter than them. He chose the spiritual above the natural. Why? He knew that the spiritual rules the natural. So, he chose to disobey the king's edict and maintain his relationship with the living God instead of obeying his edict and dying spiritually, losing touch with the source of his life and everything he had. And though acting like this landed him in a den of lions, giving his enemies a momentary feeling of victory over him, God showed up on the scene and broke the snare. So, the man eventually escaped to live and see the ruins of his enemies. (Cf. Dan 6)

Why am I sharing these things with you? I am sharing them with you to let you know that even if, for some reasons, you have been caught in a trap of the devil, God is able to break it and set you free. So, don't lose heart or give up on God or on righteous living. Instead, continue to reach out for Him through prayers. And He will surely show up at the right time, break the trap holding you down and set you free to live and declare His good works.

Then even if it is your own sin, foolishness, carelessness, negligence or recklessness that got you caught in the trap of the devil that you are now in, still don't turn away from God. That, of course, is what Satan will want you to do. He will want you to feel that God will not save you or want to have anything to do with you, seeing that you have failed him. But that is another lie of his that is meant to keep you ensnared till you are destroyed. So, don't believe it or act on it. 

Instead, act on these words of Samuel to the people of Israel after they realised their sin of rejecting God as their King and demanding for a human king: "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.” (1Sam 12:20NIV) Did you see that? Samuel told his people not to run away from God because of their sin but to turn to Him and serve Him with all their heart. Why? That is the way to be set free from the trap of sin and become healed. And if you will take this way, you will surely be set free by God from that satanic trap that has held you down in shame and also be completely healed.

Have a great day.

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“The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.”” (Josh 7:10-12NIV)  

God Himself specifically told Joshua on this occasion that his praying would not accomplish the results he was expecting. So, he needed to stop praying, get up and learn what needed to be done. But why? 

Well, something had gone wrong in the camp of the Israelites. One of them had taken something that did not belong to them, and the presence of that thing in their camp was working against them. In like manner, the presence of certain things or people in some individuals' lives may just be what is working against their prosperity and peace. And unless they deal with whatever evil such people or things have brought into their lives, they may never again know peace or experience prosperity. 

Now it was for this same reason that God said to Joshua, “Until you destroy that thing that is meant to be destroyed that you are preserving, I will not be with you to give you success.” Think about that. God, on this occasion, wants Joshua to know that prayer is not the solution to the problem they are facing. Therefore, even if he spends several days, praying and fasting and weeping, nothing would change, as long as they do not deal with the sin problem in their midst. 

Since that, then, is the case, Joshua gets up and takes the necessary step of judging the wickedness in their camp. And having done this, they did not need to offer any special prayer again in order to conquer the nation of Ai. All they needed to do was follow God's instructions, and the victory they wanted became theirs. (Cf. Joshua 7-8)

I shared the above bible accounts with you to just let you know that it is not every time that prayer is the solution to the problems we are facing. I know that through prayers God is able to speak to us and enlighten us about what is wrong with us or around us and what steps we need to take to fix them. But in such situations, prayer will not take us any farther than making what we need to do known to us. We will still need to do whatever we need to do in order to get the problems solved.  

Observe that in Joshua's case, God did not tell him that He was going to deal with Achan's sin for him. Why? It was because Joshua had what it would take to deal with it. In the same vein, there are things that are within our abilities to do in order to deal with certain challenges we are faced with in life. And God expects us to do those things, as long as they are legitimate and righteous, instead of waiting on Him to do them for us.

Yes, there are things that God must do for us. And if He does not do them, they can never be done by anyone. But since He is a responsible God and Father, we can always expect Him to fulfil His duties to us by doing those things that He alone can do for us. However, the things we need to do for ourselves must be done by us. We cannot push them to God and expect Him to pick them up. We may succeed in pushing our responsibilities to certain people in our lives. But we can never succeed in pushing our responsibilities to God, for He will never take them up.

So, where your responsibilities are very clear to you, get busy with them and don’t think you can push them to God through prayers. That is because even if you use a whole year to pray about them, God will not do for you what He has already given you the ability to do for yourself. Be like Joshua, then. Get up from your prayer ground and go and do the needful.

Have a pleasant day.

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“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God…” (1Pet 4:17)

When He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, who did His angels first go looking for? The righteous in those cities! Abraham had pleaded with God to spare them, if there were at least ten righteous people there. And God agreed to do so. So, when the angels sent got to Sodom, the first person they interacted with was Lot. 

Now was it by accident or chance that they met with him first? No, not at all! They deliberately showed themselves to him first because he and his family members were the only ones truly distressed about the evil things going on in those two cities. Then they showed themselves to him to see how he would treat them. Thankfully, he did not fail that test, the test of showing hospitality to strangers. And that was what got him and his family saved. (Cf. Gen 18-19; 2Pet 3:7-9).

Now if there had been other righteous people in those cities, those angels would have patiently sought them out as well to find out what sort of righteous people they were, fake or genuine. At least, that was why they were there, to find out how bad things really were in those cities, looking at them with the eyes of men. Unfortunately, only Lot and his family stood out there as righteous people. So, they were the only ones that were sent out safely. 

But then, not all of them made it out to safety. Lot's wife did not make it out to safety. Why? It was because there was a part of her that did not want to leave Sodom. It was that part of her that made her turn back to look at the city when she was supposed to be on the run. So, she perished along with the ungodly there.

In like manner, righteous people can suffer along with wicked men, if God decides to judge or cleanse the place they are. And that may likely happen, if they refuse to set their lives right and separate themselves from the evil going on where they are. Therefore, all of us who are crying out to God for judgment and restoration in our country need to take note of this. We don't know how He will judge when He is set to judge. But we can be sure that when He is ready to judge and set things right, He will start among us. And if we too are found guilty of the very things we want Him to judge, then, we are likely to be the first to drink from the cup of His judgment.

I would not know whether Lot was praying for God's judgment to come on Sodom and Gomorrah because of the things happening there, distressing things that he saw and heard about every day. But even if he had been praying to Him about these things, he could not have thought that His judgment would involve setting the two cities on fire and destroying them and everything going on in them completely. He also could not have thought that he would lose his wealth and, more importantly, his wife in the process. But he lost them.

So, while it is important for us as God's people to always pray to Him to cause justice to reign in our land, it is equally important for us to put our lives, homes and affairs in order. Otherwise, we may end up becoming victims of our own prayers for justice.

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“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” (Ex 3:19-20NIV) 

Did you see that? God had already announced to Moses before he left for Egypt that He would need to perform all kinds of wonders before the Israelites would experience permanent freedom from Egypt. So, each time Pharaoh offered him partial liberty, having witnessed a destructive sign from God, Moses knew that there must be yet another miracle. 

In like manner, each time we sense that our joy is not full over a matter or that our experience of the liberty that is ours in Christ Jesus in a situation is not absolute, we should know that there may yet be a need for another miracle or move of God in that situation. So, we should not give up or accept anything less than fullness of joy in it. Instead, we should continue to pray to God, to declare His word and to take all the steps of faith that are within our power to take about the situation. And as we continue to patiently trust God and to do His will about the matter, those miracles or divine moves that need to happen will happen and our joy will be made full.

What is the point I have been making all along? It is that there are times we need more than a miracle or an experience of victory to enjoy the full liberty and joy that are already ours in Christ Jesus. And for us to know such times and respond to them accordingly, we need our hearts and minds to be overwhelmed with divine revelations of the nature of the challenges we are faced with it. That way, we will not underestimate them, get content with little experiences of victory over them or underestimate the power of God to make us experience total victory over them.

Cheers!

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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17NIV)

Paul was not ashamed to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ, as we see here in our opening text. And can you say the same thing of yourself? Are you too not ashamed to preach Jesus? You can ask yourself, “Am I not ashamed to preach the good news? Am I not ashamed to talk to people about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for the salvation of mankind?” 

If you are ashamed, it must mean that you lack that understanding of what the gospel is capable of doing to people’s lives. Paul tells us his own reason for not being ashamed. He says, “There is nothing to be ashamed of, for what I am proclaiming carries God’s power to transform people’s lives. So why do I have to be ashamed of it? I know that this thing works. I know that it is able to save anyone who believes it; it is able to save anyone who accepts it. Yes, it is able to save them from any kind of problem, from all kinds of problems. So why should I be ashamed to proclaim it?”

Have you also realised that the gospel carries God’s power for the salvation of men? The gospel carries God’s power to save your neighbours from their distresses. It carries God’s power to save your colleagues at work from those problems that are trying to destroy them or that have almost destroyed them. The gospel carries the power of God to renew our homes. It carries the power of God to change whole societies. Why then should we be ashamed to proclaim it? A lack of understanding of what the gospel is able to do to people’s lives may make us ashamed of it.

By the way, you can ask yourself, “Has this good news changed my life positively? Has it affected me in any positive manner? Has it done anything for me? Has it released any power into my life to do things I couldn’t do before?” Actually, it must start with you. If you cannot relate the working of the gospel to your own life, then, you will most likely be ashamed of giving it to others. You have to be able to think and relate the working of the gospel to your own life. Has this thing been of any effect in my life? Where was I before I believed and where am I now? What was my life like before I believed and what is it like now? Has this gospel changed me? Has it solved any problem in my life? Has it transformed my life in any way? If it has, then, you will not be ashamed of giving it to others.

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“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.” (Galatians 4:18NIV) 

Those are Paul’s words to the Galatian brethren. And from what he tells these brethren here, we can see that it is alright for us to be zealous. In fact, God expects us as believers to be zealous. However, our purpose for being zealous must be good.

Look, zeal on its own cannot accomplish much good. Zeal on its own cannot produce salvation. That is why you find many believers today who are zealous but who really do not understand what God has called them to. They don’t understand the life that God has called them to. So, instead of truly moving forward in the things of God with their zeal, they are not, for their zeal is not based on true knowledge.

We equally have people that are not believers in Christ Jesus who are zealous for God. But they lack salvation. Yes, as far as these ones are concerned, their zeal is for God. But because they lack true knowledge of God, their zeal is not accomplishing any good thing. On the contrary, with their zeal they are causing chaos and confusion in every place.

In Romans, chapter 10, from verse 1, Paul says, “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Romans 10:1NIV) Now why would Paul talk like this about his brethren? These people were not totally ignorant of God. Don’t forget that they had the laws of Moses. They had several injunctions from God on how to live. They had the Scriptures. Yet Paul says, “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” And he goes on in verse 2 to say, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.” (Romans 10:2NIV) 

Think about that. These people are zealous for God. They are passionate about God. Paul himself here says, “I can testify about them that they are zealous for God.” That means, in a sense, their hearts are after God. They want to please Him; they want to serve Him; they want to live for Him. Unfortunately, their zeal is not based on knowledge. And because their zeal is not based on knowledge, they cannot be saved. Their zeal is unable to save them. 

So it is possible for one to be zealous and not be saved. I am saying you can be zealous or passionate for God and not be saved. You can be attending church meetings every day and not be saved. You can be giving tithes and offerings in every meeting and not be saved. You can even be involved in Evangelism and not be saved. There are so many religious activities you can be involved and still remain unsaved.

But then, it will be really sad for you to find out when you eventually stand before God that your zeal for Him has accomplished nothing for you. So, don’t assume that you are saved simply because you have some measure of zeal for God. If you have not embraced and confessed Jesus as your Lord, you are not yet saved. Yes, you may be close to salvation. But you are not saved until you are saved. So, tell yourself the truth about your salvation today. Tomorrow may be too late.

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ONLY WHAT WILL BENEFIT THEM

“With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand.” (Mark 4:33NIV) 

What do we see here? Well, we see that even though our Lord Jesus was using parables to teach the people, He only spoke to the word of God to them, as much as they could understand. He did not try to confuse them. He did not try to mislead them. He did not try to impress them with His much knowledge. Instead, He considered their level of understanding and shared with them only on that basis. 

Now why did the Lord act in that manner? It was because He knew that once a man did not understand something, he could not profit with it. In fact, when you read His parable of the sower, one of the things He points out there is that when a man hears the word of God and does not understand it, satan will come and steal that word from Him. So that man will not be fruitful with what he has heard. (Cf. Matthew 13:18-19) 

So, in making the mind of God known to people – your neighbours, friends, colleagues at work, family members, anybody – you must consider what they will be able to take or understand. And of course, as you interact with people, as you talk to them and ask them questions about various matters of life, you will be able to tell whether they can understand certain truths you want to share with them or not. If they don’t understand what you are sharing with them, then, they cannot profit with it – it cannot bless them. 

As we see in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, He was very conscious of this, conscious of sharing with the people only what would benefit them. You too should be conscious of the same thing, as you relate to those in your world. Yes, be eager to share the truth with them. But only share with them what will benefit them. Then God will take it and use it to change their lives.

Stay motivated.

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“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments…” (1Corinthians 2:14-15NIV) 

What is Paul talking about here? He is saying the one who has the Spirit of God in him makes judgments about all things. How is he able to do that? He is able to do so because he is in touch with the Spirit of God. He is learning from the Spirit. He is receiving from the Spirit. And because He is receiving from the Spirit he is able to analyse issues of life and pass judgments over them. He can give you God’s verdicts over matters of life. That means he can make the mind of God about various issues of life known to you. He judges all things.

Now that does not mean that the man with the Spirit of God possesses unlimited knowledge about life. That is not what Paul is talking about. He is not saying such a person can teach mathematics, teach biology, teach geography, work as a carpenter, fix electrical problems in people’s houses and handle anything in any field of life. That is not what he is talking about. Instead, he is talking about judging real issues and determining how matters of life should be handled. 

That means the man with the Spirit of God can show you the mind of God about every issue of life. He can show you how to handle money, for example, even if he is not an accountant. Also, he can show you how to handle your marriage or how to function in your work place, even though he is not educated.

Think about this: how were people like Peter, James and John able to teach people from various walks of life? They taught those who were rich and also taught those who were poor. They taught the educated and also taught the uneducated. They taught different kinds of people. They were able to pass judgments over different issues of life. They were able to reveal the mind of God to people about various issues of life. 

All of this is why Paul goes in to say in verse 16 of the same chapter of our opening text, “For, ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1Corinthians 2:16NIV) How did the apostles of old gain the mind of God? Through their fellowship with the Spirit of God! 

Now is it everybody that can say, “I have the mind of Christ?” Is it even every Christian that can say, “I have the mind of Christ?” I know there are people who confess these words that they have the mind of Christ. Yes, it is good to make such confessions. I mean that your saying ‘I have the mind of Christ’ is not going to spoil anything. 

But what does it mean to have the mind of Christ? What it means is that you can judge issues of life the way Christ will judge them. It means you can confidently and rightly tell people what God thinks about what they are saying and doing. And that is only gained through a life of consistent fellowship with God. Do you, then, have the mind of Christ? Well, until you gain His mind, you cannot live a life well-pleasing to God and are not qualified to help anyone in any serious way

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“…Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” (1Pet 3:14NIV) 

There will always be things that will make people afraid, just as there will always be things that will frighten them. But the Lord’s command to us, as we see in our opening bible text, is ‘Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.’ So, to allow fear in your heart because of any situation or any individual is to disobey God, and that will never be to your advantage. In fact, that will let fear loose in your life (Jer 1:17).  

Another reason we must refuse to be afraid is that God is always with us, in us and for us. Therefore, He will never fold His arms and allow us to be destroyed by anybody or anything. This is why the writer of the book of Hebrews says, “…God has said, "I will never abandon you or leave you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mortals do to me?"” (Heb 13:5-6GW) 

Can you see that? God will never leave us or abandon us. Even if we miss it and foolishly walk into the valley of the shadow of death, He will not abandon us. Instead, He will stand by us and help us out, so that we are not destroyed by our errors. (Cf. Ps 23:4)

You can now see why we are told to always respond to God’s abiding presence in our lives by saying, “The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. There is nothing any man can do to me.” And can you say that to yourself? I am sure you can and you should continually say it to yourself until every iota of fear of things and of persons disappears from your heart.

In addition to that, we must refuse to be afraid because God has not given us a spirit of fear. According to Paul in a letter to Timothy, “God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” (2Tim 1:7NCV) And God has done this so that we will not be confronting the situations of our lives or the people in our world with a fearful heart but with a heart that is full of power that is being handled by love and self-control. 

Look at the way people who carry charms around or who possess some power of witchcraft used to confront life’s situations. They confront them with boldness, even though those powers they are counting on can fail them anytime. But we are carriers of God’s unlimited power. And that means we should be bolder and more confident in confronting life, knowing fully well that God’s power will never fail us. And we see this illustrated in the way Moses confronted Pharaoh and all the gods of Egypt when God sent him to bring the nation of Israel out of that land of bondage. He confronted them with a heart of boldness. And that was because he knew that he had access to God’s unlimited and unfailing power.

In like manner, we too should confront all the situations of our lives without fear, especially as we are nearing the end of this year, but with a heart that knows that God’s power is ever available for him. And even if we, like Ezekiel of bible days, are living among thorns, briers and scorpions, we must not be afraid of them or terrified by them in any way (Ezek 2:6). That is because the One living in us is greater than the one living in them and His power that we carry cannot be withstood by any other power in the whole universe (1John 4:4). 

So, cheer up, beloved! Victory is ours all the way!

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“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil 2:4NIV) 

Notice here that Paul does not say that it is wrong to look to your own interests; rather, he says you must not only look to your own interests but also to the interests of others. I quickly pointed that out because of those who will have us believe that it is wrong for any of us to think of himself first or to put himself before others. Their common slogan is ‘Always think of others first’. But as good and nice as that sounds, there is nowhere in the Scriptures we are told to do so. I mean that there is nowhere we are taught in the Scriptures to think of others first or to put others before us. 

In actuality, what the Scripture says to us is to first love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and minds, and then to love our neighbours as ourselves. (Cf. Matt 22:37-40) So, the only person we must always put first and before ourselves in all things is God. Then, when it comes to how we relate to our fellow men, we are to love them as we love ourselves. That means we cannot properly and adequately love and care for others, if we do not know how to properly and adequately love and care for ourselves. It also means that if we don’t how to think of what is good and right for ourselves, we won’t be able to think of what is good and right for others. This is why it is foolish to try to set others right when your own life is out of tune with reality.

In any case, Apostle Paul’s message to us is that we must not only look to our own interests but to other people’s interests as well. That means we must not only be concerned about what is good and appropriate for us; we must also be concerned about what is good and appropriate for others.

See, life is not only about us; there are several others that we are involved in it together. So, our decisions and actions, good or bad, always affect others directly or indirectly. And that is exactly why God wants us to always think of others as well in all of our calculations about life. He wants us to always think of what impact our actions, inactions and reactions are having on others that we are living in this world together. Are they blessing and lifting them, or are they hurting and destroying them?  

So, friend, how important are other people’s interests to you? Do you want them to succeed just as much as you want to succeed? Do you want for them the kind of good life you want for yourself? Think of the way you use your position and resources—does it show that you are concerned about others as well? Think also of the way you use your space and time – does it show that you care about others as well? Just look at the way you use your power, wealth, shelter, time and even prayer privileges. Does it show that you don’t only care about yourself but about others too? Do you know that something like lateness or a messing up with other people’s schedules, which we usually don’t see as serious, often is a reflection of selfishness or a lack of care about other people’s interests?

Well, Scriptures are very clear about how God wants us to function in our dealings with other people. He wants to function the way our Lord Jesus Christ did when He walked here on earth. He did not just seek what was good and alright for Himself; He also sought what was good and alright for humanity. He humbled Himself so that He could save and bring us up to where He is, that is, the very place Father God has always wanted us to be. (Cf. Mark 10:45; John 10:11; Rom 15:1-3; 1Cor 8:9-13; Phil 2:5-11)

Now the moment you and I begin to function like Him, there are things we will never do or say again, not because they are bad in themselves but because of how they will negatively affect others. Living in this manner, of course, calls for a very high degree of thoughtfulness and carefulness. I mean that it is not something that is going to happen by accident; neither is it something that will always make those we are trying to help happy. But once each of us begins to live that way, our world will soon enough become a much better place to live in. Are we then going to begin to live this way, or are we going to remain selfish and self-conscious? May the Spirit of God enable each of us to begin to do what is right.

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“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2Tim 3:12NIV) 

Did you see that? Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And observe Paul does not say, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted.” That is because a lot of people today are trying to live godly lives. But they are not seeking to live godly lives in Christ Jesus. That someone decides to live a godly life does not mean he is going to be persecuted. There are a lot of people all around us who are trying to do good things. But that is not because they are related to Jesus Christ. So such individuals may not expect any kind of persecution. 

But here Paul is saying that everyone who has determined in his heart to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. He can expect to be persecuted. And we can see how this played out in the lives of the Apostles in the book of Acts. For example, in chapter 3 of the book, Peter and John were used by the Lord to heal a man that was impotent in his feet for a little about forty years. And while everyone who witnessed the incident was praising God and thanking Him for healing that man, some other people had a different and negative response. 

Why did they have a different and negative response? Was it because the man was healed? No! Rather, it was because of the person in whose name the man was healed. Look at how Luke reports this from Acts 4, beginning with verse 1: 

“The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.” (Acts 4:1-2NIV) 

Now what disturbed those religious leaders of the Jews? It was the fact the apostles were teaching the people in the name of Jesus. So, it was not the healing of the man per se that disturbed them. The healing was a good work. However, what troubled them was the name that was used in doing the healing. In essence, they were troubled because of the apostles’ relationship with Jesus Christ.

But then, when someone does what is good, what should naturally happen? People should praise him. But these people were not doing that. At least, if you would not praise the one that has done something good, you should praise the one in whose name he has done it. But we are told that these people were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.  

In any case, from verse 3, Luke goes on to say, “They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.” (Acts 4:3NIV) Why were these people put in jail? Was it because they healed the man that was impotent in his feet? No! It was because of their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that clarifies what Paul tells us in our opening text that anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Everyone who will commit himself to doing something good because of Jesus Christ will be persecuted. 

Peter and John were jailed not, as I pointed out before, because they healed someone, but because they healed someone in the name of Jesus Christ. So, if you are being persecuted for doing anything good in the name of Jesus, don’t be surprised. It is something you are to expect. And instead of allowing that to surprise you or fill you with discouragement, learn to commit yourself into God’s hand for strength, encouragement and protection.

Have a very lovely day.

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“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” (Ps 55:22NIV) 

Look at that. If only we will cast our cares upon the Lord, He will surely sustain us and keep us from falling into the pit of shame, disgrace and humiliation. And that is because He cares about us. (Cf. 1Pet 5:7)

It is quite unfortunate, however, that many people, including Christians, know nothing of the care of God for their lives. They don’t know that He cares so much for them that He is committed to sustaining them through life every blessed day. And because they don’t know these things, they miss His daily benefits for them and struggle through life in a spirit of despair. (Cf. Ps 68:19).

Look at the animals of the field and the birds of the air, for example. God is daily committed to taking care of them. Just a while ago, my wife and I were watching a wildlife documentary on the Television, and we saw a great horde of animals, fat, strong and agile, migrating from some place to another. Then we started talking about them and about the beauties, wonders and care of God, as revealed in the Scriptures.

Now consider this: those animals have no human shepherd to feed them, care for them, fold them in a pen or take responsibility for them. Also, they are not working or toiling or handling any kind of investment that will yield dividends for them in the future. In short, they have no worries about today or tomorrow or the future or an imminent recession or famine. Yet they are numerous, big, fat, tough, strong, agile and beautiful to behold. And why is that? It is because God is taking care of them.

The bible says:

“Lord, you have made many things; with your wisdom you made them all. The earth is full of your riches. Look at the sea, so big and wide, with creatures large and small that cannot be counted. Ships travel over the ocean, and there is the sea monster Leviathan, which you made to play there. All these things depend on you to give them their food at the right time. When you give it to them, they gather it up. When you open your hand, they are filled with good food.” (Ps 104:24-28NCV)   

Think about that. God is committed to taking care of all the animals, birds, insects and the several other living things He has created, both great and small. He is committed to giving them good food at the right time. He is committed to sustaining them, so that they do not disappear from the face of the earth, even in a period of famine. And even though these creatures are unable to pray to God articulately or intelligently, as man is able to, God never shuts His ears to their cry for food or sustenance. And that is because He cares about them. 

Now if that is how God cares about all these creatures, which have not been created in His likeness or made to fellowship with Him, will He not much more care for and sustain His man, whom He has created in His image and after His likeness? He surely will! And what we need is to learn to relate to Him every day on the basis of this knowledge that He cares about us. Then we will begin to swim in the rivers of His goodness, mercy and kindness and also begin to sing like one of our Psalmists, who says: 

I have known the Father’s care for me,

He’s been good, He’s been good,

Through it all He’s always there for me

God’s been good to me.

Have a most refreshing day

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Sometimes, when I consider the degree of corruption or decay in our world, I wonder if it is possible at all for anyone to live in absolute purity in it. But God, according to the bible, demands absolute purity from all men. And He also shows us through the bible that it is possible for us to live in absolute purity in this world. For example, despite the fact that the corruption in the world of the days of Noah was so great that God was willing to destroy all humanity from the face of the earth because of it, Noah and his family still stood out at that time as an example of purity in a lost world (Gen 6). 

Also, in the days that God sought to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their unspeakable immorality, Lot and his family still stood out at that time as an example of purity amidst a lost race. In fact, according to the bible, the man had two daughters who were still virgin when destruction came upon those two cities. (Cf. Gen 19:1-8) In addition, when Prophet Elijah began to petition God against the corruption in the nation of Israel, telling Him how he was the only one that stood for righteousness, God made him realize that, apart from him, He still had seven thousand people in the land who had not defiled themselves. (Cf. 1Kings 19:1-18)

But how did these people succeed in staying pure, despite the high degree of corruption in the world of their days? Was it by having very high moral standards? No! Yes, it is good to have high moral standards. But if it is not God that sets those standards for us, they will not accomplish in us the standard of purity He wants in our lives. That is because God does not just want an outward display of purity; He also wants an inward testimony of it. That means He wants our purity to flow from the heart. And the only thing that can do that for us is the word of God.

One of the Psalmists says to us, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to the word of God.” (Ps 119:9NIV) Can you see that? The only way we can keep ourselves pure in this world of corruption is to allow our lives to be run or controlled by the word of God. Unfortunately, even though many today, both old and young, get to hear God’s word through various means week after week, they don’t see it as something to be taken seriously or to be lived by. The word of their parents, friends, family members, colleagues at work, movie stars, song artistes and so forth mean more to them than God’s word. Yet they wonder why their lives are so messed up.  

See, as long as we won’t give the word of God its rightful place in our lives, it does not matter how hard we try to keep our lives right and normal in this twisted world, we will continue to fail, and our lives will remain messed up. That is because the only true light for us to walk here on earth and not stumble and fall is the word of God. Yes, the word of God is the only thing that can purify our lives and keep them pure in this utterly polluted world. (Cf. Ps 19:7-11) So, go for His word and embrace it wholeheartedly, and your life will be kept without blemish till the Day of the Lord.

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“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” (Ps 138:8NKJV)

I know these are very trying times for many people in this nation. These are times in which many are losing their jobs, shutting down their businesses, cutting down their expenses and giving up on their dreams. Nevertheless, God is able to perfect everything that concerns those who trust in Him. He is able to fulfil all His good purposes concerning them, as we see in our opening bible text.

Now remember the many trials and oppositions the children of Israel faced when God brought them out of Egypt. Nevertheless, God made good all His promises to them. He brought them fully into the land He had promised to their forefathers on oath. That was why Joshua, in his last words to the people, said, “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” (Josh 23:14NIV)

Look at that. The trials, temptations and challenges those people faced did not have enough power to prevent God from fulfilling any of His promises to them. And that is because He is greater, stronger and mightier than all.

Now He is able to do even much more than He did for those people for us. He is able to fulfil every one of His good desires for us, regardless of the current situation of our country. So, we don’t need to lose heart or throw away our confidence. We don’t need to give up on our dreams or aspirations because of the so-called economic and political realities we are being daily confronted with. What we need is to hold fast our confidence in God, and He will perfect all that concerns us and fulfil all His good purposes for our lives.

So, as you face this new day, don’t function with a spirit of despair, regardless of what you see or hear. Rather, always remind yourself that God’s eyes are upon you, and He will show Himself mighty on your behalf, if you will fully commit your heart to Him (2Chro 16:9).

Do have a most lovely day.

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“We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” (1Thessalonians 2:6-8NIV) 

Can you see that? Paul says we were delighted not only to share the gospel with you but our lives as well. In other words, the man was living a life of sharing. 

Now do you know what it means to share your life with someone? This is what anyone who is working with the Lord must do—you share your life with others. You deliberately allow people to come into your life. You tell them things about yourself that you naturally would not but for the work’s sake. You share your time with them. There are times ministers sit down for hours to counsel some brethren. And that is not always convenient. 

Sometimes ago, for instance, one of our brothers had to travel to Okuku (a town in Osun State, Nigeria,) to counsel another brother. Was that convenient? No! There are times you want to do some things but, because of the Lord’s people, you have to shelve them. You are sharing your time with them. You have come to understand that your time is not yours exclusively anymore; God’s people also have a share in it.

Furthermore, you share your resources with God’s people. That was the life Paul lived—he was sharing his resources with his companions and with God’s people. Some of us have sometimes had to give up certain things we wanted to do, so that we would be able to give or contribute to the Lord’s work. Did we do that out of convenience? No!

At any rate, because Paul was sharing his life with God’s people, there were things he could not do; there was a quality of life he could not live. You can now see why he says we are poorly clothed in a letter to the Corinthians (1Corinthians 4:11). It is not because he could not have used his money to get jewelleries and expensive robes for himself. But he knew what that would do to the work. He knew some things would suffer, if he did that. Yes, he was working hard. But he was not working hard for himself; he was working hard to take of God’s people. And, as he said to the Ephesian-Church, they were doing all such things to teach God’s people that through that kind of hard work they must help the weak. 

We also must open our lives for others to come in, so that they can share in our resources, time and every other thing that concerns us. What would you be doing with ten pairs of shoes, when you have brothers who don’t have any? Think about that! What would you be doing with four or five cars, when there are members of the household of God who don’t have any? 

So I want you to understand that Paul was not saying that they were homeless, hungry, thirsty and poorly clothed because they could not have lived a flamboyant life. They chose that kind of life so that they could adequately share their lives with God’s people. What, then, are you willing to do in order to adequately share your life with the people of God in your life? Or what must you do in order to freely share your life with them? Think about that, as you face this new day. And may God grant you the strength to see right and to also act right, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” (Ephesians 6:19-20NIV)

What is Paul asking for here? He is asking that the church in Ephesus will pray for him so that he will become more effective in the exercise of his gift, as a teacher of God’s people. Why is this important? Well, you need to realise that there are Christian assemblies where people complain about the quality of sermons they hear from their pastors. You hear things like, “Our pastor did not preach well today. I would not know what was wrong with him. Could it be that he didn’t eat well before he came or was he having some sort of challenges? Or how do you explain his several wrong quotations of the scriptures?” And you know they may complain like that for years and not experience any change.

But I want you to know that such people are making a mistake. How? See, even though your pastor has been called to edify you, he will not automatically do so. That is because there are a number of things that must be in place for him to do so and to do so consistently. And this is one of them: you should be praying for him that each time he opens his mouth to speak the word of God to you, he will proclaim it as effectively as he should. 

Sadly, a lot of God’s people don’t know this. Yes, they come around for their church meetings, expecting their pastors to share God’s word with them. But are they concerned about getting blessed through whatever he shares with them? No! If they are truly concerned about getting edified through what he shares with them, they will pray about it. They will ask God to make every word they will be hearing from him a blessing to them. 

Now that is what Paul is saying in our opening text. He is telling the Ephesians to prepare to be edified through him. And how are they to prepare? It is through prayers. And if you too want to continually be edified by your pastor or other people that are feeding you with the word of God, you had better be given to praying for them that God will be with their mouths so that their sermons will always be a blessing to you and not a waste of your precious time.

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“How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?...” (Exodus 33:16NIV) 

Those were Moses’ words to God when he was leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land. He wanted His presence and participation with them. He wanted something that would distinguish them from other peoples. And he knew that the only thing that would do that was God’s active participation with them.

Perhaps you too have been saying that you are a child of God. But how will those who are not believers know that you are related to God? What will be the difference between you and those who are not believers where you work, live and among your friends? How will they be able to tell that there is a difference between your life and theirs? Will they ever become jealous of you, simply because they can see that God is doing something for you that they are not experiencing or enjoying?

Furthermore, Moses said, “…What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15NIV) God’s presence in a man’s life is what makes the difference. God’s involvement in a man’s life is what makes all the difference in the world. And that is the kind of difference you as a child of God should desire. 

Your colour shouldn’t be the difference. Your height should not be the difference. When they are saying the difference between Brother X and Mr Y is what? They should not be talking about colour, height, size, natural skills, intelligence quotient and other stuffs like that; rather, they should be talking about God. They should be saying the difference between these two fellows is God. They should be saying, “God is involved in this man’s life. Otherwise, how do you explain the things that are happening in his life?”

To say the fact, you need to get to that place in life where people begin to say that about you. They should be saying, “How do you explain this kind of progress, if God were not involved?” or, “How do you explain this kind of advancement? It can only mean that God has been involved.” 

See, there are people that men look at the way they handle their businesses and other things and say, “Look, this kind of success is not ordinary. He must have done something fetish or diabolical.” Why would they say that? It is because they are making comparisons. They may say something like, “Aren’t we in the same business? Are we not using the same equipment? Are we not in the same market? How come he is getting this kind of result? It is not natural; something is fishing.” 

People say that a lot of times about unbelievers. But do you know they are supposed to be saying the same things about Christians? Men should be saying, “Only God could be the explanation for this kind of success, progress, advancement, calmness and peace.” Therefore, we cannot overemphasise the need for God’s participation in our lives.

Now it is not that God is not willing to participate in our lives; it is not that He is not willing to get involved in our affairs; it is that God will never impose Himself on us—we will have to let Him; we will have to allow Him. In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 19, God says, “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.” If you read that from the Living Bible it says, “If you will only let me help you, if you will only obey, then, I will make you rich!” 

So it is up to you. It is all depends on how much you allow Him, on how much room you give to Him in your life. And may your eyes be daily opened to this, so that you will allow God to freely participate in your life and affairs and make your life what it is meant to be. Amen.

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“How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?...” (Exodus 33:16NIV) 

Those were Moses’ words to God when he was leading the children of Israel into the Promised Land. He wanted His presence and participation with them. He wanted something that would distinguish them from other peoples. And he knew that the only thing that would do that was God’s active participation with them.

Perhaps you too have been saying that you are a child of God. But how will those who are not believers know that you are related to God? What will be the difference between you and those who are not believers where you work, live and among your friends? How will they be able to tell that there is a difference between your life and theirs? Will they ever become jealous of you, simply because they can see that God is doing something for you that they are not experiencing or enjoying?

Furthermore, Moses said, “…What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15NIV) God’s presence in a man’s life is what makes the difference. God’s involvement in a man’s life is what makes all the difference in the world. And that is the kind of difference you as a child of God should desire. 

Your colour shouldn’t be the difference. Your height should not be the difference. When they are saying the difference between Brother X and Mr Y is what? They should not be talking about colour, height, size, natural skills, intelligence quotient and other stuffs like that; rather, they should be talking about God. They should be saying the difference between these two fellows is God. They should be saying, “God is involved in this man’s life. Otherwise, how do you explain the things that are happening in his life?”

To say the fact, you need to get to that place in life where people begin to say that about you. They should be saying, “How do you explain this kind of progress, if God were not involved?” or, “How do you explain this kind of advancement? It can only mean that God has been involved.” 

See, there are people that men look at the way they handle their businesses and other things and say, “Look, this kind of success is not ordinary. He must have done something fetish or diabolical.” Why would they say that? It is because they are making comparisons. They may say something like, “Aren’t we in the same business? Are we not using the same equipment? Are we not in the same market? How come he is getting this kind of result? It is not natural; something is fishing.” 

People say that a lot of times about unbelievers. But do you know they are supposed to be saying the same things about Christians? Men should be saying, “Only God could be the explanation for this kind of success, progress, advancement, calmness and peace.” Therefore, we cannot overemphasise the need for God’s participation in our lives.

Now it is not that God is not willing to participate in our lives; it is not that He is not willing to get involved in our affairs; it is that God will never impose Himself on us—we will have to let Him; we will have to allow Him. In Isaiah chapter 1, verse 19, God says, “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.” If you read that from the Living Bible it says, “If you will only let me help you, if you will only obey, then, I will make you rich!” 

So it is up to you. It is all depends on how much you allow Him, on how much room you give to Him in your life. And may your eyes be daily opened to this, so that you will allow God to freely participate in your life and affairs and make your life what it is meant to be. Amen.

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“God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1Corinthians 1:9NIV) 

Who is Paul referring to here? If you would read from verse one of the chapter, you would understand that Paul is talking to all the members of the church of God in Corinth. He is not referring to some selected few among them; rather, he is referring to everybody. 

Now what is he saying to them? He is saying, “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” So, God’s call to us is a call to fellowship. We say all the time that God is calling people everywhere, with the exception of none. But what is God calling them to? 

Well, some may say that He is calling them to salvation. That is true. But you must understand that salvation is simply a means to an end—everything does not end with the salvation of our souls. Everything does not end with our being born again.

Of course, it is important that you be born again. Nevertheless, you need to understand that, even before the opportunity to be born again became open, God had been calling men. Before Jesus came God had been calling men. I don’t need to remind you that people could not be born again until Jesus perfected His work of redemption. So what are we going to say about those people God called before Jesus came? What did He call them to? Did He call them to become born again? No! That is because people could not be born again at that time.

Here, however, Paul is showing us what God calls people to? He calls them into fellowship with Himself. So, our call, call it a general call if you like, is a call to fellowship. Now, personally, I do not like the phrase ‘General Call.’ Our call is not a general call; it is a basic call; it is God’s fundamental call, a call to fellowship. 

Therefore, you need to keep in mind that God has called you to fellowship with Him. In this portion of the scripture Paul says God has called us into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ. And if you read the last verse of the last chapter of what we now call Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he talks about the fellowship of the Holy Spirit—we all recite that at the close of our meetings. So this call is not just a call to fellowship with Jesus Christ, it is also a call to fellowship with the Holy Spirit. (Cf. 2Corinthians 13:14)

We all, then, who have answered this call should take our fellowship with God very seriously. That is all that He wants us from us. He wants us to fellowship with Him in all ways. He wants us to live with Him, as He wants to live with us. And I pray that your heart will be strengthened to embrace this reality and daily walk in the light of it.

Have a blessed day.

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I once heard an African preacher talk of how distressed he was about the quality of print the publishers of his books were giving him. And so distressed and dissatisfied was he that, when visited one of these developed countries, he decided to go to some printing presses to see what sorts of machines or equipment they were using. But to his surprise, the machines those presses were using to publish excellent quality of books were not different from the ones his local printing presses were using. What, then, was the problem? People! Those handling his books either did not have the right kind of training to use the machines they had or did not have a culture of excellence.

Today, as I also move around and interact with people from different walks of life in our country, I see very similar things. I see that many of our workmen (both those with formal education and those without it) don’t have the right kind of training and discipline that result in excellent services. That explains why there is very little demand for our products in the international market. And this needs to change.

Look, you don’t have to be a local person when you can be an international person. And being an international person has nothing to do with running from one country of the world to another, doing all kinds of odd jobs or wasting tax payers’ money. Rather, it has to do with a possession of abilities and qualities that are wanted on the international plane of things. In other words, being an international person means that what you are and what you do are things that people in different parts of the world want and are willing to pay or beg for.

How, then, do you become that sort of person? Is it by praying and fasting or by endearing some mighty prophets? No! Truly, prayers, fasting and prophetic blessings have their own roles in building a significant life before God and men. But they are not enough. In fact, some people have become renown in the world without them. So, if you, as a child of God, want to become relevant anywhere you find yourself in this life, you must do more than praying, fasting and courting men of God; you must also get the right kind of training and develop yourself to be excellent at whatever you do. 

The bible says, “Observe people who are good at their work — skilled workers are always in demand and admired; they don't take a back seat to anyone.” (Prov 22:29MSG) Can you see that? If you bring diligence and excellence to bear on whatever you do, though it may take a while, you will someday be dealing with people that matter in your world and not with some nonentities. 

For example, something is said in the bible about a man called Kenaniah (1Chro 15:22&27). And it is that he was highly skillful at singing. So, even though he did not seem to have a great background, he was eventually entrusted with the responsibility of leading the national choir of Israel, and nobody questioned his ability to do well. Excellence cannot be permanently ignored or rejected! 

Therefore, if you too will become skilful and excellent at whatever you do, serious minded people won’t be able to ignore you or question your ability to deliver. And it might not be long before you become a national or international figure, depending on God’s purpose for your life.

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As you journey through this life, it is important you learn to take advantage of good and upright counsel. That is because it will often prove to be the difference between failure and success in your life.

You know that none of us has a monopoly on wisdom or knowledge. The only one with that characteristic is the Lord Jesus. He is the only who possesses all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-3). And even though He has been made wisdom unto us, one of the ways He manifests this wisdom to us is through the counsel and admonitions of other people.

Look at all the Scriptures we have, for instance. They were not personally written by the Lord Himself – they were written by certain individuals that He Himself selected and inspired. Yet all of these Scriptures belong to Him and have been given to us for our teaching, correction, rebuking and training in righteous in living (2Tim 3:16-17). So, as we relate to the Scriptures, we don’t relate to them as the word of men but as the living word of God, which has been given for our transformation and lifting up.

In the same manner, God often seeks to counsel and instruct us through other men, especially believers. So we must humble ourselves to relate to other believers in such as a way as to continually gain Christ’s wisdom from them, regardless of their social, family, academic or political status.

And I am saying this because one of the reasons many of us fail in many of our endeavours is that we don’t often get sufficient counsel from others. Some of us, in fact, think because we have the Spirit of God in us, who has been given to lead and guide us into all the truth we need to know about life, we don’t need the support, assistance or counsel of other people anymore. 

But that is a very wrong and immature way to think. Of course, it is not every counsel, even from believers, that is godly or that can do us good. And we can detect ungodly and destructive counsel through the Scriptures and by the help of the Holy Spirit. However, that is not to say that we must not give any place for the counsel of other people, especially godly and wise men, in our lives.

The bible says, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” (Prov 11:14NKJV) Can you see that? Where there is no counsel, sound counsel, we can get into trouble and fall or lose. But in the multitude of counsellors, we can learn how to stay safe.

Now, having a multitude of counsellors does not mean that one will automatically be safe. But by exposing ourselves to the sound counsel of others, we can gain tremendous insight into the issues of life. And that way, we can be saved from disgrace, embarrassment, failure and even death.

So, if, having prayed and studied the Scriptures, you still seem confused about an issue of your life, you will not be wrong to turn to godly and upright people, who have a reputation for loving the progress of others, for some counsel. And you don’t necessarily have to see such people face to face; you can read their books or listen to their messages on whatever matter you are dealing with for further clarifications. Then you can subject everything to the test of the word of God. (Cf. 2Cor 10:5; 1Thess 5:20-21)

In addition to that, there are times that those who don’t know God also can give you fine counsel. And I am not talking about counsel on spiritual matters here, though, sometimes, as in the case of Jethro and Moses, those who don’t know God or Jesus Christ may give a counsel that will prove to be very helpful in handling spiritual matters (Ex 18). Rather, I am talking about counsel that can prove helpful in our different fields of endeavour like Engineering, Economics, Management, Medicine, Metrology, Agriculture and so forth. 

So, don’t use Psalm 1:1 as a reason for saying, “I cannot listen to what this person is saying to me about how to handle my business, finances, farm, body or academics because he is not a Christian.” That is not wisdom, for wisdom is always humble enough to learn from others, even when they are not Christians. And I pray that the Spirit of God will fill you with the fullness of His wisdom in all your ways and also keep you from yielding to strange and destructive counsels, in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Do have a prosperous day! 

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“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1John 4:4NIV)

First, John speaks of our origin in our opening text. He says we are from God. That means our origin is in God; our life is in Him; our roots are in Him. Then he goes on to say that we have overcome some individuals. And who are these individuals? In the context of the passage of this text, the individuals we have overcome are men and women with the spirit of the antichrist. These are people whose activities and teachings are set against the teachings and works of Christ.

In any case, John says we have already overcome them. That means we are not going to overcome them or try to overcome them; we have overcome them already; we have been set above their lies, errors and evil schemes. And how did we do that? John says it was by God. According to him, not only do we have our life and origin in God, we also do have His very person and presence in us. So, we are not facing life alone; we are facing it with God. (Cf. 1John 3:24)

Now think of what it means to be facing life with God. To face life with God is to face it with all of His power, wisdom, knowledge and resources; it is to face it with everything that He represents and has. And who is a match for God’s power, wisdom, knowledge and resources? Nobody! Or do we really have any situation or circumstance that can successfully challenge or beat God’s omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience? No!

All this is why John says, “Greater is the one who is in you that the one who is in the world.” The one who is in us and at work in us is God. And the one who is the world and at work in it is the devil. Now it is obvious that the being that men are most afraid of in this world is the devil. But he himself knows that he is not a match for God in any sense. And that is because he too is a created being, a being created by God, with very limited powers and resources. (Cf. Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6, Ezk 28:11-19) 

Not only that, satan is not even as powerful and formidable as we have been made to believe. According to the Scriptures, a time is coming when God will send just one angel to arrest and bind him up for a thousand years. If satan, then, can be arrested and bound by just one angel, does that not suggest that he is very limited in abilities? That is exactly what it suggests. (Cf. Rev 20:1-3)

So, with God in us, there is no scheme of the devil and his cohorts that is a match for us; there is no challenge, trial, temptation, situation or circumstance that is a match for us. However, we need to walk in the consciousness of His awesome presence in us so that we will not forget to take advantage of it in our time of need.

I pray that the Spirit of God in you will daily strengthen your heart and emboldened it to walk in the victory and liberty that the Lord has already purchased for you, as you go through the remaining part of the year. Just keep walking with God, and you will keep walking without fear.

Have a very pleasant day.

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“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16NIV) 

Who is speaking here? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. And who is He referring to? He is referring to believers in Him; He is referring to all of us who have become members of His body through our faith in Him. And why does He speak like that? Why does He say, “Whoever listens to you listens to me and whoever rejects you rejects me?” He says this because of our oneness with Him. 

See, He is the one we are representing in this world. We are sharing His life. We are sharing His holiness. We have become His ambassadors here on earth. (Cf. 2Cor 5:20)

Therefore, anyone that listens to us here one earth listens to Him as well. That is because we do not have a message of our own. It is the words that He has put in our mouths that we are declaring. If you, then, won’t listen to us, He is the one you are refusing to listen to. 

That being the case, on the day of reckoning, when some will stand before Him and He will say to them, “I told you how to live to please me, but you would not listen”, they will ask Him, “When did you ever say anything like that to us, seeing that we never saw you?” And then He will say to them, “But members of my body spoke to you. And since they spoke to you, you have to take it for granted that I was the one that spoke to you. But since you rejected them you have rejected me also.”

Now why will the Lord speak in this manner? It is because we are one with Him. So, anyone who listens to us listens to Him and anyone who rejects us rejects Him. In like manner, anyone who rejects Him also rejects the one who sent Him, that is, God. You can see, then, that the Lord takes our oneness with Him as members of His body seriously. And you too should take it seriously.

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“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"” (Isa 6:1-8NIV) 

The first thing to note in this passage is that Isaiah was with the Lord. Of course, the things he describes here are from a vision he had seen. But the point is that he was with the Lord when he heard the things he heard. And because he was with the Lord he became aware of his own unrighteousness or wickedness, something that the Lord immediately took care of. 

But then, even though Isaiah was there before the Lord, He still said, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Isaiah was there. He was standing before the Lord. And so the Lord could have said, “Will you go for us, Isaiah?” But He did not say that. He did not assume that Isaiah was there for Him, even though he was right there. 

So, even though he was standing there before the Lord, He still said, “Who will go for us? Whom shall I send?” And Isaiah had to say, “Here am I. Send me!” before the Lord said to him, “Go and tell this people…” Therefore, standing before the Lord or being with the Lord’s people all the time does not mean that you are available to lead or serve them. 

Moses, as we are told in Exodus, chapter 3, was standing before the Lord on that holy ground. Yet he was frank about the fact that he was not available for what God was sending him to do. God said, “I am sending you to Pharaoh.” And Moses said, “No, I am not available for that. Send someone else.” God even gave him some signs to show him that He would be with him and ensure that he succeeded in the task. Still Moses said, “Send someone else.” In fact God got angry with him at some point, for he was just giving all kinds of reasons he was not available for the job. He even said that he stammered and so was unsuitable for the task. And God was like, “What do you mean by that? Who created the tongue with which you speak? Are you saying that I cannot fix it for you, so that it becomes suitable for whatever I want you to use it for?”

The point is that Moses wanted God to know that he was not available. That is why I am saying that the one that God will use in leading or serving His people must be available and available not just by words of mouth. The Lord shared a parable of two sons who were told by the father to go and work in his farmland. When he said to the first son, “Go and work today in the vineyard,” his reply was, “No, I will not go. I am not available.” But later, according to our Lord, he thought about it and went. Then the father said to the other son, “Go and work in the vineyard today.” And he said, “Okay, I will go.” But he never went. (Cf. Matthew 21:28-31)

So, being available to lead or serve God’s people goes beyond just saying it with your mouth or being present with the Lord’s people or in their meetings all the time. It is a thing of the heart. You have to be truly available, available to God and available to His people. You must be willing to do whatever you are told to do at the time He wants you to do it. You must be willing to care for His people when due. When they need you, you must be there. Whatever it is that they need you for, you have to be there for them.

It is unfortunate today that many so-called leaders of God’s people are not available to the people they are leading. You need to visit some of our assemblies and see the way leaders are treated there. You will see that they are not available. Someone will want to see the pastor, and he will have to first deal with several layers of secretaries and personal assistants before he is able to get to him. Some pastors are more difficult to access than the president of this country. Why? They are not available.

Now are you too available for God to use in blessing His people? You know the answer. And whatever it is, remember that God will not reward you for what you do not make yourself available for Him to do.

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“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2Corinthians 3:4-6NIV)  

The first thing Paul tells us in our opening bible text is that our competence comes from God. Then he goes on to say that we are ministers of the Spirit. In fact, he actually says God has made us able ministers of the Spirit. 

So, if you are a child of God, you are also an able minister of His Spirit, just as I am an able minister of the Spirit. And our competence (our ability to minister for God) does not come from our education. It does not come from our wealth. It does not come from our age. It comes from God Himself. 

In fact, our ability to serve God or minister for Him effectively does not even come from the fact that we know a lot of Scriptures or from the fact that we pray all the time. Rather, it comes from God.

Now am I saying it is not good to pray? No! It is good to pray. I pray and, as we are instructed in the Scriptures, I also urge you to pray. Also, I study the Scriptures. And I urge you too to do your own studying of the Scriptures. But I do not derive my confidence or competence from the studying of Scriptures or from praying; I derive it from God. 

You can be studying the Scriptures and also praying and still not be competent in serving God and in blessing people. And that will be because you are relying on the effort you are making in praying or in studying Scriptures. But the word of God says our competence comes from God. Our ability to minister effectively, which is what Paul is talking about, our ability to reach out to people and deliver them from the power of the devil comes from God Himself. And as long as we are functioning with this mind-set, we are equal to any task given to us by God. Yes, we can do whatever He wants us to do. We can bless all the people He wants us to bless, regardless of the circumstances. Hallelujah!

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“Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.” (Acts 19:18-19NIV) 

When did these things happen? It was when Paul was in Ephesus, preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. And as a result of his preaching, people’s lives were being radically changed. So, they were coming out publicly to testify that their lives were being changed. Those who had charms were bringing out their charms to destroy them. Those who had magic books were bringing out their magic books and burning them. And they were doing these things publicly.

Unfortunately, today, often when we want to lead people to the Lord, we will say, “All eyes closed. If you don’t want any problem in your life, close your eyes.” Why do we do that? Generally, it is because there are people who will not raise their hands and confess Jesus, if others are watching them. And that is because they don’t want anybody to know they are getting born again. 

But when you secretly get born again like that, it becomes easy for you to still go out there and act as you had not been born again. At least, nobody saw you when you gave your life to Jesus. So, nobody is going to be expecting that you live up to a particular standard, since they don’t even know that you are a Christian. 

However, it was not like that in bible days. At that time, you would openly make your confession of Jesus Christ as Lord. You would come out and everyone would see you. And that was an indication of the change that had taken place on your inside. 

That, of course, is what we see in our opening bible text. These people were coming out and renouncing their wickedness publicly. That shows that they were excited about the word of God that they had received. It shows that what they received was real.

Now can you too say that what you received was real? Are you bold to tell the world that you are now a child of God, a new creation in Christ Jesus? Are you bold to publicly express your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are not bold to reveal your identity as a child of God to the world around you, then, something may be wrong with what you received. And you need to check it before it is too late. Otherwise, God forbid, when you eventually stand before the judgment throne of God, you may just realise that what you have been calling light has been nothing but darkness all along.

So, check yourself.

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“But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him and said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God." Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD's temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.” (2Chron 26:16-20NIV

What led Uzziah to enter the temple of the Lord to burn incense? It was pride. Here was a king that began reigning at the age of sixteen and then went on to reign for fifty-two long years. Even the great King David reigned for only forty years (2Sam 5:4-5). But this man enjoyed many fruitful years of reign as a king over the land of Judah. Why? It was because the Lord gave him rest, good health and success in all his ways. In fact, the Scripture says that this man was marvellously helped by God to become famous, powerful and great (2Chro 26:15

But then, after many years of enjoying the goodness of God, he began to think of himself as some special breed. At least, he had succeeded as a king, as a military leader, as a farmer and as a land developer (2Chro 26:6-10). So, as he thought, if he should go into the priestly ministry as well, nothing should stop him from succeeding. That was why he entered the temple of the Lord with incense in his hands to bur

However, as the priests in the land boldly told him, it was not in his place to burn incense to the Lord. In other words, he had already overstepped his boundaries. He had taken upon himself to do something that he was neither anointed nor trained to do. As the bible shows us, even those who were anointed as priests at that time could not just show up before the Lord anyhow or offer any kind of incense to him and not suffer for it

Why did Nadab and Abihu die before the Lord, even though they were his anointed priests? Was it not because they offered a strange fire before him? (Cf. Lev 10:1-3) Then why did God, through Samuel, tell King Saul that his kingdom would not endure? Was it not because he took up the priestly duty of Samuel in offering some sacrifices to the Lord on an occasion? Yes, he did what he did because he was frustrated and under great pressure from those around him. Nevertheless, he did it at the cost of his kingdom. (Cf. 1Sam 1

Now these two accounts were well documented in the Scriptures for someone like Uzziah to learn from. But apparently, he learnt nothing from them. So, the very day he overstepped his boundaries to assume priestly functions in the land was the day God struck him with leprosy on his forehead. God struck him with something he could not hide from anybody. So, he had to step down from the throne for his son, Jotham, to reign in his stead. And even when he died, public sentiments would not allow the palace to bury him with his ancestors. Instead, he was buried in a field near them. (Cf. 2Chronicles 26:21-2

What is the point of this? It is that while it is good to diversify in life, especially when God is increasing us in good things, we must know our boundaries in life and not overstep them. That you are successful in a certain line of business or vocation does not mean that you have what it takes to succeed in any other kind of business or vocation

So, if it is not something you are absolutely sure you have abilities or training for, don’t allow pride, greed or the smooth talk of men drive you into doing it. Otherwise, you may meet with utter disgrace by getting involved in it. And only God knows how many successful people that have met with certain death, disgrace, illness or destruction by getting involved in politics or some sort of businesses that they did not have the ability, training, influence or experience to succeed i

Then, regardless of how successful you may be in life, don’t ever disregard spiritual authority or carelessly interfere in spiritual functions that God has not given you abilities for. Yes, every child of God is anointed and not one of us is more anointed than others. However, each of us has their own place in the kingdom. And it is only by staying in that place where God has anointed you to be that you can prosper. If you should, then, begin to address yourself by a name or title that God has not given you and to take up tasks that He has not gifted you to do, at some point, disgrace or destruction may break out on your forehead. And you won’t be able to hide it. So, mind yoursel

f.n.. 3)3). n.).), mind yourself.

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As we see in the bible, at various times in life God plants us in different people’s lives to be helpers or comforters to them. This, of course, is never to make slaves of us, even though we may sometimes find ourselves doing things that slaves do. Rather, it is often to prepare us for greater heights God wants to take us or for greater assignments He wants to give to us.

For instance, before Joseph became second-in-command to Pharaoh, he had served as a servant and helper to Potiphar and also to the warden of the prison he was taken to after the blackmail of Potiphar’s wife. And the experiences and training he had while serving these people must have helped him greatly while leading the nation of Egypt. Also, before Elisha became the leading prophet of the nation of Israel, he had first served and helped Elijah in many ways. And the time he spent with that man of God must have greatly helped him in cultivating the right culture in handling the word of God even in difficult situations. (Cf. Gen 39-41; 1Kings 19 - 2Kings 2)

But then, we must understand that the reason both Joseph and Elisha eventually got to the great heights God wanted them to get to and also succeeded there was that they made themselves quite useful to those that they were meant to serve at the time they were meant to serve them. If Joseph, for instance, had been useless to Potiphar, he would not have put all his possessions in his care. Or if he had been useless to the warden of the prison he was taken to, he would most likely not have had the opportunity to meet the man that secured his release.

So, wherever you are, identify the people God wants you to serve, help or comfort and prove yourself highly useful or invaluable to them instead of becoming an unnecessary burden. Don’t be like Job’s three friends who came to comfort him in his time of trial but ended up hurting him more. Look at his words concerning them: “You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you! If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.” (Job 13:4-5NIV)

Then don’t be like John Mark who, in his early days as a minister, abandoned Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary trip. According to Luke, this man had followed these apostles to help them in whatever way they might need him. That means he may have been required to help them with their house chores, travel arrangements, letter writing or delivery, tax payments and so forth. But for no good reason, he left them when the work was just starting. So, he was a useless minister to them at that time, even though he was Barnabas’s cousin. No wonder Paul did not want them to take him when they were going on their second missionary trip. (Cf. Acts 13:5&13; Acts 15:36-41)

Now all thanks to God that Mark later woke up and began to make himself responsible in serving the leaders He wanted him to serve. So, Paul would later ask Timothy to bring him to him because he had become useful to him in his ministry (2Tim 4:11). And that is how God wants all of us to be. He wants us to grow up to be tremendously useful to the people in our lives, especially our leaders, whether at home, in the church or at work. 

See, leaders, including our parents, don’t want liabilities around them but helpers. They already have enough work to do and don’t want followers that will make things harder but easier for them. So, if you can’t make things easier for your leaders, wherever you may be, you are useless to them. And as long as you are like that, your leaders won’t see any reason to lift you up. Even God can’t open greater doors of usefulness for you, if you are useless to those He wants you to serve or help. So, wake up, as Mark eventually did and start making yourself useful to all the people He wants you to serve. And before you know it, doors of opportunity for greater heights will start opening here and there for you.

Have a fabulous day.

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“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul; and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” (Psalm 103:1-5NIV)

What is this psalmist telling us here? It is the need for us to acknowledge and praise God for all that He is doing in our lives. He says do not overlook any of His benefits. That means we must continually show gratitude to God. Our show of gratitude to Him must be constant and always. We must be ever thankful to Him for all that we are receiving from Him, not forgetting to thank Him for anything.

Being grateful to God in this manner, of course, will include being grateful to Him also for those things we cannot feel, see or touch that we have received or are receiving from Him. In other words, we are not to be grateful to God only for the material things or the things associated with living in this world that we receive from Him – we are also to be grateful to Him for the spiritual things we have received from Him. 

Yes, we must be thankful for the material things and other things that are associated with living in this world that we have received from God. But there are things are even more important than the things of this world that we have received from Him and that we need to acknowledge and be thankful for.

For example, the Lord once sent a number of his disciples out to preach the gospel and heal all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. And they went and came back with glad tidings. That was because many were healed and delivered from all kinds of problems. What shocked them even more was the fact that demons obeyed them. So, they began to rejoice over that. But the Lord told them not to rejoice because demons submitted to them but to rejoice because their names were written in the book of life. (Cf. Luke 10:17-20)

So, there is a higher level of praise, thanksgiving or appreciation that we can give to God. When we are thankful to Him for those spiritual blessings that we have received from Him, we are giving Him a higher level of praise.

In any case, the point of it all is that we must not overlook any of the beautiful things we are receiving from God, so that we may thank Him for it. And I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day. 

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I pray for you today that God will continue to keep you safe from the corruption of these last days and make you stand before our Lord Jesus pure and blameless when He returns. Amen.

Sometimes ago, I saw some very disturbing videos on the internet of some of our young men and women in the country stripping themselves naked, even in some big markets, all in the name of playing a game. They call it flip-game challenge. And many were getting involved in this madness boldly. Why? They just wanted to make themselves happy and forget their pains and sorrows. Then some saw this as a means to make easy money on the internet. Unfortunately, they didn’t care what they had to do to make that happen. 

Now all this brings to my mind one of the things our Lord Jesus says about the last days. He says, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matt 24:12-13NIV) What will increase in the last days? Wickedness! Immorality! Deceit! And how will the increase in these things affect God’s children? It will make the love of many of them for the Lord become cold. In other words, they will no longer be passionate or fervent in living for the Lord or in serving Him. That, of course, will be because they too want to keep in step with their friends, lovers, family members, neighbours and so forth that do not know the Lord.

But the Lord is also very clear to us about the fact that it is only who remain firm in their love for Him and devotion to Him to the very end that will make their salvation complete. Those who give up on Him or on righteous living because of the wickedness, immorality, deceit, bitterness or jealousy around them can only lose their souls. So, don’t let any of the terrible things the people around you are doing to take care of themselves, protect themselves or make themselves happy make the fire of your love for God die. Instead, condemn their acts, turn away from them and cling to the Lord. That will be your wisdom.

Remember that the Lord Jesus says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:25NIV) What this means is that all your friends, family members, colleagues at work or in school, neighbours or even church members that think they are going to save themselves or make themselves happy by stealing, getting drunk or getting involved in prostitution or money rituals will someday realise that they have not saved or made themselves happy at all but have only destroyed themselves. And if you allow them to entice you to be involved in their sins, you too will someday realise that you have destroyed yourself and perhaps the people you love in your attempt to save your life.

Which is it going to be, then? Will you remain true in your devotion to the Lord, regardless of the challenges life may throw at you, and depend on Him for victory, peace and joy in every situation? Or will you join all the people around you that are daily destroying themselves while they are trying to save themselves? Well, the ball is in your court. My prayer, however, is that the Spirit of God will strengthen your heart not to foolishly join the world in running a race that is bound to end in destruction. Amen.

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Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.” (2Corinthians 2:12-13NIV) 

Clearly, an opportunity was given to Paul to present the Good News to the people in Troas, as he mentions in our opening bible text. But he says that because he had no peace of mind – he was troubled and afraid – he did not take advantage of the opportunity. So he went on to Macedonia.

In like manner, there are times we are given opportunities and we recognise them as opportunities to preach the Good News but still will not take advantage of them. Why? Like Paul, it may be because we lack the courage to do so. 

But the Spirit of God is always there to supply us with all the things that are necessary to take advantage of the opportunities that He is bringing to us. And if we will recognise that and count on Him for whatever we need when these opportunities come, we won’t waste them. 

Now the Lord is going to give you opportunities to publish the Good News today. He is going to give you opportunities to tell people about Him. But these opportunities may not come when you are holding a bible in your hand or when you are praying. Instead, they may come at a time that you are not expecting them. Perhaps they will come when you are having a chat with someone or when you are on a bike or when you are sitting with someone in a car. It may even be when you want to buy something from someone. 

Wherever it may be, it is important that you recognise whatever opportunities the Lord brings you to share His Good News. Of course, it is also important that you are able to take advantage of the strength, the wisdom and the resources that are available in Him to utilise these opportunities. And my prayer is that you will be strengthened to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you paid the last penny.” (Luke 12:57-59NIV) 

Who is speaking here? It is our Lord Jesus. And what is he talking about? Well, He is not talking beyond something mundane here. Instead, he is also talking about something spiritual; he is speaking about how to deal with your adversary. 

Now who is your adversary? Satan! And if you are not born again, he is dragging you off to destruction, according to the Lord Jesus. What, then, are you going to do about that? You have to pay him off. For if he drags you off like that, you are done for. 

See, Satan is in control of your life now because you have not been saved by faith in Christ Jesus. And if you allow the situation to remain like that, he will drag you off until he completely ruins you. Then you will appear before God and you will not be able to escape—you will be thrown into prison and you will not be able to get out until you pay the last penny.

Naturally, you may be able to pay the price for your freedom, if we are talking about an earthly prison. But spiritually, which is what we are talking about, you will not be able to pay. Once a man is dragged into hell or into the lake of fire, he cannot pay; he will not be able to rescue himself. That is why Jesus says, “Right now that you can rescue yourself, right now that you can settle with your adversary, do so.” 

But how will the natural man do so? How will he free himself from the control of the devil? How will he free his family from the control of the devil? How will he free his business from the rule of the devil? What will he do to free his marriage from the control of the devil? He does not know. 

Well, that is where the Good News begins. And the Good News is that, even though the natural man is unable to rescue himself from the control of the devil, God has done something about it. Even though the natural man on his own is unable to settle accounts with the devil, God has done something about that. 

The reason he is under the control of the devil in the first place is that he is owes and has to pay. But he does not have what it takes to pay. Thank God, however, that He has done something about the payment. In Christ Jesus, God has done something about the payment, so that man is able to settle accounts with the devil. And once he settles accounts with him, he becomes free. But as long as he does not do that, Satan will continue to drag him around; he will continue to make nonsense of his life.

If you, then, want to be free from the control of the devil, if you don’t want him to drag you off into destruction, embrace Jesus as your Lord today. And He will save and deliver you permanently from the hold of the devil.

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“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1Corinthians 4:5NIV) 

I want you to pay attention to that. Paul says that when the Lord comes, He is going to bring to light what is hidden in darkness and expose the motives of the heart. That means the Lord is going to expose the intentions of our hearts, the things that motivate us to do what we do, when He comes. 

Whatever it is that you are doing, even though it is a good work, when the Lord comes, He is going to expose your motive for doing it. Now that is easy for the Lord to do, for in Hebrews 4 we are told that nothing in all creation is hidden from God; everything is laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we must reckon. So, he sees everything and knows everything.

Well, the point I am making is that God is not just concerned about what we do; He is also concerned about our motives and intentions. These are what will determine whether what we are doing will be acceptable in His sight or not.

So, I ask you, “What is your reason for doing what you are doing?” Truly, God created us to do good works. But these works can be polluted either by sin or carnality. Christians don’t have sin in their nature because they have been recreated. But carnality also can pollute good works. It can render them useless. Don’t give room for carnality in your life, then. Don’t give room for envy, pride, greed or bitterness in your life. Otherwise, all your good works may end up becoming nothing in the sight of God.

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My prayer for you today is that God will establish the works of your hands and cause you to prosper in all your ways now and always, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, if you said ‘amen’ to that prayer, it must mean that you believe in prosperity. Actually, I am yet to come across anyone who does not believe in prosperity or who does not want to prosper. Even those who criticise and complain about the so-called prosperity preachers and their messages also want to prosper. They want to succeed in their businesses. They want to be promoted at work. They want to build their own houses and wear good dresses. They want to stay healthy. And they want their children to do well in their studies and get employed by great companies or institutions. So, they are not really against prosperity, as their language suggests. What they are probably against is undue emphasis on acquisition of material wealth.

To say the fact, there are many preachers today who think of prosperity only in terms of material wealth. And while it is true that God wants His people to be rich in material things and also empowers them to do so, it is also true that He does not measure the quality of people’s life on the basis of their material possessions (Luke 12:15). So, being prosperous in life goes beyond having a lot of material things; rather, it involves possessing the ability to enjoy life in all its richness, regardless of the circumstances one may find himself in. And the ability to enjoy life in that manner does not come from having a lot of money, great education or a mighty influence on men; it comes from God.

Solomon, in his great book on life, Ecclesiastes, says to us, “Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work — this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.” (Eccl 5:19-20NIV) Can you see that? If you are enjoying your body, your family, your job, your education, your house, your resources and the fruit of the labour of your hands, regardless of how unattractive these things may be to men, then, you must understand that you are blessed of God.

Now I said that because Solomon further tells us in this same book that it is possible for a man to legitimately acquire great riches, properties, honour, children and even longevity and still not enjoy his life (Ecc 6:1-3). So, even though, naturally, we will consider anyone who has all such things prosperous, he is really not prosperous, if he is unable to enjoy them. And there are many like that today, who appear to be prosperous in the eyes of men but who are not enjoying their so-called prosperity. But, if you are a child of God, you need to know that He not only wants you to prosper but also wants you to enjoy your prosperity. 

David, in one of his Psalms, says, “Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, "Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant."” (Ps 35:27NKJV) Look at that. The Lord delights in the prosperity of His people. And since He delights in our prosperity, we can expect Him to continually furnish us with the ability we need to enjoy it. 

We, however, must stay away from anything that could tamper with the enjoyment of the things God has freely provided for us. Yes, we must stay away from things like greed, immorality, carelessness, over-confidence, confidence in the flesh, bitterness, envy and a host of other things that give Satan opportunities to steal people’s joy from them. And as we do so, we will continually see God at work in us, empowering us to enjoy our lives, regardless of the circumstances we may find ourselves in.

Do have a lovely day.

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Have you ever cheated before in life? Well, I have many times. In fact, all of us have cheated many times. But we must know that it is not good to cheat. And in case you don’t know who a cheat is, I will tell you. A cheat is someone that cleverly takes from others things that do not belong to him. Also, a cheat is someone that uses dirty tricks to win for himself prizes or rewards that he does not deserve. So, a cheat is a clever thief, a clever thief that brings sorrows and pains to the heart of others. That means a cheat is a wicked person.

Now there is no rest for wicked people. So, there is no rest for the cheat. And how do I know that? It is because the bible says so. Isaiah tells us this in chapter 57 of his book: “But evil people are like the angry sea, which cannot rest, whose waves toss up waste and mud. "There is no peace for evil people," says my God.” (Isa 57:20-21NCV) Look at that. Those who are wicked cannot enjoy rest or peace in this life. Their hearts and minds will never be calm. And that is because their wickedness will continue to hunt them.

Look, for example, at the fraudsters that are popularly called ‘419’ in our country today. Do they have peace or rest in their lives? No! They have to keep changing residences because they are afraid that those they have hurt or law enforcement agents may suddenly catch up with them. Also, look at another group of fraudsters that are popularly known as ‘Yahoo boys’. Do they have rest in their lives? No! Yes, they may appear to be living large to those around them. But is their peace in their lives? Can they freely move around the way other people do? Can people, even their family members, freely come to their houses and enter any room they like? No! They have to carefully keep most of the things they do away from others for fear of being caught in their wickedness.

In addition, if you have ever cheated as a student, you should have no problem agreeing with me that there is no peace for the cheat. You get suspicious whenever somebody is coming towards you. Even if somebody just says, “You, over there…” you will think you are the one being addressed, and you will start sweating or fidgeting or shivering. Why? You have been cheating. You have brought into the examination hall materials that don’t belong there. So, you cannot be at peace, for you know that you can be caught and disgraced.

Now what is the point of making money or acquiring things that you cannot peacefully spend or enjoy? What is the point of cheating to attain a position that you will always be afraid to occupy? Or what is the point of cheating to obtain certificates or credentials that you cannot defend with confidence? It is all useless! All of this is why I don’t envy cheats or fraudsters or thieves – I love to maintain the peace of God in my life. You too should not envy them, so that God’s peace can abide in your life forever. But supposing you have lost that peace because of you have been a cheat all along, you can have it back by turning to God through Jesus Christ now. And He will not throw you away. Instead, He will restore you and bring back peace and rest into your life. So, don’t delay. Do the right thing now.

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“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.” (1Corinthians 6:19-20NIV) 

From what Paul says to us in our opening text, it is clear that the Christian does not belong to himself. I don’t belong to myself. You don’t belong to yourself. So you cannot do with your life as you like. You cannot say, “Well, this is my life, and I will do with it as I like. I don’t want anybody to interfere.” That is wrong. The one who is of the world may talk like that. He may live like that. But a Christian cannot live his life like that. His body does not belong to him. His hands do not belong to him. So he cannot do with his hands anything that he likes. His eyes do not belong to him. He cannot look at anything that he likes, because his eyes don’t belong to him. His legs do not belong to him. So he cannot take his legs to wherever he likes. That is because he belongs to someone else. 

Again, Paul says, “You are not your own.” So don’t think you have the final say on your life; for you do not. God bought you. He paid a price for your soul. When we say that we have been set free or delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God, we must understand that it is not a cheap affair. It is easy to say, “O, I have been made free. I am free!” But how did you become free? Do you think God just said to the devil, “Let him go; he now belongs to me?” No, that’s not what happened. God did not just command satan, saying, “Let my people go,” as he did in the case of Pharaoh. God had actually said to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Pharaoh struggled and struggled with that, until he saw things that were bigger than him. Eventually he let God’s people off. (Cf. Ex 7:10-11, Ex 12:31)

Now what happened in Pharaoh’s case was a type. But that’s not what happened in our case. God did not just command the devil to leave us. God, actually, could not have commanded the devil to leave us. That is because, naturally, we belonged to the devil. Are you following? Every natural man that is born into this world is a child of the devil. Every child that is coming to this world is a child of the devil. That is the position of the scripture. But why? It is because of our relationship with Adam. When Adam sinned, he became a child of the devil. So everyone that proceeds from Adam is a child of the devil, naturally. That was why God could not have commanded the devil to let us go.

It follows, then, that in order for God to take us away from the devil, he had to pay. He had to buy us back. He had to pay the price for our souls. That was the reason he gave Jesus—he was the payment, the ransom, for our souls. And because God paid for our souls, satan had to let us go. It was a legal transaction. The price had been paid. So satan had no choice, but to let us go. Now he has no claims on our lives. For we now belong to God, naturally. All this is to let us know that it was a transaction that took place—we were bought back from the devil. Now we are no longer slaves of the devil. God bought us. 

But God, having bought us, could have made us slaves again; for he paid the price for our souls. People buy slaves and sometimes lead into worse slavery conditions. But when God bought us, he did not turn us into slaves; he turned us into Children. That is because, originally, that was what we were. And that God is now treating us as children does not mean that we should begin to think that we belong to ourselves. We don’t belong to ourselves; we now belong to God. 

Therefore, as the apostle goes on to tell us, we should honour God with our lives, our bodies and everything else we have. Otherwise, we will be wasting His grace, which will come with serious consequences. My prayer for you, then, is that you will not waste God’s grace but make the most of it to daily live to honour him, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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“After this, Jesus went out and saw a collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:27-28NIV) 

Would you not think Levi was bewitched for him to have done that? That was a grown up man, a responsible man with a job. Yet Jesus went to meet him at his work place and said to him, “Follow me,” and the man left everything and followed him. 

Well, in verse 29, it says, “Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” (Luke 5:29NIV) Interesting! Not only did Levi leave his job and follow Jesus, he also left cheerfully; he was happy to leave. 

How did I know that? It is clear from what we have here: he held a banquet; he had a party for Jesus, immediately after leaving his job. He did not come back home, crying and saying, “O, what am I going to eat now?” It is possible that you are in that position and are saying, “God is asking me to quit my job, please sympathise with me.” If you are expecting anyone to sympathise with you because God has called you away from your job to do something else for him, then, you don’t know what you have been called to do.

Levi was so happy that he had a banquet for Jesus and invited people who were like him to come around. He brought in other tax collectors and sinners like himself to Jesus. Why? He was excited about his newly found relationship with the Lord.

See, one of the reasons we don’t talk to the unsaved people around us is that we are not excited about our faith. The reason you don’t talk to your friends, neighbours, colleagues at work, family members or course mates is that you are not excited about your faith. Perhaps you are even feeling sorry for yourself because you are a Christian. And there are many that are sorry for being Christians today. But you don’t have to be sorry for being a child of God. Why? That is the best thing that can happen to any man or woman here on earth.

So, as you go this new day, be excited about your faith. Be excited about your relationship with Jesus Christ. I am excited that I am related to Jesus. And no one will ever make me feel sorry about that.

Have a lovely day.

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“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, “Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll – I have come to do your will, my God.”’” (Hebrews 10:5-7NIV) .

What did Jesus say, when He came into the world? He said I have come to do your will my God. Jesus came to do the will of God. He came to please God. He knew that was the reason he came. So there was no other assignment. Nothing was greater than this to him. “I have come to do your will,” he says. “This is my vision. This is my aim. This is my objective. This is my focus. The will of God is what I have come to do.” 

Now that has nothing to do with preaching. Of course, Jesus preached. But that was just a part of the will of God for his life. Sadly, when we talk about Jesus’ pleasing God, people often think only in the line of His ministry—His preaching, healing of the sick and casting out of devils. He did these for only three and a half years. What about the first thirty years of his life? What did He do with them? Did He please God with them?

Well, God had said to Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased,” even before He started His ministry. So if He had not preached a single message here in the world, He would still have pleased God. That is why pleasing God has nothing to do with becoming a pastor, an evangelist or a prophet. You can be all these things and still not be pleasing God. 

There are a lot of pastors, prophets, evangelists and apostles out there who are not pleasing God. Those are just carrying around titles. And all these titles are nothing before God, if our lives are not consistent with His will. The things that are highly esteemed among men are nothing before God. (Cf. Luke 16:15) 

So, living for Jesus wasn’t about being a prophet or a preacher or a healer; it was more than that. His focus was to please God. He made it His business to please God. And is that your focus too? Until it becomes your focus and vision, it cannot be realised. Until pleasing God becomes your motive, your objective in life, it cannot be realised. But that is what you were made for. And I pray that your heart will be strengthened to live accordingly every day, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Stay refreshed.

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“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” (Hebrews 3:1NIV) 

Who are we to fix our thoughts on, according to the writer of the book of Hebrews and as we see in our opening text? We are to fix our thoughts on Jesus. In other words, we are to consider Jesus in our thoughts. 

Now what are we to consider about Him? Well, he tells us in the verse that follows the one above, which reads: “He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.” (Hebrews 3:2NIV) Here he is telling us to learn from Jesus, to learn from His life of faithfulness. 

He says consider him; fix your thoughts on Him. You may have a lot of people around you who are terrible examples of faithfulness—you don’t have to consider them. There is one, however, that you can consider. This one was faithful to the one who appointed him. His name is Jesus Christ. And you should consider Him, so that you may emulate His example of faithfulness.

Your parents may not be faithful or they may not serve as good examples of faithfulness for you. Your friends, your colleagues at work, your course mates, your class mates, your fellow traders or even your brothers and sisters and pastor in church may not be true examples of faithfulness to you. Don’t waste your time considering them. And don’t let them be the reason you are living an unfaithful life. 

In short, don’t make anybody your excuse for not living a life of faithfulness. You already have a perfect example set before you, and that is Jesus Christ. Therefore, you are told to consider Him because He was faithful to the one who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. And as you fix your thoughts on Him, you will have all the encouragement you need to daily live a life of faithfulness to God, faithfulness to yourself and faithfulness to others.  

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“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” (Hebrews 3:1NIV) 

Who are we to fix our thoughts on, according to the writer of the book of Hebrews and as we see in our opening text? We are to fix our thoughts on Jesus. In other words, we are to consider Jesus in our thoughts. 

Now what are we to consider about Him? Well, he tells us in the verse that follows the one above, which reads: “He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.” (Hebrews 3:2NIV) Here he is telling us to learn from Jesus, to learn from His life of faithfulness. 

He says consider him; fix your thoughts on Him. You may have a lot of people around you who are terrible examples of faithfulness—you don’t have to consider them. There is one, however, that you can consider. This one was faithful to the one who appointed him. His name is Jesus Christ. And you should consider Him, so that you may emulate His example of faithfulness.

Your parents may not be faithful or they may not serve as good examples of faithfulness for you. Your friends, your colleagues at work, your course mates, your class mates, your fellow traders or even your brothers and sisters and pastor in church may not be true examples of faithfulness to you. Don’t waste your time considering them. And don’t let them be the reason you are living an unfaithful life. 

In short, don’t make anybody your excuse for not living a life of faithfulness. You already have a perfect example set before you, and that is Jesus Christ. Therefore, you are told to consider Him because He was faithful to the one who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. And as you fix your thoughts on Him, you will have all the encouragement you need to daily live a life of faithfulness to God, faithfulness to yourself and faithfulness to others.  

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“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling…” (Hebrews 3:1NIV)

Who is the writer of the book of Hebrews referring to here? He is referring to Christians. He calls them holy brothers and sisters. That is our identity. There are, of course, many Christians that still struggle with this. You tell them, “You are holy,” and they say, “No, I am not.” 

But look at what this man tells us. He says, “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling…” He refers to us as holy brothers and sisters. Why? It is because that is actually what we are. We are holy before God. We may not feel like we are. But what we feel or do not feel cannot change the truth. And the truth is that all of us who are in Christ Jesus are holy brothers and sisters.

Then this man of God goes on to say that we are also partakers of the heavenly calling of God. I am a partaker of the heavenly calling of God. Are you getting some facts about your identity now? You are a holy brother or sister. You are also a partaker of God’s heavenly calling. 

Sometimes when I say to people, “If you are ever going to make it to heaven, you must know right here on earth,” there are those who find it weird. They have contrary views. They say, “When we all die, then, we are going to know whether we have made it to heaven or not.” But that is a wrong position to be. It is a very precarious situation to put oneself. It is precarious not to be certain of where you will be when you leave this plane of life. 

At any rate, we are told by the Spirit of God in our opening text that we are holy brothers and sisters and also partakers of God’s heavenly calling. That means we have been called to inherit the kingdom of heaven. We are inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. That is the gospel truth. And that is what you should live your daily life to uphold.

Have a great day.

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“When David was told, "Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" The LORD answered him, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!" Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, "Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand." So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)” (1Sam 23:1-6NIV)

From our opening bible text, it is clear that it is not enough to find out from God if it is alright for us to do something; it is equally important we find out from Him whether success is sure for us in what He says that we can do or not. David, as we see in the text, was not just satisfied with the fact that God had told him that it was okay for him to support the people of Keilah in fighting the Philistines. He also wanted to be sure that doing so would not result in defeat but victory for him. And he got his answers.

But why did David act like that? He must have known that the fact that God tells someone to go ahead and do something does not mean that the person will succeed in doing so. If the person does not ask God questions on how to go about what they want to do or ask Him if they are going to succeed in doing it, they may not succeed. They may, in fact, get killed or injured while acting on the word of God.

For example, we are told in the bible that when God told Samuel to go and anoint David in place of King Saul, he immediately protested. Why? He knew that Saul had become wicked and ruthless, for the Spirit of God had already left him at the time. And if he should carelessly ordain someone else in his place, Saul would most likely kill him. So, he had to express his concern to God about the matter. And God taught him what he would do in order to succeed in the assignment and not put himself in arms’ way. If that had not been the case, if he had simply hurried down to the house of Jesse to anoint David as king in place of Saul, he would most likely have lost his life in the process, even though it was the will of God he was carrying out. (Cf. 1Sam 16:1-14)

Also, we are told in the book of Judges of how the eleven tribes of Israel failed twice to defeat the tribe of Benjamin, even though God was in support of their cause. As the story goes, certain wicked men from the tribe of Benjamin had raped a woman to death. And because their tribesmen would not punish them or hand them over to be punished by the people of God, all the men from the remaining eleven tribes decided to move against them in battle to purge the land of wickedness. (Cf. Judges 19-20)

But they did not just move against these Benjaminites without first consulting God. They consulted Him first, and He asked them to go. He even told them the first tribe to go. But when they went, they met with utter defeat. Summoning courage, they came to God again to ask whether it was alright for them to go to battle against the men of Benjamin. And He said that it was alright for them to go. But when they did, they lost again. In fact, their loss was so terrible that they all came back, weeping and crying before the Lord. (Cf. Judges 20:17-26)

Nevertheless, they inquired of the Lord again the third time to know if they should still go and fight the men of Benjamin. This time, however, God did not just tell them to go but also told them that He would give them victory. And when they went and fought against those evil men, they succeeded. Why? It was because the Lord had said that He would make them succeed. (Cf. Judges 20:27-28)

But why did they fail the first two times they went to battle against the Benjaminites, even though God approved of their going? Though we are not expressly told this in the bible, we can infer from other things said in it that they failed in that manner because they did not get enough instructions from God about the matter. Yes, they asked God if they could go to battle against those people and who should go up first among them. But they did not ask Him about the right time to strike or if they would succeed at all in doing so. So, they failed. And it was just the mercy of God that made them succeed in the final battle; it was not that they learnt their lessons and asked sufficient and right questions.

However, David, who must have read their account in the Scriptures, would not act like them at all in fighting any battle. He would not just ask God if it was okay for Him to engage in any battle; he would also ask Him if he would succeed in doing so. And God always answered him. No wonder he never lost any battle. (Cf. 1Sam 30:7-8; 2Sam 5:18-19)

In like manner, if we too do not want to find ourselves failing while acting on God’s word or instructions, we should always be patient to be adequately instructed by Him. Yes, God has spoken to you about what to do about a matter. But also make sure you find out how to go about it, where to handle it and when to handle it. Don’t run ahead with insufficient instructions about the will of God concerning any matter of your life, even if it is a prophet, an angel or God Himself that has spoken to you. Instead, like Samuel and David, always ask relevant and enough questions from God about any matter you are dealing with. Otherwise, you may often find yourself failing or getting injured while doing His will.

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“Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.” (Ex 18:17-24NIV)

There are certain events that are recorded in the bible that would probably not have been recorded in it, if it had not been the Spirit of God that moved the writers of its books to write down the things they wrote. One of them is the visit of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, to him. What was so special about this man’s visit to Moses that it had to be recorded? A man, with his daughter and grandchildren, misses his son-in-law, goes to visit him and then he throws a party for him. How does that bless anybody? (Cf. Ex 18:1-12)

Well, of course, that is a blessing to me, for it shows me that if we all are going to throw away our prejudices and relate to people in love, we can build good relationships with our fathers-in-law, mothers-in-law, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and so forth. Moses and Jethro were from two different nationalities and religions. Yet because Moses was his son-in-law, Jethro treated him kindly all the forty years that he spent with him as a fugitive (Ex 2:15-22). And even after he had left him to do the Lord’s work, the man was still concerned about his welfare and so paid him a visit. That is how it should be. But in most cases, it is not like that.

At any rate, this account is not put in the bible to merely show us the kind of affection Moses and his father-in-law had for each other. Rather, it is put there to show us how God used Jethro’s visit to set Moses right and make him more effective and efficient in the work He had given him. As it further shows us, the very second day that Jethro came was the day he noticed that something was wrong with Moses’ leadership. Yes, he was a prophet of God and also a good and righteous man, who loved his people and wanted the best for them. But his leadership style was wrong. It could not effectively and efficiently care for all the people. In short, it was bound to wear him and the people out at some point.

So, as we are shown in our opening text, Jethro lost no time in showing this man of God what was wrong with what he was doing and what he needed to do, if God would permit him, to serve God and the people better. And as we are also shown, Moses listened to him and do as he had been counselled. This, of course, made the work lighter for him and also made it possible for everybody that needed leadership help among the people to be helped. (Cf. Ex 18:24-26)

Now what if Jethro had not visited Moses at that time and pointed out to him what was wrong with what he was doing and the way out? He probably would have carried on in his error and made a mess of his ministry or die before his time. And what if Moses had not listened to that man? What if he had dismissed his counsel as that of a pagan priest that knew nothing about the living God? His pride would most likely have accelerated his destruction and the destruction of his ministry. 

What, then, is the point of all this? It is that there may be times that God needs to send certain people into our lives to show us what we are missing or what we need to do to increase in fruitfulness, usefulness or profitableness in life. It may be in our job, business, marriage or ministry that we need the good counsel or instruction of such people. Whatever the case is, it will be wise of us at such times to look beyond our relationship with such people or their status or handicaps to whatever truth God is using them to draw our attention to. 

But if we allow pride or sentiments to make us turn down a good counsel, which probably would have been the difference between failure and success for us, it is only a matter of time before we have ourselves to blame. To say the fact, what some of us need at this time to get to higher grounds in our businesses, jobs, ministries or homes may not even be more prayers, more miracles or a greater diligence. It may just be one word of counsel that will open our eyes to certain simple things we can do that will bring everything home to us. And perhaps God is already using someone to speak to us and show us what needs to be done. But our pride or sentiments won’t just let us take them seriously. We need to humble ourselves right away and act on the good counsel that is freely coming to us. Otherwise, we may never experience the lifting we so desire.

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“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13NIV) 

Think about that. The sole responsibility of all mankind is to fear God and keep his commandments. Our sole responsibility, as humans, is to live a life of faith in God, a life that takes Him very seriously. So, if you are not living a life of faith in God, you are just wasting your humanity – you are wasting away and not fulfilling your humanity. 

Of course, people may sing your praise for the things you have accomplished. And you too may praise yourself for the beautiful things happening in your life, for which you are happy and perhaps for which others adore you. But if your life is not all about taking God seriously, pleasing Him and doing His will, you are failing in your duty as a human being. Let us just say that you are living less than human. That is because your whole duty is to take God seriously, to live a life of faith in Him and a life of reverence for Him.

Paul once said to the religious leaders of the Jews that he was convinced that he had fulfilled his duty to God in all good conscience (Acts 23:1). That means he was clear about the fact that his life had been about pleasing God. 

Also, speaking along this same line to the Roman brethren in his letter to them, he says from verse 9 of chapter 1, “God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you.” (Romans 1:9-10NIV) Look at that. He says, “God, whom I serve in my spirit…” This man is testifying here that he is serving God in his spirit. He knows that his life is about serving God. 

Do you also know the same thing? Is your conscience clear about this? Now, of course, what God thinks about us may be different. What He thinks about our commitment to Him may be different. But it is important that we ourselves are also clear about where we stand in our relationship with Him. It is important that we examine ourselves to know whether our lives have actually been about taking God seriously and pleasing Him or not. This is because if our lives are not about taking Him seriously and pleasing Him, then, we are wasting them. That is the point.

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As you face this new day, I will like to remind you of your role as a Christian in the world. The Christian is an ambassador of Christ in the world. He is not here for himself; rather, he is here for the one who saved him; he is here to represent his interests. (Cf. 2Cor 5:15-20).

Now the very first thing Christ is interested in is that men everywhere would return to God. That is the reason He came into the world in the first place. The bible says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18NKJV) Thank God we have been brought back to Him. We were lost in our sins and iniquities. But God found us and reconciled us to Himself through Christ Jesus. So, as it is now, we are no longer enemies of God but friends. We are no longer children of the devil but children of God. 

Having been reconciled to God, then, He seeks to reconcile others to Himself through us. And for that to happen, we must be interested in what He is interested in—the reconciliation of man to his creator. So, let me ask you, “Are you interested in what God is interested in?” Or shall I say, “How interested are you in what interests God?”

Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippian-Church about some of the believers who were with him, said, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. FOR EVERYONE LOOKS OUT FOR HIS OWN INTERESTS, NOT THOSE OF JESUS CHRIST.” (Phil 2:19-22NIV – emphasis added)

Now how many people like Timothy can we find in our midst today? How many of us are sincerely concerned about the things that concern Christ Jesus? These are the questions the Spirit of God wants us to answer as we move on this year. God loves all men, and He is very much interested in what eventually becomes of them. But how will they know these things? It is through those of us who have already experienced His love, mercy and kindness. We are the only ones that can prove God’s love to them. We are the only ones that can show them how much God is interested their well-being.

So, as you go today, I want you to take up this challenge: Become interested in people the way God is. Show them how concerned you are about their salvation, fruitfulness and well-being. The Lord has promised that He would neither leave nor forsake us. So we can rest upon Him for strength, wisdom, grace and whatever we may need to bring those who are lost back to Him. Remember that He is the one at work in us and through us. And if we will allow Him, He will accomplish great and mighty things by our hands.

I trust that you will take no other view apart from the one the Spirit is bringing to us here. So, go ahead and walk with God, and you will walk without fear.

Stay blessed. 

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As we celebrate the goodness of God towards us every new day, it is his desire that we begin to experience order and coherence wherever our lives have become disjointed. “Oh,” you say, “is it possible for a Christian’s life to become disjointed?” The answer is yes. The bible shows us that it is possible for a child of God to live a disjointed life and not even know it. (Cf. Colossians 2:18-19)

Now to be disjointed not only means to be thrown out of orderly function, it also means to be disconnected from one’s source of life. Anyone who does not recognise and acknowledge his source of life can easily be disconnected from it. If you do not recognise and acknowledge your source of wisdom you can easily be thrown into confusion. And if you do not recognise and acknowledge the true source of your peace, your life can easily become a home of chaos. 

How many of us are living in confusion today because we have refused to acknowledge Christ as our wisdom? How many of us are experiencing untold pains all because we are not going to acknowledge Christ as our peace? 

Christ is the source of our life and fruitfulness. Therefore, to be disconnected from him is to be disconnected from life and fruitfulness. He himself says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in me.” (John 15:4NCV) 

What that means is that you cannot live a meaningful life all by yourself. You cannot live a life of peace, joy and stability, if you are disconnected from Jesus, for he is the source of every good and perfect thing. (Cf. James 1:17)

Well, the point I am making is that the Lord wants to restore us wherever we have become disconnected from him. He wants to bring us back in step with his Spirit wherever we are out of line. He wants to get rid of everything that is blocking the flow of his grace, love, peace and mercy into our lives. He does not want us to continue to live in confusion; he wants us to live well-ordered and organised lives. 

Now God wants all these things for us because he himself is a God of peace and not of disorder. (Cf. 1 Cor 14:33) We, however, must be willing to allow him to set us right in every area of our lives by acknowledging him as the source of our peace and stability. My prayer is that none of us will prevent him from putting our lives in order in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a very fruitful and productive day.

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As you continue your journey through this life, it is good that you answer this question for yourself: How available am I for God? It always interests one to know that no Christian will ever say, “I don’t want to be used by God.” In fact, it does not matter the number of Christians that you find in a congregation or an assembly, if you ask, “How many of you will like to be used by God?” they will all raise their hands and say, “I will like to be used by God.”

Well, I believe the time has come for us to rephrase that question. So what we ought to be asking ourselves now is, “How many of us are actually being used by God?” or “How many of us have actually made ourselves available to be used by God?” The reason our world is not changing is that we who have tasted the goodness of God are refusing to be used by him. God can’t just seem to take hold of us when he needs us—we are simply unavailable. 

Our problem, as I earlier highlighted, is that of insincerity. If we simply tell God not to bother us, if we tell him not to disturb us with his business, he will most likely let us be. But we are not saying that at all. Rather, we are like that young man that Jesus describes in a parable, saying, “Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, 'Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.' "The son answered, 'I don't want to.' Later on he thought better of it and went. "The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, 'Sure, glad to.' But he never went. "Which of the two sons did what the father asked?" They said, "The first…"” (Matt 21:28-31MSG)

Now, as Jesus asked, what do you think of that story? Which of the two sons do you represent? There is no need for you to start making excuses. There is no need for you to start giving reasons you have failed to make yourself available for your father’s work. That is because the father will never ask you to do any work that he has not given you the ability to do or that he himself is unwilling to commit to. Our Lord Jesus perfectly illustrates this when he says, “… My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17-18NIV) 

Look at that text again: he says, “My father is always at HIS WORK TO THIS VERY DAY…” That means God never abandons his own work. He is not remiss; neither does he grow tired or weary. Instead, he is ever committed to saving souls and transforming lives. And as Jesus puts it, it is on this basis that he also works. And it is also on the same basis that we are to do anything for God. The father is not asking us to present ourselves to be used and dumped as most of our organisations do. The reason he ever asks us to do anything at all is that he wants us to partner with him; he wants us to share in his glory and splendour. Didn’t our Lord Jesus share in his glory, having laboured with him? Sure, he did! (Cf. John 17:4&22, Phil 2:6-11)

Now are you willing to share in the glory of what God is doing in the world today? Are you willing to be his partner in his quest to bless and lift men? Note this: God can do without us, but he is unwilling to do so. Therefore, we should not make light of this rare privilege. Instead, every new day, we should whole-heartedly ask him, “What will you have me do today? Where will you have me go today? Who will you have me reach out to today?” As we daily do so, God’s mighty power will gush out through us like torrents of flood, and men will behold his glory and beauty in us.

So let’s get to work!

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“Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” (Ps 29:2NKJV)

The psalmist speaks of the beauty of holiness in our opening text. That means Holiness is meant to beautify our lives. Unfortunately, many do not hold this view. They think holiness has to do with dullness. For them, you cannot be holy and at the same time be lively. But that is not the position of the scriptures. Holiness is not synonymous to dullness at all. So when you see a Christian who is dull, then, you can almost be certain that his holiness is questionable.

Holiness is God’s gift to us; it is not a product of works. Another word that is usually used synonymously with it is sanctification. And to be sanctified is to be separated for a specific or an intended purpose. For instance, a chair, by nature, is sanctified for sitting. Of course, somebody may decide to stand on it or carry it on his head. But a chair is not made to be stood upon or to be carried on our heads; it is made essentially for us to sit upon.

In the of light this, when a man’s life is sanctified unto God, it means that his life is being lived as God intends him to live it—his life is serving the purpose for which God has made it. That is what it means to be holy. And that is what brings beauty and satisfaction into a man’s life.

Today, many of God’s people don’t even know how God wants them to live their lives. That is the reason they are not walking in the holiness of God. And that is also the reason there is no beauty about their lives. Paul says to the Thessalonian Christians, “Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more.”(1Thes 4:1RSV) 

From the above scripture, you can see that we can actually learn how to live and please God. Every Christian ought to be doing that—we ought to be learning how to live our lives to please God. If that is our concern, then our lives will never be boring or uninviting. But how can we learn how to live to please God if we do not know him personally? The key to our living a holy life or a life that is pleasing to God is possessing a true knowledge of him. When we know God personally, we will definitely know how we ought to live our lives to please him.

Therefore, as you face this new day, face it with a desire to know God better in your life. The better you know God, the better you will know yourself. And the better you know yourself, the better you will live your life the way you are meant to live it. 

Remember this: God himself desires that every one of us would know him progressively. That is why he says through Jeremiah, “...I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest...”(Jer 31:33-34RSV) 

Stay refreshed! 

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“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:7-12NIV) 

What picture of God does this paint for you? A God who delights in making you happy! Here is a God who delights in giving good gifts to those who ask Him. Notice that our Lord says that when you ask Him for bread, He is not going to give you a stone instead. That means He will fulfil the desires of your heart. And if you ask Him for a fish, He is not going to give you a snake or a scorpion instead. That is God for you.

The problem, however, is that the things we often ask of God are things that will hurt us or others. We don’t ask for bread. We don’t ask for fish. Instead, we ask for stones. We ask for snakes. We ask for scorpions. We ask for those things that can hurt or harm us or others. And when we ask Him for such things, as a responsible father, He will not deliver them to us. 

So, to just generally assume that God is not interested in what you desire or want is to miss it, for that is not the picture of Him that the bible paints for us. The picture of God that the bible paints for us is that of a God that is interested in fulfilling the desires of your heart. But He will only do so when your desires are in agreement with His will. 

All of this is why the Psalmist says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will fulfil the desires of your heart.” (Cf. Ps 37:4) So, if you want God fulfilling your every desire, delight yourself in Him. Yes, align your desires with His will. Then you will never again ask Him for anything that He will not gladly give to you.

Have a blessed day.

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“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11:1-9NIV)

The story of the tower of Babel given to us in the bible teaches us two major things. The first is the power of unity. As the account goes, there was a time in the world during which all men spoke only one language. But it was not the fact that they spoke one language that they were able to accomplish what they accomplished in building the tower of Babel; rather, it was because they were united in purpose and in mind.

Speaking the same language is a good thing, for it makes it possible for us to communicate our thoughts, desires, visions and even concerns to others in ways that they can understand us and work with us. However, it still does not guarantee that people will work or labour with us to accomplish our dreams or visions. This explains why we have groups, organisations and institutions in which, though the members speak the same language, they are not accomplishing their visions or experiencing any real development. There is no unity of mind and of purpose among them.

In the case of the people who worked on the tower of Babel, even God recognised their unity and said if they continued in that same spirit, there was nothing they planned to do that would be impossible for them to accomplish. That, of course, does not mean that they, like God, would be able to do anything they wanted, just because they were united. Rather, it means that they would be able to do anything that is within the capability of the human mind and potential. 

So, if you want that organisation or institution or group or family you belong in to go from conquest to conquest in accomplishing its visions and set goals and maximise the potential of everyone in it, then, strive to promote unity of mind and of purpose there. Also, if you want that business, company, group or family you are leading to keep accomplishing every good thing it sets out to do and enjoying the very best of the people in it, then, labour to promote unity of mind and of purpose among your people. Emphasise the relevance of unity to them all the time. Reward those who excel in maintaining and promoting unity of mind and of purpose among them. In short, make unity your watchword. 

Now do not be among those who stir up fights or divisions or rebellion where you are or among those who deliberately set up those under them in opposition against one another, as a way of preventing rebellion among them. That is diabolical. And even though it may work for you for a while, ultimately, any form of disunity that is promoted in your business, workplace, group or family, whether it is your creation or another person’s creation, can only limit and ruin everybody there, creating a platform for other forms of evil to spread among all of you. Remember that any kingdom or house that is divided against itself cannot stand (Matt 12:25). 

The second thing the story of the tower of Babel teaches us is that unity against the counsel of God is disastrous. Indeed, God recognised the unity of the people building this tower, but He also disdained their reason for building it. Unlike what many have proposed, they were not building the tower because they wanted it to be a link connecting the earth to the throne of God in heaven. No, that was not their idea or plan. And that was even beyond human capability. What they wanted, however, was to erect an imposing and magnificent tower that would be a point of attachment for all men, keeping them from spreading over the face of the earth to replenish it. They wanted a building project in which everyone would be a stakeholder and would never want to move away from because of their sentiments and love for it.

But what was God’s purpose for humanity? No! His purpose for us when He made us was for us to fill the whole earth and replenish it (Gen 1:26-28). So, when men began to work on this tower, they were setting themselves directly against God’s purpose, even though they were united. In other words, their unity was not to promote God’s cause but their own desires and pride. And in order to show them that His purpose could never be thwarted, God’s stepped into the situation and confused their language, so that they could no longer be united. That was how that project was abandoned and the people spread out from Babel over the face of the earth.

Therefore, though unity is important and is a powerful force for making people fully express their potential, it will only have the blessing of God, when it is used to promote His cause and righteousness. But the moment we begin to unite ourselves with others to do evil or to work contrary to the purpose of God, we can only expect Him to judge our so-called unity and throw us into confusion. So, don’t team up in unity with anyone or any group of people to do any kind of evil, for confusion will certainly be the payment you will get for doing so. And no one can tell what such ‘confusion’ will take away from your life and affairs.

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“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45NLT) 

Think about those words. Even though Jesus is lord over all of God’s creation, He still chose to serve us in order that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 

But then, it is easier for many of us to accept His service in bringing us salvation from our sins and the dominion of darkness than it is for us to accept His service in every matter of our lives. What I mean is that many of us usually think the Lord’s desire is to serve us only in those issues of our lives that we consider to be big or grand. So, we don’t expect Him to move in those seemingly little matters of our lives, for we believe those are for us to handle. But the Lord is interested in serving us in every area of our lives, big or small, great or little.

Now He illustrated this in the way He treated His apostles just before He went to the cross. As John reports in his gospel, one evening, just before the Lord was crucified, He did something shocking and amazing – He washed the feet of His apostles. And what He did, as historians would have us know, was a job that was usually done by house servants and maids. But the Lord, knowing fully well that God had put all things under His dominion, still went ahead to serve His men in the manner that He did. (Cf. John 13:1-5)

Yes, of course, one of them, Peter, protested and said, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? No, this is not happening. You are my Lord, and I won’t allow you to stoop so low that you will wash my feet.” And what was the Lord’s response to his protest? It was this: “Unless I wash you, you have no part in me.” Then Peter, not understanding what the Lord meant by this at all, quickly said, “If that is the case, then, wash my hands and my head as well.” But the Lord said to him, “No, Peter. A person that has already taken his bath does not need to wash his whole body again; he only needs to wash his feet.” (Cf. John 13:6-10)

What exactly was the Lord getting at by all that? It was that, as one who truly loved His men, His desire was not just to help them with the big matters of their lives but also to help them with the so-called little matters of their lives. And He was not doing this because He had forgotten that He was their Lord; rather, He was doing it because He loved them.

In like manner, the Lord wants to serve us too in every area of our lives and not just in those ones that we consider big or great. Naturally, there is a tendency in every one of us to want to handle some matters of life all by ourselves. And that is usually because we believe that we have enough intelligence, resources, influence and power to get them done on our own. But the Lord has already made it very clear to us that there is nothing, big or small, great or little, that we can accomplish apart from Him. He has shown us through His word that we have no competence of our own to get anything done in this life. So, whatever we get done apart from Him, if we get anything done at all, will someday stare us in the face as nothing. (Cf. John 15:5; 2Cor 3:5)

All of this is why we need to allow Him to serve us. We should not think there are some issues of our lives that are just too small or insignificant to commit to Him or bother Him with. In fact, we should never ever think we are bothering Him by casting every matter of our lives upon Him. That is why He came to us in the first place. He came to bear all of our life’s burdens and worries for us, that is, on a daily basis (Ps 68:19). And He came to do this because He loves and cares about us as His own possessions (1Pet 5:7). 

To reject His service in any way, then, is to say that we don’t belong to Him. So, let us allow this Lord of glory to serve us in whatever way He wants to. Let Him wash our lives, our hands, our legs, our feet and every part of our lives. 

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“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45NLT) 

Think about those words. Even though Jesus is lord over all of God’s creation, He still chose to serve us in order that we might have life and have it more abundantly. 

But then, it is easier for many of us to accept His service in bringing us salvation from our sins and the dominion of darkness than it is for us to accept His service in every matter of our lives. What I mean is that many of us usually think the Lord’s desire is to serve us only in those issues of our lives that we consider to be big or grand. So, we don’t expect Him to move in those seemingly little matters of our lives, for we believe those are for us to handle. But the Lord is interested in serving us in every area of our lives, big or small, great or little.

Now He illustrated this in the way He treated His apostles just before He went to the cross. As John reports in his gospel, one evening, just before the Lord was crucified, He did something shocking and amazing – He washed the feet of His apostles. And what He did, as historians would have us know, was a job that was usually done by house servants and maids. But the Lord, knowing fully well that God had put all things under His dominion, still went ahead to serve His men in the manner that He did. (Cf. John 13:1-5)

Yes, of course, one of them, Peter, protested and said, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? No, this is not happening. You are my Lord, and I won’t allow you to stoop so low that you will wash my feet.” And what was the Lord’s response to his protest? It was this: “Unless I wash you, you have no part in me.” Then Peter, not understanding what the Lord meant by this at all, quickly said, “If that is the case, then, wash my hands and my head as well.” But the Lord said to him, “No, Peter. A person that has already taken his bath does not need to wash his whole body again; he only needs to wash his feet.” (Cf. John 13:6-10)

What exactly was the Lord getting at by all that? It was that, as one who truly loved His men, His desire was not just to help them with the big matters of their lives but also to help them with the so-called little matters of their lives. And He was not doing this because He had forgotten that He was their Lord; rather, He was doing it because He loved them.

In like manner, the Lord wants to serve us too in every area of our lives and not just in those ones that we consider big or great. Naturally, there is a tendency in every one of us to want to handle some matters of life all by ourselves. And that is usually because we believe that we have enough intelligence, resources, influence and power to get them done on our own. But the Lord has already made it very clear to us that there is nothing, big or small, great or little, that we can accomplish apart from Him. He has shown us through His word that we have no competence of our own to get anything done in this life. So, whatever we get done apart from Him, if we get anything done at all, will someday stare us in the face as nothing. (Cf. John 15:5; 2Cor 3:5)

All of this is why we need to allow Him to serve us. We should not think there are some issues of our lives that are just too small or insignificant to commit to Him or bother Him with. In fact, we should never ever think we are bothering Him by casting every matter of our lives upon Him. That is why He came to us in the first place. He came to bear all of our life’s burdens and worries for us, that is, on a daily basis (Ps 68:19). And He came to do this because He loves and cares about us as His own possessions (1Pet 5:7). 

To reject His service in any way, then, is to say that we don’t belong to Him. So, let us allow this Lord of glory to serve us in whatever way He wants to. Let Him wash our lives, our hands, our legs, our feet and every part of our lives. Then and only then can our lives be meaningful, pure, unsullied and overflowing with God’s goodness in this dark and decaying wo

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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16NIV) 

Why is Paul not ashamed of the gospel? It is because he is convinced and persuaded that it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes it. Now Paul is saying this to the Romans, men and women who have been brought up to believe in force and to trust in their military strength. They were the world power at that time. And with their military strength they had conquered several people, people of different languages, colours and tribes. They had taken the lands of these people and imposed their civilization upon them. 

But their military strength could not change the hearts of their captives or conquests, neither could it change their own hearts. Their military strength could not put an end to sexual immorality that pervaded the entire Roman Empire at that time. It could not deliver them from debauchery and the different kinds of evils that were troubling the land. So, Paul tells them, “I know what can deliver you from all these ills. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I am not ashamed of preaching it, for I know it is capable of changing anybody’s life.” 

Now do we have the same persuasion? Do you have the same persuasion in your heart that the word of God is capable of changing people’s lives? Do you have the same persuasion that the word of God is capable of transforming people’s lives? All these people that are misbehaving and messing up around you, your friends who are living immoral lives, your colleagues who are living immoral lives, your neighbours who are messing up, are you persuaded that the word of God is capable of changing their lives? Or have you totally written them off? 

You know sometimes we are found saying of some people, “No, he cannot change. That is how he is going to end his life.” But have we given them the word of God yet? Paul says I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. If you too have the same conviction, you will not be ashamed of giving the gospel to anyone around you that cares to listen.

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“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1Timothy 4:8NIV) 

Here Paul says physical training is of some value. Yes, godliness is better, for if you train yourself to be godly, the benefits are eternal. Nevertheless, physical training still has its own value. Paul says it is of some value. And you should get that value, though it is small.

So, exercise your body. It is important. Of course, you won’t find in the Scriptures what sort of exercise you should do. But there are professionals in this area as well as people who have some experience in it. Consult them, and they will tell you what is good for you. 

But it is important that you exercise your body. Do not allow your body to become unnecessarily fat or so fat that you can no longer carry it. Exercise it. Also, if the nature of your job requires that you sit down for long, you should know that you will need to give your legs or back some sort of exercise, so that they will not begin to give you problems at some point. 

Some of us use computers all the time. There is what is called office ergonomics, which speaks of the proper way to sit in the office, the proper way to set your desk and chair and so forth. Such things are important in keeping your body healthy. And if you don’t pay attention to them, you may start having issues with some parts of your body at some point.

Also, look at pregnant women. There are exercises that they subject them to when they go for antenatal. Why? They want to keep their bodies fit for what is coming. So, you cannot say, “It is not in the bible that pregnant women should exercise their bodies?” Exercise has its own value. And you should get it, even though it is not much, for it is one of the things that will keep your body fit and healthy.

Have a great day.

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“Jesus said to his disciple: ‘Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.’” (Luke 17:1-3NIV) 

The Lord is showing us here that it is possible for us to be responsible for other people’s fall. You can be an accessory in other people’s fall. We can make ourselves available to be used by the devil in making others to sin.

Now while it is true that when we make somebody sin, we are going to be punished, it does not mean that the one who has sinned will not be punished at all. What I am saying is that even if someone is responsible for making another person sin against God and fall, it does not mean that the one who has sinned will not be punished or made to face the consequences of the wrong things he has done. 

Truly, the one who causes another one to sin will get the punishment due to him for doing so. That, however, does not mean that the one who was misled or made to sin will be exonerated. In the case of Adam’s sin, for example, we can see that even though God agreed that Eve played a role in his sin, He did not because of that exonerate him. And even though He agreed that it was Satan that deceived Eve and caused her to do the wrong thing, He did not because of that vindicate her. Judgment was passed on the devil for what he did, but Eve also was punished for the role she played in the whole thing. Likewise, Adam was not left alone – he too received his own punishment for what he did. 

So, we must not think that by holding other people responsible for our sins, we will be exonerated. That is not going to happen. God, in dealing with matters of sin, looks at everyone that is responsible for them and makes sure he receives what is due to him. We humans don’t usually act like that. We just look at things narrowly and judge people on the basis of what they have done. We are not going to consider all the other factors that are responsible in making people do whatever they have done. But God does that. 

In the case of Eli’s sons, as another instance, even though their father was not in any way involved in their wrongdoings, he also was punished. Why? God said that he was in a position to set his children right, but he did not. So, God considered him to be a partaker of their sins. And that is why you need to keep in mind the fact that there is no way you are going to get away with your sins by blaming others for them.

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“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17NIV) 

Did you see that? We are to be careful how we live, not as unwise but as wise people. That means we need to watch how we live. We need to watch what is happening in our lives and what we are doing with them. We are not to live anyhow, recklessly or carelessly but thoughtfully.

Now what will make it possible for me to do that? It is my understanding of the will of God. That is why Paul says do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is. If I do not understand what the will of God is for my life, there is no way I can live my life to agree with it. So, I need to first understand what God wants of me. I need to constantly make effort to know what He requires of me, how He expects me to live and function. Then I can begin to watch the consistency of my life with what He wants.

So, if you have been living your life anyhow, you are not doing the right thing as a child of God. If you have not been watching what you are doing with your life to see that it agrees with the will of God, you are not living right as a child of God. You need to pay attention to what you are doing with your life as a child of God. I also need to do so. And my desire is to get to that point where I am able to say, as Jesus did, that I always do what pleases God. That means if I am not at the moment doing all that pleases Him, I should know. If my life is not in agreement with His will, I should know. And if I know that my life is not in agreement with His will, what am I doing about it?

God wants my life to conform to His will. Paul says in his letter to the Romans that God predestined us to conform to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). So, we have a standard that our lives are meant to conform to. That is why we cannot live our lives carelessly or recklessly but in conformity with the will of God. And may you be strengthened to live accordingly every remaining day of your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day.

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“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:13-16NIV)

As the story of the prodigal son shows us, he left his father, taking along with him everything he had. But before long, he lost everything and was left with nothing. And that is to illustrate to us what will become of everyone seeking to be independent of God. He is going to ultimately lose everything. 

But then, those who choose to live independent of God may not lose money. The prodigal son lost his money because he was not financially intelligent. He had not learnt enough from his father about handling money before he left the house. So, he lost all his wealth. But you may live independent of God and not lose your money. You can choose to live independent of Him and be wealthy. You can choose to live independent of Him and still be influential. In fact, your fame may arise out of the fact that you have chosen to be independent of God. There are people that have become famous or influential by living very crazy lives. They do crazy things that get people’s attention and even lead some to fall in love with them.

So, your choice to be independent of God may not result in poverty for you. It may not keep you from being famous, powerful or highly educated. This is one thing that Christian preachers often miss. They often erroneously give their hearers the impression that when someone chooses to be independent of God, he will surely not amount to anything in life or be able to get to certain heights in life. But that is not true. 

See, the story of the prodigal son is simply an illustration of what can happen to those who seek to be independent of God. A whole lot of other things can happen to those who choose to be independent of God, that is, apart from losing their wealth. They can lose their health. They can lose their positions. They can lose their family. Or they can lose their happiness. 

But then, they may, in fact, not lose any of the things I just mentioned. They may have what seems to be a perfect life, the kind anyone would wish to have. However, there is something else more important than all these things that those who seek to be independent of God will surely lose, if they do not repent. That is their soul. And losing your soul is worse than losing anything else in this world. That is because the things of these world can be recovered, if we lose them. But our souls cannot be recovered, if they are lost. So, if you lose your soul, you have lost everything.

Do you, then, want to lose your soul? What will you give to redeem your soul, if you should lose it? Nothing in heaven and on earth can redeem your soul apart from the sacrifice God made through His Son Jesus Christ. And you cannot make that sacrifice yours, if you want to live independent of God. So, if you do not want to lose your soul, don’t run away from God. Instead, yield yourself to Him and begin to live with Him. And He will see to it that your life is full and rich.

Have a blessed day.

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“Then Samson's wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer." "I haven't even explained it to my father or mother," he replied, "so why should I explain it to you?" She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.” (Judg 14:16-17NIV)

What was Samson’s weakness? Women! Yes, that is what almost every bible student or teacher would say. But Samson was not the first or only person in the bible to love women or to be involved with multiple women. Abraham, as we are told in the bible, had more than Sarah in his life. He also had an unspecified number of concubines in his life. Yet he was not led astray or into destruction by any of them. What about David? He also had many wives and concubines in his life. Yet not one of them led him astray or opened the door for Satan to come into his life and afflict him. (Cf. Gen 25:1-6; 2Sam 5:13)

Am I saying it is alright to be a lover of women or to be involved in polygamy or adultery? No! The word of God is very clear about God’s stand on such things. And though He did not punish these saints of old for their involvement with multiple women, He has now made it abundantly clear to us through His Son and through His holy apostles that people who give themselves to sexual immorality have no place in His kingdom. 

However, I brought up these things just to show you that Samson did not fail God and fall simply because he was involved with all kinds of women. Rather, he failed Him and fell because he was weak in handling love manipulations and pressure. 

As we see in our opening text, even in handling the very first love of his life, the only woman that he actually went after to marry, he was weak. He was weak in handling her manipulations and the pressure she mounted on him to do something that would put him in financial trouble. And though he gave in to her, he still ended up losing her to another man.

Similarly, in handling Delilah’s case, he was weak in handling her manipulations and pressure. Yes, he loved her. But when it became clear to him that the woman was up to no good, what should he have done? He should have walked away. Even if he was not going to walk away like that, he could have told her that he had no intention of discussing the secret of his power with anyone. But he did not do any of these. Instead, he kept on telling the woman lies and trying to play games with her. And when he could no longer handle her nagging, he told her the whole truth and exposed himself to destruction. (Cf. 1Sam 16)

Now there are many today that may end up being destroyed like Samson because they too are weak in handling the pressure or manipulations of certain individuals in their lives. These individuals may be their husbands, wives, parents, children, friends, neighbours or even religious leaders. But they are constantly on their necks, manipulating and pressuring them to do something that will put them in trouble. 

They may be pressuring them to borrow money for them or for certain things they can do without, money that they have no capability to pay back on time. Or they may be pressuring them to acquire facilities they cannot manage or to go for a job that will take them away from the faith or to get involved in a love relationship that is bound to be deadly. But the truth is that when trouble eventually happens, as it will most likely happen, these people may not be there at all to save them.  

So, if you have people in your life at the moment that are constantly manipulating, threatening, enticing or pressuring you to do something that you know is not good for your life, home or future, you must not yield to them. Will that be easy? No! Taking our stand against threats, manipulations and pressure, especially if they are coming from those that we love, respect or adore, is usually not easy. But we must always remember the word of the Lord that says, “My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.” (Prov 1:10NIV) We must also always remember His word that says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” (Ps 1:1NIV)

Now, of course, it is not every time that these words apply only to sinners and ungodly people. There are times that it is godly people, who ought to know better, that yield themselves to be used by the devil to harass, threaten, manipulate, entice or pressure us to go overboard and destroy ourselves. And where this is the case, we must take our stand against the devil using them, while still maintaining our love for them.

Truly, doing this may sometimes require that we end certain relationships altogether or that we endure the rejection and hostility of those that we love dearly. But we have to do so, as long as it is what will keep us in the will of God. All we need is to keep our Lord Jesus who, as an example for us to follow, endured the opposition of sinners all His earthly days always before us (Psalm 16:8; Heb 12:3). And we will never grow weary or be moved but always be vindicated by Him as being right and just in our ways. 

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“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:7-12NIV) 

What picture of God does this paint for you? A God who delights in making you happy! Here is a God who delights in giving good gifts to those who ask Him. Notice that our Lord says that when you ask Him for bread, He is not going to give you a stone instead. That means He will fulfil the desires of your heart. And if you ask Him for a fish, He is not going to give you a snake or a scorpion instead. That is God for you.

The problem, however, is that the things we often ask of God are things that will hurt us or others. We don’t ask for bread. We don’t ask for fish. Instead, we ask for stones. We ask for snakes. We ask for scorpions. We ask for those things that can hurt or harm us or others. And when we ask Him for such things, as a responsible father, He will not deliver them to us. 

So, to just generally assume that God is not interested in what you desire or want is to miss it, for that is not the picture of Him that the bible paints for us. The picture of God that the bible paints for us is that of a God that is interested in fulfilling the desires of your heart. But He will only do so when your desires are in agreement with His will. 

All of this is why the Psalmist says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will fulfil the desires of your heart.” (Cf. Ps 37:4) So, if you want God fulfilling your every desire, delight yourself in Him. Yes, align your desires with His will. Then you will never again ask Him for anything that He will not gladly give to you.

Have a blessed day.

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“"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:22-24NIV)

When Jesus says, “Have faith in God and speak to your mountain,” we need to understand that our speaking must be done in agreement with His will. If what you are saying is contrary to His will, He will not back you up. 

So, if you are asking a mountain to move for your selfish reasons, don’t expect God to back you up. You don’t just start going around and asking any mountain you see to change its position. On what basis? Is that on the basis of the word of God to you? Is that on the basis of the will of God for your life or your world? Or is it that you just want to prove that you are related to God and have access to His authority and power?

Jesus did not do that. He never had to prove anything to anybody. When Satan told Him to prove that He was the Son of God, He did not answer him. Then when the religious leaders of the Jews asked Him to give them signs that He was truly of God many times, He did not answer them. Why? The reason was that His miracles were not done to prove to people that He had the power of God. Rather, they were done because it was the will of God for Him to do them. 

In other words, Jesus delivered people from satanic bondage not because He wanted to prove that He had authority but because God wants people to be delivered from every bondage of the devil. All He was doing with His authority and power, then, were God’s works.

So, if you want your situation to move, you need to know the will of God about it. Then you will not be telling that situation to move just because you feel that it should move; rather, you will be telling it to move because it is the will of God for it move. 

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‘A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard; and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he told the man who took care of the vineyard, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?” “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, the cut it down.”’” (Luke 13:6-9NIV) 

The Lord told this parable to show us something about God’s activity. He wants us to know that God is actively examining our lives. For what? For fruit! He wants our lives to be bringing forth the fruit of righteousness, holiness and so forth. We, in fact, have the fruit of the Spirit listed for us in different passages of the bible. And we are meant to be bringing forth this fruit in increasing measure. 

Since God, then, is examining our lives for fruit, we also ought to be examining them for fruit. So, I need to check my life to see whether it has been bringing forth the kind of fruit God wants it to bring forth or not. Has it been bringing forth the fruit of love, of peace, of contentment, of humility, of gentleness, of self-control, of brotherly affection and so forth? Has my life been bringing forth this fruit in increasing measure? I need to settle down and look at my life to see whether it has brought forth fruit to God this year or not.

If I have been taking God seriously all the year, then, my life will definitely be bringing forth fruit unto Him. But if I have not taken Him seriously, there is no way my life would have brought forth fruit unto Him, the kind of fruit that would honour Him and cause men to praise Him. In short, it is the degree to which I take Him seriously that my life would bring forth fruit. 

God Himself, as we see in Scriptures, is committed to this cause. He has not left us to ourselves in the matter. That is why the fruit He wants us to bring forth is referred to in the bible as the fruit of the Spirit. He is the one working in us to bring forth this fruit. But He will only be able to bring forth this fruit, if we permit Him to work in us. He will only be able to bring forth this fruit to the degree that we permit Him to work in us. The bible is clear about the fact that God is at work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. But His work will not be evident in us, if we will not allow Him to do what only He could do in our lives. (Cf. Philippians 2:13)

In Saint John’s gospel, chapter 15, we are told that God is committed to pruning the lives of His people so that they may bring forth much fruit. But it is only those who allow Him to cleanse their lives of those things hindering their fruitfulness that will bring forth much fruit, as He wants. 

In any case, what I am saying is that I need to examine my life for fruit, since God is examining it for fruit. I need to be checking my life in this manner, so that I will know whether it is being lived in consistency with the will of God or not. Otherwise, a time may come when God, as we see in our opening bible text, may have to judge me for being fruitless. My prayer is that each time God looks into your life and my life, He will find sufficient fruit of His righteousness in them, so that He will not be compelled to judge us. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.” (Mark 11:22-24NIV)

When Jesus says, “Have faith in God and speak to your mountain,” we need to understand that our speaking must be done in agreement with His will. If what you are saying is contrary to His will, He will not back you up. 

So, if you are asking a mountain to move for your selfish reasons, don’t expect God to back you up. You don’t just start going around and asking any mountain you see to change its position. On what basis? Is that on the basis of the word of God to you? Is that on the basis of the will of God for your life or your world? Or is it that you just want to prove that you are related to God and have access to His authority and power?

Jesus did not do that. He never had to prove anything to anybody. When Satan told Him to prove that He was the Son of God, He did not answer him. Then when the religious leaders of the Jews asked Him to give them signs that He was truly of God many times, He did not answer them. Why? The reason was that His miracles were not done to prove to people that He had the power of God. Rather, they were done because it was the will of God for Him to do them. 

In other words, Jesus delivered people from satanic bondage not because He wanted to prove that He had authority but because God wants people to be delivered from every bondage of the devil. All He was doing with His authority and power, then, were God’s works.

So, if you want your situation to move, you need to know the will of God about it. Then you will not be telling that situation to move just because you feel that it should move; rather, you will be telling it to move because it is the will of God for it move. 

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“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.” (Exodus 23:27-30NIV)

God was going to give the land of Canaan to the children of Israel. He had made a promise to do this and was, at that time, already leading them there. But before they would go into the land, He wanted them to know that He was not going to hand over all the inhabitants of the land to them at once or in a single year. Why? According to Him, the land would become desolate, if He did that, and wild animals would multiply against them.

That means God was concerned about their readiness to handle the land. He wanted to give it to them. But He also knew that they were not numerous enough to occupy it. So, if He drove out all the people in the land at once, what would happen was that most part of the land would become desolate. That is because they would only be able to occupy the land on the basis of their numerical strength and resources. They would not be able to develop or cultivate whatever was left of the place. And that would cause whatever was left to become a jungle in which wild animals would multiply in an unchecked manner. Reclaiming it, then, would become a very difficult thing for them to do.

So, you can see why God said that He would not drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan all at once but little by little. This would give the Israelites time to become numerous enough to occupy and develop all of the land. What we are saying, then, is that the volume of the land of Canaan that the Israelites occupied and received was a function of their readiness to develop it.

In like manner, the volume of what we will receive from God often depends on our readiness to handle it. So, it is important that we be devoted to developing ourselves to be able to handle what is coming to us from God. We need to make ourselves ready for that position we desire to occupy or that God has shown us in a dream that He wants to take us. This is so that the position will not destroy us but become a platform through which we can increase in usefulness in God’s hand and through which He can elevate us even higher.

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“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes 9:10NIV) 

What is Solomon saying to us here? It is that we are to pour yourself into whatever work our hands find to do. This is important because a lot of people hate hard work today. They do not want to pour themselves into whatever they are doing. But that is not God’s way. You must not hate work. You must not hate your responsibilities.

As we see in creation account, God worked diligently in creating the universe. And when we look at His work, we see beauty, excellence and diligence. There are all kinds of Scriptures that talk about the excellence that God brought to bear on what He created. We too need to bring excellence to bear on whatever we are doing. And one of the ways to bring excellence into what we are doing is to pour ourselves into it. We are not taking half-measures. Instead, we give ourselves completely into what we are doing, giving it what it takes. That is what promotes diligence.

When we are talking about diligence, we are talking about showing concern for what we are doing, so that it may accomplish the results it is meant to accomplish. That is the attitude you must have towards your work. You handle it with a consciousness that it must accomplish the result it is meant to accomplish. This is even beyond pouring yourself into your work and working with all your energy. That you use all your energy to work does not mean that you will get the results you are meant to get. If you are not mindful of the results that are expected, you may just waste your energy and skills doing something unprofitable.

So, you need to know what is expected of you by the one or ones you are working for or responsible for. What sorts of results are your clients or customers expecting from the work you are handling for them? And if we are dealing with fulfilling your responsibilities to your parents, children, the church of God and so forth, what sorts of results ought to be accomplished in their lives? You need to be concerned about the results. Why am I doing what I am doing? What is my work supposed to accomplish? That is another thing that aids diligence.

When you are diligent, when you are concerned about the quality and results of your work, you will not do it anyhow. You are going to do it to accomplish expected results. That means if you need additional understanding or knowledge about what you are doing, you will go for it or get someone who knows better than you to help you. That will be because you are concerned about getting acceptable results. 

During the reign of King Joash, this is said about those who handled the repairs of the Temple: “The men in charge of the work were diligent, and the repairs progressed under them. They rebuilt the temple of God according to its original design and reinforced it.” (2Chronicles 24:13NIV) Can you see that those people were diligent in handling the work given to them? And because they were diligent in handling it, the work progressed under them. When you bring diligence into what you are doing, the work will progress and excellence will manifest in it. When you bring diligence into what you are doing, the beneficiaries will enjoy the results or experience progress through the results. 

Therefore, in handling whatever you are doing, you need to be concerned about the results that you are accomplishing. Is it something that will serve those you are working with or something they will cast away as useless?

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“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29NIV) 

Can you see that? The people that God foreknew, He also predestined. That means before they came to be on the scene of life, God had determined what their lives would be like. Paul says God had predestined them to be conformed to the image or likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 

Now that is the goal, their life goal. They are to be rendered in the image of God’s son. They are to be conformed—it is a conformation—to the image of the Son of God. Originally, when God made man, the bible says He made him in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:27). But when you see man today, does he look like the image of God to you? When you see man today, does he bear the likeness of God in your eyes? 

But when God made him, he was made, as close as possible, to be like God. God made him in His image and in His likeness—in form, in appearance and in disposition. But because of the fall of man, he lost all that. And even though he still bears a physical appearance that looks like God, he does not bear that spiritual appearance. He does not bear the appearance of God in his character—he already lost it. He no longer talks like God. He no longer thinks like God. He no longer acts like God. He was reborn after the image of the devil. Satan became his father. And he began to talk the way satan talks. He began to think the way satan thinks. He began to act the way satan acts. 

Thank God, however, for His work of redemption for mankind. That work of redemption is to restore us to God’s original purpose for our lives. Therefore, now, our being born again is the beginning of that process. And having being born again, having being recreated, God wants us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. 

Remember when Jesus came, His life was a revelation of the perfection of God. The bible says He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus was man as God would have man to be. He was man as God intended man to be. He was the perfection of manhood. And that is why He addressed himself as the Son of Man (Mark 2:28). 

Well, the point being made is that in Christ Jesus the true revelation of what God wants us to be is seen. And now we who have given our lives to Him are being admonished to be changed, to be transformed, until we become like Him. This is to be our life goal. And I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to walk in the light of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day. 

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“Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Eph 6:10NIV) 

What is Paul’s message to us here? It is that we can actually take our stand against the devil’s schemes. You, as a Christian, can take your stand against the wiles of the devil, against his lies, against his stratagems. You can say ‘No’ to the devil. You can say ‘No’ to satan’s schemes. You can say ‘No’ to his works. You can say ‘No’ to disease. You can say ‘No’ to division in your family. You can say ‘No’ to confusion in your life..

See, you don’t have to live a confused life. You don’t have to live as a slave to sin. You don’t have to live as a slave to sickness. You don’t have to live as a slave to disease. You don’t have to be a slave to failure. You can say ‘No’ to all these things.

So, when you see that satan is at work around you or in your life, don’t keep quiet. That is one of the reasons we are learning this. The moment you observe that this fellow (satan) is already taking certain steps against you, don’t keep quiet. Why? The word of God says that you can take your stand against him. And I love that. I love the fact that I can take my stand against the schemes of the devil. I can take my stand against the lies of the devil in my family, in my business, in my job or in any other area of my life. But I am not doing that in my own strength; I am doing it in the strength of God. That is the reason I am told to put on the full armor of God. 

Unfortunately, when we talk like this, some people think we are boasting. They’ll say, “His mouth is so smooth and sweet. Is it that easy to take your stand against the devil?” Well, if that is the way you are thinking or living, then, satan will continue to mess you up. That is the point. He is messing up a lot of God’s people today. But it is not meant to be so. The reason he is messing us up is that we are not taking our stand against him. If you allow him, do you think he will not cause your failure? He will! Left for the devil, you should be on the sick bed, wondering whether you are going to die or not. That is what he is after. 

But the word of God says that we can take our stand against his schemes. It is now up to us to either take our stand against him and keep enjoying the victory Jesus has won for us or to allow him to continue to mess us up. My prayer for you is that your heart will be strengthened to do the will of God in this matter and put the devil to flight anytime he shows up in your life. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Eph 6:10NIV) 

What is Paul’s message to us here? It is that we can actually take our stand against the devil’s schemes. You, as a Christian, can take your stand against the wiles of the devil, against his lies, against his stratagems. You can say ‘No’ to the devil. You can say ‘No’ to satan’s schemes. You can say ‘No’ to his works. You can say ‘No’ to disease. You can say ‘No’ to division in your family. You can say ‘No’ to confusion in your life..

See, you don’t have to live a confused life. You don’t have to live as a slave to sin. You don’t have to live as a slave to sickness. You don’t have to live as a slave to disease. You don’t have to be a slave to failure. You can say ‘No’ to all these things.

So, when you see that satan is at work around you or in your life, don’t keep quiet. That is one of the reasons we are learning this. The moment you observe that this fellow (satan) is already taking certain steps against you, don’t keep quiet. Why? The word of God says that you can take your stand against him. And I love that. I love the fact that I can take my stand against the schemes of the devil. I can take my stand against the lies of the devil in my family, in my business, in my job or in any other area of my life. But I am not doing that in my own strength; I am doing it in the strength of God. That is the reason I am told to put on the full armor of God. 

Unfortunately, when we talk like this, some people think we are boasting. They’ll say, “His mouth is so smooth and sweet. Is it that easy to take your stand against the devil?” Well, if that is the way you are thinking or living, then, satan will continue to mess you up. That is the point. He is messing up a lot of God’s people today. But it is not meant to be so. The reason he is messing us up is that we are not taking our stand against him. If you allow him, do you think he will not cause your failure? He will! Left for the devil, you should be on the sick bed, wondering whether you are going to die or not. That is what he is after. 

But the word of God says that we can take our stand against his schemes. It is now up to us to either take our stand against him and keep enjoying the victory Jesus has won for us or to allow him to continue to mess us up. My prayer for you is that your heart will be strengthened to do the will of God in this matter and put the devil to flight anytime he shows up in your life. Amen.

Have a great day.

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It is hard for anybody to read the story of Joseph of bible days and not be inspired. That is because his story tells us something of the power of God to fulfil His purpose for us, regardless of the obstacles or challenges we may be faced with. As we see from the bible, Joseph was a man that was given the privilege to see the greatness of his future, even as a boy in his father’s house. And he indeed went on to be very great – he became the prime minister of one of the most powerful nations of his time, Egypt. (Cf. Gen 37&39-47)

But what made it possible for Joseph to be all that God wanted him to be, despite the hostility of his own brethren, the blackmail of the wife of his master (Potiphar) and his being forgotten by Pharaoh’s official that he had helped in the prison? The first thing was faith in God. Joseph had faith in God and in His ability to bring to pass His purpose for his life, regardless of the odds. And that was kept him strong in the face of all the challenges he faced in his father’s house, in his master’s house in Egypt and even in the prison.

The second thing that was responsible for the fulfilment of God’s purpose in Joseph’s life was God’s favour. As we see in the bible, this young man met with God’s favour everywhere he went. That means he was loved and embraced by people that mattered and that were able to help him. For instance, he had the love of his father, as a young man in his house. Also, he had the love of his master, Potiphar, as a slave in Egypt. In addition, when he was unjustly imprisoned, he had the love of the prison warden. And when he eventually stood before Pharaoh and spoke with him with confidence, clarity and brilliance, he won the heart of this king and was elevated above every other person in the land. That is what we call unusual favour.

But, as we also see from the scriptures, Joseph was not just loved and embraced by people because God’s favour was at work in him but also because he was hardworking, smart and diligent. See, it is one thing for God’s favour to open doors for a man; it is another thing entirely for the man to possess enough character to keep such doors open for himself. Joseph had character, the kind that many young people of today do not possess. Read what is written about him in the bible, and you will see that there was nothing that was committed to his care that he handled carelessly, foolishly or unfaithfully. No wonder every important person that he met loved and wanted him.

Another thing that made it possible for Joseph to fully come into the place of honour God had prepared for him was purity. Joseph loved and cherished purity. In fact he was willing to give up his entire public life and a great future for it. So, he was a man that could not be bribed or corrupted with anything, not even with free sex. And that is the kind of man God is able to trust with the care of kingdoms and nations.

Now you, unlike Joseph, may not have a clear picture of God’s purpose for your life. But that is not to say that He does not have a great purpose for you. He does have a great purpose for every one of us. And that purpose is for us to prosper and be a blessing to our immediate world (Jer 29:11). Fine, we may not be another Joseph or be known all over the world. But whatever God’s purpose for us is, the same ingredients are needed for it to be fully accomplished in our lives, which are faith, favour, diligence and purity. And if our lives are full of them, there is no telling what height God will cause us to attain in life.

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“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29NIV) 

Can you see that? The people that God foreknew, He also predestined. That means before they came to be on the scene of life, God had determined what their lives would be like. Paul says God had predestined them to be conformed to the image or likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 

Now that is the goal, their life goal. They are to be rendered in the image of God’s son. They are to be conformed—it is a conformation—to the image of the Son of God. Originally, when God made man, the bible says He made him in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:27). But when you see man today, does he look like the image of God to you? When you see man today, does he bear the likeness of God in your eyes? 

But when God made him, he was made, as close as possible, to be like God. God made him in His image and in His likeness—in form, in appearance and in disposition. But because of the fall of man, he lost all that. And even though he still bears a physical appearance that looks like God, he does not bear that spiritual appearance. He does not bear the appearance of God in his character—he already lost it. He no longer talks like God. He no longer thinks like God. He no longer acts like God. He was reborn after the image of the devil. Satan became his father. And he began to talk the way satan talks. He began to think the way satan thinks. He began to act the way satan acts. 

Thank God, however, for His work of redemption for mankind. That work of redemption is to restore us to God’s original purpose for our lives. Therefore, now, our being born again is the beginning of that process. And having being born again, having being recreated, God wants us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. 

Remember when Jesus came, His life was a revelation of the perfection of God. The bible says He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus was man as God would have man to be. He was man as God intended man to be. He was the perfection of manhood. And that is why He addressed himself as the Son of Man (Mark 2:28). 

Well, the point being made is that in Christ Jesus the true revelation of what God wants us to be is seen. And now we who have given our lives to Him are being admonished to be changed, to be transformed, until we become like Him. This is to be our life goal. And I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to walk in the light of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day. 

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“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29NIV) 

Can you see that? The people that God foreknew, He also predestined. That means before they came to be on the scene of life, God had determined what their lives would be like. Paul says God had predestined them to be conformed to the image or likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 

Now that is the goal, their life goal. They are to be rendered in the image of God’s son. They are to be conformed—it is a conformation—to the image of the Son of God. Originally, when God made man, the bible says He made him in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:27). But when you see man today, does he look like the image of God to you? When you see man today, does he bear the likeness of God in your eyes? 

But when God made him, he was made, as close as possible, to be like God. God made him in His image and in His likeness—in form, in appearance and in disposition. But because of the fall of man, he lost all that. And even though he still bears a physical appearance that looks like God, he does not bear that spiritual appearance. He does not bear the appearance of God in his character—he already lost it. He no longer talks like God. He no longer thinks like God. He no longer acts like God. He was reborn after the image of the devil. Satan became his father. And he began to talk the way satan talks. He began to think the way satan thinks. He began to act the way satan acts. 

Thank God, however, for His work of redemption for mankind. That work of redemption is to restore us to God’s original purpose for our lives. Therefore, now, our being born again is the beginning of that process. And having being born again, having being recreated, God wants us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. 

Remember when Jesus came, His life was a revelation of the perfection of God. The bible says He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus was man as God would have man to be. He was man as God intended man to be. He was the perfection of manhood. And that is why He addressed himself as the Son of Man (Mark 2:28). 

Well, the point being made is that in Christ Jesus the true revelation of what God wants us to be is seen. And now we who have given our lives to Him are being admonished to be changed, to be transformed, until we become like Him. This is to be our life goal. And I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to walk in the light of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day. 

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“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29NIV) 

Can you see that? The people that God foreknew, He also predestined. That means before they came to be on the scene of life, God had determined what their lives would be like. Paul says God had predestined them to be conformed to the image or likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 

Now that is the goal, their life goal. They are to be rendered in the image of God’s son. They are to be conformed—it is a conformation—to the image of the Son of God. Originally, when God made man, the bible says He made him in His image and after His likeness (Genesis 1:27). But when you see man today, does he look like the image of God to you? When you see man today, does he bear the likeness of God in your eyes? 

But when God made him, he was made, as close as possible, to be like God. God made him in His image and in His likeness—in form, in appearance and in disposition. But because of the fall of man, he lost all that. And even though he still bears a physical appearance that looks like God, he does not bear that spiritual appearance. He does not bear the appearance of God in his character—he already lost it. He no longer talks like God. He no longer thinks like God. He no longer acts like God. He was reborn after the image of the devil. Satan became his father. And he began to talk the way satan talks. He began to think the way satan thinks. He began to act the way satan acts. 

Thank God, however, for His work of redemption for mankind. That work of redemption is to restore us to God’s original purpose for our lives. Therefore, now, our being born again is the beginning of that process. And having being born again, having being recreated, God wants us to be conformed to the likeness of his Son. 

Remember when Jesus came, His life was a revelation of the perfection of God. The bible says He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus was man as God would have man to be. He was man as God intended man to be. He was the perfection of manhood. And that is why He addressed himself as the Son of Man (Mark 2:28). 

Well, the point being made is that in Christ Jesus the true revelation of what God wants us to be is seen. And now we who have given our lives to Him are being admonished to be changed, to be transformed, until we become like Him. This is to be our life goal. And I pray that your heart will be daily strengthened to walk in the light of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day. 

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“Never worry about anything. But in every situation let God know what you need in prayers and requests while giving thanks.” (Phil 4:6-7GW)

Can you see that? Paul says there is no place for worrying in a true walk with God. Is there any challenge you are facing that He is unable to handle? Or is there any project you want to handle that He is incapable of taking care of? 

So, don’t paint God bad. Don’t give the world the impression that He doesn’t care about you. Instead, talk to Him about the problem. Tell Him, in your own words, exactly what you need from Him. 

Now Paul says when you do that, you should do so with a heart of gratitude, thanking God in anticipation of what He will do. And that should not be a problem, should it? Isn’t that what you naturally do whenever you write a letter of request to people? You thank them in anticipation of what they will do. So, you should be willing to do the same with God and, in fact, with the highest sense of respect.

In any case, as we turn over the burdens of our hearts to God like this in prayer, Paul tells us that He will act on our behalf. And the first thing He will do is to take care of our inner situation. He will guard our hearts and minds with His indescribable peace, so that, even though we cannot see anything on the outside, we will know deep inside us that our problems are over (Rom 8:28; Phil 4:7). 

Then, in ways that are beyond our explanation, God will fix the problems themselves on the outside, so that we our hearts can overflow again with much thanksgiving. So, you don’t need to give up on your dreams that are yet to be accomplished in the year. There is still time to talk to God about them. Remember that nothing can ever be too late with Him. You just begin to do the praying, and you will be amazed at how He will fulfil His good word to you.

Have a great day.

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It is no news that we live in a world that is distressed and agitated. The boldest, the strongest, the wisest and even the richest of men live everyday with a growing sense of insecurity. It is becoming clearer to them that their wealth, influence, strength and wisdom cannot secure peace of mind for them, and they find that strange, very strange. 

But, according to the bible, nothing should be strange about the fact that money, position, affluence, wisdom, great education or strength cannot guarantee peace for anybody. Peace is spiritual. So it is not something that can be worked out through any earthly means or qualifications. 

Not only that, peace originates from God. Therefore, it is not something just any spiritual being can give. God’s angels, for instance, as powerful, holy and spiritual they are, cannot give anybody peace, unless they bear words of peace to him from God Himself. It should not surprise you then that satan and his demons cannot give peace. They don’t have peace; so they cannot give it. 

Satan and his demons are restless wanderers, as the scripture makes clear. So, anyone who is in league with them will ultimately wander through life in a restless manner. Don’t you see how men and women who are without God wander from one engagement to another, in search of rest and satisfaction? What they have failed to grasp is that there is nothing in this life or from the devil’s hands that can give man rest or satisfaction or peace of mind. Man’s rest and peace of mind are solely in God. (Cf. Job 1&2; Matt 12:43; 1Pet 5:8)

Now that is exactly what God is saying to all of humanity, and that is exactly the message He has brought to us, His children. The scripture says, “I will create the right words: ‘Shalom shalom to those far off and to those nearby!’ says Adonai; ‘I will heal them!’But the wicked are like the restless sea — unable to be still, its waters toss up mud and dirt. There is no shalom, says my God, for the wicked.” (Isa 57:20-21CJB)

Look at that! God is saying to us, “It does not matter where you are in life – spiritually, geographically, financially, socially and so forth – if you will turn to me and walk with me, you will have perfect peace (Shalom shalom).” However, to those who ignore Him, He says, “There is no peace for you, irrespective of what you do or have. Go to the ends of the earth and live alone, if you like. You will still not have peace, as long as you do not take me seriously.”

I thank God that you and I are among those who are able to experience and enjoy God’s peace today. And we will do well to confront our world with His message of peace, as we journey through the remaining weeks of the year. We need to let our world know what we know about God’s peace. We need to let them know through our own lives that PEACE is beyond a programme; it is a quality of life, which a man may receive only through a virile relationship and fellowship with God.

Do have a peaceful day!

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As we face this new day, I will like to remind you of the times in which we live so that you will not be carried away by the winds of anxieties and entertainments that are blowing here and there. We have come to a time in which people are striving to be all kinds of things except what God wants them to be. And if we, for any reason at all, choose to walk in ignorance of the characteristics of these times, we will eventually find out that we have become what God never intended for us to be and are doing what He never desired for us to do. 

Now I want you to know that this is already happening. I mean many of God’s people are already being affected by these times. And that is because they are naļve; they are ignorant of the characteristics of the days in which we live. 

Paul, in order to prevent his son in the faith, Timothy, from getting caught up in the mess of his days, said to him, “You must understand this: In the last days there will be violent periods of time. People will be selfish and love money. They will brag, be arrogant, and use abusive language. They will curse their parents, show no gratitude, have no respect for what is holy, and lack normal affection for their families. They will refuse to make peace with anyone. They will be slanderous, lack self-control, be brutal, and have no love for what is good. They will be traitors. They will be reckless and conceited. They will love pleasure rather than God. They will appear to have a godly life, but they will not let its power change them. Stay away from such people.” (2Tim 3:1-5GW)

Now you too must understand what Paul wanted Timothy to understand. You must understand that these are the last days. You must also understand that these last days are filled with violent periods that are capable of changing people’s attitude towards God and towards life. And when Paul says people will change, who do you think he is referring to? You say, “The unbelievers, of course!” 

But you are wrong. To be candid, Paul could not be referring to the unsaved ones here. That is because the unsaved ones don’t have to be any of these things that are stated in Paul’s list—selfish, arrogant, abusive, ungrateful and so forth; they are already. Therefore, it is the Christian that Paul is referring to here. It is the Christian that can stop being christianly and start being something else because of the pressure of the hour. It is the Christian that can cover up his terrible intentions with an appearance of godliness.

So watch out for those desires that are capable of driving you crazy. Watch out for those ambitions that can make a beast of you while you still go around with a bible in your hand. And be careful of those relationships that can secretly plant the yeast of hypocrisy in your life and make you live a life that is foreign to the truth. Remember this: “Just a little while longer, and he who is coming will come; he will not delay.” (Heb 10:37GNT)

Stay blessed. 

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“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2Peter 3:8-9NIV) 

What is Peter telling us here? It is that one main reason God’s judgment is often delayed is that He is patient. Sometimes we expect that when people sin or do something wrong, God should step in immediately and whip or flog them. But God does not often act like that. He is a patient God. And He is patient because He does not want the destruction of anybody. He says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the sinner.” (Cf. Ezekiel 18:23 & 32) .

Unfortunately, some people now take that as meaning that they might ultimately escape God’s judgment. They are now of the opinion that they might ultimately get away with wrong doings. They have heard all kinds of things about God’s judgment. They have heard that He was a just judge, who would pay everybody back according to his deeds. But then, they have also been asking themselves, “If all these things are true about God, why has He not judged me for my misconducts? Why hasn’t He punished me?” 

Some will even say to you, “You say that judgment is coming. How come God has not judged me for all my sins? Look at me. I am still prosperous, even though I am stealing and embezzling public funds. But look at you. You say that you are living for God, but you can’t even pay your children’s school fees. Look at you. You can’t even dress well. I am the one that is supposed to be suffering here. But I am not suffering. You call me a sinner. And I am fine with that, for I am not suffering.”

Now people like such think that they will ultimately escape the consequences of their sins. But they will not. It is unfortunate, however, that that wrong thought has made scoffers of them. Because of this wrong philosophy that they will ultimately escape the consequences of their errors, they now scoff at the things of God. 

But if you are doing the wrong thing and have not yet faced the consequences of doing so, you are just enjoying the patience of God. That is what you are enjoying. And it is important that you turn away from your wrongdoings before it is too late. I tell you payday is coming. A day will come when you will pay for all your wrongdoings. And what you believe about this does not matter. It is the reality that you will have to deal with when the time is ripe.

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes…” (Proverbs 3:5-6NIV)

Here is a call to absolute in trust in God, if we don’t want to be disgraced in life, in spite of everything we may have going for us. See, you may have skills along certain lines in life; exercise your skills without relying on them. People may call you intelligent. They may say you are brilliant. But don’t let that get into your head. If you rely on your own brilliance or intelligence, what you will produce is barrenness—barrenness upon barrenness, emptiness upon emptiness. 

We have professors that are rotten today—you know that. We have Doctors who have no place in life. We have people with wonderful certificates who have no place in life. I was sharing with a brother the other time and he was telling me how he tried to finish from the Polytechnic with Distinction but ended up with the Upper Credit--though it was very close to Distinction, it was still Upper Credit. And when he told me that, I asked him not to worry about it. Then I said, “Do you know there are people who would never get a good job because they finished with ‘Distinction’ or ‘First class’ in school.”

And you know that is the truth. There are people who finished with Distinction from school who still do not have a place in life now. Yet some who finished with Pass from the same class have already become big fellows in some companies now. So if you are depending on your own natural abilities or skills, a day is coming when they will fail you. Don’t depend on these things, then. Instead, trust in the Lord. Draw your provisions from Him. Draw whatever it is you need in life from Him. And you will never be disappointed or disgraced in life.

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“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19NIV) 

The world does not love the Christian, according to our Lord Jesus Christ in our opening text. So, do not expect the world to love you. Don’t expect the world to praise you. If the world loves you, then, you are a fake. If, as a Christian, unbelievers love you, then, you may want to check if nothing is wrong with your Christianity. That is because they are not supposed to love you. I know this is hard, but it is the reality. 

Now I am not saying they are not supposed to relate to you--that is not what I am saying. I am not saying they are not supposed to smile at you—they will actually smile at you. But if you are actually practising Christianity, they will hate you. That is because your life will be contrary to the life they are living. Your life will condemn them. Your life will expose them. And you will not be able to agree in principle. 

Again, that is not to say that you will not be able to work together or play together. But when we are talking about the principle of living, you won’t agree. For the ideas of the world are foreign to the ideas of the kingdom of God. 

Then, in order to solidify what He says in our opening text, Jesus goes on in verse 20 to say, “Remember what I told you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.” (John 15:20NIV) Did you see that? If Jesus was hated and persecuted by the world, then we, as His disciples, must not anything less. We cannot be smarter than our master. 

With the kind of ministry that Jesus had here on earth, you would expect that the world would love him. But the world did not love him. Instead, the world killed him. When they were shouting, “Crucify him, crucify him,” where were the people that He healed? When they were slapping Him, where were the individuals that He raised from the dead and the multitudes that He fed? Where were they when they wanted to kill Him? 

Now what wrong did He do that made them kill Him? What harm did Jesus do that made them kill Him? Obviously, they killed Him for telling them the truth. They killed Him for challenging their way of living. So do not think that because you are kind and nice, the world would appreciate you. You will be making a mistake. Do not think because you are good to everybody, they will treat you well or when they see things that belong to you wasting away, they will protect them. You will be missing it, if you reason like that. 

You know, most of the time, we get carried away in the world, because of the applause of men. Because of all these people that are constantly smiling at us and praising us, we think we are loved by the world. The truth is that we are not loved by the world. This is why, Jesus, while teaching His disciples made it very clear to them that they were not greater than their master—if the world hated their master, it would indeed hate them as well. 

Well, the point our Lord is making to us here is that we are not of the world. And we must not forget that.

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“From one man he (God) made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth…” (Acts 17:26NIV) 

From how many people did God make all the nations of the earth? Well, Paul tells in our opening text that God made all the nations of the earth from one man. That means all of us came from one man. And here he is referring to Adam. That is interesting. We all belong to the same family—that is what he is telling us. It does not matter what your colour is, it does not matter what your language is, we all belong to the same family.

See, this is Christian thinking. It is foreign to the world. The world thinks we are of different families. But God does not think like that. God made all of us from one man; we all came from the same stock. So, though we have different colours, different heights and different languages, we still belong to the same family.

Unfortunately, Satan has succeeded in confusing and misguiding us. And that is why we fight one another. We fight those who don’t look like us. We fight those who don’t live with us. We fight anyone who is different from us; for we see him as entirely different—he does not belong among us. 

But here, Paul tells us that we all came from one man; we all belong to the same family. This, of course, means that there is no special race before God. No race is superior to the other. The white are not superior to the black. And the Jews are not superior to the Gentiles. You know the Jews used to pride themselves in the fact that they are a special race before God. They say, “Well, God chose us above all the nations of the earth. That means he prefers us to all of them.” But that is not true. God only chose them to illustrate something to the world. And that has already been done. 

At any rate, we have to keep it in mind that we all belong to the same family. So don’t hate people who don’t look like you. Don’t resent those who don’t speak your language or share your colour. Don’t do it; for you belong to the same family. And God, of course, will someday judge every evil act that men have committed on the basis of racism. So, mind yourself. 

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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2Corinthians 5:17NIV) 

The first thing Paul declares to us in our opening text is that the Christian is a New Creation. He is not who he used to be. Christianity is not a continuation of a man’s old life. When a man becomes a Christian, he is a New Creation. Paul says the old man has gone. That means the person you used to know has gone. We now have a new person. So whatever you knew or identified with that old person has already gone—it is in the past. And that is how you are to regard yourself--you are now a New Creation. Even though you are in the same world, you are a New Person in the same Old World. That is how you must view or regard yourself. And that is the way you must regard every child of God-- He is a New Creation: the old has gone, the new is now here!

Then Paul goes on to say, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…” (2Corinthians 5:18NIV) Did you see that? The New Creation is of God. Everything about the New Creation has its existence in God. Everything about you has its existence in God. Everything about me has its existence in God. There is nothing of the New Creation that is of the world. There is nothing of the New Creation that is of the devil. That is why you must not associate the devil with the New Creation. You must not associate anything that is of the devil with the New Creation. 

Sin is of the devil, for example. So you must not associate it with the Christian. It is amazing when you find Christians who say there is still Sin in their lives. That is wrong. It is a wrong position to take. You cannot say that you are a Christian and, at the same time, say that there is unrighteousness in your life. You cannot say that you are a Christian and, at the same time, say that you do not have the holiness of God in your life or that you do not have the righteousness of God in your life. 

In any case, here, Paul tells us that everything about the New Creation is of God. Not only that, he also tells us the kind of relationship we now have with God. He says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself in Christ…” So we have been reconciled to God—He is no longer angry with us. And we are no longer far away from Him—we have been brought to Him. 

In his first epistle, the second chapter, the twenty-fifth verse, Peter tells us that all of us went astray—we all wandered away from God. That statement is set in past tense. And that means every natural man has wandered away from God. But now, having become Christians, we have returned to the overseer and shepherd of our souls. So we have now returned to God. I have returned to God. I am with God now. I am no longer away from God. I have returned to the shepherd and overseer of my life. 

So then, Paul says God reconciled us to himself. Again, who did the reconciliation? It was God. Now, to be reconciled means ‘to be brought back.’ I am not talking about the being brought back of someone who travelled. I am talking about the resolving of an issue between two people who are fighting or quarrelling. Do you understand? Once we were fighting, but now the matter has been resolved. We are no longer fighting. We are no longer quarrelling. The enmity between us has already be cancelled or erased. What this means now is that we are God’s friends. We are his people. We are on the side of God and God is on our side. And that is now our relationship with God, the relationship of the New Creation with Him

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“Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16NIV) 

The first thing Paul tells us here is to be careful how we live. He says, “Be very careful, then, how you live your lives—not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” There is, therefore, a recognition of the fact that these are evil days in the scripture. The scripture does not deny the fact that these are evil days. 

You know, in most of the programmes being aired on our Television stations, there is often an attempt to impress upon our hearts that these are evil days and that everybody around us is evil or wicked. And sometimes you see people gathering to watch or listen to the so-called strange and mysterious things that are happening around the world. Personally, I am not interested in things like such because I already know from the scriptures that these are evil days. 

But even at that, the bible tells us that there are opportunities in these evil days. So, Paul says, “Take advantage of these opportunities. Don’t let your focus be only on the fact that these are evil days; rather, let it also be on the fact that there are opportunities in these evil days.” Why is that important? It is so that you can make the most of the opportunities of these evil days to rise and shine. 

So, don’t just keep looking at all the bad things happening in your world and around you. Instead, start looking also at the good things happening and what you can do with these good things in making life better, easier and more enjoyable for you and others. And may the Spirit of God daily open your eyes to see every opportunity for growth, development and promotion that you can utilise for your prosperity and peace of mind, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against the all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Romans 1:18NIV) 

The wrath of God means the anger of God, the disapproval of God. And Paul shows us in our opening bible text that this wrath of God is already being revealed. There are people who are waiting and saying, “At the end of the ages the wrath of God will be revealed.” Yes, at the end of all the ages the wrath of God will be revealed. But we need to know that right now His wrath is already being revealed. 

What we are saying is that God’s disapproval against the rejection of the truth is already being revealed. Those who are ignoring God, those who are ignoring His injunctions are already experiencing a revelation of His wrath—it is breaking out against them. Unfortunately, many of them don’t even know that what they are experiencing now is a revelation of God’s wrath. They don’t know because of the nature of this revelation.