“Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” (Ps 19:13NLT)

As we see in the bible, there was a time that King Abimelech of Gerah took Sarah, Abraham’s wife, to be his wife. Why did he do this? It was, for the most part, because Abraham did not tell him the whole truth about his relationship with Sarah. He had said of her in that place, “She is my sister.” And indeed, Sarah was his sister, his half-sister. But she was also his wife. (Cf. Gen 20)

At any rate, because this man took the wife of a man of God, God was set to destroy him and his household. And He started by first shutting the wombs of all the women in his household, including his wife. So, none of them could conceive or have children all the time Sarah was with them. We wouldn’t know how long she stayed with them. But for the bible to note that no woman in that palace could conceive while Sarah was with them, it must have meant that she was there for a number of months. (Cf. Gen 20:17-18)

Then God came to Abimelech in a night dream and said to him, “You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” That, of course, surprised the man, who pleaded not guilty. He said, “But I acted in complete innocence; I did not know that the woman was Abraham’s wife.” And in response to that, God said, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.” (Gen 20:6NIV)

Now think about that. God showed Abimelech mercy and did not allow him to commit adultery with Sarah all the time she was with him. That actually sounds unbelievable, but it was the truth. Somehow, he just kept on treating Sarah like an angel and would not be in a hurry to have any intimate knowledge of her. He himself may not have understood why he was just taking his time with her. But when God showed up and told him the kind of trouble he was in, he understood that it was He that had kept him from doing something that would have resulted in his destruction and that of his entire household.

But why did God prevent this man from sinning against Him, that is, beyond sinning against Abraham? It was because it was never his desire to take another man’s wife for himself. The only reason Sarah was in his palace was that Abraham did not tell him the whole truth about who she was to him. What this, then, is showing us is that God is able to keep us from doing the wrong thing, inasmuch as our hearts are not bent on doing evil.

We see another example in the way God prevented David from killing a man called Nabal and his entire household and thereby sinning against Him. Nabal, indeed, had behaved very badly towards David and his men, who had in the past been kind to his servants and possessions. And in David’s anger, he wanted to teach him the lesson of his life. He wanted to kill him and all the men in his household. But the truth is that though the man did not behave well, David also had no right to take his life or the lives of members of his household. So, it was a needless bloodshed that he and his men were out to carry out. (Cf. 1Sam 25:1-22)

However, because God knew that David was not that kind of person in his heart – he was not someone that would want to take undue advantage of anyone, even his enemy – He sent Abigail, Nabal’s wife, to stop him on his reckless mission. God knew that it was out of anger and frustration that David and his men wanted to act like wicked people and destroy Nabal and his household. If they had not been under the kind of pressure they were at the time, they would not have thought of doing anything like that. So, to prevent them from sinning against Him, He inspired Abigail to meet them and say soothing words to them, words that would open their eyes to see the foolishness and recklessness of their mission. That, of course, was how they were saved. (Cf. 1Sam 25:23-35)

But then, we see that this same man, David, was not prevented by God from committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. Why? It was because he was not under any pressure to do so, neither was he deceived or seduced to do so. He did what he did because he deliberately wanted to do it. And before he knew it, he went on from being an adulterer to becoming a manipulator and murderer. If he, then, had not been shown mercy by God, he and his household would have been wiped out. But even then, what he did still gave the devil an opportunity to afflict him and his family in very terrible and painful ways in his lifetime. (Cf. 1Sam 11-18)

You can now see why his prayer, which we have in our opening bible text, is very relevant. There he says to God, “Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.” Why? It is because though any sin can ruin us, the ones that are most dangerous to our lives and faith are those that have taken charge of us and we deliberately and stubbornly want to carry out. That is because it is such sins that make God give people over to do more and more wrong things that would ultimately ruin them. (Cf. Rom 1:21-32)

Look at the way He, for a while, gave David over to go on from being an adulterer to becoming a deceiver and then a murderer. And if He had not shown him mercy and drawn his attention to the evil in his life, maybe his life’s story would have ended differently. So, when we know that something is entirely against the will of God, yet we find this strong and stubborn urge in us to go for it, we need to know that destruction or disgrace is coming for us. And unless God, in His mercy, stops us somehow on our reckless mission, we can only, at some point, see that we have ruined ourselves. This is why we too, like David, must continually pray that we will be kept from stubbornly setting our hearts on paths that will lead to our destruction.

Have a lovely day.

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“When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel." But Elisha said, "As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.” (2Kings 2:1-2NIV)

One of the things we learn from Scriptures about God is that He appreciates determination. Yes, He is a God that gives freely to people without complaining about them (James 1:5). However, there are times that He considers people’s determination to receive from Him before giving certain things to them.

Why did many of the children of Israel that Moses brought out of Egypt perish in the wilderness and did not make it into the Promised Land? One of the reasons for this, as we are shown in the bible, is unbelief. They did not believe that God was able to give the land to them. But something also assisted their unbelief. That was insufficient determination to take what God wanted to give to them. (Cf. Numbers 13&14; Hebrews 3:19)

But there were two people from that same generation that made it into the Promised Land. They were Joshua and Caleb. Why did they make it there? They made it there because apart from the fact that they had faith in God, they were also determined to make it there.

So, it is not enough for God to promise to give us something or to show us visions of what He wants us to be or enjoy in life; It is also important that we are determined to have what He wants us to have. If we are determined to have what He wants us to have, we will be willing to go all the day in doing whatever legitimate thing we can do to take what He is giving to us. But if we are not determined, there is every tendency that the challenges that we will encounter on our way (and we will surely encounter challenges) will bring discouragement to our hearts. We might, then, stop believing and taking steps of faith towards taking for ourselves what He wants us to have.

As we see in our opening bible text, even though Elijah had made it clear to Elisha that God had chosen him to take his place as the lead prophet in Israel, he was still prompted by God to test his determination to take the place He had already chosen for him. So, when the time came for him to be taken to heaven, he told Elisha to stay in Gilgal and not bother to follow him to Bethel, where God had sent him to go. But did Elisha agree to stay? No! Instead, he told him that he would not leave him until he was eventually caught up to the heavens.

Also, when they got to Bethel and Elijah told him to wait there, since God had sent him to Jericho, he told him that he would still not leave him. And though the prophets there also tried to discourage him from following this man of God, he did not listen to them. The same thing happened when they got to Jericho and Elijah told him to wait there, he would not leave him or pay attention to the words spoken by the prophets there to discourage him. Instead, he followed this man of God on to the Jordan. (Cf. 2Kings 2:1-6)

Why did Elisha act like that? It was because he knew that he had not yet received the spiritual authority and power to function in the prophetic position Elijah had publicly anointed him for. And he was determined to receive these things before the man was taken away from him. Otherwise, all that he would have was just a prophetic title; he would have no authority and power to back it up. Then everything he left behind in order to follow this man of God would have amount to nothing.

Thankfully, because of Elisha’s determination to take the place God had chosen for him, he eventually received from God the authority and power to function as the lead prophet in Israel. But do you know that Elijah had a servant that was serving him before God asked him to go and anoint Elisha in his place? He did. Why, then, was this servant not chosen by God to take his place? We are not told the reason in Scriptures. We are not even given his name. Why? It may be that God saw that he was not someone that was determined enough to serve Him in his master’s place.

Look at all that is said about him in the bible: “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there.” (1Kings 19:3NIV) It was after this, of course, that he received an instruction from God to go and anoint Elisha in his place instead of looking for the servant that he had left in Beersheba. But why, in the first place, was this man not with Elijah when God was talking to him? Why did he agree to stay in Beersheba instead of following his master all the way, regardless of where his path may lead them?

We have no direct answers in Scriptures for these questions. But it is clear from Scriptures that Elisha was utterly different from him. He was not going to leave the man God had appointed him to follow and serve until God’s reason for placing him under his leadership was fully accomplished, regardless of the level of stress that may place on his life. That is determination. And it paid off for him.

In like manner, we too need to be determined to have certain things God wants us to have in order for us to have them. Yes, we need to pass His tests of determination for certain things He has already chosen for us to be ours to possess and enjoy. We may, of course, be faced with all kinds of challenges on our way to taking for ourselves what He has chosen for us. But as long as we trust Him and are determined to have what He wants us to have, He will surely clear the way for us to have it.

So, be determined to see God’s promises to you and the visions He has shown you come to pass in your life. Be determined to go all the way in praying, meditating on Scriptures and taking all the legitimate steps you can take to be that person God has shown you that you can be. And my prayer is that He will count you worthy of His purpose for you and also fulfil every step of faith you take towards becoming all that He wants you to be in this life. Amen.

Enjoy your day.

Have a lovely day.

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“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Yes, it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment.” (Matthew 15:21-28NIV)

The Lord was clear on this occasion about the boundaries of His ministry. He said I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. That is not to say that He had no business ministering to the rest of the world. He was just saying that, at that time, His ministry was solely to the house of Israel.

Therefore, it was not right for Him to be ministering to that woman that came to Him, even though He had the power to do so. Otherwise, He would be going outside the scope of His ministry. It would be like taking what is meant for the children and tossing it to their dogs.

But the woman said: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. I know you have not been sent to me. But since you are here now and your power is available here, why don’t you just heal my daughter?” And the Lord said, “Woman, you have great faith!” In other words, her faith did not recognise any limitation or boundary or obstacle. It was simply concerned about receiving from God, taking from Him what He has already made available.

So, with great faith, there is no telling of what we can receive from God. And this has to do with having a great level of confidence in God, having a great level of confidence in what His power can accomplish for us.

Now, of course, any kind of faith in God will work. But if we do not want our experience of God’s power to be short-circuited or limited in any way, we must have great confidence in Him – our faith in Him must be great. We must continually think of what His power can accomplish for us and take advantage of it in our lives, homes, education, business and so forth.

See, just as our faith in God can be little in any area of our lives, it can also be great. And we should ask ourselves, “Which do I want, little faith or great?” I pray that God will daily strengthen your heart to meditate on His word and on His power, so that your faith can be built up to be great.

Have a lovely day.

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“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1Peter 2:9-10NIV)

Peter is telling us here that God has chosen us to be His own. Also, he says that He has chosen us be holy, to be precious to Him and to declare His praises in this world of darkness. More than these, he says God has chosen us to be His priests.

Under the Old Covenant, it was not everybody that could serve as a priest of God. Only those who came from the tribe of Levi could serve as priests. God chose that tribe to represent the twelve tribes of Israel in serving Him. So, all their priests came from that tribe. Mind you, it was not even everyone from that tribe that was permitted to serve as a priest of God. What I am saying is that not all Levites were priests of God but all His priests were Levites.

But now, in Christ Jesus, God is saying that every one of us is His priests. I know there are assemblies of God today in which certain individuals are referred to as priests. But that is unscriptural; it is unbiblical. You do not have to be a pastor to be a priest of God. You just need to be a child of God; you just need to be born again. Then you are God’s priest.

So, it is not just our pastors, evangelists, prophets, apostles and so forth that are priests of God. Every child of God is a priest. And if you are a child of God, then, you are one of His priests.

Have a lovely day. 

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“I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, that men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.” (Jer 10:23MSG)

That is nothing but absolute truth! None of us has what it takes to take charge of our lives. None of us has what it takes to control or run our lives. Unfortunately, most times, we think we can run our lives by ourselves. Most times, we think our knowledge of mathematics is sufficient to fix the issues of our lives and bring everything to perfection. But we are wrong, and the results we have been getting confirm that.

See, no matter how well-meaning we may be about making everything about our lives right, we cannot do so. I mean that is too great a feat for us to accomplish. And that is because, regardless of how knowledgeable or educated we may be, there are still hundreds of thousands of things that we are totally unaware of about life. That is why, most of the time, we alter even the best of our plans to get some things done.

Well, the point I am making all along is that we cannot rely on ourselves for the perfection of the issues of our lives. We must turn to God, for He alone can perfect everything that concerns our lives.

In one of his Psalms, David says, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me…” (Ps 138:8NKJV) Now David was able to say that because he had committed everything about his life into God’s hands. He couldn’t have expected God to perfect that which he had not entrusted to him; he couldn’t have expected God to forcefully take charge of what he himself felt he could handle. He had to release everything to God and trust Him to handle them. That was why he was confident to say, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.”

If we also, like David, will commit everything about our lives, those things we think we can handle and the ones we think we cannot handle, into the hands of God, I guarantee that He will perfect them for us. So, let us stop worrying ourselves about how to put everything about our lives in order; rather, let us start committing everything to the one who cares about us. Surely, He will bear all our burdens for us and give us a glorious ending.

Have a lovely day.

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“…I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead. Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.” (Rev 3:1-2RSV)

The Lord knows everything all that is going on in our lives, as His people. He knows what every one of us is involved in and does not need anybody to tell Him anything. Therefore, even if we succeed in fooling others about our devotion to Him, we can never succeed in fooling or deceiving Him. And that is the basic point of His message to the church mentioned in the text above, the church in Sardis.

According to the Lord Jesus, the Church in Sardis is a hypocritical church, for it has a reputation among those of the world for being alive, when, in the actual sense, it was dead. Now that is a very terrible state to be in, or what do you think? Everybody is looking up to you, thinking you are an upright, godly and responsible person. And that is because that is the impression you are continually giving them about yourself. You are creating in the minds of others an image of yourself that does not exist. But you are a hypocrite, and your works are falling below God’s standard for your life. And you must do something about it before it is too late.

See, as the Lord points out to members of this church in Sardis, He does not want hypocrisy in our lives. What we are before Him is exactly what He wants us to be before the world. There is no point trying to look good and honest before those of the world, when, in the sight of God, we are crooked, shameless and corrupt.

Too often, we forget that the one who will appraise and judge our lives and works, ultimately, is the Lord. So, wisdom demands that we focus on making our works truly perfect before Him instead of trying to look good before men.

What would you call a student, who is continually trying to impress his colleagues in class with shows of erudition but is not making any effort towards doing what would please his examiner? A fool!

Likewise, only a foolish Christian will be labouring hard to maintain a good reputation before the world instead of labouring hard to perfect his works before His God.

Well, this is another day. What will the Lord say of your works and my works? What will He say about our devotion to God the Father and His principles? That is what should be our concern, as we face each new hour of the day.

Now I am sure that the Lord is with us to strengthen us to do what is right, if we are ready to do what is right. So, let us get rid of whatever yeast of hypocrisy that is left in our lives—the judge is at the door.

Have a lovely day.

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“Let us not become weary in doing good to all people, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:9-10NIV)

What is Paul telling us here? Don’t give up, as far as giving is concerned! Keep on doing it. Persist in giving. Stay on course. As you have opportunity, give.

In Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, Luke says there was no needy person in the church in those days. Why? The reason was that, from time to time, people were selling their possessions and bringing the money from the sales to the apostles, so that they could distribute to those who had needs. So, their giving was a regular and continuous thing.

Also, when you consider the fact that God, in relating to us, does not say, “Because I gave to you yesterday, I will not give to you today”, you should not stop giving. The bible says, “He daily loads us with benefits.” That means He is daily committed to taking care of us. (Cf. Psalm 68:19)

Another translation says, “He daily bears our burdens.” Look at that. God is committed to bearing our burdens every day. And if God is so committed to us, and He is, what should we do in response? We also should be committed to giving in a continuous manner, in a perpetual manner, till our Lord Jesus comes.

Have a lovely day.

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“Two years later, when Absalom's sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king's sons to come there. Absalom went to the king and said, "Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?" "No, my son," the king replied. "All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you." Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.” (2Sam 13:23-25NIV)

It is a natural thing for those who love us or who hold us very highly in their hearts to always look for opportunities to do things that will make us happy. And it will only be proper for us at such times to cheerfully and willingly accept the tokens of their love for us, regardless of how little they may seem. That is because it will show that we accept them as they are and are not ashamed of associating with them, though they may not be as wealthy, educated, influential or spiritual as we are.

However, there are times that such people may actually be overreaching in their attempt to make us happy or satisfy us. And it will only be wise and kind of us to prevent them from making us an unnecessary burden to them. Otherwise, in trying to make us happy, they may end up putting themselves in some avoidable problems. Are we, then, going to be happy to learn that the reason someone who loves and adores us is in a big financial, marital or social mess is that he wanted to please us? We will not at all, if we have any iota of human feeling.

A friend of mine was once very angry with me because of something along this line. What happened? Well, there was this particular bible that she had told me that she would love to have. So, I wanted to surprise her with it on her birthday. But I didn’t have enough money at the time to do so because of some commitments I had. So, I talked to another friend of mine to lend me part of the money for like a week or so. Unfortunately, somehow, she overheard us. And it got her very upset. She was like, “I understand that you are trying to make me happy here. But you did not have to do that. You did not have to borrow to make me happy.”

Now, of course, we later resolved the matter. But I learnt my lesson, which is that those who truly care about you will not want to receive things from you, just because doing so will make them happy; they will also be concerned about what making them happy will cost you. Will it cost you your happiness? Will it cost you your job? Will it cost you your marriage? Or is it your reputation or life savings that it will cost you? They will be concerned about this and will do whatever they can to stop you from embarrassing yourself because of them.

That, of course, is the main message of our opening bible text. Absalom was throwing a party for his sheepshearers and requested that his father, King David, and all his officials would be present there. But his father told him that he and his officials would not be attending the party. Why? Was it because he did not love Absalom or appreciate his generous invitation? No! He loved him and also appreciated his invitation. In fact, we are told in the account that he gave him his blessing.

Why, then, did he insist that he and his men would not be coming? It was because he knew that their presence at the party would be a great burden for the young man. We are talking about taking care of the king and his high officials along with their servants and guards. The money and the logistics involved could be financially paralysing for him. And David did not want him to go bankrupt because of them. So, he simply gave him his blessing and told him not to worry about him and his officials.

We too must be like that. We must be sensitive to people’s true conditions and not allow them to paralyse themselves because they want to please us or make us happy. Otherwise, once the harm is done, nothing we do may be sufficient in healing those involved.

Then I want you to also keep in mind the fact that it is not every time that people give us the impression that they want to do something in our honour or to make us happy that they really want to make us happy. As we see in Absalom’s case, he really did not want David and his men to attend his party. That was because he already had plans of using the party as a cover-up for assassinating his elder brother, Amnon. And the presence of the king and his officials would not have made that possible. So, asking the king and his officials to grace his party was all pretence, something simply done to massage their ego. He already knew that they would not agree to come.

So, don’t ever assume that everyone that is giving you the impression that he will sacrifice himself to make you happy is actually willing to do so. They may just be flattering you and expecting you to stop them. But if you foolishly rest on their words, you will only have yourself to blame when those words break or shatter under you, leaving you injured and disgraced.

Finally, it is important that we too are not overreaching in our attempts to make anyone in our lives happy. Otherwise, we may end up putting unnecessary and paralysing burdens on ourselves because of them. And are we going to be able to freely talk about the harm we have done to ourselves then? Not verry likely!

So, know those things that are beyond your ability to give to people or do for them. And know the people that you have no true intention or ability to entertain and never insist that they visit you or be a part of something you are doing, just because you want to show them how much you respect them or because you want to use them to enhance your prestige. You may end up embarrassing yourself and feeling terrible for the rest of your life, if your best ends up not satisfying them or making them happy. Be wise.

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I am glad you are alive to read this today. And my prayer for you is that God will rid your heart of every thought of fear that is paralysing you and keeping you from taking the right steps to experience the prosperity that could be yours in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

In the parable of the man that gave his servants money to work with, which our Lord shares with us, the reason the servant that did nothing with the money he was given did nothing with it was that he was afraid. For years, preachers have taught us that the reason he did nothing with the money given to him was that he considered it too small for him, compared to what others were given. But there is nothing in the account that says or suggests that. (Cf. Matt 25:14-30)

First, as we see in the account, what this servant’s master gave him was much, even though it was a talent. That is because, during that period, a talent was a lot of money. Second, his master gave him and his fellow servants money according to their individual ability (Matt 25:15). So, it was not because the money given to him was too small or was not as much as what others were given that he did nothing with it. According to him, he did nothing with it because he was afraid of losing it (Matt 25:24-25).

In any case, because this servant allowed the fear of losing the money he was given to possess him, he became blind to every opportunity that he could have utilised in using the money and multiplying it. So, while his fellow servants were multiplying their own talents, he was busy with irrelevancies, things that his master would not ask him questions about. That, of course, was how he lost his talent to one of those that worked hard with their own talents and also lost his place before his master, instead of being promoted. (Cf. Matt 25:24-30)

What is this teaching us? It is that fear paralyses. Fear opens people’s eyes only to failure. And when all you can see is failure, there is every tendency that you will forget that you have God and that He can show you how to turn failure around to success. So, you will find yourself giving up and surrendering to defeat, death or poverty.

But you don’t have to surrender to defeat, death or poverty. None of us has to surrender to these things. Yes, we may be confronted with all kinds of fear because of the circumstances of our lives or of our country. We may be confronted with the fear of hunger, the fear of our children’s school fees, the fear of house rent that has not been paid, the fear of an illness that is troubling our body, the fear of some unpaid debts, the fear of a business or job that is failing in our hands, the fear of a coming examination or the fear of losing someone dear to us.

Whatever form the fear we are confronted with may take, what we need to do is to talk to God about it. And He will handle it for us. David, in one of his psalms, says:

“I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Ps 34:4NIV)

Did you see that? When David sought the Lord about everything bothering him and making his heart afraid, He delivered him from all his fears.

How did the Lord deliver this man from all his fears? We would not know, for he does not tell us in detail. But his testimony is that when he sought the Lord, he was delivered from all his fears. So, if you did not know before, know now that God is able to deliver you from whatever fear you have that is filling you with depression, making you sick or making you want to run away or commit suicide. All you need is to seek the Lord’s face about it. And He will deliver you from it, open your eyes to see His provisions for your experience of success and victory and also give you great testimonies to share.

Have a splendid day.

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“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” (Romans 4:20-21NIV)

Who was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised? Abraham! And because the man was fully persuaded in his heart that God had the power to bring His word to pass, that God had the power to do what He had promised, he did not waver through unbelief. So, he received what was promised.

But how many of us today are fully persuaded that God’s word is true? How many of us are fully persuaded that what God says to us is true and can be trusted? Are you fully persuaded about the reality of heaven and the reality of hell? Are we fully persuaded that if we walk in the path that God wants us to walk in, things will work well for us? Are we fully persuaded that if we will walk according to the wisdom of God, things will work well for us? Are we fully persuaded about what God says will be the reward of righteousness and of wickedness? Are we fully persuaded about these things?

It is those who are fully persuaded that God has the power to fulfil His word that will take His word seriously and act on it. Those who are not fully persuaded about this may never take any serious step to act on what God is saying to them. Therefore, they will not enjoy the benefits of trusting in God..

If you, then, want to enjoy the full benefits of trusting in God, you must be fully persuaded in your heart that God will never fail to bring His word to pass. This is what will drive you to daily act on His word. And may your heart be strengthened to be fully persuaded to take God seriously in everything He says to you. Amen.

Enjoy your day... 

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“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defence of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.” (Philippians 1:15-17NIV)

From what Paul is saying in our opening text, it is clear that there are two groups of people preaching Christ among the Philippians. While one of the groups preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, the other is preaching Him out of goodwill.

Therefore, the preaching of the good news, even though it is a good work, can become corrupted. And it will be corrupted, if our motives are not right. See, God’s focus is not only on what you do but also on your motives for doing it.

What are you up to? Why do you want to marry Sister S or Brother B? People are going from place to place, asking, “Should I marry Sister Ade or Sis Joy?” It is a waste of time. That is because God’s concern is not just about whether you marry Sister X or Brother Y; His concern is also about your motive.

Now what really is your motive for wanting to marry that person? Is it money? Is it beauty? Or is it their family background? What exactly is your motive?

Many of us are continually looking out for what good the person we want to marry will do to us. If you are going to be sincere, that is our natural line of thinking. We are constantly considering what good the one we want to marry can do to us. How can he or she be of benefit to our lives? But have you ever asked about how you can be of benefit to the person’s life? Is that your line of thinking? Have you asked yourself, “If I marry this brother, of what good can I be to him?”

We may never ask ourselves such questions. And that is because everything is all about what we can get for ourselves. So, some people will take three or four names to some Pastors and say, “Sir, please pick one for me to marry.” Nothing could be more unscriptural.

In any case, we must begin to watch our motives for doing whatever we are doing in life. Yes, we have been created to do good works. But we must understand that whatever good work we want to do may become corrupted through wrong motives. I pray that God will daily sanctify your motives through His word, so that they will not corrupt anything good you are doing, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:32-34NIV).

From what Mark shows us in our opening text, did Jesus go to that solitary place because of the people that came looking for Him? No! He went there because He wanted to rest. He went there because He wanted His disciples to have some time to themselves.

But on getting there, He saw that the people were already there, waiting for Him. They must have been saying, “This man—you can’t run away from us.” And that really could have gotten Him angry. But He did not get angry. Instead, compassion flowed out of Him. He was compassionate because He saw that those people needed His help indeed.

Now it takes compassion to recognise it when people need help and be willing to help, even when it is going to cost you something—your time or your sleep. There are times that people need our help just about the time we want to sleep. You know they actually need your help. It is, then, up to you to go ahead and sleep or to stay away from your bed in order to do something about their situation.

In this case, Jesus decided to minister to those people at the cost of His and His disciples’ comfort. In fact, if you read further, He was also not comfortable with sending those people away hungry. So, He had to provide food for them. That is compassion.

You are in a new day and are definitely going to meet people. Some of these people may be your friends. Some of them may be your neighbours. Some of them may even be those who at one time or the other have injured or hurt you. And when you meet them, God may be giving your opportunities to help or reach out to them. But will you allow compassion to flow out from you to minister to them? Will you be willing to lose some things so that you could be of help to others? Will you? It is a decision that you have to make. And may God strengthen you to do what is right when the time comes. Amen.

Have a pleasant day.

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“God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Who is faithful, as we see in our opening bible text? God! Our God is a faithful God. The God who called us into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ, is a faithful God. And even when we are faithless or unfaithful, He remains faithful. That is because that is who He is. He cannot disown Himself. He is not going to stop being faithful because men are being unfaithful. Isn’t that wonderful about God? It is.

However, many of us are not like that. We allow our behaviour to be dictated by what others are doing. We allow our actions to be affected or motivated by what other people are doing. If people are kind to us, then, we want to be kind to them. If they are good to us, then, we want to be good to them. If people have been assisting and helping us with certain issues of our lives, then, we believe that we owe it to them to reciprocate.

But as for those who are not kind to us, we also don’t want to be kind to them. And for those who are not good to us, we don’t want to be good to them. So, we allow what people do to affect what we do.

God, however, is not like that, as I already pointed out. He remains true to Himself. Regardless of what you do or do not do, God remains faithful. And because God is faithful to us, faithful in taking care of us, faithful in watching over us, He expects that we also will be faithful to Him, as a fair exchange.

Now that is not to say that if we become of unfaithful to God, He will stop being faithful. No, He won’t stop being faithful to us. Rather, He will continue to be faithful, regardless of what we do. That is because faithful is what He is.

But then, He expects us to be faithful to Him, to ourselves and to others too because He is faithful to us. And regardless of what people do to us or are doing around us, He does not want us to stop being faithful. That is one of the ways to show that we are His actual children. That is one of the ways to show that we are different from those of this world. Keep this in mind, then, as you face each new: you must be faithful because God your Father is faithful.

Have a pleasant day.

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“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. (And when I have done that) You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.” (Joel 2:25-26NIV—emphasis mine)

Is God talking to you now? Each time I read this portion of the scripture I am excited. That is because it shows me that there is a way out of whatever mess I may have put myself through in life. It is telling me that there is a possibility of restoration of the things I have lost and that God will so much do it that I will have plenty to eat.

Look at what God says again:

“…never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.” (Joel 2:26-27NIV)

This means you can so walk in life that you will not experience shame again. This is where I want to function in life. I want to live daily in this portion of the Scripture. God is saying to me that it is possible for me not to experience shame again in life. And He is talking to you too. He is giving you a word for yourself and for those around you who are living low lives or who are living in disgrace. He is saying they can rise again. They can have their lives back. They can have their joy back. They can have their homes back. Those whose marriages are shattered can have their marriages back. Those whose businesses have crumbled can have their businesses back.

Now is all this to say that it is compulsory for us to fall so that we can rise again? No! Sometimes preachers have ways of making God’s people believe that it is a must for them to fall, that it is a must for them to make mistakes, that it is a must for them to err. They will say, “It is so that God’s glory may be revealed in your life.”

But God does not need you to fall in order to reveal His glory in your life. He does not need you to be sick in order to reveal his glory in your life. He doesn’t. That is because there is nothing for God to gain or profit from that. So, though the bible says that if the righteous falls seven times he will rise again, that is not to say that it is a must for him to fall (Prov 24:16). It simply means that just in case he falls or has fallen, he does not have to stay on the floor; he can rise again.

See, there is nothing God has to gain from the fall of His children. There is nothing He has to gain from His children being sick or depressed or downcast. There is nothing He has to gain from such things. So He is not the one bringing these troubles into our lives, as some people think. They say, “Everything comes from the hand of the Lord, and, ultimately, He will use it for his glory.” Wrong! That is not the position of the Scripture.

In Ezekiel 18, God speaking to the Israelites, says:

“Repent and live! Why should you fall, O house of Israel? Do you think I have any pleasure in the death of any man? Do you think I have anything to gain if someone misses it in life?” (Cf. Ezekiel 18:31-32)

Now if God does not have anything to gain from the death of a sinner, then, why should you think He has something to gain from the death (untimely death) of a righteous man? And why has He made available for us everything we need in life?

The bible says He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, it tells us that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. (Cf. Ephesians 1:3, 2Peter 1:3) If it is part of God’s original plan, then, for us to fall so that He can pick us up again, it is a waste of time and of resources on His part to make available for us everything that we need to live right.

So, keep it in mind that it is not a must for you to fall in life; it is not a must for you to fail. You can live above defeat. But even if you have fallen, God will restore you, if you will turn to Him for help. And I pray that you will begin to experience His restoration power today wherever you need to be restored in your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deut 8:10-15NIV)

Those were God’s words to the children of Israel through Moses, when they were about to enter the Promised Land under a new leadership, the leadership of Joshua. And what is the first thing we learn from what He said to them? It is that it is His will for us to have enough food to eat and be satisfied.

Now if you read this bible text carefully, you will see that twice the Lord says in it, “When you eat and are satisfied...” He does not say, “If you eat and are satisfied…” Instead, He says, “When you eat and are satisfied…” That means He actually wanted them to eat and be satisfied. Not only that, it means that He was going to make sure they ate to satisfaction in the land that He was leading them into.

If we, then, are not eating to satisfaction where we are now, we should take up our matter with Him in prayer. Yes, we should say to Him, “Our Father in heaven, just as you made sure the Israelites ate to satisfaction when you brought them into the Promised land, begin to see to it that I too am eating to satisfaction.” And will He answer us or not? He will surely answer us.

The second thing we learn from what God said to those Israelites is that it is His will for us to build fine houses, live in them and multiply in all good things. His words are, “When you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied…” Did you see that? Their prosperity was a sure thing, as far as God was concerned. It was not a matter of ‘if’; rather, it was something that was going to happen. And it was going to happen because He was going to make it happen.

In like manner, our prosperity is a sure thing. It is something that is meant to happen because God is devoted to making it happen. Of course, we will have to learn from Him and also cooperate with Him to make it happen. But we need to understand that He wants us to prosper. He wants us too to increase in all good things and not decrease in them.

Why? It is because it is when we are increasing in good things that God also can use us to increase in generosity to those in our world. Therefore, we must never think of our lack of money and other good things of this life as the will of God for us, if severe persecutions are not the reason for this lack. Instead, we must continue to earnestly pray to Him to make sure all His plans for our prosperity are fulfilled.

However, even though it is the will of God for us to be satisfied with all the good things of this life, it is not His will for us to allow any of these things to make us forget that He is the one responsible for our salvation and prosperity. As we see in our opening text, God fully assured the Israelites that He would make them prosperous in the land He was taking them. But He also warned them that prosperity can breed pride.

Is prosperity supposed to breed pride? No! Is prosperity given to men by God to promote pride? No! But when people have everything they can ever hope for in this life and are satisfied, they may begin to think there is no need for God again. Or they may totally forget that the one who lifted them up to where they are is God and begin to do as they please. And where that is the case, their destruction may be unavoidable.

So, as you are praying to God and looking forward to seeing Him lead you to experiencing immense prosperity, also keep in mind the fact that prosperity can breed pride. To say the fact, there are many poor people whose hearts are loaded with pride. And in their poverty, all the time they conceive proud notions, notions of how they will use their wealth or prosperity to oppress others or to punish those who have hurt them in the past. Yet they wonder why they are not yet prosperous. They cannot prosper unless they get rid of their pride. That is because God resists the proud – only the humble enjoy His grace (James 4:6; 1Pet 5:5).

If you, then, don’t want to be resisted by God or brought down by Him, keep your heart humble before Him always. And He will see to it that you are established in prosperity and also satisfied with it.

Enjoy your day.

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“While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law." Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law — settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things." So he had them ejected from the court. Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.” (Acts 18:14-17NIV)

Why did Gallio refuse to judge the matter between Paul and the Jews that had brought him to his court? It was because he did not have enough light on it. It was a religious matter that they brought before him, a matter involving Christianity and Judaism. But this man was neither a Christian nor a Jew. So, there was no way he could judge the case without being bias or unjust.

But you know that it is one thing to know that you are not fit to handle something; it is another thing to admit that you are not fit to handle it. Gallio admitted to himself that he was not knowledgeable enough to judge Paul’s case with the Jews, even though he was a proconsul, a governor, at the time. So, he told Paul’s accusers in plain terms, “I will not be a judge of such things – go and handle this matter yourselves.” And even though they protested and began to beat the ruler of their synagogue, Gallio didn’t give a damn. He simply had all of them ejected from his court. What a man!

Now compare Gallio to Pontus Pilate who judged the case of Jesus. First, Jesus was not under his jurisdiction but under Herod’s jurisdiction. So, it was Herod that was supposed to judge His case. But Herod lost interest in judging the matter, when Jesus was not answering any of his questions, questions that were evidently irrelevant to the matter at hand. So, he sent Him back to Pilate. (Cf. Luke 23:1-12)

In any case, even though the Lord was sent back to him in that manner, he still did not have enough light to judge His case. Why? Like Gallio of Paul’s time, he too was neither a Jew nor a believer in Christ Jesus. So, he should have told the people plainly that he would not be a judge of such things. But he did not do that. Instead, he sat in judgment over Jesus and committed the greatest act of injustice of all times. He sentenced the author of life, the only man that ever lived without any sin in His life, to death and became partakers of the crime of His accusers. Why? He wanted to please the crowd (Mark 15:15).

What is the point of all this? It is that you should learn to excuse yourself from matters that are beyond your knowledge to judge or comment on. It is normal for people to want to drag us into matters that do not concern us. Sometimes, it may be out of respect for us or because they believe we are in a position to attend to such matters.

But regardless of what position we are holding in life or how knowledgeable we may be, there are matters that we have no business attending to and matters that are just too high for us. For example, David, even though he was God’s anointed king, once wrote in a psalm of his, “I do not concern myself with matters too high for me or subjects that I do not understand.” Why? He knew it is only arrogant people that get involved in judging cases they do not understand. And such people can only end up becoming evil judges and partakers of the sins and punishments of others. (Cf. Ps 131:1-2)

What about our Lord Jesus Himself? He also once refused to judge a family case brought to Him by a man. The man had asked Him to command his brother to divide the inheritance with him. And how did the Lord respond to that? He simply said, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” In other words, the Lord was saying, “Look, it is not in my place to judge matters like this.” (Cf. Luke 12:13-14)

Now since there were cases the Lord Jesus did not see Himself as in a position to justly judge when He was here on earth, then, we also should know that it is not every case we are fit to judge. Unfortunately, even many that we call men and women of God today do not understand this. So, they want to judge, comment on and even pray about every matter people bring to them or every current issue in their society. Why? They want to become popular among men, just like Pilate.

But because they do these things without asking themselves whether they have enough information or are in the right positions to handle them or not, they end up lying or becoming associated with the sins of certain wicked people. And that is how many of them have lost their respect, even among those who once cherished them.

Well, the word of God is coming to you now and saying, “It is not every matter that you are fit to judge or comment on.” And to say the fact, it will take wisdom for us to recognise such matters and strength of character to refuse to judge them. My prayer, then, is that you will always have sufficient wisdom to know matters that are not your business and also sufficient strength of character to steer clear of them. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:2NIV)

What does Paul mean by what he says in our opening text? He means that we should no longer think the way we used to think. He also means that we should no longer live the way we used to live. So, don’t try to put on a camouflage. You are now a child of God. Live, then, as one, and don’t pretend.

When you see a Christian that lies, steals or is involved in sexual immorality, you need to know that he has put on a camouflage. He is pretending. He is not living his real life. He is pretending to be of the world, when he is not. That is Christian thinking. I know that is not our usual line of thinking. We see such Christians as of the world. But they are not. They belong to God. It is just that they are living a wrong life.

Well, Paul says do not conform to the pattern of this world. Don’t switch to their mode; rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That means you are to allow your mind to be renewed. Allow the way you think to change. Begin to think like a child of the kingdom of God.

Now when you begin to think like that, Paul further says:

“…Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2NIV)

I love the way that is rendered in King James Version, which is a more accurate rendering. It says:

“…that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

So, Paul is not saying here that you will be able to know the will of God; instead, he is saying that you will be able to prove the will of God. When your mind is renewed, you will be able to prove the will of God with your life. That means, as you do the will of God, people will see that the will of God for you is good, pleasing and perfect. Your life will prove that.

Now where you live, is your life a proof that Christianity is the real thing? Is your life a proof that God is not lying, that when you accept what He has chosen for you, your life will make sense? That is what Paul is talking about. Your life is to prove that doing the will of God or living in the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect. And may you be encouraged and strengthened to daily live in the light of this truth. Amen.

Have a wonderful day.

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“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8-9NIV)

Who is speaking to us here? It is our Lord Jesus Christ. And what is He telling us? It is that whatever spiritual gift we have has been freely given to us by God. That is why we call it ‘a gift’.

But then, God has not given that gift to you, whatever it is, so that you can turn it into a merchandise—something to sell or something to use for making money. Now don’t get me wrong. I do not mean that, in the use of your spiritual gift, God may not send people to bless you with material things. In fact, if you are using your spiritual gift as God will have you use it, people will bless you with material things. That will naturally happen, not because you are begging them but because they appreciate what God is doing through your life.

However, what we are looking at now is a situation in which you turn your spiritual gift into a merchandise—something that you use to impoverish people. Peter, addressing God’s people on this note, reminds us of Prophet Balaam. He says something very noteworthy about this man in his second epistle. Look at it:

“They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness.” (2Peter 2:15NIV)

Can you see that? Balaam loved the wages of wickedness. This man loved the reward of wickedness. He was a prophet of God indeed. But he was a prophet that was willing to prophesy at any cost. That means if you offered him enough money, he would prophesy—he would not care whether it was right to do so or not. (Cf. Numbers 22-24)

Similarly, today we have a lot of people who are walking in the way of this man—they also love the wages of wickedness. They love the reward of wickedness. Each time they are using their spiritual gifts, what they have in mind is how much they will be able to make—what they will gain. If they are preachers, and you invite them to minister in your meeting, their focus will not be on how much God’s people will be blessed but on how much they will be able to take away when they are leaving. If they are music ministers, it is the same thing.

In any case, my point is that the spiritual gift God has given to you is not something for you to commercialise. Rather, it is something for you to use freely bless others. And if this is not your focus while you are using that gift, you are acting contrary to the will of God. You, therefore, need to repent and begin to do the right thing before it is too late. I pray that God will strengthen you to do so without delay. Amen.

Have a blessed day. 

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“For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Rom 14:7-8NIV)

Those were Paul’s words to the Roman brethren of the first century. And they are his words to us too. Now he could say these words because he was functioning with an understanding of the fact that he belonged to God. He knew that he did not belong to himself. He knew that he had been bought at a price. So, it was just natural for him to live his life for God. And it should be natural for every one of us also to live his life for God.

See, if you agree that you actually belong to God, then, you don’t need anybody to force you to live for God. You don’t need anybody to mount pressure on you in order to live for God. You should willingly want to live for Him.

But this goes beyond words of mouth. That I say that I am living for God does not mean that I am actually living for God. I can say that because it is just about the right thing to say. It really does not mean that in reality I am living for God.

Now supposing I don’t really know whether I am living for God or not, I only need to look at some indicators, and I will know. One of these indicators is what do I spend my time on? How do I use my time? You know if I belong to God, then, it must mean that my time belongs to God. And if my time belongs to God, then, God has right over the way I use that time. I can no longer use my time the way I like anymore.

So then, how do you use your time? The way you use your time is a reflection of what you are living for. You cannot say that you are living for God, when you actually are not using your time for Him. Probably you are using your time to honour the devil. And if you are using your time to honour the devil, definitely, it is the devil you are living for, not God.

Another indicator has to do with how you use your resources. The resources you have now, how do you use them? How you use your resources is definitely a reflection of the one you are living for. The one you are using your resources to honour is the one that you are living for. Jesus says a man’s resources go to where is heart is (Matthew 6:21). So, it does not matter what he says with his mouth, where he sends his resources is where his heart is.

Where, then, have you been sending your resources? What have you been using your resources to promote? Your answers to these questions will let you know if you are living as one who belongs to God or not. And if you can see that you have not been living as one who belongs to God in the way you use your resources and time, then, you need to change your ways and let your actions begin to agree with your profession of faith. May the Spirit of God strengthen you to do so without delay, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“…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 warder. So the warder put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warder paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.” (Genesis 39:20-23NIV)

The Lord was with Joseph, even in the prison, as we see in today’s opening bible text. And we are told this so that we will understand that whatever our position is in life, the Lord is with us. No matter how low your position is in life, the Lord is with you. This is the lesson God is always seeking to teach His people.

So, you are not failing in life because of your position. Where you are, you can still excel. Joseph excelled in the prison. He did not team up with the criminals there. He did not out of fear succumb to their way of life. He distinguished himself. He knew that God was with him and that He was going to protect him wherever he was. And the Lord protected him. So, he became like an assistant to the warder there, and the warder started having free days. That was because anything that was under Joseph’s care was alright; you wouldn’t need to bother about it, even though he was not the warder but a prisoner like the other inmates.

Unfortunately, a lot times, we find people misbehaving in their offices or workplaces because they are not the boss. Why should you be misbehaving because you are a cleaner and not the boss? You cannot be elevated by God that way. So, you need to change your attitude.

In any case, much later, Joseph was elevated—the Lord brought him out of the prison and made the Prime Minister of Egypt. He was next to Pharaoh. In fact, Pharaoh told him that it was only with the throne that he would be greater than him and that nobody would be able to raise a hand in Egypt except at his command. Can you now see how God brought him up? (Cf. Genesis 41:40&44)

But if all along he had been messing up, would God have brought him up? No! If all along he had been grumbling and complaining about his position, would God have brought him up? No! If he had been saying, “With all the things that I know, why should I be a servant here?” or “With all the things that I know, why should I be a prisoner here?” he would never have amount to anything in life.

See, some people will never amount to anything in life because of their attitude towards the position they have found themselves in life. You may be in a place where people who don’t know as much as you do are your bosses. But that is not the end of life. You must understand that God wants you to be in that position now for a reason. Yes, it may be that your mistakes brought you there. But if you would function with the right attitude, God is able to lift you up.

Have a lovely day.

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“If you make the Most High your dwelling — even the LORD, who is my refuge — then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Ps 91:9-12NIV)

From what we see in our opening bible text, as long as we are living in God through Christ Jesus, no harm will befall us and no disaster will come near our dwelling places. Why? It is because God Himself will see to it that we have His Holy angels all around us to protect us in all our ways.

But do you know that you have God’s angels all around you to protect you? The bible tells us that those of us who have come to God through Jesus Christ have come to an innumerable company of angels in a joyful assembly. Then it also tells us that all these angels are receiving instructions from God every day to serve us. Can we see them with our natural eyes? No! But they are all around us, working hard to see to it that we are safe to experience a total fulfilment of the will of God in our lives. (Cf. Heb 1:14&12:22)

You can now see why the consistent position of the Scriptures is that disasters, terrors and oppression will be far from us (Is 54:14-15). And don’t miss the point being made here. It is not that bad thing will not want to happen to us. As long as we are in this world, Satan will always labour to see that bad things happen to us, whether we are God’s children or not. But because we are God’s children, we always have His protection through His mighty angels. And they will always see to it that regardless of what Satan does, the disasters he has plotted to bring upon us never come near us.

Remember what happened when the children of Israel just came out of Egypt. No sooner than they left that Pharoah gathered his army and pursued them. But the bible says:

“Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.” (Ex 14:19-20NIV)

Think about that! The angel of the Lord that was watching the nation of Israel saw to it that the Egyptian army could not come close to them. And He made sure this was the case until the entire army of Egypt that was pursuing them perished in the Red Sea.

In like manner, there are angels appointed to watch over you too. And they will always see to it that regardless of how close or hard the disasters or calamities or plagues or sicknesses sent by the devil come towards you, they will never touch or harm you. So, get rid of all your fears and walk all the time with the consciousness that you have your own personal guards sent by God to keep you. Otherwise, through fear, you may use your own mouth to bring trouble on yourself (Prov 18:21).

Then you also need to be devoted to staying in the will of God and walking only on the basis of His righteousness and not yours. Otherwise, you may just expose yourself to satanic afflictions. Why did Jonah end up in the belly of a fish? It was because he disobeyed clear instructions from God. Why did Lot lose his wealth in one day? It was because he pitched his tents with people who were living contrary to the will of God? And why did God permit Job to experience all the terrible things he experienced at some point in his life? One of the reasons was to show him that he had been walking in self-righteousness all along, thinking that his good works qualified him to earn God’s protection.

So, if we don’t want to expose ourselves to disasters, we need to take all of God’s instructions very seriously and also rely on Him solely for our protection and not on our good works. As long as we are functioning like this, even if certain people’s misbehaviour, disobedience or evil schemes should bring some calamities or disasters our way, God will always ensure that His angels are there to preserve us by shutting the mouths of the lions that are sent to devour us.

Do have a lovely day.

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“But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command." (1Sam 13:14NIV)

Those were Samuel’s words to King Saul after he took it on himself to offer to God sacrifices that Samuel ought to have offered to Him. And why did he do that? He did it because he got tired of waiting for Samuel.

As the account goes, Samuel had told him to give him seven days to be with him and make sacrifices to God before he would engage in the battle that was before him. But for reasons not disclosed in the bible, Samuel was late in coming. So, Saul decided to usurp his authority and make the sacrifices the man was supposed to offer. Unfortunately for him, just as he finished making the offering, Samuel came. And all he had left to do was pronounce God’s judgment on him. (Cf. 1Sam 13)

Now what was God’s judgment concerning Saul? It was that He had already replaced him with someone else. But did God really have to do that? Why did He not give him another chance to redeem himself? Well, God did not give him another chance because it was useless to do so. As we also find out in the bible, after this incident, God sent Samuel to him again to give him another assignment. And how did he handle it? Unfaithfully, as usual! He went and did his own thing, not what God had commanded him to do. (Cf. 1Sam 15)

So, Saul at that time had already developed an independent mind. That means he was only after doing what pleased him and not what pleased God, who anointed him and made him king over His people, Israel. Therefore, he could not be trusted by God. No, God did not remove him from his throne immediately. In fact, He allowed him to reign for forty-two years. But He never gave him any task or assignment again till he died. So, those years of his reign were nothing but useless years, as far as God was concerned, just as he too had become nothing but a useless king.

What is the point of all this? It is that God is taking note of our attitude towards whatever task He gives to us. If we are handling the tasks He gives to us diligently and faithfully, whether they are tasks He gives to us directly or those that He gives to us through others, He will continue to give us more tasks. And as He gives us more tasks, He will also multiply His grace in our lives to do them. So, we will find ourselves increasing in usefulness, fruitfulness and relevance before Him.

But if we cultivate the habit of handling the tasks God gives to us as we please, a time is coming when He will have nothing else to say to us again. He will simply find someone else who will do what He wants. Don’t we also function in like manner? We do! If, for instance, we have a tailor or carpenter that is always doing what he pleases with our work and not what we want, are we going to keep giving him jobs to do for us? No, we will not, especially when he is not the only carpenter in town. Why? We don’t want use all our time arguing with someone that has no mind or intention of satisfying us.

In the same vein, God also does not want to use all His time arguing with us, when it is clear we have no intention of doing what will please or satisfy Him. This is why, as we see in our opening text, He is always searching for people who are after His heart. Why? They are those who will willingly and faithfully do what He wants and not be arguing with Him or doing their own thing.

So, if you are not one of those who are after satisfying God always in living for Him and also in handling His work, you are simply making yourself ready for redundancy in His kingdom. That, of course, does not mean that God will reject you as His child. He won’t reject you as His child, if you do not reject Him as your Father. But the fact that you are His child does not mean that He considers you as someone He can entrust His work to. And if He is not entrusting His work to you, then, you are nothing but a useless child.

I pray that you will not end up living the rest of your life as a useless child of God, in Jesus’ name. But you also need to examine your ways and your attitude towards whatever tasks you are currently handling for the Lord and make amends where necessary. It is well with your soul.

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“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Eph 1:3NIV)

Among the most challenging declaration of facts of the bible is that God has blessed all His children with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, as we are shown in our opening bible text. In other words, we already have all the blessings we could ever hope to receive from God, the blessings of the Holy Spirit, righteousness, prosperity, good health, protection, wisdom and every other thing necessary for godly living. We can, therefore, not be any more blessed than we already are, for we are fully and thoroughly blessed.

But then, even though one has been blessed by God in this manner, the blessings he has received may still not be manifesting in many areas of his life. Why? The reason is that God’s blessings are essentially spiritual. So, there are things we must give ourselves to doing for them to physically manifest in our lives.

For example, a boy may have been gifted by God to be better than Cristiano Ronaldo in football. That gift, though we may call it natural, is still in a sense spiritual. That is because it is unseen. And it will remain unseen until the boy begins to give himself to playing football. Then even when he begins to play football, if he will not give himself to the training and discipline necessary to make him shine with the gift, the gift may not prove to be a blessing to him.

In like manner, even though we have received all the blessings God could possibly give us, if we will not begin to take the steps that will cause those blessings to manifest in our lives and affairs, we may still live and pass out of this world as though we were never blessed. And may that not be our experience, in Jesus’ name. Amen. So, we need to know what we must be doing to cause God’s blessings to daily find expression in our lives and be devoted to doing it.

Now what are those things we must be devoted to doing in order to begin to witness a great manifestation of God’s blessings in our lives? One of them is prayer. The bible says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Col 4:2-3NIV) Why must we devote ourselves to prayer, with a heart of thanksgiving? It is because prayer is a sure way of receiving what God has given.

The bible says a man can receive only what God has given him (John 3:27). So, if God has not given it, you cannot receive it, even if you use your entire lifetime to pray for it. But if God has already given it, then, you can receive it. And how do you receive what He has given? It is by asking. That is why Jesus says, “Ask and you will receive, for those are asking are receiving.” Since God, then, has given us all His blessings, we can receive a manifestation of each one of them through prayers. So, if you observe that certain blessings of God are not evident in your life as they should, open your mouth and pray to receive their manifestations. (Cf. Matt 7:7-8)

But then, if we don’t know what God has already given us or blessed us with, we may never ask for its manifestation in our lives. That is why another way to begin to witness a great manifestation of God’s blessings in our lives is to devote ourselves to the word of God. Paul, speaking to the Ephesian elders, once said to them:

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32NIV)

Did you see that? The word of God is able to deliver our inheritance, our blessings, in Christ Jesus to us, here in this world and also when the Lord returns.

How, then, does His word do this? First, it is by getting us acquainted with all the things that God has freely given to us in Christ Jesus. When we know what God has already blessed us with, we can thank Him for it and receive it through prayers and our declarations of faith. Second, His word opens our eyes to those things that promote the manifestations of His blessings and also to the things that hinder them.

For instance, His word shows us that generosity can promote the manifestation of His blessings in our lives (2Cor 9:6; Gal 6-10). Likewise, His word shows us that pride or bad conduct in our marriages, Christian assemblies or work relationships can hinder our promotion, prayers and the manifestation of His blessings of good health, longevity or prosperity in our lives (1Cor 11:17-32; James 5:1-6; 1Pet 3:7; 1Pet 5:5-6). And if we take His word seriously, doing those things that it commands us to do and abstaining from those things He wants us to abstain from, we will witness His blessings finding expression in our lives in ways beyond our reasoning.

Now I know that you will want to see all of God’s blessings finding expression in your life and affairs this year. Therefore, give yourself to praying like never before and also to studying and practising His word like never before. And the manifestation of His blessings that your life will witness in the year will be immeasurably more than you can ever imagine.

Have a blessed day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will clear the way for you to receive and enjoy all that He wants you to have this year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now one of the ways to receive without delay what God has already given to you or experience His salvation from satanic afflictions is to take advantage of the presence of the leaders He has appointed over you in your assembly. As we see in Scriptures, among the reasons God gives us leaders in our various churches is that they may watch over us and also supply whatever is lacking in our faith by the power of the Spirit of God. So, they are authorized to say words that will change our lives forever, to pray to God on our behalf and receive answers and to also rebuke the devil and frustrate his works in our lives. (Cf. 2Cor 10:8; 1Thess 3:10; Heb 13:17)

However, we must learn to recognize the positions they are occupying in our lives and make adequate use of them in order for us to fully enjoy their ministries. For example, we are told in the Scriptures of how a widow ran to Prophet Elisha for assistance and got it. As the account goes, after her husband died, a man he owed began to threaten to take her two sons away as slaves. Now we are not told whether the woman first met their family members or friends to help out in the situation or not. If she met with them, then, they probably had no help to offer her. But she did remember that her family had a close relationship with Prophet Elisha. In fact, the prophet knew her husband well enough to be able to recommend him to anyone as a righteous man. So, she ran to him for help. (Cf. 2Kings 4:1)

Now did Elisha attend to this woman or not when she went to him for help? He did. How? Did he give her money? No! He probably did not have enough money to give her to offset her husband’s debt. But he did have sufficient spiritual authority to bless and multiply what she had, so that she would be able to pay her debt and also come out of poverty. And that was exactly what he did. He gave her a word of blessing that changed her situation forever. (Cf. 2Kings 4:2-7)

But do you know that this woman’s husband also could have taken advantage of his relationship with Elisha to receive a word of blessing that would pay his debt before he died? Perhaps if he had done that, he would not have died prematurely as he did. Who knows? In any case, his wife did what he would not do and saved the family from generational poverty.

In like manner, you too, by taking adequate advantage of the spiritual authority of the leaders of your assembly, may save your business, marriage or family from certain problems that have refused to go away. But will you do so? Will pride allow you to do so? Will timidity allow you to do so? Will your devotion to a life of secrecy allow you to do so?

See, there are many of God’s children that are suffering in their bodies, finances or marriages simply because they will not take advantage of the ministries of the leaders of their churches. And these ones may just die suffering, if they continue to refuse to do what is right. Look at what James says to us along these lines:

“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15NIV)

Did you see that? Any child of God that is sick does not have to die on his sick bed, even if it is sin that is responsible for his sickness. All he needs is to let his church leaders pray for him in faith. And he will be healed and also forgiven, if he has sinned. Why? They are authorised to receive healing and forgiveness for him through faith in Christ Jesus. But what if he will not reach out for them for prayers? He may just die in his sickness.

Now I am aware, of course, that it is not every so-called church leader that is a person of faith and that can be trusted to do what is right for the good of the children of God under him. But inasmuch as you know that your own church leaders are people of faith and can be trusted to always work for your good, learn to make adequate use of their spiritual authority for your healing, promotion and salvation from every attack of the enemy. And may the Spirit of God continually fill your heart with adequate wisdom and understanding to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day.

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“A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.” (Ps 34:19-20NIV)

Did you see that? A righteous man may have many troubles. That, of course, does not mean that a righteous man or woman must have many troubles. No, it is not a must.

So, if your life is loaded with all kinds of troubles, don't think that is exactly how God wants things to be for you. Your life can be without many troubles. And you should, relying on the power and wisdom of God, aim for a life without many troubles, for it is a life of rest that promotes prosperity.

But then, supposing you are faced with many troubles, don't be discouraged. No, don't allow that to make you give up and surrender to failure or destruction. Why? The reason is that God is able to deliver you from all of them and see to it that they do not crush you or your strength to survive and flourish in life.

Look at Joseph's life, for instance. Though he was a righteous young man, he was still faced with many troubles before arriving at where God had always wanted him to be in life. First, he faced all kinds of troubles at home from his own blood brothers. And at the peak of those, he was sold into slavery and had to live like a slave until he was acknowledged by his master as one that was more than a slave. (Cf. Gen 37&39)

Then, when it looked as if rest had finally come to him in the house of his Egyptian master, when he had become the overall manager of the man's household, trouble showed up again. His master's wife began to have eyes for him. And that soon enough landed him in jail.

Now naturally, if someone close to us is dealing with troubles in series like that, we may begin to suspect them as being unfaithful to God in some ways. Job's friends suspected him of that, even though they had no proof. And because they suspected him of being unfaithful to God, they could not truly comfort and help him. But was he unfaithful to God? No, he was not. He simply went through what he went through because Satan came after his life and he did not know how to identify his operation and resist him.

What about Joseph? Was it his unfaithfulness to God that exposed him to all the troubles he went through in life? No! He was a righteous man. He was a man of honour. Yet he had to deal with troubles in series. And he should have been crushed by all those troubles. But he was not. Why? It was because God was with him in them all to strengthen him and to rescue him. And because he too was aware of this fact, he cooperated with God. So, though he was faced with many troubles, he rose above them all and became the person God had always destined him to be in life.

In like manner, you too can become all that God wants you to be in life and also accomplish all that He wants you to accomplish in life, regardless of the myriads of troubles you are dealing with or may have to deal with. As I already said, it is not compulsory that you have thousands of troubles to face in life. But if you do have to face thousands of troubles, don't see it as strange. It is not strange for God's own child to face troubles in series. What will be unacceptable, however, is for him to allow those troubles, however many they may be, to dominate, crush or limit him.

What does the Lord say to us in His word about dealing with troubles in series? He says:

“A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”

So, regardless of how numerous those troubles you are dealing with at the moment may be, the Lord will deliver you from them all. Don't give up, then. Instead, keep saying, “I am walking in victory over you all, troubles, in the name of Jesus Christ.” And before you know it, like Joseph, you will find yourself on top of them all, shouting, “Glory! Hallelujah!”

Have a fabulous day.

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As we begin this new day, my prayer is that God will perfect all that concerns your walk with Him, so that you will not fail to fully receive and enjoy your own share of the inheritance that He has stored up in heaven for all His saints, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things we learn from Scriptures is that it is possible to associate ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ or His people and still not be a part of His kingdom. It is even possible for us to preach and perform miracles in His name and still not be a part of His kingdom.

For example, Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve men that were closest to the Lord Jesus during His time here on earth. And like all the others, he too preached and performed all kinds of miracles in the name of Jesus. Yet when all has been said and done, it was revealed that he was never a part of the kingdom of God. Of course, he was very close to entering it. But he never really did enter. So, he lost his soul. (Cf. Matt 7:21-23 & Matt 10)

Also, there was a teacher of the law that Jesus once had a conversation with. And when they were done talking, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” But this man was a teacher of the law of Moses. How come the Lord said that he was only close to the kingdom of God but not yet in it? It was because even though his heart was right and willing to serve God, he had not yet put his faith in Jesus as his Lord. And it is only those who put their faith in Him as their Lord that will be saved and transferred into God’s eternal kingdom. (Cf. Mark 12:28-34; Rom 10:9-10)

In addition, we have in the bible the story of a man called Cornelius. Now though this man was a soldier, even God Himself testified that he was godly, prayerful and generous. Nevertheless, a day came in which God had to tell him to send for Peter to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, so that he would accept Him as his lord and be born again. Otherwise, he would only remain close to the kingdom of God but would not enter it till his death. What, then, would become of all his good works? They would all amount to nothing. (Cf. Acts 10)

In like manner, there are many in the world today that are only close to the kingdom of God but have not entered it. They may be good, kind, generous and god-fearing in many ways. But as long as they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and the Saviour of their souls, they are not yet in the kingdom of God. And we need to let them know the truth about this. We need to let them know that though they are not far from the kingdom of God, they are not yet in it. And if they should die without entering it, their souls will be lost forever and all their good works will just go to waste.

Then, though this is unfortunate, we equally have many who have identified with one Christian assembly or another but who are not yet in God’s kingdom. Yes, they too are not far from entering it. But they are not in it. I often refer to some of these as friends of the church. That is because they love to pray, sing, dance and listen to the word of God with us in our meetings. Some of them even love to finance all kinds of church projects. But their hearts are not yet ready to yield to the lordship of Jesus. And it does not matter how long they stay with us and how much service they do with us in that condition, they will only be close to the kingdom of God -- they are not a part of it.

Now ask yourself, “Am I indeed in the kingdom of God or am I only close to it?” My prayer is that God will enable you to be truthful to yourself in answering this question, so that you will not wake up one day and realise that you do not really belong where you think you belong.

Have a fabulous day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will open your eyes to see all the right steps you need to take to be established in His goodness and in prosperity in the year and also strengthen you to take them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now one of those steps you need to begin to take to be established in God’s goodness and in prosperity this year is that of generosity towards God. And how do we show generosity towards God? At least, as we well know, God will not spend our money, eat our food or live in any house we build for Him. How, then, do we act generously towards Him?

Well, we show generosity to God, first, by giving to promote His work among men. Second, we show Him generosity by giving to those He has sent to feed us with His word and to guide us in the path of righteousness. Third, we show that we are generous to Him by giving to the poor around us. (Cf. Deut 15:7-11; 1Chro 29:1-9; Prov 19:17; Matt 25:40)

Why, then, is it important that we act generously towards God in this manner? First, it is important because not being generous towards Him can open the door for labour loss in our lives. For instance, in the book of Prophet Haggai, we see that one main reason God’s people that came back from the Babylonian captivity were experiencing labour loss was their neglect of the building of the temple of God. These people just saw that even though they were working hard, their hard work was not promoting prosperity in their lives – it was just going to waste. And if God had not sent Haggai to tell them what was wrong, many of them would have perished in poverty. (Cf. Haggai 1)

In like manner, there are many believers that are working like elephants today but are getting the rewards of rats because they are not generous to God. They, like the people of Haggai’s day, always have one excuse or the other not to give for God’s work, to God’s servants and to the poor around them. And unless they repent and begin to do the right thing, they may end up dying in poverty. May that not be your lot in life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Then it is important that we are generous towards God, if we want to fully enjoy the fruit of our labour. Our Lord Jesus tells a parable about a rich man whose ground did well one year. And according to Him, all that this man could think of was how he would build bigger barns and settle down to enjoy His wealth for many years to come. He did not thank God or say anything about giving for His work. Also, he did not say anything about supporting the priests in the land or helping the poor around Him. All he thought about was himself. What a selfish and stingy man! (Cf. Luke 12:16-21)

To cut a long story short, when he was done praising himself and talking about his future enjoyment, God responded and told him that his life would be taken from him that very night. That means he would not be allowed to enjoy the fruit of his labour. It was some other people that would enjoy it. And the Lord concludes the story by saying that that is how it will be for everyone who is laying up treasures for himself but who is not generous to God. So, stinginess to God can cut short a man’s life. And you should keep that in mind.

The third reason we should be generous to God is that our own prosperity in life may sometimes be tied to it. For example, for the widow of Zarephath and her son to survive and prosper during the famine of King Ahab’s time, she needed to be generous to the man of God, Elijah. She may have been generous in her time of plenty. But her generosity in her time of plenty was not what opened the door of miraculous supply for her in the time of famine. Rather, it was her generosity in that time of famine, when she had very little, that opened that door for her. But what if she had not freely shared with the man of God at the time? Would she had survived that famine? No! (Cf. 1Kings 17)

Therefore, the word of God says:

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Prov 11:24-25NIV)

Did you see that? Generous people will prosper. But stingy people will end up in poverty. Make up your mind to be generous to God and not stingy to Him, then, this year. And God will surely enlarge the boundaries of your prosperity greatly. Amen.

Do have a great day.

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“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (1Peter 1:10-12NIV)

What is Peter showing us here? It is that it was by the revelation given by the Spirit of God that the prophets of old who wanted to find out about the coming of the Christ, His sufferings and His glories were shown their various places in God’s scheme of things. They were shown that it was not in their place to witness the coming of the Messiah, His sufferings and the glories that would follow. Their place, rather, was to prepare those who would witness and participate in these things for a full enjoyment of them. So, all the things they were shown about Jesus and how to benefit from His ministry were shown to them for us, who are now beneficiaries of these things.

In like manner, the Spirit of God is able to show us our own various places in God’s scheme of things. And do you want to know your place in His scheme of things? Do you want to know what He wants you to be doing in His kingdom? It is the job of the Spirit of God to make these things known to you.

Paul tells us in Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 10, that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do those good works that God prepared in advance for us to do. How do we know these good works? It is only through divine revelations. And these revelations are given by the Spirit of God.

So, we must learn to take advantage of His ministry in us and to us. That way, we will be able to fully live in the purpose and plans of God for our lives and not waste our lives.

Have a pleasant day.

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“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (Romans 12:3NIV)

The first instruction here is for us not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. That means we are not to have an opinion of ourselves that does not exist – we are not to have an exaggerated opinion of ourselves. That, however, is not to say that we are not to think about ourselves at all. We must think about ourselves so that we may know and appreciate who we really are.

But how do we think of ourselves? We are to think of ourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of us. That means, first, we are to think of ourselves with clarity of mind. But we must think of ourselves. Yes, there are all kinds of philosophies suggesting that we should not think of ourselves at all or that we should always think of others first. But there is nowhere we are told in Scriptures that we must not think of ourselves at all or that we must always think of others first.

Truly, we are told in Scriptures to value others above ourselves, that is, in humility. That means we are not to relate to anyone in pride, seeing ourselves as better than them. We are never true judges of such things – only God is. Also, we are told in Scriptures not to look to our interests alone but also at the interests of others. But that is not to say that we are not to think of ourselves at all or that we are to put others ahead of us. On the contrary, we are told to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. (Cf. Matt 22:39; Phil 2:3-4)

Now what that means is that until we love ourselves appropriately, we cannot love our neighbours appropriately. And until we think properly about ourselves, we cannot think of others properly. Those who are suspicious of others, jealous of others or bitter against others are that way because they do not have the right thought about themselves. If you know who you are and think right about yourself, you will not need to be envious of anyone or to live a life of suspicion.

Well, Paul tells us to think of ourselves in the light of the measure of faith God has distributed to us. Now faith grows based on knowledge. The better we know God, the better we are able to trust in Him and live for Him. So, Paul says we are to think of ourselves in the light of the knowledge of God that we possess. What do we know about God? That is what will determine the measure of faith we will repose in Him. And we are to think of ourselves in the light of this.

What I am saying is that you are to think of yourself in the light of the revelation of God that you have, in the light of your personal relationship with Him. Don’t think of yourself in the light of other people’s relationship with Him. Don’t develop any opinion of yourself on the basis of the relationship of others with Him.

I know this is a little tricky. But it is not uncommon to find people try to function on the basis of other people’s faith. I am taking about those who seek to function on the basis of what others know of God or on the basis of the gifts God has given to others. So, they try to do what others are doing or talk as boldly as they do.

But the problem is that they have not personally known God the way those they are trying to copy do. Also, they do not have the inner revelations or gifts that those they are trying to copy have and are utilising to do the things they are doing. So, they get frustrated when they cannot get the results those they are copying are getting, even though they are doing exactly what they are doing and saying exactly what they are saying. Why? The reason is that they are functioning on the basis of the faith and gifts of others, not on the basis of their own faith or gifts.

Well, the point I am making is that you are to think in the light of your own faith in God, in the light of your relationship with Him. That is why it is important that you get to know Him better. The better you know Him, the greater your faith will become. The better you know Him, the better you know yourself and His provisions for you and His deposits in your life. This will help you function right in life.

Have a lovely day.

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“I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." (John 4:38NIV)

There is a growing hatred among many young people today for hard work. All they want is much profit with little or no work at all. They want to live in mansions, ride the latest exotic cars, eat delicacies all the time and move around with the finest of ladies or guys in the world. All for doing what? All for doing almost nothing!

Is it wrong to live in mansions or to ride exotic cars or to eat delicacies or to marry beautiful ladies or handsome men? No, these things are not wrong in themselves. But we need to earn the right to have them through honest, hard and diligent labour.

Now observe that I said spoke of honest, hard and diligent labour as a means to earning the right to live large. That is because it is not every job that is hard to do that is also honest. For example, robbery, drug trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping, burglary, prostitution and swindling are all hard and risky jobs to do. And they can make plenty money available for people to live very large lives. However, regardless of the degree of devotion and diligence given to doing these jobs, they are not honest or legitimate jobs. So, those involved in them can only hope to get destroyed through them sooner or later.

When I am taking about being given to hard work, then, I am not talking about any kind of work. Rather, I am talking about legitimate and honest work that people can proudly identify with. And I am saying don’t be ashamed to give yourself fully to any such job. Why?

First, it is because God rewards those who work hard and diligently. Paul, writing to the Colossian brethren, says:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.” (Col 3:23-25NIV)

Did you see that? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is interested in our work and also in our attitude towards it, regardless of whom we are working for or working with. And He will reward us right here in this world for whatever we do, even if we are not Christians. This explains why He may pick an unbeliever from among believers and exalt him, if he is hardworking and diligent. There is no favouritism with Him.

I am sure you know the story of Joseph and of how God exalted him. Why did God exalt him in the manner that He did? One main reason was that the young man was a hard and diligent worker. And it did not matter to him where he was, whether he was in slavery or in the prison, whatever he found to do, he did it wholeheartedly. So, he was always experiencing exaltation and standing before those who mattered wherever he was. Of course, he did not become great in one day. But because he had a culture of working hard and diligently, God was able to clear the way for him to attain the highest position anyone could ever wish for in life. (Cf. Gen 39-41)

If you too will learn not to run away from hard work but to handle your work, whatever it is, seriously and diligently, God, who is always watching you, will see to it that you are always standing before those who matter where you are and not before irresponsible and useless people (Prov 22:29). Then, if you do not faint, a day will surely come when you will be led by Him to that height that no one thinks you can ever attain. And who knows how close you are to that day?

Another reason you shouldn’t run from hard and diligent labour is that you may through it offer comfort and rest to future generations. As our Lord points in our opening bible text, His disciples had a very rare privilege of eating the fruit of the labour of many prophets of old that had lived and ministered before them. Those people did the hard work of clearing the way for Him to come. But they were the beneficiaries of their hard work.

In like manner, the Christian liberty and sound spiritual education many of us are enjoying today have been made available for us through the hard work of some great men and women of God who lived here in the world before us. These people gave themselves to hard and diligent spiritual labour with perseverance in order for the truth of Jesus Christ to be preserved for us. And if they had detested hard work, all that we are enjoying in terms of our spiritual heritage today would not have been ours to enjoy.

Interestingly, the same thing is true in the natural realm. The sophisticated lives many of us are living in the world today have been made available to us through the hard work of some great scientists, thinkers, academics and business men and women that lived years or centuries before us or that are living now among us. Similarly, there are many young people today that are able to enjoy quality education and live comfortably because of the hard work of their parents or grandparents. But what if these people had run away from hard work or if they had treated it with contempt, would the kind of lifestyles some of us are living now have been possible at all? No!

So, if you give yourself to hard work, you won’t be the only one to enjoy it. Others coming after you will also enjoy it. Stop running away, then, from hard and diligent labour, for it is your own way of vitally making the world a better place for all to live in.

Have a lovely day.

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“…Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” (2Tim 4:11NIV)

Those were Paul’s words to Timothy. He wanted him to bring Mark to him, for he was helpful to him in his ministry. But there was a time Paul did not want this same Mark to travel with him at all in carrying out his ministry duties. And that was because he had once deserted him and Barnabas when they seriously needed him. So, Paul considered him at the time useless to him in ministry matters. (Cf. Acts 13:13; Acts 15:36-41)

But Mark did not remain useless to God or to His servants for life. He grew up in spiritual things. At some point, he acknowledged whatever bad habits or attitudes he had that made him useless to the people of God in his life and dealt with them by the power of the Spirit of God. So, later on in Paul’s life, he insisted that Timothy look for him and bring him to him, because he was helpful to him in his ministry.

There is another young man mentioned in the bible who had a similar life story. He too was once useless to his master, even though his name meant useful. In fact, he was so useless and irresponsible that he ran away from his master. But when he met Paul, he became born again. Since then, his life took on a new direction and he began to live up to his name, ‘Useful’. And he became so useful to Paul that he felt like keeping him to be with him for life. But because he wanted his master to see how God had changed his life, to freely forgive him for all the bad things he had done to him and to also enjoy his usefulness, he sent him back to him. And I am talking about none other than Onesimus, Philemon’s servant. (Philemon 1)

We can see, then, that God has the power to make useless people useful and irresponsible people responsible, if they will yield their lives to him. And He wants to make you too useful and responsible in all your relationships. But are you willing to be useful and responsible to Him and in all your relationships? Unless you are willing to be useful in an increasing manner, God cannot do much for you. It is only those who are willing that God will enable to do those things that are necessary for them to become useful to those in their lives and to continually increase in usefulness.

Well, like Paul, leaders of every church of God need useful people to support them in their ministry and to keep moving the work forward. They need those they can rely on to support them with their time, spiritual gifts, money, skills and anything they have. And are you one of those people? Are you useful to your church leaders in any way? If they are thinking of those to rely on to get certain things done, will your name come to their minds at all? If this is not the case, then, you are useless to them. And if you are useless to your leaders in church, you are most likely useless to the God who has appointed them over you.

Do you, then, want to remain useless to them or do you want to become useful? That is the question for you to answer as you face this new year. And this goes beyond asking them, “How can I be useful to you?” It is also about showing them what things you can do to become useful to them. I pray that God will lead you away from everything that is making you useless to Him and to those in your world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a fruitful day.

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“News of this [the church that was birthed in Antioch] reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (Acts 11:22-26NIV – Emphasis mine)

Where were disciples first called Christians? At Antioch! Now observe that those brethren were not called Christians because they bore bible names, because they attended church meetings, because they carried Scriptures around or because they were always praying. Rather, they were called Christians because people saw Christ in them. They saw them as His followers and representatives. They saw them as those who were living out the message of Christ.

Today, however, all that has changed. People are not usually referred to as Christians today because Christ can be seen in them or because they are promoting His message. Rather, most people are referred to as Christians because they bear bible names, own personal bibles, attend church meetings or call on the name of Jesus.

But that was not how things were in bible days. People were referred to as Christians then because others could see Christ in them. That, of course, is what God is after; that is what He wants. Truly, He did not name believers Christians. That was the idea of the people of that time. But God was fine with it, for it communicated what He had in mind.

Now what does He have in mind? He wants Christ to be seen in us. He wants His fullness to be in expression in us and through us to the world. That was why He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us and bring us to Him. And if you have come to Him indeed, He has to be seen in you.

Is He, then, being seen in you? Is He being seen in me? If He is not being seen in me, then, something is wrong with my Christianity. I will, therefore, have to examine myself in the light of His word to see what could be wrong with my Christianity, so that I can do the needful. Otherwise, my so-called Christianity will be worthless to Him. May your Christianity not end up being a worthless thing to the Lord, when all has been said and done. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Rom 12:12NIV)

Paul here says we must be faithful in prayer. When do we talk about faithfulness? It is when something has been entrusted to someone. That means prayer is a responsibility. It is a duty for every child of God and, in fact, for every man.

In the bible, we are told that people started praying in the days of Enosh the son of Seth (Genesis 4:26). Why? They saw that they had a duty to pray to God about everything happening in their lives and in their world. They saw that they had a duty to daily express their dependence on God for everything they needed in life.

We too must know that we have a duty to pray to God. And that is why Paul speaks of faithfulness in prayer. That means until we see prayer as a duty, we may never take praying to God seriously. But prayer is a duty. And each of us has prayer duties. I have prayer duties. You have prayer duties. We, therefore, have to be faithful in handling them.

As we read the Scriptures, we see that we are given all kinds of instructions on prayers, what to pray about, who to pray for and how to pray. For instance, in 1Timothy 2 we are told to pray for all men, including leaders of our governments and societies. We are also told in some other Scriptures to pray for our countries, our brethren, our leaders in the church and so forth.

Now these are commands given to us, not suggestions. Therefore, we must take them seriously and be faithful in handling them, seeing that they present to us our prayer duties or responsibilities. And I pray that you will not be found wanting in any of your prayer duties, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church. For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.” (1Corinthians 14:12-13NIV)

What is Paul telling us in our opening text? It is the need for us to continually labour to excel in using our spiritual gifts, whatever they may be, in building up the people of God. How? One way to do that is by praying to God, asking Him to cause us to excel in using those gifts He has given to us to bless His people.

Paul, in the same chapter of his letter to the Corinthians that we have in our opening text, has already spoken to these brethren about speaking in tongues, that is, addressing God’s people in tongues as opposed to praying in tongues. And he says you don’t edify God’s people when you instruct them in other tongues. But if you are able to interpret what you are saying to them, then, you can edify them.

Therefore, he goes on to say to those who speak in tongues among them: “Pray to God that He will enable you to interpret what you say in tongues.” In other words, by praying to God, those who have the gift of speaking in other tongues can be led by Him to the point of building up others. How? By receiving from Him the gift of interpretation of tongues!

Now this principle can be applied to any gift of the Spirit you too may have. It is the principle of prayer. You learn to pray to God about your gift that He will cause you to be effective in using it. Otherwise, you may not be able to accomplish much in blessing others with that gift.

Second, in other to excel in using our spiritual gifts, we have to learn to study the Scriptures to see how we can please God with these gifts. So, study the Scriptures to see how others who had that gift you have or similar ones in the past used them. Then begin to apply what you are learning.

Furthermore, recognise opportunities to use your gift. Stephen was ordained as a deacon in the church. But the bible says he worked great miracles and signs among the people and also taught them many things. He did not wait until he got to church meetings before using his gifts. The apostles were there teaching the brethren at that time. So, he may not have the opportunity to teach them too. But out there where he was helping the church with food matters, he could teach, heal the sick, raise the dead and so forth. (Cf. Acts 6:1-10)

What about Philip the evangelist? He was ordained as a deacon to handle food matters. But out there, he began to preach the word of God to people. And it did not matter to him whether he was talking to one person or to cities. So, at some point, everybody recognised him as an evangelist. (Cf. Acts 8)

In the same vein, you too must recognise the opportunities God brings you to use your gift. And I pray for you that the Spirit of God will strengthen your heart and your hands to excel in those gifts that He has given to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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‘This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it – the Lord is his name: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”’” (Jeremiah 33:1-3NIV)

This is an invitation by God Himself to us. And He says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” This is a new year. And how much do you know about it? What exactly can you say about the year?

Well, there is somebody that knows everything about it. He is the maker of the heavens and the earth, the creator of the universe. And He is saying, “Talk to me. Talk to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” There are a lot of things we don’t know about this year. But if we will talk to God about them, He will answer us and reveal what we need to know about these things to US.

At least, He is the one saying to us, “Call to me.” There are things we cannot search out all by ourselves. And regardless of how observant you are, there are things you cannot know about this year all by yourself. Regardless of what devotion you give to research and all other similar things, there are things you cannot know about this year. But if you will talk to God, He says, “I will reveal them to you.”

The opportunities of this year will be revealed to us, if we will call to God. His provisions for you to excel, for you to flourish in the year will be revealed to you. He will show you where the goodness is. He will show you where the increase is. He is able to show you what things to lay your hands upon, what jobs to do, what jobs not to do. He will also show you where the traps are, where the snares are, so that you can avoid them. And what do you need to do in order to be brought in like? Talk to Him! He says, “Call to me.”

Now I wouldn’t know who you are calling to. But if you are not calling to God, you are missing it. He says, “Call to me.” We make phone calls all the time, which is wonderful. But if you fail to call to God about this year, you will soon enough realise that those people you are calling cannot reveal the secret of success of the year to you. They cannot reveal the secrets of advancement of this year to you. The only one who can reveal them to you is God. And He says, “Call to me.”

But then, this is not a one-off thing. It is not what you do today alone and stop. No! Keep calling to Him. Keep talking to Him. Every day of the year, keep talking to Him, saying, “Today is a new day, Lord. Reveal to me the secrets of the day, the secrets of happiness, the secrets of joy, the secrets of peace, the secrets of contentment, the secrets of advancement. Make them known to me.”

Remember what Jesus said to the people of Israel, just before He went to the cross. He said, “The things that are meant for your peace, the things that are meant for your prosperity are hidden from you. Oh that you would know what is meant for your peace! Oh that you would know what is meant for your prosperity! But it is hidden from you.” Why? It was because they were not reaching out for the only one person that could make those things known to them. (Cf. Luke 19:41-42)

So, I am saying to you, as we begin this new year, “Call to Him, and He will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things you don’t know.” And you won’t need to work hard or engage in much research to know them; God will just reveal them to you. By the way, this is one of the reasons He has given us the Holy Spirit: to show us things to come. So, let us take advantage of this provision of God for us this year to walk in victory, to walk in triumph and to flourish in all our ways. And if Jesus tarries, by this time next year, we all are going to be celebrating the goodness of God again, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a pleasant day.

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“Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.” (1Thessalonians 3:10NIV)

Those were Paul’s words to the Thessalonian brethren in a letter to them. And these words show us that it is possible for certain things to be lacking in the faith of a believer. This does not necessarily mean that such a believer is not doing well in the things of God or not bringing forth the fruit of righteousness or showing himself to be profitable to God or useful in His kingdom. Rather, it may mean that the believer just needs to be pruned to be more fruitful.

Remember that the Lord once said to His disciples, “The branch that brings forth fruit my Father prunes, so that it may bring forth more fruit.” Why does God need to prune His child that is bringing forth fruit? It is so that he may bring forth more fruit. The one that is not bringing forth fruit at all is in danger of being separated from the vine, as the Lord further says about our relationship with Him. (Cf. John 15:1-2)

So then, when Paul says that he and his ministry companions want to come to supply what is lacking in the faith of the Thessalonians, he does not mean that something is wrong with these brethren or that they are not living their lives the way God wants them to live their lives. On the contrary, he means that he wants them to come around to help them to be more fruitful in doing the will of God.

These Thessalonians are wonderful brethren. For instance, in the first chapter of the letter in which Paul says these things, he refers to them as a model church to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. So, everyone is speaking about their faith, love and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Cf. 1Thessalonians 1:2-10)

Furthermore, he says this to them:

“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1Thessalonians 4:1NIV)

So, it is not because this is a troubled church or one that is failing God that Paul says what is lacking in their faith needs to be supplied. On the contrary, it is a model church in all things. In fact, this apostle says that he does not need to talk to them about the need to love one another, for they already love one another (1Thessalonians 4:9-10).

Why, then, do Paul and his companions want to supply what is lacking in their faith? It is so that they may be more fruitful and productive before God. So, this apostle seems to be saying, “When I come to you and I see how orderly you are, I will be able to tell what areas of your life in which you are not yet functioning as God wants you to function, so that I may teach you what to do in them in order to be fully pleasing to God.”

We see something similar to this in the way our Lord Jesus writes to the seven churches in Asia, which account we have in the book of Revelation. For example, He commends the Ephesian church for their steadfastness in handling the truth and for not allowing themselves to be swayed by the errors of lawless people. Having said that, He goes on to addressing what is lacking in them, saying, “But you have abandoned your first love.” And when you look at the letters He writes to the other six churches too, you will see that most of them are rebuked for certain things that are out of place in their devotion to Him, beliefs, practices and so forth. He simply picks out the things that are wrong with these churches, so that they could correct themselves and begin to function as He wants them to.

In like manner, we too may need to have certain things that are lacking in our faith supplied, so that we can become more fruitful before God and more useful in His kingdom. Therefore, when our leaders or other people of God in our lives are drawing our attention to things that we need to begin to do or to deal with in our lives, we should humble ourselves and listen to them, as long as what they are telling us is not contrary to the word of God. Otherwise, we will not be able to increase in fruitfulness and usefulness as God wants us to be.

Have a lovely day.

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"If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in another man's field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard. If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution. If a man gives his neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief, if he is caught, must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has laid his hands on the other man's property.” (Ex 22:5-9NIV)

One of the ways to limit growth and development where we are is to continually treat the properties or possessions of our neighbours with disrespect. See, whatever a man has or owns represents him. That is because that thing is a product of his labour, a product of his sweat. So, if you treat it carelessly or without respect, it is the person that has it that you are actually disrespecting. And wherever that is the case, wherever we are messing up with the fruit of other people’s labour, growth and development are bound to be hindered.

Therefore, if we want growth and development to be fast and progressive in our land, there must be laws that will compel us to treat the properties and possessions of our neighbours with care and respect. We cannot assume that people will treat their neighbours’ things with care and respect. That is because they may never do so. In fact, the natural man is naturally selfish. So, he cares only about himself and what belongs to him. And there are situations in which he may not even care about himself or what belongs to him. That being the case, if there is nothing to compel him to care for others and what belongs to them, he may never do so.

You can see why God, when He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, did not assume that they would naturally be nice to one another. Instead, He gave them laws, as we see in our opening bible text, that would compel them to treat one another’s properties and possessions with seriousness, even if they did not like one another. Of course, these people had all suffered as slaves of the Egyptians for centuries. But that did not mean that they would think about that and be nice to one another or to the foreigners among them. They still needed laws to compel them to do so.

Look, the fact that someone has suffered before and has now been comforted does not mean that he will be kind to others. If the love of God is not in living in him and compelling him to be kind to others, he will not be kind to them at all. You may know certain rich or influential people who started out in poverty in life and who are yet terribly cruel to those under them. Why has the history of such people in poverty not taught them to be kind to others? It is because there has never been kindness in them.

Money or position never makes anybody kind or wicked. These things only highlight what people have been all along. Therefore, we cannot assume that people will treat their neighbours’ possessions, properties or businesses with respect and care either because they are rich or poor. There must be laws that will compel them to do so. And that was God did with the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt. He gave them laws that would make them respect the possessions and properties of their neighbours. So, even if you did not like your neighbour, when you thought of the penalties that come with not treating their things with respect, you would behave yourself.

See, God did not want a situation in which people would cultivate the habit of wasting, losing or destroying their neighbours’ properties or possessions and saying, “Oh, it was a mistake.” So, He said, “Even if it was a mistake, your being sorry is not going to be enough. You have to refund the money you lost or replace the property you damaged. That would teach you to be more careful with other people’s things in the future and also prevent you from hindering the progress of your neighbour or limiting his enjoyment of his possession or property.”

But you know we often get upset when people demand that we refund or replace things that they entrusted to us that we lost or messed up. Why? It is because we think it is unrighteous and wicked of them to do so. We see it as a sort of revenge. But that is not how the word of God describes revenge. Revenge is when you pay people back evil with evil. And it is different from when you demand that people act responsibly in handling your things.

God Himself wants us to act responsibly and carefully in relating to anything that belongs to our neighbours. That was why He gave laws to the people of Israel concerning this. And we do have similar laws in many countries and organisations today, laws demanding that people treat their neighbours’ things or anything that is entrusted to them with seriousness and care. The unfortunate thing, however, is that it is not everywhere that these laws are enforced.

For instance, in Nigeria, even the government is not serious about enforcing laws that protect lives and properties. So, many are daily strengthened to mess up with the fruit of others’ hard work and labour. And we wonder why we are not moving forward at any serious rate. God will not preserve the fruit of our labour or prosper the works of our hands, as long as we keep treating what belongs to others without care or respect. So, we need to change our attitude along these lines, individually and collectively. Otherwise, the growth and development we are looking forward to seeing in our lives and land will never happen.

Have a blessed day.

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“At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon Sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses – the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine oil – his armoury and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.” (2Kings 20:12-13NIV)

On one occasion, King Hezekiah, as we see in our opening text, showed the envoys that came to him from Babylon everything that he had, everything that was in his palace and in his kingdom. Why did he do that? Pride!

It is pride that will make you flaunt your wealth. And there are many today that are often flaunting their progress. In short, anything that is happening in some people’s lives must be on the social media. It has to be on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp status and so forth. Things that should happen in their lives quietly are all over the world for everyone to know. That is a kind of pride.

Now I am not talking about people advertising their businesses or special programmes for the benefit of others. But I am talking about those who are unwisely flaunting the goodness of God in their lives. Do you think it is everyone that is happy about what God is doing for you and in your life? Yet you are flaunting your wealth and every little progress you make in life. It is pride.

Well, it was this same form of pride that led Hezekiah to show everything he had to the Babylonian envoys. He showed them that he was wealthy and powerful. Again, we have people like that today. Always, they want to show you how powerful, influential or wealthy they have become. Why? Pride! They may not pay attention to it. Or they may be lying to themselves about it. They may say they are just trying to be open and free. You know that we have all kinds of euphemisms that we use to describe the wrong things going on in our lives. And unless we face the reality about them, they may end up being our undoing.

Pride led Hezekiah to foolishly display his wealth. And when he was done doing so, God sent His prophet to him to show him the consequences of what he had done. Look at what He said to him from verse 14 of 2Kings 20:

“Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, ‘What did those men say, and where did they come from?’ ‘From a distant land,’ Hezekiah replied. ‘They came from Babylon.’ The prophet asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ ‘They saw everything in my palace.’ Hezekiah said. ‘there is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.’ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: the time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ‘The word of the Lord you have spoken is good.’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?’” (2Kings 20:14-19NIV)

Did you see how this man responded to what God had said to him? God had told him that disaster was coming upon his household and the kingdom. Yet all he could say was, “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good.” Why? It was because he thought the trouble would not come during his reign. But what he did laid the foundation for the trouble coming. Yet, in his pride, he just took what God said casually and did not take it to heart. He probably just went on to say to Isaiah, “Let us not talk anymore about that. Let us talk about something else.” That is pride. It is pride not to take the word of God to heart, whether it is in your favour or against you. It is pride to seek to minimise the significance of the word of God that has come to us.

Well, what brought out the pride in Hezekiah? It was the coming of the Babylonian envoys to him. So, we too need to constantly check our hearts and guard our hearts with the word of God. Otherwise, evil may take root in them. And where this is the case, at some point, there may come situations that will bring out in the open whatever evil that has taken root in our hearts. But then, it may have become too late at that time to do anything about the problems it will have created for us.

My prayer is that God will teach and strengthen you to always protect your heart from everything that is inconsistent with His will and also lead you to truthfully deal with any wrong thing that has already taken root in your heart, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant day

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“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?” (Luke 16:10-12NIV)

Among the funniest things that happen too frequently in our local home videos are situations in which rich and influential people would pick up some guys they just met recently and put them in charge of their multimillion-naira businesses or organisations, that is, without first proving them in any way. And those guys would call that favour, God’s favour, when sharing their testimonies.

But is that how God favours people? Does He just pick up people from where they are and make them rulers over nations, businesses or organisations without considering their capabilities? No! People may do that. Satan also may do that in order to accomplish certain evil schemes of his. But God never does such things.

Yes, there are scriptures that point to the fact that God is able to raise the poor from the dust of the earth and sit them with princes. But how many poor people do you personally know that God has treated in this manner? I am guessing you are saying, “Very few, actually.” (Cf. 1Sam 2:8; Ps 113:7-9)

But why? Why is God not lifting every poor person He finds around and putting them in places of honour? The answer is in our opening bible text. There the Lord Jesus gives us one of the basic principles God follows in lifting people in life and in entrusting them with more resources, authority, power or people. And what is this principle? It is that of faithfulness in little things.

As our Lord Jesus points out in that text, as far as God is concerned, anyone who is not faithful in handling little things, position, resources, education, time and so forth, is not faithful in handling much. Yes, the person may be a child that God loves dearly and wants to take to very great heights. But as long as he cannot show himself faithful and honest where he is and with whatever abilities, resources or opportunities he is given, however little those things may be, God will not give him more of them. That is because he will not be faithful in handling them as well.

Also, our Lord says if we cannot show ourselves faithful in managing what belongs to other people, God will not see us as fit to manage His provisions for our own good, elevation and development. In fact, Jesus says our unfaithfulness in handling natural things, especially things that belong to others, will only show God that we cannot manage true riches, that is, spiritual wealth. It is no wonder, then, that when preachers or church leaders start manifesting unfaithfulness in handling God’s money and people, they also stop receiving more and better knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures from Him. He will just block their access to more revelational knowledge. So, they end up cresting and living on past glories.

Unfortunately for many of us, we usually assume that such retrogression or stagnation, which is associated with our unfaithfulness, can be dealt with just by praying to God and praying more to Him. But things don’t work like that with God. He has already said that we must show ourselves faithful in little things before He can entrust us with great things. Therefore, the only way our prayers for exaltation or breakthrough will work is for us to get busy with being faithful in handling whatever is in our care, whether it is for us or for others. Otherwise, we will just be wasting our prayers.

To say the fact, the most reasonable prayer we can offer for our exaltation in life is that God will teach and strengthen us to be faithful to Him and to men in all things, especially little things. Then exaltation and abundance of all good things will naturally follow.

Now, of course, it may take a while for our exaltation or promotion or increase in wealth to become obvious to us and to others around us. But it will surely happen, as long as we devote ourselves to being faithful where we are and with whatever has been entrusted to us by God and men. Remember Joseph. Remember that this was the process his exaltation followed: faithfulness in little things and faithfulness in handling what belonged to others. And it is the same process our own exaltation will follow as well.

So, let us get busy with promoting faithfulness in all things in our lives. And before we know it, we will begin to see the light of the glory of God in us shining forth and causing men to glorify Him on account of us.

Have a blessed day.

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“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”” (Luke 14:25-27NIV)

As pointed out by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, anyone that will be a true disciple of His must hate his own father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters and even his own life. But is that not contrary to the message of love that Jesus Christ is preaching? No!

See, when the Lord says these things, He does not mean that we are not to love our people at all. Remember that He Himself tells us to love and pray for our enemies. And if He wants us to love and pray for our enemies and even those who persecute us, will He not want us to love our families and friends even more? He will. (Cf. Matt 5:43-48)

So, when He said that we must hate our own people in order to be His disciples, He does not mean that we are not to relate to them in love. Rather, He means that we must love and take Him more seriously than them. In other words, He must always come first in our lives. And if He comes first in our lives, then, if our family members or friends are doing something contrary to His will, we will not join them. Instead, we will take our stand against them.

For example, when Moses wanted to judge the children of Israel for making an idol of gold for themselves to worship in place of God and losing control of themselves in their crazy partying, He asked the people, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” And all the Levites came to his side. Then he gave them the Lord’s command, which was that they were to take their swords and go through the camp of Israel, killing everyone that had not become sober, even if the person was their family member, friend or neighbour. And they did. (Cf. Ex 32:25-28)

Now could it have been easy for those Levites to kill their own parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends or neighbours that day? No! That was a heavy cross for them to carry, for they would have to live with the memory of killing their own people for the rest of their earthly lives. But because they loved God more, they killed them. And because they did that, the bible goes on to say this: “Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."” (Ex 32:29NIV)

Can you now see why God chose the tribe of Levi out of all the tribes of Israel to reveal Himself to them so that they may serve Him in His temple? It was all because they hated their own family members, friends and neighbours in order to honour God. And the Lord Jesus is telling us that we too must be prepared to function in the same spirit, if we want to be His disciples indeed.

This, of course, does not mean that we too have to be willing to kill our own family members or friends, just because we want to show our love for God or our Lord Jesus. Unfortunately, there are still religions in the world today who think killing others for God is a great way to show their love for Him. But God is not asking anyone to kill anybody for Him today. That is because He has already offered Jesus as a sacrifice for us all.

However, what He is asking of us is to be willing to stand against anything that He is against, even if it is our own flesh and blood that is involved. And are we willing to do that? Are we willing to go against our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, wives, husbands and children, if they are walking contrary to the will of God? It is only those who are ever ready to do this that are true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not those who are saying that they are His disciples with words of mouth only. And I pray that we all will be strengthened by the Spirit of God to be ready every day to bear whatever cross we have to carry to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1Timothy 6:6-10NIV)

This Scripture is warning us about the danger of falling in love with money or being eager for money. Unfortunately, many believers have misrepresented what it is saying as meaning that God does not want us to prosper materially. And if it is wrong for us to prosper materially, then, it is wrong for us to work at all. But we know that God wants us to work. And if we work, we will make money. Therefore, it is not wrong for us to prosper materially.

Also, there are those who often misquote part of this Scripture and say, “Money is the root of all kinds of evil.” But that is not what Paul says. What he says is that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. So, what we are dealing with is the love of money; what we are dealing with is eagerness for money.

Now that you are eager for money does not mean that you are going to be rich. There are rich people that are not eager for money or in love with it. They do their business honourably and smartly. And because God’s favour is on what they are doing, they become rich.

See, it does not matter whether you like to have money or not. If you are doing certain things the right way, you will make a lot of money, with God’s favour on your side. So, you can be rich and not be in love with money. And you can be poor and be utterly in love with money.

Those who are in love with money are controlled by it. Those who are in love with money will do just about anything to have it. But someone can be rich without doing just anything to be rich. And someone can be rich without being a slave of money.

So, being rich is not the same thing as being eager for money. There are many out there that are eager for money. Yet they are not rich. So, eagerness for money will not necessarily make you rich. Instead, it will surely destroy you, if you are not shown mercy. Rid yourself, then, of eagerness for money by the power of the Spirit of God. And may you be energised to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you; Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”” (Matthew 16:13-17)

As we see in our opening bible text, Jesus had asked His disciples about who the Son of Man is. And it was easy for them on that occasion to tell Him what others thought and said about Him, as it is easy for some of us too to talk about what others know about Jesus and not what we ourselves know about Him. But then, He went on to ask them what they thought about Him. And that was when they all got quiet.

However, one of them, Simon, spoke up and said that He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. How did he know that? According to our Lord Jesus, it was God Himself that revealed it to his heart. It was not something that he was taught by anyone, neither was it something that he had read in a book. Rather, it was God that dropped that revelation in his heart. By what medium? By none! The man just knew the right answer to the question Jesus had asked.

In like manner, we can just know the right answers to certain questions we are asked. And we can’t explain how we know the right answers to those questions. We just know them. Right where we are standing or sitting, the answers to the questions asked just dropped in our spirits. It is beyond explanation.

Now that is what our Lord speaks of to His apostles, when He tells them not to think about how they will answer those who bring them to rulers to be judged because of their faith. He says that in that hour, at that very moment, the Spirit of their Father will give them the right words to say. So, they will just know the exact thing to say. (Cf. Matthew 10:19-20; Luke 12:11-12)

What I am saying, then, is that one of the ways through which God speaks to people is by giving them direct revelations in their hearts and without any medium. And the truth is that He desires to speak every day to all His children in this manner, filling their hearts with divine revelations of Himself and of His will. But His success in doing this depends on their readiness and openness to have Him talk to them and lead them and also, as we will later see, on their devotion to His word.

How ready, then, are you to receive divine revelations about every matter of your life from God? And how devoted are you to His word?

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“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.” (Psalm 1:1-3NIV)

There is a clear distinction between the one listening to God and the one listening to the devil. The one listening to God and meditating on His word is like a tree planted by the streams of water, as we are shown in our opening bible text. He is going to bring forth fruit in season and his leaves will never wither. That person is going to prosper in all that he does. Yes, regardless of how harsh the circumstances of life may be towards him, he is going to thrive. That is because he is listening to God, not the circumstances of his life.

See, Satan will continue to show us the circumstances of our lives and how dangerous they are. He will keep showing us how poor, weak and useless these circumstances will make us. He will continue to tell us that we cannot make it with these circumstances, unless we get involved in stealing, prostitution, money rituals and so forth. This is what Satan tells people all the time. He tells them that there is no way they can make it where they are, unless they start doing the wrong things. So, they also start doing the wrong things.

Why do people kill themselves? One of the reasons is that Satan keeps filling them with wicked thoughts. He keeps telling them, “Everyone hates you. No one wants you around. No one is impressed by your accomplishments. They are just lying to you. You are a mess. You are useless to everyone. Why don’t just kill yourself?” So, they end up killing themselves.

Now no one listening to God will go and kill himself. No one listening to God will give up on life, regardless of the circumstances he may be faced with. No one listening to God will surrender to defeat. People surrender to defeat because they are listening to the devil. People surrender to stagnation because they are listening to the devil. The one who is listening to God and meditating on what God is saying to Him, as we are told in Psalm 1, will continually be fruitful. His life will never wither. Instead, he prospers in whatever he does.

Again, the question is, “Who you are listening to?” You have the opportunity of listening to God all the time, for you have the Scriptures. And if you will give yourself to these Scriptures, meditating on them day and night, you will prosper.

Enjoy your day.

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“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matt 7:15-20NIV)

Sometimes ago, I saw a short video clip of a so-called man of God bathing members of his church in a basin and right in a church meeting. That, of course, is alarming. But it is not strange. Similar and even worse things are happening all around the world in many of our so-called churches. I mean that people do all kinds of terrible things in the name of Jesus. But has the Lord Jesus sent them? The answer is ‘No!’

See, our Lord Jesus, when He was physically here on earth and ministering to people from place to place, made it very clear that He was sent by God to set people free from their sins and from all kinds of satanic bondage (Luke 4:17-21). So, if anybody is doing anything in His name that puts you into any kind of bondage, you should know that such a person is not sent by Him.

As we see in our opening text, He Himself warns us to watch out for false prophets. Why does He want us to watch out for them? First, it is because though He has not sent them, they may come to us in His name. Second, it is because they are beasts, ferocious wolves. Therefore, their coming to us is never going to be for good. Rather, it will be that they may devour or ruin our lives.

How, then, can we save ourselves from them? It is by recognising them. And how do we recognise them? Jesus says it is by the fruit they bear. As the Lord points out to us, we can’t recognise a false prophet, teacher or believer just by merely considering the miracles or signs they perform or the things they say. We can only recognise them by looking at the fruit their lives are bearing.

What kind of fruit is the life of this so-called man of God you are chasing up and down bearing? Is it bearing the fruit of love, peace, gentleness, purity, self-control and everything else that is consistent with the righteousness of God? What about his practices? Are they consistent with the truth of the Scriptures and the practices of the saints of old?

If the life of a so-called man or woman of God is not bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit and if her practices are contrary to what we find in Scriptures, then, you should know that she is one of those the Lord wants you to watch out for. And you will do well to stay away from such or to guard yourself against them. Otherwise, they may end up corrupting, defrauding or injuring you.

There are many today who no longer want to have anything to do with Jesus or Christianity because they were polluted, defrauded or injured by certain so-called prophets or believers. Who, then, is to blame for their predicaments? They are to blame. They are to blame because they did not heed the Lord’s warning about false prophets. If they had heeded His warning, they would not have been victims of any false prophet or believer. And if you too do not want to have yourself to blame someday for being ruined, corrupted or injured by some prophet or preacher, you had better heed His warning and watch out, especially this new year.

Have a pleasant day.

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"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."” (Rev 4:11NIV)

God, as we see in our opening text, created everything, including mankind, by His will. So, we are not here in the world by our own will. It was not because we wanted to come into the world at this time that we are here. We are here because God wanted us to come. We are here for Him.

Since, then, we are here for God, our lives ought to be about living to please Him. But if we are ignorant of this, we will not give our lives to pleasing Him. And even if we know this but do not resolve in our hearts to live to please Him in all things, we will not live to please Him. That is because there will definitely be circumstances that will want to pressure us to act against His will. And if that determination is not in us to please Him, we may find ourselves yielding to those circumstances and acting contrary to His will.

Yes, according to Scriptures, it is clear that no one can please God by His own power or just because he desires to do so. God Himself has to empower us to please Him and also, in His mercy, make the circumstances of our lives favourable for us to please Him (Zech 4:6; Rom 9:16). But we too have to be willing and determined to please Him. I mean that we have to want what He wants for our lives and be resolved to experience it. Otherwise, He won’t be able to produce what He desires in our lives.

Paul tells us in a letter of his that it is God who is at work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose (Phil 2:13). Think about that. If you belong to Christ, God is working in you. And what is He doing? First, He is working to give you desires that are consistent with His purpose for you. Second, He is working to empower you to carry out those desires that are in line with His purpose for you. So, we have not been left alone in handling the business of living to pleasing Him. He is with us and will be with us all the way to see to it that we have everything it is going to take to fully please Him in our lives.

But as I pointed out already, unless we embrace what God wants for us and are determined to see it come to pass in our lives, our lives will never be a fulfilment of His will. Why did most of the people Moses brought out of Egypt fail to enter the place of rest prepared by God for them? Was it because God did not have the power to take them into it? No! Rather, it was because they really did not want what He wanted for them and so were not determined to have it. Therefore, His power could not work in their favour.

Look at Daniel, however. When he was in that godless city, Babylon, the bible says he resolved in his heart not to be defiled but to please God. Because of this, God caused His favour and power to work for him and his friends, so that they were able to please Him and experience His rest all through their stay in Babylon. (Cf. Dan 1:8-16)

In like manner, if we too are determined to walk in the will of God for us this year and are dependent on Him to make it happen, we will certainly experience a great release of His favour, mercy and power on our behalf that will make it so. But if there is no determination in us to live in His will, there is no way His power will be released to make our lives a fulfilment of His good purpose. My prayer, then, is that our hearts will be touched by God to fall in love with His will for us and be determined to live in it, so that we may fully experience His rest in every area of our lives this new year. Amen.

Happy New Year.

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“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."” (Josh 24:14-15NIV)

Those were Joshua’s instructions to the Israelites that had just been brought into the Promised Land. And the main point of these instructions was that they were to fear the Lord who brought them into the land of Canaan and serve Him in all faithfulness. Doing this, of course, would require that they got rid of all the dead gods that some of their forefathers had handed down to them. But living in the fear of the Lord and serving Him faithfully was what they must do, if they would truly flourish in the land and also enjoy its goodness.

However, as Joshua went on to point out to these Israelites, they had to make the choice of serving God wholeheartedly by themselves. It was not something they could be forced or coerced to do. Yes, God had chosen them as His own people and promised to take care of them. And He had begun to fulfil His promise to them by saving from Egypt, protecting and feeding them in the wilderness and bringing them safely into the land He had promised to give their forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. But they too needed to choose Him as their God.

Therefore, the man of God said to them, “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then, choose your own gods. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” In other words, if, despite all that those people had experienced of the goodness and power of the Lord, they were still not convinced that He was worthy of all their devotion and worship, then, they would have to choose their own gods who would start taking responsibility for their lives and affairs. And whether those gods would really be able to take care of them or not was another subject. But there was no middle ground there. It was either they chose to wholeheartedly worship and serve the living God, who loved them passionately and had proved Himself as capable of taking care of them, or they found some other gods to worship and serve.

But as for Joshua, he was clear about the fact that he and his household would worship and serve only the Lord. Why? It was because he had experienced enough of His goodness, care and power to know that He was the only one that deserved his worship and devotion.

Now have we too experienced enough of the love, goodness, kindness, care and power of God to know that He is the only one that deserves our praise, worship and absolute devotion? Or are we still in doubt of His love for us and His commitment to taking care of us? One of the reasons many would not give God their wholehearted devotion is that they are not fully convinced or persuaded that He is able to take care of them. Yes, all along, they have been enjoying His love, kindness, protection and goodness in ways beyond description. Yet they have not been able to make up their minds to serve Him and live for Him. They may have confessed Jesus as their Lord and Saviour and been attending church meetings and getting involved in all kinds of service with other people of God. But they know in themselves that their hearts are not fully yielded to serve and worship God forever.

That is why, depending on the circumstances, they are ready to switch their allegiance and make some worthless idols, men or institutions their gods. And it is also why they would not live in total obedience to His word. The question then, is “How much more of God's goodness and kindness do such people need to witness in order to totally embrace Him as their all in all?” And if you are one of them, how much more of His love, care and faithfulness do you need to experience to fully yield yourself to live for Him and serve Him?

If you will not yield yourself to worship and serve Him, despite all that you have enjoyed from His hand, you will be blocking the flow of more experience of His goodness. Perhaps the reason your experience of His goodness has been diminishing is that you will not totally yield yourself to worship and serve Him. Then you need to reconsider your ways, as we begin this new year, and choose the path you want to follow.

Look, God will not force you to choose Him or to choose to live for Him. But if you choose Him, then, you have to make Him your all in all and live your life in total submission to Him. That is the only way your experience of His love and goodness will keep getting better and better. Otherwise, you should find another god to serve and worship.

But as for me, I have witnessed enough of His mercy, love and faithfulness to know that He deserves my worship and everything. Therefore, my household and I will serve Him alone both now and forever, and He will see to it that we enjoy more and more of Him and all that He represents all through this new year.

Do have a prosperous new year!

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I once again gladly welcome you to this new year. My prayer is that God will cause you to be occupied with nothing but moments of peace, joy and fruitfulness all through the year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, at the beginning of the year like this, many who believe in God are usually concerned about knowing what His mind is concerning the year. That explains why many make themselves available in meetings of assemblies in which they are sure someone will certainly prophesy to or on them about the new year or bring them a word from God about the year. And when they are done in such meetings, you will hear them joyfully saying things like ‘My year of divine somersault,’ ‘My year of elevation,’ ‘My year of glorification’ and so forth.

While we do not have any Scripture that instructs or counsels us to name years, I do not see any harm in doing so, if it is done in a spirit of dependence on God. But to rely on some individual to hear God for you on what to expect in a year is something that is not alright for you, if you are a child of God. What are you doing with your own access to God? Or have you totally forgotten that in Christ Jesus you have free and unlimited access to Him?

The bible says:

“In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” (Eph 3:12NIV) It also says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb 4:16NIV)

So, if you want to know anything that concerns you or your family or anything about this new year, if you want to know the secrets of the year or what it holds for you, then, talk to God yourself. At least, every day of this year belongs to Him, just as every night of it belongs to Him. Also, all the seasons and times of the year are His. And since you have direct access to Him, why not talk to Him about the year and all that you need to know about it? (Cf. Ps 74:16-17)

Look at this word of invitation from Him:

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it — the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'” (Jer 33:2-3NIV)

Did you see that? God reminds us here that He is the one that made the earth in which we live and establish everything in it. So, no one knows our earth and all that is going on in it like Him. And on that basis, He says to us, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Now that is marvellous, or what do you think? First, God invites us to talk to Him about the secrets of life, secrets that we cannot know, even though we make effort to search them out. Second, He assures us that He will answer us and reveal those secrets to us. And isn’t this what we need at such a time as this? It is! We are confronted with a new year, a year that is totally foreign to us. But God, the owner of the year, is not foreign to us. He is our Father and Friend. And He Himself has asked us to call to Him about the year, so that He can tell us those things we need to know about it, so that we may experience absolute victory in all our ways all through it.

But are we going to do this? Are we going to call to God about this new year, so that He may take care of our darkness or ignorance about its opportunities and challenges and His own provisions for us to handle them? Or are we going to rely on some individuals to talk to God for us and also hear Him for us?

As for me, I am not waiting for anybody to take the place the Lord Jesus has secured for me before God and relate to Him for me about this year or anything else. Instead, I am going to take my place myself and take it fully, for I know that that is what the Father wants me to do. And as I do so, the secrets of this year will be delivered to me freely, and I will take advantage of the wisdom of God to use them for my good, for the good of mankind and for the praise of God. But will you too do the same? That is for you to answer.

In any case, once again, I welcome you to this new and beautiful year and pray that God will fulfil every good desire of yours for the year and also honour all your steps of faith in it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy New Year. 

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I am delighted to welcome you to another day of this new year and pray that God will cause you to experience tremendous success in all your ways all through it, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now someone may ask, “Is it even possible for one to experience success in all his ways in this world that is full of all kinds of surprises and challenges?” Yes, it is possible, if one knows what to do. For example, as we read the book of Joshua, we see that this man led the Israelites that Moses brought out from Egypt from victory to victory in bringing them into the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to them. He had success all the way. Therefore, he fulfilled his ministry of giving every one of the people their inheritance, in that land that was flowing with milk and honey.

But what made Joshua, who was not a priest or a prophet but a soldier, successful in this manner? What made him have success all the way? It was his devotion to the word of God. God had told him this when he was taking up the job of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land:

“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Josh 1:8NIV)

What did Joshua need to be prosperous and successful, according to that bible text? He needed to take the word of God seriously. First, he was to keep reading, studying and declaring it to himself and to the people he was leading. Second, he was to continually ponder on what it says, day and night. Why? It was so that he may be careful to live according to what it says. That means if we are going to practise the word of God, we must give ourselves to carefully meditating on it all the time. We must continually meditate on it until it becomes a part of us and we cannot just act otherwise.

At any rate, Joshua’s instruction was to personally take the word of God seriously. And did he do so or not? He did! That was, in fact, why he was able to succeed and prosper in leading the people into their inheritance, as God had instructed him to do. And towards the end of his life, he gave the people the same instruction God had given him, saying:

“Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.” (Josh 23:6NIV)

So, regardless of who you are, where you live and what your honest vocation is, if you too will take the word of God seriously this year, if you will give yourself to learning what it says about how you are to live, to meditating on it and to practising it, you will go from victory to victory in all your endeavours in the year. Yes, there will be challenges and trials in the year, just as there will be opportunities to do big and great things. But it is only those of us who take God’s word seriously in a very personal manner that are guaranteed to have success all the way, just as Joshua did.

Will you, then, make up your mind to take His word seriously this year, so that you can be successful and prosperous in all your ways? As for me, I have made up my mind to take His word seriously all through the year because I want to win all the time in it. And I know that He will enable me to do so by His Spirit, for He has said that if we are willing and obedient, He will make sure we enjoy the best of the land (Is 1:19). If you too are willing to do as He has instructed, then, He will make sure you have all that it is going to take to please Him and to be victorious all the time. And may you be continually strengthened to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy New year.

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Grace, mercy and peace be yours without measure from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I gladly welcome you to the first day of this new year. And my prayer is that all your steps in the year will be ordered by God in the path of rest, health and excellence, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Of first importance, we ought to give thanks to God for the gift of this new year. As you will agree with me, there were many who longed to be a part of this new year but who are now dead, for one reason or the other. Those of us, then, who are alive to witness the year and be a part of it ought to understand that it is not our strong desire, power or wisdom that has made our being a part of it possible. Rather, it is the mercy of God that has made it possible.

The bible says:

“It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.” (Rom 9:16NIV)

Since it is God’s mercy that has given us this new year as a gift, we ought to thank Him for it. Not only that, we ought to also make up our minds to use the gift of the new year to honour Him. Yes, it is normal for us to have dreams and aspirations for the year. But nothing may become of those dreams and aspirations, if we ignore the one that has given us the opportunity to dream and aspire or choose not to give Him His rightful place in our lives.

Once, while teaching His disciples about how to have their needs, dreams and aspirations fulfilled in life, our Lord Jesus said this to them:

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt 6:33NIV)

Now these words are still very much true today as they were when they first fell from the lips of the master. The only way to have all of our needs and dreams realised is to always put God first in our lives. Truly, if we will not put Him first in our lives, we may have certain or even many of our needs, dreams and aspirations fulfilled in life. But when all has been said and done, if we have not put God first in our lives, we will realise that our most important needs in life have not been met and could not have been met.

For instance, there is a longing in the heart of every man to live eternally. Yes, in the heart of every man is this urge to reach out to a life that is bigger and richer than the one we are living on this plane. We know that life is there ahead of us. And we know that we need it. Yet we can’t just fathom how to go about having it or how to take hold of it. (Cf. Ecc 3:11)

But God, the author of life, knows how to meet this eternal need of ours. Also, He possesses the power to meet it. Not only that, He cares about us and wants to meet this need and any other need we may have. No wonder the bible says that He cares about us and is daily devoted to bearing all our burdens. All that we need to do, then, to have Him take care of all our needs, aspirations and dreams is to put Him first in our lives. (Cf. Ps 68:19; 1Peter 5:7)

Now are we going to put Him first in our lives this new year? Will you put Him and all that matters to Him first in your life? If you will do that, then, as our Lord Jesus has made clear to us, there is none of your needs, material, spiritual or emotional, that He will not take care of. In fact, He will take care of even those needs of yours that you know nothing about and make sure you are absolutely satisfied when the year is over. And my prayer is that your heart will be strengthened to always put Him first in all your ways all through the year, so that nothing you need in the year will be unavailable to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy New Year.

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“Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.” (Num 14:33NIV)

Why did God say that the children of the Israelites that rebelled against Him in the wilderness, when He was leading them into the Land of Promise, would be nothing but shepherds for forty years? Was it because that was the only vocation available for humans at that time? No! There were all sorts of vocations that people could learn and practise then.

In fact, as we see in Scriptures, there were all kinds of skilled workers among these Israelites at that time. For example, we have people like Bezalel and Oholiab among them at the time. And these young men were experts in all kinds of crafts. There were also among them women who were skilled in spinning cloth materials. (Cf. Ex 31:1-11 & 35:25-26)

So, at that time, there was no shortage of skills to engage in all kinds of vocations that could transform a land into a wonder among these Israelites. But how much could they accomplish for themselves and their nation with their various skills and vocations while wandering in the wilderness? Not much!

The prevailing circumstances in that wilderness did not give much room for them to fully utilise whatever special skills or abilities they had and build great vocations or careers with them. They could not settle down there to farm. They could not settle down there to build houses. And they could not set up a market there for people from different nations to come and trade in. The best they could do there was take care of their animals and wait until God led them out of there into the land flowing with milk and honey, which He had promised them.

But why, then, didn’t they just get out of the wilderness and move into the land God had promised them? They could not. They could not because they had no power of their own to take that land. God had to give it to them. Then why was God not giving it to them, since He had promised to do so? It was because He did not want the unbelieving older generations among them to enter the land. So, He was waiting until the last one of them died before giving the land to their descendants, something that took forty years. And that, of course, also means that those qualified to enter that land of rest and prosperity were stuck in the wilderness because of their natural relationships, their relationships with their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties and so forth.

What is the point of all this? It is that the circumstances of our birth or of where we are can put certain limitations on us, even lifetime limitations. Yes, the circumstances of our family or those of where we live, work, do business or study can keep us in poverty, illiteracy, danger or illness. And it does not matter how hardworking, diligent, educated or gifted we may be, those circumstances may never allow us to attain certain heights of usefulness, prominence, prosperity or comfort in life.

Unfortunately, many don’t know this. They don’t know that regardless of what degree of hard work, diligence or carefulness they employ where they are, as long as certain circumstances are prevalent there or in their families, their efforts will not succeed in giving them the experience of prosperity or peace that they desire. So, they keep putting in more effort. And if they are not shown mercy by God, frustration and depression are bound to set in at some point and ruin them.

What, then, do such people need? They need divine intervention. In other words, they need God to step into their situation. And what will that accomplish? First, when God steps into their situation, He will open their eyes to see what their problem really is, which is that they are being limited or hindered by certain circumstances of their lives. Second, He will take steps to remove or change the circumstances limiting them or take them away from those circumstances to where they need to be to flourish and be all that He wants them to be.

In the case of the Israelites that we are considering, God, at the right time, had to lead them out of the wilderness into the land He had prepared for them, so that they could flourish with their gifts, abilities and vocations. Otherwise, their names and memories would have disappeared along with them in the wilderness. But in the case of Isaac, when he was living in Gerar and there was a severe famine in the land, all God needed to do was give him favourable circumstances. So, though it was a time of severe famine, the man still rose above all odds and flourished in the land. (Cf. Gen 26)

So, if you feel or can see that certain prevailing circumstances where you are have been working against you and making nonsense of your diligent labour or carefulness and forcing poverty, illness, illiteracy or any other terrible thing on you, don’t waste time at all to take the case up with God. That is because He is the only person that can show you what to do and also fix the problem for you. And He will surely have it handled for you, if you will patiently allow Him.

But if you choose to use your own wisdom to address things and move to where you should not move to or stay where you need to get away from, you will someday realise, like Naomi of bible days, that you have not solved your problem at all but have only made it worse (Ruth 1). My earnest prayer is that you will act wise in this matter and not make things worse for yourself while you are trying to handle them. Amen.

Enjoy your day. 

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“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3NIV)

What Paul says in our opening text is one of the things that will help us in interacting well with the believers in our lives, especially those that are in our local assemblies. He tells us not to be selfish or be desirous of vain glory. Rather, we are to think of others as better than ourselves. That, of course, does not mean that everyone we know is better than us or will be better than us. Rather, it means that we are to see those beautiful things in others that we do not have in our lives. That way, we can see that there are legitimate reasons for us to respect and honour them.

In any case, Paul’s point is that we should not be selfish but considerate of others as well. And to say the fact, one main reason many of us are poor in relating well to those that we are together in the same assemblies is that we are just selfish. In other words, it is not because they are sinners or have been sinners or because they are different from us that we are not showing them care and affection. Rather, it is because we are selfish and self-conscious.

Now that is bad. Self-consciousness does not belong in the church. Selfishness does not belong in the church. People come in for church meetings and we just don’t care about them. We don’t look at them or want to interact with them in any way. Even when our eyes meet, we won’t smile at them but frown. We are just scaring people away. We are not warm towards them.

Yes, we may be preaching well, singing well and doing many other things well in our meetings. But people want more than our preaching, singing and praying. They want fellowship. They want to feel loved and accepted. So, we must not be so occupied with ourselves that we do not have time to interact with those coming for our meetings.

Yes, those of us that have been together for a while may be interacting well with one another. But are we not leaving out those who are just joining us? They too want to be laughing with us, smiling with us, taking photographs with us and so forth. But we are not opening the door of our lives for them to come in because we are self-centred.

Sadly, there are times that even those who have been together in the same assembly for years may not be interacting well with one another. And where this is the case, those who are joining them cannot properly fit in. So, they feel bored and not motivated to show up in church meetings. Those who are coming among them, then, may be coming as a matter of necessity or as an obligation to God. I mean that they are coming for church meetings not because they are excited to come but because they just want to fulfil an obligation to God and not stay at home. And when they come in like that, they simply focus on their reasons for coming – they have come in to pray, learn the word of God and worship. Once all of that is over, they get out as quickly as they can, not wanting to have anything to do with anybody.

Now is that okay? Definitely not! So, let us stop being self-occupied and begin to take interest in the welfare and growth of other people of God in our lives and around us. God is counting us to do this. And may you be strengthened to take this seriously in your own life. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: "Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." (Ps 105:12-15NIV)

Who is the Psalmist referring to in our opening bible text? He is referring to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve sons of Jacob and their families. He is referring to the time they were still few in number and were wandering as strangers in the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to them. And he wants us to know that even though these people were nomads at the said time and had not yet received the land of their inheritance from God, He still took care of them.

How did God take care of them? First, He took care of them by blessing the works of their hands. None of them was poor. Even in times of famine, God made sure they flourished. Look at what is written about Abraham in the bible, for example:

“So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.” (Gen 13:1-2NIV)

Did you see that? Even though Abraham was a wanderer at that time, God still made him wealthy. And he was so wealthy that he, at some point, rejected the gifts of the king of Sodom because he felt that the man may one day begin to say, “I made Abram rich.” (Cf. Gen 14:21-22)

Also, here is what is said about Isaac:

“Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.” (Gen 26:12-14NIV)

Wow! Isaac, at this time, was a foreigner in Gerar, among Philistines. Yet the blessing of God on his life made him flourish greatly, even though it was a time of famine and the people he was living with were really hostile towards him.

What about Jacob? What do we have written about him? Here is some of it:

“In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.” (Gen 30:43NIV)

And where was Jacob at this time? He was in Laban’s house, working for him. And though this man changed his wages ten different times in his attempt to hinder his prosperity, God still made him exceedingly prosperous.

In like manner, God can take care of us and make us prosperous, regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves and regardless of how wicked the people around us may be. All we need is to continually trust and put Him first in our lives, as those men did. Then, even we are working with the most selfish person in the world or living in the most hostile town or neighbourhood, He will still make us flourish.

Then we see that God also took care of these people by protecting them from the wicked and unreasonable people they were constantly living with and dealing with. As we see in our opening bible text, God did not allow anyone to oppress them. That indicates that the people around them really wanted to oppress them; they really wanted to swallow them and their possessions up.

For instance, twice Abraham gave up Sarah to two different powerful and lustful kings. And did God keep mute about that? No! Did He turn blind eyes to what happened? No! On the contrary, as we are also shown in our opening bible text, He stepped into the situation and rebuked those kings for Abraham. He so much terrified them that they were the ones begging Abraham for offending him, even though he too had not been entirely truthful to them about his marital status. (Cf. Gen 12 & 20)

Also, we see God stepping in to defend Jacob when Laban became bent on harming him and forcefully taking his possessions, wives and children from him. He warned him seriously not to attempt anything stupid in his dealing with Jacob. Otherwise, he would be in serious trouble. So, the man abandoned all his intentions of hurting Jacob and let him be. (Cf. Gen 31)

Now the bible tells us that this God is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb 13:8). That means He is still very much able to keep terror and oppression far from us and to rebuke or frustrate for us anyone seeking to hurt us, cheat us or rob us. Yes, He is still very much able to command those in our lives and all around not to touch or do us any harm, for we are His people. And they have no choice but to listen to Him. Otherwise, they are going to be in serious trouble.

But are we going to trust Him to do these things for us? Are we going to count on Him to protect us from all the wicked and unreasonable people around us and in our world that are constantly being moved by the devil to make life hard for us? Well, if we count on Him to keep us safe from these people, then, we are going to find that He is ever reliable, ever dependable, and will never allow His own people to be put to shame.

Enjoy your day.

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“When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Ps 126:1-3NIV)

The psalmist is talking here about the restoration of a whole nation, the nation of Judah. And he is saying it was as if they were dreaming when it happened. In other words, it was unexpected and unexplainable. It just happened. And when it did, all they could do was laugh and sing for joy.

Now we too, as individuals and as a nation, can look forward to receiving a restoration of our lives and nation from the hands of God. In fact, we can and should pray for it. In the verses of the psalm given above, the writer is simply sharing testimonies with us of how God restored them to their land, something they never thought could happen without fighting or begging for it.

But then, this man also knew that they needed more than being restored to their land. They also needed to flourish as individuals and as a nation again. Otherwise, their independence and restoration to their land would mean nothing. Therefore, he goes on to offer this prayer to God for them:

“Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” (Ps 126:4-6NIV)

Did you see that? This man is praying to God to cause them to become wealthy again as a nation. How? By blessing the works of their hands!

In like manner, we also need more than being independent as a nation or as a people. We also need to prosper in our land. Yes, we need to be able to take care of ourselves as a country and as individuals, without having to borrow or to unduly rely on other nations. So, as this Psalmist prays to God for restoration, we too need to pray to Him for our restoration. Yes, we need to pray to Him to cause all of us in the country who are working hard and patiently now, in tears and in pains, to experience miracles of prosperity and peace that will soon make us forget our years of sorrow and sing for joy.

Now can we trust God to answer us and do this for us? Yes, we can. He did it for Job. He did it for the people of Judah. And He is ready to do it for us too. What we need, however, is to first cry out to Him to restore us. Then we also need to relate to Him with patience, while we are doing whatever legitimate thing that is in our power to do for ourselves and for our country. Remember that even though God restored Job, he did not have all his wealth and children back overnight. He had to be patient with God in getting everything back. And his patience worked.

So, as we are praying to God and working for the restoration of our nation and our personal lives, homes, businesses, communities or ministries, we will do well to add patience to the menu. That way, we will be able to receive and enjoy our restoration in full. My prayer, then, is that your heart will be strengthened to reach out for God wherever you need to be restored in your life and also strengthened to patiently wait for Him to perfect His works of restoration in your life and affairs and in our country as well. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” (2Corinthians 10:3-5NIV)

Even though we live in the world, as Paul points out to us in our opening text, we do not fight with the weapons of the world. Rather, we fight we divine weapons. What this means is that we have weapons that those of the world know nothing about. And these weapons are divinely enabled to demolish strongholds.

Now, of course, there are preachers who have taken the ‘strongholds’ that Paul speaks of here to refer to witches, wizards, demons and those spiritual forces of darkness that are in the heavenly realms. And they want us to bring them down. But there is nowhere we are told in the Scriptures to bring or cast them down. Jesus already defeated them. So we have no business trying to cast them down. We have no business trying to fight them in order to cast them down.

In any case, my point is that Paul isn’t referring to witches and wizards or demons when he speaks of strongholds here. Rather, he is speaking about thoughts, arguments and philosophies. Those are the strongholds he is talking about. He says we demolish every thought that is arguing with God in our lives. Yes, we demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of Christ. We demolish philosophies that appear to be right but which are contrary to the way of God.

Where, then, is this battle, this demolishing of strongholds, is to take place? In our minds! These thoughts are in our minds, and we have the duty of making them obedient to Christ. So, when the wrong thought comes into your mind, you say, “No, you must obey Christ. I bring you in subjection to Christ. I cannot think this thought. I cannot think like this.”

See, when you think the wrong thought, you are going to do the wrong thing. If you allow the wrong thought to persist long enough in you, before you know it, you will start doing the wrong thing. So, you, as Paul tells us in that text, must begin to take advantage of divine weapons like prayer and the word of God to demolish the wrong thoughts coming to you. That is one sure way to keep your life free from errors.

Have a lovely day.

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"The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”" (Genesis 16:7-9NIV)

Hagar was running away from her mistress, as we see here. Why? It was because her mistress maltreated her. Why did she maltreat her? It was because she was proud; she would not submit to her. She thought that the two of them had become mates, seeing that they were sharing the same husband. She had forgotten that she was just a maid in the house. She allowed the privilege she was given to get into her head and then began to misbehave. Therefore, her mistress dealt with her. That was what made her flee from her.

But where was she going? She did not know. What would she do with her life where she was when the angel of God met her? She did not know. She was just hanging around there.

In like manner, you may just be hanging around where you are, not doing anything relevant to your progress or advancement. And you can tell, if this is the case with you. You can tell that you are just wasting your time and your life where you are. So, what are you doing there? You know where you are supposed to be. You know what talents, abilities, opportunities, training and education you have. And you know what you are supposed to be doing with these things. But you are running away from it. Why? It is most likely because of the challenges that are associated with being where you are and doing what you are supposed to be doing there.

That was the case with Hagar at that time. She was running away but did not know where she was going or what she would do with her life there. And what did angel of God tell her, when He met her? He said, "Go back and submit to your mistress." In other words, running away from her mistress was not the solution to her problem; running away from her challenges was not the solution to her problem. The solution to her problem was to go and submit to her mistress.

By the way, did she know what sort of challenges she would face where she was running to? No! What if they were more overwhelming than what she had run away from? What would she do? Would she run away again?

So, the angel told her, "Go and submit to your mistress." There were no excuses that could be accepted for not being where she was supposed to be. And there are no excuses that can be accepted from us too for not being where we are supposed to be and doing what God wants us to be doing there. Stop making excuses for not being where God wants you to be, then. Instead, go there, stay there and begin to do what He requires of you. And may you be equipped by the Lord with everything you need to do so. Amen.

Merry Christmas.

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““People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13-16NIV)

On this occasion the disciples were furious that those coming to the Lord were bringing their little ones along with them. And that was because they felt that the Lord did not have enough time to minister to adults. Besides, they believed that those children would make the whole place noisy and rowdy. So, they asked their parents to get them away from the Lord. As far as they were concerned, they were doing what was best for the Lord, for themselves and for every other person there.

But the Lord was angry with them for acting that way. And He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” Mind you, the Lord could not have said that to them nicely or calmly. He must have screamed at them. That was because He was upset that they did what they did.

Now He had to correct their wrong thinking about children and their place in God’s kingdom. He told them plainly that the kingdom of God belongs to children as well. So, they must not be hindered. He, in fact, goes on to say that anyone who will not receive the kingdom like a little child will never enter it. You can see that the Lord on this occasion did not overlook what His disciples did. Instead, He rebuked and corrected them for it.

But people often don’t like to be rebuked or corrected. Even leaders of God’s people often don’t like to rebuke and correct their brethren. It is only bullies that delight in doing such. But whether a leader likes to rebuke and correct God’s people or doesn’t, it is part of the job. And anyone that is not ready to do this has no business leading the people of God.

You want to function with sentiments all the time and have people like you or love you for always being nice to them. That is fine, to some extent. But you cannot lead God’s people without being ready to rebuke and correct them. For the health of the church and for their own health, growth and usefulness in God’s hand, there are times they must be rebuked and corrected. And you have to be ready to do that. That is because it is part of the job.

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“So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"” (Heb 3:7-11NIV)

What was the problem God had with the children of Israel that Moses brought out of Egypt, as we see in our opening text? It was that their hearts were always going astray. What does that mean? Well, it means that they were not consistent and faithful in trusting God and in following Him.

Now was is that God gave these people a reason not to be consistent in trusting Him and yielding to Him? No! On the contrary, everything He did for them was done to give them no room to doubt His faithfulness in taking care of them and leading them to the place of rest He had prepared for them.

Nonetheless, as the Spirit of God points out in our opening text, these Israelites would not utterly commit their hearts to following Him, despite all the miracles and signs that He performed for their salvation and prosperity. Instead, each time they faced a new challenge or problem, their hearts would immediately go astray. And they would be ready to grumble against Him and to turn their backs on Him.

Therefore, at some point, He got tired of their grumbling and unfaithfulness and swore that they would not enter the place of rest He had prepared for them. And did they enter it? No, they didn’t. Instead, they perished in the wilderness.

Now we are too are being warned by the Spirit of God not to be like these Israelites in our walk with God. Yes, as long as we are in this world, we cannot run away from challenges. In fact, our Lord’s own words about this are: “…In this world you will have trouble…” So, we should not consider it strange or unusual when we are confronted with diverse trials and challenges in this world. These things are to be expected. (Cf. John 16:33)

But then, in the same breath that the Lord says that we will encounter trouble in this world, He also tells us to cheer up. Why? It is because He has overcome the world for us. And as long as we put our trust in Him, He will make sure we have His peace and rest in our lives, regardless of what challenges we are faced with where we are.

So, instead of losing our mind when we are confronted with any challenge and allowing our heart to turn away from God, we should begin to remind ourselves of all the good things He has done for us in the past, which are actually uncountable. Then our hearts will be strengthened to trust Him again and again. But if we allow ourselves to forget that He has always been good to us and start talking nonsense or turning to the wisdom of men, simply because we are confronted with some challenge that seems overwhelming to us, we may just miss the experience of His rest and victory that could have been ours.

Similarly, in our relationships with men, we also need to learn to be faithful to those who have a record of being good to us or of taking good care of us. Yes, there may be times in which circumstances of life may limit them or prevent them from caring for us as they used to do or as they would love to do. Yet we must remain faithful to them. In fact, we must demonstrate compassion towards them at such times and consider ways to be of help to them.

But if we begin to abuse or threaten those who have been good to us or if we abandon them because of certain challenges they are facing that make it difficult or impossible for them to care for us as they used to do, we will be acting just like those Israelites of old that turned away from God any time things did not go smoothly for them. And where that is the case, there is every tendency that we will miss whatever rest or comfort God might have used them to bring to us in the future, when their lives and fortunes are restored.

Therefore, watch yourself.

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“Lord, I have given up my pride and turned away from my arrogance. I am not concerned with great matters or with subjects too difficult for me.” (Ps 131:1GNT)

In the book of Daniel, he narrates one of the visions he saw in which he heard certain things that he did not understand at all. And when he asked the angel that was sent to give him those revelations, he simply told him that it was not his business to understand what he had heard. The actual words of that angel were:

“Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Dan 12:9NIV)

Also, when the apostles of old began to ask Jesus questions about the signs of the end time and of His return, He told them without mincing words that no one, not even the angels or He Himself, knows the day or hour He will return. Only God, the Father, knows. And there is nothing anybody does to search it out that will amount to anything. Why? God, in His wisdom, has chosen not to disclose it. He has chosen not to disclose it because we don’t need to know it. That means that knowledge is not relevant to our steadfastness in the faith and also probably too much for us to handle. (Cf. Matt 24; Mark 13)

If we, then, insist of searching it out, we will surely get into trouble. And there have been people who got into trouble along these lines. In their attempt to search out the exact day that the Lord would return, they ended up being seduced by evil spirits to come up with misleading dates and times. Thus, they endangered their own faith and the faith of others who believed them and brought disgrace upon the body of Christ.

Now just as it is with spiritual things, so also it is with natural things. What I mean is that just as there are spiritual matters that are too much for us to know or handle, there are also natural matters that are too much or too deep for us to handle. And that is what David is drawing our attention to in our opening bible text. There he tells us that he does not concern himself with matters that are great or too difficult for him to process or handle.

Evidently, David was a very wise and godly man. Yet he knew his limitations and boundaries. So, he would not get himself involved in probing to know something that he had no business knowing. Why? He knew that could get him into troubles that were not meant for him.

We too need to know our limitations and boundaries in life. We need to be able to separate knowledge that we need from knowledge that is useless to us or that is too much for us to handle. Look, it is not everything we need to know about the people in our lives or around us. And it is not everything we need to know about the place we live or work in. Some knowledge is not good for us at all. That, of course, will be because we have no wisdom or character to handle it.

For instance, when I was working in the bank, there were times some compliant officers would meet me and ask questions like, “Did so and so actually do this?” And my response would be, “Well, that question is above my pay grade. It is not my job to know. I have not been saddled with the responsibility of knowing what so and so is doing. And I really don’t want to know.” Why? I did not want to be dragged into matters that I had no authority to comment on or to defend. Also, I did not want to make unnecessary enemies for myself in matters that had nothing to do with my job or reputation. So, I always excused myself from such things and allowed those employed to handle them to handle them.

But there are people who often foolishly put their noses where they do not belong in their offices or neighbourhoods. They want to know what is going on with everyone so that they will always appear up-to-date. And before they know it, they will have heard something too big for their ears to handle or too great for their mouth to speak of. Then people that should never have been their enemies will rise up against them to hinder their progress or to destroy them. And they may not be able to escape.

Also, personally, I always love to maintain a good notion about the people in my life and around me, based on my personal judgment of who they are. Therefore, I don’t encourage anyone to tell me ugly stories of their past, especially when they have nothing to contribute to my present relationship with them or their present situation. I consider such information to be useless to me. It will probably only stain the good picture of them that I have in my mind. Why, then, should I have it?

But there have been people who dug deep into the past of their friends or spouses only to find there things too terrible for them to bear. Yes, what they found out probably had no direct effect on their relationships. But it ruined their minds and the images of their partners they had always had. And before they knew it, their relationships were ruined as well, ruined for nothing.

Now don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that if we are in certain relationships with people we should not seek to know what they are up to or capable of doing. We should by all means know these things. Otherwise, we may become victims of our own ignorance someday. Then I am not saying that if we are working somewhere we should not know what is going on there or what those we are working with are up to. We should by all means seek to know anything that concerns our job or that is related to it. Otherwise, we may end up foolishly getting into trouble and putting our job or reputation at risk.

However, in situations where we have no authority whatsoever to know what is going on in someone’s life or in a certain place, we should do our best not to put our noses where they do not belong. Also, where people have made it clear to us through their words or actions that it is not our business or in our interest to know certain things about them or about the place we are in, and if we too know that is not our business or in our interest to know these things, we should back off. Otherwise, our insistence on knowing what is too much for us to handle may end up bringing disgrace, bitterness or destruction of lives, relationships or reputations on us. And may that not be your experience, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will cause His grace to abound towards you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will daily abound in every good work, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, as God causes us to increase in good things, it is only wise and proper of us to also increase in our generosity towards Him. As we see in the bible, His desire is that we may excel in the grace of giving (2Cor 8:7). In other words, what God wants for us is that we will someday leave the realm of struggling to give to Him or to anyone He may want us to give to and come to that place where we give freely, generously and joyously. Is that to say that one cannot give freely, generously and joyously in their state of poverty? No! Or is it to say that God judges people’s giving only on the basis of the quantity of what they give? No!

For example, as Paul mentions in a letter to the Corinthians, there was a time that members of the churches of God in Macedonia gave for the cause of the gospel in their state of poverty. Yet they gave generously and joyously. In fact, they begged this apostle to allow them to give at that time. Also, we have in the bible accounts of a widow that gave to God out of her poverty. Yet the Lord Jesus said that she gave more than all the others that day, for she gave everything she had to live on. (Cf. Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4; 2Cor 8:1-5)

So, nothing is wrong with giving to God out of our poverty, as long as our hearts are right. However, there is a level of generosity we cannot attain, if we are in poverty. Yes, our hearts may be right and willing to give. But we cannot give what we do not have, if we are in poverty. And we cannot give in surpassing ways, if we are in poverty. But God wants us to get to that point in our lives where we give in surpassing ways.

For example, when He first asked the children of Israel to give for the building of His tabernacle, they gave in surpassing ways. As the bible shows us, it was so serious that Moses, at some point, had to give an order that nobody should bring any more offering to the Lord, for they already had more than enough to do the work. And as the bible also shows us, nobody was forced to bring anything to God at that time. So, all the people that gave were those who were willing and happy to give. Yet they gave more than what was needed. (Cf. Ex 35:20-36:7)

Now why were they able to do that, though they were at that time in the wilderness? It was because they were rich in earthly possessions. They could not give to God like that when they were slaves and in poverty in Egypt, even if they loved to. But on the day God led them out of Egypt, He also made them rich with the wealth of Egypt. So, when He eventually asked them to make out some offerings to Him, they did not disappoint Him. Instead, they gave more than He required. (Cf. Ex 12:33-36)

In like manner, we too can get to that point in our lives where we can give more than God requires of us. But do we want to be there? That is the question. Do we want to leave the realm of struggling to give for God’s cause for the realm of always giving more than enough to Him, to His servants and to all those He wants us to give to? If we want to, then, let us consider this prayer of Paul for the Corinthians and say ‘Amen’ to it with all our hearts:

“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2Cor 9:10-11NIV)

Do have a lovely day.

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“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”” (Psalm 122:1NKJV)

Many of God’s people today hardly exhibit joy in giving their worship or service to Him. The only time some of them express any form of joy or happiness at all in matters relating to God is when songs of praise or thanksgiving are being rendered in their church meetings. Apart from such times, there is nothing else they do for God that comes with excitement or joy.

They are not excited to pray. They are not excited to give. They are not excited to receive the word of God. And they are not excited to invite anyone to taste the goodness of God with them. Instead, whatever they do for God is often associated with murmuring.

Why? The main reason is that they are not excited about their fellowship with God. When people are excited about knowing God and being in fellowship with Him, there is nothing they will do for Him that will not be with joy. They will even die for Him with joy.

Look at the apostles of old. We are told in the bible of a time that they were beaten for preaching the gospel and yet they went home rejoicing that they were counted worthy of suffering shame because of the name of Jesus. Why did they act like that? They were excited about their fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ. (Cf. Acts 5:40-41)

Also, we are told in the bible that when Jesus called Levi the Tax collector to follow Him, he was so excited about his call that he threw a party for Him (Luke 5:27-28). What about Zacchaeus? How did he respond to the visit of the Lord to his house? It was with great excitement (Luke 19:1-10). Then we have the psalmist in our opening bible text speak of his excitement about God in these words:

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.””

Now it is those who are excited about God and anything that concerns Him in that manner that He will continually reveal Himself to and also build up to do all kinds of good works (John 14:21). So, if God is not revealing more and more of Himself to you and is not doing anything to bless others through you, you need to check yourself to see if you have been excited about Him. And if you are not excited about Him, you are definitely excited about some other things. Yes, if you are not excited to serve God and live for Him, there is definitely something else or someone else you are excited to serve and live your life for. But will it be worth it after all?

Look at what Moses said to the children of Israel on this matter:

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.” (Deut 28:47-48NIV)

Did you see that? Those who will not serve God with excitement and joy will ultimately serve Satan and his host in pains and sorrow. I pray your situation will not end like that. But if you see that you are not excited or passionate about God at all or anymore, you should get on your knees and pray that your passion and excitement for Him will be restored without delay. And your voice will be heard. Amen.

Have a pleasant day.

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“When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.” (NIV)

Who was speaking to Joshua on this occasion? It was God that was speaking to him. And what was His message to him? It was that even though he had become very old at the time, there were still very large areas of land to be taken over. And what is this telling us? It is that as long as there is breath in us, as long as our days here on earth are not over, there will always be more to receive from God and to do for Him.

Now, of course, we may have certain handicaps or obvious limitations in our lives. But there is no limitation that we have that God cannot help us overcome, so that we can receive more from Him and also do more for Him. Joshua had become a very old man on the occasion we are dealing with. Yet God told him that there were still very large areas of land to be taken over. It was, then, up to him to ask God for the strength that he needed to take over those large areas of land that He was talking about.

But them, Joshua could say to God, “Well, there are indeed large areas of land to be taken over. But I am too old for that. Let some other people take care of it.” And if he had said that, God would have allowed him to go on and rest and instead used some other people to do the job that He had planned to do through him. Then he would have lost whatever reward that might have been his.

What is the point I am making? It is that as long as there is breath in you, age is not a barrier or a hindrance to accomplishing God’s plans for your life. Your age cannot stop God from fulfilling His purpose in your life, if you won’t stop Him. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. Yet he was ready to do whatever God wanted him to do. Look at what is said about him in the bible:

“Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone.” (Deuteronomy 34:7NIV)

Did you see that? The only reason Moses died when he died was that God wanted him to come home. God said that his job was up, his days were over, his time was up. That was the only reason he died. But as far as he was concerned, he did not want to die at that time. Instead, he wanted to go on and possess the promised land and also divide it among his people. And he had the strength to do so. He also had the will to do so, even though he was a hundred and twenty years of age.

If you, then, have the will to receive more from God and to do whatever He wants you to do, age will not be able to stop you. That is because He will furnish you with all the strength you need, in spite of your age. So, don’t ever again let your age be the reason you will lose anything God wants to give you or the reason you will not do anything He wants you to do. Instead, receive from Him the strength you need to carry on through prayer and devotion to His word. And you will be glad that you have done so.

Have a lovely day.

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“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8NIV)

The Lord is showing us here what should not happen when we pray. And what should not happen when we pray? We should not babble when we pray. In other words, we are not to keep on repeating words when we pray. Let us look at the same verses from the New Living Translation. They say:

“"When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don't be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (Matthew 6:7-8NLT)

The Lord here is simply saying that we should not turn prayer into a chant. Don’t keep repeating the same words when praying, saying things like, “Father, do it. Father, do it. Father, do it…” You are turning prayer into a chant, when you do that. And the Lord says that is wrong.

Now people of other religions may be doing that. And we have religions in which those who practise them repeat prayer verses, just as we have Christians too who repeat prayer verses. Members of the Roman Catholic Church, for instance, often repeat prayer verses when praying. These are wonderful people of God. But they are doing exactly what the Lord says we are not to do when praying. They are misrepresenting things about prayer, when they repeat the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer verses. That, of course, is why they use Rosaries while they pray. Each bead in the rosary represents a prayer stanza that you have to recite.

But the Lord is saying prayer is not a recitation or a chant that you have to repeat again and again. Rather, it has to do with talking to God intelligently. God is an intelligent being. And we are to talk to Him intelligently. We talk to human beings intelligently, don’t we? If you need something from your mother, for instance, you will do so intelligently. You will not be saying, “Mummy, mummy, mummy. Give me. Give me. Give me...” Babies can do that. Babies can turn their requests to chants or recitations or songs. That is because they think that if they pressure people like that, they will have no choice but to attend to them.

We, however, must not think we can get God’s attention by doing that. That is a misrepresentation of things. God will not answer our prayers because we are repeating the same words to Him. We cannot pressure Him to answer us by saying, “Do it, Lord. Do it, Lord. Do it, Lord…Father…Father…Father…” That is unreasonable, as far as God is concerned. That is silly in His sight.

Unbelievers, as I pointed out before, may be doing that. They may have things they chant or recite before their gods all the time. And that is because their gods are idols and unintelligent. But God’s children are not permitted to pray like that. If you, then, are praying in that manner, you are misrepresenting things. God does not answer prayers because we are repeating our words of prayer to Him or because we are trying to pressure Him by chanting the same words over and over again. Rather, He answers prayers because they are offered according to His will.

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“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.” (Hebrews 13:17NIV)

What is our instruction here? It is to have confidence in our church leaders, in their ability to lead us. If you do not have confidence in someone’s ability to lead you in the church, you should get away from his leadership. As long as you do not have confidence in his ability to guide you in the will of God, you have no business being under his leadership and so should get away from him. That is because you will most likely not submit to him.

It will really take great grace to submit yourself to someone that you have no confidence in their leadership. Yes, it will take great grace and great humility to deliberately submit yourself to someone that you have no confidence in their ability to lead you. But then, you know that in our workplaces, we often submit to our bosses and employers, even though we lack confidence in their ability to lead us. We know we are supposed to submit to them. The word of God commands us to submit to them. Then we know there will be consequences, if we do not submit to them. So, whether we like them or not, whether we believe in their ability to lead us not, we submit to them.

Now we can function in like manner in the church. In other words, even if you do not have confidence in a church leader and you want to remain in his assembly, you have to submit to him.

In any case, the word of God tells us to have confidence in our leaders, to trust them to lead us in the right direction. If we trust them, then, it will be easy for us to submit to them. Why are we to submit to them? It is because they keep watch over us as those who must give account. Paul, for instance, tells the brethren in Corinth not to despise Timothy. Why? It is because he is doing the Lord’s work. That means he has not sent himself to them; he is representing the Lord. And because he is representing the Lord, they are supposed to submit to him. (Cf. 1Cor 16:10)

In like manner, your leaders in church are not representing themselves but the Lord. And because they are representing the Lord, you must submit to them – you are commanded not to treat them with contempt.

Again, as we see in our opening text, we are told to submit to our leaders because they are watching over us and will give account for our souls. That means our church leaders will be held responsible for our lives. Yes, there are things that God will not hold them responsible for in our lives. But based on the work God has given to them, based on the ministry He has given them because of us, He will take them to task. I mean that there are things that God will hold our leaders responsible for about our faith and how it turns out, based on the work He has given them for us. He wants them to watch over us through prayers. He wants them to watch over us through counselling. He wants them to watch over us, so that they will know where we need correction and rebuke.

To say the fact, there is a lot to say about the work God has given our church leaders concerning us. But it is sufficient to say here that these people are not serving themselves but God. They are not representing themselves but the Lord. Therefore, we must submit to them. And what does this even mean? It means we must yield to their leadership. In our opening text, we are told not to make their work difficult for them. That means we must not make it difficult for our church leaders to lead us. So, when they give us instructions, we must obey. That is how to show you are submissive to someone. When the person gives you instructions, you take those instructions seriously and act accordingly.

Well, I am saying don’t make the work of your church leader difficult for him. Don’t make it hard for him to lead you. Nobody will be a leader in the church, if he has not been appointed by God or by those God has placed over us in the church. Yes, those placed over us in the church have a duty to be careful in appointing or ordaining leaders to be over us. This is why Paul tells Timothy not to be in a hurry to lay hands on anyone and make them a leader in the church. Why? He does not want a situation in which some wrong persons will be made leaders over God’s people and ruin the work of God. (Cf. 1Timothy 5:22)

In any case, you must understand that before your church leader will appoint someone to lead you in any capacity, he must have had some degree of confidence in the person. So, it is not in your place to doubt him. Don’t forget that you are not the only one who has the Spirit of God in him. Your leader also has the Spirit of God in him. And if he has placed someone over you to lead you, you have to have confidence in the person that they will do the right thing. Yes, along the line, the person may not do the right thing. But that will be an obvious thing. So, you will not be the only one that will know. Others around will also know that the person is not doing the will of God. But unless something like that happens, you have to continue to trust that the person will do the will of God. That is the way of the Scriptures.

So, don’t make it difficult for anyone God has placed over you in the church to lead you. It does not matter whether you are in the choir, ushering unit or church management unit, don’t make it difficult for whoever is set over you as leader to lead you. That is because the person is going to give God an account for your soul. You may not believe or accept this. But it is the reality. And if you make the work of your church leader hard for him, it will not be to your advantage. You will not enjoy the person’s ministry as you should – the blessings of their ministry will not settle over your life as they ought to. And the word of God is very clear about this. So, mind yourself.

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“Jacob said to him, "You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?"” (Gen 30:29-30NIV)

Who was Jacob talking to in our opening bible text? It was his father-in-law, Laban. As the account goes, Jacob had been working for Laban for more than fourteen years at the time they were having this conversation. And all through the years that he worked for him, taking care of his livestock, things only got better for him. In other words, the man became richer and richer while Jacob was working for him. And why? It was because God was with Jacob.

See, there are times that wicked people become wealthy and great in life because of the presence of certain children of God in their lives. And if, because of their ignorance of this fact, they should begin to maltreat these children of God or drive them away from their lives, the favour of God that they have been enjoying because of them will naturally cease. That, of course, is when they will know that the prosperity and peace they have been enjoying are not a result of their hard work or smartness but a result of God’s favour at work in the lives of His children that have been in their lives.

Now that exactly is how it was with Laban. Laban, as we see in the bible, was a business shark and cheat, a very manipulative and dangerous man. So, even though Jacob himself was a very smart and cunny person, he still could not handle him. In fact, as he would point out when they were going to finally part, Laban cheated him ten different times, underpaying him for his hard labour and service (Gen 31:41). And there was simply nothing he could do to beat him at his game.

Yet God blessed the household of this wicked, dangerous and manipulative man. Why? It was because of Jacob. Jacob was an inheritor of the blessing God gave Abraham. So, naturally, whatever he laid his hands on, whether it was his own business or someone else’s business, was bound to prosper. And that is how it should be for all God’s children who have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3). Whatever we lay our hands on ought to prosper, regardless of who owns it.

However, if we will not be like Jacob and always walk in the consciousness of the blessings of God at work in us, things may keep dying and failing in our hands. Jacob knew that he was blessed of God and that whatever he handled was bound to prosper. So, as we see in our opening text, he was bold to tell Laban that the presence of God in his life was the reason for the prosperity of his household. And we too must be able to boldly say the same things to the unbelievers around us that God’s presence in our lives is the reason for our prosperity and whatever degree of prosperity whatever we are handling for them is experiencing.

But then, as we also learn from the bible story of Laban and Jacob, it was not only Jacob that knew the secret of Laban’s prosperity. Laban also knew. How did he know? It was by divination. He himself told Jacob this. In other words, when Laban could no longer explain the reason he was getting richer and richer, he had to go and consult some diviners to find out why. And that was when he was told that Jacob was the reason. So, he decided that he would do whatever he could to keep him with him permanently. (Cf. Genesis 30:27-285)

Now who would not want to act like Laban? If you were given some sure word that your greatness in life is tied to the presence of some friend, neighbour or family member, would you not want to do all that you could to keep them forever with you? You would. But then, whether such a person would willingly and lovingly stay with you or not would be dependent on the kind of treatment you gave them. And that was where Laban failed.

As he himself pointed out, he knew that Jacob was the reason God was blessing him. Yet he was not kind to him at all but was cheating him. His plan was just to keep using him to advance himself until he would become useless to him. And when Jacob saw that he would never be able to stand on his own to care for his family, if he continued to serve him in that manner, he told him that he wanted to leave. That, of course, led the two of them to revisit their contract and to make room for Jacob’s prosperity. And he surely went on to prosper and to surpass Laban himself in prosperity.

What, then, is the point of all this? First, it is that you should learn to treat very well anyone God is using to prosper or advance you in life. Otherwise, a day may come when they will wake up and change the terms of their relationship with you. And if that should happen, the terms and conditions you may arrive at may not favour you, as it was the case with Laban. Then the pains and regrets that may follow will be all yours to live with.

Second, don’t waste your time or life on relationships or jobs that are not focussed on building you up and preparing you to be able to stand on your own in the future. Yes, you may, for some reasons, have to be with people or work in places that don’t have much money or prestige to readily offer you. That does not mean that is how things will be for life. Things can change. Then that person or job that does not have anything to readily offer you today may be offering you things that you will enjoy for the rest of your life.

However, don’t waste your time or life with anyone or in any place, if, even if it is not able to offer you much money, it is not offering you any training or opportunity for you to be built up and make your future solid. Otherwise, one day, when you are no longer needed there and perhaps have been completely used up, you may just realise that you have nothing to start afresh with or to rest on. And who are you going to blame then? None other but yourself! So, wake up now, as Jacob did, and start asking, “When may I do something for myself?”

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“When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, "Leave her alone! She is in bitter distress, but the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me why."” (2Kings 4:27NIV)

One of the things that made Elisha stand out as an acclaimed prophet of God during his days was his ability to see things before they happened. As we are told in the bible, he was once the one that made it impossible for the king of Aram to succeed in his campaigns against the king of Israel. That was because he was always having revelations about the plans of this king, even the things he planned in his bedroom, and revealing them to the king of Israel. (Cf. 2Kings 6:4-12)

So, if there was a man of God to be taken seriously and be in good terms with at that time, it was Elisha. This, then, explains why that wealthy Shunammite woman that the bible talks about and her husband took him as their family prophet. Initially, they just took him as a family friend, seeing that he was a true man of God. But after he had prophesied that they would have a son and they did, he became more than a family friend to them; he became their personal man of God. (Cf. 2Kings 4:8-44)

Now that was not anything strange at that time. People then used to have personal seers and prophets that they trusted and consulted when they had challenges or matters concerning which they needed to know the will of God. David, for instance, was a lover of God, a man after His heart. Yet he had people like Nathan, Gad and Heman as his personal seers (2Sam 12; 1Chro 17; 1Chro 21:9; 1Chro 25:5). These were men that he trusted and often consulted when he had pressing challenges and men through whom God often instructed him.

Also, though Hezekiah was a lover of God and a man after his heart, he also had Isaiah as his personal prophet. And he often consulted him when he had challenges, personal or national (2Kings 19-20). However, from what we also see from Scriptures, both David and Hezekiah did not use their relationship with the prophets in their lives as a substitute for their personal relationship with God. Why? First, it was because they knew that these prophets had limitations in their walk with God as well, seeing that they were men. So, they could only see and know what God wanted them to know. Anything God did not reveal to them they could not know. Therefore, they would not rely on them solely to know the will of God for their lives.

Second, they knew that it was not a must for them to go through any of these prophets in order to talk to God or hear from Him. That was why when Nathan, for example, brought David God’s judgment about his adultery with Bathsheba, he did not accept it as God’s final word. Instead, he appealed to God Himself to see if He would change His mind about His death sentence on the son of his adultery. And did God change His mind about the matter? No! But the man, at least, tried to make Him do so, for he knew that He was a compassionate God. (Cf. 2Sam 12)

In like manner, we see that when Isaiah brought Hezekiah God’s verdict on his illness and the death that would follow, Hezekiah did not accept his word as God’s final word on the matter. Instead, he personally took it up with Him and that same hour got Him to extend his years on earth, even before Isaiah left his palace. What if he did not know God personally? Isaiah’s prophecy would, then, have sealed his fate. (Cf. 2Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38:1-22)

But what see in the case of the Shunammite woman that I mentioned above was different. The moment she took Elisha as her family prophet, she began to see him as her all in all. So, when her son died, she did not talk to God about it at all but went straight to Elisha and asked him if she had begged him for a son in the first place. But was it Elisha that gave her that boy? No! It was God. But it was not God she turned to in her moment of distress but her man of God.

Well, to her surprise, Elisha made it clear to her that he was not God and so could not know whatever God did not reveal to him. God did not reveal anything about her son’s death to him. So, he was unable to pray and prevent it from happening. Thankfully, God accepted his intercession that day and brought the boy back to life. But what if Elisha had already died before that time? Or what if he had been away on a long journey? What would have become of the situation of that woman and her dead son? I am sure you can guess.

Now what is the point of all this? It is that even though we have some trusted men or women of God in our lives that we can count on to pray for us in our moments of need, we should not use them as a substitute for a personal relationship with God. That is because we too have free and unlimited access to God any day and any time through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:12). Yes, in Christ Jesus, we can freely and boldly approach God’s throne of grace and receive whatever we need in our time of need, that is, without going through anybody (Heb 4:16).

So, while it is perfectly okay to have other people of God praying to Him for us, we must never forget that these people praying for us don’t have a better access to Him than us. Not only that, they also have their own limitations and life’s challenges. Therefore, they cannot always be there to take up our case with God and won’t always know when they need to urgently intercede for us. If we, then, are not building our own personal relationship with God, there will be times that their human limitations will prevent them from being of any help to us and we will be stranded, lost or ruined because of life’s challenges. All of this is why you must take your personal relationship with God very seriously, for there is no substitute for it.

Have a lovely day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will keep you and all that is yours safe and sound every remaining day of your life and also keep you from doing anything that will make you lose the place He has chosen for you to another, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, King Saul, the first king of the nation of Israel, was not the choice of the people or the choice of the man of God that was leading the country at the time, Samuel. Rather, he was God’s choice. It was God Himself that personally sought him out and chose him to be king over His people. Yet, at some point, God rejected him as king and looked for a replacement for him. (Cf. 1Sam 9-16)

What is that telling us? It is that the fact that God has chosen someone for a position or task does not mean that He cannot reject the person and then replace them with someone else. He can. That, however, does not mean that God will reject the person as one of His own people. If we do not reject God as our God, He also will not reject us as His people. But He can reject us as unfit or unsuitable for a position or task He once chose us for.

For instance, even though God rejected Saul as king and also replaced him someone else, He did not reject him as one of His own people. But when Saul rejected him as God and turned to a witch for help, God too rejected him as one of His own people. So, regardless of what problems we may be faced with in life, even if they are problems we have brought on ourselves, we should never reject God or turn away from Him. Otherwise, He too will have no choice but to disown us. (Cf. 1Samuel 28; 2Tim 2:12)

But then, why was Saul rejected and replaced? Look at what the following Scriptures say about that:

“"You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."” (1Sam 13:13-14NIV)

“But Samuel said to him, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!"” (1Sam 15:26NIV)

Did you see that the problem with Saul was that of not taking God’s word seriously? But it was God that made him king; he did not make himself king. Not only that, God, who chose him to be king, also wanted to establish his kingdom for all time. But because, at some point, he began to think that he was wiser than God and could revise God’s command at will and also despise His prophet, God changed His mind about him, rejected him and chose a boy to replace him.

So, if you have cultivated the attitude of choosing your own understanding above God’s instructions for your life, you are in danger of being rejected and replaced by God for certain great positions or good works in this life, even though you have been originally chosen for them. Of course, you may have your reasons for wanting your own will to prevail over God’s will or for having no serious respect for the leaders He has appointed over you. But when all has been said and done, you will see that those reasons are nothing but flimsy excuses that God can never accept.

Saul also had his reasons for despising God’s word and His prophet. The desperation to keep his throne was one. The fear of his soldiers was another. Nevertheless, God rejected and replaced him. And there was nothing else he did to secure the throne for his descendants that worked. There is nothing we too can do to secure for ourselves a position or task God has taken away from us. So, we should watch ourselves and not allow unbelief, stubbornness, fear, desperation, greed, lust, bitterness, pride, jealousy or anything else for Him to reject and replace us. My prayer is that we will always be filled with adequate wisdom and strength to be mindful of this, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day.

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“Dear children, this is the last hour; and you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour: They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1John 2:18-19NIV)

John is telling us here that it is possible to eventually leave the Lord Jesus and His church after being with them for a while. That ‘a while’ may be ten years, twenty years or even more. But those who really do not belong in the kingdom of God are going to leave us at some point.

Now such people may not stop attending church meetings altogether. But their attitude will show that they have already left. And by leaving they are showing that they have never really belonged to the body of Christ.

So, if you are lying to yourself or others about your relationship with God, a time is coming when what you are will come out in the open. Yes, a time is coming when you will not be able to take it anymore and show yourself for what you really are. You will know at that time that it is useless to continue to attempt to deceive or fool anyone about where you stand. So, you will come out in the open to show who you really are.

But then, just by looking at your attitude at the moment, we can tell whether you really belong to God or not. Yes, we may not say anything about what we see in you. It does not mean we don’t know you. Pastors, for instance, usually know more things about people than they often say. And that is because they don’t want to be misrepresented or be taken as the reason certain people who never really belong to God are leaving Him.

It is just like Jesus Christ. He kept quiet about all that He knew about Judas Iscariot. Why? It was so that it would not look like He was the one that aided the man in falling or becoming what he eventually became. So, He gave him equal privileges, opportunities and even authority as He gave others. He made sure he had no reason, no excuse whatsoever for becoming what he became.

Now pastors often act similarly in the church. We give people equal opportunities, privileges and space to learn and operate. This is so that no one will use our assumed partiality as their excuse for expressing the evil that has always been in them or for going in the wrong direction and ruining their faith.

Well, the point I am making is that your attitude can tell us a lot about whether you really belong to God or not. So, watch your attitude towards the word of God, prayer, Christian fellowship and your relationship with people and see to it that it is in agreement with the will of God. Otherwise, you may simply be deceiving yourself about your so-called faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, someday, you may realise that you are not real at all and that it is too late to rescue you from destruction, as it was with Judas Iscariot. And may that not be your lot, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a pleasant day.

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“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt 6:33NIV)

What we should seek first, as we see in our opening text, what we should place ahead of every other thing in life is the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Yes, what should come first in our lives is our relationship with God, our walk with Him. It should be the most important thing in our lives. And as Jesus says, if we do that, every other thing will be given to us as well and given to us at the very time we need them.

The question, then, is, “What do you want in life?” Is it God that you want or things? Is it your creator that you want or the things He has created?

According to the Scriptures, those who earnestly and seriously seek God will be rewarded by Him (Hebrews 11:6). He will satisfy them with everything they need in life. And He is the only one that can satisfy us. The things of this world cannot satisfy us. The one who satisfies people is God. It is through Him that we get satisfaction in life and in all our relationships. And without Him, as Solomon says, who can eat or find enjoyment (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)?

Therefore, Jesus says, “Seek God first. Seek to have a beautiful relationship with Him first. Then every other thing you need will be given to you.” And is that what you are seeking? Are you seeking to have a beautiful and robust relationship with God? What exactly do you want in this life? And what do you want from the Lord Jesus, having come to Him? It is what you want that will determine what you will ultimately get. Yes, it is what you want from Him that will determine whether what you will get will be of temporary value or of eternal value.

Have a lovely day.

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“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:32NIV)

From what we see in our opening text, it is clear that God knows our needs before we ask Him. So, we are not telling Him something He does not already know when we pray. And He is not asking us to pray because He does not know what we need. He is asking us to pray so that we can learn to communicate with Him.

It costs God nothing to provide us with everything we need without our asking. But if He keeps providing us with everything we need without our asking, are we not going to forget about Him and begin to treat Him as though He did not exist?

Moses, while admonishing the Israelites, told them, “Remember the Lord your God…” Why would he say this? It was because he knew that it was possible for the people to forget Him. So, I am saying that people can easily forget God, if He were to be providing everything they need for them without their asking for it. They may, at some point, begin to think that the things happening in their lives are happening by themselves or through their smartness. (Cf. Deuteronomy 8:18)

You know there are people who do not believe in the existence of God. And if people could come up with the funny idea that there is no God and that the world just came to be by itself, can we expect them to acknowledge God or thank Him for any of the things He has given to them? No! Can we expect them to pray to God for anything? No!

So, you see that if God were to be providing everything we need for us without our asking, there is every tendency that we will forget about Him totally at some point. In order to avoid that, then, God wants us to talk to Him. Mind you, there are a lot of things God provides for us without our asking. In Genesis 2, we see that it was God that first identified Adam’s need of a wife. And God said, “I will make a helper suitable for him.” Did Adam pray for that? No! Yet God identified his need and met it. (Cf. Genesis 2:18-24)

The point I am making, at any rate, is that God knows all our needs. So, it is not our praying that gets Him informed or educated about them. Yet He wants us to pray. Otherwise, there are things that He wants us to have that we will never have. What are those things? I cannot say. Until we don’t ask, we cannot tell those things that God will not do for us without our asking. So, we have to keep asking.

Have blessed day.

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“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25NIV)

This is clear, isn’t it? If you are praying and remember that you have something against someone, what should you do? You are to forgive the person right there and then. And the Lord goes on to say that if you won’t forgive the person, your Father in heaven will not forgive you of your own sins either.

Now you must understand that it was the Jews under the Law of Moses that the Lord said these words to, not the Christian. And He said them because, at that time, God had not yet paid the price for the forgiveness of the sins of humanity. That being the case, people were forgiven on the basis of how they forgave others. Then they were shown mercy on the basis of how they showed others mercy. That means if you would not forgive others, you should not expect God to forgive you. And if you would not show others mercy, you should not expect God to show you mercy.

However, at the moment, Jesus already died for our sins. The bible calls Him the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world (1John 2:2). So, God does not forgive us today on the basis of whether we forgive others or do not forgive them. Rather, He forgives us on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for us. That, of course, is why we are told that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us these sins and to cleanse us of all our unrighteousness (1John 1:9).

So, what we need to receive forgiveness for our sins now is an acknowledging of those sins. In other words, once we agree that God is right and that we are wrong, we are able to receive from Him forgiveness for any sin. This, then, has nothing to do with whether we forgive others their sins or not.

However, if we will not forgive others their sins, our prayers can be hindered. I cannot say exactly how this will affect us. It all depends on God. But I do not know that our prayers can be hindered because of our refusal to forgive others their sins. Peter, for instance, speaks about this in his first epistle, the third chapter and the seventh verse. He tells husbands to relate to their wives with care and consideration, if they don’t want their prayers to be hindered.

So, prayers can be hindered. And one of the things that hinder prayers is our relationship with others. If we are bitter towards others, jealous of them or unwilling to forgive them, our prayers may be hindered. Again, I cannot say which of our prayers will be hindered. But there are certain prayers of ours that God will not answer, if our hearts are not right towards others. That, then, is a prayer condition that we all must pay attention to.

Have a blessed day.

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“On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived in Jerusalem, where we rested three days.” (Ezra 8:31-32NIV)

That was the testimony of Ezra about the journey that he and the Jews with him undertook from Babylon to Jerusalem. How long did this journey take them? It actually took them four months, for we are told this in the seventh chapter of his book:

“He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him.” (Ezra 7:9NIV)

Now think about that. These people spent four months of travelling by land, walking and using camels, donkeys and horses. And though they were exposed to all kinds of dangers – dangers from enemies, bandits, wild animals and harsh weather conditions – all of them, including their women and children, arrived safely at their destination. Not one person was lost. And how did I know that? I know because the account shows us that they took a census of everyone travelling before they left and also having safely arrived in their land (Ezra 8:1-20).

But what was responsible for the safe trip all these people had? It was the presence of God with them. As Ezra himself points out in our opening text, God's hand was on all of them during that trip to protect them from all kinds of danger. Interestingly, they had no soldiers or security details with them. Why? Was it because it was wrong to do so? No!

God is not against any legitimate steps we take to protect ourselves or keep what we have safe. Abraham, David and other saints of old had their own personal guards, as we see in the bible. And even Paul the apostle was once escorted to Rome by a detachment of heavily armed soldiers. So, if you have the means to get people, facilities or schemes for your protection, it is not against God's will to do so. What He is against, however, is for us to put our trust in people, institutions, human schemes or demonic powers to keep us safe. Anyone who does that will someday find out that it is only those that God keeps safe that will be safe. (Cf. Gen 14:14; 2Sam 23:20-23; Ps 33:16-19; Ps 127:1; Acts 22:12-35)

Then was it because Ezra and the people could not afford guards that they decided to travel for four full months without any escort? No! According to Ezra, he was in very good terms with the king who gave them the permission to travel. So, if he had asked for escorts, he would have given them. But as he further points out in his book, he had already told this king that God's hand was with them to keep them safe. And that was why he was just too ashamed to ask him for protection on that journey.

He led the people to do something, however, for their protection. He led them to fast and pray. Look at how this is recorded for us:

“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him." So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.” (Ezra 8:21-23NIV)

Did you see that? They turned to God in prayer and fasting for their protection. And did He answer them or not? He did. He caused His hand of protection to be on them all through those months that they travelled and brought them home safely. But can He still act the same way? Yes, He can. In fact, He still acts the same way in protecting His people who will put their trust in Him.

Therefore, as we come to the last days of these year, days in which there will be more people travelling all over the country to be with their families and loved ones, let us join our voices together in prayer to God for everyone's safe keeping. Yes, we all know that bandits, robbers, kidnappers and terrorists are lurking in different parts of the country, seeking whom they may attack. But they are not too much for God to handle and silence. All we need is to call upon Him to cause His gracious hand of power to be on us all, regardless of how long or short the distance we will be travelling may be this year end. And He will answer us and keep us safe and sound in all our ways and journeys.

This, of course, does not stop our security agents from doing their jobs. But as I have already pointed out, if God Himself does not keep us safe, there is nothing they can do to keep us safe. In fact, they themselves will not be safe if He does not keep them safe. So, let our prayers of protection and safety be for them too. And it shall be well with us all. Amen.

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“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (1Cor 14:33NIV)

Those are Paul’s words to us. Our God is not a God of disorder but of peace. And since this is the case with God, we, who are His children and who have been called to imitate Him, must also be children of peace and not of disorder (Eph 5:1). Therefore, you need to organise yourself.

Now what does this mean? It means you must have your own schedule for doing things in life, a schedule drawn by you to do things in very effective and efficient ways without putting yourself under any form of undue pressure. This, of course, will require that you discipline yourself to plan the way you use your time, resources and energy.

Truly, it does not matter how detailed and diligent we may be in planning our lives, if God does not honour our plans, they won't amount to anything or make life easier for us. Solomon says:

“Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.” (Prov 19:21NIV)

That means we must learn to make our plans align with the will and purpose of God. Otherwise, ultimately, they will not amount to anything. Also, it means we must learn to commit our plans to Him, so that He can fulfil them for us (Prov 16:3).

However, we must have plans. We must have plans to make live easy and simple for us. Otherwise, we are going to give God nothing to work with. Paul prays for the Thessalonians in one of his letters to them that God will fulfil every good purpose of their hearts and all their steps of faith (2Thess 1:11). But will God fulfil a righteous plan or purpose that they do not have? No! Or will He honour a step of faith that they have not taken? No!

So, if you want God to enable you to make life easy and simple for yourself, then, begin by planning to use your resources, time and energy in ways that will make life simple for you. CREATE A SYSTEM THAT WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO EAT AT THE RIGHT TIME, REST AT THE RIGHT TIME, GO TO WORK AT THE RIGHT TIME, PAY YOUR BILLS AT THE RIGHT TIME, ATTEND CHURCH MEETINGS AT THE RIGHT TIME, BE WITH THOSE IN YOUR LIFE AT THE RIGHT TIME, PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS, LOCATE YOUR VITAL DOCUMENTS WITHOUT STRESS AND SO FORTH.

Nobody will do this for you, if you do not do it for yourself. Yes, learning to do so may be hard at the start. But if you will discipline yourself to learn to do so, it won't be long before you begin to see that your life is already freed from all kinds of undue pressure.

Have a lovely day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will lead you to do every good thing you are meant to do this year, which you are yet to do, so that His rewards that are also meant to be yours by doing so will be yours without delay, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As we see in the bible, just some days before our Lord Jesus was crucified, a dinner was given in His honour in Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus from the dead. And Mary, the sister of Lazarus, took advantage of the moment to celebrate Him in an unexpected and outrageous way. What did she do? Here is the account:

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "[It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."” (John 12:3-8NIV)

Did you see that? Just to honour Jesus, this woman poured on His feet a whole jar of perfume that was worth one year’s wages of a hired worker. When did she start planning to do this? We would not know. How did she get this jar of very expensive perfume? We would not know. But we do know that what she did that day was not well-received by most of the people that witnessed it. Why? It was outrageous!

To say the fact, it is outrageous to use one year’s salaries to buy a bottle of perfume and then waste everything on one person’s feet in few minutes. Many would even consider it irresponsible to use up that kind of expensive perfume in few months. But Mary did not use it up in few months but in few minutes. And she did it without any feeling of guilt or reluctance. She did it cheerfully and even used her hair to clean the Lord’s feet, as she poured the perfume on them.

Now why did she do that? Her reason for doing so is actually beyond what we can imagine. But it is clear that Jesus meant so much to her that she wanted to honour Him in such a way that anyone who heard about what she did would surely say, “What! Is that not too much?” And that was exactly what happened. Those who witnessed what she did were all like, “Stop! What are you doing? Is this not too much?” In fact, Judas Iscariot protested seriously against it and said that she should have given the perfume to the Lord so that they would sell it and give the money to the poor.

But then, to everyone’s surprise, the Lord did not stop Mary or rebuke her for doing what she did. Instead, He said what she did was done by the leading of the Spirit. In fact, He added that it was God that made her save that perfume for that moment, to prepare Him for His burial. In other words, if she had not honoured Him the way she did that day, the opportunity to do so would have eluded her forever, for it was during that same period that He was arrested and killed. But because she did it, the Lord said, as recorded by both Matthew and Mark in their gospels, wherever the gospel is proclaimed, what she did will also be told, in memory of her. And that is what I am doing here. (Cf. Matt 26:13; Mark 14:9)

In any case, what is the point of this story? First, it is that we must desire to honour Jesus in outrageous ways, in ways that will make those around us wonder whether we are the only ones He is good to. That is because He deserves it. Second, it is that we must learn to pray that God will always lead us to recognise every opportunity to specially honour the Lord that we must not miss in life and to also be ready to utilise it. Otherwise, we will miss those special rewards that are meant to be ours alone.

Now perhaps the Spirit of God is already telling you that this year-end gives you an opportunity to do something rare, something outrageous to honour the Lord. It will be wise for you to listen and act without delay. Otherwise, the opportunity to do so may never show up again. And if that should happen, your reward also will never be yours. My prayer is that just as Mary, King Solomon and Barnabas did not miss their opportunities to honour God in very outrageous ways and be unusually rewarded by Him, you too will not miss yours. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, "Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the LORD that if you don't go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now."” (2Sam 19:5-7NIV)

As we are shown in the bible, there was a time (before David became king) that three of his mighty men risked their lives by fighting their way through the enemy lines in order to get water for him from a well near the gate of Bethlehem. But he would not drink the water they brought for him. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to God (2Sam 23:13-17).

Why did he do that? Was it because he did not appreciate what those men did? No, not at all! He did appreciate what they did with all his heart. However, he felt that their sacrifice was way too much for him to utilise. In other words, he was looking beyond the water that was brought to him to the effort that made it available. He was considering what those men went through to be able to bring him the water. One, two or all three of them could have lost their lives while fighting to get the water. So, he reasoned that the cost of the water brought to him was the value of the lives of the three men that brought it and did not consider himself worthy of drinking it. That was why he offered it to God.

Unfortunately, years later, when an entire army risked their lives to save him from the rebellion of his son Absalom, he did not come out to welcome and celebrate them for what they did. He did not even think of giving God an offering for them. Instead, he stayed indoors to mourn his dead son, Absalom. And that was why, as we see in our opening text, Joab, the commander of his army, told him to his face that he was being ungrateful.

As Joab pointed out to him, instead of looking at the invaluable sacrifice his men made for him, his family and his dynasty, he was brooding over the loss a rebellious son that brought death on himself. He went on to tell him that if he failed to pull himself together and speak encouraging words to the men that sacrificed their lives for his safety, he would soon lose all of them, along with his throne.

What is the point of all this? It is that there are times that we (all of us) also act like David and undermine the significance of what people are doing for us or have done for us. It is not that we don’t appreciate them at all. But we don’t appreciate them enough to show it. And that may be because we are looking at the face value of what they have done for us or given to us. Or it may be because we think they are more than capable of doing for us what they have done for us or of giving to us what they have given to us.

But people’s act of kindness or generosity are not to be treated by us like that. Instead, they are to be treated with consideration and thoughtfulness. In other words, we must always look beyond what we are receiving to what has accomplished it. What we are receiving may be free. But that does not mean it is cheap. And even if what we are receiving is free and cheap, it does not mean that the effort that made it available to us is cheap.

Why does our Lord say that He is going to reward anyone that gives any of His people just a cup of cold water to drink? Is it because a cup of water is expensive? No! A cup of water can be gotten free, even from strangers, in most cases, unless there is a drought where we are. However, even though a cup of water can be gotten from almost anybody for free, the effort that produces it is never cheap. (Cf. Matt 10:42)

Someone, for instance, fetched the water from which that cup of it that you are receiving is taken. Some people dug the well or sank the borehole where it was gotten. Somebody paid for the services of those who sank the bore hole. Somebody bought the equipment they used in sinking the borehole. Somebody also bought the cup you are going to drink from. Someone equally washed the cup and someone paid for the soap being used to wash it. Do you want me to continue to list the things involved for you? I am sure you don’t, for you will soon find it boring.

My point, at any rate, is that even if it is a cup of water someone has freely brought to you, appreciate the person for it. It may not satisfy you fully. Yet appreciate the one who has brought it to you profusely instead of allowing your emotions to get in the way. That is because the cost of everything you receive from people is always beyond what meets the eyes. Efforts beyond your imaginations have gone into the process.

So, before you open your mouth to say to anyone, “Is that all you can do for me?” or “If I were in your position, I would do more than this,” consider these things carefully. And don’t let the spirit of ingratitude rule you. Otherwise, it may not be long at all before you lose the devotion or help of most, if not all, of the good people in your life.

All this, however, is not an excuse for you to be stingy and doing for others less than you can. I mean that you should not use what I am saying here as your excuse for being stingy or for often running away from making sacrifices for others. God is watching you, if you are like that. And He will surely reward you accordingly. So, watch it.

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“Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."” (Luke 12:13-15NIV)

In our opening bible text, we see a man approaching the Lord Jesus and asking Him to tell or command his brother to divide their inheritance with him. That, of course, would suggest that this man felt that he was being cheated by his brother. And instead of fighting him or taking him to the court, he decided to meet a spiritual authority, one that his brother would likely respect, to talk to him about doing the needful.

Now was anything wrong with what he did? Well, for most of us, nothing could be said to be wrong with what he did. It was right of him to demand for his own share of their father’s properties from his brother. And he also went about it in a dignified way, meeting Jesus Christ to handle the case, instead of taking his brother to the court, sending assassins after him or using sorcery to get rid of him.

However, when the Lord was going to attend to the matter, the first thing He told him was, “Who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” That means that He knew His place in the world at the time and would not operate outside it. Yes, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. However, when He first came into the world, He did not come to exercise dominion over the lives of men; rather, He came to serve them and to give His life for their salvation. (Cf. Mark 10:45)

That being the case, He would not meddle in anybody’s family affairs or interfere with state affairs. There were people appointed to handle such matters. And those people were recognised by God as established human authorities. To try to usurp their authority, then, would be to try to go against what God, His Father, had ordained. And would that promote the oneness between Him and God? No!

In like manner, we too must know our place and never operate outside it wherever we find ourselves. Yes, there may be times in which people or circumstances may want to pressure or lure us into getting involved in matters that do not concern us or that we don’t have the authority or knowledge to handle. But we must do all we can to resist the temptation to do so, regardless of what we might benefit from doing so. Otherwise, we may end up inviting into our lives problems that should never have been ours.

The second thing the Lord told that young man was to beware of all kinds of greed. That means there are different kinds of greed. Some are quite obvious for us to recognise. Yet some are not easy to recognise at all. In other words, it is possible for us to have some forms of greed in us and not know that we have them.

For instance, in the case of that young man, the Lord wanted him to see that it was greed that led him to want to drag Him into their family matters. How? Well, even though it was not wrong for him to want to have his own share of his father’s properties, how he went about it was wrong. Of course, he did not send assassins after his brother or used sorcery to kill him or make him share the inheritance. But he was willing to use whatever spiritual influence Jesus had over his brother to get what he wanted. And the Lord says that is greed.

So, greed goes beyond desiring what does not belong to us or desiring what we do not need; it also involves being willing to use any means to get what is rightfully ours. That means it is greed that will make us employ sorcery or use force illegally or move others to abuse their positions in order to get for us what is rightfully ours. These things, of course, may not look like greed to us, especially since our rights are involved. But the Lord says they represent a kind of greed, a kind that thinks that the worth of a man’s life is a function of how much money, fame or power he is able to get for himself.

Our lives, however, are by far of greater value to God than the whole world and everything in it. So, He does not want us to lose them while trying to gain anything of this world. This world and everything being done in it will someday vanish and be no more. But our lives will remain forever. Who, then, will these lives remain forever with? Will they remain forever with God in His eternal kingdom of righteousness and beauty? Or will they remain forever with Satan in the Lake of fire reserved by God for the rebellious and disobedient?

I want my own life to remain forever with God in His eternal kingdom of peace and rest. So, I am going to watch out for every kind of greed, so that it will not find a place in my heart. And I know that as I do so, God will never leave me nor forsake me, as He has promised. Instead, He will see to it that everything that is mine is taken and secured for me, in His own way and at His own time. Will you too watch your life for every kind of greed and trust God to secure your lot for you? I pray that you will be led and strengthened by the Spirit of God to do so. Amen.

Have a splendid day.

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“As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1Peter 2:4-5NIV)

From what Peter says here, it is clear that God wants to build us up to be able to offer to Him sacrifices that are acceptable to Him. He wants to build us up to be able to serve Him in ways that are acceptable to Him. So, this is one of the things we are supposed to be doing to one another in our meetings. We are supposed to be teaching one another how to offer sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be teaching one another how to serve God in ways that are acceptable to Him.

Now this is important, if we are going to receive any reward from God’s hand for our service to Him. If we don’t serve Him in ways that are acceptable to Him, we will not receive His praise. We may get the praise of men or the recognition of men. But we will not get His praise. So, to begin with, we need to know what service to God means.

What does it mean to serve God? From what we see in the Scriptures, to serve God is to make ourselves available for Him to use in accomplishing His will here on earth. To serve Him is to put ourselves at His disposal, so that He is able to use us to accomplish His will here on earth. And His purpose consists in saving men, delivering men, reconciling men to Himself, healing men and transforming men’s lives. This, then, means that to serve God is to serve people.

In Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 10, we are told:

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10NIV)

Can you see that? God is not going to forget your labour. He is not going to forget your work and the love you have shown Him. But how do you show God love? As we are told in this Scripture, we show Him love by showing love to His people or by helping them. So, love for God is love for people. Service to God is service to people.

Also, in 2Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 5:

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.” (2Corinthians 4:5NIV)

Can you see that? Paul says what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’s sake. In other words, he is saying, “We are serving you on behalf of Jesus Christ.” So, when we are talking about serving God or rendering service to Him, it is shown in rendering service to people; it is shown in making yourself available to Him to accomplish His purpose in people’s lives.

Will you, then, make yourself available for Him to use today in accomplishing His purpose in the lives of others? I pray that you will daily find in you the strength and determination to do so. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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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)

From what Paul tells us in our opening text, we can see that it is alright for us to be zealous. God Himself expects us as believers to be zealous. However, our purpose for being zealous must be good and right.

Now the reason Paul says this is that 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.

We equally have people that are not believers in Christ Jesus, who are zealous but lack salvation. Yes, as far as these ones are concerned, their zeal is for God. But because they lack understanding, because they lack knowledge, 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 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. And I am talking here about being zealous for God; I am talking about being passionate for God here. 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 in and still remain unsaved.

That, of course, is why you have to be certain that all that you are doing is based on true knowledge of God and of His will. Otherwise, everything will just be a waste. I pray that your life and your service to God will not go to waste, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27NIV)

As we can see in our opening bible text, the man, when he was created, had both the male and female qualities. But God later took those female qualities from him and put them in the woman, when He formed her. That is why homosexuals are wrong and are missing it when they say that God made them that way. God had not made them that way. The very day God formed Eve was the day He made our sex distinctions. That is why the bible says:

“So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, for she was taken out of man."” (Gen 2:21-23NIV)

Therefore, though a man, sometimes, may have some feminine attitudes or looks, he is not a woman. He is not formed to be a woman but a man. And he can only fulfil his humanity by staying in his estate, staying in the status God has placed him in life. The same thing is applicable to the woman. Regardless of the degree of masculine attitudes or looks she may have, she is a woman and not a man. And she can only fulfil her humanity by staying in that sex status. Otherwise, she will only be bringing God’s wrath on herself.

Remember what the bible says about the angels that left their status and got involved in sexual relations with humans. Remember that it says God has kept them in darkness, bound with everlasting chains until the day of judgment. And that is how it shall be for all homosexuals, lesbians, crossdressers and others like them. They too will be chained to certain sicknesses, diseases, frustration, depression and other things that will make them miserable until their time here is done and they are faced with God’s eternal judgment. So, have nothing to do with homosexuality. (Cf. Gen 6:1-4; 2Pet 2:4; Jude 9)

Well, I said all that to let you know that God only had to do what He did with Adam and Eve once. He is not taking bones out of anybody to form another person again. Everything needed for humanity to be whole and one was fully in Adam and Eve. And they have passed it on to us. That is why we can expect to have another human being each time a man and a woman come together in a marriage relationship. Except in the case of Jesus, it always takes a man and a woman to have another human.

That said, stop looking for the bone of your bones and the flesh of your flesh. There is no such thing again. So, you will not find it. That is because any woman can be the bone of your bones and the flesh of your flesh, just as you can be the bone of any man’s bones and the flesh of his flesh. But the moment you conclude that someone is the bone of your bones and flesh of your flesh, you feel stuck to them. And once you feel stuck to someone, then, even if they are messing up and grinding life out of you, you won’t leave them. That, unfortunately, is how people get ruined through love relationships.

So, don’t let anybody – pastor, prophet, parent, friend or mentor – tie you to any love relationship that is killing or destroying you, in the name of ‘Bone of your bones,’ or ‘Flesh of your flesh’. Don’t let anyone use prophecy or threat to make you accept a lifetime sentence into a destructive love relationship. Instead, free yourself from it. And do so without delay.

Have a lovely day.

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“..John Mark went with them as their assistant.” (Acts 13:5NIV)

Who did John Mark go with to assist? Paul and Barnabas! They were on their first missionary journey. And they needed a trusted brother from the church to be around them as their assistant. So, John Mark volunteered to go with them.

Now that reminds of a time in which I travelled with a highly respected pastor of mine to Accra in Ghana. He had just been transferred to the branch of our assembly in that city to get the work there established. And he seriously needed someone to be with him before his family would relocate to join him. So, when he asked me if I would want to go with him, I said ‘Yes’.

Why did I say ‘Yes’ to him? Was it because I was going to be preaching with him? No! Or was it because I was being given an opportunity to travel out of the country for the first time? Yes, that was part of it. I really wanted to see what life outside this country was then. But that was not my main reason for saying ‘Yes’ to him. My main reason for following him was that I saw that he could really use my assistance.

So, I went with him, not to preach with him but to help him in whatever way he wanted me to help him. That, of course, involved handling house chores for him, running errands for him, taking his phone calls and so forth. And when I was leaving about three months later, he wished he could keep me with him a little longer. But since he couldn’t, he sent me off with this prayer that I will never forget: God will grant that you will never lack helpers in your life.

Now what greater reward could I have hoped to receive from him other than those heartfelt words of prayer? None! And that is the greatest reward you too could ever get from anybody for faithfully and willingly making yourself available to serve them, especially in their moment of need. But will you get it? Will there be people in your life praying for you every time they remember you for being such a great help and comfort to them in their lives?

Paul, while addressing Timothy in a letter, says this about a man called Onesiphorus:

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” (2Tim 1:16-18NIV)

At a time when everybody abandoned Paul because of his chains, at a time when he was feeling all alone because there was no one around to minister to him with words of encouragement or resources, Onesiphorus was there for him. This man went out of his way to look for this apostle when he came to Rome. It was difficult for him to find him. But he did not relent until he found him and ministered to him. And all that Paul could do was pray heartfelt prayers for him and for his household that they would find mercy on the day of the Lord.

Unfortunately, even today, just as it was with Paul in those days, leaders often find it hard to find trusted and willing people to stand by them to assist or support them. Yes, they often find it hard to find people who will willingly want to make their load lighter, not because of what they want to get or because they are paid to do so but because they truly care. And this is equally true in the church. I mean that, even in the church, it is often hard to find people who are always genuinely looking out for their church leaders and seeking ways to make their load lighter. Most of us only want to serve if there is something for us to gain and if and only if it is convenient.

This, of course, explains why most of our leaders pray for us simply because it is their job to do so and not also because we are continually inspiring them to pray for us. It also explains why we are having fewer and fewer servant leaders in the church. Most of our leaders have not learnt how to genuinely and willingly serve others. How, then, can they teach others to do so? So, they have to resort to the use of money, force or manipulation to get people to do their bidding. And that is how many of them have ended up surrounding themselves with people who are only loyal to themselves and their bellies and not love servants.

Now my prayer is that you will not wake up one day to find out that all the people around you are loyal only to themselves and not at all to you. I also pray that God will provide you with true and willing helpers in your life, helpers who will continually seek to make your life and work easier and more productive. But you too should learn to sow the seed of true help and assistance into the lives of the leaders in your life, both in the church and outside the church. And their heartfelt prayers will water that seed, so that it will bear a great harvest of helpers for you someday.

Have a lovely day.

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"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6NIV)

Who is talking in our opening text? The Lord Jesus! And who is He talking to? The people He is authorising to minister to us! In other words, He is referring to our spiritual leaders, those that He has anointed to be over us in our various Christian assemblies.

What, then, are these people to minister to us? Peace! Whose peace? Christ's peace! So, the focus of the ministry of every minister of Christ is to fill people's lives with His peace. Yes, there are times that in order for them to communicate His peace to people, they may have to rebuke or correct them. But the main objective of their ministry is to end every form of war in our lives, our war with God, our war with ourselves and our war with our families and neighbours, and fill our lives with the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding.

However, for their ministry to accomplish this, the Lord says we must receive it wholeheartedly. What does this mean? Well, for instance, it means that when they bring us the word of God, we must receive it as His word and act on it. Otherwise, the power of His word will not work for us. When Jesus, for instance, told the ten lepers that came to Him for healing to go and show themselves to the priests, they had a choice of either obeying Him or disobeying Him. But they chose to obey. And because they obeyed Him, the power of healing in the command that He gave them worked in their bodies and cleansed them. (Cf. Luke 17:11-14)

But what if those lepers had not obeyed the Lord Jesus? Would His power have worked for their cleansing? No! In the same vein, unless we take every scriptural instruction being given to us by the ministers placed over us by God seriously and act on it, the power in that instruction can only return to them. It will not work for us.

Furthermore, receiving those sent to minister to us by the Lord wholeheartedly also means that when they pray for us or give us a word of blessing, we heartly say our 'amen' to it. Otherwise, as our Lord points out to us in that text, their word of prayer or blessing will be of no value to us. It will not accomplish in our lives His peace. Instead, it will return to them.

Now I found that quite shocking the first time I ready it consciously. I mean that it is shocking to me to find out that it is not every time I pray for people that my prayer stays with them. If they do not receive my prayer wholeheartedly, however short or brief it may be, it will not stay with them, unless God chooses to ignore their response and show them mercy.

How lengthy was Eli's prayer for Hannah? It was not lengthy at all? He just said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." But because Hannah responded to it positively, it worked and brought an end to her years of barrenness. Unfortunately, if you do not pray for like 30 minutes for some people and, in fact, make a revival of your prayer for them, they will not take it seriously. They think the power is in the length of the prayer or in the noise that accompanies it. So, if their church leader or anyone ministering to them will not bring down heavens with his prayer, they won't take it seriously. That, of course, explains why they are not receiving. It explains why words of prayers being offered for them keep going back to those offering them.

See, the effectiveness of our prayer is not in its length or in the noise or theatrics that accompany it. Rather, it is in its agreement with the will of God. Therefore, as long as prayers that are offered for you are in agreement with the will of God, you should say 'amen' to them, whether they are brief or lengthy. That way, the power that it is meant to produce will work in your life and on your behalf.

What is the point I am making all along? It is that there are times that in order to receive certain things from God, He will need you to acknowledge certain people that He has authorised and placed over your life. These people may be your spiritual leaders, parents, husbands, leaders at work or community leaders. But unless you acknowledge their authority to lead and minister His blessings to you, those things you are meant to receive through them may never come to you.

So, you need to keep your heart humble and free of malice or anger towards those ordained by God to communicate His blessing or grace to you. And even if they misrepresent you or are out tune with the will of God, you still need to watch your attitude towards relating to them. Otherwise, the things God seeks to communicate through them to you may never be yours.

Have a blessed day.

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“But the LORD said to Gideon, "There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, 'This one shall go with you,' he shall go; but if I say, 'This one shall not go with you,' he shall not go." So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, "Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink." Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, "With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place."” (Judg 7:4-8NIV)

Scriptures plainly show us that God, our Father, is a God who does good to all men, even when they are sinful. In other words, it is not every time that He treats people according to their good works or bad works. Instead, He often treats people according to His mercy and generosity. This, of course, is one of the reasons many have assumed that He will never be active in judging their wickedness. But at the right time, He will surely judge all forms of wickedness. He is only being patient with everyone at the moment, so that they will not perish in their sins but come to repentance. (Cf. Matt 5:45; Acts 14:14-17; 2Peter 3:9)

But then, even though God often treats all people according to His mercy and generosity, there are times that He considers people’s attitude to Him, to life or to their duties in order to determine what He does for them or does not do for them. For instance, in our opening bible text, we see God leading Gideon to separate his fighting men on the basis of the approach each one adopted in drinking water. And is there anything worthy of note in the way we drink water, whether we are dealing with water from a tap, a river or a stream? For us, there may not be anything worthy of note in that. But for God, it shows something about our attitude towards life and may be the difference between success and failure.

As we further see in our opening text, God told Gideon to take the men he had gathered to fight on his side against the Midianites to the water and watch out for the approach each of them would adopt in drinking water. And what did he discover when he did that? He saw that many of them knelt down to drink from the water while only three hundred among them lapped the water with their tongues from their hands.

Now what was the significance of that to the battle they were going to fight? Watchfulness! Those who knelt down to drink water among those men did not function with a consciousness that they were in a war zone and that their enemies could break out on them anytime. And if that should happen, many of them would have been killed before they got themselves ready to fight.

But those who lapped the water with their tongues from their hands showed that they were vigilant. They showed that they were conscious of the place they were and of what mighty come upon them there anytime. So, even though they were only three hundred, they were the ones that God eventually chose and used to win the victory over the Midianites for the whole nation of Israel. (Cf. Judges 7-8)

The lesson here, then, is very simple. And it is that there are attitudes that will disqualify us for certain experiences of promotion, expansion or prosperity that God wants us to have in this life. It is important, therefore, that we recognise those attitudes and rid our lives of them before the seasons God will test our readiness for higher grounds come. Otherwise, our experience of what is meant to be ours may just be postponed or lost forever.

As we see in the bible, there was a day King David came home to specially bless his household, having blessed all the people of Israel that had come to celebrate the moving of the Ark of the Covenant to the place prepared for it. And that, of course, was the day God would have removed the reproach of barrenness from the life of Michal the daughter of King Saul, David’s first wife. But that did not happen at all. Why? Her attitude! (Cf. 2Sam 6:20-23)

First, her attitude towards praising God was wrong. While everyone, including King David her husband, was praising God and dancing before Him, she was not there with them to participate. Instead, she was spectating from a widow. Why? She most likely saw herself as too dignified to be involved in what was happening. (Cf. 2Samuel 6:16)

Second, her attitude towards her husband was wrong. It is was that of pride. Not only did she not join him in praising God and dancing before Him, she also despised him in her heart. In other words, she looked at him as an overrated king, as one that was not fit at all to be king in place of her father. To make matters, when he came home to bless her and every other person in his household, she confronted him and told him what she thought of him. So, instead for David to bless her, he just took his blessings away to others. And that was how her barrenness remained with her for life.

I share this story with you to let you know that if we will not pay attention to the wrong attitudes we have in our lives and urgently deal with them, when God moves to exalt or enlarge us, they may be the very things that will hinder Him. So, whatever that wrong attitude may be in your life, pride, greed, laziness, negligence, carelessness or recklessness, admit it and ask God to rid your life of it. Otherwise, it may just keep you stagnant for life.

Enjoy your day.

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“Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” (Ps 19:12-13NIV)

There are two types of sins or errors that are mentioned by David in our opening bible text. First, there are hidden errors. These are wrong things that we do but that appear to be right to us. Then there are wilful sins or errors. And these are wrong things that we deliberately do.

Now whether our sins are ones committed unknowingly or knowingly, the word of God tells us that God is faithful and just to forgive us of them, if we will acknowledge and confess them (1John 1:9). However, if our hidden errors are not made known to us on time, they may end up leading us to deliberately commit some very great sins. Yes, they may end up becoming a foundation for greater and more terrible errors in our lives.

For example, why was David so shameless in sleeping with Uriah's wife and even in killing her husband? Was it because he had totally forgotten about God and chosen to go in the path of wickedness? No! Rather, it was because he had in the past done things that were related but that did not really look like sins and had gotten away with them.

First, as we are shown in Scriptures, after a man called Nabal had died, David sent men to propose to his widow, Abigail. And the woman accepted his proposal and came to become his wife. Was he, then, wrong to marry anyone's widow? No! But the man's husband, Nabal, was someone that David had once wanted to kill for despising him. And it was his wife, the same woman that David eventually took for himself, that God used in stopping him from killing him. (Cf. 1Sam 25)

Therefore, going for this man's widow after his death looked somewhat suspicious and morally wrong, even though David was not to blame for his death. By the way, bible accounts show us that he was very happy to learn of the man's death. And to show that he did not care at all about the man's death, he wasted no time in taking his woman for himself. Now if someone you know were to act like that today, would you not call friends, family members and church members to meet him and bring him back to his senses? You would most likely do that. Why? It is morally wrong, even though we cannot outright call it a sin. But that was what David did. And he got no rebuking from anybody for it.

Also, as we see in the bible, when he ran away from King Saul, his father-in-law, the man dissolved his first marriage and gave his wife, Michal, to another man, Paltiel son of Laish. But as soon as Saul died, David again wasted no time in asking for Michal back. He asked that she be forcefully taken away from her new husband and brought to him. Why? He was only thinking about the bride price he had paid to have her and not considering the morality of what he was doing. (Cf. 2Sam 3:12-16)

David did not even consider the fact that the Law of Moses says that women that are already defiled through a second marriage like that should not be married by their previous husbands (Deut 24:1-4). He just went ahead, destroyed the woman's new marriage and took her back for himself because the woman's new husband had no power against him. And did he get any rebuke from God or anyone for acting like that? No!

Now, of course, that did not look like a sin on his part. Rather, it looked like he was merely taking back what was his. But then, as I pointed out before, those two incidents that involved taking other people's wives must have unconsciously blinded David's eyes to the error of taking Uriah's wife. And if God had not sent His prophet, Nathan, to show him the gravity of his sins, he would have continued to act as though nothing were wrong with sleeping with another man's wife or killing another man in order to have his wife. (Cf. 2Sam 11-12)

What is my point? It is that if certain wrong things we are doing are not exposed as wrong to us on time, they may end up being the traps that Satan will use in getting us to sin greatly against God. And by the time we come around, many good things may have been spoilt and the name of God discredited. So, we must learn to pray that God will continually shine the light of His word on every hidden error of our lives and also strengthen us to rid ourselves of it. Otherwise, very great and terrible errors may follow it, capture us and ruin our lives and testimonies. And may that not be our lot, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed day.

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“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him — for this is his lot. 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. I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men: God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” (Eccl 5:18-6:2NIV)

What do we see from this Scripture? First, we see that it is not against the will of God for us to enjoy our lives, our jobs and our relationships. Second, we see that the ability to enjoy our lives and be happy is God’s gift. And if He does not give it, we cannot have it.

As we see in the case of the man described by Solomon in that text, one can have wealth, possessions, influence and a beautiful or handsome spouse by their side. Yet they will not enjoy these things, if God does not give them the power to enjoy them. It may be a total stranger, someone who has not laboured as hard as they have done in life that will end up enjoying those things.

So, it is God you should look to for the enjoyment of your life, your possessions and all your legitimate relationships and not people, institutions or things. And when you are functioning like that, as Solomon equally tells us in that text, God will not only give you the power to enjoy all that you have, including your marriage partner, He will also keep your heart busy with gladness. And He will do this in such a way that you will never for one day ask, “Where are the good old days?”

Have a lovely day.

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"But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezek 18:21-23NIV)

God clearly tells us here that He takes no pleasure in the death of any sinful person. Rather, He wants them to repent and be saved. So, when they turn away from their wickedness to live for Him, He is pleased with them. And because He is pleased with them, He will not count any of their offences against them again.

Now it is this same thought that is communicated to us by Paul in that popular passage of his letter to the Corinthians, which says:

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (2Cor 5:16-20NIV)

Observe that Paul says in this passage that those of us who are Christians are not expected to look at any believer from a worldly point of view. In other words, regardless of what their past may have been, we are not to judge them on its basis. They may have been prostitutes, thieves, robbers, swindlers or any of these terrible things people may become. But as long as they are now children of God, we are not to judge them on the basis of these things. We are never again to talk to them or relate to them on the basis of these things.

Why? It is because they are now new creations in Christ Jesus. In other words, God has recreated them. He has changed them on the inside. So, they are no longer what they used to be. And is that to say that He has erased their past or that their past no longer exists. No! God does not erase people’s past. So, our past will always be our past. But however horrible our past may have been, God has taken responsibility for it in Christ Jesus. He has paid the price for all the sins and errors of our past. So, He is never going to bring them to His memory again or relate to us on their basis.

That is why Paul says for those who have been born anew in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away and all things have become new. Furthermore, He says God is no longer counting their sins against them. And is that to say that they have not at all sinned against Him? No! Rather, it is to say that their sins have already been fully and duly paid for. So, God will never hold them responsible for any of those sins ever again.

Where that, then, is the case, we should embrace such people as God has embraced them. And we must always remember that we too have been embraced by Him, in spite of our past. So, we should not let anybody’s past, a past that God has dealt with, prevent us from relating to them in love. Otherwise, we will be insulting God. And how He will respond to that is not what anyone can say. So, let us be careful.

Have a lovely day.

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Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Rom 12:16NIV)

Twice we are told in our opening bible text not to be arrogant but to be willing to associate with people of low position. Why? First, it is because God Himself was willing to associate with us when we had nothing to offer Him. And why? It was so that He would be able to save us and elevate us to the position of sons in our relationship with Him. So, the bible says:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8NIV)

In like manner, by associating with people of low position in our neighbourhoods, workplaces and even the church of God, we can be used by God to elevate them or protect them from some oppressors. Truly, we may not see ourselves as being in any position to elevate or protect anybody. But the truth is that, no matter how low we may think of our current place in life, we will still find people who will wish they were in that position. And that will be because they see us as living on a higher plane of life.

Now it is such people that the word of God is telling us to be willing to associate with. That way, we may just be able to help them rise in life or save them from some situations that may lead to their disgrace or destruction. Look at Jonathan, the son of King Saul, for instance. Even though he was the crown prince of Israel and a mighty warrior, he was willing to associate with David when he was but a boy. Yes, David did something outstanding at the time for him to be noticed by Jonathan. Nevertheless, if he had been an arrogant prince, he would still not have associated with him, seeing that he was younger than him and also did not come from a wealthy family. (Cf. 1Samuel 18:1-4)

But Jonathan was not a proud prince or warrior. So, he came down to David s level in order to make friends with him. And because he did this, God was able to use him to save the young man from the jealousy of his father, King Saul, and send him away from the land in peace, so that the purpose of God may be fulfilled in his life. (Cf. 1Samuel 19-20)

Consider Joseph too. When he was in the prison, he had the rare privilege of meeting two important officials of the king of Egypt. These men offended their master, the king of Egypt, and were imprisoned for doing so. And as people had been used to power and money, they may have chosen not to associate with anyone in the prison, while waiting for the king s judgment. But they humbled themselves and associated with Joseph, a slave and prisoner. So, God was later able to use one of them to save him from this prison that he had been unjustly sent to and to also open the door for the great dreams He had given to him to come to pass. (Cf. Gen 40-41)

In the same vein, by humbling ourselves to associate with those who are occupying lower social positions than us, we may just be making ourselves available for God to use in fulfilling His dreams of greatness for them. And where that is the case, they also may eventually be used by God in fulfilling certain dreams of His for our lives or be used by Him in rescuing us in some period of trials. But if arrogance had prevented us from associating with them, who are we going to blame, if they too are unwilling to associate with us if life becomes better for them?

So, the second reason we should be willing to associate with people of low positions is that they also may be occupying greater positions than ours tomorrow. See, the fact that someone is occupying a position lower than yours today does not mean that the person is a moron or that you have better abilities or prospects in life than them. David, at the time Jonathan met him, was a lowly Bethlehem boy. But he was also the one chosen and anointed by God as the future king of the land. So, by treating him well, Jonathan was simply helping his own future in the land.

Similarly, even though Joseph, at the time that the chief cupbearer of the king of Egypt met him, was just a common slave and prisoner, he had been chosen by God to be a father to Pharaoh and the saviour of the world of the time from a coming terrible period of famine. So, by associating with him, the man was just unconsciously building a relationship with a future world leader. And think of how he must have felt on the day Joseph was made the prime minister of Egypt by their king.

Well, the point of it all is that don t allow pride or arrogance to keep you from building great relationships with the people of low position around you. That is because apart from the fact that God can use you to lift them up in great ways, He may also have appointed them to be the people that will lift you too up in a time of need. And if you allow arrogance to despise them now, how do you think they too will treat you, if the tables were to be turned? Only God can tell.

A word of caution, however: don t associate with people of low position because you hope that God will want to use them to help you someday. That may not be in God s plans at all. Even if it is, such people may forget your kindness or not permit Him to use them for you. And where that is the case, bitterness may overtake and ruin you, if your reason for helping them now is that they too may help you in the future. So, mind yourself.

Have a lovely day.

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My prayer for you today is that you will daily experience God in all of His fullness, in Jesus name. Amen

I offered that prayer for you because it is my earnest desire that you will find God to be all that He truly is in your own life and for your own good, even as you journey through life. For example, often, you hear people say, God is good. But the question is, Has God been really good to them? Or shall I say, Have they themselves come to know God as good?

Indeed, God is good, as it is revealed to us in the Scriptures. However, it is important that this revelation become a reality to as many of us who have heard and come to believe it. What I am saying is that we must not stop at the level of hearing and believing that God is good, righteous, holy, loving and so on; we must also come to the point of experiencing His goodness, righteousness, holiness, love and whatever He represents in our individual lives.

Now the point I am making here is beautifully expressed in the words of one of the Psalms, which say,

As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God (Ps 48:8NIV)

Look at that. This Psalmist is telling us that his experiences in the city of God were consistent with what he had about God and about His city. That means he found God to be exactly what he was told He is. And that is why he is able to give us this powerful witness about Him and about His city.

The question then is, Have we also found God to be what we have been told He is from the Scriptures? All kinds of beautiful things are said in the Scriptures about the nature and character of God. But can we actually testify to the reality of these things in our own lives? That is what witnessing is all about a testimony of what you have heard, seen and experienced.

I thank God because He has given us His Holy Spirit for this very purpose. I mean that He has given us His Holy Spirit so that He can empower and enable us to be true and powerful witnesses of His love, grace, goodness, righteousness, holiness, justice and compassion. Yes, He has given us His sweet Spirit that we also may be able to say, As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of our God. (Cf. Acts 1:8, 4:33)

So, as you journey through life, never forget that the Holy Spirit is in you to make you truly experience the fullness of God in your life. And that is why you must take every revealed truth about God and apply it to your life.

For example, the Scriptures say, God is good. Now you take those words and say, God, according to the Scriptures, is a good God. Therefore, today, the Holy Spirit will make me experience the goodness of God everywhere I go. Or you can take the Scripture that says, God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all , and say, Since God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all, according to the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will make me experience the light of God in all my ways, and I will never for one moment walk in darkness. (Cf. Ps 34:8, 1John 1:5)

Now I am confident that, as you take these things to heart, you will find God to be true to you in all your ways and always be able to testify to His goodness, power and saving grace for the rest of your life.

It is well with your soul. 

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"Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands." (Hag 1:7-11NIV)

God, in this bible text, is taking responsibility for the failure and poverty that His people are experiencing. In other words, He is the one preventing them from experiencing His blessings in their lives and affairs. But why? As He points out, it is because they are not generous to Him. All of them are busy building their own houses and taking care of their personal businesses. But they will not do the same for the house of God in their midst. They just won t commit their time or resources to building it. Therefore, they began to experience labour loss. And as God further tells them, until they repent and start using their time and resources to build His temple, things will not get any better for them.

In like manner, if we too ignore the work of God s kingdom, if we will not commit our time and resources to doing it, we will block the flow of His blessings in our lives. Yes, He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3). However, we can hinder the activity of His blessings in our lives through selfishness and stinginess. So, though we are blessed beyond measure, we may also find ourselves being frustrated beyond measure in life, that is, because of our stinginess.

Also, speaking through Malachi, God accuses His people of stealing from Him by not being faithful in bringing their tithes and offerings to take care of His priests, the poor people in the land and the strangers among them. That means when we keep for ourselves what God wants us to give out to others, we are stealing from Him. How, then, are we going to steal God s properties and still expect His blessings to freely flow in our lives? It won t work. (Cf. Malachi 3:8-12)

Furthermore, God says that even when these people bring Him offerings, it is blind, lame and diseased offerings they bring to Him. Think about it. These people are so shameless that they bring to God things they will not offer to their bosses, governors or even in-laws. And this gets Him so angry that He tells them to just shut the doors of their temple altogether and stop bringing Him useless sacrifices and offerings. If He, then, considers what they are bringing to Him as useless, will He reward them for it? No! (Cf. Malachi 1:6-14)

In the same vein, if we too are stealing from God by not being generous to the people He has commanded us to be generous to, we will be shutting the windows of His provisions against ourselves, as the people of Malachi s day were doing. And if we are giving for His work or to those He wants us to give to blind, lame and diseased offerings (things that are beneath us and beneath His grace on our lives), we will have no reward from Him for our giving, whether here on earth or in His eternal kingdom. How sad would it be, then, if I found out someday that all my giving had been done in vain? It would be really sad.

But then, someone may say, But the bible says we are to give on the basis of what we have and not what we do not have. And that is what I am doing. Why, then, should God or anyone say that I am not giving enough? True talk! But that person must also understand that God knows everything we have. So, He can tell when what we are giving out of what we have is something beneath His grace on our lives. And when that is the case, we are cheating Him and so can get nothing from Him for our giving. Therefore, pay close attention to your devotion to generosity because God is also paying close attention to it. And I pray that He will always find you faithful in these matters, in Jesus name. Amen.

Do have a pleasant day.

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As we begin this new day, I want to remind you that, regardless of how sweet and pleasant this world is for us, there is a far better place that God has prepared for those who love Him. And regardless of how horrible this world may seem to be for us, there is a far worse place that God has prepared for the devil and all haters of God. Therefore, we must see to it that we do not allow our dealings with this world and the things in it to rob us of that wonderful place in eternity that God has prepared for us.

Our Lord Jesus, once while teaching the people, said:

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matt 16:26)

That means we can t ever compare the value of this world and all its beauties and grandeur to the worth of a soul before God. While this world is bound to perish and be no more, every human soul that God has made lives on forever. So, even if all this world is given to you, you will still lose it someday.

Satan, for instance, has this whole world and its systems under his power, to whatever degree God has allowed it (Luke 4:5-7; 1John 5:19). Yet it is certain that he is going to lose it and forfeit himself in the lake of fire forever, when God is set to establish His eternal kingdom (Rev 20:10). In like manner, even if anyone gained the whole world, he would surely lose all of it someday, for it is a world that is reserved for fire and destruction (2Pet 3:10).

But gaining the whole world is not even the issue. I mean that having all the beautiful things of this world and enjoying yourself with them is not the issue. The issue is for us to make sure that whatever we gain in this world is not at the cost of our souls. In other words, we should not allow those beautiful relationships, jobs, vehicles, offices and so forth to steal from us our place in God s eternal kingdom. That is because when all those things are eventually gone, and they will certainly be gone someday, we will still be standing.

Where, then, are we going to be standing on that day and with whom are we going to be standing? Are we going to be standing with God in His eternal home of rest or with the devil in the eternal home of pains and distress that God has prepared for him? It all depends on how we relate to God now in this world. If we take Him more seriously than the world and everything in it, then, we will be with Him throughout eternity. But if we take the world more seriously than Him, then, we are going to be suffering together with the devil and his angels for eternity.

Similarly, it is not just about losing the whole world; it is also about our reason for losing it. If we fail to have or enjoy the beautiful things of this world because we want to gain God and His eternal home, then, we have done well and are blessed. But if we fail to have or enjoy these things because of our own foolishness or laziness in living or because Satan really has us, then, it would only spell a double loss for us.

All this is why we must pay attention to what our dealings with the things of this world will do to our place in eternity and act according to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which say:

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matt 5:29-30NIV)

Now this does not mean we are to literally remove our eyes or cut off parts of our body, just because we don t want to miss God s eternal rest. Doing such things will not necessarily accomplish want we want. At least, there are blind, deaf and lame persons that are nothing but little demons, even with their handicaps. What the Lord is saying, then, is that, if need be, we must ruthlessly deal with whatever is trying to make us lose what God has prepared for us and send us to hell. And I pray that your heart will be taught to identify all such things and also strengthened to do the needful by the wisdom of the Spirit of God in handling them.

Do have a fabulous day.

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The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." (1Kings 22:8NIV)

Those were the words of Ahab, king of Israel, to Jehoshaphat when they wanted to find out the will of God about a battle they wanted to engage in. Actually, before he said these things, he had called on about four hundred prophets to ask them for the mind of God on the matter. And all of them had told him that he would be victorious, if he should go to that battle. (Cf. 1Kings 22:1-6)

However, Jehoshaphat, being a man of the Spirit himself, was not just satisfied with what he was hearing from those prophets, even though they were about four hundred and all them were saying this same thing. That was why he asked Ahab if there was no other man of God that they could hear from. In response, Ahab said that there was still another man of God that they could hear from. But he hated him. And because he hated him, he did not want to call him or hear anything from him.

Now why did Ahab hate this man of God? Was it because the man was evil? No! Was it because he was not submissive to him as king? No! Why, then, did he hate him? According to his own words, he hated him because he never prophesied anything good about him but evil.

But why was the man of God always prophesying only evil things about Ahab and never anything good? Was he doing so out of hatred for him? No! Or was he doing it to undermine his reign and paint him as a bad person to his people? No! The reason he was prophesying only evil things about Ahab was that God only had evil things to say about him.

As we further see in the account, when the said man of God, Micaiah, was sent for, the man that went to call him told him to speak favourably to the king by allowing his word to agree with the word of the prophets that had prophesied ahead of him. But he told him plainly, I can only tell him what the Lord tells me. (Cf. 1Kings 22:13-14)

So, we see that Micaiah, the man of God that Ahab hated, was not prophesying evil things about him because he enjoyed doing so; rather, he was prophesying evil things about him because those were the only things God was telling him to say. And why was God always telling him to say evil things about Ahab? It was because the man himself was evil. Look at the summary given about him in the bible:

There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel. (1Kings 21:25-26NIV)

Did you see that? Ahab was a man that was sold out to do evil. Why, then, was he expecting any prophet to prophesy good things about him? Is it not ironical that bad people never want people to say bad things but good things about them? It is!

Unfortunately, bad people often have people around them who are ready to celebrate them and sing their praises. If everyone would just tell a bad person that he is bad, he may just repent and change his ways. But everyone will not do that. In fact, most people will not tell the wicked people in their lives that they are wicked and need to change their ways. Instead, they may be celebrating and praising them. Why? They are receiving certain good things from them or benefiting from the rewards of their wickedness.

In any case, when we celebrate and praise bad people, when we act as though they were the best people in the whole world, would they not be encouraged to be do worse things? They would! And that is how we prolong the reign of evil in the world.

Ahab was an evil king. Yet he had hundreds of prophets that always prophesied good things about him because they were on his payroll. And it was these hundreds of prophets, who were always lying to him, telling him what he wanted to hear, that made him hate the man that was always telling him the truth.

Yes, the truths that Micaiah was telling Ahab were always bitter to swallow they were always reminding him that God s judgment would come upon him. But they were nothing but the truth. And if he had embraced them and acted on them, he would have been forgiven and restored by God. But because he would not tolerate the truth at all, even when Micaiah had clearly made it known to him that death was hanging on his head, he lost his life where he could have saved it.

Perhaps you too are like Ahab. There are certain people in your life that you hate with a passion. You don t want to see them, be near them, do anything with them or hear anything from them. And why do you hate them? You hate them because they are always telling you the truth you don t want to hear. Where everyone else will speak in your favour, these ones will not do so. Instead, they will point out the error in what you are doing or tell you why what you are doing will not work. So, you hate them.

But you don t have to hate anyone as a child of God, not to even talk of hating someone that is telling you the truth. No, it is not good to never see nothing but evil in what others are doing. But even if all that someone sees all the time in you or in what you are doing is evil, don t hate them, however hurting their words may be. Instead, examine carefully what they are saying for the truth and honestly deal with whatever you see. And by doing so, you will have become a better and more mature person.

See, those praising you may never open your eyes to see the need for improvement in your life or in what you are doing. In short, they may make you feel that you have arrived and no longer have any greater height to attain. But those who are saying negative things about you cannot but force you to look at things differently and wholly, even where they are wrong. Yes, they cannot but help you to see other perspectives of life and how things can be better done.

So, don t hate them, even if they hate you or are wrong. You need them too in becoming all that God wants you to become and also in accomplishing all that He wants you to accomplish. Remember that all things are yours, including those who hate and persecute you (1Cor 3:21-23). And may God daily teach you how to make the most of everything and everyone in your life in accomplishing His good purpose for your life. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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I want to admonish you today on the importance of living in sincerity before God all the days of your life. That is because it is one sure way to continually enjoy His goodness and favour, regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in life.

People often wonder why God dealt with King David differently from the way He dealt with King Saul. And some have concluded that it was because He had some form of special affection or love for David, which He did not have for Saul. So, even though some of the sins of David appeared to be more grievous than those of Saul, it was still David that enjoyed the favour and privilege of receiving an eternal dynasty from Him.

But we know from the Scriptures that this is not the case at all. God, according to the bible, is utterly impartial. There is no favouritism with Him. What He does for one He will also do for another, under the same circumstances. So, it was not because David was more loved by God than Saul that he enjoyed all that he enjoyed from His hands; it was because David related to God with sincerity of heart in all his ways. (Cf. Deut 10:17; Acts 10:34-35; Rom 2:11)

For instance, when David committed adultery and murder against the family of Uriah and was confronted by the Lord s prophet, Nathan, with the truth about what he had done, he did not deny it or say, And so what? Am I not the king here? Instead, he wholeheartedly admitted his sins and offered no excuses but a prayer for forgiveness. In 2Samuel 12:13 we are told:

Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

Also, in his Psalm concerning this matter, he said:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. (Ps 51:3-4NIV)

Look at that. This man said, Oh God, I know my transgressions. And whatever judgment you pronounce on me will be a just one. That is utter sincerity. He would not try to hide his sins or pretend that he did not do anything wrong or act as though what he did was not really too bad. Also, he would not argue with the man of God that came to show him his fault or have him arrested. He knew what he did and also knew that the only one who could save him from the consequences of what he did was God. So, he admitted his errors and cast himself on the only one who could save him. And he was shown mercy, even though he actually deserved to die (2Sam 12:13).

But the same thing cannot be said of King Saul. Even though one might argue that the sin that he committed that made him lose his throne was not as grievous as adultery and murder, his attitude towards God s rebuke was totally wrong. First, he would not even admit that he disobeyed God s order (1Sam 15:13&20). Second, even when he eventually reluctantly admitted his sin, his major concern was his honour before his people as king and not God s forgiveness and praise (1Sam 15:24-31). How, then, could he enjoy God s mercy and goodness?

Unfortunately, there are many like Saul today, who also relate to God in arrogance and pretension. They forget that He knows them thoroughly and sees everything that is in their lives. And all that He is asking of them is to admit that He is altogether right about them. Then they will be able to freely access and enjoy His goodness. But they are just too arrogant and insincere to submit to Him. So, even though His mercy and goodness abound all around them, they are unable to access them. And such people will never, in this condition, be free from the bondage of the bad and destructive behaviours and habits they are in.

Now perhaps you too have been missing God s goodness and mercy because of pride and insincerity. You are just too proud to admit the truth He is confronting you with in your life. You will simply keep seeing people that you are probably wiser and more gifted than advancing in the goodness of God, while you will keep sinking further down in the mud of barrenness and decay. But if you will repent today and humble yourself wholeheartedly before the Lord, He will lift out of that slimy pit you are in and restore you to a secure place with fullness of joy.

Have a lovely day.

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I beseech you by the mercies of God today to always take your stand in the righteousness of God in everything you do. What I am saying is that, in all your ways, you should hold fast to only that which is righteous in the sight of God and reject that which is evil in His sight.

You know, as long as we are in this world, we will always have to choose between that which is righteous and that which is unrighteous, and we will always have to choose between that which good and that which is evil. And the choices we make are, for the most part, determined by what we love. If we love righteousness, then, we will be making righteous choices. And if it is wickedness that we cherish, then, we are bound to be making wicked and unrighteous choices.

What I am saying here was illustrated in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ when He walked the face of this earth. As we are told in the Scriptures, He never made any unrighteous choice or decision, and His life was never identified with anything evil but good. When He spoke, He spoke upright and righteous words. And when He acted, He acted in righteousness and uprightness. In fact, the testimony of the people was that He had done everything well. (Cf. Matt 22:16; Mark 7:37; John 3:2)

Now why did Jesus function in that manner all the time? According to the Scriptures, He functioned in that manner because He loved righteousness and hated wickedness (Ps 45:6-7; Heb 1:8-9). And what that shows us is that Jesus did not practise righteousness by accident or by mistake or by some person s coercion; He practised righteousness because He loved it. And He did not shun evil by accident or by mistake or by some person s coercion; He shunned it because He hated it.

It follows, then, that if we also are going to practise righteousness all the time, then, we must love it, even as the Lord did. That means we must love justice, peace, equity, truth, humility, excellence and every other thing that is consistent with the righteousness of God. In the same vein, if we are going to take our stand against evil all the time, then, we must hate it, even as the Lord hated it. And that also means that we must hate injustice, rebellion, fraud, insincerity, favouritism, lying, stealing, murder, manipulation and every other thing that is contrary to the nature of God.

See, the major reason most people today practise evil instead of righteousness is that they love that which is evil and hate that which is righteous. Yes, they may blame Satan, parents, friends, neighbours, colleagues at work or the government for their devotion to wrong doings. The truth, nevertheless, is that they do evil instead of good because love wickedness and hate righteousness. That is why, any day and any time, they will vote for wickedness in place of righteousness. And does that not confirm what John reports to us in his gospel about the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ? He says:

Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. (John 3:19NIV)

Well, I thank God because we are children of light and have God s own love fully poured into our hearts. So, we can love and practise righteousness, and we can hate and reject evil. That is why I charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to go today and take your stand for righteousness and against wickedness wherever you go. And you can be sure that the Spirit of God will be with you to strengthen you and make all this possible.

It is well with your soul.

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“King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me."” (Jer 38:19NIV)

Those were the words of King Zedekiah, the last king of the nation of Judah before the city of Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Babylonians. He said them to Jeremiah when he told him that the only way for him to save Jerusalem, his palace, the temple of God and all his people was for him to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonians. And this counsel wasn’t this prophet’s idea at all. It was the word that the Lord had given to him.

But why was Zedekiah afraid of being turned over by the Babylonians to the Jews who had already defected to them? He was afraid because he knew that those Jews would illtreat him, even though he was their king. And why was he so sure that his people would illtreat him, if he should be handed over to them? He was sure of this because he knew that he had not been a good and righteous king to them. So, if, for some reasons, the tables were to be turned and he were to be brought down to their level, they would not treat him kindly at all.

Now what is the point of this? It is that all of us who have people under us, however few they may be, need to be careful to use our position to make like better and more enjoyable for them, instead of maltreating or tormenting them. Why is this important? First, it is important because God will certainly judge us for how we treat those under us.

In Colossians, chapter 4, verse 1, Paul says this to us:

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

Did you see that? If you are a leader in any capacity, God expects you to be fair and just in the way you treat those under you, whether they are related to you by blood or not. Why? It is because you too have Him as your master. And as your master, you will want Him to be just and fair in treating you. If He were, then, to treat you the way you treat those under you, how do you think things would turn out for you?

Apart from that, as we see in Zedekiah’s case, if situations were to change, if, for some reasons, you were to find yourself under the authority or in the power of those who are now under you, how do you think they would treat you? Would they remember how kind and wonderful you have been in leading them and caring for them and then use all their might to do you good? Or would they think it is payback time? I am sure you know the answers to these questions.

Well, this word is coming to you so that you can assess the way you are now using your position and see if it will not give anyone a reason to want to hurt you, if circumstances were to be altered. And if it is clear that you are abusing your office or position of advantage, I counsel you to change your ways while doing so will rebuild your reputation. Otherwise, a day may come when you will fall into the hands of some of the people you are now cheating and oppressing. And they may not be merciful at all in handling you.

So, watch yourself.

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Some years ago, Nigeria’s online space was inundated with news about a ten-year old girl that was supposedly gang-raped by some of her fellow students while they were in Dubai for some international games. And since then, all kinds of comments have been made about the matter. Some have blamed it on poor parenting. Some others have blamed it on the irresponsibility of the school in handling their students. And yet some have blamed it on some social medial influencers and their culture of indiscriminately sharing contents of their immoral lifestyles on the internet.

But then, I have asked myself the following questions concerning the case: How many of us are truly better than these children in the way we now live our lives? And how many of us were better than them when we were of the same ages as they now are? At least, I can very well remember that when I was the same age, I had my own evil desires and demons to fight as well. So, I could have become like one of those kids or even worse.

Why, then, did I not become like them? It was the grace of God that kept me from becoming like them. And how did His grace accomplish that? First, it provided me with parents who did not provide the circumstances to become like them for me, whether by their words or actions. Second, it placed me in a church where I was continually exposed to the word of God, prayers and godly counsel. So, these evil thoughts that could have made a mess of my life could not thrive or find expression in me.

So, if you are a parent, let God use you to preserve your children and other children around you. How? Watch the kind of atmosphere you create for these children to grow in, through what you do and say. That is because it will, to a large extent, determine whether evil will prevail over them or not. And if you are not a parent, you need to be truthful to yourself about the evil thoughts and desires trying to find expression in you. Otherwise, they will surely prevail over you and ruin your life. No, the world may not know or hear about the ruin of your life as they did about that girl and a number of others. But what does it matter? If your life is ruined, it is ruined.

This is why you must face the reality about the evil thoughts and desires you have. Don’t pretend they are not there. Instead, deal with them. All of us are daily troubled by them. Even Jesus and the apostles of old were also daily troubled by them. That was why Peter wrote to the churches, saying:

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” (1Peter 2:11NIV)

So, evil thoughts, impure thoughts and destructive thoughts are continually at war against our souls. And we must accept this as our reality. Otherwise, we won’t be able to effectively deal with them.

Now, of course, those thoughts are not our thoughts. They are Satan’s thoughts. For example, it was not Jesus’ idea to jump down from the temple top and die. It was Satan’s. And it was not Judas Iscariot’s thought to betray Jesus. It was Satan’s thought. But the difference between Jesus and Judas was what they did to the thoughts Satan brought to them. While Jesus cast down those evil thoughts with the word of God, Judas allowed them to take charge of his life and ruin it. (Cf. Matt 4:1-11; John 13:2; 2Cor 10:5)

In like manner, if we do not want the evil thoughts warring against our souls to find expression in our lives and ruin them, we must take advantage of the word of God, prayers and the fellowship of God’s people to recognise and demolish them. And we must be ready to do this every day, for Satan is also ready to ruin our lives every day, as the opportunity to do so comes to him.

So, wake up from your slumber and get ready for action. This is our fight of faith. And it is a good fight, for we already have what it takes to be victorious in it every blessed day.

Cheers!

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“As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.” (Eccl 10:1NIV)

Those are the words of Solomon to us. And they are showing us the need to always pray to God to keep us from taking any decision, however insignificant it may seem, that will turn out to be a foolish and destructive one.

For example, when King Asa of Judah paid King Ben-hadad of Syria in silver and gold to break his alliance with the king of Israel, so that he would stop troubling him, it did not look like anything was wrong or outrageous with what he did. That was because it was common among kings at that time to form alliances with powerful kings, so that their kingdoms would be at peace. So, what Asa did was nothing unusual or strange. (Cf. 2Chro 16:1-6)

But when God would judge his action, He called it a foolish thing. Also, He went on to say that Asa would no longer have peace because of what he had done. And that was exactly how things went for him. The remaining few years of his life and reign were the worst he had. But this man had walked in the will of God for about 36 years and had fully enjoyed His blessings and protection before he committed that little blunder of trusting in man instead of trusting in God. Unfortunately, the so-called little blunder was what ruined him and his relationship with God. (Cf. 2Chro 16:7-14)

Also, as we see in the bible, when King Hezekiah was showing off the wealth of his kingdom to the Babylonian envoys that had come to greet him after his recovery from an illness that almost took his life, it did not look like he was doing something silly. These people recognised his greatness and decided to pay him respect. What, then, could be possibly be wrong with impressing them a little more? (2Kings 20:12-13)

But God judged his action as foolish. Why? It was because he had through it laid a foundation for a future attack from the Babylonians. And when they attacked, as God pointed out through His prophet, Isaiah, they would take away everything of value that he and his ancestors had laboured for centuries to give to their country. In fact, they would take away some of his own sons as slaves. Thus, even though Hezekiah had been a great and godly king, that little display of foolishness on his part outweighed and made nonsense of the wisdom he had for years demonstrated in serving God and also in building his country. (Cf. 2Kings 20:12-19)

What about Moses? Could he ever have thought that his little act of disobedience to God would cost him the promised land? No! For thirty-nine years, this man served God faithfully and wholeheartedly in everything He asked him to do for the Israelites. And his intercessory prayers were, in fact, the reason the people he led out of Egypt survived God’s wrath in the wilderness.

But when he, in a moment of anger, struck with his rod the rock that he was commanded by God to speak to, God got angry with him and denied him access to the promised land. This, of course, pained him terribly. But God would not change His mind. Thus, his little error at that time cost him all that he had used most of the years of his life to work for. (Cf. Num 20:1-13)

Can you now see how important Solomon’s words are? Can you now see that a little folly, a little error can actually ruin years of hard work and diligence done in wisdom? Perhaps that has happened to you before. You said or did something careless or thoughtless. But you did not think it was anything until people started to go against you for it. Then, before you knew it, your marriage, reputation, job or position was at stake. And that was when you realised how seriously you were in need of God’s mercy to be vindicated or set free.

That is exactly what Solomon is talking about in our opening bible text. And the only one that can keep us from finding ourselves in such situations, situations where our little errors or mistakes would become big trouble for us, is God Himself. We will do well, therefore, to always ask Him to keep us from any kind of error, however insignificant it may be, that may ruin our lives, faith, reputation or years of hard labour. And I am sure He will answer us and not reject our heartfelt prayers.

Have a lovely day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will vindicate you wherever you are being cheated or unjustly treated and also secure for you every good thing that is yours that others are keeping from you. Amen.

One of the things we learn from the bible story of Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant, is that there is no one God does not care about. And because He cares about every one of us in the world, He is always watching our lives to see what is going on there and to make everything work together for our good. But we need to be conscious of this, so that we will put our trust in Him totally and not give ourselves to any form of wickedness that will hinder the fulfilment of His good purpose in our lives.

As the story of Hagar goes, her mistress, Sarah, at some point had taken her to her husband, Abraham, so that he would sleep with her. Why? They were desperate about having a child of their own. And even though God had promised to give them one, Sarah felt that time was running out for her. So, she brought Hagar into the situation, thinking that any child she bore for her husband would be adopted as her own child. (Cf. Gen 16:1-3)

Now everything seemed to be going well for all of them until Hagar became pregnant. When she realized that she had become pregnant, she began to despise Sarah, her mistress. That means pride took over her life and she stopped showing her mistress proper respect. Why? She probably thought it was her turn to take over and become the mistress of the house.

Unfortunately for her, Abraham had no intention of allowing any spoilt girl to ruin his marriage, even if that spoilt girl was carrying his child. So, when Sarah reported Hagar to him, he told her to deal with her as she thought best. And she dealt with her so harshly that she ran away from the house. But who was to blame more for what happened to her? She was to blame more. She was the one that abused the privilege she was given to share her mistress’ husband with her. She was the source of her own misery. (Cf. Gen 16:4-6)

Nevertheless, while she was running away, the Lord found her and spoke comforting words to her. Look at some of the things said about this in the bible:

“The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."” (Gen 16:7-10NIV)

Can you see that even though Hagar knew where she was coming from at that time, she did not know where she was going in particular? She just felt that she needed to run away from her mistress. But the Lord told her that running away from her mistress was not the solution to her problem. The solution to her problem was for her to get rid of the pride in her and go back and submit to her mistress. Why? If she did not get rid of the pride in her, she would not stop doing things that would make those who loved her drive her away from them.

Then, to let her know that God cared about her, even though she was a slave, He told her that He would multiply her descendants on the face earth, so much so that no one would be able to count them. Not only that, God went on to tell her some secrets about the future of the son that she was going to have. That was so that she would not allow her position as a slave at that time to make her lose hope. (Cf. Gen 16:12)

Now did Hagar do as she was instructed by the Lord or not? She did! Not only that, she named the well where God had appeared to her ‘Beer Lahai Roi’, which means ‘the well of the Living One who sees me’. And do you know that this same Living One sees you too, regardless of how bad things may seem for you and regardless of what brought you to where you are? Not only does He see you, He also has solutions to whatever challenges you are facing. He knows where you should be and the secrets of your future. You just need to listen to what He has to say to you and be ready to act on it. Then every form of hopelessness will leave you too and you will be on your way to fully experiencing His good purpose for your life.

Have a great day. 

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“Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous, do not plunder their dwelling-place; for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” (Proverbs 24:15-16NIV)

This is a warning to those who are constantly looking for ways to bring other people down. And you may have people around you who are working towards bringing you down. Do you need to pay attention to them? No, you don’t need to give them any undue attention. Yes, you have to be on your guard against their schemes. But you don’t need to occupy yourself with thoughts about whatever they may be doing to bring you down. That is because God will handle them for you.

Sadly, a lot of times in the church, we busy ourselves with those who are trying to bring us down. If we have 1 hour to pray, we will spend 59 minutes praying and asking God to do something about them. It is a waste of time. There are better things to pray about. There are more important things to pray about. The scripture is clear about what will become of such individuals, and our opening text is one of such places where the Scripture addresses their issue.

Now God warns them, saying, “Don’t waste your time trying to bring righteous people down. Don’t waste your time speaking or acting against them.” And you know there is none of us who does not have one person or the other who is trying to act against us. But then he tells us that even though a righteous man falls seven times, what will happen? He is going to rise again. And it does not matter who Satan is using to orchestrate his fall, the Scripture is clear about the fact that he will rise again.

Why? It is because God will lift him up. Now he is not going to rise because of his will-power. He is not going to rise because he is so smart. He is going to rise because God is actively involved in his case, and he will lift him up.

Again, if you look at Joel chapter 2, beginning with verse 25, God says:

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…” (Joel 2:25NIV)

Can you see that? God says I am going to repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. That means God is able to restore the time you have wasted, if at all you have wasted your time. Have you wasted opportunities or privileges? God is saying I am able to repay you; I am able to bring back to you the things you lost. He is able to restore to you the things you lost because of your foolishness and those that you lost because of your pride, if you would pay attention to what He is saying to you.

If you will read again, God says:

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you. (And when I have done that) You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.” (Joel 2:25-26NIV—emphasis mine)

Is God talking to you now? Each time I read this portion of the Scripture I am excited. That is because it shows me that there is a way out of whatever mess I have put myself through in life. It is telling me that there is a possibility of restoration of the things I have lost, and that God will so much do it that I will have plenty to eat.

Again, God says:

“…never again will my people be shamed. Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.” (Joel 2:26-27NIV)

This means you can so walk in life that you will not experience shame again. This is where I want to function in life. I want to live daily in this portion of the Scripture. God is saying to me that it is possible not to experience shame again in life. And He is talking to you too. He is giving you a word for yourself and for those around you who are living low lives or who are living in disgrace. He is saying they can rise again. They can have their lives back. They can have their joy back. They can have their homes back. Those whose marriages are shattered can have their marriages back. Those whose businesses have crumbled can have their businesses back.

Now is all this to say that it is compulsory for us to fall so that we can rise again? No! Sometimes preachers have ways of making God’s people believe that it is a must for them to fall; that it is a must for them to makes mistakes; that it is a must for them to err. They will say, “It is so that God’s glory may be revealed in your life.”

But God does not need you to fall in order to reveal His glory in your life. He does not need you to be sick in order to reveal His glory in your life. He doesn’t. That is because there is nothing for God to gain or profit from that. So, when we are saying that if the righteous falls seven times he will rise again, that is not to say that it is a must for him to fall. We are only saying that, just in case he falls or has fallen, he does not have to stay on the floor; he can rise again. That is actually what we are saying. And you will do well to keep that in mind.

Have a lovely day.

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“He will never forget his agreement or his promises, not in thousands of years.” (Ps 105:8CEV)

Can you see that? God is unable to forget His promises towards you, not even in thousands of years. Whatever He says that He will do, He will surely do.

“But,” you say, “What then is He waiting for? Why wouldn’t He just go ahead and do as He promised?” Those are very relevant questions. But won’t you be surprised if I tell you that you are the one God is waiting for? He is waiting for the time you will humbly challenge Him to do as He has promised.

Don’t you say, “I believe in God and in everything He tells me?” Then show it by calling His attention to all His promises that are yet to be fulfilled in your life, and He will fulfil them.

Look, we are in a vital relationship with God, and He wants us to relate to Him with a consciousness of that. Unfortunately, most of us don’t take God seriously until all our alternative plans have failed. That is when we remember that God has not been keeping His promises towards us. But, all along, instead of taking His promises seriously, we have concentrated on doing things in our own ways. And we must put away that kind of attitude, if we truly want to see God’s word come to pass in our lives.

Take Abraham, for instance. He had challenged God about his childlessness. Literally, he said to God, “Ever since I have been walking with you, you have not stopped telling me how you are going to bless all the nations of the world through my offspring. Yet you have not given me a child. Don’t you know that whatever you give to me now will be inherited by my head servant?” (Cf. Gen 15:1-3)

Now God answered him and assured him that He would definitely give him a son of his own and that through him all His promises would be fulfilled. And did he believe what God said to him or not? He believed everything God said to him. So, God credited that to him as righteousness. (Cf. Gen 15:4-6)

However, after a while, we find Abraham settling down for an alternative plan, a plan that almost destroyed his home. And it wasn’t until he completely gave up all his personal plans about having a child and trusted God absolutely that His word was fulfilled in his life. (Cf. Gen 16)

Now is it possible that your personal and alternative plans have been hindering the fulfilment of God’s promises towards you too? You need to lay them aside and let God know that you are relying on Him absolutely for the fulfilment of His word. Do as David did when he heard God’s promises towards his household. He said:

“LORD, keep the promise forever that you made about my family and me, your servant. DO WHAT YOU HAVE SAID. Then you will be honored always, and people will say, 'The LORD All-Powerful, the God over Israel, is Israel's God!'…” (1Chron 17:23-24NCV – emphasis added)

Well, I shared all this with you to let you know that it is not too late for you to experience all that God has promised to do for you or through you. That is because He never forgets any of His promises, not even in a thousand years. So, if you will begin to do the right thing from this moment on, men will be amazed at the flood of miracles that will begin to overflow your life, in fulfilment of God’s promises to you.

I look forward to sharing your testimony; stay blessed forever.

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“And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45KJV)

Those were the words of Elizabeth to Mary the mother of Jesus, when she visited her after her conception of the Lord Jesus. And what do we learn from what she said. We learn that it’s only the one that believes God’s word that will witness the performance of what He has said in his life.

How, then, do you express your faith in what God has said? How do you show him that you actually believe that His words will come to pass in your life? You do that by praising Him. You do it by thanking Him in anticipation of what He will do.

Now that was exactly what Mary did when she heard those words from Elizabeth. The bible says:

“Mary responded, "Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God. For he, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me. His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who reverence him.” (Luke 1:46-5TLB)

Look at that! Mary started praising the Lord even before her pregnancy became known to her or any other person. Will you also praise the Lord before you witness any physical manifestation of what God has said? Well, I am going to praise Him. I am going to praise Him every new day because I am expecting a performance of his word in my own life and in my own family.

So, throw away your garment of sorrow, my friend. Look unto the Lord who is mighty and glorious. Let His praise rise within your heart. Let songs of His freedom fill your lips. And He will surely display His wondrous works in your life; and that my soul knows very well.

Have a lovely day.

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“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, “This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”” (Luke 14:28-30NIV)

An illustration is given here by our Lord Jesus Christ on the need for us to have a proper estimation of our abilities and limitations. According to Him, if someone wants to build a tower, what is the right thing for him to do? The right thing for him to do is to first sit down and estimate what doing so will cost him, not just to start the building of the tower but also to finish it.

That, of course, is usually not our style in Nigeria. We usually love to get things started first before we start considering how we are going to finish them. So, if you want to build a house, you will find people who will tell you, “Just start with what you have and later you can finish it, as you get more money.” This may be okay to some extent, depending on what you are handling. But the truth is that it because of this approach to handling projects that we now have many uncompleted buildings around us.

If you are starting something, you need to know what it will cost you. That does not mean you have to finish it in few months or days. But at least, you need to appreciate what it is going to cost you, what you will need to give up, what you will need to get, how it is going to affect you or your family.

For example, if you want to build a house, you need to consider how it is going to affect you and affect other things you need to do in your life. Perhaps you are married and with children. You need to consider how what you want to do is going to affect them and your responsibilities to them and see whether you have enough resources or muscle to handle what is coming. Otherwise, you may start and not finish and also not be able to take care of your family adequately.

There are people who are in trouble because of things like this. They are not sinning. But they are not functioning with a proper estimation of their abilities. So, they are in debt and are being harassed and dragged here and there by their creditors. Who have they opened the doors of their lives for? Satan! They have opened the doors of their lives for him to use their failure to function within the realms of their abilities to frustrate them and fill them with depression.

Some of these now find themselves continually getting angry with their spouses and children and everyone around them because they are in debt and are frustrated. They are making an enemy of everyone around them, giving the impression that those in their lives are the reason for the problems they are facing.

But if you are one such people, know that the people in your life are not your problem; you are your own problem. You opened the doors of your life for Satan to come in and frustrate you and also fill you with depression. Soon enough, if you do not resist him, you may find yourself battling with high blood pressure or some other ailments. So, it is important that before you get involved in any project or venture that is going to take a lot of money or time or energy from you, consider your abilities to handle it. Don’t get yourself involved in something that you have no capability to handle or resources to manage.

It is really a shame that many often go for things that they have no ability to handle or manage. They just do things or get things because everyone is getting them. There are those who want to study further in school because all their friends are doing so. Is it wrong to want to go for further studies in your field of life? No, it is not. On the contrary, it is right to do so, especially if it will increase your chances of earning more. But you also need to consider what it is going to cost you. You need to know whether you are overreaching or not. Otherwise, you may just get yourself into troubles that you may not be able to deal with for the rest of your lifetime.

All of this is why our Lord Jesus is saying if you want to do anything, first of all consider your ability to succeed at it. We are not to rush into any project, if we are not sure we have the ability to handle it and finish it, without hurting ourselves or others in our lives. Yes, sometimes, we may have to give up some things in order to accomplish some greater good. That is fine. But the price we are paying for whatever we are doing must not be something that will destroy our lives, homes or reputations.

Have a blessed day.

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“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15NIV)

What are the things that will make the word of God produce in our lives the results God wants to see, as shown by our Lord Jesus in our opening text? The first is hearing the word of God.

The bible says faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Rom 10:17). So, hearing what God has to say or is saying is very important. And until we have heard what He has to say to us about Himself, our lives and the situations of our lives, we cannot be expected to trust Him to take care of us or to know what He requires of us. So, if our lives will bring forth the fruit of faith in God and the fruit of what God wants, we must hear words of faith in Him and words showing us His will for our lives. In other words, the seed of faith in Him and the seed of His will must be planted in our hearts. Otherwise, there can be no harvest of what has not been planted.

The second thing that will make the word of God produce results in our hearts is for us to retain it. It is one thing for us to plant some seed on some ground; it is another thing for that ground to retain it. If the condition of that ground does not make room for that seed to survive and go on to yield its crops, it can only die or grow up to be unproductive.

In like manner, it is not enough for us to hear the word of God; it is equally important we make room for it to grow and be able to bring forth fruit in our lives. If we do not make room for the word of God to live in us, that is, if we do not accept His word as something we need to work with in our lives, it will not accomplish the results it is meant to accomplish in our lives. It will only go to waste, as is seen evident in the lives of many who have severally heard His word and have remained unchanged by it.

The third thing that will make the word of God produce results in our lives is for us to persevere in acting on it. See, even if we have planted our seed on some good ground, a ground that has everything the seed needs to do well, we must still allow that seed to stay long enough there to grow and bring forth its harvest. As farmers know quite well, every seed has its own time of fruitfulness. So, they have to patiently care for it and also wait for it to be ready. Otherwise, they are going to destroy it before its time and lose their harvest and waste their effort.

In like manner, every seed of God’s word planted in our hearts has its own time of fruitfulness. And if we don’t want to miss it, we have to patiently nurture it until brings forth fruit. In other words, we have to keep acting on and praying about whatever God has said to us about Himself, our lives and the situations of lives until we see results. That we are not yet seeing results of acting on what God says to us does not mean we are not going to see it. The seed of every word spoken to us by God will surely grow in us and bring forth fruit, if we will permit it. But how soon it will bring forth its fruit is not what we may be able to say – it all depends on the character of that seed and the nature of challenges it has to deal with in our lives.

So, if we want God’s word to produce righteousness, healing and prosperity in us, we have to persevere in acting on it until we are seeing His righteousness, health and prosperity fully manifesting in our lives. Naaman, for example, had to wash himself in River Jordan seven times before he was cleansed of his leprosy. And that does not mean that once you too act on what God has said about a certain situation of your life seven times, the problem will be solved. Rather, it means that there are times that acting on God’s word just once or twice about certain situations of our lives is not enough to bring results. We must stay on acting on it for a while before the results we want to see will come.

Now how long we will have to keep acting on what God says in order to see results in certain situations of our lives is not what I can say. But I can say that if we do not faint or throw away our confidence in Him, we will not be put to shame. The results we are looking forward to seeing will come and even surpass our expectations.

But if we are epileptic in acting on His word, if we are often taking vacations from acting on His word, we are uprooting the seed of His word from the ground of our hearts. So, there will be no harvest. We will simply have wasted the seed of His word and our own time and commitment. And I pray that an end will come to every waste of the word of God that is going on in our lives right now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a splendid day.

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“Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man — and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.” (Mark 5:14-17NIV)

Why did the people mentioned in our opening bible text plead with Jesus to leave their region? Was it because they did not believe in His ministry? No! As the account goes, they just witnessed something about the power and effectiveness of His ministry. They just saw how He healed and made whole a man who had been mad and who had been a terror to all of them. So, even if they did not believe in Him and in what He could do before, what they witnessed was enough to make them believe.

Yet, as we are told in the account, they were not willing to experience more of the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ in their lives, homes and region. So, they literally begged Him to leave them alone. Why? Why would they not want a man who had enough power to set a demoniac free from years of torment to stay with them? Imagine what His stay among them for a few days could mean to them. Imagine the kind of liberty and joy His stay could have brought to all the people among them that were being oppressed of the devil.

But they would not have Him. And why? The reason was that they were afraid of the financial implications of His stay. And was it that the Lord needed them to pay Him in order to stay and minister among them? No! Truly, today we have many so-called preachers that the thought of the cost of hosting them will not allow many who will have loved to be beneficiaries of their ministries to dare inviting them. But our Lord Jesus was never like that. For Him, the principle of ministry is, “Freely you have received. Freely give.” (Cf. Matt 10:8)

Since the Lord, then, was not going to take any money from these people in order to minister to them, what financial implications were they afraid of? As we are further shown in the account, what they were afraid of was that the Lord’s stay in their land may bring more harm to their businesses. Why did they think like that? It was because when the Lord drove out the demons in the mad man that was healed, He gave them permission to go into a herd of pigs that was nearby. And all the pigs these demons went into, about two thousand of them, rushed into the lake close by and drowned. (Cf. Mark 5:1-13)

Now why did the Lord permit those demons to go into those pigs? We are not given any direct reason in the account. Yes, we know from Scriptures that the Israelites were not permitted by God to eat pigs – they were unclean for them. But there is nothing in Scriptures against rearing them. By the way, camels, for instance, were also among the animals that were unclean for them to eat. Yet many of them had these beasts of burden and were using them for their travels. So, using the ceremonial uncleanness of those pigs as the Lord’s reason for allowing demons to enter them may not really hold water. (Cf. Lev 11)

What, then, was the Lord’s reason for permitting these evil spirits to have their way on this occasion? To answer that, we need to first remember that it was those demons that requested that Jesus would send them into those pigs – it was not the Lord’s idea to do that. And why did they make this request? As Mark tells us in his account of the incident, it was because they did not want to leave that region (Mark 5:10). They wanted to continue their operation there, tormenting the people and destroying their lives. And the only way for that to happen was for them to have bodies (houses) to occupy or live in.

Now they had thought that those pigs would be able to house all of them, since they were many. But the Lord knew better. The Lord knew that those animals could not handle demonic possession. They would rather die than do so. And that, of course, would ruin the business of their owners. Yet He permitted them to go into them. Why? I believe it was to reveal what was really in the heart of the people living in that place.

Remember that God did something similar, when Satan sought permission from Him to attack Job and his possession. He permitted him to attack Job and all that he had to reveal the truth about the man’s devotion to him to Satan and others watching. And though the man lost everything and was terribly afflicted in his body, he did not disown God but held fast to Him till He brought him salvation and restoration. That shows that he valued God more than his own life and more than his possessions. (Cf. Job 1&2)

Unfortunately, that was not the case with the people of Gadarenes. They cared more about their businesses than the salvation of that mad man and the salvation of their own souls. They cared more about money than the presence of Jesus Christ in their lives. The presence of Jesus in their territory threatened their businesses. But the presence of that legion of demons did not threaten them. So, begged Jesus to leave, indicating that they preferred to have Satan reigning among them than to have Him reigning among them. How sad!

But then, the truth is that many today, including Christians, are not different from these people of Gadarenes. They too would rather have Satan ruin their lives, homes and relationships or the lives of others, as long as their money, fame or position remains intact, than to experience the salvation of Jesus and perhaps lose these things. And if you are one of such people, this word is coming to you now so that you can examine your heart and ways and repent. Otherwise, you may never ever be free from the dominion of darkness.

Have a lovely day.

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“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.” (Ps 90:17NIV)

As we see in Scriptures, God wants all His children to be doing something useful with their hands. He does not want any of them to be idle. Why? First, it is so that they will not be unduly dependent on anyone. Second, it is so that they will be able to support others. So, if you have a legitimate job or business that you are doing, you are doing the will of God. (Cf. Eph 4:28; 1Thess 4:11-12; 2Thess 3:6-12)

However, the fact that we have legitimate job or business that we are doing does not mean God’s purpose or reasons for wanting us to work will be fulfilled in our lives. What I mean is that it is possible for us to be working and, in fact, working hard and still be unduly dependent on others. Yes, it is possible for us to be working hard and diligently and still not be making enough money to support ourselves and our families, not to talk of supporting others. And where that is the case, discouragement or depression may set in.

Now perhaps you, like several others in the world, are already getting discouraged or depressed because your hard and diligent labour is not getting you anywhere – it is not just accomplishing prosperity and peace of mind for you. And you are asking yourself, “What else do I need to do? What more jobs or businesses do I need to take on to make all ends meet? Or do I just need to get out of this place for good?”

Well, first, you need to shut the door against discouragement and depression. That is because they will only make matters worse for you. Then you need to understand that working harder or taking on more jobs or businesses may not just change your situation at all or in any significant way. That is because unless God breathes on what you are doing and makes it profitable for you, all your hard and diligent labour over it can only amount to nothing.

All this, of course, is why Moses, in our opening bible text, prays for himself and the children of Israel that God will cause His favour to rest on them, so that the works of their hands will be established. And that is the prayer all of us who are God’s children ought to continually offer for ourselves. We ought to continually ask that He will cause His favour to rest on us, so that whatever we do will be established in prosperity and not amount to a waste of time, energy, resources and devotion.

Look at Joseph, for instance. He was truly hardworking and diligent in Potiphar’s house. But if he had not found favour in the eyes of his master, all his hard and diligent work would not have been recognised. So, he would have amount to nothing there. But because God caused him to find favour in his eyes, everything he did pleased the man. Therefore, he exalted him and made him the manager of his house. (Cf. Gen 39:2-6)

Also, when he found himself in the prison, what separated him from the rest of the prisoners was God’s favour. The bible says:

“…But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor 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.” (Gen 39:20-22NIV)

Did you see that? Even though Joseph had great abilities to lead people and manage resources, if God’s favour had not rested on his life and on those abilities, no one would have noticed him. And there are many people today with great abilities or skills that are not being noticed by those in a position to lift them up or open doors of prosperity for them. What such people need is not more hard or diligent labour but a great outpouring of God’s favour over their lives.

In like manner, what we too need to experience the kind of prosperity that will make us financially independent of others and also enable us to support those in our lives is not more hard work but a great outpouring of God’s favour on us and on the works of hands. So, just as Moses prays in our opening bible text, we too should continually pray to God to cause His favour to rest on us and establish the works of our hands for us. And He will answer us and begin to lead everyone that will promote our prosperity and success to begin to recognise and appreciate whatever we are doing.

In addition to that, if God does not rebuke devourers on our behalf, all our hard work can only amount to nothing. As we are told in the bible, in just one day, Job lost all his prosperity – he lost everything he had laboured hard and diligently to acquire. Why? God’s wall of protection around him and everything he had was removed. And there are many like him who keep losing their prosperity or their opportunities for advancement. Why? There is no wall of protection against devourers around them. So, something will always show up to devour the fruit of their labour or to deny them their opportunity to be promoted or favoured. How, then, can they be established in prosperity? (Cf. Job 1-2; Haggai 1)

Well, the point I am making is that we need all the favour of God we can get for us not to labour in vain in this life but to be established in prosperity. So, don’t let your focus be only on working hard and diligently, even though that is very important. Instead, let your focus also and always be on receiving God’s overflowing favour in your life. That is what will take vain labour away from you and see to it that you are established in prosperity.

Have a lovely day.

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“If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.” (2Peter 2:9-12NIV)

Peter is referring to certain individuals in the church here. He says they are arrogant. And in their arrogance, they heap abuse on celestial beings. Who is he referring to as celestial beings here? He is referring to Satan and his angels. Observe that he speaks about God’s angels bringing judgment from God on these beings. And by saying that he is making a distinction between God’s holy angels and Satan and the angels that have fallen with him.

In any case, Peter is saying that even when God’s angels are bringing judgement on the devil and the beings with him, they don’t insult them. That is because they understand that these beings possess some measure of authority within their own space of operation and are to be related to with respect. The bible actually refers to some of these beings as the rulers, authorities and powers of this dark world (Ephesians 6:12). These, then, are powerful beings and they possess their own measure of authority. That is why when God’s angels are dealing with them, they do so with understanding.

Jude, in his epistle, makes this even clearer with an illustration. Look at what he says from verse eight of it:

“In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’ Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct – as irrational animals do – will destroy them.” (Jude 8-10NIV)

Now we don’t have this account that speaks of an encounter of Michael, the archangel, with Satan, in any other part of the bible. So, there is not much we can say in explaining it. But the point Jude intends to use it for is enlightening us about how to relate to authority. As he points out, on this occasion, when Michael had to dispute with Satan about the body of Moses, he did not dare to condemn him for slander. He did not abuse or insult him in any way. He only said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

We have another interesting account in the book of Zechariah. It was a vision this man saw about how Satan was accusing Joshua, the high priest of his time, before the Lord. Look at what he says about this vision and how the Lord handled the devil:

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’” (Zechariah 3:1-2NIV)

First, you need to understand that the one being referred to as the angel of the Lord here is the Spirit of God Himself. That is seen even in the context of the passage, especially in the part where He says to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin.” Only the Spirit of God could do that (Zechariah 3:3-4). In any case, observe that in dealing with the devil, the Lord did not have to insult him or abuse him. He just told him to back off.

In like manner, when we are relating to authority, any form of it, we need to do so with understanding. In dealing with Satan and his demons, for instance, we only need to command them to leave where we are or to stop their activities there, in the name of Jesus. We don’t have to call them names. We don’t have to say that they are foolish, stupid or silly. These are some of the things some so-called believers call the devil and his demons. And the word of God says that people who do such things are showing that they are ignorant.

This equally shows us how we are to relate to human authorities. When we are upset by our leaders and find what they are doing unacceptable, we are often tempted to insult them. All of us are guilty of this. But we are not permitted to talk anyhow about or to those in authority. And we need to learn this. Even in dealing with those who are under us, as long as they are handling one form of authority or the other, we need to watch how we talk to them. Yes, we may have been instrumental to their being in the position they are now occupying. Yet we must watch how we relate to them and not despise them. Otherwise, we may give those under them reasons to despise them as well.

Now not relating to those in authority with understanding always comes with consequences. And we may not know how severe these consequences may be. So, let us learn to relate to all those in authority with understanding. That way, we will not be ignorantly exposing ourselves to God’s judgment or satanic attacks.

Have a lovely day.

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“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did, but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.” (Hebrews 4:1-3NIV)

The writer of the book of Hebrews is speaking to us here about the people Moses brought out of Egypt. He led them out of Egypt in order to bring them into the land God had promised to give them. Unfortunately, most of them could not enter the land.

Why could they not enter? It was because of unbelief. We are told in the last verse of the third chapter of this book that they could not enter God’s rest because of unbelief. They simply wandered in the wilderness for forty years and perished there, never arriving at where God had wanted them to be.

Therefore, we are told to watch ourselves so that we do not experience what they experienced, so that things do not end up for us the way they ended up for them. What happened to them, according to Scriptures, happened to serve as an example to us. And it is showing us that it is not enough for us to start walking with God; we must also finish. True faith in God is always from start to finish. It is not something that quits or that gets tired on the way. It is always from start to finish.

Well, we are told in our opening text what was responsible for the failure of these people to enter God’s rest. They heard the word of God. But the message, the good news, they heard was of no value to them. The word did not profit them. Why? It was because they did not combine it with faith; they did not mix it with faith.

Now we are told this because the word of God has come to us as well, just as it came to them. In fact, His word has kept coming to us, showing us how to live, walk and please God. But is this word of any value to us? Is this word producing in us the results God wants it to produce in our lives?

The word of God will not produce in us the results God wants it to produce in our lives, if we do not combine it with faith or accept it in faith. We have to see His word as He sees it. We have to take His word as He takes it. Whatever He says to us about Himself is what we must accept as the reality. Whatever He says to us about ourselves is what we must accept as the reality. Whatever He says to us about life is what we must accept as the reality about it. We must accept anything He says to us about anything as the reality, the only truth we are to act on. Otherwise, what He says to us will be of no value to us.

My prayer for you today, then, is that the word of God coming to you will always be of value to you, changing your life and fulfilling His good purpose in it. Amen.

Have a lovely day.

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“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20NIV)

If two or three people come together in the name of Jesus, as we see in our opening text, He is there with them. In like manner, if more people come together in His name, He is there with them. That is not to say that He is not with each of us individually as we go about life. He is with us all by His Spirit, living in us and working in us and through us.

But when we come together as a family and to do things that are in the interest of the family, the family of God, He is there with us also to fellowship with us. He is there with us as the head of the family. He is watching us. Not only is He watching us, He is also fully participating in all that we are doing. He is there to comfort us, refresh us, heal us – He is there to minister to us. And He will be ministering to us in such meetings in ways that He may not minister to us individually.

See, believers’ meetings are family meetings. And the Lord Jesus is in each one of them as the head of this family to fully participate in whatever we are doing and to see to it that every one of us in the meeting is ministered to, according to his need. Then His power is also present with us in all our meetings, as Paul would have us understand in his letter to the Corinthians (1Corinthians 5:4). That means His power is always available in our meetings for us to take advantage of in changing our lives’ situations, for our healing, for our comfort, for our restoration and so forth.

So, every child of God must understand that church meetings are not a necessary evil; rather, they are meetings held in the interest of the family. And all of us must take them very seriously.

Have a blessed day.

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“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19NIV)

The prayer in our opening text is a very familiar one. And it was first offered by Paul in his letter to the Philippian church. And why did he offer it for them? It was because they made him very happy through the gifts they had sent to him. As he pointed out in his letter to them, he was not expressing his happiness because he could not do without their gifts. He could do without them. That was because he was a man that had been taught by God to be able to thrive in any circumstance, whether he had plenty or little. (Cf. Phil 4:10-13)

So, even if none of the people God had used him to establish in the truth of Jesus would support him, he would still be fine. God would surely see to it that he was fine. Remember that God once used ravens, unclean birds, to bring His servant Elijah food, morning and evening, during a time of famine, a time when nobody had time to think about him. In like manner, He is able to take care of all His servants who put their trust in Him, whether people care for them or not. (Cf. 1Kings 17:2-6)

However, as Paul also notes in his letter to these Philippians, it is for their benefit to share good things with him from their possessions. Why? First, by doing so, they will be fulfilling the will of God for their lives. God has ordered that those who preach the gospel should live from doing so. Therefore, anyone sharing from their ministries and being blessed through it must also share in their needs. (Cf. Luke 10:5-7; Phili 4:14; 1Cor 9:14; Gal 6:6)

Then, as Paul further points out to these brethren, by sharing our possessions with those ministering to us in the word of God, we will be crediting our eternal accounts with God. So, even though it is men we are giving to, if we do so generously and without grumbling, God Himself will take our gifts as fragrant offerings and sacrifices that are pleasing and acceptable to Him. And once He receives our gifts in this manner, we can be sure that He will reward us for them at the appropriate time and in appropriate ways. (Cf. Gal 6:6-10; 2Cor 9:6-8; Phil 4:18-19)

Besides all this, when we fulfil God’s will for us by giving to those ministering to us, we will not only cause them to overflow with thanksgiving to God for us, we will also move them to wholeheartedly offer prayers for our good, just as Paul does for those Philippians in his letter to them. And who knows what tremendous impact those prayers could have on our lives? (Cf. 2Cor 9:12-14)

If you, then, have not been devoted to sharing good things with the ministers God is using for you, you are not walking fully in the will of God for you and are also cheating yourself of many things that could have been yours. So, wake your heart up to take this matter seriously. Determine how you are going to consistently support them with your resources according to how God has blessed you financially. And may God strengthen you to excel in doing so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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“I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring." (Gen 21:13NIV)

Who said these words? God! Who did He say them to? Abraham! Why did He say them to him? It was because he was distressed by Sarah’s demand that Hagar and her son Ishmael be sent away from their household.

As the account goes, Sarah had seen Ishmael mocking her son Isaac while a feast was being held in his honour on the day that he was weaned. What prompted him to do that? We would not know. But what he did that day gave Sarah reasons to think that he would one day become a problem for her son Isaac. And since her son Isaac, though far younger than Ishmael, was the true heir of Abraham, she decided that the only way to protect him and his inheritance was for them to send Hagar and her illegitimate son, Ishmael, away. (Cf. Gen 21:6-10)

Now this matter bothered Abraham greatly, and rightly so. That was because Ishmael was his firstborn child. And he loved him. Then I am sure Abraham, being a god-fearing man, did not want it look like they used and dumped Hagar. But the truth is that Ishmael brought that situation on himself. He was not mindful of the fact that his status in Abraham’s house changed the very day Isaac was born to Sarah. He was relegated to the position of a servant that day. As such, he did not have in that house the standing of one who could mock a legitimate son of the house and get away with it.

There is, of course, a lesson for us in that. And it is that we should always be mindful of our status wherever we are. Otherwise, we may find ourselves doing things we have no standing to do and getting ourselves into avoidable troubles. There are, for instance, people that have been sent away from their workplaces just for hissing or winking at the wrong persons. So, always be conscious of your standing where you are before you let yourself loose to do something you may forever regret.

In any case, Sarah was firm about the fact that Ishmael and her mother must go. And as if to make the matter worse, God was on her side. God told Abraham that he just had to let Hagar and her son go. That was because He had no use for them in fulfilling His good purpose for Abraham and his household.

However, to let Abraham know that He was not callous and would never support injustice or wickedness, God told him that He was going to make Ishmael great too. Why? Was it because Ishmael was a pretty boy? No! A pretty face is never enough for God to make someone great. Otherwise, Absalom would have been God’s choice and not Solomon.

Then maybe it was because Ishamel was a very smart boy that God told Abraham that He would make him into a great nation. Not at all. The fact that he allowed himself to be caught mocking Isaac showed that he was not really smart.

Why, then, was God going to make him great? As we see in our opening bible text, it was because of Abraham. In other words, the greatness Ishmael was going to experience and enjoy was not something he worked for or merited. Rather, it was a gift coming to him because of his father’s relationship with God.

In like manner, like Ishmael, there are many today that are enjoying certain measure of goodness and greatness in life because of certain people in their lives and not because of anything they have in themselves. On the other hand, we also have people that are suffering in some ways in life because of the relationships they have with certain people and not because they themselves are evil or wicked. And what this is telling us that we need to watch how we live before God and before men.

See, the kind of relationship we build with God and also with men can go a long way in defining the quality of life that our children, family members, friends or anyone close to us will enjoy. Because of us, God or men may give the people in our lives certain experiences of favour and goodness that could have gone to others. And because of us as well, certain doors of favour and greatness may be shut against those who are related to us or close to us.

Which will it be, then? Will God and men be opening doors of favour, goodness and promotion to the people in our lives because of us or will they be shutting these doors against them because of us? Everything hangs on the kind of relationships we are currently building with God and men. My prayer is that you will be enabled by God Himself to share with Him and others in your world wonderful and meaningful relationships that will continually open great doors of enjoyment for all the people connected to you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Cheers!

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“When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them.” (Luke 7:1-6NIV)

From what we see in Scriptures, through faith in Christ Jesus, anyone can approach God with freedom and confidence to ask Him for whatever He wants. And as long as what the person is asking for is in agreement with His will, He will answer and even do for the person much more than their minds can imagine or fathom. So, inasmuch as you believe in the Lord Jesus, never hesitate to ask God for anything you need. That is because He will freely and generously answer you, not because of your holiness or righteousness but because of what His Son Jesus has done for us. (Cf. Eph 3:12; Heb 4:14-16; 1John 5:14)

But then, even though any of us may freely approach God through Christ Jesus for anything we need and expect Him to answer us, there are times that it is others that will move Him to do certain things for us. And why will they move Him to do things for us or on our behalf? Our generosity or kindness is one of those reasons others will stand before God on our behalf, so that He may do certain things for us, things that we ourselves are probably not bold or strong enough to ask for.

For instance, in our opening bible text, we are told of a servant of a centurion who was sick to the point of death. Now even if this man knew God, he was most likely too weak at that time to call upon Him for healing or to look for someone like Jesus to heal him. However, because his master highly valued him, he went to meet some of the elders of the Jews to meet Jesus on his behalf for his healing. So, it was that man’s usefulness to his master that opened the door of healing for him on that occasion. Otherwise, he may have died before his time.

In like manner, even though this sick man’s master really wanted him to be healed and knew that Jesus could heal him, he did not have sufficient boldness to approach Him for help. That was most likely because he was not a Jew but a Roman. However, some elders of the Jews who were close to Jesus were willing to approach Him on his behalf and even plead with Him to heal his servant. Why? It was because of the man’s generosity.

As we see in the account, when these elders approached Jesus on behalf of the man, they told Him that the man deserved to get His attention. And their reason was that he loved their nation and had built them a synagogue as a testimony to his love for them. Now, of course, they spoke like that because they did not understand that God does not do things for people because they deserve them but because of His mercy. However, the Lord honoured them and followed them to go and heal the man’s servant because the man was good enough to have people intercede for him where he had no courage to speak for himself.

We have a similar case in the bible story of a Christian lady called Dorcas. She was such a good and generous woman that when she died, her brethren in Joppa had to send for Peter, who was at the time in a nearby town called Lydda, to come and pray for her restoration. And did God restore her or not? He did. Why? It was because some people moved Him to restore her. (Cf. Acts 9:36-43)

Now was there anything Dorcas could have done to bring herself back to life on that occasion? I doubt if there was any. We would not know what sort of discussion she was already having with Jesus about her untimely death at the time. We would not know whether she was asking Him to send her back or to just allow her to stay. Whatever the case may be, we do know that her brethren did not think her job of generosity was finished among them. So, when they saw that their own faith could not bring her back, they went for Peter’s faith. And it worked and made God send her back.

What is the point of all this? It is that our kindness and generosity to people, especially God’s people and ministers, can inspire them to go out of their way to offer prayers to God on our behalf, where we are too weak, busy, timid or ignorant to pray for ourselves. And will God answer such heartfelt prayers or not? He will. (Cf. 2Cor 9:12-14)

So, don’t be wanting in kindness and generosity. That is because these things may be what God will use one day to raise up helpers for you where you are too weak, feeble, afraid, ashamed or distressed to stand up for yourself.

Have a lovely day.

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“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19NIV)

As we see in our opening text, Paul is not asking God to meet the needs of the brethren in Philippi according to what they need or want. Also, he is not asking Him to meet their needs according to their labour or what they give to others. Rather, he is asking Him to meet their needs according to His wealth in Christ Jesus.

Now, of course, God can meet people’s needs according to their needs. But if He meets only their needs, will they be able to support others in any serious way? Not likely! Also, God can meet people’s needs according to their labour. But will what He gives them through their labour be sufficient to take care of them and those they are responsible for? Not likely!

Then if God has to give to us according to the degree of our generosity, how many of us will receive anything tangible from Him? There are some of us that have remained ever stingy to God, to His servants and to the people around us, even though we have heard all kinds of sermons on the need for us to be generous in order for certain blessings of God in our lives to freely flow. And if God has to consider this in supplying our needs, will what we will be receiving from Him be enough to make us happy? I don’t think so.

There are many today that are unhappy with God and with what they are receiving from Him because they believe they deserve more than He is giving to them. These ones are wondering why those who are not as intelligent as they are, who do not work as hard as they work, who do not pray as hard as they do and who are probably as not as generous as they are could be receiving more from God than them. They think it to be unfair. And this is affecting their devotion to Him.

But is God really being unfair to them? No! If you want God to provide for you according to your labour, prayerfulness and generosity, He will do so, unless He just decides to show you mercy. And if He does so, you yourself will see that your works can never be enough to enjoy His best. This is one of the things the Lord Jesus teaches us through the parable of a farmer that went out one day to hire workers to work in his vineyard. (Cf. Matt 20:1-15)

Now, as the story goes, the first set of people this man hired that day told him what they would want him to pay them for a day’s job. And he agreed. But after they had started working, the man realised that they were not enough to finish the job for the day. So, he kept on going out till the evening of that same day to bring in more people to work for him. However, he made no agreement with those he brought in later concerning what he would pay them. He only told them that he was going to pay them whatever was fair.

Well, when it was time for this man to pay everyone who worked for him that day, he told his foreman to pay all of them the same amount, beginning with those who were hired last and on to the first. This, of course, led those who were hired first, who had thought that they would be paid more, to protest that the man was being unfair. But he told them that he was not unfair to them at all and that he paid them based on what they agreed to collect from him, while he paid others based on his generosity.

What is the point? It is that while it is important for us to be devoted to serving God, praying to Him, giving for His work and to others and also working diligently, we should never seek to receive from Him based on what we are doing or have done. Instead, we should always seek to receive from Him based on His generosity. That is because it is only that which He supplies us based on His generosity that will satisfy us and make us truly happy. And I pray that we will be strengthened to learn this truth fast and begin to daily apply it in our lives, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a great day.

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“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-14NIV)

As we see in our opening text, God wants us to be ready for the day of evil, which may appear in various ways. He tells us to be ready to take our stand against the devil and his schemes. How? It is by putting on His full armour.

Now who must put on the full armour of God? I must put it on. You must put it on. Everyone in our homes must put it on. Even our children must be taught to put it on. Why? It is so that all of us will have sufficient spiritual strength to support ourselves in walking in victory over whatever Satan throws at us.

But if any of us will not put on the whole armour of God, that person, then, may just be the weak link in the family. Job’s wife was the weak link in their marriage. So, after all that Satan has done to them, he was still able to find her as a tool to use to make things worse for them. And if Job had not been steadfast in his faith, Satan would have succeeded in using her to ruin whatever was left of their faith and life. (Cf. Job 2:7-10)

So, you must be a contributor to faith in your home, not a destroyer of faith. Yes, you must be a contributor to victory over life challenges in your home and not an accessory to the devil. And you cannot be on the fence here. If you are not contributing to victory and success in your home, you are contributing to the failure and destruction of that home. It is as simple as that.

My prayer, then, is that God will equip you with everything you need to be a contributor to faith in your home and not a destroy of it. That way, your home will always stand strong and victorious in the face of satanic attacks.

Have a lovely day.

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“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Eccl 2:24-26NIV)

Did you see that? Satisfaction is a gift of God. Even where it comes to eating and drinking, without God, it cannot make sense. In other words, if God does not make the food and the drink we are taking satisfying, they will not satisfy us.

How many times have you prepared your meals yourself and still found them unsatisfactory in your mouth or belly? And how many times have you spent your own money to buy things for yourself, only to realize they did not give you the kind of satisfaction or happiness you thought you would get from having them?

Yet someone else may take that meal that is unsatisfactory to you and eat in a most enjoyable manner or take that dress that you would not use, wear it and appear like the prince or queen of the universe in it. What is that telling you? Things in themselves don’t satisfy. It is God that makes them satisfying.

In like manner, people in themselves don’t satisfy. It is God who makes them satisfying. It is God makes us happy with people. This is why we must never seek to extract satisfaction from anybody; instead, we are to seek our satisfaction in God. Otherwise, we will never be satisfied with anything or anyone in life, even if that person is the loveliest person in life. That, of course, can only result in frustration for us.

Now prayer is that you will never again be frustrated in life. But you too must stop seeking satisfaction in people or things. Instead, seek it only in God. And you will be abundantly satisfied.

Have a pleasant day.

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God, as we see in Scriptures, is the source of everything we have. So, we should always be grateful to Him. And one of the ways to show that we recognise that He is the source of everything we have and that we are grateful to Him is by being generous to Him.

But how do we show God generosity? At least, we know that God is a Spirit. So, He cannot eat our food, drink our wine, wear our gorgeous dresses or live in any of our fancy houses. He Himself has said these things to us:

“I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.” (Ps 50:9-12NIV)

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?' (Acts 7:49-50NIV)

So, you can see that when we are talking about being generous to God, there is nothing of this earth that we can give to Him that is already His. But by giving to men, either to promote the work of God that they are doing or to make life easier for them, we show our generosity to God.

For instance, we are told this in the bible:

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Heb 6:10NIV)

Did you see that? How do we show God love? It is not just by singing to Him and telling Him that we love Him, neither is just by living in righteousness. We show Him our love also by being generous and kind to others. That means true generosity to God is generosity to man. And it also means true generosity to man is generosity to God.

Anyone, then, that is generous to man will have no difficult being generous to God. Check out people who are generous to their family members, colleagues at work, neighbours or church members, and you will see that they won’t have issues giving to God’s servants or for the work of the gospel. But those who are stingy to those around them are also bound to be stingy towards God.

Are you, then, stingy to Him or generous to Him? Whatever your answer may be, just know that those who are generous to Him will not fail to have their rewards from Him.

Have a pleasant day.

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My prayer for you today is that God will put His sweetness back into everything in your life that the devil has polluted with bitterness, so that it will be useful for your enjoyment and also for His glory. Amen.

As we see in the bible, after the children of Israel had witnessed the destruction of the armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, they first travelled in the desert for three full days without finding water. Then, when they came to a place called Marah, and they were about to start rejoicing that water was there, their rejoicing was cut short because the water they found there was bitter and could not be drunk. (Cf. Ex 15:22-23)

Now why was the water in Marah bitter? We are not told. But it is clear that God was not the one that made it bitter, for everything God created in the beginning was good (1Tim 4:4). So, something must have happened to that water at some point that introduced bitterness into it. And this is showing us that the fact that God has provided us with something good does not mean that bitterness cannot enter it. Bitterness can enter it through Satan or man’s activities. That is why we must always be prayerful and watchful so that we will not permit bitterness to spoil any good thing God has given to us.

Well, because the water the Israelites found in Marah was bitter, they grew impatient and began to insult Moses for bringing them out of Egypt to perish in the desert. But just three days before that time, these same people had witnessed God’s mighty hand for their deliverance from years of slavery in the land of Egypt. They had seen how He made a road for them through the Red Sea and also destroyed their enemies that were after their lives in the waters of that sea. Why, then, did they not think that handling the bitter water of Marah was not going to be a problem for Him? They did not think that way because they were only concerned about their comfort; they were not concerned about nurturing their relationship with Him. (Cf. Ex 15:23)

Sadly, there are still many of God’s people in the world today that are like those children of Israel. They too are only concerned about what God can do to comfort and lift them up in life. They are not concerned about having a meaningful relationship with Him. So, any time they are faced with a new problem, they will totally forget about all the good things God has done for them in the past and begin to complain that He does not care at all about them or that certain people in their lives are not doing enough for them.

Now why do people act like that? It is because they think that if God is with someone and also cares about the person, He will not allow even a fly to touch the person. But there is nowhere we are told in the word of God that we will not face challenges in life because God is with us or because He loves us. God loved Jesus very much when He was in this world and was also with Him all the time. Yet that did not stop Him from facing all kinds of challenges, including death. And did He complain because of that? No! Why did He not complain? He did not complain because He knew that God, who loved Him and was always with Him, would give Him victory over all those challenges. And did He give Him victory over them or not? He did.

In like manner, regardless of the challenges we are faced with in life, we must never forget that God is with us and will give us victory over them all because of His love for us. So, instead of grumbling against Him or accusing our spiritual leaders of not praying enough for us, we should turn to Him in prayers for the way of victory. And He will answer us.

As we see in the case of those children of Israel, when they began to grumble against Moses and God, Moses did not join them. Instead, he turned to God for the solution to the problem at hand. Look at how the bible puts that:

“Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet…” (Ex 15:25NIV)

Did you see that? It was the man that cried to God that He revealed the solution to. He showed him how to heal the water in Marah of its bitterness. And when he did what God had told him, the water was healed and became fit for the people to drink.

So, God can show us how to heal everything we have that has been ruined for us by the bitterness in it. All we need is to cry out to Him for His revelations on what to do. And He will answer us. Then the bitterness we are experiencing in using His provisions for us will be replaced with sweetness. Will you, then, begin to talk to Him about those things in your life that have been ruined with bitterness?

Have a great day.

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“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generation, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21NIV)

What are we told here in our opening bible text? It is that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask for or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us. God is able to surpass our expectations. Because He is able to surpass our expectations, we should be motivated to pray. And we have all kinds of examples in the Scriptures that show us this. For instance, when Hezekiah prayed to God about the threats of Sennacherib, he did not know exactly how God would fix the problem. He prayed, anyway. And when God answered his prayer, the answer surpassed his expectations.

How? That same night that Hezekiah prayed, God sent an angel into the camp of the Assyrians that killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers. And when the survivors woke up, they saw dead bodies all around them. So, Sennacherib broke camp and went back to his own country. And while he was offering a sacrifice to his god, two of his sons cut him down. That, of course, was why the threat he posed to the nation of Judah was completely eliminated. Now who could have thought that God was going act like that? That was beyond anybody’s expectation. (Cf. 2Kings 18-19)

Also, when Prophet Isaiah came to tell Hezekiah that he should put his house in order and that he was not going to survive his illness, he turned to God in prayer immediately. And did God answer his prayer or not? He did. But what motivated him to pray? First, the fact that God answers prayer must have motivated him to pray. Second, the fact God had promised His people a full life span must also have motivated him to pray.

Well, when God was going to answer his prayer, he surpassed his expectations. He told him that He had answered his prayer and that he would live and not die. But then, God did not say, “Okay, now you will have three years to put your house in order.” Instead, God said, “I am giving you fifteen more years.” That was beyond anyone’s expectations. (Cf. 2Kings 20)

What about Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi? They had been beaten and injured. Yet that night they began to pray and to sing to God. And what did God do, when He was going to answer their prayer? He poured down His power on the whole prison house. And that shook it and flung the prison gates opened. Also, the chains on all the prisoners came loose. Not only that, God used the situation to save the lives of the jailer and his entire household. And who could have thought God was going to answer their prayer in that manner? (Cf. Acts 16)

Personally, I do not think that Paul and Silas’ prayer that night, whatever their prayer must have been about, included the salvation of the jailer and his household. I also do not think it included the shaking of the entire prison house in the manner that they witnessed it. Yet God surpassed their expectations. And He always does that when we pray. He is always answering us in the superlative, doing for us more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work in us.

So, be motivated to pray because God answers prayers, because prayer works. Be motivated to pray because God Himself has invited us to pray to Him. Be motivated to pray because God can be trusted to fulfil His will and promises in our lives. And be motivated to pray because God is always able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.

Have a blessed day.

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“When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David's two wives had been captured — Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.” (1Sam 30:3-6NIV)

Life is full of challenges. Even the word of God confirms that. How we respond to these challenges, however, is very important. That is because it will go a long way in determining whether we walk in victory over them or not.

As we see in our opening bible text, there was a day in David’s life that he and his men were confronted with a situation that made all of them weep until they had no strength in them again to weep. And what really happened what that they had left their wives and children in a place called Ziklag, as they went about fighting as mercenaries for one of the kings of the Philistines. But when war broke out again between the Philistines and the Israelites, the other kings of the Philistines insisted that David must leave them. That was because they were not sure that he would truly fight on their side. (Cf. 1Sam 29)

So, David and his men left them and returned to their families at Ziklag. Unfortunately, when they got there, they realised that the place had been burnt down by Amalekite raiders and that all their wives, sons and daughters had been taken away as captives. Where would they start from? How would they have their families back? What about their possessions, even though they did not have much? How would they have them back?

Now, as the bible points out, all these men who were with David and their families were merely struggling to survive at the time. Most of them had come to him because they were in debt, distressed or discontented. So, we are looking at people who ran away from home and joined David in order to have better lives. And they had thought that they were going to have such lives until that day, when they came back to Ziklag and realised that their families and every other thing they have fought and bled to have had disappeared. You can, then, see why they all took to weeping until they became exhausted.

However, when they were done weeping, they realised that it had not solved their problem at all. Yes, they had wept much. But it had not brought back their wives, sons, daughters and properties. It had only left them exhausted. And that was when they began to point accusing fingers at David and to blame him for their terrible loss. In fact, the situation was so bad that they began to talk about stoning him. But would stoning or killing David at that time solve their problem or bring back their families and possessions? No!

In like manner, when we are faced with any challenge, regardless of how great or small it may seem to us, we need to face the fact about what our reactions or response to it will accomplish or not accomplish. Is it wrong to cry or weep because of a situation in which we have found ourselves? No! There are situations in which we may need to cry or weep and let out some air. Even Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. And the apostles of old also tell us to weep with those who are weeping. (Cf. John 11:35; Rom 12:15)

So, it is not wrong to weep on some occasions. However, we must also know that our weeping won’t solve whatever problems we are confronted with. On the contrary, as in the case of David and his men, it may lead to exhaustion for us or drive us to find people to blame for what we are experiencing. And when are trading blames or pointing accusing fingers at others because of our problems, we are not solving them at all. Instead, we are just making them worse by ruining others’ reputations or our relationships with them.

What, then, do we need to do about any challenge we are faced with apart from weeping over it and instead of blaming others for it? We are to do what David did. What did he do? The account says, “But David found strength in the LORD his God.” Remember that he too experienced what his men experienced. He too lost his wives and children to those raiders who had come for them. And he too had wept to exhaustion like the rest of his men.

However, instead of blaming himself for his bad decisions that led to what had happened or arguing with his men for accusing him for their losses, he turned to the Lord for the strength he needed to deal with the situation. That means he responded differently, even though he was confronted with the same situation. And because he responded differently, he was able to hear God on what to do to solve the problem. Interestingly, when they all eventually acted on God’s word, they not only recovered their families but also came back rich. That means the bad occurrence they had witnessed was turned around for their good. (Cf. 1Sam 30:6-31)

So, regardless of what challenge we are faced with or what degree of distress we are confronted with, we must choose to turn to the Lord by meditating on His word and praying. That is because He is able to turn what is meant to harm or hurt us around for our good. Yes, we know that things are really tough everywhere in our country right now. And many people are distressed and depressed as well, pointing accusing fingers here and there. But all of that will not change anything.

Therefore, we must choose to react and respond differently. We must choose to rely on God absolutely to teach us what to do to thrive and to turn around all this ugliness we see in our country for our good. And just as He did in David’s case, He will surely move on our behalf and see to it that we arrive at the other side stronger, wiser and richer.

Have a splendid day.

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“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.”” (Jeremiah 23:16NIV)

God, here in our opening text, is saying do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you. Evidently, He is not saying that all prophets are false and should not be listened to. If that is what He is saying, then, even Jeremiah who said these words should not be listened to at all.

However, what God is saying is that certain prophets that are prophesying to the people of Judah and misleading them should not be listened to. Why? Their visions are from their own imaginations and not from the mouth of the Lord. Therefore, God says do not listen to them.

In 2Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 20, King Jehoshaphat tells the people of Judah to have faith in God in order to be established and to have faith in His prophets in order to prosper. So, it is in line with the will of God to trust His prophets. However, we are to follow a prophet only to the degree that he is consistent with the will of God. That means we are not to follow just any prophet that comes our way.

Our Lord Jesus also warns us against false prophets. He says that they come to us as wolves in sheep’s clothing. And He tells us to be on our guard against them. (Cf. Matthew 7:15)

Well, God further says this to us from verse 21 of Jeremiah 23:

“I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:21-22NIV)

Can you now see that it is not every prophet that is sent by God? That being the case, it is not every prophecy that is of God. And how do you know that a prophecy is not of God? Inasmuch as it is not consistent with what we have in Scriptures, it is not of God.

You can actually find yourself in a place where all kinds of people are prophesying and you cannot even tell who is who. What you need to do in that kind of situation is to give yourself to the word of God. This, however, does not mean that we should despise prophecy or see every prophet as false. The word of God does not tell us to do that. Instead, it tells us to test everything and hold on to what is true. (Cf. 1Thessalonians 5:20-22)

How, then, do we test prophecy? It is by checking out its consistency with what we have in Scriptures. Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 14 that if anyone prophesies in the church, his prophecy should be weighed carefully. What do we use in weighing it? It is the Scriptures.

Now there is nowhere we are told in Scriptures to accept any prophecy as of God. Also, we are not told in them to accept people’s prophecies on the basis of their reputation. Sadly, many in the church think that once someone has a reputation for being a prophet, they must listen to everything he says. But they don’t have to. If what the person says is not consistent with the body of truth we have in Scriptures, then, it is to be rejected. It is as simple as that.

So, don’t let anyone mislead you with a prophecy that is not in line with the will of God. That will be wisdom for you.

Have a great day.

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