HANDLING DIVINE PROJECTS

MEMORY VERSE: When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. John 6:5-6

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Chronicles 25-30

BIBLE READING: John 6:5-13

Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.” As such, whenever the Lord wants to do anything on the earth He would use man. Take for instance, when He wanted to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt He used Moses (Exodus 3:10). When the spoilers spoiled them, He raised up judges for them. Judges 2:16 says,” Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.” However, there were instances in the past  where He used angels to carry out some tasks on earth. In 2 Kings 19:35-37, He deployed an angel to destroy 185, 000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. I want you to know that this  is an exceptional circumstance, majority of the time He uses human agents. This is one of the reasons why you must be friendly, respectful and humble. You don’t know who God may want to use for you. 

In John 6:5-6, the Lord physically feed 5000 thousand men not counting women and children with a boy’s lunch (five bread and two fishes). This is an example of a God-given assignment/vision/project/work. John 6:5 says, “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Jesus was saying “I have a project or vision to physically feed these people, how do you think we can go about it?” We learn from this that all God-given vision or project are geared towards solving general human problems or specific human problems. Every task or project Jesus undertook was geared towards meeting human needs. His journey to Gadara was to solve a human problem – deliver a demoniac man (Mark 5:1-19). His coming to earth, another project, was to solve human problem i.e. save man from sin (Matthew 1:21). Every God-given vision or ministry is meant to be an answer or solution to a human need or problem.

Matthew 6:6 says, “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.” Jesus knew how He would finance His project even before talking to Philip. I don’t know what project the Lord has committed into your hands but i want you to know this, before He committed that project into your hands, He already knew how He will fund the project. He has already set aside resources He would use to complete the project. Before the Lord gave you that child, He had already prepared what the child would eat. Before God called you into ministry, He had already arranged how to finance it and meet the needs that will arise. Whenever you share your God-given vision with people, you can expect people like ‘Philip’ to ask how you intend to finish or complete the project (John 6:7). They want to know if you have the resources to finish the project before you start. People like 'Andrew' will ask if you have enough resources to start in a grand way (John 6:8-9). What did Jesus do? He simply started His project with the little He had. He asked for the little bread, gave thanks to God and gave it to people to share. In other words, He prayed and started the God given project. 

NOTE: Sir/Ma, you don’t need to wait until you have all the resources before you start that God-given project. Pray and start with whatever you have and  trust God to complete the project. 

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

HANDLING PROPHECY

MEMORY VERSE: Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. Jeremiah 23:16

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Numbers 1-4

Who is a prophet? A prophet is someone, actually a mature believer, who speaks the mind of God, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The use of the word ‘mature’ is deliberate. The ministry of prophet is listed as one of the offices to be used to bring the church to maturity. A true prophet will speak out against things that are wrong, whether it makes him unpopular or not. He will draw people to God and not himself. The enemy has counterfeits of all the true gifts, and there are plenty of false prophets in the world. A false prophet is a dangerous person, as he will use his supposed authority to gain wrong influence over people, and keep them in bondage to himself through fear. Jeremiah 23:16 says, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.” The deceiving prophet will not warn the people to turn from that which is wrong (Jeremiah 23:17-22), and usually immorality springs up where there is false prophecy. The deceiving prophet or false prophet will never talk about holiness or godliness.

We should be careful of personal, directive prophecy, especially outside the ministry of a mature and submitted man of God. Extreme caution should be used in receiving any alleged directive or predictive prophecy. Please don’t undertake any project simply because you were told to or by presumed prophetic utterances or interpretation of tongues, or by a presumed word of wisdom, or knowledge. Never do something just because a friend comes to you and says: “The Lord told me to tell you to do thus and thus!” If the Lord has instructions for you, He will give you a witness in your own heart, in which case the words coming from a friend, or through the gifts of the Holy Spirit in a meeting, will be confirmation to what God has already shown you. Your guidance must also agree with scripture. 2 Peter 1:19 says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” The save rule is never proceed until you get confirmation. 2 Corinthians 13:1 says, “This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” The written Word of God is our guidebook, which we must study well, and is the test of all spoken words. Note the caution of the prophet Jeremiah. He was told by the Lord to buy a piece of property from his cousin Hanameel. He took no action, however, until his cousin came and offered to sell him the property, having no idea what the Lord had already said to Jeremiah. ‘Then’ said Jeremiah, “I knew it was the word of the Lord”. If the prophet Jeremiah, that great man of God, was so cautious, not even believing his own prophecy until it was confirmed, we should be all the more ( Jeremiah 32:6-9). Prophecy is different from inspired preaching. Although preaching is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but in preaching, the intellect, training, skill, background, and education are involved and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy on the other hand means that the person is bringing the words the Lord gives directly; it is from the spirit, not the intellect.

NOTE: The written Word of God is our guidebook, which we must study well, and it is the test of all spoken words including prophecy.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world