Showing posts with label POSSESION. Show all posts
Showing posts with label POSSESION. Show all posts

Wednesday 5 August 2015

WHAT YOU DON’T VALUE,YOU CAN’T HAVE


MEMORY VERSE: There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? Genesis 39:9

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 7-12

Statistics show that the rate of divorce amongst believers is growing. One of the reasons for this is that husbands and wives are not cleaving. The moment a small pressure is applied to the marriage, it falls apart. For a man and woman to cleave properly, something must first happen. Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Unfortunately, what is happening in our cultures, even in our churches, is that only the women are leaving their her fathers and mothers; the men are doing nothing. What happens when a man does not leave his father and mother is that his family (father, mother and siblings) will start to exercise control over his marriage. They will dictate to him how he should run his family and treat his wife. In some cases, the woman will become an errand girl of the man's family. That is not how God ordained marriage to be. We have even seen instances where the husband's siblings will be beating up the wife and the man will say nothing. If a brother is not matured enough to make decisions without his parents then he should remain single. For a man to cleave to his wife, he must also leave his friends, work, ministry, etc. A lot can not cleave because they are married to the ministry and some to their work. Please be aware that your ministry must not come before your family especially your wife.

The reason why some men cannot cleave is because they see it as a weakness to cleave to their wife. The same with some cultures, they see it as a weakness for a man to sit with his wife and make decisions together. Barking instructions at one's wife is not a sign of strength. Some women also consider it a weakness for a woman to submit to her husband. It is not a sign of weakness to submit to one's husband.

It is one thing for God to have good plans for a brother; it is another thing for those good plans to materialize. A brother who God had good plans for was Joseph. The Lord did not make this secret. At a young age, He showed him His plans; his brothers were going to be his subjects (Genesis 37). This boy cherished this plan so much that he ran away from anything that could make God change His mind. Even when the wife of his master tried to have sex with him, he refused. Genesis 39:9 says, “There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” We know the end of the story. He ended up in prison and from there the Lord elevated him to become the prime minister. Jesus also had good plans for Judas Iscariot; He did not hide His plans from Him. He told him he had written his name in heaven (Luke 10:20). He told him He planned that he would reign with Him in heaven (John 14:3). He even told him that he (Judas) and other disciples would sit on the twelve thrones with him and judge the twelve tribes of Israel ( Matthew 19:28). One would have expected this brother to respond like Joseph did. Because this brother did not cherish God’s plan for his life, he began to do everything that will offend his savior. He stole from Jesus several times. At the end, he sold the Master and missed out on God’s plan for his life.

QUESTION: God has a good plan for us and He has not hidden it from us. According to Jeremiah 29:11, He plans to give us an expected end. Are you going to run from everything that could make Him change His mind?

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

Monday 2 June 2014

THE THINGS THAT BELONG TO GOD

MEMORY VERSE: and Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. And they marveled at him, Mark 12:17

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1Kgs 21, 1 Thes 4, Dan 3, Ps 44

The Pharisees hated Jesus with a passion. Some of them loved him but the greater majority would do anything to kill Him. On a particular occasion, they sought to trap in words so they asked Him if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus requested for a penny and they gave it to him. He then asked whose picture and title are stamped on this penny. ‘Caesar’s’, they replied. He told them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s, Mark 12:17.

There are things that belong to God and there are things that belong to Caesar, in other words there are things that belong to God and there are things that belong to men. This begs the question, what are the things that belong to God? Heaven and earth belongs to God, Genesis 14:19. Psalms 24:1 says the earth is the Lord and the fullness there in. Haggai 2:8 says silver and gold belongs to God. According Psalm 75:6-7, no one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. It is only God who judges, He brings one down, and He exalts another. There are many more things that belong to God for example your tithes belongs to God. Nonpayment of tithes is seen as robbing God, Malachi 3:8-12. Not only that, our body belongs to God. According to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 our body is the temple of the living God; therefore we must glorify God in our body.

John 3:27 says a man can receive nothing, except it be given from God. Despite the fact that virtually everything belongs to God, there are one or two things that belongs to us. One of it is our decision. God told the children of Israelite ‘today I am setting before you life and death, choose life so that you may live’, Deuteronomy 30:19. God can guide you towards a decision but He will never make the decision for you. It is true that promotion comes from God, but the decision to work hard is yours. Our words and confession also belongs to us. According to Numbers 14:28, whatever God hears you say is what He will do for you but whatever you say is your prerogative. What you confess is what you will possess. The moment your confession changes, your possession also changes.

ACTION POINT: Decide to succeed and begin to confess success.
Bro Samuel - Reaching the world for Jesus