SPIRIT OF FEAR

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ex 8, Luke 11, Job 25-26, 1 Cor 12

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

From our memory verse we conclude fear is a spirit. Faith is also a spirit. The difference between fear and faith is that fear is of devil and faith is of God. According to Hebrews 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God. Fear is like a thief. John 10:10 says the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Fear also steals, kills and destroys.  It can either rob one of his or her peace; cause one to worry unnecessarily which might lead to the development of some terrible disease or cause one to take an irrational decision one might live to regret for life. Fear at times could lead to impatience and the price of impatience is very costly. Impatient people always live to regret their impatience. Faith on the other hand leads to peace and life.

God is not a God of fear but of faith. He does not put fear in people’s heart. God never comes with a message of fear but of courage and faith. In Acts 27:8-24, a tempestuous wind called Euroclydon rose against the ship Paul was sailing in. This wind tossed the ship everywhere; for fourteen days they neither saw the sun nor the stars. As terrible as the situation was, the first thing the angel of the Lord said when he appeared was fear not Paul. When the children of Israel found themselves in trouble and began to fear for their future, the Lord sent his word through His prophet telling them fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness, Isaiah 41:10. When you search through the Holy Scriptures, most of the time when God sends an angel or messenger to people, they will always start with ‘fear not’. While Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, angel Gabriel appeared to him and he was very troubled. The first thing angel Gabriel said to him was fear not Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard, Luke 1:12-13. When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant with child of the Holy Ghost, he was scared and he began to consider putting her away privily. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in the dream and said ‘fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, Matthew 1:18-20. The bible says for God hath not giving us the spirit of fear but of love and sound mind. If there is any one giving you messages of fear, be wary of them. Any prophesies or messages that bring fear rebuke them because it is not of the Lord. Most of the time people use messages of fear to con you out of money. They ask you to bring money so that they can pray or fast for you to prevent something terrible from happening to you. Fear indicates the absence of love and anywhere love is missing, God is missing because God is love, 1 John 4:8. As you begin this week, do not allow fear in your heart. Do not give room to the spirit of fear. Do not entertain fear thoughts – thoughts that something terrible will happen to you; thoughts that you will not get what you want; thoughts that you will fail or suffer shame e.t.c. All these thoughts are from the devil.

KEY WORD: Fear is of the devil. In the presence of God, there is fullness of Joy not fear.

I SHALL BE THE HEAD PT4

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ex 4, Luke 7, Job 21, 1 Cor 8

Deuteronomy 28:13 and the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.

The head is the most important part of the body. When the Lord promises to make you the head, what it simply means is you will be the most important person around. It also means you will be indispensible. The tail on the other hand is so useless that the Lord did not even bother giving it to man. Inside the head are two eyes. There is a reason for two eyes. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. If one of the eyes is bad, the other can be used for vision. Another reason is that the second eye can confirm what the first eye has seen .Matthew 18:20 says out of the mouth of two or three the truth shall be established. The head is responsible for vision. According to Proverbs 29:18 where there is no vision, death is imminent.

Also in the head are two ears. There is a reason for two ears but I will touch that later. The ears are very important because Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. What the head hears determines what will happen to the body. What the ear hears determines whether the body will be happy or not. As the head what are you hearing? There are many who are well informed when it comes to news and current affairs. They hear what the doctors have to say; they hear what the economist have to forecast; they hear what the news reporters have to report; they even listen to what the experts have to say about their situation but they have not taken time to check what the word of God is saying. Maybe I should take this opportunity to tell you that no matter what you are going through all will be well. How do I know this? Well the word of God says tell the righteous it shall be well with them,Isaiah 3:10. If you are righteous, be rest assured all will be well. What the head hears also determines the future of the body. How does one get a woman to marry him? It is not by looking at her and smiling. It is by saying things into the woman’s ear. What she hears will inform her decision to either agree or disagree to be your wife. To be head means I will hear the world of God that will increase my faith. It also means I will be hearing what God has to say. Revelations 2:7 says he that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. Even if what God has to say is a rebuke, as the head you should be ready to hear that. Ecclesiastes 7:5 says it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. There is no one living who has no faults. We see the back of head of everyone; we need people to see the back of our heads too. We see the faults of others; we need others to see our faults too. As leaders we should be ready to listen when been corrected.

KEY WORD: I shall be the head simply means I will I hear the word of God that will increase my faith. Not only that I will be ready to hear what God has to say even if it is a rebuke.

IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD

 BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Gen 29, Matt 28, Est 5, Acts 28

Genesis 5:1 this is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God

Genesis 1:26 says then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. Man in the image of God means man has both moral and spiritual nature of God. Animals do not have morals. There are no good lions or bad lions, lions are lions; all lions kill. There are no humble crocodiles or compassionate hyenas . Humans can decide to show mercy but a tiger cannot. John 4:24 says God is a Spirit. Man is a spirit being. He has body, soul and spirit. Animals are not spirit being. Man in the image of God also means man has the characteristic of God. To have the likeness of God simply means to be able to function like God. According to Genesis 5:1 , God made man in the likeness of God which means God made man to be able to function like God. God did not create us to be a failure or victim of circumstances. He created us to have dominion.

God functions by faith. Almost everyone who received a miracle from Jesus got it by faith. He told the blind man in Mark 10:46-52, ‘go your way; your faith has made you whole ‘and the bible records that immediately the man was healed. In Matthew 9:27- 30, Jesus was in a house when some blind men approached him. The men told him we know You can heal us, He touched their eyes and said ‘according to your faith be in unto you’ and immediately they saw. As anointed as Jesus was, when He got to His country the bible records that He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief, Matthew 13:54-58. Faith operates by two things – love and speaking. Galatians 5:6 says for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcised; but faith which works by love. If we are not walking in love, our faith won’t work. The reason why mountains do not move when we tell them to move despite our faith is because we are not working in love. 1 John 4:8 says God is love. It will be impossible to function like God when we are not walking in love. Ephesians 4:31 says let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you , with all malice. These are all opposites of love and once they are present in an individual such an individual will never function like God. Faith also operates by speaking. To function like God one needs to always speak in faith. God speaks in faith. Romans 4:17 says He calls those who are not as though they are. 2 Corinthians 4:13 says we having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak. In John 11:11 Jesus said ‘our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up’. He believed Lazarus was not dead but asleep so He told His disciples that He was going to wake Lazarus up. What God hears you say, is what He will do. Numbers 14:28 says as you have spoken in My hearing, so shall I do.Joel 3:10 says let the weak say 'i am strong' . What God expects to hear from the weak is they are strong. He is expecting you to confess the result you want so that He can say amen!

KEY WORD: To function like God, we need to walk in love and speak faith at all times.

WATCH YOUR EXPECTATIONS

 Gen 17, Matt 16, Neh 6, Acts 16

Proverbs 23:18 for surely there is a future hope; and your expectation shall not be cut off.

Mark 9:23 says everything is possible to them that believe. Belief is a very strong force. With your belief, you can attract anything. The difference between faith and fear is that faith is a strong belief that something positive will happen whilst fear is a strong belief that something negative will happen. When you entertain fear, you are indirectly pulling the negative results towards yourself. This is why fear is bad. Fearful people always proof themselves right; their greatest fear always comes to pass.

There is no one presently alive who has no expectations. You are either expecting something good in life or the opposite. Fear is a negative expectation and faith is positive expectation. This is why the righteous needs to stop fear in its track because whatever they fear, they indirectly expect and the bible assures us that their expectations shall not be cut off. Despite all the measures God put in place to protect Job, he still managed to put himself into trouble because of his fears. Job himself said the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, Job 3:25. Jonathan on the other hand expected victory and he got it. Jonathan and his armourbearer believed that nothing restraints the Lord from saving by many or by few, 1 Samuel 14:4-16. The two went into the camp of the Philistine expecting victory and the bible records that there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. Peter and John asked the lame man at the beautiful to look at them, Acts 3:1-8. This man did not just look at them, the bible records that he looked at them expecting to receive something from them. He looked at them with a positive expectation, guess what? His expectation was not cut off. He left that scene walking on his two legs. What you expect is what you will get. When David faced Goliath, what do you think He expected? I can assure you he was not expecting defeat, 1 Samuel 17:26- 51. From his confession we can deduce that he was expecting to severe the head of Goliath from his body despite the fact that he did not have a sword on him. At the end he severed the head of Goliath from his body with Goliath's sword.Ignore the resources at your disposal and begin to expect things to walk in your favor. Begin to expect good things to come your way in life. Remember your expectation will not be cut off. With your expectation you can make your dreams become a reality.

ACTION POINT: Begin to expect good things to happen to this year.

WALKING BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT

2 Corinthians 5:7 – (for we walk by faith; not by sight)

Contrary to popular belief, seeing is not believing. We cannot see ultraviolet rays, but we know it gives sunburn. We cannot see the wind, but we must have seen it uproot a tree or flatten buildings. We cannot see electricity but we know that it is dangerous to hold a live hot wire. We cannot see carbon monoxide but we know it can kill. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of thins not seen. Faith is a thing of the heart not of the head. Faith is taking God at His word. It is confidence in God’s words and power to turn a situation around.A man that walked by faith with God was Abraham. Despite the age of Sarah and deadness of his body, when the Lord told him that Sarah was going to conceive he believed God. He did not look at what medical science had to say. He did not dwell on the fact that Sarah had not menstruated in over thirty years; he took God’s word for it and he held on it.

2 Corinthians 5:7 admonishes us to walk by faith; not by sight. Why? According to Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please God. Also faith in God is a righteous thing, Galatians 3:6. Another reason why we should not walk by sight is because the things which we see are temporal, but the things which we see not are eternal, 2 Corinthians 4:18. The things we see are challenges and enjoyments. The riches, honors, pleasures, profits e.t.c are temporal and they endure but for a time. So also the pain, sorrow and tears. All that we enjoy, and all that we suffer here are temporal. Every visible thing in this world is temporal but the things which we see not are eternal. God is eternal, the joys and the glories of heaven are eternal. The question today is what are you striving for? Things which are seen or things which are not seen? All your efforts today, are they directed at the things of this world or heaven? Are you currently investing in a property on earth or investing in your heavenly homes and palaces. Whether you believe it or not there are palaces in heaven for everyone winning souls, helping the poor, working for God in one capacity or the other. All your labor of love in your churches are not in vain .For every single thing you do for Jesus, there is a small reward on earth and bigger reward in heaven. Do everything to make it to heaven and not only that put more efforts into whatever you are doing for Jesus today because there is a reward waiting for you. As you labor for the kingdom of God on earth, there are angels building homes for you in heaven.

KEY QUESTION: are you working for the things which are temporal or eternal?

Treading down our enemies

Psalm 60:12 Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

Without God, one will be a laughing stock or a toy in the hands of the enemy. The psalmist says in Psalms 124:1-3, if not for God who had been on our side the enemies would have swallowed us alive. As a matter of fact unless God intervenes there is nothing anyone can do. There is nothing any herbalist, doctor /surgeon, prophet, president or political godfather can do to help us.

There are two categories of enemies. The ones we aware of their existence and the ones we are unaware of their existence. Dealing with the enemies we are aware of their existence is not so difficult, simply take them to God in prayers and that settles it. Dealing with the enemies we are unaware of their existence is almost impossible. How can anyone fight an enemy he or she does not know exist? When we talk of enemies we are unaware of their existence in our lives, we are not talking of witches and wizards. Witches and wizards are small, all you need is just the name of Jesus and they will run. We are talking of enemies within. We are talking of enemies present inside us. An example of such enemy is pride. Many suffering from the spirit of pride do not believe they are proud. Some will even get angry when you suggest it to them. How can such people man fight the spirit of pride in their life? Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction. Many suffering from anger problems do not know they have the problems. By the time they know they are suffering from anger problems it will have been too late, sometimes it is when they start exhibiting the symptoms of hypertension and high blood pressure. Those in the medical professions have advised that intense and unresolved anger is linked to health conditions such as high blood pressure, depression, anxiety and heart disease. So also is the fellow who laziness is destroying his life. Proverbs 10:4 says lazy hands make a man poor. To a lazy fellow he is just resting or chilling, unknown to him he has been idle for hours whereas his colleagues are busy achieving things. The one suffering from loose tongues do not know he or she has that problems. The fellow would have divulged all their life secrets and plans to vision killers without knowing it. Most people with acidic tongue will tell you they only say things as they are or they are been real but unknown to them that careless use of the tongue is dangerous. According to James 3:6, as small as the tongue is, it is able to take a man to hell.

How can we fight an enemy we are unaware of its existence, it is by linking up with God who can see everything and has the power to deliver us from these enemies. Hebrews 4; 13 says before God nothing is hidden. We might be unaware of the existence of the enemies in our life but God is aware of their existence. That was why He was able to warn Cain of the presence of anger he was unaware of its existence in his life in Genesis 4:5-6. Cain did not heed to the advice and his anger brought a curse upon his life.

ACTION POINT: Father, every enemy within secretly destroying my life and my future please bring it to my attention and destroy them today.

Faith Love Hope