HIDDEN FOR A PERIOD

MEMORY VERSE: And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.( Matthew 2:13).

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Second Corinthians 4-8

The Lord protects His children in different ways. He can destroy their enemies. In Second Kings 18, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, plotted to take the children of Judah captive. To protect the children of Judah, His children, the Lord sent an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian army (Second Kings 19:35). When Sennacherib woke up the next morning and saw the dead bodies of his men, he abandoned his plans and returned home with the remaining soldiers. Asides sending an angel, He can cause the enemies of His children to fight each other and destroy themselves. In Second Chronicles 20, the enemies of Judah, the Ammonites, the Moabites and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, fought each other and killed themselves. To protect His children, He can put their dread/fear in the heart of their (potential) enemies. He told Moses: “This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. (Deuteronomy 2:25)”. To protect His children, He can cause their enemies to live at peace with them. Proverbs 16:7 says, “When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

Better still, He can hide His children from their enemies. For instance, after Elijah, the Tishbite, prophesied against the land of Israel because of their idol worship, the Lord hid him, from the wicked King Ahab, by brook Cherith (First Kings 17:3). When Esau wanted to kill Jacob, his brother, the Lord hid Jacob at Laban's place (Genesis 27). When Herod sought to kill baby Jesus, God hid Him in Egypt. Matthew 2:13 says, “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” Friend, is God trying to hide you? If the One who will protect you asks you to hide, you had better hide as commanded. Do not play James Bond with your life. Except God hides you, you will be putting your life at risk trying to hide yourself. Urijah, a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, tried to hide himself (Jeremiah 26:20-24). His enemy, Jehoiakim the king, sent men to Egypt to fetch him out and kill him. The reason why you keep running from place to place, to hide from household enemy, and yet, they keep getting you is because you are using your wisdom to hide yourself. Friend, why not run to Jesus today. As you sit for those exams, ask the Lord to hide your exam papers from wicked examiners. As you apply for that visa or permit, ask the Lord to hide your application form from racist immigration officers. As you put in your application, maybe for a job or mortgage, ask the Lord to hide your application forms from wicked HR officers and assessment officers. Daily, ask the Lord to hide you from wicked men, bag snatchers, thieves, kidnappers, reckless drivers, people looking for whom to stab or shoot, etc.

NOTE: Except He hides you, no one can hide you.

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

WHAT TO DO WHILE WAITING

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Gen 27, Matt 26, Esth 3, Acts 26

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

There is always a waiting period between a promise and the fulfillment of the promise; planting and reaping; service and rewards; conception and delivery. There is a waiting period for everything. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says to everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven. This waiting period varies. The gestation period (conception to delivery) varies between living things. The gestation period of a woman is nine months / forty weeks while for an elephant is twenty months /eighty-eight weeks. The gestation period of a rat is between twenty-one and twenty and three days. The period between planting and reaping also varies with crops. To harvest a corn one needs to wait between two and three months; for rice it takes between three and six months and for yam it is between three and four months. This principle also applies in sowing and reaping.The waiting period between a promise and its fulfillment varies. Abraham waited for twenty-five years for the promise of a son to be fulfilled. Joseph waited for over thirteen years before his dream finally came to reality.

While waiting patience is required. Proverbs 16:32 says he that is slow to anger (i.e. patient) is better than the mighty. The lack of patience during the waiting period leads to disaster. Any attempt by a pregnant woman to give birth before her due time will result in either death or loss of the pregnancy. Abraham’s impatience led to the birth of Ishmael; at last he lost Ishmael because Sarah forced him to send him away. What an individual does during his waiting period goes a long way in deciding whether the promise will be fulfilled or not; whether there will be reaping or not ; whether there will be rewards or not. What an individual does during his waiting period plays a big role and it decides the end.During gestation period , the doctor advises that the women should eat well and exercise. While waiting we are in our gestation period ; we are pregnant with breakthroughs , bundles of joy e.t.c .During this period we are expected to feed on the word of God more and engage in spiritual exercises like fasting and praying.Not only that , she is advised to run away from certain things like cigarette and alcohol. Whilst waiting we are required to run from sin because it aborts our pregnancy.The woman is also advised to try and be active not just sit down all day and watch TV.During this time , instead of doing nothing lets get to work. In Genesis 26:1-16 God told Isaac to dwell in the land that He will bless him. Instead of Isaac to sit and wait for God’s blessing, he went to work and the bible records that he sowed in the land in the same year and reaped a hundred fold. Proverbs 14:23 says in all labor there is profit. During gestation period, the pregnant woman attends ante-natal to prepare her. Whilst waiting we also need to prepare ourselves.This preparation can be in the form of adding value to our lives through education or attending seminars.

ACTION WORD: Whilst waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise, start working; start adding value to yourself through education.