YOU MINISTER TO THE LORD; HE MINISTERS TO YOUR PROBLEMS

MEMORIZE: Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 1:3　

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelations 5-6, Proverbs 17　

There are many lessons to learn from the story in 2 Chronicles 20:1-37. Three mighty nations came together to exterminate the inhabitants of Judah. When Judah heard the news, the Ammonites, Moabites and people of Mount of Seir were on their way, they turned to the Lord in fasting, praying and praises. As they praised God, singing and dancing, the enemy began to kill themselves. Without lifting a finger, the Lord gave them victory over their enemies. It does not matter how big, connected, resourceful, influential your opponent is, once you have God on your side, victory becomes inevitable. Judah was outnumbered. Their enemy had all the military apparatus one could think of; they had all the man power one could wish for, despite all these, Judah still emerged victorious. Also, God never fails those that truly depend on Him. Many claim they depend on God but they have plan B and C just in case. From Jehoshaphat’s prayer, we can deduce that he fully depended on God. 2 Chronicles 20:12 says, "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes　are　upon thee." Take note of this statement: "but our eyes are upon thee." In other words, we have no plan B or Plan C.　

If you forget everything we have shared so far, do not forget this : if you minister to God, He will minister to your problems. When we talk of ministering to God, eye service is not ministering to God. Neither is serving for recognition seen as ministering to God. When we talk of ministering to God, we are talking of serving in spirit and in truth; service that comes from the heart not out of compulsion; spend and ‘be spent’ kind of service. The inhabitants of Judah ministered to God, in prayer, praises and worship, and God ministered to their problems. Verse 19 says, "stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high." I will share a story that will give - I hope - an idea of what ministering to the Lord means. A single sister, around the age of 23 at that time, joined a ministry. From the first day she joined, she made up her mind to serve God and minister to Him in every way possible. She joined virtually all the groups in the church. She was part of the choir, outreach team, prayer warrior, sanctuary keeper, women drama group, church drama group, etc. On Saturdays, her friends, brothers and sisters in the church, would go to parties hoping to meet someone but she would go out with the outreach team to share flyers and tell people about Jesus. To people, she was wasting her life. "Why would a young beautiful girl spend the whole day in church when she should be going out to increase her chance of meeting a man," people thought. Not long after that, a brother joined the choir. Today, they are married with a child. She ministered to God and God ministered to her problem which was loneliness. Zechariah 1:3 says: "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts." Friend, no one turns to God and regrets it because, the moment you turn to Him in repentance or to serve Him, He will turn to you. No one has ever served God genuinely and regretted it.　

QUESTION OF THE DAY: If you were the pastor of your church, will you because of tiredness not attend church service? If you were the pastor of your church, will you because of a misunderstanding between you and your partner refuse to go to church on Sunday? If you were the pastor of your church, will you because of a football match miss church service?　

PRAYER POINT: Father, remember my labor of love.　

twitter@BroOluwatoki　

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

A TIME TO FLEE

MEMORY VERSE: a prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on and are punished, Proverbs 22:3

BIBLE VERSE: Josh 8, Ps 139, Jer 2, Matt 16

The bible teaches that there is a time to flee if you are to achieve your purpose on earth. In Genesis 27:41-45 after Isaac had blessed Jacob, Esau arose and said he was going to kill him; Jacob fled. If he had not fled, Esau would have killed him and all the blessings would have been lost. Immediately after the 3 wise men departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, he told him to take the baby and the mother and run to Egypt because there is a wicked king who wants the baby dead, Matthew 2:12-15. A time to flee is when the Almighty tells you to flee. There is also a time to run to battle. The bible records in 1 Samuel 17:14-51 that David charged at Goliath. In Exodus 5:1 we see Moses who had been running from Pharaoh for 40 years standing before him and demanding that he should let the children of Israel go. 

When you are dealing with external forces it is time to run to battle. Isaiah 54:17 says no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgment shall be condemned. James 4:7 says resist the devil and he will flee from you. When you are dealing with demons, it is time to run to battle but when you are dealing with false brethren it is a time to flee. The question is this, how do I know when to flee? Proverbs 22:3 says a prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on and are punished.

What I am supposed to flee from? Anything that will annoy God. One of the things we need to run from is poison. Tithes are poison and should not be eaten, Malachi 3:8-11. Tithes belong to God so flee from nonpayment of tithes! We need to also flee from anything that dishonors God. When you do things that cause people to say ‘and you call yourself a Christian’ you are dishonoring your God. Proverbs 3:9-10 says honor God with your substances and the first fruit of your increase. If you do not honor God with these you are dishonoring Him. 2 Timothy 2:22 says flee from youthful lusts. What are youthful lusts? Fornication and adultery.1 Corinthians 6:18 says flee fornication. The bible says rebuke the devil but when it comes to fornication you have to flee. If someone is trying to suggest sex with you and you are not married to them, you are to flee from such not rebuke them! Another thing to flee from is inordinate ambition, 1 Timothy 6:9-11. Flee from get rich quick schemes like stealing and fraud. Get rich quick schemes kills and it gives first class ticket to hell.

QUESTION: What is it that you are doing that is causing people to say and you call yourself a Christian? Repent of such immediately.

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WONDERS OF HIS TOUCH

MEMORY VERSE: and the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel, 1 Kings 18:46

BIBLE VERSE: Josh 5, Ps 132-134, Is 65, Matt 13

BIBLE STUDIES: 1 Kings 18:41-46

A wonder is anything that makes you to wonder. According to Isaiah 9:6 one of the names of the Most High is wonderful i.e. full of wonders. There are hands and there are hands. I want to tell you that not all hands are the same. The bible says and it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed, Exodus 17:10-13. The reason why Moses let down his hands was because his hands were aching; he was well over 80 years when this happened. The question is this since Aaron and Hur were standing by him, why didn’t they hold up their own hands when Moses let down his hand? Aaron was a priest and Hur was an elder so any of the two could have held their hands up and expect victory. These two elderly men knew that the hands of Moses were not ordinary hands or common hands. There is a hand far more powerful than the hands of Moses and that is the hands of the Almighty. Psalm 136:12 describes God’s hand has a strong hand.

When the Lord touches a life , that life becomes a wonder. In John 9:1-10 Jesus anointed the eyes of a blind man with clay and told him to go and wash it off. The man came back and everyone opened their mouths and could not close it. Bible scholars told us that the man was not only born blind; the man was born without eyes. This was why the disciples asked Jesus ‘whose sin it was for this man to born this way?’ Since Jesus was the creator, He made clay out of mud and anointed where the eye was meant to be. The man went to wash and came back with two pair of eyes. The whole neighborhood began to argue that it was not the man who was born without eyes. Just by virtue of His touch of Jesus, this man became a wonder within an hour.

When the Lord touches a fellow, the fellow begins to do wondrous things. In 1 Kings 18:41-46 the Lord touched Elijah and he outran the best chariot in Israel. Bible scholars said the distance between Mount Carmel and Jezreel was 17 miles. Elijah was not dressed in athletic gears neither did he have trainers on. He had never had athletic training and neither had he competed in such before. He was not a young boy but an old prophet of God. Now imagine such a man outrunning a chariot pulled by the best horse in Israel over 17 miles? That is a wonder!

PRAYER POINT: Father, please touch my life, business, relationship, finance, spiritual life with your mighty hand.

God has a habit making up nobodies and making them somebodies

ATTITUDE TO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

MEMORY VERSE: Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, Hebrew 1:9

 BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 8, Ps 9, Prov 23,1 Thes 2

There are three basic attitudes to unrighteousness. Firstly, there are those who do not see anything wrong in living a life of unrighteousness. There are people who believe there is nothing wrong in telling a small lie especially to cover for a friend ,as far as no one gets hurt. There are those who do not see anything wrong in having sex before marriage especially when you know that you are going to marry the person. 1 John 5:17 says all unrighteousness is sin. There are also doctrines although not biblical that says once you give your life to Christ you automatically go to heaven whether you commit sin or not .Even if you fornicate with all the women in the church it is ok as far as you have giving your life to Christ. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:7, Salvation Is not a call to uncleanness i.e. life of impurity , but to holiness. Colossians 3:25 says but he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done; and there is no respect of persons. Whether you have giving your life to Christ or not, if you die in sin you will get the reward of sinners. None of us shall spend eternity in hell In Jesus name.

Secondly , there are those who do not sin but permit sin. This include majority of us. We are now saved and sanctified. We do not consume alcohol because we know our body is the temple of the living God but we don’t mind entertaining guests at our parties or at homes with alcohol. We do not smoke cigarette because it is harmful to our health but we do not mind giving people money to buy cigarette. There are many believers who do not fornicate or commit adultery but will give the keys of their house to friends to bring women to sleep with. This group of believers does not steal but don’t mind if their colleagues steal or do dodgey deals. They do not fornicate but do not mind if their friends fornicate. Proverbs 13:20 says he who walks with the wise shall be wise but the companies of fools shall suffer disgrace. Do you know in the company of fools there are few wise ones there? The day the fools will get the reward for their foolishness, the wise amongst there will partake out of it.

Thirdly there is the last group who don’t condone sin at all. They have zero tolerance for sin in their lives. They hate sin. Do you know when you hate something you do not want to see it at all; you don’t want to be associated with it; you don’t even want to see it around you. Every time you see what you hate or hear about it, you begin to feel uncomfortable. That’s the same reaction we need to have for sin not sinners. Hebrews 1:9 says when you love righteousness and hate iniquity, God pours an oil of gladness on you.

POINTS TO PONDER: How do I see sin? Do I mind sin? Do I permit sin? In what area of my life are my permitting sin? Do I hate sin enough?

LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN LEG

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Gen 43, Mark 13, Job 9, Romans 13

Psalm 147:10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.

When the elders refer to your legs, they are referring to the people you know, your friends and support network. When they say an individual has long legs, what they are saying is that individual knows people at the top or those that matter in the community. What they are saying is that individual knows power brokers or decision makers e.g presidents, kings, governors, CEOs etc. In the world we live in today, who you know matters. Elisha told the Shunamite woman “wouldest thou be spoken for to the king or to the captain of the host (2 Kings 4:8-17)”? Because Elisha knew those that mattered in the society – the king and the captain, he offered to speak on behalf of the Shunamite woman to them. I pray that the Lord will connect you to people that matter in Jesus name. I also prayer that you too will be numbered among the people that matters.

Physically, the stronger your legs the farther the distance you will able to travel. The more people (decision makers) you know, the more you will able to achieve in life if you are serious. When it comes running, strong and fast legs are advantageous as they would get you to your destination quicker. When you know the right people, you succeed within a very short period. A journey of twenty years will take you a year courtesy of who you know. Also outrunning your competitors becomes easy when you know the decision makers. To stand for a long period of time, strong legs are required. To remain at the top , you need to know and be friends with people that matters. Physical strong legs are needed to carry heavy goods. The stronger your legs the heavier the burdens you will be able to carry. To become the president of a nation, you must really know a lot of highly placed people. Physical strong legs are needed to climb a ladder ,so also knowing the people that matters are needed to rise in life. It is a good thing to know the people that matters but do you know that the Lord does not need your support network or contacts to bless you ?Psalm 147:10b says He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man. When it comes to rising to the top, you don’t really need to know anyone except the Lord. The only One that matters is Jesus. All human contacts, connections, support network e.t.c all have limitations. When the Lord carries you, you will reach your destination in the shortest possible time; outrunning your enemies becomes easy; remaining at the top becomes easy ;undertaking heavy responsibilities becomes easy because the Lord is your strength (Psalm 60:12); reaching the top becomes easy because His arms are everlasting ( Deuteronomy 33:27) .

PRAYER POINT: Father , please as from today begin to carry me.

God will always be there for you.

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