TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

MEMORIZE: And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:10-11

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 6-8

As we heard at the beginning of this year, 2015 is going to be a year of meaningful achievement. Every genuine child of God will have cause to rejoice because of what God is going to do in their family, marriage, career, ministry, business and work. However, there are conditions attached to the fulfilment of this promise. One of them is taking responsibility. Anyone who will have a meaningful achievement this year must take responsibility. One of the things people do when they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions or their life is they look for people to blame. Friend, you do not need your parents to succeed. The fact that your father practiced polygamy is not the reason why you are not where you are meant to be. There are a lot of people who their father practiced polygamy who are doing fine. The fact that your parents did not send you to school is not an excuse. There are people who did not have that opportunity but worked hard, saved some money and enrolled themselves on a part time course. Today they are graduates. The fact that your parents were not there for you when you were growing up is not an excuse because we have seen orphans who became employers of labour. Stop blaming your mother who left your father when you were a kid or your father who left your mother when you a kid for your current problems. There are people who went through worst things and still made something out of life.

This year, you want meaningful achievement? Take responsibility. Accept that you are where you are because of the decisions you took in the past. I found in counselling that one of the most difficult people to help are people who do not want to take responsibility. They are always looking for people to blame. Maybe they entered into courtship with the wrong man; instead of taking responsibility, they blame their aunt who introduced the man to them. Some brothers fall into fornication and blame the sister they are in courtship with. “I fornicated with her because that sister is too weak” they will say. What an irresponsible brother! I have seen parents who instead of taking responsibility for their child’s terrible behaviour, they blame the school. “Junior became a bad boy when he joined that school,” they will say. Is Junior the only child in that school? How come other children in the same school - and in the same class with junior - are behaving well? Oh sherry failed that exam because of her teacher. Really? How come other class mates of sherry passed the exam? Is Sherry the only student that teacher taught? Some blame the internet? How come other children who use the internet don’t do the terrible things your children are doing? Some blame the society; how come in the same society we have youths – male and females – who are still virgins? They don’t have two heads. I have met some adults who blame their current lack of self discipline and character on their upbringing. If you believe your parents are at fault for that, why not re-train yourself now that you are an adult? Adam’s problems started when - instead of taking responsibility for his actions - he began to blame his wife. Genesis 3:10-11 says, “And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” God asked Adam “have you eaten from the tree you should not eat from?” All he needed to say was either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. But he didn’t, he was looking for who to blame for his nakedness so he blamed God- first, and then his wife.

ACTION: Start taking responsibility. People will only waste your time if you give them your time to waste. Take responsibility for how you spend your time.

CONFESSION: As from today, i refuse to allow people to waste my time and my life.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.     

THE FATHER’S RESPONSIBILITY (TO ALL PARENTS)

MEMORY VERSE: For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. Genesis 18:19

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 119:1-6, Proverbs 31:1, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Your children belongs to God not you. Psalm 127:3 says this: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” You are only a caretaker or guardian to your children and as such, you are expected to raise them to be useful for their parents i.e. God. You are expected to train them in a particular way. Proverbs 22:6 says this: “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The question is this, what is the way they should go? In the way of the Lord i.e. in the right path – to fear God,to be humble, to respect God and man, to serve God first, men second and their nation, to be a law abiding citizen, to be loving and kind towards people, etc. This is where many parents fail; they train their children to hate certain people. Some single mothers train their children especially daughters to hate their fathers. Some fathers do this too. Some train their children to tell lies and play tricks. One thing most parents do not know is that children learn by observation a lot. They see how mummy talks behind Dad’s back and they learn it. They see how dad talks to mum and they learn it.

Another mistake many parents make is they tell their children about the way they should go. God did not ask you to tell your children about the way they should go, the instruction is "train them in the way they should go." Training is more than telling. Training is making sure someone does something correctly until it becomes a habit. Train that young girl on how to cook and take care of the house until she learns it and it becomes her second nature. Train that young boy on taking responsibilities until he learns it and it becomes his second nature. Train those children on how to take care of things. Many children act as a ‘devourer’ because they have not been trained to look after things. If you do not train your children on how to look after things, you will end replacing the furniture and gadgets at home every 6 months. They must be trained to be honest. Honesty must rewarded and deception must not be tolerated. Training may involve the use of the rod of correction but it must be in love. Proverbs 19:18 says this: “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” Training can become too late. There is a time to train your children; the bible puts it as "while there is hope" i.e.while they are young.

Children must be trained to respect the words of their parents. If they are not trained to respect the words of their parents, they will not respect anyone -including God -without first experiencing the painful consequences of their actions. When a child is not properly trained, it affects everyone negatively. Eli’s failure to train his children affected not only his own family very negatively, but also caused disaster for the nation of Israel (1 Samuel 4:10-11). When Eli’s sons behaved badly, the Lord held Eli accountable not their mother. God places primary responsibility on fathers to make sure their children are trained according to God’s Word. Mothers are not exempt from this responsibility, but God does hold fathers ultimately responsible. God said,“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him”(Genesis 18:19). God expected Abraham to lead as Sarah was his helpmeet so He placed the primary responsibility on Abraham . (Sarah – a good mother will definitely help her husband in achieving this great task).

THOUGHTS OF THE DAY: It may seem easier at the time for a parent to let their child do whatever they want -- without restraining them or training them to do right. However, that harms the child because it trains them to do wrong. As a result they are robbed of the peace and blessing they should enjoy.

PRAYER POINT: Father, I pray that the parents in our land will train their children according to the Word of God.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

I SHALL BE THE HEAD PT2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ex 2, Luke 5, Job 19, 1 Cor 6

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.

In Part 1of these series, we defined the meaning of the head. We also mentioned that the head carries a lot of responsibilities. The head bears heavy responsibilities because inside the head is an organ called the brain. The only part of the body that does not rest is the brain. While the hands are folded and the legs are crossed, the brain is busy at work. To be the head means I will be hard working. When you say I shall be head, what you are saying is whilst others are busy wasting time I will be busy working. Proverbs 12:24 says the hands of the diligent will rule but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. Been the head simply means I will make good use of my time. It means I will be the first to get to the organization, school or business and the last to leave. It means I will get to church before everyone. I shall be head also means while people are sleeping at night, I will be busy watching in prayers.

The brain is the seat of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. The brain is responsible for making decisions. To make wise ecisions, wisdom is required. Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Ecclesiastes 10:10 says but wisdom is profitable to direct. Ecclesiastes 7:19 says wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city. Been the head means i will make wise decisions because the head gets the blame for every wrong decision. One of the reasons why the head gets blamed for whatever goes wrong is because the head controls the body. It is the brain that tells the body to carry out actions. Where does the brain gets its wisdom from? Psalm 111:10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If there is a fellow who does not fear the Lord, something is wrong with the fellow’s brain. To make wise decisions, one needs to have the fear of the Lord in his heart. Proverbs 8:13 says the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Proverbs 10:27 says the fear of the Lord prolongs days. Proverbs 14:2 says he who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is perverse in his ways despises Him. To be head means I will fear the Lord.

KEY WORD: I shall be the head simply means I will be hard working. It also means I will fear the Lord.

I SHALL BE THE HEAD PT1

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ex 1, Luke 4, Job 18, 1 Cor 5

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 plan of God for every of His children is that they be head always and never be the tail. The head is the most important part of the human body. When applying for a visa or passport, you will be required to provide a passport picture of the head. Why? It is because they know that if they amputate a man’s leg, he can still live; if his two hands are amputated, he can still survive but once the head is cut off that is the end. Not only that, the only part of the human body that cannot be transplanted is the head! So when the Lord promises to make you the head, what it means is you will be the most important person around. What it simply means is you will become indispensible. It also means you will be at the top at all times. You will be so important that the strong and mighty will be coming to you for counseling. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, Ephesians 5:23. The tail on the other hand is so useless, the Lord did not even bother giving it to man. The head is the fellow in charge; the leader; the captain.

The head carries a lot of responsibilities. It is true that the head is the most important part of the body but do you also know that it is only the head that suffers headache? When everything is running smoothly, the whole body takes the glory but when things go bad the head is held accountable. Take for instance a football team. When the team wins matches and qualifies for major competitions, the whole team gets the praise but when they fail to qualify or win trophies, the manager (the head) gets the blame and loses his jobs. Anywhere you go to in the world, the head always gets blamed when things go wrong, be it in the church, family, at work, in the country. Even when the head is not aware of what is happening in the body, he gets the blame for anything that goes wrong. David and his men had just come back from war when they found out that the Amalekites had invaded and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, 1 Samuel 30:1-8. The Amalekites took everyone in Ziklag as captives and went their way. When the men of David saw this, they became angry and began to contemplate stoning David their leader. David was in no way responsible for what the Amalekites had done; besides he lost his family just like everyone else but because he was the head they blamed him for the actions of the Amalekites. Whilst in Rephidim, the children of Israel thirsted but there was no water to drink so they began to blame their head- Moses, Exodus 17:1-7. When Moses could not find water they said he was doing it on purpose just to kill them and their children in the desert. It got a point they began to contemplate killing him. Moses too had no water to drink but because he was the leader, the children of Israel held him accountable for the lack of water. Thank God there is someone called the Burden-Bearer. When the men of David contemplated stoning him, David ran to God –the Burden Bearer. Also when things began to get out of hand, Moses too ran to God. No matter what challenges you may face at the top, there is a Burden- Bearer who you can call on and He will assist you.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please bear my burdens for me