SIN AS A WOUND

MEMORY VERSE: He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Proverbs 18:13


BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Jonah
One of the names of our Lord is Merciful. Exodus 34:6 says: “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” We are all standing today simply because of His mercy. Psalm 130:3-4 says: “If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” We are all alive because of His mercies. Lamentations 3:22 says: “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” God’s mercy attracts human mercy. Jeremiah 42:12 says, “And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.”

However, there are certain criteria you must satisfy before you can receive God’s mercy. Firstly, you must be born again. You must accept Jesus as your personal Lord and saviour. Anyone who does not accept Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior is against Him. Matthew 12:30 says, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” Secondly, you must be merciful. Psalm 18:25 says, “With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.” Not only will the merciful obtain mercy from God, he will also receive blessings from Him (Matthew 5:7). Thirdly, you must be God-fearing. Psalm 103:11 says: “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” God’s mercy is not for the wicked. To fear God simply means to depart from evil (Proverbs 16:6). A child who fears God will not steal from his or her parents. Also, a government official who fears God will not steal from government coffers. Lastly, you must confess your sins and forsake them. Proverbs 28: 13 says: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

A sin is like a bleeding wound on the leg of an athlete. If the athlete does nothing about the wound and continues to run, he may fall and faint. If he covers it up without treating it properly, the wound will fester and decay. The leg will start to hurt and he won’t be able to run as fast as he could. If he continues like that for several days, the leg will become swollen and the doctors may have to amputate the leg to save his life. The right thing to do is treat the bleeding wound. The only way to treat sin which is also a wound is confess /expose it. Let the fresh air of the Holy Spirit blow on the affected area and healing will start. Go to God humbly and tell Him what you have done. Don’t say God forgive me for my sins. Confess each sin to Him and ask Him to forgive you. After confessing to God, you may need to confess to man in some instances. This is very important if you really want to deal with the sin and silence the accuser. (However, going about this requires godly wisdom and as such, seek counsel from an anointed man of God to guide you on how to go about this). After exposing it to fresh air which is confessing it, commence treatment in other words, forsake it. Investigate what led to the sin and put measures in place to avoid falling into the same sin again. Ask God to keep you standing and also watch!

NOTE: One of the advantages of exposing sin is that you won't want to sin at all because of the embarrassment of confessing it especially when it is against people. Where needed, make restitutions.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

MAN’S GREATEST PROBLEM

MEMORY VERSE: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 42-44

Man’s greatest problem is not the global water crisis neither is it species extinction. One may ask, ‘how does species extinction concern us’? Well, certain species that human beings depend upon for our food supply are going extinct; if their numbers fall too low (may the Lord have mercy because) human race will face extinction. Man’s greatest problem is not the economic collapse neither is it the rapid climate change. Man’s greatest problem is not the resistance of diseases to antibiotics – making it difficult to cure some of the diseases we had previously treated easily, neither is it poverty, hunger and lack of clean water in some countries. Man’s greatest problem is not the need to find new energy sources before fossil fuels run out neither is it terrorism and conflict. Man’s biggest problem is sin. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Sin is a problem because of its consequences in our lives. The ‘number one’ consequence of sin is that it pollutes one’s life. According to Mark 7:20-23, what comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, envy, slander, arrogance, etc. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’. These things pollute our lives. You may say, ‘I do not do most of these things’. Only one of them is enough to make our lives unclean. The ‘number two’ consequence of sin is that it enslaves a man. The things we do wrong have an addictive power. Just like any hard drug like heroin, sin can become addictive. One can become addicted to bad temper, arrogance, pride, selfishness, slander or sexual immorality. We can even become addicted to patterns of thoughts or behavior which, on our own, we cannot break. This is the slavery which Jesus spoke about and which has a destructive power in our lives. The ‘number three’ consequence of sin is death. There is something within human nature which cries out for justice. When we see children molested, old people attacked in their homes and so on, we long for the people who have done these things to be caught and punished. It is not just other’s people’s sin that deserve punishment. It is our own as well. One day we will all be subject to the judgment of God. Romans 6:23 says, “for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The ‘number four’ consequence of sin is it causes a barrier between us and God. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” The wrong things we do cause this barrier.

We have the need to deal with the problem of sin in our lives or else. The good news of Christianity is that God loves us and He did not leave us in the mess that we make of our own lives. He came to earth, in the person of his Son Jesus to die instead of us (Galatians 3:13). During World War II, there were a group of Prisoners of Wars (POWs) who worked on the Burma Railway. At the end of each day the tools were collected from the work party. On one occasion a Japanese guard shouted that a shovel was missing and demanded to know which man had taken it. He began to rant and rave, working himself up into a paranoid of fury and ordered whoever was guilty to step forward. No one moved. ‘All die! All die!’ he shrieked, cocking and aiming his rifle at the prisoners. At that moment one man stepped forward and the guard clubbed him to death with his rifle while he stood silently to attention. When they returned to the camp, the tools were counted again and no shovel was missing. That one man had gone forward as a substitute to save others. In the same way Jesus came as our substitute. He endured crucifixion for us.

QUESTION: We have been judged by the righteous Judge, God, and found guilty. We have been fined the correct penalty which is death. Christ has written a cheque, for this penalty, and says we have a choice: do we want Him to pay for us or are we going to face the judgment of God for own wrong-doing?

NOTE: If you want accept His cheque, accept Him as your personal Lord and savior today.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE KING

MEMORY VERSE: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Isaiah 6:5

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Exodus 5-8

Why do we measure? We measure for various purposes. We measure to keep track of things. For instance we measure time to keep track of it. Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” We gauge our health based upon all sorts of measurements. Some common examples include height, weight, pulse, and blood pressure. These measurements can tell a doctor a lot about one’s general health. We measure to know the size or the amount of something. We measure so that we can have a point of reference that allows us to compare things. The tallest man living, by Guinness, is Sultan Kosen from Turkey who measured 251 cm (8ft 3in). How did Guinness book of records reach that conclusion that Mr Sultan Kosen is the tallest living man? By measuring tall people.

If we could not or did not measure and measure to a standard consistently and to a high degree of accuracy our modern world would ‘not’ exist. To get accurate results, there is a need to measure using the right yardstick. Imagine a person measuring room temperature with a barometer or measuring wind pressure with stethoscope. The results will never be accurate because barometers are built to measure atmospheric pressure not room temperature. Using the wrong yardstick to measure will always generate inaccurate results. This is exactly what happened to prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-6. Prior to the death of king Uzziah and his vision of heaven, he had always seen himself as a righteous man because he was using the people around him, individuals who practiced sexual immoralities, rich men who oppressed the poor, workers who stole from their masters, judges who pervert judgement, as a yardstick to measure his walk with God.

He was always quick to castigate and reprimand people. He literally went about saying 'woe to this fellow for this , woe to that fellow for doing that.' Isaiah 6:11 says, “woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with them, for what their hands have done shall be done to them”. One day the Lord showed him a vision of heaven and he saw himself. Isaiah 6:5 says, “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” For the first time, his unclean lips became obvious to him. When one uses the people around him or her, probably brothers and sisters who come to church late or are not punctual, as a yardstick to measure one's walk with the Lord, it will appear as if one has reached perfection. If care is not taking, one may even go round boasting about one's righteousness. The moment Prophet Isaiah saw himself before the Lord, he became sober. He suddenly realized that there were issues in his own life that he needed to work on. The good thing is immediately Isaiah saw his unclean lips and became sober, the Lord sent an angel who used hot coals to burn his lips thereby cleansing his lips. Not until we see ourselves and ask the Lord for grace to make amendments, we will not become who the Lord wants us to be. Not until we hold our lives against the living Word of God, we will not see our true state. Not until we use Christ as our yardstick, we may not truly appreciate the work required to become rapturable. Not until God opens our eyes to see our current state and helps us too, as He helped Isaiah, we may do all the hard work here on earth and miss heaven. I pray that will not be our portion in Jesus name.

NOTE: Christ is our yardstick to measure our life with.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please open my eyes see my state and give me the grace to make amendments.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

DON’T GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT

MEMORISE: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 29-32

After a man gives his life to Christ, God puts His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, inside him. First Corinthians 12:13 says this: “for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the seal of salvation for all those who believe (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit acts like a conscience in that, He warns us when we are about to do something wrong and convicts us when we sin against God. He also assures us that we belong to God. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” He leads and guides us - believers. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” The Holy Spirit does not lead a man to disobey God. The Psalmist says, “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3b). The Holy Spirit leads a man into God’s will for his life.

The Holy Spirit does far more than I have mentioned. Some years back, a colleague at work misplaced his bunch of keys which contained his car keys, home keys and locker keys – I think. He searched everywhere and didn’t find it, so he came downstairs to inform us. As he spoke, the Holy Spirit told me where the key was and I told him. He doubted me, so I went to where the Holy Spirit told me it was, and he followed me. When I got there, I lifted a particular chair up, lo and behold; the key was underneath the chair. Sometimes last year, I, a pastor, and another colleague of mine were looking for a particular document. We literally turned the office upside down and didn’t find it, so I told them that the Holy Spirit will find the document and they said amen. We checked the office again and we found the document where we had checked 4 times! The value of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer cannot be measured.

Ephesians 4:30 says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” The first thing I want you to know is that the Holy Spirit can be grieved. Secondly, if a fellow continually grieves Him, He will take His leave. Can the Holy Spirit leave a man? Oh Yes! After Saul repeatedly disobeyed God, the Holy Spirit left him. First Samuel 16:14 says, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” This brings us to the question, how does one grieve the Holy Spirit? We grieve the Spirit by living like pagans (Ephesians 4:17-19), by lying (Ephesians 4:25), by being angry (Ephesians 4:26-27), by stealing (Ephesians 4:28), by cursing (Ephesians 4:29), by being bitter (Ephesians 4:31), by being unforgiving (Ephesians 4:32), and by being sexually immoral (Ephesians 5:3-5). The moment He, the Holy Spirit, warns one not to do something, and the fellow goes ahead and does it, He becomes grieved. When a man continually grieves Him, He will leave.

QUESTION: Are you grieving the Holy Spirit by the way you live your life? Does your conscience still convict you when you tell little white lies?

PRAYER POINT: Father, help me never to grieve you again.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

RESIST THAT “THING”

Memory verse: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.2 Chronicles 26:18

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 14-16

Many of us without intending to insult the Holy Spirit; we refer to Him as a “thing”. I often hear people say, that “thing” told me to give an offering, I gave and a miracle happened; that “thing” told me to give that company a call, I did and they offered me a job; that “thing” told me to take an umbrella with me, thank God I did because on my way back, it started to rain heavily; some “thing” told me not to board that vehicle, thank God I did not because I heard the vehicle was involved in an accident. That thing you are referring to as a "thing" is not a thing; it is the Holy Spirit guiding you. Referring to Him as a “thing” is a big insult. He is a person; He has a personality, He sees, hears, and speaks. You need to refer to Him as a person, not as a “thing”. Please note this, not all thoughts that come to you are leading from the Holy Spirit. Many ask me, how can I tell when the Holy Spirit is leading me to do something? The Holy Spirit will lead you in line with the scriptures. He will not tell you to sin against God or disobey God. The Holy Spirit is holy; He will not lead you to take what does not belong to you. If some “thing” is leading you to shout at your colleague or curse, that is not the Holy Spirit. As you pray and study the bible, you will grow in the Lord and discerning God’s voice will become easy.

If some “thing” is telling you to do something funny, please resist it. Failure to resist it may put you in a big trouble. When angry, that “thing” that tells us to say something nasty or do something nasty like send a horrible text or a horrible email is not the Spirit of God. That “thing” telling you not to apologize or back down in an argument is the spirit of pride not the Spirit of God so resist it. That “thing” pushing you to give your employer a piece of your mind, is not the spirit of God. That “thing” telling you to damn the consequences and do it anyway, is trying to destroy you please do not listen to it. Uzziah woke one morning and that “thing” told him to go and burn incense on the altar of incense (something that was a taboo). When he got to the synagogue, the priests reminded him that it was not his duty. 2 Chronicles 26:18 says and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Instead of Uzziah to listen to the voice of reasoning, he got angry. That “thing” kept on pushing him to go and burn incense on the altar of incense. At the end, when he would not listen, the Lord disciplined him and he became a leper. 

QUESTION: Are you like Uzziah, you have been warned by your pastors, lawyer, business manager, doctor, etc, not to do particular things, but something keep pushing you to do it. That “thing” wants to destroy you, I beg you in the name of God; please rebuke that “thing” before it cuts your life short.

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world for Jesus.

RUN FROM FIRE

Abstain from all appearance of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:22

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Isaiah 31-33

For any man or woman to think that the devil is a fool is a big mistake. He is very cunning. He has been around for over 6000 years and has acquired a lot of worldly wisdom. To think that you and i can take him on with our ‘own’ strength is also a big mistake. Even the angels had to use the blood of Jesus to overcome him. Revelations 12:11 says and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. In Acts 19:13 – 17, seven sons Sceva tried taking on a demon with their physical strength, the man in whom the demon resided grabbed them, beat them up, and seized their clothes. At last, they managed to escape naked with wounds. Anyone who will be victorious over the devil must first accept that he or she is weak and solely depend on the name of Jesus. The bible says, at the mention of the name of Jesus, all knees should bow including the devil and his hosts (Philippians 2:9-10). The fellow must also avail himself of the provision provided, which is the armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). Lastly the fellow should abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

That 'thing’ does not have to be evil before you run from it, even if you are not sure whether it is evil or not, if i were you i will run because it is better to be safe than sorry. Putting on the armour of God and not abstaining from all appearance of evil is being foolhardy. (Foolhardy means to be recklessly or unwisely bold). As believer, one must not lie to anyone, but someone we all lie to is ourselves. To think that you are strong and cannot fall into temptation is a big lie. To think that the opposite sex cannot lure you into fornication or adultery is a lie from pit of the hell. Brethren, let us be very careful especially when dealing with the opposite sex. If you have the grace of God upon on your life like Paul, then be like Paul and do not frustrate the grace of God upon your life (Galatians 2:21). By being careless around the opposite sex, you are frustrating the grace of God on your life. Sisters, the moment you begin to feel somehow around a man you are not married to, please keep distance from that man. Brothers, the moment you notice that you always get excited when you are around a particular sister, please for Christ sake keep a distance. Even if the fellow is your fiancé or fiancée, avoid two of you standing or sitting alone in a secluded area especially at night. You maybe 100 per cent sure of yourself (which is being foolhardy), are you 100 percent sure of the other person? If you are in a secluded area with the opposite sex for a long time, the conversation will start drifting into wrong territories, you will begin to discuss what you should not discuss and hear what your ears should not hear. In addition, we must flee from nudity of any form. You may look at those nude pictures and feel nothing, after a while when you must have forgotten that you saw a picture, your brain will bring back the pictures to your mind ,before you know it you are imagining things. At times, while you are praying, the enemy will bring back the pictures, to continue praying or concentrate becomes difficult. Avoid nude pictures or sexual joke.

NOTE: It is better to be safe than sorry.

Bro Samuel- Reaching the world for Jesus.

NEVER MARRY A MAN WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN HOLINESS

MEMORY VERSE: Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Proverbs 14:34

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 10, Ps 11-12, Prov 25, 1 Thes 4

It is not in the plan of God for you to marry an unbeliever. God is not an author of confusion and one thing He will never do is go against His holy words. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? If you are already married to an unbeliever, you need to seriously pray for the salvation of his or her soul because after salvation , the second factor that decides whether  you will have eternal life or not is who you marry. You may not believe me but I will share this story with you. A very committed pastor who loved the Lord had an argument with his wife one early morning , things went out of hand and she slapped him . This man got very angry and  left the house. As he was traveling he had an accident and died. When he got to heaven, he was sent to hell. This man began to plead with Jesus and ask why? The Lord told him he died without forgiving his wife who slapped him. This man broke down and began to cry for mercy. Because this man had labored greatly for the kingdom of God and had served God passionately, he was giving an opportunity to return and make things right with  his wife.  

One of the purposes of marriage is to share. You can only share what you have. A brother who is not filled with the spirit of love cannot share love. He can pretend by buying you lovely gifts and all but in a matter of time the real him will come out. A sister who does not value her time cannot value your time. If all a brother has is stories of those that tried and failed in life, such brother cannot share faith with you. If all a sister has is anger and bitterness, God help you. So before you fall in love, have it at the back of your mind that it is what this brother has that we are going to share and vice versa.

 If a brother does not have the fear of the Lord inside him, don’t expect him not to disappoint  you. Proverbs 16:6 says by the fear of the Lord men depart from iniquity. If a brother does not fear God – his creator, who will he fear then? If he does not regard God – his maker, who will he regard ? Marrying a brother who does not fear the Lord is like sitting on a time bomb. It is the equivalent of a disaster waiting to happen. Don’t marry a guy who does not believe in holiness. Proverbs 14:34 says righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. A brother who can compromise his faith in God or abandon his commitment in God in order to fit the circumstances of the moment, can compromise on anything even your love. Don’t expect a brother who is not faithful to God to  be faithful to you !The main reason why you need to be wary of brothers who do not believe in holiness is that they can do anything to get rich. They can do and undo.

KEYWORD: If He does not regard Jesus, He will never regard you.

HOT OR COLD

MEMORY VERSE: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth, Revelations 3:16

 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Lev 6, Ps 5-6, Prov 21, Col 4

 

The Most High God does not operate in half measures but full measures. He does not like, He loves. John 3:16 says For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Psalm 33:5 says He loves judgment. According to Psalm 11:7, the righteous Lord loves righteousness. All Solomon asked of Him was wisdom but because He loved this young man He decided to give him what he did not even ask for which was untold wealth and sound health, 2 Chronicles 1:1-12. The Lord does not dislike, He hates. According to Proverbs 6:16-17 , He detest pride and hates a proud look. Psalm 11:5 says His soul hates those that love violence. If you are in the habit of beating up your partner – husband or wife beware. Psalm 5:5 says He hates all workers of iniquity. Herod incurred the wrath of God because of pride. This foolish king was so proud that he enjoyed been compared to God. One day God made an example of him – right on the spot worms ate him up alive, Acts12:12-23

 

Because God operates in extremes, He appreciates people who operate in extremes too. When it comes to obedience, He prefers disobedience to half obedience. In 1 Samuel 15:1-28, God gave Saul an instruction to kill and destroy all the Amalekites. Saul went there and instead of carrying out the instruction ,  he killed everyone and brought back the king, cattle and livestock. Because of his half obedience, God dethroned Him and gave the throne to David. Malachi 3:10 says Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. The Lord prefers people who do not pay their tithe at all to those who pay half or one quarter tithe.

 

God prefers no service at all to half service. God does not take lukewarm Christian serious. To Him they do not know what they want. Revelations 3:16 says so then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. If you want to be hot for God be very hot and if you want to be cold be very cold but lukewarmness He hates with a passion. If you want to be spiritual be spiritual, if you want to be carnal be carnal but missing carnality and spirituality is courting His wrath. There is nothing like Sunday Sunday Christian. If you want to be a Christian be a full Christian, Monday to Sunday, 24 hours of the day. If you want to be a Christian, be a full Christian at home, at church, at college, at work e.t.c. not that they know you as a holy sister or holy brother in church and outside church you are something different.

 

ACTION POINT: Take an inventory of areas in your life where you have been neither hot or cold and begin to make amendments.

SIN BRINGS FEAR

Isaiah 33:14 the sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ex 36, John 15, Prov 12, Eph 5

 

MEMORY VERSE: Genesis 3:1-8

 

Sin is one thing we must do away with. According to Jeremiah 5:25, sin turns away blessings and withhold good from an individual. This is why the psalmist says that  the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon, Psalm 92:12. Asides from the fact that sin robs us of good things; sin is also a major cause of fear. Anyone who knows how fear works will fast and pray for the spirit of faith. 

 

In our bible studies Is a story we all know – the fall of man. Before Adam sinned against God, he had a good rapport with God. The Most High God would leave the heavens and visit him in the garden. Every time Adam heard God in the garden he would rush out to meet his maker and soak himself in the presence of God. The best moments in the life of this man was when the Lord visited. Psalm 16:11 says thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Immediately Adam sinned he began to dread the presence of God. He heard the voice of God in the garden and began to hide. The man that would rush to meet God every time he heard his voice suddenly began to hide due to disobedience.

 

 There was no man like Saul in the land of Israel. He was the definition of a perfect king. He stood shoulder high above everyone in Israel. He was a strong and mighty man. He was the sort of man everyone wanted to go to war with. Through the hands of Saul, God won many battles for the people of Israel. Immediately Saul sinned against God by disobeying Him, fear crept into his life. The same Saul who attacked the Philistines and the earth shook suddenly heard the voice of a Philistine soldier and began to shake. The bible actually records that he was so scared that his knees shook, 1 Samuel 17:11. Isaiah 33:14 says the sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The God who the Israelite gladly referred to as the God of our fathers suddenly became a devouring fire to them all because of their sin. The reason why people fear the second of Jesus Christ is the presence of sin. A child who knows that he has behaved himself, clean the house and done all the assignments his parents gave to him will be happy when he hears his father’s footstep, but the child who has misbehaved or done something he should not have done will begin to panic when he hears his father’s footstep. If every time you hear of rapture you begin to panic and fear, it is a sign that you are not ready and there are one or two things you need to sort out. Not only that, it is a sign that you are lacking behind in God’s plan for your life.

 

ACTION POINT: Ask God to prepare you for rapture.

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.

OFFERING STRANGE FIRES

Numbers 3:4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and
Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father.

What is a strange fire? Strange fire simply represents practices that are either not biblical or God is not happy with. The Most High God abhors strange fires in His presence. Today in the body of Christ there are so many strange fires offered unintentionally. It is true that ignorance of law is no excuse but we thank God for His mercies. One of the most popular strange fires offered before God is in the area of eating Holy Communion. Holy Communion is not to be eaten in the morning or afternoon but midnight. Eating it in the late evening is permitted but not morning or afternoon. There is no record of Holy Communion been eating in the afternoon or morning in the bible starting from the first day it was eating by Moses and the children of Israel (it was called Passover then) to the night Jesus was betrayed.

Also been rude to a man of God or prophet is offering strange fire. If you do not believe me please ask Saul in 1 Samuel 15:1-35. Samuel rebuked Saul on an issue, as he turned to leave Saul grabbed the prophet’s garment and it tore ,right on the spot God tore his kingdom gave it to another man! In Acts 5:1-10, Ananias and Sapphira ganged up to fool the man of God and right on the spot the Lord struck them dead. Maybe we should add the story of Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:1-23. There was no doubt that this man had spiritual gift. The gift of vision made him one of the greatest kings that ruled in Israel and at very young age but what happened? Because of his gifts, he began to over step his boundary by trying to offer incense on the altar – a task solely for the Levites. Been a king the priest tried to ask him politely not to do so but he would not listen and from heaven God struck him ;right on the spot he became a leper. I pray that none of this will happen to anyone of us in Jesus name. Do you also know that been rude to elders in the church or calling them nick names is offering strange fire? Oh yes it is! Some youths began to make fun of the baldhead of Elisha in 2 Kings 2:23-25, the man cursed them and the Lord said amen in heaven. From nowhere, two female bears came out and mauled forty-two of the youths. Also abusing one’s position as a pastor or prophet or worker or leader in the church is offering strange fire. The sons of Eli –Hophni and Phinehas, sons of the prophet used their position to satisfy their evil desires. Because they were leaders and prophets, they began to use the church to enrich themselves; they used the offerings to make themselves fat- 1 Samuel 2:12-17.They graduated into using their positions to sleep with beautiful women in the church – 1 Samuel 22-25. God warned Eli to warn his children but no one listened to God. One day God got tired and decided to take off his hands from their life. The next minute the enemies killed them – 1 Samuel 4:11. Sending blackberry messages to our friends during church services or sermon is offering strange fire. It is not good. Send messages, picking calls, talking to our friends during church services or sermons is not good. When we are in the present of God we must behave our self not to court His wrath.When we are in the presence of our earthly parents or bosses at work , we do not ping our friends or chat on the phone ,why do that before the One who created heaven and earth ?

PRAYER POINT: Father, please forgive my ignorance and help me not displease you again.

MASTER YOUR DESIRES

MASTER YOUR DESIRES

Saturday 28 July                                 Bible in one year: 1 Kings 11-13

Memorise:All things are lawful unto me,but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me,but i will not be brought under the power of any.1 Corinthian 6:12

Read: 1 Corinthians 6:11-13

If God has blessed you with wealth and riches,be cautious so that your prosperity will not become your undoing.Solomon was so blessed he could afford most things that came his way,he went on an acquisition spree.He bought everything money could buy and acquired all his eyes liked. He found himself in a pit of self-indulgence.In Ecclesiastes 2:10 , he said

and whatsoever my eyes desire i have kept not from them, i withheld not my heart from any joy;for my heart rejoiced in all my labour:and this was the portion of all my labour.

He had lost control! His money was now pushing him in every direction. Has God blessed you?Praise God! But never let it get to a point where you are no longer led by the spirit but by the spirit of mammon.You should remain in control of what you have not the other way. To this end Paul says:

All things are lawful unto me,but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me,but i will not be brought under the power of any.1 Corinthian 6:12

You don’t have to buy something because you can afford it.There are many things you can buy off the shelf but you don”t because you do not need them. Abundance can kill and power with control corrupts.To distinguish themselves according to their class,rich men eat certain processed  foods which at the end give them special illness which the poor do not have.Many like power but they fail to realise that it is a two-edged sword. Keep your power under lock and Key! Deliberately refrain from over indulging yourself. If a water bed will take away your prayer life,don’t buy it or if you have bought it, get it out.If television programs will continue to tempt you, avoid the box. If a particular type of car or house will make you to become proud, do something about it.Never allow what was meant to serve you become your lord.

PRAYER POINTS: Father, help me to put my desires under the control of your Spirit in me.Thank you for the past conventions of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). I pray that this year’s convention will witness God special visitation,power and harvest of souls as never experienced.

Open Heavens by Pastor E.A Adeboye

Victory :How Permanent?

VICTORY : HOW PERMANENT? 

 

Sunday 15 July                                   Bible in one year : Judges 13-15

Memorise: O Sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand , and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.Psalms 98:1

Read: Joshua 7:1-6

Every victory God gives can be maintained or lost depending on several factors. Many people know how to obtain victory not how to keep them.It is better to continue in defeat than to have victory and return to defeat due to the inability to keep it. After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea , Moses immediately composed a song of praise and thanksgiving that they sang repeatedly ( Exodus 15:1-21). After that song of praise , every effort to cause them to return to Egypt failed; their victory was permanent. Anyone who does not know how to be grateful to God may never enjoy permanent victories. Are you grateful to God for what He has done for you?

In Joshua 7 & 8, God gave the Israelites under Joshua victory which they lost almost immediately but later recovered. Many people once walked in the victory that Christ has given over the flesh, Satan and other enemies but later lost the reality of this victory. Why did Joshua lose his victory ? It was because somebody under him tampered with what he should not. This simply tells us that your victory could be eroded by the misdemeanour of a close associate. A family can lose their victory because of a disobedient child. If you doubt this,ask Eli. This is why parents must train their children well. Train, not just teach. Parents should act as coaches, mentors and guided to their children in order to maintain family victories.Thank God Joshua’s loss was not permanent because he asked God the cause of the loss and what to do, and did as instructed. Have you lost a victory? Ask God what you can do to have it back and do so promptly . If you know who is stealing in church,expose the fellow. Doing this does not only helps that individual but also the church. Achan’s theft not only affected him but the entire nation . Are you a pastor or minister yet secretly fornicating? You are negatively affecting your church and bringing an evil cloud over the congregation. As a member of the church, if you know of a fornicating minister , or worker, report the fellow to your pastor as way of helping all concerned.

KEY POINT: Thanksgiving is the glue that helps to firmly attach your blessings to you. Without it , your blessing may be lost.

Legalistic vs. Mercy

Here lately I have been sitting back watching people, I am a people watcher by nature. I find humans a fascinating group. I have noticed that when we as humans look at each other we like to judge someone else’s sin in legalistic eyes. But not our own we are very happy to look upon our own sin with mercy, the mercy that the Lord gives us. Funny isn’t it we hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.

I have also noticed a very dangerous game being played not only by the world but by Christians. I like to call it ‘Rank that sin’. Those in the world look at others of the world and reason with themselves that they are a good person because at least they have never done A-B-C. Christians also like to partake in this game when looking at fellow Christians. Don’t we like to think ourselves better. We think hey at least I don’t struggle with the bottle or at least I have never cheated on my spouse or I have never stolen, the list can go on. We loose sight with the fact that sin is sin, black as coal. Doesn’t matter what it is, we are no better than those that we are placing ourselves over in judgement.

We all struggle, my struggles may not be your struggles, your struggles may not be mine. But that does not give us the right to place judgement upon each other. How about helping each other.. Wow there is a thought. If we spent less time playing our little minds games trying to make ourselves feel better about our own sin and more time helping each other overcome what ever it is we are dealing with. Think what a better place this might be to live in. Think about how much easier it might be to go to our Brother’s and Sister’s and ask for prayer, knowing that they will be standing in the gap for us not placing judgment upon us.

I have also noticed that some like to preach Grace and Mercy. Then you have those on the other side of the fence that like to preach Holiness and Righteousness. What would happen if we met each other somewhere in the middle, think about it. Don’t we need all of these elements in our walk?

Grace - Mercy - Holiness - Righteousness

Think about all of the inner bickering that could be cleared up if we were just willing to meet somewhere in the middle. Think about what that could do for the Body. Just maybe healing could begin to take place, just maybe the fracture that has plagued us for so many generations could slowly heal. Then what would Christianity look like.

I read a account from a prophet here recently that said until the fracture in the Body was healed true revival could not take place. After reading this account the Holy Spirit told me this was true. All this time I have been praying for revival, just maybe I need to shift my attention for a season and begin to pray for healing. Maybe all of us need to shift our attention for that season and begin to pray for this, just think what could happen if we all could come together in unity. Think about the difference we could make, think about the lives that could be changed, think about those that could be saved. But to do this it has to start with all of us individually in our prayer room and also in how we deal with one another.

I am not a trained theologian, I am but a humble servant of Christ. My thoughts do not flow as they should but please know that I speak what the Lord places upon my heart. The Spirit has been heavy upon me today, I have been moved to tears a few times, my heart has ached. And this is what He gave me to share with you today, I pray blessing upon each and everyone of you.

In His Love

christineingram