BEHOLD, I THOUGHT

MEMORY VERSE: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

BIBLE READING: 1 Samuel 24-27

Naaman went to see Elisha, the prophet, for healing from leprosy. When he arrived, Elisha sent a messenger to tell him to go to River Jordan and wash seven times and he will be healed. 2 Kings 5:11-13 says: ‘But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?’

Naaman came to Elisha with an expectation of how he should be healed; he expected Elisha to lay hands on him but God had a different plan. Many have missed their healings or miracles because they came to God with an expectation of how He should heal them. Isaiah 55:9 says: ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ A lot have missed God because they expected God to operate in a certain way or answer their prayers in a certain way. Jesus cured leprosy in different ways. In Luke 5:12-13, a leper approached Him for healing; He laid hands on him and his leprosy disappeared. In Luke 17:11-19, some lepers approached Him; He told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Luke 17:14b says: ‘And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.’

NOTE: Don’t approach God with an expectation of how you want Him to provide a help meet (wife) for you or how you want Him to provide a husband for you. Don’t approach Him with an expectation of how you expect Him to solve your problem(s). When it comes to hearing from God, don’t expect Him to speak you in a certain way. Don’t expect Him to speak to you the same way He spoke to others. He might decide to speak to others through dreams and you, an audible voice. Don't limit the Holy One of Isreal in your thoughts!

twitter@BroOluwatoki

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world.

YOUR THOUGHT CREATES YOUR REALITY

MEMORY VERSE: For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. Job 3:25

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 122-124

Job 3:25 says, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” There are one or two things we can learn from Job’s statement when the enemy attacked him and he lost all he had. There is a connection between your thoughts and your reality. There is a connection between your dominant thought or what you think about most of the times and what will happen in your life. If your dominant thoughts are sickly thoughts, you will fall sick. Everything was falling perfectly into place for Job, and instead of rejoicing he began to wonder when disaster would happen because life couldn’t be so good. One day disaster finally struck and he was shattered. Many of us are exactly like Job. When things are falling perfect into place in our lives instead of rejoicing we begin to wonder when something terrible will happen to us because life couldn’t be so good. When some couples have not quarreled for a month, they begin to wonder when the next quarrel would take place, who will offend who or who will say what and all that, because marriage couldn’t be so peaceful. Instead of expecting something to go wrong why not thank God for what He is doing in your life and marriage. 

There is a connection between your present situation and your mentality. If you are fearful, everything God has created will intimidate you. And, where you are supposed to occupy, you will manage there. The Lord created Gideon to be a mighty warrior. Judges 6:12 says, “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.” Yet, he was scared of his own shadow. He had the potential to deliver a whole nation, yet he was found hiding by a wine-press threshing wheat. Worst of it all, he was hiding from the same enemy he was created to deliver his people from. He had all it takes to be a great leader. Judges 6:14 says, “And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?” Yet, he was far from that. When the Lord sent him to deliver his people, he began to give all sorts of excuses. The Lord had to literally push him before he went. Gideon saw himself as a weak person and his life bore a testimony of this. 

Also, your greatest fears have way a coming to pass. You attract what you fear. How? Fear is in a thing of the heart. Luke 6:45 says, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” If you are afraid or you abhor fear in your heart, you will begin to make fearful confessions. You begin to make confessions like “i don’t think i will do well in my exams”....”i don’t think i will marry a good woman”.... “i don’t think i will ge that job”... and so on. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” The moment your fear begins to find expression in your confession you begin to call your fear into reality. Job admitted that he had been in fear about his family and had been speaking that fear for some time – out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks – which gave Satan the opportunity to come in and steal his goods and kill his children and servants. Thank God Job later realized that Satan is energised by his words of fear. Friend, the same way God is energised by our words of faith, the enemy, Satan, is energised by our words of fear

NOTE: Your dominant thoughts will become your reality.

twitter@BroOluwatoki 

Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

The devil wears Prada

IN STYLE — SHAPE — COSMOPOLITAN — GQ — ESQUIRE — VOGUE — GLAMOUR
OPRAH — DR PHIL — DR LAURA — DEAR ABBY — DEEPAK CHOPRA
Are you being driven to seek acceptance from the world? Are the opinions of the experts influencing you? Do you find yourself referencing them chapter and verse?
You are not alone!
Through the airways the traffic is relentless. Many voices are vying to be the authority that governs your thoughts and actions.
Do you sometimes feel like a reed swaying in the wind? Realize that wind is of hurricane force and you need to brace yourself!
The counsel of man changes regularly . Just think of scientific and medical knowledge. These are certainly more solid than psychology or new age thinking, and yet their conclusions change regularly! If these considerably learned professionals change, how solid are the other supposed experts?
THE COUNSELS OF GOD CHANGE NOT …
It is a simple thing to exhort you to establish yourself on how God sees you. However, the reality is that we do not live in a simple world.
The force and power behind this world is otherworldly .
The force and power behind this world is satanic. Behind the things of the world, there is an orderly arrangement or organization. It is intangible, a planned system in which there is a harmonious functioning, and a perfect order.

The world knew not God – 1 Cor 1:21
The world hated Christ John – 15:18
The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth – John 14:17
The world’s works are evil – John 7:7
Friendship of the world is enmity with God – James 4:4

This world order is hostile to God. It is seductive and alluring, but ultimately destructive. It drives, unrelenting in its goal … control!
CONTROL , attune your thinking to this present age. DILUTE the reality of God and the power of His Word. CONFORM , not into the image of Christ, but antichrist!
The force and power opposing the usurper is also otherworldly!
Believers confront two worlds, two spheres of authority that are totally different and opposed in character. One is the order of things of which Christ is sovereign Lord, and the other an opposed order of things having Satan as its head.
Baptism is a believer’s declaration of death and burial with Christ. It is a passage into another world. The passage is from a world that is under judgment (John 12:31-32), into a world that is marked by newness of divine life. When one arises out of the water, he/she arise in Christ.
We are transferred from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God’s Son (Col. 1:13). We are aliens, journeying a foreign land. We await a homeland not of this world.
We are an inoculation in the usurpers’ kingdom! Make no mistake about it, the enemy wants us conformed to his system or removed from affecting his domain.
Determine to establish your identity in Christ, conforming only to Him! Barbara Kankowske