THE JOY OF THE LORD

Nehemiah 8:10 says do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
There is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is an emotion directly related to the circumstances that are currently happening. Joy biblically is not an emotion. Joy is an attitude of the heart. Joy is something that lasts; happiness is something that is temporary. When we overcome a difficult challenge(through the power of God)  what we feel is not happiness but joy.  What the widow of Nain experienced after Jesus brought her son back to life in Luke 7:11-17 was joy not happiness. What the Psalmist was describing in Psalm 126:1 when he said when the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion we were like those who dream was joy not happiness. I remember when I was writing my final year project. The recommended time of the project was at least four months. For one reason or the other I registered very late partly because I sustained a deep laceration to my left palm and could not type. By the time my proposal was approved I had only two months to do a project that should take a full time students four months to complete. I started the project; I would go to work during the day and write my project at night. At times while walking, I will fall asleep. I remember one early morning I was walking by a busy road; because I did not sleep through the night I began to sleep while walking. While sleep walking I began to edge towards the busy road. There was a huge truck behind me approaching at a ridiculous high speed. Because I was so tired, I did not even hear the sound of the truck .As I was about to step into the front of this rushing truck I hit my leg on huge bollard and I woke up. If not for the bollard I would have walked into this truck and that would have been the end but we thank God.  Any way I tried my best to meet the extended deadline for the submission of the project but I missed it. When I called to explain my situation, I was told submissions for the project is now closed. I thought to myself, after going through sleepless nights and almost killed by a truck, I would have to wait till next semester? I said no. I prayed and went to the school, when I got to the school the lady that attended to me  just took the project from me and put it where other projects were kept. What I experienced that day was deep joy not  happiness .
 A lot of things makes God happy like singing praises, offerings, doing  good works to mention a few. But nothing brings God joy like people receiving salvation. Luke 15:10 says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.  Salvation cost Jesus His life on the cross and it cost God too – His only son. Every time we bring Him joy by winning souls, He gives us strength to do more. It is in this strength that we go and possess the gate of our enemies; it is in this strength that we live in perfect health and not in sickness. It is in this strength that we get to the top and permanently remain there. Do you want this strength? Begin to win souls.
 ACTION POINT: Make up your mind today that you will be one of the very few people that will bring God joy from time to time.

IN THE SIGHT OF GOD

Ecclesiastes 2:26a: For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight:

People see things in different ways. A study was once carried out in a classroom. Some students were asked to look at a cup half filled with water and say what they saw. Some of the students saw the cup as half full while others saw it as half empty. This goes to prove that we see things differently. Most of the times we use our own standards to measure other people or use our own yardsticks to measure others. From studying Ecclesiastes 2:26a, we come to the conclusion that there is a way God sees things and at times it could be different from the way man sees things. It is possible for a man to be good in the sight of men but bad in the sight of God. Isaiah 64:6 talks about our righteousness before we became born again as filthy rags before the Holy One of Israel. Before we met Christ, all the righteous acts men have inputted unto us before God are as filthy rags! God sees things quite different from the way we see things. In Luke 21:1-4 is a classical example of this. While the rich were putting bags of gifts into the treasury, a certain widow put in two mites. To the whole world she gave the least but to God she gave the most because the rich gave out of their abundance but the poor widow gave out her poverty, she gave all her livelihood. Another instance is in 1 Samuel 16:1-13. God told Prophet Samuel to go to the house of Jesse and He would show him who to anoint. When Eliab came, the man of God exclaimed “surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!” the Lord simply told him not to look at appearance or physical stature because He has refused him. The Lord further told him, that man busies themselves with looking at the physical appearance but He –the Almighty considers the heart.

Do you know before God, an offering is not an offering until we have first reconciled with our brethren or anyone who has offended us or who we have offended before we give  – Matthew 5:23-24? A sacrifice to God is not really a sacrifice until it cost us? In 2 Samuel 24:18-25, David wanted to offer Sacrifice to the Most High God so he approached Araunah about his piece of land to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Araunah wanted the king to take the land for free to offer sacrifices but David who knew the meaning of sacrifices refused. He told Araunah , “No , but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing”. Do you know we have not really praise God until we dance with all our might? In 2 Samuel 6:14, when David wanted to dance, the bible records that He danced with all his might. In the sight of God, a man is not wise until He begins to evangelize and win souls. Proverbs 11:30 says He who wins soul is wise. We are not really a Christian until the whole world can look at us and not see our achievements, our wealth, our qualification or beautiful attire but Jesus. In Acts 11:26, the citizens of Antioch looked at the disciples, when all they could see in the way these men dressed and carried themselves was Jesus. They began to call them Christ-like i.e. Christian.

PRAYER POINT: Father,  help me to live my life in a way that is pleasing before You.

DWELLING IN THE LORD

John 15:7 if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done.

What does it mean to dwell in Jesus? The best way to explain this is using the analogy of an unborn baby and the pregnant woman. The unborn baby dwells in the womb of the mother. People who dwell in Jesus are like an unborn baby in the womb of the mother. The unborn baby has little or no worry. The unborn baby does not worry about food, security or protection. To touch him one needs to touch the mother first. To harm him one needs to harm the mother first. The same thing applies to us when we dwell in Jesus. Our safety, protection, food or other necessities of life becomes the responsibility of Jesus because we are in the womb of Jesus. To starve the baby in the womb, one needs to starve the mother. To starve anyone who dwells in Jesus of anything good thing , one needs to first starve Jesus of good things and we know that  is impossible because everything have been given to Jesus - Matthew 11:27. To stop anyone dwelling in Jesus, one need to stop Jesus first and we know from studying Isaiah 25:8 that Jesus is able to swallow anything that wants to stop Him, e.g. death. For problems to overcome anyone dwelling in Jesus, that problem needs to first overcome Jesus and we know from studying John 16:33 that Jesus has overcome the world! Whatever cannot conquer Jesus cannot conquer anyone dwelling in Jesus because Romans 8:37 says nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

The unborn baby is invisible to the world. The same applies to those that dwell in Jesus. When you look at them instead of seeing men and women, you will see Jesus. In Acts 11:26, when the citizens of Antioch looked at the disciples of Jesus, instead of seeing men they saw Jesus. Instead of calling them by their names they began to call them Christians meaning Christ-like. When you see a Christian, you do not see a man or woman but Jesus Christ. No matter what anyone dwelling in Jesus has achieved in life, no matter the wealth, no matter how beautiful or handsome, no matter how spiritually gifted they maybe, once you look at them all their life achievements become invisible, the only visible thing you can see is Jesus. When they open their mouth all you hear is Jesus talking. When something happen their reactions is the same as that of Jesus. This brings us to the question, when people see us what do they see? Is it our achievement or Jesus? When we talk, do people hear Jesus or us? Can unbelievers who have never seen Jesus look at us and get an idea of what Jesus was like. I once heard a story of a young boy who ran to his mum claiming to have seen Jesus. The mum asked what did Jesus do to you when he saw you, He said Jesus came and tied my shoe lace that was loose. The mother was baffled so she asked the young boy to describe how Jesus looked. By the time the young boy finished describing Jesus, the mother knew it was the visiting pastor that tied the loosed shoe lace. The young boy had never seen Jesus but he has heard of the good works Jesus did. After the pastor tied this shoe lace, the young boy decided that it could only be Jesus who would take interest in his shoe lace while everyone else is too busy to notice such.

PRAYER POINT: Father, help me to fully dwell in you.

THE LORD’S ATTITUDE TO THE WEAK

Isaiah 35:3 says strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

After Elijah had executed 450 prophets of Baal, Jezebel arose and sent dead threats to him. Immediately Elijah received this in 1 Kings 19:1-8, he began to run for his life. The mighty man of God who had just called down fire from heaven was threatened by a woman and He began to shake –his faith in God grew weak. He ran to God and began to complain. He began to boast to God how he had been faithful and all that. He prayed that the Lord should kill him. Instead of killing Elijah, He sent him food. It was shocking that Elijah who had been praying for death saw food and ate – one will expect him to reject the food but he didn’t. After He ate and drank, He slept. The Lord sent an angel again to wake him up and eat and the prophet ate and drank again and strength returned. After strength returned ,by the time we get to 1 Kings 19:18 we see God pointing out to Elijah that there were at least 7,000 men who had not bowed their knees to any other God ; from that day Elijah never boasted to God about his faithfulness again. In this story, we learn of God’s attitude to the weak. When the faith of Elijah grew weak instead of rebuking him strongly or blaming him or discarding him and picking up someone else or making fun of him or get angry at him, He simply fed him. The Lord is not a user and He looks after His servants.

We need to all learn from this story. The moment of weakness is not the time to blame a person or rebuke them or make fun of them. It is not a time to point out to them why they failed. It is a time to help them back to their feet. Just as the Lord showed pity on Elijah, so also should we show pity on those who are weak or have failed not blame them for their failure. When people fail or backslide as a result of their own doing or disobedience instead telling them that serves them right, let’s first help them get back to their feet before later in a wise away advice them. When someone is low in self esteem, it is not the time to show off your own high self esteem. When a man of God makes a mistake, it is not a time to call our friends and gossip about them. It is not the time to make fun of them or begin to talk bad about them. It is a time to be sober and cry to God for mercy over their soul. Any one party to making fun of men or women of God when they fall is toying with God’s fire .James 5:19 says if anyone wanders from the truth bring him back. God was disappointed in Elijah but He did not show it to him at his weak moments. When your husband or wife makes a mistake or has a weakness or two, it is not the time to compare him to other husbands or her to other wives. It is not the time to remind him or her how she always makes the same mistake. It does not help! When our children comes back with results that are below our expectations instead of calling them names , let’s put measures into place to ensure that they will do better in the next term or semester. Another thing is He kept on feeding Elijah until He received the strength. Isaiah 35:3 says strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. It is wickedness to make a weak hands weaker and feeble knee feebler. When you see people on the path to destruction instead of wishing that God will destroy them, lets pray for them. Remember, only the merciful will obtain mercy from God- Matthew 5:7. If you have ever made fun of anyone who has fallen or made mistakes, go to God and ask Him forgiveness.

ACTION POINT: Look for someone weak today and offer them words of

KINGDOM EAGLES

Isaiah 40:31 but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

The eagles are very bold birds. According to Proverbs 30:19,  Eagles fly in the sky. While chickens remain permanently on the ground the eagle flies high in the sky. While other birds fly not too far from the ground, the eagles soar in the heavens. 2 Timothy 1:7 says our God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. One of the reasons why you will never see a chicken fly is fear of failure. They do not want to fail at flying. Other birds summon a bit of courage and fly but not too high to avoid the wind currents presents at great heights. The eagle is neither afraid of flying nor worried about the wind currents at great heights. While other Christians practice their Christianity in the secrets, Kingdom eagles are bold about their Christian lives. They do not hide it. While others are scared of evangelizing, Kingdom eagles go out and witness. At the end, chickens remain on the ground, other birds remain at the same level all their lives but the eagles go from heights to heights because of their boldness. 


Eagles fly alone. Chickens are crowd followers. If a chicken sees a bunch of chicken running across the chicken yard, he will take off after them. It does not matter that he does not know where they are going or why they are going there. He follows along because he does not want to miss out on anything the majority is doing. While other birds are migrating together in large groups the eagle flies alone. These birds that fly in groups or always in the company of another forget they have a destiny to fulfil. They forget they are on this earth for a reason. They ignore their divine assignments and wake up in the morning and begin to sing. After singing they join other birds to fly all day but the eagles are conscious of their assignments and they set their hearts to it. They are so committed they do not permit other eagles to come and waste their time. While other birds are busy with pettiness, the eagle is found on top of a high mountain busy studying the wind current. While other christians are sleeping at night, Kingdom eagles are awake praying and watching with God. While the vultures gather to feast on carcass, the eagles stand alone not to touch unclean things. When everyone around them is getting civilized and compromising their faith, Kingdom eagles stand alone not to compromise their faith. Kingdom eagles stand alone for Jesus. At the end other birds die and fall to the ground, the Eagle goes to the top of the tallest mountain. He looks straight into the sun and dies on the high mountain.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please give me the spirit of boldness today so I can stand for you all the days of my life and end my christian race well.

GOD’S ATTITUDE TO DEBTS

Deuteronomy 23:21: When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in
thee.

In 2 Kings 4:1 – 7, is the story of a woman who was in big debt. The creditors told her they were going to take her two sons as slaves to cater for her debts. She ran to meet to the man of God- Elisha, who gave her an instruction to go and borrow some vessels and fill it with the oil left. After she did she came back to the prophet and he advised her to go and first pay her debts and live on the rest. This passage shows God’s attitude to debts. The woman was advised to first go and pay her debt which means God took the business of paying her debt as urgent and a priority. Today we should learn from this. When we owe people let us make every effort to pay the debts even if it means we will not eat! If the money is not available lets still be in contact with those we owe money to and re-assure them that we will pay, not ignore them or begin to run. When people out of mercy lend us things or money, when they ask for their money back let us not do the wicked thing of getting angry at them. Many do that , they get angry when the people who have lend them money ask for the money back and some take it to another level by deciding not to pay the money. According Psalm 37:21, it is an act of wickedness to borrow and not pay back! When you owe financial institutions please pay them back. Also when people lend us things let us endeavor to return them back on time and in good condition. It is not nice when people lend us things and they have to beg to get them back from us. Do you know it is a debt not to testify to the goodness of God in your life? Every time God does something for us, we owe Him a thank you and the thank you He expects from us is to share the testimony.

We have heard this saying from time to time, Promise is a debt. A promise is not only a debt but unfulfilled promise is a sin! Deuteronomy 23:21 says when thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. When you make promises to people, do everything in your power to fulfill them. The same thing applies to God. Many of us have made vows to God that if only He will let us pass an exam we will do this for Him, If only He will give us a child, If only He will get us a job, if only He will get us the promotion, if only He will get us the visa, If only He will deliver us, if only He will do this and that …. The shocking thing is many of us have not redeemed the pledge we made to Him years ago. So as not to hold it against us as sin, He reminds us from time to time and what do we do? We say it is true and never do anything about it.

ACTION POINT: Put measures into place to pay your debts, if you have been running from people you owe money to, contact them and let them know you are making efforts to pay the debts.

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.