ARISE AND SHINE

Isaiah 60:1 – Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

God is not a civilian but  military. Exodus 15:3 calls Him a man of war or a warrior. Psalm 24:8 describes Him as the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. When a military personnel speaks, it is either a command or an order. A command to mean a decree and an order to mean a request.

Arise, shine could be a command. The Lord issued a command in Genesis 1:3, He said “let there be light” and there was light. In Mark 2:1-12, Jesus told the man sick of palsy to Arise, take his bed and immediately the man took his bed and began to walk. In John 5:1-16, Jesus told the man at the pool of Bethesda to Arise, take his bed and walk. Immediately the man who had been sick for 38 years arose and began to walk. Arise; shine could also be an order or a request. In Acts 10:10 – 13, Peter received an order to rise, kill and eat. In Matthew 14:22-33, Jesus gave an order to His disciples to come, join Him to walk on water. The One who is going to issue the order or the command to arise, shine must be higher than you. Psalm 91:1 calls Him the Most High. According to Ecclesiastes 5:8, He is higher than the highest. In military terms, He holds the rank of the Lord of Host – the One in charge over all the angels, demons and military personnel in the world. The One who said arise, shine is the Lord of Host. By Lord of Host, we mean the One in charge of all the angels, demons and military personnel in the world. The One issuing the order or command has power in case you want to rise, shine and you cannot do it by your strength. Psalms 62:11 says all power belong to Him. He must also have the power to deal with forces tying you down. Psalm 66:7 says He rules by His might. Luke 1:37 says for with God nothing shall be impossible. To arise and shine, we must be willing and obedient – Isaiah 1:19. We must also have faith in God. Hebrew 11:9 says by faith Abraham arose and dwelt in the land of promise. Mark 11:23 says whoever says to this mountain and will not doubt in his heart but believe those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. The one who will arise and shine must also make necessary efforts. Today, God is issuing you a command to us to arise and shine. He is also issuing orders to us  saying  arise from not having faith to having faith. To arise from not evangelising to evangelising. To arise from not producing fruits of the spirits to producing fruits of the spirits.

PRAYER POINT: Father, help me to arise and shine.

STAY CONNECTED

John 15:5 – I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

John 15:1-7 highlights the relationship between the vine and its branches. From studying the tree – branches relationship, we learn that the branches depend solely on the tree. Without the tree there will be no branches. The branches get its nutrient from the tree i.e. life flows from the tree to the branches. We also learn that the bigger the tree the bigger the branches. The branches cannot be bigger than the tree. We learn that the taller the tree, the taller its branches. We will also like to add that it is the tree that keeps the branches in place and standing. The tree-branches relationship is similar to the vine-branches relationship. Jesus is the vine –John 15:1. From Him, we get life and nutrients that keeps us alive. Jesus is the Most High – Psalms 83:18, the higher Jesus is, the higher those connected to Him will be. As far as the vine is standing, the branches will remain standing. As far as Jesus is standing, those connected to Him, will remain standing. Jesus will remain standing till eternity and those truly connected to Him will remain standing until they sleep in the Lord. As we have also learnt the bigger the vine, the bigger the branches. Jesus is bigger than the biggest and his bigness has no limit. So also is the potential of those connected him. Just to add, there is a possibility of branches connected to the vine to grow smaller branches. The closest part of the branch to the vine is always the biggest and the hardest to break. The farthest part of the branch to the tree is the smallest and the easiest to break. The closer we are to the vine, the bigger we become and the harder it is for the enemy to destroy us. The secret of increase is getting closer to the vine.

Whilst the branch is connected to vine, it is expected to produce fruits. While we are connected to Jesus we are expected to bear fruits. We are expected to bear fruits of the Spirits which are genuine traits of godly character. Galatians 5;22-23 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith , meekness, temperance . Another fruit expected is supporting the work of God. This was what Paul was referring to in his epistle to the Philippians in Philippians 1:17 when he said “not because I desire a gift: but i desire fruit that may abound to your account.” A very important fruit expected is leading souls to Christ. The Father in heaven – The Vine-dresser expects all branches connected to the vine to produce fruits. The branches that produces fruits; he takes particular interest and enhances their ability to produce more fruits. He takes no pleasure in branches that are not producing fruit. I pray that Father in heaven will not cut us down but let’s starts bearing fruit.

PRAYER POINTS: Father, please help me to be more fruitful.

BE HUMBLE

Proverbs 13:10 – by pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well – advised is wisdom.

God by default is love – 1 John 4:8. His actions are motivated by Love. When He gives, He gives out of love. John 3:16 says for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. And we know from studying John 3:27 that a man receives nothing except God has Ok’d it from His throne. Out of love for the poor, He takes offence when people oppress them - Proverbs 14:31, no wonder He says in Proverbs 19:17 that He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which He hath given will He pay him again. Even when He disciplines, He does it out of love. Hebrews 12:6 says for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He recieveth. If He has ever disciplined you for any reason please thank Him for that because He really loves you.

For God to move from been loving and sweet to hating a thing with a passion then we should keep distance with such a thing. One of those things is pride. Proverbs 16:5 says everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. He so much hates pride, Psalms 5:5 say the proud will not be able to stand before Him. He expects His children not to pick and choose who they will be humble to. Titus 3:2 says to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable , gentle, showing all humility to all men .When the bible says to all men , it means to all men – men and women , even to those who are proud to us. From time to time the Lord takes people from the dunghill and sits them on the throne; He expects extra humility from such men. Asides from God hating the pride, pride has nothing to offer except strife – Proverbs 13:10. The reason for many of the fights and quarrels we see today is pride. Many of the strifes in families, churches and business are as a result of pride. This party offends the other party and instead of apologising, he or she begins to justify his or her actions. It is pride to offend people and refuse to apologise. Pride has cost many their jobs. They begin to choose words with their managers or argue over petty issues. The manager in turn will keep quiet and begin to look for faults. Any little thing they do he will take it up and before you know it they are out of the job. Many problems could have been avoided if only people humbled themselves and sought for counsel. Some could have been avoided if only people humbled themselves and change after been corrected. Please let’s be humble in our dealings. When we are at fault let’s be humble and apologise, if the other party is at fault and refuses to apologise for the sake of peace lets apologise. Hebrew 12:14 says pursue peace with all men. A man shared his testimony with me recently. He incurred a huge phone bill at work and was invited for disciplinary and dismissal. When he got to the panel, the board came prepared with the HR manager present expecting to him argue and justify his actions but then he shocked them by humbly saying he was guilty and apologizing. The senior manager was so moved by his humility that he gave him a verbal warning instead of dismissing him. What if he had taken the defensive stance and begin to justify his actions, what would have happened? He would have been sacked !

PRAYER POINT: Father, please replace every ounce of pride in me with humility.

THE RACE

Hebrews 12:1 – Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

Christianity is a race. Like every race, present at the stadium are the Sponsors, spectators, trainers, athletes and officials. The spectators are always large in number. They include all sorts of people, commentators, past athletes, press men and women, critics, friends and families of the athletes and so on. Once the athletes get to the track, they put themselves in running position and the official blows the whistle; the race begins. This is the exact thing that happens in Christianity. The Sponsor is the Most High God. The Official is Jesus. He decides the criteria to run the race. John 3:3 says except a man is born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God.Romans 10:9 say that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  Jesus determines the rule of the race. Matthew 10:38 says anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. John 15:24 says you are My friend if you do what I command you. The trainer is the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 say but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. The athletes are born- again, spirit filled Christians. The spectators are people who are yet to give their lives to Christ. The price for running the race is a place in heaven and a crown of glory. 1 Peter 5:4 says when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Like every race, only athletes who participate in the race stand a chance of getting the price. The same thing applies to the Christian race. Good works and charitable deeds alone cannot earn you the price. Sleeping in the church or been the friend of the pastor or sponsoring church project can not earn you the price. We need to participate in the race to get the price. Just like it is unacceptable to run on behalf of people, you cannot run the Christian race for anyone – husband or wife, children or loved ones. If you really love them, witness to them so that they can enter in the race and stand a chance. Once the race begins, the spectators begin to give their opinions about the athletes, some good, and some bad. Once you give your life to Christ, people will comment. Some will make fun of you calling you the father of Jesus or mother of Jesus. As a professional athlete, you ignore the spectators and just run. The spectators can say whatever; you know they have decided to forfeit their price. The beginning of a race is the easiest, as one progress in the race, one begins to thirst, become tired or fatigue and at this point many drop out. The worries of life and challenges of life have caused many to drop out of the race. Others while running their race get carried away with the sign boards on the race track and end up falling. The pleasures of life have taken some from the Christian race. There are very few who endure to the last. They are those that receive the handshake from the Sponsors and get their medals. Matthew 24:13 says only those who endure to the end will be saved. It does not matter at what part of the race one quits. It does not matter the speed at which one was before quitting, it does not matter the number of supporter one has. Only those who endure to the last shall receive the crown glory.

PRAYER POINT: Father, this Christian race please help me to endure to the very end. 

INCOMPLETE OBEDIENCE

Isaiah 1:19 – if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the Land.

In Genesis 12:1-4, God gave Abram 7 blessings subject to 3 conditions. He told Abram to 1- get out of his country; 2 – get out from his family and 3 – get out from his father’s house to a land He will show him. In return He promised to 1 – make him a great nation ; 2- bless him ; 3 – make his name great ;4- make him a blessing ; 5 – bless those who bless him ;6 – curse those who curse him and 7- through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Abram got out of his country, his family but not his father’s house - he took Lot along with him. When he arrived where God told him to go, he met famine there. He ran out of there and went to Egypt with Lot. In Egypt, Pharaoh took his wife but God intervened on his behalf. He left from there to the south of Bethel still with Lot. At this new location, fight broke out between the servants of Abram and Lot. Suddenly Abram came back to his senses and he put measures in place to fully obey God by getting out of his father's house. Immediately Lot departed from Abram, God spoke to him and that marked the beginning of a new life for Abram. From the day Abram parted with Lot, He never ran into famine again all his life. From the day he decided to obey God completely, no one ever came near his wife again. From that day, his name changed from Abram to Abraham and God paid him a visit. Today we call ourselves the children of Abraham all because this man decided one day to begin to obey God completely.

Until our obedience to God’s word becomes complete, we will not experience God as we should. God is interested in all our challenges. He has more information about us and about those challenges we are going through more than we can ever imagine. God is ready to fight for every of His children. He is ready to cause an earthquake if need be to secure the victory of any of His children. He is ready to make them the head permanently only if they are willing to completely obey Him. When it comes to obedience, He prefers people not to obey Him at all than obey Him partially. This was why God got angry with Saul. Because of Saul’s incomplete obedience, the God who anointed him to become the king of Israel rejected him .It is half obedience to pay half tithe. It is half obedience to pray and study the bible. Joshua 1:8 says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night. It is half obedience to pay full tithes and not witness about Christ. Matthew 12:30 says He that is not with Me is against Me, He that does not gather with Me scatters. Doing all these and still fornicating or stealing, is still incomplete obedience because 1 Peter 1:16 says be holy, for I am holy. Today, we can make a decision to obey God completely so that we will begin to enjoy Him as we should. God wants to have fellowship with His children, He wants to visit them. He wants to have a supernatural encounter with them. He wants to reveal His plans to them. He wants to be called Daddy by all His children but this will not happen until we begin to obey Him completely.

PRAYER POINT: Father, help me so that my obedience to You will be total.

GIVE, IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU

Ecclesiastes 1:7 – All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.

I am not a lover of dogs, but I am a firm believer of the saying that a dog is the only animal that doesn’t have to work for a living. A hen has to lay eggs, a cow has to give milk, and a canary has to sing but a dog makes his living by giving you nothing but love. Dogs greet people with their beautiful bright eyes, they wag their tails, and they run around breathlessly with leaps of joy and barks of sheer ecstasy. People see them in this mood and want to play with them, pat them on the head and so on. When people see a Hyena or wolf (from the same dog family) the first thing that comes to mind is run! The wolf or Hyena never smiles; their eyes are neither beautiful nor bright. If they are lucky to still have a tail they never wag it. The same thing happens in human life. Ecclesiastes 1:7 says to the place where rivers come, there they return again. Humans are in the habit of returning good deeds, kindness, smiles, respect, and love to where it came from. People we channel rivers of kindness, respect and smiles to return the same rivers back to us. At times, we receive these rivers back from unexpected sources. A friend was once stopped by the traffic police for over speeding. His explanation was he was late for work, the traffic police saw this excuse as flimsy and he proceeded to issue a fine and deduct points from his license. As the police was about to hand out the fine he asked what do you do? My friend said i am a traffic warden. The police then asked, do you give second chance? He said everyone deserves a second chance. The Police man said “there you go, your second chance”, he tore the fine and left. What if my friend was the type that never believed in giving second chance?

The rivers of good deeds that flow from us might not flow back to us directly but indirectly. By indirectly we mean to our families. A man I work with has this habit of bringing sweets, cakes and biscuits and all sorts to work for everyone to eat. People took his kind gesture for granted but he did not care. This man told me about his grand pa of blessed memories. He lived in the countryside of Montserrat. The old man had the habit of giving people gifts, buying them drinks, giving fish and all sorts. After his death, this man went back to Montserrat to put one or two things in order. He said when he entered a cafe to buy a cold drink, someone he had never seen before approached him and said you look like Pa X (X to be the name of the grandpa). He answered in the affirmative that Pa X was his grandfather and the man decided to pay for his drink. Everyone in the countryside began to give him fish and all sorts of gifts all because he was the grandson of Pa X. This old man wasn't really rich and could not afford to leave a million in the bank for his grand-children but he left something money cannot buy-kindness. One question we need to ask ourselves is this, can people because of us decide to show our children or family kindness or mercy? What if Pa- X was a wicked man? What would have been this man’s story? This man decided that day that he will always be kind and good to people so that his children and grand-children can reap from it. It is what flows from us that will return to us directly or indirectly .

ACTION POINT: Let the rivers of good works begin to flow from you.

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.