The power of thoughts

THE POWER OF THOUGHT

Proverbs 23:7a – For as he thinks in his heart so is he.

Our thoughts play a major role in the events of lives. Our thoughts determine our confession, Luke 6:45 says out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Our confession decides our destiny. Proverbs 18:21 says life and death are in the power of the tongue. Numbers 14:28 says “says to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you”. Our confessions are so important the Lord advises the weak to say they are strong in Joel 3:10.Our thoughts also determine our action .The elders have a saying, they say the ancestor to every action is thought. Our actions determine our rewards both in heaven and on earth. Revelations 22:12 says and, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Jeremiah 17:10 says I the LORD search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Romans 2: 6 say God will render to each man according to his deeds. Also our thoughts say a lot about us.

According to Proverbs 23:7, we are our thoughts. Someone might ask how? Others may say why? Well thoughts precede action and our action defines us. 1 John 3:7 says little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

The good news is once our thoughts changes, our life changes also. How can we change our thoughts? By changing what we feed our minds. The reason why so many Christians still struggle with sexual sin is because of the dirty jokes or conversation they engage in, dirty movies they watch, dirty songs they listen to – songs talking of sex and all that. These are where dirty thoughts emanate from. According Mark 7:15 the product of our thoughts is able to defile us. Titus 1:15 says to the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. Feeding our minds with spiritual materials like reading the bible, Christian literature will do us a lot of good. Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Reading success stories and autobiographies of people who overcame one difficult or other also helps too. These are good for the mind; success thoughts and positive thoughts emanate from them. Before feeding our minds with positive and spiritual materials, we need to purge ourselves of dirty stuff and the purging is done through fasting and praying.

PRAYER POINT: Father, purge me off every thought that is destroying me and causing a gap between you and me.

Cost of anger

Proverbs 15:18 - A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention.

Anger is very costly. It is able to turn a prince in to a fugitive. In Exodus 2:11-17, Moses-a prince in Egypt became a fugitive in the land of Midian courtesy of his anger. He saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, instead of simply reprimanding the Egyptian or better still ask what happened and resolve the matter, he got angry and before he knew it he became a murderer. The boy who was once favored by Pharaoh suddenly became an enemy courtesy of the result of his anger. Anger can bring curses. In Genesis 4:3-11, Cain got angry because God rejected his offering .Out of anger he killed Abel and that action brought God's curse on him. Many marriages are on the rock today as a result things that were said in anger. There are so many who have destroyed their own labor due to anger. Something they labored for all their life, in anger they destroyed it. Many parents out of anger have placed a curse on their children. There was a slight misunderstanding between a sister and her fiancee and out of anger this sister took the expensive watch this brother bought for her as a gift and destroyed it in the presence of this brother. The brother simply called off the wedding .The sister who was meant to get married in few months suddenly became single again.

Worse is uncontrolled anger. The anger that led Moses to kill the Egyptian in Exodus, made him to disobey God in Numbers 20:1-3. The instruction was speak to the rock but out of the anger he refused to control, he hit the rock and the Lord decided Moses was not worthy of leading Israel into Canaan. Studying the live of Moses we will come to the conclusion that uncontrolled anger leads to untimely death - Moses who was meant to die in Canaan died in the desert before his appointed time; uncontrolled anger brings disfavor - Moses who God appointed as the leader in Israel was suddenly found unworthy of been a leader by the same God who appointed him because of the anger he refused to control ; Uncontrolled anger rubs us of our destinies - the destiny of Moses was to lead Israel to Canaan but he could not out of anger. Why is anger bad? in anger one thinks irrationally. Proverbs 14:17 says He that is quickly angry deals foolishly: and a man of wicked intentions is hated. Proverbs 16:32 says He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city.

Brethren anger can cost us heaven if we do not do something about our anger. James 1:20 says for the anger of man works not the righteousness of God.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please rid me of every form anger today.

Whom the Father Loves

Psalm 94:12 - Blessed is the man whom you instruct ,O Lord , and teach out of Your law.

Love is very powerful. When you watch parents of new born babies ,you will marvel at the power of love. They will do anything to make the new born baby comfortable. They do unbelievable things for example in the part of the world where i come from where medical science is just developing , i have seen fathers use their mouth to suck mucus out of the nose of their new born when they have catarrh .They do this to clear the blocked nose.It does not stop there , as the babies grow up they ensure that the baby eats before they eat.They ensure the baby sleeps before they sleep and before the baby wakes they are awake. Even when they are unlearned , they go out of their way to make sure the child goes to school. They might not be able to afford shoes for themselves but they ensure the kids have shoes. Why does these parents go through all of these ? it is out of love for that child. Many of them can not remember the last time they bought gifts for themselves but they buy gifts every birthday. No wonder Colossians 3:20 says Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. God disapproves of any form of disobedience to our parents - physical or spiritual. Please If there is anyone of us not in talking terms with  our parents please before the end of the day lets ensure we put things right .

We will also notice that these parents out of love still disciplines this child. While other children are playing football , they might ask this child to sit and read not out of hate but love. They want such child to succeed in  life.They same thing applies to the Most High God, According to John 3:16, He gave His only begotten son to die on the cross for our sins. This is the greatest act of love .When He chastises us or instructs us to live a holy life it is not out hatred or make life hard for us but out of love.Revelations 3:19 says Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.Whom the Father loves He expects obedience to His word from , He expects 100 per cent commitment from . The rebuke may come from our earthly parents , spiritual parents or through a sermon . Regardless of the source , if the Lord is asking us to do something , it is for our own good  and out of love.

ACTION POINT: Do everything to please God ,this include get back into talking term with our parents if we are not in talking terms.

LIMITED BY REQUEST

John 14:13 - and whatever you ask in My name,that i will do , that the Father may be glorified in the Son
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This is an open cheque from our Lord Jesus Christ to all believers. According to Matthew 7:7, it is our responsibility to fill the open cheque. What we fill in it is our business but remember what we fill is what we get. Since we are responsible for our request and limited by what we ask for , we can decide to ask for a child maybe a boy or girl or decide to ask for triplets two boys and a girl or vice versa. We can choose to ask for a bedroom house or a mansion with 7 bedrooms - every one has his or her room and the two left for guests.We can decide to ask for little anointing or mega anointing like that of David . David was anointed until his cup ran over.We can ask for only a gift of the Spirit maybe healing or prophecy or ask for all! Remember there is enough in the heavenly store to cater for all needs.

This brings us to the question of how do we ask ? We can ask through our confession .Numbers 14:28 says as i live says the Lord, as you have spoken in My hearing , so i will do to you. Another way to ask is through sowing,tithes and offerings.Galatians 6:7 says whatever a man sows , he shall reap. According to Proverbs 3:9-10 , anyone who honors the Lord with his first fruits is requesting for expansion and enlargement of coast.We know that payment of tithes is telling God please rebuke every form devourer in my life. Another way to ask is through our actions. The actions include soul winning. According to Proverbs 11:30 those who win souls are wise and Proverbs 3:35 says the wise shall inherit glory. Another action is helping the poor.Proverbs 19:17 says anyone who shows pity on the poor lends to the Lord and the Lord always pays His debts on time. Another action is showing mercy.Matthew 5:7 says the merciful will obtain mercy. We can also ask through our lifestyle.Psalms 75:10 says the horn of the righteous shall be exalted.

ACTION POINT: We now know how to ask , let us take our pens and begin to fill the open cheque from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The all sufficient one

Jeremiah 32:27 - Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

To be sufficient means to be more than enough. What it means is that no matter what happens to one of His children, that He can and will take care of them, if we but trust Him.When it comes to promotion , He is more than enough. In 1 Samuel 16:1-end, He picked David from the back of the desert and set him in the palace. In a matter of hours , he made the last born to become the first.Also in Genesis 41:1-end , He took Joseph from the prison and made him the father to Pharaoh -Genesis 45:8. Joseph without any political party, campaign ,political godfather and election became the prime minister of Egypt.Once you know Him you do not need to do anything funny or dirty to get to the top. He can single-handedly take you to the top.

When it comes to protection, He is more than sufficient. I have always had reservations about bodyguards and all. They can only protect you from men , how about demons or sickness ? Besides that most them needs protection too.Be it the visible or the invisible ,you can rely on the All sufficient one.

When it comes to meeting needs , He alone can provide.  David says in Psalm 23:1 , the Lord is my Shepherd i shall not want.Just like it is the responsibility of the shepherd to provide for the sheep so also is the responsibility of God to provide for His children and He can do that without the help of a man.He used wind to provide meat for the Israelite in Numbers 11:31. He used ravens ( a very stingy bird) to feed Elijah in 1 Kings 17:5-9.
He is also sufficient to save. Imagine Saul a man who was  party to the death of Stephen and many other believers becoming a preacher. He is sufficient to save any president or any man or woman regardless of their past.
PRAYER POINT : Oh Lord, make a beneficiary of your sufficiency today.

IDENTIFYING THE WISE PART 2

Proverbs 12:8 –A man will be commended according to his wisdom but he who has a perverse heart will be despised.
According to Job 28:28, wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

As earlier discussed, there are four ways to identify the wise. We have discussed the first two; we will quickly look at the last the two.

Thirdly, the wise are identified by their actions. 1 John 3:7 says little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. By people’s action we can tell if they are wise or not i.e. if the fear of the Lord is present in their heart or not. Matthew 7:16 says by their fruits you shall know them. Anyone who truly fears God will not commit abortion. Many of us claim we fear God but our actions speak otherwise. If we ask the question who loves the Lord, almost everyone will raise up their hands. Jesus says in John 14:15, if you love me obey my commandments. Anyone who fears God will not have issues with paying his or her tithes.

Fourthly, the wise are identified by they stand for. Isaiah 32:8 says but a generous man devises generous things and by generosity he shall stand. A wise man or woman stands up for wise decisions. A brother or sister who fears the Lord will stand for righteousness.  What do we stand for? Do we stand for revenge or forgive and forget? Do we stand for racism and tribalism? Do we stand for the truth?
Proverbs 8:13 says to fear the Lord is to hate evil. One thing Christians are permitted to hate is the devil and evil things. The wise i.e. those who fear the Lord will not permit dodgey or funny deals to go on around them because they abhor evil. They hate fornication and adultery with a passion.

ACTION POINTS: Take necessary steps to be in the camp of the wise.

GOD OF MYSTERIES

Job 11:7: can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?

 Who is God? John 4:24 – God is Spirit. Psalms 91:1 says God has a shadow and the safest place to be is under His shadow. Can anyone explain how a Spirit can have a shadow? Remember spirits are invincible and shadows are visible. The bible describes God as Love in I John 4:8 , the same bible describes Him as a Consuming fire in Hebrews 12:29. How can one explain God that so loves that everyone wants to be around Him and yet He is a fire that consumes. Jesus is described as the Lion of the tribe of Judah in Revelations 5:5 and by the time we get to Revelations 7:10 He is called the Lamb upon the throne. How can one be a Lion and a Lamb at the same time? We know from reading Isaiah 66:1 that God is so big He uses the earth as big as it is as a footstool yet He is so small He can fit into the hearts of every man inside the earth.

Aside His existence been a mystery, His ways are mysterious too. John 3:8 compares His ways to the wind that blows where it wills,we hear the sound but cannot tell where it came from and where it is going. Romans 11:33 says His ways are past finding outs. Job 11:7 describes the things of God as deep and unsearchable. Despite all these, we are expected to know Him because the combine knowledge of Him and Jesus is called eternal life -John 17:3. According to 2 Peter 1:2, Grace and peace is multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and Jesus.

We do not really know anyone until we know their secrets. The only way to really know God is by knowing His secrets.  Psalms 25:14 says the secret of the Lord are with those that fear Him. Anyone who aspires to know God must fear / reverence Him. This brings us to a crucial question, what does it really mean to fear God?  Proverbs 8:13 says the Fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The fear of God is measured by hatred for evil. The more we fear God, the more we will hate evil.1 Thessalonians 5:22 say we should flee from everything that appears as evil.

ACTION POINT: Passionately hate evil and your knowledge of God will increase.