Enough of manna

One of the things we must do next year is work hard. God is bringing us to a higher level. It will demand a lot more than we have ever known. Though our faith is not in our hard work but in the God who strengthens us and breaths upon all we do to give us the increase because many people work hard and get nothing in return, we still have to work hard. I know there is the group of people who feel they do not need God as long as they work hard, they will prosper. I pray that such people do not have to learn the truth the hard way. We are accountable to God for every opportunity and potential amongst other things, which He makes available to us so we can’t just ignore them. 

1 Corinthians 4: 2amp “moreover, it is (essentially) required of stewards that a man should be found faithful (proving himself worthy of trust)”

Our God is not a lazy God. He is introduced straight up as a hardworking God in the bible. We see God working very hard as soon as He is introduced to us in the bible. He is so diligent that He takes out time at very point to check that His work is well done. So that by the time we see Him resting, it was a well-deserved rest for a hardworking God. Every person that works hard is entitled to sometime of rest but what is a lazy man doing resting; his end will surely be very bad.

There are different scriptures in the bible that show us that God expects us to work. He says He will bless the work of our hands; whatever our hands find to do, we should do with all of our might and several other scriptures. So, where do we get this idea that it is okay to do nothing sit back and wait for the wealth of other people to fall into our hands. Then we back it up with the scripture that says the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous. I’m sorry to disappoint you but it is not laid up for the lazy righteous because they would ruin it. It is laid up for the servant that knows how and works hard enough to multiply it. In the parable of the talents, the lazy servant would be disdained and all he had would be taken from him. 

Luke 19: 15b-17 “He returned and called in the servants to whom he had given money. He wanted to find out what their profits were. The first servant reported, master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount! Well done! The king exclaimed, you are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.”

Sometimes we give the interesting excuse that we are spending time with the Lord when really it is not so. When we ought to be working that is when we then choose to have our “quiet time.” I want you to know that God meets us where we ought to be. When you ought to be working, He meets you at your place of work as you work. He announced the birth of His son to shepherds as they watched their flocks by night. He met Zachariah as he carried on his priestly duties and Zachariah completed His work before he left to go home. God wants us to work while it is yet day.

Romans 12: 11 “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically”

It is time for every believer to get up and do something. Whatever your hands find to do, I encourage you to apply yourself to doing it. No matter how small it may seem because we have a God whose breathe is able to make small things great. We are responsible to God for all that He has put in us. Make a decision to work hard as God empowers you.

GOING FROM GLORY TO GLORY

Oh! how I wish I could avoid change sometimes. It is nice when I am in control and prepared for it or even consider it necessary but when it is beyond my control and I have no idea how it will turn out, then I am concerned and weary. But God’s change is always for good even when the process is painful. There is always a purpose, on His mind, to His change. It’s never change just for change.

Ezekiel 22: 27 “I will overturn, overturn and overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him.””

As we enter into this New Year, please prepare for change. We are coming into something different and new. Of course, there is nothing new under the sun so what you come into may be something that has happened before but for you right now, it is change and it is new; causing you to alter several things in your life but that is God. He is making a difference to establish you in His ‘promise.’ People may begin to treat you differently, even in a way you may not appreciate but take no offence; for it is time for change.

Hebrews 10: 9b “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second” 

I know it is painful when a friend is taken out of your life at an “inappropriate time;” inappropriate to you but very appropriate to God. It is sad when you lose a friend to death but I think the pain may be greater when they had no choice but to betray you because God needed them to step out of your life and you won’t let them go. Not all friends are meant to remain in your life forever; you have to understand and love them enough to let them go. God may need them out of your life to answer your prayers. 

What if God takes a precious thing from your life? Something that, unknown to you, has become an idol to you. It may seem like a major loss but it is time to look up and see the hand of God turning the wheel slowly ensuring that His work in your life as the potter is made complete. What if it is your job that needs to go? However, be certain that through the difficulties associated with the ‘seeming pain’ God will carry you if you let Him.  Fear of pain or the unknown must not cause us to hold unto the old. 

The Israelites went through a lot of changes to get to the Promised Land. It was a major change for Joseph when He had to leave the prison for the glory. I can imagine that as they took him from prison to see the king, he may have had some fears. He didn’t know what the future held for him. After all in prison, he found favour with the security men and was some sort of leader amongst the prisoners. The prison had become his comfort zone; but he ended up with a great job.

The long awaited answers to our prayers are here but will you receive them? Will you let go of them because they aren’t what you expected or they are taking you out of your comfort zone? Just taking a few steps higher on a staircase changes your perspective completely. Your view is wider, the risk of getting wounded if you fall is higher and then the tendency for you to be more visible is higher. Things definitely change. Going from glory to glory is a lot of change but it is the goodness of God. You can’t insist on remaining in the same place and hope to enjoy the goodness of God.

Isaiah 43: 19 “Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?”

LOOKING FORWARD - PRESS PT 2

This week, I am still ‘pressing’ that I might apprehend that for which Christ apprehended me. I am in a fight to take all that God has given me though I am mindful of the fact that the weapons with which I fight as well as my fight are spiritual. There is some kind of urgency and resoluteness in my spirit to take all that God has made available to me and then move on. I feel like I have been taking just enough or less but I now want all that should have been mine but I missed and all that is been able available to me.

Philippians 3: 14 “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us.”

I was talking with members of my church prayer team a few days ago and found that there are a number of other people who also feel some kind of urgency in their spirit; they also feel the need to ‘press’: to enter into the next level in their bid to apprehend the purpose for which they were apprehended.

Apart from distractions we discussed last week, we need to look inward, in a ‘godistic’ way, to enable us drop off excess luggage as we press. (‘Godistic’ is that which is more real than what is considered reality – the mind of God as revealed in His word). Introspection is tough because it humbles the flesh by revealing the ugly side of you but necessary for shedding excess weight but the Holy Spirit is ever ready to help us. We owe it to ourselves to get ‘godistic’ and tell ourselves some truths; truths that no one else may ever tell us but only God will.

Psalm 4: 4b “commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” 

We need to stretch ourselves beyond our normal limits. We need to push limits and boundaries we had in our lives and within which we walked, that we may come up to the next level. Even if you just moved up to where you are at so that you just made a lot of changes and are thinking you have done well, it is time to move again. Who knows maybe you where way behind on God’s calendar and need a lot of catching up-talk about been stretched.

Philippians 3: 12 “I don’t mean to say I have achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.”

In pushing the limits, we are looking at our entire life. We need to note however, that our boundaries must only be stretched or pushed within the limits of God’s word. So, let us push the limits of our love and then self-control which may increase our level of submission to the Holy Ghost. Self-control will empower us to be more productive since it makes us disciplined. It is an exercise of authority over our flesh. It would help us to be quiet enough to hear God’s voice about what we want to say so that we will speak more wisdom. We have allowed our flesh run our lives for too long. As we commune with our hearts before God, He will show us what other limits we need to push.

Philippians 3: 3 “For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

A TIME TO "PRESS"

Do you ever get to the point where you are kind of melancholic? Not in bad way; in a good way but very pensive and thoughtful. Also, not because any bad or good thing happened, so many of each have happened over the years as they are normal things that must happen to all living beings, but because God is at work in me bringing me into a deeper walk with Him that I may “come up higher in every area of life.” Deep down in my heart, I am filled with joy and a quiet calmness: an assurance that God is able to do all He promises and shall do them in perfect time.

In this time, I hear a word resounding over and over again and that is what I am sharing with you today. It’s a word that gives me a feeling of starting afresh with God. It is also a word that should bring one into a closer walk with Him thereby taking us deeper into Him whilst yet lifting us higher in real terms so that God may display His greatness through us. I trust that this is what God is beginning to do in the lives of a number of us hence my decision to share this word. Knowledge makes things easier.

Philippians 3: 13 “No dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us.”

It is time to “press” on that you may go forward. Race here refers to the race of life which includes our walk with God because we are believers. We need to “press” that we might go forward. To press suggesting that energy has to be applied and we definitely have to forget the past. The weight of the past, which includes our victories, failures, problems, pain etc., will reduce our capacity to press. The problems and failures are easy to forget but the real problems lie with the success and joy of the past but we have to leave them behind.

In pressing, we need focus and concentration. Distractions are very unwelcome guests at this time s we must guard our hearts. To guard our hearts is to be careful what we hear which has a lot to do with who we talk to and spend time with. Careless talk is terrible because though you may be aware that it is wrong, you have taken in information that at the very least, you may have to think about again thereby wasting time. There is no end to the harm it can do. You may even find yourself adjusting your theology to accommodate even a little part of this strange thought that started off with careless talk.

Ephesians 5: 4 “Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse talks-these are not for you.”

Do you know that believers have become the worst culprits of careless talk? How can we then have enough spiritual energy to press? Sometimes, we as believers unwittingly loan our mouths to the devil. That would be the easiest way for the devil to reach another believer since we are not guarded when we speak to ourselves. Knowing this, we need to form the habit of thinking about what we say before we say them so that we are not instruments through which satan will destroy another believer. You and I have a responsibility to ourselves to take heed what we hear so we must take heed who we talk to.

THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

The matter of forgiveness has been on my mind. Just when I think I am done, God brings me right back to it. I am not thinking it, I am reading a book and it pops up; suddenly it has become a frequent topic on Daystar television which I watch often. Oh! How I wish the preachers could move on to something else but they don’t. I heard Pastor John Hagee say “when you forgive someone, you totally free yourself from the person’s power to control you.” Joyce Meyer says “un-forgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping someone else would die.” Ouch! That is tough. It is time to look through our lives again with a view to ensuring that we have not given too much control over our lives to anyone by not forgiving them.   

So, I am sharing my thoughts today just in case you need to learn something about forgiveness. Who knows, maybe God also wants you to let go of that root of bitterness. Guess what! There is no resurrection life without forgiveness. Un-forgiveness would make it impossible for the word of God to impact our lives and situations so that the life of God cannot be imparted. It creates “a disconnect” between us and the Spirit of God that can only be rebuilt if we forgive. 

Jesus was not exaggerating when He said if you bring a gift to the altar and realize that you have un-forgiveness in your heart, leave it there, go and sort things out before you return to give it. Obviously, un-forgiveness is so powerful that it affects our gifts and makes them unacceptable to God. I wonder - what then happens to all our seeds sown in un-forgiveness for which we are expecting a harvest? It is my humble submission that God did not breathe on the seeds. If it is true that God deals with us from the place of mercy even in blessing us, how shall we then receive anything from God whose mercy is shown to the merciful?

Life is tough, you would understand this statement if you live in Lagos, Nigeria, which is where I live. People get easily frustrated so that things that could easily be resolved become major issues because of frustration we face daily which all happen in quick succession. These things happen so fast that if we don’t learn to ‘let go in forgiveness’ our hearts become calloused making it impossible to receive from God. We then become cynical about everything and everyone.

Sometimes it feels good to indulge one’s self in un-forgiveness; especially when you know that people take you for granted because “they know you, you will forgive.” You just want to show them that you are not so foolish to always forgive but guess what! You have to be “so foolish.” That is why God is so interested in using the foolish so He makes them wise Himself. Forgiveness does not suggest that you don’t learn the lessons God may be teaching through the experience, if any, but forgiveness makes you see the experience in the light of the good things that came out of it.

Forgiveness does not come to man naturally. The seed is planted in us when Christ comes into us but we have to express it. It is not a feeling; it is an act of will. You choose to forgive. You do it over and over again until it becomes second nature to you. We have to be deliberate about learning to forgive. You can’t afford to let someone else interfere with your relationship with God.  Please let us all ask God for grace to forgive.

Don't Rush Ahead of God!

 

There is a sad thing that I have noticed in the body of Christ; everybody wants to do what everybody is doing. Nobody wants to get their own picture from the master artist Himself - God who made all things beautiful. Even worse is the fact that we all seem to be in a hurry so that we don’t want to go through the period when we are prepared for use by God.

Mathew 7: 16b “Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

A seed does not in one day become a tree. From the day a seed recognizes itself, it knows what tree it shall become but it does not automatically or immediately become that tree. Indeed that seed has to first be buried in earth and to all intents and purposes, die before it then begins to grow. Some seeds need to first be established under the earth before they begin to grow above the soil whilst some others don’t even need to be buried, if you just pour them on the earth, they will begin to germinate. These all depend on what tree it is and its lifespan.

\Mark 4: 28 “first a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grape ripens.”

The same principle applies to us. God puts a gift in us as a seed, it takes ‘process of time’ for it to be useful or come to maturity. We often know, discern or perceive our spiritual gifts long before its maturity (the time when God is ready to use the gift). From the principles we see revealed in the bible and the way God has worked with people, it is apparent that there is a season when God prepares the man to walk in the gift. Many people have run ahead of God; they are walking in the gift without Him so that eventually, they get into trouble and endanger the lives of other people just for lack of maturity in handling the gift. The cost of rushing into these things is high and by the time one realizes, it might have caused irreparable damage. Moses had killed an Egyptian before he realized that it was not his time to be “manifest” as deliverer of his people. The actual job did not require him to kill anyone himself.

There is a season when though you are aware of your gift you are under tutelage, learning and building character as you patiently wait your turn. Elisha had to wait on Elijah, Joshua waited on Moses, the bible was silent concerning Jesus for a good number of years until it was time for him to manifest as the son of God. It was His season of preparation. I guess the enemy always tries to make us manifest before out time but we must restrain ourselves. When it is time, the vision shall speak and when it speaks, it shall be heard. It shall also enrich the life of the believer as does every blessing from God.

We have to stop playing into the hands of the devil. Even the world recognizes that it is best to patiently go through a period of tutelage. Lawyers do it; doctors do it and a number of other people. We can’t afford to ruin our lives by playing into the devil’s hands - rushing ahead of God. With God, the passage to greatness is servanthood. In serving, we build strength of character. Anointing and gifts of the spirit cannot replace ‘strength of character.’