PLEASE GROW UP!

Have you noticed that a number of believers think it is okay for us to remain children forever? Have you noticed that we always think that we can behave in any we want to and expect God to accept it? We do deliberately, things we know to be unacceptable to God and then say “God understands. He knows we are children so He overlooks our consistent disobedience and disregard for Him and His word.” 

Job 5: 12 “He frustrates the plans of schemers so the work of their hands will not succeed. He traps the wise in their own cleverness so their cunning schemes are thwarted.”

We say these things so much that we are convinced they are true. We believe there are no consequences for our misdeeds and abuse and/or misuse the scripture that says He knows our frame and is aware that we are mere dust. That is correct but we cannot outdo God with cunning craftiness which deceives us into thinking we can twist God’s word to our advantage. For our thought will not change God’s intention in the scripture. For His thoughts/intentions are established forever.

Isaiah 14: 24 “The Lord of host has sworn, saying surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand.”

Whilst it may be nice and convenient to continue as children; and the Lord may indeed overlook all our misdeeds and treat us continuously as children, there are consequences. Deep things are not revealed to children. Consequently, they have little knowledge of God and the things of God. They also unable receive the fullness of that which is theirs until they are mature enough to handle them. They are unable to enter into the fullness of the inheritance that is theirs for they may consume it all upon their own lust.

Galatians 4: 1 “Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father.” 

In truth, there is nothing funny about remaining a child. Is not terrible for one that is meant to be mature to continue to reason like a child? It is your decision really. It may be fun acting like a child because you don’t take on responsibilities but the loss you suffer is also great. Determine to think like the mature believer you ought to be. 

1 Corinthians 13: 11 “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” 

Sometimes, it may appear to “the child” that the mature Christian is not doing as well as they are despite the fact of their remaining children. Please let me ask – what is your yardstick for measuring how well they are doing? Most times, we are thinking in terms of how much money they have but please good measuring yardstick would reflect the totality of the quality of life of each person. If you refuse to grow up, you have a problem with great consequences. Please remember that you have a responsibility to yourself to be true to yourself.  To your own self, please be true.

ATTENTION ALL YOU WEARY AND HEAVY LADEN! THERE IS REST IN THE LORD

Are you weary or heavy laden? Are you burnt out, tired and fed up? Everything seems a bit overwhelming and “too much” for you to handle. Don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed; it can happen to anybody. It is not because you are in sin. It actually happened to Elijah and God pampered him for a season. The thing is you must not allow it continue longer than it should. We are soldiers in a battle and the enemy does not give us room to rest. Satan’s best moments are those times when we are tired. 

Sometimes you have believed God for something He promised for so long and the delay is beginning to get to you; and at this point it is tough to remember any good God has done in your life. All you see are the ones He is yet to do. The things people say about that situation you are waiting on God for are beginning to get to you just like it did Hannah and you are tired of waiting.

Mathew 11: 28 “Then Jesus said come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

When these things happen, your response to the entire experience is crucial. Being in any of the state described above is not sin but your response determines whether or not you sin. The thing to do is run to the God that has thrown an open invitation to all because all we need at such times is a refreshing for your entire person – spirit, soul and body. He is the fountain of Living waters.

Isaiah 40: 31 “but those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary. They will walk and not faint.”

There is no doubt that anyone in this state needs help but you must be careful whom you turn to. God always has provided the “right help” so you just need to find that help. Your best friend may not be the help provided and so she will be ill-equipped to help you. Anyone that cannot redirect you to God and help you return to Him is not the right help you need. If you find yourself in a situation where you have turned to the wrong person, please turnaround before it is too late. At this time, you are very vulnerable and the wrong help may lead you away from God. 

I know that at times like this, you may not even want to pray or read your bible. It is okay to take a step at a time but please ensure that you remain in His presence. Rest physically and spiritually. Ensure that in any way you can, you create an atmosphere of His presence around you. It could even be to always have worship music around you more often than not or recorded sermons. Don’t bother about interceding for anyone in this season except you hear the Holy Spirit asking you to. This is your “selfish moment. It is all about you and God. Don’t feel bad about it. Everyone needs “time for God and themselves alone.” Just enjoy His presence.

Psalm 46: 4 “A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it.”

This river restores the joy of our salvation so that strength is restored in our being. Are you weary now, please run to Him for only those that are strong shall do exploits? This is our season for exploits.

Focus! Focus!

To focus is to concentrate. Sounds really simple but in truth, it is tough particularly when you have to do it for a while; which really means until you get results. This is something every born again believer must cultivate if we must see the God results that we hope for, though I must admit there is much “noise” going on out there that make it tough. Of course it is even more difficult because it requires a lot of patience which is not a common virtue in our day.

I remember a story I heard Pastor E. A. Adeboye tell many years ago about the man that had to walk on a rope with a spoon of water. He was to successfully carry the spoonful of water to the end of the rope and not to let even a drop of water of the spoon. He did it successfully with a lot of people cheering him on one side and on his other side, a lot of people booing at him. When he got to the end of the rope successfully, he was asked the secret of his success. His response was – he did not listen to the people booing him, neither did he listen to the people urging him on; but he was focused on the goal.

If we must succeed in our walk with God, we must be focused on God whilst we apply ourselves to what we are doing; doing it with all of our might. The principal thing is to keep one’s eyes on the right place or person. If it’s a personality, then he becomes like a mentor, a guide that sees you through to the end ensuring that you are running according to the rules of whatever game it is. God is a good personality to focus on because if at some point, you are getting tired, He helps you through and encourages you.

Hebrews 12: 1b-2a “And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”

We must learn to keep our eyes on God in every situation. When you are praying about a situation or something and it appears to be getting worse, the thing to do is really to keep looking at God and in His ability to do what He has said He will do. In the process of focusing on Him, our flesh tries to wear us out and the devil really does all he can to ensure that we lose focus but it is all to discourage us and abort that good thing or course that we are working for.

Numbers 23: 19 -“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?”

Distraction is a principal tool of the enemy to abort a process and he has succeeded once we take our eyes off Jesus. Sometimes looking at the situation is all you need to get discouraged to the point where you give up. Even if you don’t give up, you may start saying the wrong things so that even your words speak against all the prayers that you had prayed which is what the enemy always wanted anyway.

Please I urge every believer to be focused, talk less and do what is expected of them as advised by the Holy Spirit. We always have a part to play in the manifestation of our miracles. Do not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. Satan wants us to faint but we shall not and for Nigerians, we shall eat the good of this land. We have been through terrible times and come through. The same God will see us to the fulfillment of our destiny.

Be still and know...

Have you ever been in one of those seasons when it appears like nothing makes sense? When all that is happening do not seem to align with anything God told you? If anything, things appear to be walking further away from all you think God ever told you. And here I am trying so hard to put everything that has been going on around me together to create a pattern so I can get some kind of interpretation but it isn’t creating a pattern. Right now, God does not appear to be making sense. I don’t see where He is going and how we are going to get to where I heard Him say I will get to, from where I am now.

I know God is God and knows everything; nothing takes Him by surprise but right now, I feel like asking – God, are you sure you have it all together? Do you truly know where everything is going and do you know how to cause it to align with your original plan? Then I remember that all things will work for my good because I love God and I am called according to His purpose. That gives me comfort for a while but then I lose grip of the scripture again and I find myself sinking into confusion again.

I don’t know if there is anyone reading this blog who is currently going through this same thing or something similar, then you would be interested in the story that I was reminded of which helped me put everything in perspective. That is the story of Joseph’s life. It is amazing how indeed the word of God tried him. Everything seemed wrong until just when it seemed like his God given dream would never come to pass.

Joseph, young man has these dreams that everyone bows to him including his parents. Then suddenly he gets sold, which makes him a slave. Then fortunately, he gets sold again to Potiphar who is high up in government and life is good. God is definitely with him and he is in charge here; Potiphar entrusts him with all he has and just maybe, maybe he starts thinking - things are beginning to walk toward his dream again. As we all know, this comes to an end and all because of no fault of his. He was wrongly accused and Potiphar believed his wife so he gets thrown into a dungeon. That sounds like the end of the world. It is not just a normal prison but a dungeon, a place reserved for the worst of criminals. 

Genesis 40: 15 “For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”

God however, is not finished yet. He apparently has His eyes in the dungeon so they send Pharaoh’s staff there too and I guess at this point all Joseph wants is out of the dungeon. His earlier dreams are probably deem in his memory now. Even Pharaoh’s butler, whom he hoped would remember to help him get out, forgot him after he got out. The suddenly Pharaoh has a dream which changed Joseph’s life for good forever; It brought Him into the fulfillment of that which God had shown Him.

One thing is certain – God’s promise is unfailing. It is amazing that to confirm the immutability of His word, God actually did swear. He did not swear because He had to convince Himself, He swore to reaffirm to us the fact that everything He says is settled. As the word goes out of His mouth, the elements go to work to put together, all that is required to birth in your life and mine, the reality of the promise. Guess what! You just “Be still and know that He is God”

IT IS YOUR TURN TO SHINE

Happy New Year!!! This is the way we greet one another in my Country at the beginning of every year. It suggests that you wish the person a glorious year. That and more is what I wish you. If you live in Nigeria, you woke up to “bad news” on that very first day of this wonderful year – cost of fuel has gone up by over a hundred percent. Your mind immediately starts to run through your entire life and you are wondering –how will I cope? You are not alone; it is the question on a lot of hearts the world over. In truth, how does anyone cope when the economy is falling apart almost all over the world?

Psalm 91:1 “those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

I thank God because those that put their trust in Him shall never be ashamed. The psalmist says through his life, he never saw the righteous forsaken nor did he ever see their children begging bread. The expedient thing to do would be to take one’s focus off the system, government or economy and to set it on God. God has said this repeatedly through the scriptures and in present times, even more directly through the mouths of His children. 

Psalm 37:25 “once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread.”

Please recall that when things get tougher, then it is our time to shine. Reality is that life will be tougher. The greater reality for those that call on the name of the Lord is that our economy is kingdom based; an economy that never fails or disappoints those that invest in it. Returns are certain but the problem lies in the fact that it is not a physical economy but a spiritual one. You can’t watch your seed multiply neither do you have the advantage of monitoring your investment. It is kingdom based and we are compelled to trust in God’s invest capacity. You have to trust Him to do all that needs to be done and give you the returns that are your due. He is not a cheat.

Isaiah 60:2 “Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.”

This can only happen as we trust God and His word but how can you trust a God you don’t know or trust the word you don’t know. That is why now more than ever before, we have to study the word of God. As my pastor would say, “it is enlightened self-preservation” to do so in this current economic situation. You are not doing God a favor; indeed, He is doing us a favor by allowing us share in what is His. I am not by any means suggesting that we do not work hard or that we fold our arms and wait for God to throw down returns. We work hard, pray hard, worship hard and then watch Him bless the work of our hands.

I shall leave you with the scripture below which I hope you will keep before you always. Remember this will be the best year for you and I because like never before the glory of God shall be revealed and we have the privilege of being the ones through whom it shall be revealed so you must wake up every day and declare to yourself – I am blessed.

Isaiah 50:7 “because the sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do His will. And I know that I will not be put to shame.”