Abrahams Blessings

Abrahams Blessings.

The lyrics of a song titled Abrahams Blessings goes thus:

Abrahams Blessings are mine,
Abrahams Blessings are mine,
I am blessed in the morning, 
in the noon and in the evening, 
Abrahams Blessings are mine.

I wonder however how many of us who sing it actually know or can even try to recite exactlywhat the blessings are as recorded in Genesis 12:2 to 3. However, in order to put it in context we'll go over Genesis 12:1 to 4, which says: 

1. The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. 
2. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 
4. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.

It is indeed important that we imbibe the words of Abrahams Blessings which are the heritage of every Christian, to a point where we are constantly expectant of its provisions everywhere we go and in every situation we face. 
There is an important lifestory we can apply to our lives in Genesis chapter 13, which is about how Abraham and Lot, his nephew separated that is a cogent example of just how efficacious the blessings God lavished on Abraham and his descendants, who we are part of by faith in Christ Jesus is.

The account of how they separated is as follows:

Abraham and Lot both had flocks and herds and tents, possessions so great that the land they stayed together on could not support, so in order to avoid the quarreling that had arose between their herdsmen spilling over to them they agreed to part ways.

In many climes it is usually the younger that concedes to the elder one as a sign of respectbut I do believe Abraham waved that right and did the uncommon by asking his relative to make the first choice.

Lot took full advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime given to him, surveyed the land before him and not only chose the well watered part for himself but also pitched his tents near the city of Sodom, probably for economic reasons but definitely oblivious that the people were wicked and sinned greatly against God to an extent that they would in future put his life and that of his family at risk.

Abram on the other hand who was left with what one would think was the bad end of the choice to be made had his portion announced to him by God Almighty. 

The Lord told Abram after Lot's departure thatall the land he could see would be given to him and his offspring forever who would be like the dust of the earth, that cannot be counted.

God further instructed him to walk through the length and breadth of the land he would be given and Abram in appreciation of God's favour upon him, built an altar to the Lord where he pitched his tents.

Coming to Terms with Death

Coming to Terms with Death.

Coming to terms with Death, especially that of a loved one can be extremely painful even though one may understand how death came about and the assurance God has given us concerning life after it. 

To help put it in proper perspective let me start by this adage: 
"Life is uncertain, death is sure; 
Sin the cause, and Christ the cure."

Life is indeed uncertain while death on the other hand isn't. 
Life has too many variables that are out of our hands for us to have any certain, reliable or dependable control over it.

A classic example of this is the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12: 13 - 21, who was overwhelmed by his own greed and so sure about himself seeing the next day but oblivious of not fulfilling God's purpose for his life.

The rich man unwittingly affirmed his certainty in the life he had no power over by repeating the word, "I will" several times but unfortunately for him, God's response to his foolishness and any grand delusion any one like him could ever have concerning a tomorrow without God, as recorded in verses 20 to 21, was this:

20. “...., 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' 
21. “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

The Origin of Death: 
Life is an opportunity God has given all mankind to journey back to his creator while death is a passage to an eternal afterlife that is an unfortunate consequence of the sin ofmankind's first attack on God's sovereignty.

In Genesis 2: 17, God clearly warned Adam that he must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because when he does he will certainly die.

Death was never God's intention for mankind but eternal life by faith in Him throughout this life. 

While one can speculate that God wanted to test mankind by puting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden, it's purpose was never mentioned.

So although God's plan was to bless all mankind through the lineage of our great grand father,Adam's choice to disobey God unfortunately brought the reverse, which was curses. 

Most people including Christians, after the demise of a loved one, ponder over why God would meet out such a harsh penalty on mankind as a result of one man's sin, but fail to realize the truth that Adam's altered Spiritual gene of spiritual and physical death was passed on through his lineage to us all and if God gave up on mankind because of Satan's deception that caused it all, Satan will over that of God would have been accomplished.

God's response to the devil's scheme as in John 3:16, in that He so loved the world He had made, that He gave his one and only Son, in ransome for us all, so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.
God sent another sinless man to redeem his fallen creation and impart in them a new nature because of His inability to behold iniquity would not allow mankind, as a creation in his sinful state to fellowship with Him in this life and in future paradise.

The purpose for life: 
In conclusion, the gospel truth is that, although we cannot undo the consequences of the original sin, our complete understanding of God's purpose for life in itself, which is a perpetual fellowship with Him for all ages, is the only thing that can make death understandable and bearable.

From now on, let's see Death as it truly is, not just an end in itself but more importantly, it is a new beginning for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Shalom.

King Solomon's Legacy

King Solomon's Legacy.

In 1 Kings 11:41, it was written, "As for the other events of Solomons reign - all he did and the wisdom he displayed - are they not written in the book of the annals of Solomon?"

What legacy will you leave behind when you are recalled?

What will be your own epitaph, what will you be remembered for, what will you gift to posterity from your life and time?

Solomon was said to have shown his love for the Lord in 1 Kings 3:3 to 5 by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

The king also offered a thousand burnt offerings as sacrifice to God on the altar at Gibeon, the most important high place.

It is believed that as a consequence the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon's uncommon mind set in requesting for what he did, in reply to God's blank cheque as recorded in 1 Kings 3:6 to 9 is indeed something we should all aspire to have in relating with God.

1. Solomon begun answering by appreciating God for showing great kindness to his father David, because his father was faithful, righteous and upright in heart as well as appreciating God for having continued to show such kindness to him and giving him the opportunity to sit on his father's throne.

2. He acknowledged to God his inadequacy in being like a little child concerning his knowledge in how to carry out his duties as a king.

3. The young king also conceded that he was God's servant among the uncountable people God had chosen for Himself, from all the nations of the earth.

4. As a result of the aforementioned Solomon then asked God to give him a discerning heart to govern His people and to be able to distinguish between right and wrong, for he knew nobody had the ability to govern God's chosen people without His accompanying wisdom.

God's reply to Solomon's specific request as recorded in 1 Kings 3:11 to 14 is an opportunity for us to honestly evaluate ourselves as to the scale of preference we would have chosen from all that was before Solomon:

1. long life, 
2. wealth, 
3. honour, 
4. death of our enemies, and 
5. a wise and discerning heart .

Solomon's choices of a wise and discerning heart to administer justice to God's people was based on his sincere love for God and therefore his desire to be a godly king that led God's people aright.

The young kings selfless request moved God Almighty not only to add all the other things he didn't ask for but also to endear king Solomons selfless choice into the annals of history for all ages, by saying these two things:

1. that there would never be anyone like Solomon, and 
2. in his lifetime he will have no equal among kings.

I do believe that any leader or individual who would dare to be as selfless and set apart from most people, like Solomon was in desiring and earnestly asking God for a wise and discerning heart to lead people aright as "God's chosen people," by administering justice to them in accordance to God's law, would indeed be able to key into and partake in the provisions of the blank check that God Almighty gave to Solomon.

Finally, let's have it in mind that God told Solomon that if he walked in obedience to Him and kept His decrees and commands as David his father did, that he would be given long life. One can infer from what God told Solomon thatif a man would desire long life it must be so that he can walk in obedience to God Almighty and keep His decrees and commands so that God's will may be accomplished through him and God glorified as a result.

In summary we should all accept the truth thatwe were created to serve Him by leading others to him, and that if we align our mind-sets towards this all too important fact of our existence, there's absolutely nothing God will not do for us to achieve it.

The Lords Prayer 10

The Lords Prayer 10.

7. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This is the faithful confession of a person who has experienced and come to understand in his walk with God, that He desires His goodness, that is, His Unmerited Favour and Blessings as well as His mercy, that is, His Forgiveness and Kindness, accompany His people constantly tor them to will perpetually dwell in His presence, in fellowship forever.

This revelation and confession can only come from a person who has a meaningful knowledge of the will of God and therefore relationship with His Word and His promised Holy Spirit, who is our comforter an guide.

God's goodness that keeps favourable situations and things coming our way so we are always encouraged in life and His mercy, which keeps us in His presence even though we have sinned, are the only provisions God Almighty has made available for us to ensure that we fellowship and therefore dwell in His house constantly, as is His purpose for our existence.

So God's people as a result of His unfailing character, should daily be expectant of God's goodness and mercy because He is a god who will always do what He says He would do, to ensure that the perpetual fellowship that He desires between Himself and His creation will endure for all time.

Let's keep in mind, confess and be confident of God's goodness and mercy that He desires will accompany us everywhere we go, to bring about the abundant life Jesus Christ purchased for us on the cross.

Shalom.

The Lords Prayer 9

The Lords Prayer 9.

6. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

God delights in and is always preparing a table before us in the presence of the accuser of the brethren, the ancient enemy of our souls and his human followers, that He may anoint, that is, promote and empower His chosen and faithful ones to His glory and the shame of the enemy.

Jesus confessed a truth that a lot of Christians have not yet come to terms with or accepted as the type of life God desires for us all, on what is meant to be our temporary sojourn on earth, when he said in John 16:33, that in this world all his disciples will have trouble and that we should take heart in the truth that it is only in him that we can have peace in this world,because he has already overcome the world with his death and resurrection.

Some of us fail to understand that though Satan uses the opportunity God gives him to test our faith through trials and temptations, if we are faithful to God's confidence in us, it always turns out to shame the devil and our enemies, glorify God and to bless and empower us for greater exploits.

God always avails himself of the opportunity to boast of our faithfulness to Him to the devil as He did Job because of His love and faith in the salvation of mankind.

In Job 1:2 to 3, it was said about Job that he was a man who was blameless and upright; who feared God and shunned evil, that he owned numerous livestock and servants and was in fact the greatest man among all the people of the East.

God blessed the work of Jobs hands and put a hedge around him and his household and everything he had but Job did not fear God only because of how God had blessed him as Satan alluded in Job 1:9 to 10.

Satan's assertion that Job does not fear God for nothing was the reason why God prepared a table before him in the presence of his accuser that He may allow Job prove Satan wrong.

After Job passed the test that one could say was approved by God, although instigated by Satan's reply to God's challenge on the futility of his vendetta against mankind, in Job 42:10 to 12, it was written that God restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before and that the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part, but what is note worthy, and that everyone who desires a closer walk With God and His Christ as a faithful disciple needs to grasp is the truth in verse 11, that everyone who had known Job before came and comforted and consoled him over all "the trouble the Lord had brought upon him."

The bottom line about the life of every disciple of Christ is that we are at war with the ancient enemy of the souls of men for the rest of our lives over the souls of our fellow men who are wallowing in sin.

The Lord who will from time to time prepare a banquet table before us, in the presence of our enemies, to bless and promote us for our sake and to His glory, will also allow those enemies to test and try us that He may anoint our head with oil so that His divine plan that we be blessed to the point that our cup will run over will be accomplished.

my QUOTES

QUOTES.....by me
Ogunsanya Adekanmbi.

1. Faith has no backup plan.

2. Between 
what you want to do and what others expect of you is what God would have you do.

3. If you can't beat them, don't join them. 
Get someone that can.

4. Life is a journey bound by time to an eternal destination.

5. You can only know who you are through who's you are. 

You identify as a Christian is through Christ.

Every man has a master and you are like who you follow. That characteristic will always shine through.

The Lords Prayer 8

The Lords Prayer 8.

5. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil: 
for thou art with me; 
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

A valley is indeed a dangerous place to be in during a battle because ones enemy has a better standing and vantage point to defeat, talk less of one with the ominous, palpable presence of death, yet the psalmist, king David who from his childhood relationship with God Almighty has come to appreciate and revear God as the Chief Shepherd in his life could boldly and unflinchingly testify, " though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:.."

why?

Because he learned by following the staff of leadership of The Almighty Shepherd and subjecting himself to the same staff used as a rod to chastise whenever he disobeyed and also to defeat the enemy of God's flock, that God was with him and that the comfort of the multipurpose staff of the shepherd was of greater comfort than anything any other leadership in this world could offer him.

The mountain refreshing process as well as the valley trying experience are both brought about by one and the same, God to build up our faithin His "All-mightiness" in our lives.

Are you tired of a valley you're in, or plagued from time to time by the spirit of death? Then know that Satan is not your problem. Your Faith in God is. 

Everything begins and ends with your fellowship with God or lack of a relationship with Him.
Reaffirm your faith in Emmanuel, God with us; your acceptance of Him as shepherd of your life, the truth of his staff of leadership and rod of correction as your only comfort in life, and come up to the mount of God where deliverance can be found, by prayer and the positive faith-filled confessions of your mouth and therefore reject death and the fear of evil outrightlly.

The Lords Prayer 7

The Lords Prayer 7.

4. he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 
Our Righteousness is not as a result of anything we could ever say or do but purely as a result of our Faith in God and His Word and most importantly, God's grace.

Just as it is impossible to please God without Faith so also is it impossible to have a right - standing with God without, faith, that is"complete confidence" in Jesus, His infallible word.

Jesus, "God's Word," leads us in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, that his name, which means "Savior" or "God Saves" will prove faithful; that is, it will always accomplish it's meaning and not be brought into disrepute.

In Genesis 15: 1 to 6,
Abram simply believed the promises the Lord made to him that: 
1. A son of his own flesh and blood will be his heir, and
2. His offspring shall be as numerous and uncountable as the stars in the sky, and as a result God credited his faith in Him as righteousness and he became blessed as the father of all nations.

As Abram our forefather, our Lord will always lead us in paths that will give us a right - standing with Him so that we may be blessed by him but as always we have the final say in whether we'll believe his promises and abide by it, and be blessed by it or not.

The Lord leads, and if we believe, 
righteousness is imputed to us and we are therefore blessed. Hallelujah, what a wonderful package.

But as in James 2: 24 and 26, 
24. "...a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone." 
26. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

The utterances of our mouth and actions we take when our faith in God and His Word are tested are proof of our faith and therefore right-standing with God.

Let's trust Jesus, every waking day, to lead us in the paths of righteousness as He promised, not because of anything we could ever think, say or do to deserve it but for his name's sake; that is, so that his name which means "God saves" will prove to be true regarding us.

The Lord's Prayer 6

The Lord's Prayer 6.

3. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.

God Almighty always leads us by His Spirit resident in all His adopted children to refresh us by stilling our souls and therefore restoring us, but as the free moral agents that we are we also have a choice to obey or reject such promptings.

Just as at the beginning when the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters so also does the Holy Spirit act upon the Word of God we meditate upon and store in our hearts to help us focus on the author and finisher of our faith.

In the hustle and bustle of the times we live in and various things trying to compete for the little time we have, it is only when we purposefully dissociate ourselves from them all and therefore make out time for God's Word, that our souls can be refreshed and restored and we can therefore be refocused towards God's good, pleasing and perfect will for our lives.

Our proper response to the Holy Spirits prompting can be appreciated when we come to the understanding of the words of God as inspired by the wise author of Proverbs 8: 34 to 35, which goes thus: 
34. Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. 
35. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

The consequence of not allowing God's Spirit to lead us is that as in verse 36, those who fail to find Him harm themselves and will eventually end up hating Him and unfortunately embracing death and eternal damnation as a result.

Let's make out time for the restoration and refreshing of God Almighty that are new every morning. 

The Lords Prayer 5

The Lords Prayer 5.

Let's breakdown Psalm 23 that the psalmist, king David wrote inspired by God's Spirit, verse by verse, to get a better understanding of it when we affirm it by faith: 

1. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

While the job of a shepherd is to take care of sheep, that is, to guide, guard and provide for them, our God is not only a shepherd to us but our Maker and Father. 
It is indeed a great privilege that when we come to the understanding of who God Almighty is to us, we can confidently say that we shall lack nothing.

However we cannot fully appreciate the shepherd if we do not understand the dilemma the sheep would face without "The Good Shepherd" the only one that can give them Purpose, Provision and Protection.

If sheep were left alone without a shepherd, without the necessary human care, they would soon become wild and useless to mankind and therefore the purpose they were created for.

The wool and the milk they produced would not be qualitative nor quantitative enough because of the wild nutrition they'd subject themselves to.

Then there is the issue of them being fare game for predators that would kill droves of them because of the fact that they'd be too divided to be assembled or herded together as a flock to offer some sort of united resistance against the enemy. This analogy of the shepherd and sheep definitely applies to the relationship between God Almighty and mankind.

In Romans 12: 2, it is written, 
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

If we were left to our own whims, we would definitely conform to the pattern of this world, become depraved of mind ,not be able to know what God's will is and finally live an unpleasant and flawed existence that would ultimately lead us to the fires of hell, which was Satan's plan all along.

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

While a pasture is a large expanse of land where a shepherd takes his flock to feed on the grass, "green" connotes the freshness and luxury of it.

In Genesis 1:29, God said to Adam, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food."
From the beginning there is no doubt to Gods willingness to provide mankind with the best in nutrition.

Although God didn't provide food without the need to work for it, as in Genesis 2: 15, where it is written,
"The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it," God never intended that mankind do so through painful toil and by the sweat of his brow until he dies.

Unfortunately, as in Genesis 3: 17 to 19, our foreparents, Adam and Eve gave in to Satan's temptations for them to be equal to God, and ate fruit from the tree God commanded them not to eat from, and as a result, God cursed the ground because of their willful disobedience.

This curse not only affected Adam, the first man made but all mankind who descended from him including us.

Thanks be to God however, that His greatest gift to mankind, Jesus Christ, who bore our sin and sicknesses on the cross, redeemed all mankind who would accept his lordship and saving grace upon their lives from that curse.

Through Jesus Christ mankind can once again lie down in green pastures as God made it out to be at the beginning.

Are you still experiencing the curse of the fall through painful toil and by the sweat of your brow?

God desires and can make us lie down in green pastures once again so that the peace mankind had at the beginning can be restored. 
All we need to do is believe and accept Jesus Christ as the shepherd and as in John 10: 3, He will call us "his own sheep" by name and lead "us" out to greener pasture.

Shalom