... the other SHEEP.

... the other SHEEP.

The whole purpose of why Jesus was born and his mission while on earth, and therefore our part in the scheme of things, can be appreciated by understanding John 10:14 and 16, where he said:
14. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me -
16. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Jesus said, "I (MUST) bring them also."He was determined to by all means bring the lost into the fold, even if it meant dying for the lost sheep.

Note that he didn't say, "I (WILL) bring them also," which would have meant that of a certainty everyone that is not in the body of Christ will be grafted in.

I believe Jesus Christ, the good shepherd didn't say so because as in Hebrews 11:40,God "has" planned something better for "all his creation" so that only together with "their faith in Him & His son" would they be made perfect.

Each individual will be called by the good shepherd in his lifetime because as in John 1:9 KJV, he "is" the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, but like with all covenants, the two parties have a part in it's fulfilment.

We are all fond of quoting Mark 10:27, where Jesus said, "...; all things are possible with God.” but the other side of the coin is Mark 9:23, where he said,"Everything is possible for one who believes.”

God's part is to make a seeming impossibility possible as God Almighty and our part is to believe in the provision he has made as His faithful children.

The words of Jesus,
"I have other sheep... I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice." may seem a little far fetched now that he is physically out of the scene but he has tasked all those who would dare to believe in his saving grace that will deliver mankind from the sin and degradation the devil, his cohorts and this fallen world has to offer, with a great commission to continue where he left off.

The good shepherd through his modern day disciples still says as in
Matthew 11:28 to 30,
28. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

All we need do as faithful sheep is to tell people about the gospel, the reason the son of God was made manifest - through his birth, death and resurrection, in order that he may reconcile mankind back to God and through the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ will in turn call the people we speak to to join his flock, that they too "will of a certainty" listen to his voice, as he prophesied and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Shalom

Write it Down

Write it Down.

I found out a while ago that talking to others of like-minds about things God would have me do, had the unique effect of reminding me the nitty-gritty things He had previously impressed upon me or spoken to me about but because I didn't act on it immediately or put them down and plan towards them were in danger of being forgotten and irrevocably lost.

I wouldn't be surprised if those that I did nothing about were probably reassigned to someone else more serious or desperate to achieve God's purposes than me.

With time and more importantly by His grace, I started to write down the inspirations He gave me that I may learn from them.

Aftet many years I came across a portion of Scripture, 1 Kings 11:41 to be exact, that hinted about how the other events of Solomon's reign - all he did and the wisdom he displayed were written in the book of the annals of Solomon, and I felt the urge to publish the god-inspired writings on different issues that could help others as they did me.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 is a reminder of how the Lord instructed the prophet concerning the actualization of a future event to: 
1. Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets, 
2. so that a herald, that is one who could promote it, may run with it to ensure it was accomplished, 
3. for the revelation awaited an appointed time,
4. it spoke of a future end that would not prove false, and 
5. even though it lingered, he was expected to wait for its fulfilment because it would certainly come to pass and would not delay beyond the time God had ordained it to happen.
There will always be a need to put pen to paper so that we can keep abreast what God would have us do and plan towards its fulfilment for the dullest pencil is still sharper than the most retentive of memories.

What things has God impressed upon you concerning yourself and others that He would have you accomplish? 
What are you doing about them?
If you feel powerless to do anything about them,at least right them down and continue to pray for strength and guidance to bring them into fruition, so that the One that inspired it may empower you to actualize it in due time.

Shalom.

Seeking and Waiting on God

Seeking and Waiting on God.

Seeking God and Waiting on and for Him is the most important part of our relationship with God and His son. It is also the most important thing we must habitually learn how to do for us to have the abundant and fruitful lives God desires we have while on earth.

Our seeking, waiting and therefore finding can only be fuelled by our sincere love for Him and His Word and hence our desire that His will be done in our lives and that of all mankind.

God desires an intimate relationship with each and every one of us to ensure that His good, pleasing and perfect will is accomplished in us and those we relate with because of His influence in our lives. 

To know His will per time so that we can obediently oblige, requires that we seek Him on a constant basis, that He may reveal them to us seamlessly.

King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, who pondered and searched out what people stand to gain from all their labors at which they "toil under the sun," that is, work embarked upon without God's guidance, finally came up with the conclusion that to fear God and keep God's commandments was the duty of mankind in verse 13 of chapter 12 of the book.

To fear and keep God's commandments refers to our choice to revere and hold God and His will for us in such high regards due Him out of oursincere love for Him to the point that we obey Him no matter what.

God clearly states in Proverbs 8: 17 KJV, 
"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."

God first loved us and showed it in the most profound way by allowing His son to die for us, the ball is now firmly in our own side of the court.

In Hebrews 11: 6, we are reminded that, "He rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Apart from seeking Him early we are required toput Him first with a constant and sincere effort. 

God desires people who are serious, sincere and consistent in knowing Him and His Word that they may constantly be abreast with and obey His good, pleasing and perfect will.

The adage, "Nothing good comes easy," is very true. We should not expect the best from God with a lackadaisical attitude to the things that concern Him. We are to exude energetic and painstaking effort.

Waiting on and for the Lord is not a characteristic that comes upon a person when he or she has given his life to Christ. It is solely borne out of an individuals true love for God by ones understanding of Him through His Word and His wonderful deeds in the lives of men.

Just like one can diligently plan and watch every episode of a television series for months on end without missing any because one is in love with the story line, so also can one choose to seek and wait on God for ones direction in life.

Diligence in Waiting on the Lord and waiting for Him to bring about those things He has promised His people is one theme that can be seen throughout the holy writ. 

Reciprocity of love is the proof of a meaningful relationship between 2 parties while diligence in service is the litmus test of our faith and sincere love for God our Father and His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Waiting on just one person for the accomplishment of a process is one of the hardest and trying endeavours a human being can ever endure, because the outcome seems to be out of one's hands.

Our faith in God as an Almighty god is maintained or shattered on the altar of diligence and our ability to foolishly wait on God for His assistance, or trust Him for a better alternative if He chooses not to oblige us.

Is God the love of your life as you are His? If He isn't then this is an opportunity to mend fences, prayerfully seek Him out through His Word, and learn to wait on Him for directions to the glorious life He has purposed for you.

Shalom.

Choice

Choice.

One characteristic that God gave mankind being made in His image and likeness that makes us as unique as He is, is the ability to choose.

God is omniscient, and is therefore able to know the end from the beginning. He also knows whether our love for Him is genuine, whether our confidence in Him will stand the test of time and also the outcomes of all our choices to that effect.

God Almighty already knows the eternal destiny of us all. He has the final analysis of each and every one of us for he spans time and eternity. 

One might be tempted to ask, "then why does He bother allowing us to go through all we go through while living on earth when all has been said and done?"

The fact is that we are not made to function like robots that are externally controlled to achieve specific directives but are intuitive beings, made in the image and likeness of God, to be free moral agents who have the ability to learn, know and ultimately choose what to do per time; chart the course of our lives and by so doing determine our eternal resting places. 

The truth is also that, we have the choice to do as we ought and not as we want. Mankind was created by God with a specific purpose of knowing Him, having a relationship with Him and drawing others to Him as well.

As long as you remain on earth with it's fallen systems your flesh, that is the human nature you were born with, will always be diametrically opposed to and at war with the Spirit of God that controls those who are in Christ Jesus, and it is your choices against your flesh and in favour of the dictates of God's spirit that will ultimately determine the quality of life you live and in the life hereafter, where you will spend eternity.

Are you having issues making better choices because of the inherent war being waged by your fleshly desires against your spirit?

No need to fret about it because someone like Apostle Paul also faced such challenges to the point that he was real enough to identify his dilemma and put it down so we could all relate to it, thus:

18. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 
19. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do---this I keep on doing. 
20. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 
21. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 
22. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 
(Romans 7:18 to 22)

In Romans 7:23 to 25, the Apostle Paul continued his analogy by saying:

23. ... I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 
24. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 
25. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Thanks be to God that he proffered Jesus Christ our Lord as the solution who can deliver us from the continuous personal war between our corrupted flesh and our regenerated spirit that we face on a daily basis.

As followers of Christ, we will always have to choose between good and evil while our transformed spirits inhabit our unregenerated fleshly covering.

We will always have to choose the promptings of the Spirit of God over the desires of our flesh, like Jesus did in Luke 22:42 when he said,“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”and trust that an angel from heaven will also appeare to us to strengthen us when we do, like God afforded Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Shalom.

Saved to Serve

Saved to Serve.

We are saved to serve others.
Our primary purpose on earth is to redeem others to God through the saving grace of Jesus, just as he redeemed and saved us. 
Luke 10:27 is the summary of the purpose of mankind on earth, where Jesus commanded us to: 
1. Love the Lord God with all our being and 
2. Love our neighbor as ourselves.

The proof that we love God with all our being is our acceptance of His one and only son, as our Lord and Saviour, for God sent him to die for our sins that he may redeem us from sin and it's consequence.

The other evidence we must have that we love God, is that we sincerely "Love our neighbor as ourselves" as in Philippians 2:3-5, where we are thought to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but to rather, in humility, value others above ourselves, and look to the interests of others above our own, by having the same mindset as Jesus.

A pertinent example of this is the account inLuke 4:38-39, of how our Lord Jesus Christ went to the home of Simon and met his mother-in-law suffering from a high fever. Being asked to help her, Jesus rebuked the fever, and after it left her she immediately got up and began to wait on them all.

Is Jesus Christ your Lord and Saviour? 
If he truly is then know that as in Luke 12:42-44,you are saved to serve by being a faithful and wise manager, whom the master has put in charge of his servants, to give them their food allowance at the proper time. It will be good for you if you prove to be a faithful and wise servantby meeting the needs of others, so that when themaster finds you doing so when he returns, he will put you in charge of all his possessions, as he has promised all his faithful ones.

Human Relations

Human Relations.

Human relations is all about constantly managing the people around us but as children of God, it must be in a godly way, esteeming the needs of others above ours.

We will come in contact with a diverse number of people in our lifetime and as follower of Christ you can ill-afford to manage your relationships with others anyhow.

We are duty bound as followers of Christ to control and take care of our associations with other people in a way that does not allow the work of God fall into disrepute.

A quick rule of thumb is to leave people better than how you met them and not just as you met them, or even worse and if one wants a friend, one must show themselves to be friendly (Proverbs 18:24 KJV).

We as Christians are admonished in Matthew 5: 16, to "let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven."

In your endeavours you will definitely meet people who will "rub you the wrong way," and how you handle the issue between you can be as serious as life and death.

As disciples of Christ, our utterances are so weighty and powerful that if spoken carelessly can actually go as far as costing a person his very life.

We can ill afford to take for granted what comes out of our mouths like others dobecause of the weighty consequences of having the potential to make us or to mare us, as is written in Proverbs 18: 20, "From the fruit of their mouth a person's stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied." This verse in a nutshell tells us that what we say actually determines what we get.

In fact, our tongues are so powerful that they have the power of life and death as in Proverbs 18: 21

In our afiliations we are admonished to walk with the wise and therefore become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. (Proverbs 13: 20)

As in Jeremiah 17:5 there's also a stern warning for us concerning the extent of confidence we should have in our fellow man, for the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord."

Our confidence in another person should always be that, through God that that person will do what (s)he is supposed to do, Period.

We are not to put our hope and trust in others more than God, for they cannot truly save without God's intervention as in Psalm 146:3 and 5 .

As people of God we are compelled to be good ambassadors of Christ by leading others with the exceptional qualities that we possess in Christ Jesus to such an extent that as inMatthew 5:16, 
others, may see our good deeds and glorify God the Father.

Finally, human relations is something we need to manage for the rest of our lives so we had better trust God and ask Him for the wisdom to help us guide His people aright like King Solomon did. 

Don't Work By Another Man's Timing

Don't Work By Another Man's Timing

The Yoruba's have an adage that goes thus: 
"Ma Fi Ago Alago Śiśé!" which simply means: 
"Don't Work By Another Man's Timing" or "Don't Use Someone else's Timing to Work."

As our faces are different so are the portions God has assigned to all of us. We all have our own individual destinies and the ways by which we are to fulfill them also vary.

Because a person uses a particular way to get something done does not mean it will work out the same way for another. Comparisons can be dangerous and so counterproductive if we choose to live by such.

In Ecclesiastes 9: 11, King Solomon, the wisest earthly king that ever ruled said this truth: 
"The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all."

God's sovereign choice of the particular "Time" and "Chance" , that is, the "Opportunity" God allots to an individual to accomplish an endeavour is what makes the difference between success and failure, and how to access it and enjoy God's Favour concerning them solely depends on the relationship we choose to have with our Creator.

Paul puts this in proper perspective when he said in Acts 20: 24, 
".., I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."

In Acts 17: 26 - 27, it is written, 
26. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 
27. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

This makes us understand that our appointed times and extent of our wealth, influence and power have been set by God for the sole purpose of us seeking Him, reaching out to Him and finding Him as who He is - Our Creator and Redeemer, God Almighty.

Therefore we can ill afford to use the timing and yardsticks others use and pattern our lives after them oblivious of God's specific plan for us as individuals.

King Solomons walk with God made him come to the conclusion he came to in Ecclesiastes 8: 5 - 6, when he said: 
5. Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. 
6. For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.

There is indeed Gods proper time and procedure for every matter in the life of an individual, and it takes a wise person that is consistent in cultivating a loving relationship with God and His Word, that he may understand His ways and therefore obey His command to enjoy such a provision.

What Do You Have in your Hand (7)

What Do You Have in your Hand (7).

If you don't appreciate "What you have in your hand," then please know this: some people who are less fortunate than you would probably give anything to have what you have.

In Luke 12: 42 to 44, It is written:  

42. “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 
43. It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 
44. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

God has given you what you have in your hand for you to manage it for Him by meeting the needs of others exactly when they need it.
He did this so that He can put you in charge of more of His possessions.

He put something in your hand so that you'll be a blessing to others which will in turn bring Him the glory due Him and more blessings for you.

So as in Matthew 5: 16, you are to, 
"..., let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." You are to do so with everything God has endowed you with.

God commands us, as in Luke 16:9, thus: 

"I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."

This verse of Scripture actually sums up our purpose in life in a very salient way that few bother to dwell upon because they have an issue with parting with the wealth God has blessed them with so that they may bless others.

Wealth, simply put is the amount of possessions that you have as it is not just in monetary terms.

God has endowed us all with varying amounts of possessions, according to our ability to manage them, to meet the needs of others who need what we have an abundance of, even though it is one item.

Note that the place of Sacrifice is not negated by your lack of abundance of a good or service as your possession of just one item that you know someone else is in need of more than you should also be parted away with.

God has made it that His principle of seed time and harvest, that is, His principle of Sowing and Reaping, will determine what you have in your hand per time and as a consequence if you fail to give what He has put in your hand to help bless another the result is that He won't be able to put something else or more in your hand to keep His cycle going through you.

The first repercussion is that blessings coming to you will be halted till you do the needful and the not so obvious one is that, failure to use the worldly wealth God has endowed you with to gain friends for His kingdom, is that when it is all gone and it is time for you to depart this world, you will not be welcomed into an eternal dwelling with Him for failing to fulfil your purpose on earth. 

What Do You Have in your Hand (6) cont...

What Do You Have in your Hand (6) continued.

"The Parable of the Talents or the Bags of Gold" can be found in Matthew 25: 14 to 30.

Please read it and attempt to answer this all too important question:

Why did God give the un-utilized bag of gold he took from the foolish servant to the one who had 10 bags instead of the one with 2 bags?

The reason borders around God's unwillingness for even one man to perish in sin.

In Luke 16:9, Jesus enlightened his disciples thus:
"I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings."
Our wealth is meant to help bring others to God and in so doing fulfil the mandate of Jesus to us, as in John 10:16, where he said, 
"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

God has no delight in the death of even one sinner. he is patient, ....not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9).

God is a business man like no other. His business is the redemption of the souls of men to Himself, no matter the cost; so in answering the question with another question, I put this to you:

If giving the un-utilized bag of gold He took from the foolish servant to the one who was with 10 bags meant that more men would repent and be saved and therefore snatched from the fires of hell than giving it to the one with 5 bags, who would you give the un-utilized bag of gold to?

You will be given more, and will have an abundance when you utilize what God has put in your hand but if you act like one that doesn't have because you feel it's too menial, or some other lousy reason, then even what have but don't value will be taken from you and given to another.

Shalom