Trust God for People to be Faithful

Trust God for People to be Faithful.

We all on a daily basis ask and require our fellow men to do things for us at one point in time or the other. 

We need to understand that even a person with the noblest of intentions towards us can fail us, not because the person has made up his mind to do so but because of several unforseen factors that may or may not even be beyond his control. 

The truth is that the heart of a man is in God's Hands. The ultimate choice for a person to be faithful in what he has told you he will do for you, has a god factor that far outweighs whether the person was even truthful or not with regards to any commitment he may have made to you to help you achieve a task. 

In Proverbs 21:1 KJV, it is aptly written thus: 

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

This portion of Scripture makes us understand the Sovereignty of God in the decisions men make in that He will ultimately get what He pleases because we are His creation and He is God Almighty, the author and finisher. 

In Isaiah 2:22, mankind is admonished thus: 

"Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?" 

In fact, in several verses of scripture, God's warning to mankind not to put their trust in their fellow men is clearly stated even to the point that in Jeremiah 17:5, the Lord said: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord." 

God will not share His glory with another man. As His creation He expects us to have faith in Him and trust in Him alone. 

If a man would have complete confidence in another, such misplaced faith in flesh that is prone to sin and failure is proof that such a person has turned his back on God Almighty, the only being that can ensure a man goes beyond his sinful nature and does what he says he will do. 

Finally, 

Let's learn to have faith in God alone for the faithfulness of our fellow men, to ensure we don't offend God for our foolishness in doing otherwise; so we are not disappointed beyond how we should be when people fail us and also, so God can be glorified when men do what they have told us they will do because God Almighty made it all possible, against all the odds that could have prevented them from doing so. 

Shalom 

THE ROAD TO OBEDIENCE (3)

THE ROAD TO OBEDIENCE (3)

Many Christians struggle day by day with their obedience to God's will and his ways. 

A tested and sure roadmap to ensuring our obedience to God's Word and therefore His will and hearts desire for how He would want us to live godly lives, is for us to: 

1. Always start our day with the Word of God, 

2. Meditate on imbibe and understand the portion of scripture below, that helps us to understand the process of our obedience to the Wors of God, and by so doing grow one's faith to the point that it causes God's Holy Spirit to empower us to supernaturally abide by it because we have chosen to yield our lives to Him. 

In Proverbs 6:20 to 23, it is written thus: 

20. My son, keep your father's command and do not forsake your mother's teaching. 

21. Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. 

22. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. 

23. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life. 

Keeping the Fathers commands and not forsaking His teachings can only be achieved by our sincere love for God and our fellow man and not by using our finite wisdom or our flesh to live by the Law which will always be burdensome for by flesh shall no man prevail. 

This is why in 1 John 5:3, it is written thus: 

"In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome," 

Binding God's Commands and Teachings (which guide us on how we should live godly lives) to our hearts refers to imbibing the Words of God that they may guard and guide our hearts and minds and by so doing, ensure that our actions reflect our obedience to the Word of God and not useless things we may otherwise take in from the world. 

Fastening God's Word; His Commands and Teachings around our neck has to do with making the Word of God a yolk; a guide that compels us to do God's bidding alone and restrains us from ungodly things that are contrary to God's will for our lives. 

Imbibing the Word of God as frequently as we can ensures that: 

1. When we walk, they will guide us in God's ways, 

2. When we sleep, God's Word that we have faith in with regards to our security in life will literally watch over us by guiding and protecting us from all evil. 

A testimony of this in Psalm 3:5, spoken by King David goes thus: 

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." 

If we truly believe what it says then our faith in it will ensure our safety throughout the night and when we are spiritually weak. 

3. When we awake, the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance God's Words that we have imbibed into our hearts and by doing so He will be able to speak to us as a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and guide us in how God would have us live the new day. 

Finally, 

God's commands act as a lamp that illuminates directly around us so we know the do's and don'ts of where to go and where not to go with regards to the godly lives God expects us to live, while His teachings are a light that illuminates our future, therefore guiding and helping us know how we should live our lives, for such corrections and instructions are the way to the abundant life Christ has ordained for us here on earth and the eternal life hereafter, when we leave this ephemeral world for God's abode in heaven. 

Shalom.

The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord is my Shepherd

Psalm 23:1-6 KJV

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

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

he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

3. He restoreth my soul: 

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 

4. 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. 

5. Thou preparest a table before me 

in the presence of mine enemies: 

thou anointest my head with oil; 

my cup runneth over. 

6. 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.

Every action word will God cause us to do if we can see, accept and allow Him to be the Shepherd of our life by handing ourselves over to the Holy Spirits leading and therefore allowing Christ to live his risen life through us, for as in Leviticus 26:12, God promised His chosen one's of which we also are by faith thus: 

"I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people."

This confession that the Lord is my Shepherd is my portion in Christ Jesus. 

Because I know and trust God as the Shepherd of my life, I will always confess my lack of want and the other things He supernaturally causes me to do in appreciation and faith, and will therefore always see it's manifestation in my life and those He has sent me to. 

In Jesus name.

Amen.

The Road to Obedience (2)

The Road to Obedience (2)

The human nature we were all born with is the fallen nature all mankind inherited from the original sin of disobedience of our forefather, Adam. 

A disobedient nature that is predestined to always have the propensity to crave for and follow Satan's manipulation of this fallen world and therefore perpetually fall into sin. 

The Road to the obedient nature that is ours in Christ Jesus, which is a supernatural inclination to obey God's Word, His will and His ways which is His good, pleasing and perfect will for our lives, that far outweighs any outcome we can ever decide for ourselves, is based on choices we make on a moment by moment basis; to let the dictates of the Spirit of God rule our thoughts, speech and actions rather than our innate human desires, that are diametrically opposed to God's will for our lives.

The Road to Obedience requires a moment by moment, conscious effort to imbibe God's word by meditation and prayer so that we beat our bodies and make it our slaves, and by so doing subject our flesh to the dictate of God's Holy Spirit resident within us, so that we may not be disqualified from the ultimate prize of making heaven as a result of our lack of self control. 

God's promise of our deliverance from disobedience, that we can anchor our hope on and keep confessing till we begin to see it's manifestation in our daily lives as in Ezekiel 36:26 to 28, goes thus: 

26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 

27. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 

28. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

In this ironclad promise that God made, He not only assured us of: 

1. giving us His Holy Spirit which is the only remedy that can empower us to overcome sins allure, to reside in us but also that 

2. He will - by Himself, supernaturally cause us to follow His decrees and be careful to keep His laws that we may fulfill His hearts desire of being His people, like the people of Israel are and He will indeed show Himself to be our God. 

Why, you may ask? 

Because the God who gave the command is the only one that can ensure it's fulfilment, simply by our faith in His pronouncements concerning it, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "The one who calls us is faithful, and he will do it."

Ezekiel 36:26 to 28 however is a Covenant as in many other pronouncements God has made concerning His promises to mankind, and as a result requires an action on our own part, which is not only for us to have total believe in his capacity to bring what He has said to pass but also to constantly feed His resident Holy Spirit within us, with His Word so that the Holy Spirit will constantly have the upper hand over our fleshly desires to ensure our victory over sin, the world and the devil. 

Receive the grace for obedience as you consciously feed your spirit with God's Word, as you ought, in Jesus name. 

Shalom

The Road to Obedience

The Road to Obedience (Empower your Spirit).

When we can wrap our minds around the concept that Obedience to God begins and ends with our understanding of God's paramount hearts desire, which is to have a loving personal fellowship with each and every one of us - His creation, throughout our lives, and we then cultivate that relationship on a daily basis, then and only then can we begin to master our ensuring our spirit and bodies are obedient to Him. 

Obedience to God's will and His ways is by no means anything we can achieve by our own will-power or anything we can come up with by ourselves.  

There's only one road to Obedience for all who are serious about living the overcomers life that Jesus Christ wrought for all mankind on the cross. 

Just as Jesus Christ overcame sin, the worlds evil system and the devils manipulation over His creation, that the sinful nature we were born into would be done away with, so also can we overcome   the evil desires of our flesh by empowering God's Spirit within us to subdue our innate sinful nature.

In Psalm 119:1 to 3, it is written: 

1. Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. 

2. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart  

3. they do no wrong but follow his ways. 

From this we can deduce that the Road to Obedience so that we do no wrong but follow God's ways, as is His will for us and that should also be our ultimate hearts desire, is thus: 

1. To seek him with all our heart, by constantly meditating on His statutes that we may be abreast with what He desires we do per time, and 

2. To keep his statutes by choosing to walk according to His law of love concerning our relationship with Him and  our fellow men,, rather than following our selfish fleshly desires, that we may be blameless. 

I'm sure we all remember the account of the time our Lord Jesus visited Martha and Mary, and how Martha well-meaningly went about dutifully preparing to entertain the Lord in a grand style but was annoyed at how her sister Mary chose not to help her but instead sat at the feet of Jesus, that she may learn from his wealth of wisdom.  

If we can, then I'm sure we can also recollect the reply the Lord gave Martha when she confronted Jesus about his lack of concern of how Mary wouldn't help her wait on him, as their guest. 

Jesus, in his reply to Martha gave this profound reply to not just the shock and amazement of Martha but to many, like I, who came across the story when he said in  Luke 10:41to 42, “Martha, Martha,” you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This helps us understand that God's command as recorded in Psalm 110:1 to king David, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” is all we'll  ever need to adhere to as disciples of God, to overcome and win the battle we are all facing against our sinful nature, the world and the devil. 

In Leviticus 19:1 to 2, it was also recorded that Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." 

While this, like many other commands God expects men to adhere to, may seem outlandish and a mission impossible to a lot of us because of our inordinate belief in the sway that sinful nature holds over  mankind, the truth is that as in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, "the one who calls (us) is faithful, and he will do it."

We have to believe that the God who gave the command also has the ability to empower us to attain the level He desires us to operate in, only then we can truly be rest assured that our complete confidence in God's word concerning His desire for us to perpetually choose to live in obedience to Him and His Word will be matched by His empowerment through His Holy Spirit,  resident within us to be faithful to His Commandments. 

Shalom!

True FASTING

True FASTING. 

How one should fast has been a controversial issue for generations and still is in our time.

Some of us are conversant with the biblical account in Esther 4:16, of how queen Esther told her uncle Mordecai to gather together all the Jews so that they could fast for her. 

She commanded them not to eat or drink for three days, night or day.
She led by example letting the people know that she and her attendants would fast as they did, willing to lay down her life for her people, at all cost.

God rebuked the people of her times who had gone against the type of fasting he had laid down for them when he said according to Isaiah 58:5 thus:
"Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?"

I was brought up by my parents and the local Church I attended to believe that fasting was a time period of sacrifice when one would: 

1. Abstain from eating or drinking in order to deny one's flesh of it's natural cravings but instead feed one's spirit with the Word of God so that one's Spirit would be empowered over one's flesh, to subdue it and bring it under the control of God's Word, and 

2. Pray and meditate on God's Word in order to know Him and His Word more and gain revelation about issues that was bothering one and therefore the empowerment one needs to overcome them.

True fasting however, as God has prescribed for mankind, that goes beyond what a lot of us have been taught, made to believe and practiced, can be appreciated by going through what God prescribed through his prophet in Isaiah 58 verse 6 to 7 and verse10, so that we can understand exactly how God would have us go about fasting, in a way that is acceptable to Him, so that the inherent blessings may accrue to us for our accurate and faithful participation.

In Isaiah 58: 6 to 7 and 10, it is aptly written thus:
6. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
10. and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

Most of us have been erroneously taught to fast by humbling ourselves before God, merely asking for the blessings God has already promised to provide for us, while leaving out the significant role God desires we do on behalf of the needy and oppressed to obtain those blessings.

True fasting, of frequently spending out of what we own, on behalf of others who are not as privileged as we are, as prescribed in Isaiah 58 requires that we:

1.) deprive and spend ourselves on the behalf of the hungry and

2.) satisfy the needs of the oppressed at our own expense,

so that, in turn God will:
- cause our light to rise in the darkness,
and
- our night to become like the noonday;  which has to do with us getting revelations from God concerning gray areas in our lives that we are having difficulties in, and negative issues we were experiencing before being dealt with and oberturned by the Lord, as a result of our faithfulness in fasting.

Now that we have been enlightened about what true fasting is, let us ensure that when we fast by abstaining from eating or drinking in order to deny our flesh but instead, praying and feeding our spirit with the Word of God, the end result of our sacrifice will be that needs of the hungry and oppressed around us, are met by us, as God has prescribed, so that in turn God Almighty will meet our needs and wants, and bless us as he has said He would do for our faithfulness.

Shalom!

Uncommon FAITH

Uncommon FAITH

It was uncommon faith that our forefather, Abraham had, that allowed him to dare to put the faith of the next generation of his family and more importantly the fate of the promise God had made to him which was the purpose of his existence, into the hands of the senior servant in his household, with only an oath, made in the name of God from the servant as a guarantee. 

In the days of our forefather Abraham, the practice of intending couples courting themselves for a while to get to know themselves better, in order to find out whether they were compatible with each other or not, was almost nonexistent in the Jewish culture. 

Parents almost exclusively had the sole right to choose the spouses for their sons and daughters and even those who were allowed to make their choice had to get the approval of their parents for a marriage to take place.

So I believe that any one who is conversant with the Jewish tradition that existed those days can understand the gravity of the risk Abraham took in charging his servant with the life-changing task of finding a suitable wife for not only his beloved and only son, Isaac but for the only child of the promise God made to him to make him the father of all nations. 

When I first came across the account of what Abraham did in entrusting the task that could alter the future of his lineage, and indeed the nation of faith all over the earth that he was supposed to be the patriarch of, for good or for bad, and was able to grasp the magnitude of faith Abraham must have had in his servant, who was not of his blood line and was not said to have been recommended by God to Abraham, I still did not in anyway agree with what he did, talk less believe that I or any other parent in their right senses could ever fathom attempting such a mind-boggling, dangerous and potentially life-altering feat. 

However, as years passed and I came to the understanding of the enormity of the love God had for mankind and how God found Abraham worthy, out of all the men of his time to be bestowed with the privilege to be blessed and named the father of all nations because God saw his heart and his propensity to be faithful and Abraham in turn, dared to have complete confidence in God's call upon his life, to leave all he ever knew for the unknown, my shock and disbelief soon turned to admiration and total respect. 

Even though Abraham made his own mistakes along the way, one of which was so monumental and world-changing, that it brought enmity between mankind that exists till this day, it takes a man who has walked with God as faithfully as Abraham had done, to have the magnitude of faith in the Almighty to trust God to use someone not of his lineage to accomplish God's eternal purposes for his family and indeed all mankind.  

Apart from the questions the servant asked Abraham with regards to issues that may arise while trying to accomplish the strange task, I believe that the faith Abraham had in his servant was partly due to the fact that Abraham had constantly taught the servants in his household the way of his God, effectively to the point that their actions showed that they had the same love for him and the God in whom he served, and as a result Abraham in turn had complete confidence in God to grant his servant the wisdom to carry out the daunting task of finding a suitable wife for his heir. 

In fact, Abrahams faith in his servant can be likened unto the opportunity God granted Gentiles like you and I to be grafted into the family of faith, which was at one point in time a privilege that was exclusively for the Jewish nation. 

This uncommon type of faith is the complete confidence God expects us all to have, with regards to what God can accomplish through our fellow men, if we would but only dare to teach them about the loving ways of our God, that they too may have the privilege we too were afforded by those who introduced and taught us the Faith. 

Receive grace for uncommon faith due to the truths of God's Word that you now know as a result of this message, in Jesus name.

Amen!