Know your Value.....

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 KJV
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

I believe that most of us need to be reminded of the lessons in the verses quoted above. We have this impression that there are parts of our lives under our own exclusive preserve and some that we could share with God. We think that we have a strong physical part to play in the shaping of our destinies or that we had a good idea what our lives were set to achieve.

The lessons God has taught me are many and varied but let me share a few:
Long before my life was formed, God already had a plan for me. My coming into being isn't to form a new purpose, but to discover God's initial purpose. I wasn't born to aimlessly wander, I was birthed to achieve God's design for my life, established long before I was ever born. What this means is that I am not an afterthought; I am a product of careful planning, strategic long-term structure and eternal valuation. I must not live carelessly or take decisions thoughtlessly; all I do must be in line with God's initial design if my life is to make sense.

All I do now is a seed towards my eternal destination. Some of us carry the impression that there are some things we do that don't matter to God, like what I wear. What I have learnt is that God is interested in the most minute detail of my life and it is as I give him control that my life makes useful connections with others. If God does not have total control of my thought processes and decisions, how does he trust that I will represent him well under pressure?

There is a price on my head. I am of great value; value that cannot be quantified with human calculations. I cannot live anyhow, talk anyhow, dress anyhow, eat anyhow or relate anyhow. All I do must glorify the God I claim to know and serve. An understanding of my place in God and a clear view of what God expects of me is the only means to making the impact I was created to make.

May God find me a vessel he can trust with great things. May my life be a blessing that men will glorify God for. It all starts with God, and it all ends with Him. All I need to do is trust His wisdom and follow his leading. His time of favour is here.

Open Up....

Psalm 81:10 NIV
I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.

For every promise that God makes, there are conditions to be met for the promises to be activated. Nothing moves God more than doing your own bit as requested. Today's extract declares the power of the One making the promise as well as establishing the ability of that same person to fulfil everything he says.

God's Word is filled with incredible promises. We don't get them, not because God cannot do them, but because our lives can't process them. We are asked to obey God so that we can enjoy peace and prosperity but we ask for the prosperity without any interest in obedience. We want the pleasures without the sacrifice.

God is seeking to show himself strong in our lives but we must let him work as we obey Him in everything, not just the convenient times. He is all-powerful, but we are the ones who will determine how far he can go with our lives. He says: open wide your mouths, and I will fill it. Ours is to open up, his part is to fill it up. Do your bit; dare God to do his bit. He's faithful. His time of favour is here

Laws will not be broken

Galatians 6:7-8 NIV
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

I believe that the realities of the times require that we remind ourselves again that there will always be a reaping after sowing. We ought to be mindful of the things we sow now, because as surely as God lives, there will be a time of reaping. As a country, we seem to think that for us, this law will not hold. We steal with impunity, amassing for ourselves what 3 generations cannot spend, we kill people made in the likeness of God, we have become so used to God that we use his name for godless ends, forgetting the time- tested truth that a man will ALWAYS reap what he sows.

As we run this race before us, we need to be reminded again that all we do matters. All our words, deeds and thoughts are seeds that are sown in the lives of people around us. We need to remind ourselves that all seeds put in the ground of people and situations around us will definitely take root and bear fruit. If you do not like the fruit you see, then you must ensure that you watch the seed that you sow. The amazing truth about sowing is just that you always get a geometric increase of whatever you sow. 2 seeds of corn are put in the ground; more than 3 cobs of Maize can be harvested from those 2 seeds. Imagine sowing evil; imagine planting seeds of discord, hatred, jealousy and envy. The harvest is better imagined than experienced. Watch your words and life today; his time of favour is here.

Fear of God

Job 31:23 NIV
For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

What do you fear the most? Who do you fear the most?. What are the guiding principles for your life's decisions? What are the factors you consider before taking decisions?

Briefly put, the principles we live by are determined by the fears we live with. If you fear man, and let the fear of man be the guide, then you are in for a lot of heartbreak and disappointment, because man's standards are always changing. He's never consistent so you really cannot know what his expectations. No wonder God says: 'Cursed be every man who puts his trust in man'.

Compare that with a man who has the fear of God as the guiding light of his life. He keeps God at the head of all his decisions. That is why some steps or actions are not possible, simply because of the fear of God in the heart. The fear of God is a guide, a guard and a sieve. It is premised on knowing what God wants or desires and actively pursuing it. Nothing else will matter, except that overwhelming desire to do all that God says. If you find yourself struggling with obeying God's Word, then go back and check your inner contents. Do you really have God? Is your heart occupied with the right Presence or filled with all sorts of junk and debris?

Fortunately, the effects of our decisions are found in the passage before us. There's destruction from God if we fail to obey God or do what he says. Things may look rosy now but believe me, don't take God's grace and mercy for laziness. He's a gracious God but he's undoubtedly, a God of judgement also. Take heed, lest his judgement fall on your disobedience. His time of favour is here.

Settled Convictions

Daniel 3:17-18 KJV
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

There comes a time in everybody's life, that decisions must be made; convictions must be settled; issues must be faced. Times will comecwhen the quality of your faith will be tested, when you will be called to defend the value of your faith, atimes at the point of death. What you do then shows the value of what you hold.

The three Hebrew men knew God and had experienced him. They did not just read about him, hear about him or have a shallow, working knowledge of him; they knew him and had a close, personal relationship with him. They knew what God could do and their relationship with God was so healthy that they could accept whatever God allowed in their lives, as long as God was glorified. This is the issue with most of us today. We willingly accept the good and reject the not-so-good. We do 'positive confession' for the things we feel are not too good, forgetting that whatever God allows in us, it is because he wants to work his glory through us.  If we can accept his wisdom and his superior knowledge about our lives, can we then dare reject his process? Can we accept the good only, forgetting that ALL things work together for good for those who love God?

We must settle things with God now, letting him do what he seems best for us. Our promotion in life comes from these kind of situations. When we allow God work, his work yields praise for him and promotion for us. When he brings issues and problems ourvway, it is because he has seen ahead and he's preparing us for higher and greater service.

Let us walk and work with him. He knows best how to make all things end well. His time of favour is here.

His Word........

Jeremiah 1:12 KJV
Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

Psalms 138:2 KJV
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

These are verses I have come to love for some very simple reasons, a few of which will suffice here:
1. God never does anything that he has not spoken of about in His Word. God's nature hates falsehood and lies, so everything he says is backed up by his name and nature, which is Truth personified. It then means that once God has spoken anything about my situation, what goes on around me is no longer as important as what God can do around me. I have got to stop worrying about what it looks like now and start praising him for the change his Word has promised.

2. No matter how much you pray in Jesus' name, without backing it up with God's Word, you limit the efficacy of his work in your life. If God exalts his Word above his name, then our prayers must be backed up with his Word for us to derive maximum benefits from his Word. All he says he can do and all that God claims he is are founded on his Word.

3. The part I play is the part where I speak the Word back to its source. If I know all scripture, and I cannot 'remind' God of his promises in his Word, what benefit is it to me? If I cannot hide God's Word in my heart, allowing it guide my actions and direct my thoughts, how do I avoid sin, how do I keep my ways clean, how do I move God to act on my behalf, in accordance with his Word?

I pray that we will take God's Word as the compass and guide for our lives. Without the Word, our lives will lack direction, impact and flavour. God is bound by what he has said, so if I need change, get it done through His Word. If I need healing, find out what God has said about it. If I need provision, get his Word. That is the way of life and the way to breakthrough. His time of favour is here.

For a Season.......

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

It is amazing just how of God's promises and blessingd rely on faith and trust, not sight. Science, logic and reason, the direct grounds of application of education for which we paid a lot of money for, teaches us that we should trust our senses. A lot of what we hold on to and trust are things we have proved true through our senses.  But God is saying something different here today: your senses may be working well, yet be giving you false information. Ask Peter: there's no law of science or logic that would have permitted him to walk on water, no laws of multiplication will allow 5 loaves of bread to feed 5, 000 people while no laws of nature will permit that a certified dead man will rise up from the dead. If we were to trust our senses, we would never know or have Christ as Saviour and Lord.

Today's Word underlines one true word: God is greater than our senses. All he does is to prove to us that he can do whatever he pleases no matter what our limited human reasoning tells us. Whatever our minds can conceive, God is able to disappoint our expectations and give us something better and eternal. God keeps eternity in view so the quality of his decisions are determined by the destiny he has planned for us. All he allows are towards one end: that we are qualified for eternity.

There's nothing you see now or hold now that will go with you into eternity. Why labour to amass physical treasures that will not go with you into eternity? Why not labour for that which is eternal and unseen? Why not endure the temporary discomfort the world will bring, so that we can enjoy permanent grace and eternal life? Endure now, enjoy life later; enjoy life outside of Christ now, endure hell for eternity. His time of favour is here.

Pure Joy.......

James 1:2-4 NIV

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It is difficult to understand the principles and the procedures God teaches through trials and tribulations. James says I should consider it pure joy when I face trials. Only an understanding of the place, purpose and principles of trials will help me have a positive attitude to the situations I face.

First of all, I have come to understand that God does not give assignments of a particular kind to people who he has not tested and approved in that area. How does God give you wealth of your own when you have not been able to resist stealing another person's own? How does God bless you with resources when you have not been faithful in little things?  We keep asking for blessings,favour and promotion but we have not learnt the secret of sustenance: faithfulness on the little things.

As we allow God work in us, his work is made complete in our walk with him. As we give him room in our lives, we give him room to train us up to be people he can trust with heaven's resources. We are truly made in the process of trials and only through fire is our real worth revealed. If you want more of God's resources, ask for more of trials and grace to overcome.

It is only God that promises joy in affliction, peace in storms and favour in the most distressing of circumstances. Seek his will and purpose and watch your life make impact for him. His time of favour is here.

In times like these......

2 Timothy 4:2-3 NIV

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

We live in strange times indeed. There was once a time that you did not need to say that you were a Christian by mouth; people saw the evidence from the quality of your decisions and words. There was a time that being called born again had only one meaning: you were really born again, not the modifications we have now, when someone calls himself a 'born-again Christian' as if there's supposed be another kind of born-again. We live in times of convenient learning, where we choose what we want to hear and believe. There are many variants of the book called the Bible, with various modifications made, emphasizing what people want to hear or believe. There are also variants of people who would take what is convenient for them from the bible and build a doctrine and an empire out of that, without any regard to the whole truth of God's word.

There's a problem: we need to understand what has gone wrong and what we need to do to get back in line. God's Word convicts, reproofs, corrects and trains so if you find yourself reading or listening to God's wordcat anytime, and there's no conviction in you to change in some areas or grow in some areas, there's a problem with the way you are listening. God says that his Word is living and active, it is always working and it must have an impact in any life that allows it. The parable of the sower is just a case in point: the seed always carries the capacity to reproduce; the issue is always the quality of the hearts receiving the seed.

If you do not know the truth, you cannot speak the truth or do the truth. If you cannot speak up for the truth now, it is a sign that the end- time is here. If all you want to hear is what promotes the evil that you do, or you resist every word that seeks to change your inner condition, it is a sign that you are in trouble.

Truth is not subject to our whims and caprices; it is the constant Presence against which we must continually measure ourselves against. He is the embodiment of Truth, so all that our lives produce must meet his requirements and conditions. Fear God, not people. Stand for truth, stand for God. Heaven has no room for compromise or falsehood. His time of favour is here.

Who is With You?

2 Samuel 5:10 NIV
And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

Indeed, the issues raised in the passage above are fundamental to our work and walk as Christians today. We live in a world that claims self-sufficiency and self-sustenance. We are in an age of human achievements and records are being broken. Man has always an easier way of doing things, and has, over the years, grown ouf of the consciousness of God and his power. We have become accustomed to seeing wealth and riches being displayed without anyone caring about how it is made. We celebrate the holders and owners of this wealth, making them feel they are more 'human' than the rest of us.

But I hear God saying again this morning: there's nothing that lasts outside of me. There's nothing worthwhile that man has achieved without my input. You can never amount to anything if the God who has everything does not live in you. You can't have much impact until you settle accounts with God.

That is the lesson of this morning. The only way up or forward is in God. His presence is the assurance of greatness. When he is involved in a project, he makes sure all ends well. When he's asked not to interfere, he does not. Check out the records of men who had God as they walked and you will find out that their lives made sense.  Joseph was in his father's house; God was with him. As long as his internal conditions did not change, the external conditions did not matter. As long as he carried God everywhere he went, it did not matter whether he was in the pit, prison or palace, God's presence made all the difference.

David may not have been the best king Israel had by human standards. He was a liar,  adulterer and murderer while he reigned but there's a truth that flowed all through his life: God was with him. The past or the present may be rough, but check your internal condition: do you have WHO it takes to journey well? Is God with you or you are running this race alone, without help, without direction and without God?

His presence is key. His time of favour is here.

With God's Permission.......

Judges 14:4 NIV

(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord , who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

As we take stock of our lives today, I'm sure that if we had oppourtunity, there are many things we would do differently if we could change the past. We have all taken decisions we regretted later or did not expect the outcome and we would have wished that things had turned out differently.

Samson's life story teaches a few things about God and the way he works. You see a true child of God going through 'hell' on earth and we conclude that there must have been sin present in his/her life. We cannot comprehend how a loving God could allow such bitter experiences for his children. We catch ourselves almost wanting to tell God how he should direct our own lives because we think we know how best things should work out for us. But if there's anything I know now about God, there's an end product God has for every life and how he brings us there is his prerogative. If my life's journey is to take 80 yearz to complete, there's nothing I can do to speed it up if God doesn't allow it. If I move out of his will because I feel God is slow, God in his mercy may still bring me to the place he's prepared but there will be a price to pay. If I fold my hands and do nothing, God may still have mercy but the experience may not be pleasurable for me.

What then should I do? Do I sit down, believing that no matter what I do, God's plan will come to pass; or do I hustle, striving hard to ensure that God's best plans for me come to pass? I believe that both steps are important: God is to big to be fitted into my narrow expectations and his power is too awesome to be fully understood by my mortal mind. Even though he's a God of order,  He can bypass procedure and process to prove a point. He allows anything and everything we see for a purpose: so that we are trained and built up into his perfection. All that we go through are for our benefit, so that through his lessons learnt, we are his living message to a dying world.

Samson's experience here is fundamental. God can use anything and everything for his purpose. He can take our most rash decisions and bless generations after us with them. He can take our inactions atimes and turn them into a message of life to others. It is His prerogative, his message, his creation and his world.

Everything comes from God. It is our experiences and limitations that label some things as bad; with God, EVERYTHING  works for good for those who love God. Walk, work and wait for Him today, he's working out something pleasurable from the present pain. His time of favour is here

Miracles of Seed and Sight

The story of the feeding of the five thousand with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes never ceases to amaze me. When a man has a message, people will come from the farthest places to hear him. It does not matter what antagonists and enemies do; when God gives you a message, he will provide the platform and the people that will hear and benefit from that message.

But here were 5,000 people. Philip did not understand where the feeding materials would come from when Jesus asked him. His sight only permitted him to see the high cost of feeding the multitude. Andrew was just a little better; at least, he saw a boy with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Both of them could not carry their sight beyond that point, because they were seeing the problem from the wrong angle. Most times, we see the magnitude of our challenges and as we devote time to talking about the problem, it keeps getting bigger and more complex. Jesus' actions seek to give us a new perspective on sight that will help us in getting the miracles that we seek.

The Bible records that Jesus already knew what to do. His question was to draw out faith. He didn't bother too much with the problem; he just worked with what was available. That is the thing about God: that miracle you seek may just be that thing in your hand presently. The boy must have planned a quiet lunch in a quiet corner after the message; 12 baskets were saved from his small lunch-pack. Moses had a simple crooked rod; in God's hands, it parted the Red Sea andd brought water out of the rock. God would most times, start with that thing in your hand presently, as it is his touch that matters, not the quantity or the quality of what you hold. That is why he can use a vessel of clay to do mighty things, despising the strong and the connected.

Big lesson: God can use the least thing you see to do the most mighty things you could ever imagine. Seek his touch on what you hold and watch what you hold bring you blessings beyond your wildest imaginations. His time of favour is here.

This One thing.....

......But this one thing I do:  there's has to be a focus of energy, resources and desire on one thing. God has not called me to do everything, be everything or see everything for everyone. There's that one thing that God created for me, the one niche he carved out in life that only my SHAPE can occupy. No one else will fit in if I don't occupy, neither will I be fulfilled if I decide to seek to occupy other niches.

Focus on that one thing, do that one thing, be that one thing; God's blessings atimes  has much to do with location than activity. If I'm not where God has carved for me, his blessings won't fit me if I'm not rightly located. His time of favour is here.