On Guard

Take care and be on guard for yourselves and for the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd (tend, feed, guide) the church of God which He bought with His own blood. ACTS 20:28 AMP

A call to all who are called into 'leadership'. No, it is not about being the pastor or overseer, but to all who have even a small child looking up to him/her for guidance and direction. As long as there is a life to mold, a life to teach, a life to lead, a life to impact, welcome to leadership. This 'leadership' is a serious responsibility, one with both personal and eternal consequences.

First of all, Paul warns all 'leaders' to be on guard, first for themselves. I wonder why? Is it because it is easier to point out the way to others, while you have no desire to walk the path yourself? Is it because it is easier to tell others what to do, than to use your life as the loudest message on what you preach? Before I stand in front of people, I must be sure that the lessons have been personalized, so that the  devil, the accuser, does not wait for me at the season of manifestation.

Leadership connotes responsibility and accountability. Lives are placed in your care, and an account will be demanded. The one who appoints to service is the one who must be pleased. I must not seek to please the ones I am appointed to serve, as my account will be to the one who calls. No man owns the church; it is the Chief Shepherd who owns, holds and sustains his own. His blood paid the price, so I can work free and walk boldly, as I keep the appointment of God over my life.

Just as Paul has said it, so does it come to me again today: be on guard. I must watch my life, so that all I am and do will bring glory to God. Nothing else matters. His time of favour is here. 

Blessedness of Giving!

In everything I showed you [by example] that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed [and brings greater joy] to give than to receive.’” ACTS 20:35 AMP

It has always been said that 'Example is better than precept'. People say a lot of things by rote because they have been fed those things by other people, not because they have tested and proven the truths of  what they have heard. One important lesson life teaches is that what have tested and proven is what will sustain you through the dark days of uncertainties.

How about giving and receiving? Is it your right to receive when you have not learnt how to give? I look through Scriptures and realize that all the men who made impact where people who invested time and resources in the lives of other people. There are some we don't know their names, like the boy who gave up his lunch to feed 5,000 men, and the ones we know  their names, like Zaccheus, a chief tax collector, rejected by the world, but accepted by God because they learnt that the secret of impact is in giving your life and resources in service to other people.

We claim to entitlement as a result of the titles we bear, forgetting that God's PROVISION is always assured for any VISION which he births. Ministry isn't an excuse for laziness or indolence, but a challenge to do what you can to be a blessing to the world you have been placed. We don't define impact by money alone; imagine the value of a kind word given to someone who has been battered by the world's unkindness. Imagine the value of a visit to someone who has lost everything and is alone.

I must not be carried away by 'my needs', but I must ask God where he wants me to fit in and impact for him. He also gave first of all, and I stand here because he gave. He demands I take of what I have received, and like him, impact the world with what I have received, which is Him. Is that true of you? His time of favour is here.

One Thing!

One thing I have asked of the Lord , and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the Lord  And to meditate in His temple. PSALM 27:4 AMP

What qualifies me to stand and declare anything on behalf of God is my relationship with Him. Men of old didn't just stand to speak simply because they were orators or just had to say something; they first confirmed their connections, then spoke as directed. Can the same be said about me in this generation?

Drawing a distinction between experiential knowledge of God and the testimonies of men is fundamental to my walk with God. Today's context establishes that I must decide what is really important. The Psalmist talks about one thing, and it is the one eternal thing that is fundamental to my life - to know God intimately and walk in his will, which is the first and most important thing, as I seek to fulfill his purpose for my life. If I am not daily living in this reality, then nothing I pursue really matters.

The Psalmist seeks to DWELL in God's presence. It gives a picture of residence, comfort, home. Is that the picture of my relationship with God? Do I spend more time 'outside', or are the things outside more attractive to me than what Home provides? The world sure has its attractions, but they are just temporal. Only in God do I find eternal treasures and pleasures, when one look of favour from God can seal my eternal bliss.

As I meditate in his temple, I discover the treasures that his name, word and power brings. As I live out his Word in my life, I come to discover who God is, who I am, who I belong to, and what I have been shaped to be. Nothing else can satisfy, nothing else can take God's place. I have come to understand the depth of the riches that knowing God can bring. Have you? His time of favour is here.

Walking With God!

But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him. HEBREWS 11:6 AMP

The men of old who walked with God were not perfect; none of them were. They were weak, mortal and ordinary men, who made mistakes, some of them very deadly. However, that is not the focus; in spite of their weaknesses, something very peculiar ran through their lives' testimonies - they knew God and walked with him in faith.

Faith seems like an abstract concept, but today's extract breaks it down simply by saying that without it, you simply cannot please God. Faith has 2 clear realities: the reality of the physical senses and their limitations, and the reality of a God who can break any kind of law just to make a point. Check out all the men of the Bible who we read about today - Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah and all. They all had struggles and limitations, and they spoke about them freely. These were their physical realities, but they had another reality, one that took them through dark days and gave them eternal testimonies, which we read about today.

God created the world as we see it now, simply by speaking everything to existence by the power of his Word. He invites me to a relationship with Him, so I can experience this same reality. The same power is available in Him, and I must be in Him if I am to experience the power in Him. I cannot stay outside and want to enjoy the benefits of relationship; only a diligent and earnest search for God will open the doors of this reality to me.

Have I met this God, or am I still relying on  hearsay? Do I know him, does he know me, and am I walking with him closely? I will face the realities everyday, but the reality of God's existence, power and presence is the One that will sustain me through all of life's course. His time of favour is here. 

Saved!

‘And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking, adoring, and worshiping the Lord Jesus] shall be saved (rescued spiritually).’ ACTS 2:21 AMP

On the day of trouble, a man calls on whatever it is he believes will rescue him. Whether that which he has called upon will also rescue becomes a matter of relationship. Today's context talks about a day that is coming; it is referred to as ‘the great and glorious day of the Lord'. On that day, nothing else will matter, except my relationship with the One referred to as the Lord here. He is Lord because he is the owner of the life I live, he is Lord because all of life will answer to him, either by choice or compulsion.

That day is coming, and it may be sooner than we think. Forget service, forget making impact first of all, forget capacity and ability, or gifts of oration. When the day comes, all of these won't matter. The first matter to be settles will be my allegiance. I just must make sure it is right.

Have I called on the name of the Lord at any time in my life? Have I surrendered control to him at any point in time in my life's course? The invitation is for ALL men of all races, colour, creed, allegiance or inclination. All who were made in the image of God are invited to come and experience his saving grace. Call on him today, call on him sincerely and in truth, call on him to save. His name means 'Saviour' and he will gladly answer. His time of favour is here.

Work in Progress

For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above--spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
EPHESIANS 2:10 AMP

God declares me as his workmanship, a work in progress. Never completed, never finished, but always in progress, perfection in waiting. I read this extract and I see the past, present and future summarized in one verse.

At the time I was physically born, the bible records I was born in sin. Sin is the nature of all human beings, yet, long before I was born, the price of my sin was fully paid. God's original plan and purpose, which sin could not destroy, was already in place long before I existed physically. I was designed for good works by a good God, who had put in place every good required for me to represent him.

Accepting Christ activates the plan. All I was created to be comes to active manifestation upon that decision. Every man has a purpose, but in Christ, its fullness is made manifest. Everything in my past and present is a tool in the hands of a God who keeps his eye on the future. Nothing in my past is in vain; nothing I have endured so far is a waste. If I know that God's plan is absolute, then I can rest assured that he is able to bring my past and present to be exactly like his plan for my life. I may not understand it fully now, but I place my trust in a God who says he's always working on and in me, so that I may look like him and represent him in all I do.

Is my life available for God to use as he pleases? Am I a work in progress, or I see myself as the finished article, therefore with no need for further work? Have I arrived, or do I acknowledge my total and absolute dependence on the only One who can help me truly live the life I was created to live? His time of favour is here.

Priorities!

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather stand [as a doorkeeper] at the threshold of the house of my God Than to live [at ease] in the tents of wickedness. PSALM 84:10 AMP

Life is all about options. Whether you discuss the spiritual or the physical, life is all about choices. Every day God gives also offers us choices, and whilst we have power to make the choice, the eternal consequences of our choice will run our lives thereafter.

Before you make the choice, consider the end. The Psalmist here must have seen both sides, for him to conclude on the better options. Same for me: I must not take someone else's word for it; a personal experience will teach me a lot better than what other people's stories will tell me.

One day in God's courts teaches me dependence. One day in God's courts teaches me absolute trust in the One who holds all in place. One day of God's favour will recover for me what a year of labour cannot guarantee.

I see here a focus on relationship at the expense of service. The psalmist saw God as a personal God, one he could refer to as 'my God'. Can I truly say the same thing about God? In fact, does God know me as his own? When I have him as 'my God', when I know who I am and whose I am, service is a pleasure. Whether I am visible, celebrated, known or appreciated become secondary, as long as God knows me as his own. I see nothing as beneath me, as long as glory is given to God through me. Is this the same for you? His time of favour is here.