Don't be afraid to cry out

There are certain situations that we encounter that greatly test our faith. One thing I have come to realize is that you will go on in that situation, but until you cry out to God for help when you have reached your breaking point, nothing may be done about it. 
Never be afraid or feel ashamed to cry out to God in times of trouble.

You may have sinned against God and are now facing the consequences. You may just be going through a tough time in your relationship, or job. Do not be too proud to cry out to God for help. Sometimes, it is a trial that we need, to turn back to God.

You may have brought the trouble upon yourself through disobedience like the Israelites. Judges 6:1

The Israelites began polluting themselves after the death of Joshua. They began to serve other gods.

They also didn't drive out all the inhabitants of the promise land like the Lord had asked them to do. They instead went into a treaty with some of them. Well, that made God decide to give the inhabitants of the land an upper hand against the Israelites, just to prove them, to know whether they would keep the Lord's commandments and turn back to Him. Judges 6:1-7. 

They were under severe oppression from the Midianites and when they could no longer bear the anguish, they cried out to God to save them. God did not step in until they called out to Him, because He brought the oppression on them as punishment for forsaking Him and serving strange gods.

The pain from the trials bring us back to God in repentance.

Those times, it would seem as though God is silent. He is in a way. He allowed it. He knows our hearts and knows our threshold. He wants us to willingly come, and He will do whatever it takes to show us that we cant do without Him and that we have erred. He knows that you won't be able to bear the heat much longer and you would realize your follly and turn back to Him. The situation will last for as long  as we have not learnt the lesson it is meant to teach us.

Thank God that we can go to the throne of grace even when we are neck deep in sin. Hebrews 4:16. Thank God that veil to the holy of hollies was torn by Jesus that we may have access to the Father.

May we learn our lessons on time and may we go boldly to the throne of grace to obtain help in times of need.

May we never be to big or too hardened to run to God when we have erred.

Friends, the Lord is on our side. Never forget.

So you think you are smarter?

Many of us are like the children of Gad and Reuben. Numbers 32

You see, the men of Israel were sent to the land of Canaan to spy the land for 40 days and come back to Moses and the congregation of Israel with a report. They came back with a bad report, save Caleb and Joshua and because of that, God decided that they wouldn't see the promise land. Num 32:11. Now, the children of Gad and Reuben must have heard about the report that their fathers brought. They felt the land that God promised them was not good enough, that the inhabitants of the land were too mighty and powerful and would slay them.

Just earlier, the Israelites won a battle against the Midianites and they got a lot of cattle, sheep, and spoils of war.

So as they were journeying through the wilderness, they passed through the land of jazer and gilead.They saw that the land was a place for cattle so they decided to ask Moses if they could take the land for an inheritance and forget about going to Canaan. Numbers 32:1-5. They were ready to exchange that land they saw for the land that God had promised them for an inheritance.

Sometimes, we as Christians hear a lot of evil report about the Christian life. The older Christians may have somehow convinced us that the Christian life is not one to be desired. So we ask God for an exchange. Instead of me to sing gospel music and not make money,why don't I sing secular music?

Instead of me to pay my tithes,why don't I give it to charity?

Instead of me to marry this God fearing man who does not have so much money, why don't I marry that ritualistic with a lot of money. You even hear some women say it is better to cry in a Bentley than to be happy in a beetle. 

We begin a negotiation with the Lord.

We have our planB, because we don't trust that God's plan is the best. Who told you? Who deceived you? Who gave you an evil report? Whose report would you rather believe?

The children of  Gad and Reuben didn't trust God enough to believe that His thoughts and plans for them are of good and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11).

No good thing will He withhold from  

His children. Psalm 84:11

Do not exchange your promise land for the land of Jazer and gilead.

Can a man offer you a brand new range rover jeep and you decline and rather ask for a picanto? 

Do not let anyone deceive about the promises and will of God.

Know that it is better, much better, far better than any plan that you can ever conceive.

What makes you think you have a better plan? Who told you?

For He is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all you can ever ask or think,according to the power that worketh within you. Ephesians 3:20 That is the magnitude of the God you serve.

Be not discouraged by the evil reporter. Remember the report of Joshua and Caleb.

Don't let anyone rob you of your inheritance in Christ. Num 32:9. Don't be deceived like Esau was when Jacob snatched his birthright from him all for a mere pot of pottage.

Esau was hungry and needed the food, but was it really worth it? Was his birthright so tiny in his eyes that he could not see its significance?

You may not understand what God is doing for you, but be rest assured that He is doing something grand. It is only understood in retrospect. 

We walk by faith and not by sight.

Stop walking by sight with God. You will never live a fulfilled life because a life of faith is what God wants for us.

Mediate on the promises of God and know that His plans are always better than anything we can imagine.

Stay blessed.

Law-abiding citizen

You must have found yourself reading the old testament and wondering about all the laws. You even said a silent prayer thanking God you were not born then. No one could have survived it. No one is that righteous, not even the Pope or the late Nelson Mandela. The main purpose of the law was to show us that we could not serve God with our own power and strength. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before him. Isaiah 64:6

Isaiah with all his righteousness, realized how dirty he was before God. Isaiah 6:1-5

Why did God need to show us that we couldn't do anything including serving and pleasing Him without His help? Because we initially tried to do without Him. We tried to do without a relationship with Him. We told Him in Exodus to tell us what to do and we would do it, that He should give us laws to follow and we would follow everyone of them (exodus 19:8). We didn't want a direct relationship with Him, we just wanted a mediator like Moses who would speak to Him on our behalf and we would do what He asked (exodus 19: 18-19

But when you break one law, you have  broken all the laws and are liable to die.

Nadab and abihu dropped dead immediately after their consecration. They lit strange fire that the Lord asked them not to (leviticus 10:1-2).You would have thought God would have had mercy. But they were already bound by the law.  They lived by the law and thus were bound by it.

In the beginning, God's initial and original plan for creation was revealed in genesis. Everything that existed before the law is not bound by the law.

Man could eat anything. When the law was introduced,  whole sets of instructions and rules to follow were given. 

Man couldnt cope and kept dying for breaking the law. God just wanted us to know that we were not capable without Him. We do not exist outside of Him.

We are saved by grace. The law was abolished when Jesus came and died on the cross as an atonement for our sins. John 1:17 Romans 6:14

Now that the law is no more, we Christians need to learn what God was trying to teach the Israelites. That we can't serve Him by trying to observe certain rules and regulations. That His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

That we should lean on Him totally. Let go and let God.

This is the dispensation of grace.

Yet it is not by power or by might but by His spirit that we can lean on Him.

I have asked the Lord to show me how to surrender. So many times, I have tried to be a Christian by too much human power and effort. The first thing to do is realize that without Him, you can do nothing. John 15:5

When you realize that, then you begin to depend on Him completely and walk in grace.

May we learn to surrender ourselves to His grace and let it work its perfect work in our lives. It is time to stop struggling and trying so hard to please God by obeying a set of rules. It is only possible to please God with faith, no matter how little.

Let us ask for grace to live right and be pleasing to Him. Amen.

You have everything you need

When God gives you a task, He is responsible for providing for it.

He gave Moses instructions on how to build the tabernacle of the congregation and how everything was going to be put in a particular place and order. He gave specific instructions (Exodus 30). Trust me, our God is not a vague God. He specifies what He wants you to do, but it's revealed during communion and fellowship with Him.

He didn't leave any room for Moses to take  certain Initiatives on his own.

The more initiatives you take with an assignment that God gives you, the more prone the assignment is to human error. He is the only one who gives an assignment and supplies all the answers.

He gave specifics about what the ark of testimony, tables and vessels, candlesticks, curtains and veils, altars of incense and burnt offerings, and laver and foots should look like, down to their measurement, everything was specified. I thought it would be up to Moses to go and conduct a talent hunt among the children of Israel to find the best goldsmith, best welder, best carpenter etc, but God had other plans. He had already chosen who He was going to use and had called them by name...Bezaleel and Aholiab. Exodus 31:2-6

He not only called them out, He had equipped them with His Spirit,with wisdom,understanding, knowledge and workmanship, basically everything they would need for the task ahead.

Has God given you a task? He will provide the people you need to make it happen as well as the materials needed.

There's nothing as unfortunate as having a divine mandate but bringing the wrong people on board, people who are not equipped for the work, who lack wisdom, understanding and knowledge, people who you need to continually convince about what God has asked you to do. 

Let God choose the people for you. He is the one who gave you the task in the first place. It is time to operate in divine grace. It is not about your ability, but God's capability.

What has the Lord mandated you to do? He has not left you all by yourself to go figure it out. You must go back to Him for direction every step of the way.

My prayer is that we can stay connected to the vine and that we can trust Him to provide. 

Let this be your goal in every divine assignment, that you stay connected to the vine.

It is well with you.

Hold on....faint not

The children of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years. It all began during the time of the seven years famine that Pharaoh dreamt about (Genesis 41 and 42). There was famine everywhere including Canaan where Jacob and his children lived. They went to Egypt in search of food. After uniting with their brother, Joseph and finding favour with Pharaoh, they stayed back in Egypt since there was no food in Israel anyway. All of Jacob's sons and their families moved to Egypt. The Lord was with them and they multiplied and grew in number. That was the beginning. The Israelite community increased and multiplied daily and grew from strength to strength even almost outnumbering the Egyptians. This was what caused the new Pharaoh to wonder whether the Israelites will not one day plot against them with an enemy nation. Egypt, a place that was their safe haven soon became a nightmare, unbearable hardship and toiling. Still that was all they knew. They had been there for more than 400 years, born there, bred there. 

Egypt is the world today. The world of bondage, suffering, hardship, slavery and sin. They had taskmasters and were only to do what their taskmasters asked them to do.

Moses in a sense represents Christ, who brought us out of darkness, out if a world of bondage and slavery, where the devil was our taskmaster and we 

The children of Israel were in Egypt for 430 years. It all began during the time of the seven years famine that pharaoh dreamt about. There was famine everywhere including canaan where Jacob and his children lived. They went to Egypt in search of food. After uniting with their brother, Joseph and finding favour with pharaoh, they stayed back in Egypt since there was no food in Israel anyway. All of jacob's sons and their families moved to Egypt. The lord was with them and they multiplied and grew in number. That was the beginning. The Israelite community increased and multiplied daily and grew from strength to strength even almost outnumbering the Egyptians. This was what caused the new pharaoh to wonder whether the Israelites will not one day plot against them with an enemy nation. Egypt, a place that was their safe haven soon became a nightmare, unbearable hardship and toiling. Still that was all they knew. They had been there for more than 400 years, born there, bred there. 

Egypt is the world today. The world of bondage, suffering, hardship, slavery and sin. They had taskmasters and were only to do what their taskmasters asked them to do. They had no will of their own.

It wasn't God's final destination for His people. So He raised a man, who would help bring His people out of their bondage into freedom and liberty to do what ever they wanted. Moses. 

Moses in a sense represents Christ, who brought us out of darkness, out of a world of bondage and slavery, where the devil was our taskmaster and we could serve no other. We did his bidding without questioning him.

Christ brought us out of slavery.

He is leading us to the promise land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 13

In the wilderness is where most of us are right now in our Christian walk. Some at the beginning, some at the middle and others are the end, almost at the promise land.

In the Christian walk, some complain when things don't go their way.

They prefer the pleasure of Egypt, that is the garlic and onions, to the daily manna that God provides in the wilderness. The journey through the wilderness is a long one. Many fall out on the way. Some go back to Egypt. Some steadily march on, inching closer to the promise land.

Where are you in your journey? Faint not and hold onto  Christ, He understand and will never fail you. You will get to the promise land if you faint not.

 serve no other. We did his bidding without questioning him.

Christ brought out out of slavery.

He is leading us to the promise land flowing with milk and honey. You see, there's a short cut to this promise land, that shirt cut is the land of the philistines, however, there is the likelihood of encountering war if we go through that war and as young Christians, we would rather go back to a world of sin which in Egypt, rather that facing a war. That was what God knew when He decided that we should rather follow the longer path, through the wilderness. Exodus 13

In the wilderness is where most of us are right now in our Christian walk. Some at the beginning, some at the middle and others are the end, almost at the promise land.

In the Christian walk, some complain when things don't go their way.

They prefer the pleasure of egypt, that is the garlic and onions, to the daily manna that God provides in the wilderness. The journey through the wilderness is a long one. Many fall out on the way. Some go back to Egypt. Some steadily march on, inching closer to the promise land.

Where are you in your journey? Faint not and hold onto  Christ, He understand and will never fail you. You will get to the promise land if you faint not.

Heathen's rage

"Pastor X of Ever faithful Ministries just bought a Lexus jeep. His wife travels abroad 5 times a year. His children wear very expensive clothes. Do you know many mansions he has in Lagos? As for me, that is why I don't pay tithes o. Offering ke? So that it will enter his pocket? Me, am still trying to feed my family."

What is the contention? "Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?" Ps 2:1 Caution! I say, caution!
You see, it is very easy to deprive yourself of the blessings of God, simply because you choose to place your eyes on the wrong things. Peter began walking on water, as soon as He took his eyes off the Master, he began to sink.
There are so many distractions in and around the body of Christ. We must strive to fix our eyes on Jesus and cut off all distractions.

There are so many dimensions to this message but I choose to focus on the call to obedience.
Now, who said christians should pay tithes and bring offerings to the church? Was it the pastor? Or was it the Lord?
Why pay to the pastor? In the old testament, the people paid their tithes(10percent of earnings) to the priests, and the priests paid 10percent of all they received to the High Priest. That was the order of things.
"The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household." Ezekiel 44:30

You don't get to choose what to obey in the Word of God, which is what so many people do.
" I am fornicating, but at least I don't commit murder"
"I will give offerings once in a while, but 10percent of my income? I don't think so. I will rather give to the poor"

The bible clearly states
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it." Malachi 3:10
"Obedience is better than sacrifice." 1 samuel 15:22
You would rather give to the poor and offer humanitarian service than pay tithes.

It is a spiritual principle and like every spiritual principle, you do not logicalise, you don't apply the wisdom of the world. This is why God chose to use the foolishness of the world to confound the wise men of this world.
"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?"1 cor 1:19-20
Yes, you have a Ph.D and you studied economics. But you don't understand why you should give 10 percent of your earnings to the Lord and how that principle works.

I once heard a christian ask sarcastically, "is tithe paying like ATM? Will it double my money? Nonsense"
You analyze the fact the pastor receiving the tithes is wealthier than you are and you feel cheated. Giving your tithes looks so foolish in your reasoning. You are the wise man of this world, choosing to disobey kingdom principles because you must know better than the God who created you.

Every man will give account on judgment day. Have we really thought about what that day would be like?
You will say to the Lord that you didn't pay tithes because your pastor didn't build schools and hospitals with the money, but instead his clothes became more expensive and his garage increased in size.
What do you think His response will be?

"If you love me, you will obey/keep my commandment." John 14:15
It is not up for negotiation.

Friends, can you not trust the Lord to know that He has good intentions for you? Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Eph3:20
What is that power that works in us? The same power that raised Christ from the dead. The power of the Holy Spirit.

Choose to obey the word of God because your faith is in Christ. That is the very essence of your christianity. Faith in Jesus Christ is the reason why you are saved and Abraham's blessings are yours.
It is that same faith you profess when you obey the Lord even when it seems foolish and you don't understand.

Stop looking at your pastor and fix your eyes on Jesus. Take your eyes off his Lexus jeep. Don't count how many pieces of chicken he eats. Pay your tithe and see if God will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessings there will be not enough room to contain it.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God but without works, it is dead. You are holy and righteous by virtue of your faith in christ which worketh love. "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love" Gal 5:6
If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

Choose the way of obedience.

God bless you.

Boys' scout....unprepared!

Have you ever gone to write an exam and realized you forgot to buy your pen? Can you imagine the panic that would cause?
Can you go into a battle unprepared and expect to win? That, my friend, is madness. Many christians are fighting without their swords. Some misplaced theirs. While some never had theirs.
We are continually engaging in battles.

The Word of God rightly says "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this worlds, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph 6:12

I must confess that when I first got born again, I was told that that was the end of the long fight between the devil and I to send me to hell and that Jesus had already won the battle. And that everything would be rosy from then on. Halleluya!!! I shouted "Amen" with so much joy.
So amazing to hear that I would not 'struggle' any more.

Was I deceived? Yes! Because in fact, from the moment you decide to take a stand for God, the enemy will not be pleased with you at all. He has just lost a soul and he would do just about anything to get that soul back.
So while you scream halleluya and go to bed, he is plotting his next move.
But why do you think the bible says "be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" 1 Peter 5:8?
That is his aim. He seeks to devour.

Friends, brothers and sisters, we must not be ignorant of his devices. Christianity is not a walk in the park like you think. That is the reason why we have people who have been Christians for many years still struggling with milk. They can't chew bread, they will choke. Meat? Don't even go there. They will require resuscitation. It is what I call "spiritual kwashiokor", but that is a matter for another day.

Just like any other battle, spiritual battles must be prepared for. You must have your weapons and armour.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.....stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" Eph 6:11-17 KJV

I would love to talk about all the elements of the whole armour of God, but I want to focus on the sword of the Spirit.
The sword is the weapon of warfare that is used to pierce the enemy during battle. This weakens the enemy and ensures that he would have to nurse his wounds for a while.
How can you then go to battle without your sword, child of God, seeing as it is so important?

The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. It is not enough to read your bible sometimes, or when you feel like. You must have it in you, ready to use it as the slightest opportunity. But you can not use what you don't have.
When the enemy tells you you can't succeed, you tell him you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Aha! You just shut him up.
When he tries to remind you of your past sins and tells you his famous lie that you can't come before God, you tell him you can go boldly to the throne of grace. You tell him "there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH." Romans 8:1. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." 2cor5:17
You know what you have just done? You have pierced him where it really hurts.

So many christians come to church without a bible. And if we want to be honest, most don't even open the bibles until we get to church, if we do go to church.
Some may argue the need to take a bible to church when the verses would be displayed on the church screens or written in pamphlets. I know a man who told his wife that she should not read her bible because she would get confused and that the verses she needs for each Sunday would already be included in d church pamphlet/missal. Wow!
Do you know that searching your bible for scriptures helps you to know your bible more?

The Bereans in the bible were known because they would always go back and research all that they were taught. You must realize that even pastors make mistakes sometimes. When you go back and study the word for yourself, you will not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Read the word for yourself.

Dear friends, study the word of God, read it, eat it, chew it, meditate upon it day and night. Joshua 1:8
For when the enemy strikes, you may not have the time and patience to go through your bible trying to locate scriptures that you have no clue about in the first place.

There is a word for every situation we may face.
Let us get to know our bibles more. Let's get familiar with the scriptures.
For the Word is living. And the Word is God.
Perhaps, you don't know where to start from. It's alright. You can decide to use a devotional with a well laid plan on how to study your bible. Or you can decide to go book by book. It is an exciting journey.

You may know the word, but it has lost its meaning and power to you, or it was just something you memorized without understanding.
Remember that the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword. Heb 4:12
The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Invite the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of the Word. He is ever willing to teach. You cannot do this on your own. That is why Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to help us.

Dear brothers and sisters, let's get the dust off our bibles and go on an adventure with the Word.

You can thank me later because I know you will be glad you did. :)

God bless you.