Tag Archives: Abraham

CAN MAN CONQUER FEAR?

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Fear has been described as “an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)”. Fear is caused by some factors like when one is saddled with an assignment one feels one was not adequate to do well. This type of fear is not out of guilt. it is just the fear of inadequacy or of possible failure that one detests. Moses knew his end had come and needed to cede power of the anointing to Joshua. Naturally, Joshua was genuinely afraid though, he had undergone a long period of tutelage under Moses but the heavy anointing that enabled Moses to do the much he did especially confronting Pharoah in the historic “Let my people go” debacle. Not that alone, the way the children of Israel were treating him constituted a load of fear in Joshua. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. At the Red Sea, God used Moses to create pathway for the children of Israel by parting the Red Sea into two creating dry land for crossing over. The host of Egyptian army that was pursuing them perished in the same Red Sea because it closed in on the Egyptians and drowned them one and all. Joshua knew how great the burden of leading the children of Israel in the sense that Moses was for all initially before Jethro (Moses in-law) came to teach him how to delegate responsibility to lighten the burden of governance. There were so many problems that were frightful to Joshua BUT Moses assured him not to fear. He accepted the advice and took the children of Israel to the promised land. He led them in all the battles that were fought before being able to possess the land God had earlier given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Another brand of fear was the fear of polluting his pedigree as Abraham asked “his eldest servant of his house ” to swear to him with a view to going back to Abraham’s father’s house to bring a wife for his son Isaac. in this situation, Abraham feared going against God’s warning that his descendants must not take wife from the Canaanites. Genesis 24: 1-15 (KJV). This type of fear is as a result of ensuring doing God’s will. On the contrary, the fear that gripped David was guilt induced, following Prophet Nathan’s revelation of his covert sin; that is, adultery and consequent murder of innocent Uriah. He felt so much guilt that he penitently confessed his sin to God and begged for forgiveness. Of course, the Almighty God forgave him and did not have to die in accordance to Mosaic Law of “An eye for an eye”. Prophet Jonah treaded the path of disobedience and refused to go to Nineveh. Instead he set out for Tarshish to avoid going to preach repentance at Nineveh. After the deadly storm at sea, the mariners fished him out by lot. He requested to be thrown into the sea for the raging storm to stop and saved the ship from total wreckage. The bible told us that a mammoth fish took him to the port of Nineveh after spending three nights and days in the fish’s belly. During the stay,he reflected on his act of disobedience, repented and was pardoned. He entered Nineveh and preached repentance. Fear arising from the guilt of the people of the prosperous city made them repent by fasting and praying from the King to every citizen including children and even animals. The repentance was total and acceptable to God. this was the fear of reprisal over the guilt of the people. God forgave them and averted the looming disaster. The bible revealed that the city suffered the disaster hundred years later because of grievous sins.

Can man conquer fear? It is not just a rhetorical question. The answer is , it is possible provided man chooses to have “defensive fear” or lives his life in opposition to sinful acts by obeying and worshipping God. David and other notable figures in the bible actually rested their hope on the Lord and the Almighty God did not disappoint them. His killing Goliath with divine weapon without using traditional weapons of war, was due to his declaring that Goliath has defied (insulted) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Only one stone from his catapult was divinely directed to pierce through Goliath’s skull through to his brain. David used Goliath’s sword to cut off the head of the dreaded enemy of Israel. It therefore behoves Christians to trust in God’s faithfully. Peter on one hand , Paul and Silas on the other hand conquered their fear to achieve great feat of carrying the gospel to the heathens as required of them. Instead of skulking in fear, the disciples were praying intensively until the angel of the Lord went and freed Peter from maximum imprisonment. So also, Paul and Silas defied fear and never succumbed, they held a night vigil in maximum prison as well that God honored resulting in all their stocks being broken, occasioned by an earthquake. It was the head of the prison guard that fear nearly made to commit suicide.. in conclusion, trusting and obeying God are both paramount to conquering fear. Interpersonal relationship should be tailored to doing unto others as you would like for others to do to you. Paul believed in Christ after his conversion so much that his life was thenceforth lived for Christ without fear. He so boldly defended himself before the Sanhedrin that they could not collectively carry out what they set out to do for him– “To kill him”. By the same divine boldness, he received enough strength to plead his case so well that he won an appeal unto Caesar. A Christian who is able to learn from past and present true men of faith, all things being equal, would be able to conquer fear convincingly.

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Trust and Obey

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The popular hymnal continues to remind Christians that there is joy in trusting and obeying God. “When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, What a glory He sheds on our way; While we do his good will, HE abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey, Trust and obey, For there is no other way To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey” However great the problem may be, the shortest and surest way to meet man’s need is to trust and obey His holy will. Abraham, Father of faith, did trust in God in spite of having to wait for twenty-five years before God’s promise to him was fulfilled. It is therefore no surprise that he and Sarah were past the age of child-bearing before the promise got finally fulfilled. God tested his faith to see whether his trust and obedience were genuine or not. God asked him to sacrifice the child of promise to Him, Jehovah.  In today’s reckoning, one would probably use constitutional freedom of speech to ask God ‘WHY?’ or at least try to remind God whether HE could recall how long it took him, Abraham, to wait for the fulfillment of the promise. May even require reminding God that both he and his wife were past child-bearing age as if God did not know. Proverb 3: 5-6 says; “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths”.

Jesus’ first miracle with his mother’s instruction to those who needed to replenish supply of wine for the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. in John 2: 5 Mary told the servants, Whatever He says to you, do it”. the servants obeyed absolutely what Jesus asked them to do and the result was fantastic. The master of the feast commended the high quality of the miracle wine. (Trust and Obey) Miracles that Jesus performed were not magical, no incantation, no voodoo as well. It is just the word of God that achieved the concrete result, especially to those who trusted and obeyed Him. In Jeremiah 32: 17 and 26-27, it was written, “Ah, Lord Jehovah! Behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine own outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard…Then came the word of , Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh. Is there any thing too hard for ME? (ASV)”. The passage is all about the Jews who refused to be obedient to The God of Israel and the promised  consequence. They were  carried  into slavery as God told Prophet Jeremiah.

Worries and anxiety of Hannah ended with trusting the efficacy of Prophet Eli’s pronouncement. Hannah obeyed the practices of the Jews by having private commune  with God  over what was giving her untold sorrow in the presence of Peninnah, Elkanah’s first wife. 1Samuel 1:1-18  (NKJV). Hannah trusted God and in obedience she went home rejoicing. She conceived and gave birth to Samuel in answer to her fervent prayer to God.

SIGNIFICANCE OF EASTER

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Christians have written so much concerning Easter and its significance. However, the ceremonial aspect rather than the spiritual, to my mind, has, and continued to be held in high esteem. It is like chasing shadow instead of substance. Why was there any need for Easter? We have all sinned in Adam and Eve, in view of God’s curse placed on the couple for disobedience. God’s undying love for his creation made him find a means of redeeming his hand-made children. The bible told us he would send a redeemer. This had been prophesied by Prophet Isaiah  about four hundred years earlier before the actual birth of Christ.  The birth of Christ bore credence to the prophesies on the coming MESSIAH and so in the Gospel of John we get to know the clear reason for Easter for Christ was born to die for the sins of mankind. Roman 3: 23-25 says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate the righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness”. In conclusion, the reason for Easter is to keep in remembrance the sacrifice Christ made to redeem mankind. He was the sacrificial lamb to cleanse us of all our iniquities, thereby made us entitled to dwelling with Him in God’s kingdom. In the gospel of John, he states: (“For God so loved the world, that  he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth  on him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16 (ASV)

If we look at human historical past in the Garden of Eden, man fell prey to the deception of the serpent’s most unsuspecting enticing statement Genesis 3: 1-7. Quoting the most significant parts of the discussion with the serpent where it succeeded in leading Eve to tasting the forbidden fruit, “Is it really true that God said,, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” Response: “We may eat from the fruits from the trees of the orchard. But concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it or else you will die,'” By a negative reinforcement, “Surely you will not die” the did was done to their significant damnation. Sins continue to multiply to such an alarming proportion that God decided to wipe out the then world with the deluge. He saw that Noah was worthy and he commissioned him to build the salvation ark that accommodated man and all species of plants and animals. Noah restarted the new generation but soon began to sin again to a time when God found Abram (later Abraham) faithful enough to be a patriarch for  a special ‘People of God’ later to be known as the Israelites. God separated him from his heathen root and was given instruction to head for a place He would show him. Abraham obeyed absolutely. He however had an “ADD ON” in person of Lot who was not part of the mandate. While  Abraham pursued path of righteousness Lot went along the high life of SODOM and GOMORRAH. Sin re- entered and continue to be compounded. Four hundred years in slavery in Egypt and Moses emerged by divine providence to deliver them. The Passover feast was instituted to mark their liberation from Egypt followed by the forty years of wilderness experiences.

 

On return to the promised land, the Israelites continued to worship other gods beside Yahweh. Between Joshua and up to the time of King David there were intermittent emergence of few good judges. After King David, scale of sins of the ‘People of God’ outweighed their righteousness. It resulted in period of seventy years in exile. During the particular period of apostasy, major and minor prophets came to the scene bearing  God’s warning. These prophets delivered messages of hope about the coming of a Messiah to be called EMMANUEL meaning (God with us). Prophet Isaiah was at the  forefront of giving vivid description of birth  and particularly onerous task of going to be the sacrificial lamb that should carry the burden of man’s sin. His blood was to be for cleansing the sins and iniquities of the human race not just the Jews only. As an eternal being, His blood would remain fresh through eternity to serve the purpose for which God sent Him.

During the baptism of Jesus, in John 3: 16-17 and Mark 1: 10-11, we learnt that He was designated as God’s dear Son in whom God was delighted and going through the gospels it was clear that God asked the Jews to “Hear Ye Him”. The following passages are important for our understanding of the mission of Jesus on earth. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of glory of God” Romans 5: 8 “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. and Romans 6: 23 “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” the resurrection of Jesus from the grave is a culmination of past redemption attempts from Noah’s Ark, Passover lamb sacrificed in Egypt to avert the plagues in Egypt Exodus 12: 1-end detailed out the origin of the feast of unleavened bread to bring about release from bondage. It is not out of the ordinary to believe that the blood of animals and birds that were hitherto considered enough to wipe off humanities’ sin before God became ineffective or no more efficacious for the need to reconcile man with God. In ordinary sense, the owner of any vineyard needed to receive feedback from his husband men without any reprisal to his servants sent. So was the situation that the major and minor prophets were telling the people who Moses and Aaron described as hard-hearted.

As the last sent to bear the consequence of the sins of People of God, Christ was also to bring even Gentiles to God’s grace provided they could have faith in HE that was sent. HE whose blood was spilled instead of animals and birds’ blood for remission of sins became the ultimate sacrifice that has ensured the lost Paradise in Adam and Eve is regained in Christ Jesus. The period set aside for Easter is to be for sober reflection over the agony of the redeemer to pay the debt for the sins of man before HE could reconcile us with God. our Lord Christ Jesus is the mystery of God’swisdom which remains unfathomable to mankind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOPE : AN UNSEEN REALITY

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In Hebrew 11: 1, we can see how. “Hope” constitutes an unseen reality. It says: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. It is an expected future manifestation based on an unshakable trust in God. Hope is thus faith-based for it to work out fine. As human beings, we are faced with challenges. Some are self-induced, while some are brought on individuals as a result of ones sins or devil’s attempt at shaking believer with a view to scaring him or her and thus be able to rubbish his or her belief in God. A believer who knows that the steadfast love of the Lord never fails, tends to unfailingly believe that he or she has an anchor in Christ Jesus. He will not allow such people to succumb to the world’s stormy blast.

Faith-based hope is an anchor that is always available to stabilize a believer from allowing his hope to waver, because God has solution to our problems for 1Corinthians 10: 13 says “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Furthermore, in ll Corinthians 9: 8, God’s grace is ever sufficient to meet every need or whatever is being hoped for and we need to know that God is able to meet and do more than we ask for or can imagine. Ephesians 3: 20 says; “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (KJV). There is a true life story of a woman who was close to God in her heart and service but was unable to get married for one reason or the other. She was fast approaching the age of fifty years when a widower asked her hand in marriage. Having prayed over it, she joyfully agreed to marry him with her chronic un-wavering hope that she would get married with children in a happy family setting. Her hope for a God-sent suitor came at last and yielded more than she hoped for. Her first pregnancy resulted in the birth of a triplet. First, her hope never wavered and secondly, God granted her wishes by blessing her more abundantly than she asked for or thought about.

The believer who faithfully trusts in God can always count on God’s unfailing faithfulness Lamentation 3: 32 says, “But though he cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies” (KJV). The bible recorded that King Hezekiah pleased God all his days, but he later faltered by showing emissaries of Berodach, King of Babylon all the wealth and top secrets of his kingdom. The people came with presents as if they really came to congratulate him for getting over his ailment during which he nearly died. The King of Babylon came to attack Israel after the death of Hezekiah. Faithful love of God for the pious King Hezekiah made God to postpone the attack until then. ll Kings 20: 12-21 (KJV). The bible depicted Hezekiah as having lived his life during his reign pleasing God and hoped for the best. He got it in spite of his indiscretion and lack of insight into espionage as carried out by the king of Babylon. He did not condone idol worshipping or serving any graven image. When a tested man of God gives God’s message, it should increase or embolden one’s faith and hope of realizing what one had been praying for. Abraham’s situation readily comes to mind with his twenty-five-year promise of having a child from his own loin.
Sarah, his wife, who wanted to help God get a child regretted it when the erstwhile house help promoted herself to claim equality with the “legal” wife. Based on human thinking, mother of Ishmael was right but man’s thought is never as perfect as God’s decision. God’s time may tarry but it will assuredly come. HE is never late in granting man’s request. His timing is never the same as ours; but surely he does not forget. When promise of God tarried it is faith that helps our hope in the Lord. Hannah’s faith and hope never wavered. Eli first took her as one that was probably having a hangover from the festivity in Jerusalem, she told him that she was only pouring out her heavy heart to God. By the auction of God on Prophet Eli, he prophesied that God would grant her the object of her prayer. She believed and that hope buoyed her up as she returned to her home. Her vow in her prayer centered around lending the child to God. In fulfilling the vow, she did not return to Shiloh per the annual pilgrimage. She went back to Shiloh only when Samuel was whined to fulfill (pay) her vow.

King Ahab of Israel, after Elijah’s encounter with all the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, had invasion problem from Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, looming over his kingdom l King 20: 1-34. (KJV) He even agreed to part with valuables as well as his family but Ben-Hadad insisted on attacking Samaria because he believed he would have no difficulty in overrunning the Kingdom. God intervened and sent a prophet to tell Ahab that HE would deliver Israel. Definitely, Ahab’s hopelessness changed to hopefulness and agreed to put his men in array for the war. God networked the downfall of the drunken and reveling King Ben-Hadad with his accomplices twice. After the second encounter, Ahab did not consult with God before putting his men in battle against Ben-Hadad the third encounter. The two victories he had were based on putting his hope on God not based on his prowess or assistance from other kings. Psalm 42: 5 actually stressed that we need to put our hope in God : “Why are you cast down , O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, For I shall yet praise Him for the help of his countenance. By the same token, Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego placed their hope in God to defy King Nebuchadnezzar’s decree on worshipping his golden image. They declared in Daniel 3: 16-18 “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. 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 has set up. (KJV)

Unshakeable faith of some rulers in their ability to continuously coarse or subjugate their subjects has always led to their woeful end. The first king in the break-away Northern Israel was of this cast. 1 King 12: 25-33 and 13: 1-6 showed King Jeroboam at his worst when he earnestly attempted to usurp the God assigned duty to the priestly people i.e. “when the king heard what the prophet cried against the alter in Bethel, Jeroboam standing at the alter, extended his hand and ordered, ‘Seize him!’ The hand he had extended shriveled up and he could not pull it back”. He had to beg the prophet to beg God for him before his hand became functional again.

THE WORDS

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🌄”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” John 1:1 There is more to “The Word” than merely describing it as speech. There is therefore duality of purpose in our understanding of the word. Thus “The Word” of God is divine and was manifest in our Lord Jesus Christ. It can be understood as the eternal wisdom of God, that is eternally true and unbendable. At the time of creation, the bible recorded that God spoke to bring all things into being from a formless void. Genesis 1-29. The Gospel of John does corroborate Moses’ account on creation as divinely revealed to him. “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made, In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not” John 1: 2-4 (KJV). Jesus being The Word of God is interpreted in John 10 : 9 as “I am the door: if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture”. There are many phases to the Word of God. It heals, soothes, rewards everybody according to his or her intension and action, conquers the devil, enlightens the seeking hearts and teaches man how to make wealth and many more.

Words form the basis of exchanging ideas among we mortals. The words we speak in our everyday life is not comparable to The Word of God. God speaks to people by seeing visions, dreaming dreams or hearing audible divine voices 1Samuel 3:1-10. The Words of God are forever true as read in verses11-14 of the same chapter. Abraham received Angels of God physically and welcomed them with hospitality. At the end of the visit he got the prophesy of bearing the promised son, Isaac. The promise of 25 years got fulfilled by the message the Angels delivered to him. The promise began in Chapter 15: 2-4 “And Abram said, Lord GOD, what will thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou has given me no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”

There are so many examples in the bible where anointed men of God made proclamation that came true. Our Lord Jesus performed so many miracles through such divine Words backed by individual’s faith. The woman with the issue of blood wiggled through the crowd to touch just the tip of Jesus’ garment. Jesus knew someone tapped power from Him and inquired from His disciples the one who touched his garment. They, in their mortal experience, felt it was impossible to know such in view of the teeming crowd. When He asked again, the woman owned up because she believed that if only she could touch the tip of His garment, she would receive her healing. Jesus then said; “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith has made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour.” Matthew 9: 22b. Also in Matthew 4: 4, (KJV) we see how Jesus defeated the devil the tempter by his utterances which were the WORDS of God. “….It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”.

The life of Prophet Elijah was full of issuing the Words of God and coming true. His encounter with King Ahab in his proclamation of “There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my words.” Thereafter, there seemed to be dialogue between Elijah and God directing his every step until the end of the famine. The encounter with the widow of Zarephath that ended in the famous words of God for provision of food to the widow until the famine shall be over; “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah” 1 King 17: 1-15. The Word of God is usually instantly efficacious. Judas Iscariot led those the High Priest sent to bring Jesus for his trial and crucifixion and identified Jesus to them clearly with “an unholy kiss”. John 18: 6 revealed thus: “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground”. This shows that there is power in the Word of God that came to the agents of wickedness in high places. Also in John 4: 49-51 “The noble man saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith , Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, Thy son liveth.” We can see clearly that the YES from God is forever YES, same goes for his NO, since HE is not man that can lie.

Philosophers right from ancient times maintained that the words human beings say are subject to being debated and may or may not stand the test of time. Scientific discoveries are explained in words and do prevail as long as there are no other evidences, to disprove them. As soon as superior evidences or convincing arguments emerge, the erstwhile highly rated conclusion may be supported, reframed or discarded completely. Decree, as a non-debatable law can still be altered by rational-legal argument or by divine intervention. Take the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego that refused to bow down in worship of Nebuchdnezzar’s golden image and were sentenced to be thrown into fiery furnace. The order (decree) was carried out but those who threw them into the fire were the ones the fire burnt and the Hebrew youths were delivered. The fire was unable to burn them by divine intervention. Conversely, the Words of God came to pass also as King Nebuchadnezzar, in his pride heard the Word of the Lord that came to deliver judgement on him. He was suddenly chased out of the palace and turned into grass-eating hairy beast in the forest for seven seasons (years). Daniel 4: 30-34

The Word of man’s creator, the unchangeable changer who has the final say is the word of sovereign God as well, once spoken, does not and never returns to him void but must accomplish the purpose for which it was spoken. Praise the Lord.

Providence of God (Part Four)

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Provision of God is both at macro and micro levels. Thus, we see how God provided the Israelites means of freedom from a four hundred and thirty years in bondage in Egypt. Then, at micro level, Jonah as an individual prophet of God adamantly refused to heed God’s call to go and warn the people of Nineveh to desist from their sinful ways or else they would incur the wrath of God. He went to Tarshish instead which is in an opposite direction to where he was expected to preach repentance to the people or else they would be faced with calamity. By God’s means of enforcing his will on Jonah, there was storm at sea that threatened the safety of the Mariners, passengers and the vessel itself. The ship’s Captain found out who he was and asked him to identify himself. He did and the Captain asked him to pray to his God to calm the raging sea. Finally, he asked them to throw him into the sea perhaps in his resolve not to go to Nineveh. But at this stage, God provided His desired means of transporting Jonah to Nineveh. In Jonah 1: 17 “a great fish” became God’s vessel for carrying Jonah to God’s desired destination. Biblical record states: “Now the Lord has prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Chapter 2-10 covered how the big fish, by God’s provision, vomited Jonah on dry land at the waterfront of Nineveh.

In line with how God treated Jonah, an African proverb says: “When you flog or reprimand a child with the right hand use the left hand to draw him closer to soothe the pain he suffered”. All is in the attempt at fostering positive development in the child. Such is regarded as making provision for future useful life, which invariably is provision of God in the right parentage. Proverb 22: 6 (NKJ). Related to the foregoing are words in Lamentation 3: 31-33 ” for the Lord will not cast off for ever: But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men” (KJV)

Provision of God is tied to the result of Proverb 21: 1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of The Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever he will” (KJV) especially while seeking favor from higher authorities on earth. By the same instance one who is looking for job to be able to earn means of livelihood and continues to pray with Psalm 23. Such applicant has seen God as a good shepherd for the provision of his/her needs irrespective of level of faith, the steadfast love of the Lord will see such a person through because God knows man’s need more than man does. God possesses sovereign power to make good things happen or to avert disaster. With faith, granting prayer is made more certain than with doubts in one’s mind.

A military ruler in Nigeria some years back received the judgment of God as a result of so many prominent citizens he eliminated from a particular ethnic group for daring to oppose his draconian ruler ship from the hands of his henchmen. He tried some military top brass from the same ethnic group and found them guilty
of a phantom coup plot. They were to be executed on a Monday and he miraculously died on the Sunday before he could have signed their death warrant the following morning. God’s providence saved those that were to be executed, for no earthly power could have saved them. History tells us that President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) had exceeding political reverses but remained prayerful until he won election that made him to become the 16th President of the United States. In short, he fitted into the group of those that pleased God and at such his erstwhile political enemies joined with others to vote him into the highest political office in the US. (Proverb 16: 7) During his Presidency: Emancipation Proclamation during the battle of Gettysburg became a reality and many more commendable legislations. He became prominently one of those
unforgettable Presidents that The US has ever had.

We know that economists talk of Arithmetic or geometric progression; researchers look for what is logical but the “THEO-METRICS” in God’s providence is not fathomable by man because of His sovereignty Isaiah 46: 10-13 (KJV); for God moves in a mysterious way, during which no man can ever encumber Him from performing his wonders. Can you imagine what brought a mail man to the door step of a house in New York when a child was falling from some floors above and fell into the out stretched hands of the mail man! Were it not for divine providence, the child could have died falling from above on to concrete floor below. Interested readers are enjoined to give testimonies of such providence of God. The testimonies or witness account will be published with the names (optional) of such contributors. In conclusion, God’s providence is real yesterday, today and for ever.

Great but Dented Series Ten

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One would have thought that anointed people of God are above being dented. Our Lord Jesus Christ was greater than the greatest of all men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the young Prophet from Judah on a missionary journey to Bethel 1 King 13: 1-25, Elijah, Elisha and many more. Zacharia was great in anointing as High Priest. He had been serving God relentlessly and successfully throughout. In spite of his selfless  service, Elizabeth his wife remained barren and advanced in age. They have both been praying for others to be blessed as desired with continued success. Delayed response to their prayer tended to weaken Zachariah’s faith in God. In spite of his wife’s barrenness, he continued serving God faithfully before his age-long prayer was hearkened to. Angel Gabriel encountered Zachariah in the Holy of Holies while making various sacrifices for the people.

When the Angel broke the news to him Luke 1: 10-20, Zachariah reacted with doubts rather than busting into instant joy. The Angel had to identify himself as an Angel of God as a means of assuring the High Priest. As God had spoken, His word cannot return to Him void. The Angel did make a pronouncement saying that Zechariah would remain deaf and dumb until the child was born. It came true in that it was on th eighth day at the naming ceremony that he pronounced the name John (John the Baptist). It was like he was tongued-tied  and what tied it just broke loose as pronounced by the Angel.

To say that Prophet Samuel was not able to raise credible children to succeed him is unimaginable. It constituted a dent on his greatness. So it happened to his boss, Prophet Eli whose two sons, Hophni and Phinehas were a great shame to the greatness of their father, Prophet Elisha received double portion of Elijah’s anointing but was unable to replicate his anointing as did Elijah to him. The irony of the situation remained such that one can force a horse to the river but can’t force it to drink. Elisha’s double portion of his mentor’s anointing was a result of his avid interest and attention with unalloyed devotion to the cause for which he was called. He had no ulterior motive as did his own servant Gehazi. The sin of his greed and covetousness, to my mind should not be visited on Elisha.

Throughout the history of mankind no one has ever been hundred percent sinless except the Almighty God, Jesus Christ the Son of the most High and of course the Holy Spirit.

Fear of Man # Two

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Sin blindfolds man from beholding the glory of God

Sin blindfolds man from beholding the glory of God

In the scale of preference Abraham stood at the positive end of assumed continuum while Lot (a nephew) preferred the negative end of it. Abraham was spiritual and therefore righteous while Lot chose to flow along with worldliness. After he survived destruction in Sodom, he escaped to the mountains. He and his two daughters dwelt in a cave for the “fear of man” in the city of Zoar, Gen.19: 20 “Then Lot went out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain and his two daughters were with him, for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. He and his two daughters dwelt in a cave”. They severed all interactions with people. Their fear exposed them to temptation and they failed God’s expectation of them.

Were they to have remained in Zoar, Lot’s daughters would have gotten men to marry them. The daughters feared breaching Hebrew law of preservation of father’s lineage. All things considered, fear made  them end up in committing the first incestuous sin ever. This is to show us that Satan has always used fear to knock off the bottom from mankind and thus make them vulnerable to sinning and falling short of God’s glory Roman’s 3: 23. Fear of what the Jewish leaders would do to the disciples made them desert Jesus at a time they were expected to remain steadfast in the Lord. Even Peter denied Him three times before the cock crowed. May the good Lord deliver us from the “Fear of Man”.

Law of Harvest

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This law operates actively in both mundane and spiritual matters. Situation of “Quid pro quo” or “rub my back I rub your back” is a pejorative and indeed a negative application of this law. It is a legitimate working to get the much one worked for. The kernel of this law is real sowing for expected harvesting the proceeds. If one does not invest, of course, there cannot be expectation of returns to investment. If parents did not sow their time, money, parental care and supervision, they should not expect a child’s balanced development as attested to in Proverb 22: 6 as well as in Proverb 4: 1- end. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” NKJV

In an office environment, a Chinese proverb says: If you do not train them, don’t blame them” because productivity will not be able to improve so as to induce higher productivity. Jabez sewed seed of faith in his prayer in Chronicles 4: 10 and as the harvest came, his life never remained the same again. His prayer was “Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge territory, that your hand would be with me, and that you would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain. So God granted him what he requested” NKJV. The law of harvesting what was sown earlier has wider scope than short period of farmer’s planting season. Sewing time can be life long and actually extend to the judgment day before the Lord. One has to reap what one sowed. For instance, sin committed and not repented may attract the wrath of God even on generations yet unborn. Abraham sowed seed of righteousness and the harvest was the covenant of God that his seed enjoyed. The sins of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem brought the harvest of suffering in exile. Tithing is seed sowing and God promised harvest there from as in Malachi 3: 10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try ME now in this, says the Lord of Hosts, If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it,”

 

Non-Carnal Love Series # 35

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Waiting upon God's love

Waiting upon God’s love

It is those who have a knack for appreciating good things done to them or experienced from the hands of others that find it easy to give thanks in cash or kind. It is in the form of offering, tithe, seed sowing, rendering free services in the house of God or doing community service selflessly. Even ones time in addition to financial sacrifice constitute thanksgiving borne out of love. We see a perfect example of what man’s love should involve in Habakkuk 3: 17-18 “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruits be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, Though the flock may be caught off from the fold; And there be no herds in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation”.

The behavior and life’s work of Abraham with unwavering faith coupled with unalloyed obedience were counted as righteousness Heb.11: 8. There is no wonder the Psalmist  had to write in Psalm 37: 25 “I have been young and now I am old,  Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken; Nor his descendants begging bread”. God cannot be treated as a fair weather friend for while we think he is not paying attention, HIS whole plan for our life is being guarded to prevent derailment of any kind. The bottom line is that we must cultivate the habit of waiting upon the Lord. He neither sleeps nor slumbers. He will surely attend to our needs. Though help may tarry but it will surely come at His own time.