Out of Options: Jacob and GOD.

Unbeknownst to Jacob, God has Jacob right where he wants him: out of options. Food has run out. Time has run out. But the famine has not run out. Jacob has been dragging his feet about sending his sons back to Egypt for more supplies because he knows that this time, his beloved Benjamin *must* go with them.

Jacob is out of options, that is, except for the options of (1) relying, not upon himself, but upon mercy and (2) relying, not upon himself, but upon others. Not only for Jacob but for all of us, that is a highly unsettling place to be.

None of us willingly place ourselves in situations where we are out of options, where we must rely upon divine mercy and our neighbor’s actions on our behalf. We’re too busy playing divinity in our juvenile galaxies of self-determination. So, in ways sometimes small and sometimes big, the Master of providence picks us up by the scruff of our necks and drops us there. Where we are empty, at our wits’ end. And where we are thus precisely in a situation ripe for divine work in our lives.

It's a terrible place to be because we cannot shepherd events or pull the strings to get what we want. But it’s also a blessed place to be. A vacuum is created within us that the Spirit of God begins to fill. Less of me, more of God. Less of control, more of Christ.

We sit in the dirt with Jacob and fix our eyes on the horizon. We place ourselves under the mighty and merciful hand of a compassionate God. We wait. We hope. And we trust that, no matter what happens, we do not really sit there alone. Jesus is right there beside us. For if there’s one truth we know about Christ, beyond any doubt, it’s that hell and all its demons cannot make him budge one inch from those whom he calls his friends.

A New Song; There's Something New Under the Sun!

There is an old song of our fallen and failing world, and the song is;

“There Is Nothing New Under the Sun.”

A flat song, out of tune, and accompanied by wheezing trumpets and tattered drums. When you look at your life in shambles because of the strings of foolish decisions you made, this song plays in the background. When you are utterly bankrupt inside, with nothing there, and you wonder why you even exist, this old song plays. False notes. Gasping melodies. This is the song sung in the amphitheater of this world, a broken record of broken people leading broken lives. We all know it by heart.

God knows that we know that old song all too well, so he, with mercy higher than the mountains, with love deeper than the ocean depths, gave us a new song. In Hebrew, שִׁיר חָדָשׁ, shir chadash. “Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day” (Psalm 96:1-2). This is not the siren song of worthless idols, but the saving song of him who “made the heavens,” before whom are “splendor and majesty,” and in whose sanctuary is “strength and beauty” (Psalm 96:5-6).

This new song is not novel in the sense of modern and innovative, but a Good News song of the Lamb who renews our hopes, renews our souls, renews life itself. This is the new song of Jesus, for if anyone is in him, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away, old songs have been trashed, and everything is new in the Word made flesh who dwelt among us and sang his love into our hearts.

You see, there is something new under the sun: God became man in Jesus, the Godman. He is our new song. And because of him, in our life under the sun, which so often is hard and painful, we are carried along on the shoulders of our Good Shepherd, who fills heaven and earth with his booming voice of divine love for us.

Hallelujah!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished?

 

Because we live in a “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of world, we are shocked and offended when, instead of a “scratch back,” we get slapped. Or ignored. Our innate sense of fairness is trampled underfoot. Listen, we did X, Y, or Z for them, so they *must* return the favor.

We are prone to think like this regarding God: “If I do the will of the Lord, if I stick to the straight and narrow, then he is obligated to reward me for my fidelity.” And by “reward me,” we mean do good, nice, pleasant, or profitable things for us. It’s only fair, right?

The narrative of Joseph and lustful Mrs. Potiphar is a painful but needed reminder that sometimes doing the right thing will put you in the wrong place—or what feels like the “wrong place” to you. In the story from Genesis 39, Joseph repeatedly rebuffs the sexual advances of his master’s wife, sticks to his chastity, and even gives a good confession before this temptress. And his reward? Falsely accused of sexual attack. Slandered and maligned. Imprisoned.

Yes, indeed, there are times when the outcome of our doing God’s will is that agreeable things happen to us. That’s great! And there are times when the outcome of doing what’s right is getting fired from our job, abandoned by our peers, laughed at by our family and friends, or even jailed.

For Jesus, it was crucifixion.

As disciples of Jesus, doing our Father’s will is our goal because it is our Father’s will. Not because we get something out of it but simply because it is best because it is of God. And what is of God is always the best.

And, as we see from the rest of Joseph’s story, oftentimes the “wrong place” we wind up for doing something right, is all part of God’s good, gracious, unfolding plan in our lives.

Our Foibles and Flaws in God's Grand Plan of Salvation.

 

When you consider the life of Isaac, you can't help but laugh, well you just have to, since his name in Hebrew, means “Laughter.” Although an important player in God’s plan of salvation he seems, in a divinely humorous sort of way, to have little clue what’s going on half the time.

In Genesis 22, he has no idea that the sacrifice his father was going to offer up is himself. In Genesis 26, he got caught publicly “caressing” (in flagrante delicto?) his supposed “sister” and so was found to be a liar. And in Genesis 27, he was bamboozled by his sneaky wife and heel of a son.

Poor Mr. Laughter. It’s not that Isaac’s a fool. He’s not unintelligent. Rather, he is simply an ordinary specimen of humanity, caught up in a story much bigger than himself, a story that he is incapable of fully understanding. He embodies our common foibles and flaws, the very imperfections through which God is busily and faithfully at work to bring about his will for all of us.

Isaac was unable to see what was really going on. In that way, Isaac is our “patron saint.” His life also is a beautiful reminder that the Lord’s will for us—and our place in his grand plan of salvation—is unhampered by our weakness, confusion, and long list of stupid decisions. We are experts at getting things wrong and misaligning priorities.

But to be a disciple of Jesus is not to have everything figured out, but often to feel like old, blind Isaac, doing what we can to pass on a blessings to others, blissfully unaware that the Lord is using us in ways we don’t even realize to continue writing the story of his kingdom’s spread in this world.

God, I Thank You that I Am Not Like Other Men!

 

When we read the Bible today, we think of the Pharisees as the “bad guys.” Full of themselves. Impressed with their own righteousness. Hypocrites.

Nobody wants to be a Pharisee.

If we were Jews living in the 1st century, however, we would not think that way. The Pharisees were the good guys, the religious cream of the crop. They went above and beyond the Law.

Many Jewish mommas probably wanted their babies to grow up and be Pharisees.

Once we get this understanding of the Pharisees fixed in our minds, parables such as the one that Jesus told in Luke 18 take on a whole new light—and reveal just how controversial Jesus was.

In this story, two men went up to the temple to pray: one a highly respected man (the Pharisee) and one a highly hated man (the tax collector). The first was looked up to, the second looked down on. When the Pharisee thanked God that he was not like other men, such as extortioners or adulterers, or even like that tax collector, no doubt many people would have said a hearty Amen. They would have agreed that if anyone was in good with God, it was this man, this Pharisee, who crossed his righteous T’s and dotted his holy I’s.

So, when Jesus commended the tax collector, who beat his breast and would not even lift up his eyes, but prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” then his hearers would have been aghast: “What? That scoundrel? That good-for-nothing traitor to our nation?”

Yes, that man who humbled himself and prayed that God would forgive him, he went down to his house justified, not the Pharisee.

The Pharisee and the tax collector, although different outwardly, were the same men before God: both sinners in need of atonement. One believed this, one did not.

Let us, my fellow sinners, give heed and pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And our Father will, for the sake of Christ, who came as our atonement.

GOD'S PREPARATION FOR OUR SALVATION.

Genesis 1 is Part of God’s Preparation for Our Salvation 

When God planted the trees in Eden, he was making sure there would be wood for both a manger and a cross.

When God poured out oceans and rivers, he was preparing for our baptism into Christ in the waters of the Jordan.

When he sowed the fields with wheat, he was readying the world for bread that would clothe Christ’s body in the meal of meals.

When he made the heavenly lights, he ensured there’d be a star to guide wise men from the East, and a sun to be darken when sinners affixed his Son to a tree.

And when the Lord made Adam and Eve in his own image, he was prophetically winking at his Incarnation, when he would make our nature his own everlastingly.

From the beginning of the world, God so loved the world that he prepared it for the day when he would remake it—remake us!—in his Son.

Hallelujah!

The Message for us Today.

 

Jesus rarely gives the kind of answer we expect. For instance, when John was in prison, and sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:19), I would have expected Jesus to say, “Go and tell John, ‘Yes, I am the one.’”

But he did not.

Instead, he gives what strikes us as a rather roundabout answer. First, he healed many people, cast out evil spirits, and gave sight to the blind. Second, he tells these messengers to report back to John what they have seen and heard, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). 

What kind of answer is that?

It’s a very biblical answer.

Rather than simply saying, “Yes, I am the Messiah,” Jesus instead tells them:

(1) Pay attention to what I am doing.

(2) Read what the Scriptures say will happen when the Messiah comes.

(3) Draw the only appropriate conclusion.

You see, Jesus is alluding to Isaiah 35, where the messianic kingdom is pictured as a place where reversals abound: deserts blossom, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the mute sing. That is precisely what Jesus is doing.

What Jesus told John’s disciples is still the message for us today. You want to know who Jesus is? Watch what he does. Compare it with how the prophets described the coming Messiah and his kingdom. There’s your answer.

Jesus did not simply show up making claims; he came fulfilling the Scriptures. So to those Scriptures—to the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings of the Old Testament—let us give heed. Here are the words that lead us to only one conclusion: “Yes, Jesus of Nazareth is the Anointed One of God.”

The Devil's Trap.

 All religions strike the vital point, but people are terribly clueless.

Most Christians don't even understand the Bible, and the same goes for every other religion and its sacred texts.

People are blinded by their obscurations. Their own IGNORANCE, HATE, and GREED.

They pretend to believe in a God that encourages Good (no doubt about that), while hating someone for performing an evil act -- not realizing that in so doing, they also become Evil themselves.

It is very simple, you can not hate or vilify others without hating a part of yourself and that is the greatest evil known to man

Because God is part of all of us, by hating a part of yourself, you are hating God.

And this is what the devil wants. You cannot fight Hate with Hate the same way that you do not extinguish a burning house with more fire.

And yet, almost all of us do, while thinking that we don't.

"Because they are Ignorant. They know not what they are doing."

The Bible explicitly WARNS us to not hate or cause suffering to others.

The Bible also WARNS how easy it is to fall into the Devil's trap.

And yet, we have all jumped headfirst into the trap, while completely convinced that we never will.

Please Lord, may we see our foolish ways and may the WISE shine His light brighter than ever, to illuminate for us  the way out of our Ignorance.

THE PRAISES OF MEN

 The day you realize that the "Praise from men" is totally different from the "Praise from God".

That day, you will finally see that most times, the PRAISES of men and a larger percentage of society, is always and often opposite of the PRAISES of God.

That day, you will instantly and completely be freed from the need to please all or most men.

The common temptation to please people, including or especially yourself, at the expense of Divine Approval, at any cost, will lose all appeal to you, once and for all.

In life and destiny, in ministry and service, our main audience is one.

The one to please, whose approval and otherwise matters, is still one.

Pleasing the father by all means, in every way, is the true Hallmark of anyone, who wears or desires to wear the honour of the name "Son of God".

Remember, the temptations of Jesus is all about querying if he was truly a "Son of God" (Luke 4:1-13)

SONSHIP is all about extreme focus on the disposition of the Father, against all odds. 

A child is born into the kingdom, but only a son can be given the kingdom.

Only true sons can wield the authority of representation and demonstrations bestowed by our heavenly father.

You must be born again, and by all means, you must become a SON. Nothing else really matters.

Your Audience Is Forever ONE! Focus on him alone!!! Reject Distraction. Be still and hear his voice loud and clear!!!

Let The Joy of Your Heavenly Father be the only JOY set before you, to endure the cross of true discipleship, and despise the shame of being labeled a fool for Christ.

Matthew 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

John 3:35; The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

We receive Grace to grow into Him in all things, and count everything else on earth as dung, for the excellency of winning Christ. Amen.

       -Apostle Godfrey Emuze, of Bridechamber Church.

On My Way Down

I Once Fell..! But...

It was on my way down I realised I could actually FLY. Not presently superb at it, still learning though, but now I have an idea about what I can do!

More often than not, we do everything to run away from challenges and confrontations of any kind, we're quick to retaliate and even put down those who have disappointed us. 

But challenges are there, not to kill but make you stronger; for what cannot kill you?

Let's look at it this way; The aim of FALLING is not to make you experience the impact of the FALL, actually, it is to let you know that you are stronger than you think; that you've always had that ability; that you can FLY! 

God's Forgiveness Is Not a Layaway Plan

God’s forgiveness is never a layaway plan, where you finally get to take it home once you’ve satisfied the payment plan with enough acts of repentance. That’s because forgiveness does not originate from repentance; it originates solely from Christ.

The father did not forgive the prodigal son because he returned home, said he was sorry for his sins, and was unworthy to be called a son anymore. The father had forgiven his son even while that son was feeding swine in a faraway country. The father had forgiven his son before he saw him a long way off and began running toward him. The father had forgiven his son because he was his son, because he loved him as only a father can.

So it is with us. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself,” (2 Corinthians 5:19). The world was absolved on Good Friday. And that forgiveness, given to you in the here and now, is not earned, or allowed, or sweetened, or strengthened, or made more real by your repentance.

Should you repent of the wrong you’ve done? Of course. You must. Should you continue to repent as you struggle to un-love that ex-sin? Of course. You must. You will never repent enough. You will never repent sincerely enough.

But forgiveness is not based upon having enough repentance or having sufficiently sincere repentance. Absolution is based entirely upon the atoning work of Jesus Christ. His atonement is enough. His sacrifice was perfectly sincere. His blood covers not only the sin of which you repent, but your imperfect repentance for that sin.

The entire life of believers is one of repentance, but more importantly, the entire life of believers is the life of Jesus Christ, whose love for us is always more than enough (Gal. 2:20).

So, if the prodigal son left 3, 5, or 99 more times for that faraway country, and dragged himself home again, reeking of alcohol and cheap perfume and pig slop, would the Father still welcome him home with a hug and a party?

Yes, without a moment’s hesitation! 

TRAPPED

If you like wide open spaces, you probably don’t like the situations in which God often places you. For He hems you in on every side, presses you between a rock and a hard place, so that there seems to be no way out.

You feel like Joseph, behind the bars of an Egyptian dungeon; like David, hounded by Saul year after year; and like the Israelites, trapped between the Red Sea and a red-eyed army thirsty for blood. God used Moses to tell old Pharaoh, “Let my people go,” but then God turns right around and lets his people go down a one way street with a pack of Egyptian wolves howling at their heels.

But such are the ways of our wonderful God. He's always doing things his way and not our own. He has Israel right where he wants them: a body of water in front of them, their enemies behind them, and God above them, ready to save. Our Lord is always undoing us that he might redo us, killing us that he might enliven us. He baptizes us into a Good Friday sea that we might walk to yonder Easter shore.

Our fathers were all under the cloud of God’s glory, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The Red Sea was one vast baptismal font in which Israel learned that the Lord fights for them. The Spirit breathed upon these waters, they split in two like a temple veil, and through them the people of God walked into life and freedom. And behind them, their enemies pursued and were buried beneath the waves.

Pharaoh’s chariots are rusting at the bottom of every baptismal font. Your sins litter the ocean floor, never to resurface. For on the day of your baptism, there was a body of water in front of you, your enemies behind you, and God above you, ready to save. And save he did. He let his people—he let you go—out of bondage, out of death, out of sins, into the promised land of celestial Canaan.

The God who kills and makes alive, has drowned all your foes in the baptismal Red Sea and brought you safely through to life in Jesus Christ.

God is Not The Greatest!

Recently I realised that, to me, God is not the greatest, He is not the mightiest, I believe He is not the most beautiful, neither is He the wisest, He is not even the best! In fact, dare I say He is not in the superlative of any one of these adjectives? Without a doubt He is not!

To say that God is the greatest is to acknowledge that there is a personality that is in the “greater” category and then there is another one who is “great”. Or to say that God is the best is to say that there is one that is in the “better” category and then there is another that is “good”. Or who is that fellow that was once the greatest only for God to surpass him eventually?

Rather, He is the only God that is Great, Psalm 86:10

He is the only Powerful God, Jer. 32:17

He is the only God that is Beautiful, Psalm 27:4

He is the only Wise God, Rom. 16:27

He is the only One that is Good! Mark 10:18

See, God is so MIGHTY that the word “mighty” acknowledges its insufficiency and confesses that it is not qualified enough to actually describe how mighty this God is for real. In fact, God’s wisdom is so deep, enormous, vast, unsearchable (…) that even the bible says our comprehension of His wisdom is nothing compared to how wise He is in reality. The truth is God is in a League of His own!

Without a doubt you will agree with me that everything that has ever been written about God is true, yet there is more, everything anyone has ever spoken about God is because they do not have better words. There are no words, no languages that has been spoken that can accurately describe and correctly express the qualities of the God of all flesh.

And since there are no words in mortals’ tongue that can describe this immortal God, the only way is to praise Him in the Heavenly language;

Let Somebody Shout Hallelujah!

FINISH WHATEVER YOU START from *WINEPRESS!* 💃🕺🤸‍♂️. Let's go...🤩

 

Just somewhere between commencement and completion, they quit. They started books but didn't write the last chapters. They started admission but didn't complete it. They have many ideas on paper but never make a move on one. They documented several projects but didn't execute any. Oh! The summary of the matter? They started, but didn't finish!

I have seen many things in this world, but I have never seen an unfinished house decorated in ribbons. No uncompleted building ever attracts glory. God's glory didn't descend on the tabernacle in the wilderness until Moses' generation finished the building.

A book unfinished is the author's glory entombed. An unexecuted project is a greatness mummified. An unexplored vision is an accomplishment hibernated. Dreams can either turn 'excuse' or 'executed'. The world only applauds the doers; I mean those who finished what they started. 

Finish whatever you started!

And remember to always trust God for the grace to finish that which you started!

A GLORY IS INVOLVED (1)

It saddens to see many people using what they have passed through [or are passing through] as excuses for staying at low level of productivity. Life has brought its strong hands on almost all of us in one way or the other. Challenges are common to all people. So you are not the only one. Different things in different forms in our different lives have happened to almost all of us differently at different points in time. 

As a little kid, I remember our penniless grandmother would convince us that sugar and cold palp (èko tútù) was the best food in the world; and we believed her. All you need to do is to dip  morsels of palp in powered-sugar like that of amala in gbegiri, then you are good to go. It took several years later before we realized that a highly concentrated 'povertic acid' had been added to our equation. We went through all that because of the glory that will soon be revealed in us. There are usually plenty blessings in dirty experiences.

A man was born blind and Jesus said it wasn't a consequence of his or his parents' sin but that God's glory was wrapped in that his dirty situation. Can you imagine the kind of emotional, mental and physical frustrations the man would have gone through in the 40 years of his life? Yet God was still committed to his case because a glory was involved.

Don't make your situation look as if it cannot heal due to the extent of damage that has been done to you by circumstances, culture, environment or people around you. Lying beneath every ash is a beauty. Just under every spirit of heaviness is oil of joy. There's a garment of praise after every mourning. After every midnight is a dawn! To God, his servants are gold in his hands while himself is gold purifier. It is God's way to perfect his vessels in the refiner's fire and fuller's soap untill the  glory embedded in them begins to radiate. If you stay long enough with your story, it will yied up its enwrapped glory!

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#It's *WINEPRESS with Yemi Adekunle*💃🕺😁🍇🍒🍾🍷

Go Through Something! ...from WINEPRESS

Welcome to WINEPRESS where God's Word is being expressed as insightful principles for dominion living💃💃🕺🕺😁🍇🍒🍏🍾🍷🎉

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You can hardly appreciate what you got so cheap. Ingratitude for and abuse of God's blessings are usually deeply rooted in 'getting blessings so cheap or too soon.' Whatever you labour for will most likely be appreciated, maximized and thankful for. 

A young person once reacted to marital advances towards her, "God, did I ask you for a proposal!" However, should God seal off the heavens that there should be no more rain of such blessings until her late 40s, then the narration would change! Her blessing came so cheaply. It came too quick.

Sometimes God decides to take us through some "inconveniences" to shape us and not topple us. Sometimes, he delays our blessings intentionally to build us and not to break us. Most of the time, going through such "uncomfortableness" is a huge blessing although it may not look like it now. Those things that look like setbacks are actually setups for your elevation. If you don't go through challenging situations in life, how light you are!

Go through some stuff. We have been conditioned as the "bread and butter" generation of Christian to think any form of inconvenience is a demonic attack on us. No. Not all seemingly negative incidences in our lives are demonic attacks. Many of them are links to our destiny.

In those days in the village whenever we were to go to the farm to work and it was about raining, we children would like to complain, hiding under "rain" as an excuse not to go to the farm. "Dad, it's raining." His response would always be, "Do you have holes in your head?"

Go through the rain of life; you don't have holes in your head. Go through the scorching; you're not shea butter. God, sometimes, intentionally uses the challenges we passed through to build us so that we can be able to give others the comfort that God has given to us when they're also troubled.

Storm in our life is glory announcer! It was Goliath that put David on the map. The Rea Sea that announced Moses. Jordan announced Joshua. Widowhood announced Ruth. Insufficient wine in a wedding ceremony announced Jesus. Median oppression announced Gideon. Pharaoh's puzzle announced Joseph.

May nothing chase you in life when there's no Red Sea in view. The glory is planted in the Sea. When Israel got to the Rea Sea, she wanted to retreat. God said to her, "Go through it." The victory will come through the Sea. The glory is right there in the storm. The promotion will come through the challenges. The expansion will come through the toughness, and roughness, and hardness, and tightness, and, and...my God!

Stop mourning your situation. Your case is not the most pitiful one. God is only passing you through some storms designed for your making. I do pity people who rarely encounter frictional forces in life. That's not how life is designed.

You need storms to glide. You need the storm to push you higher. Storm pushes the eagle up. Stop circumventing challenging situations. Your elevation will come through it!

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God Bless You 😊

WHEN DESTINY CALLS, SUSPEND OTHER THINGS! ....from WINEPRESS

The priority of choice is the heart of wisdom because wisdom is principally the ability to discern difference in choices; and decision is the mechanism through which we side with destiny. You see, that thing they normally refer to as "the future" is not ahead of you; it's not sometime in years to come. Rather, it is within you; you experience "the future" every day through drops of decisions you make. The future is the resultant or compounding effect of efficient or inefficient use of every hour!

Life is serious, and yet ephemeral; hence one must figure out the dot in the circle of life and live purposefully in that destiny zone. Priority must of necessity be given to enhance those tributaries that empty into the ocean of destiny. Activities should be purpose-driven and destiny-propelling. Whenever destiny calls, wisdom demands that every other thing be suspended because it is whatever you do for destiny's reward that will constitute life's net worth when there's no more life. Wisdom reveals who is wise and who is foolish through what they prioritize. What you prioritize is revealed through your choices. 

Jesus met two men one day. He called the first, "Dude, be my disciple." The man told Jesus he would first go and bury his father. Jesus had to teach him this great truth. "Leave the death to bury their death. You go and preach the Kingdom of God." In other words, destiny is calling you, attend to it first and suspend every other thing, that includes your father's burial. 

The second man said to Jesus, "Lord, I will be your disciple, but let me first go home to bid my family members farewell." Jesus said to him, "Guy, you would have missed the call of destiny by the time you come back. The decision to be my disciple is a destiny decision, and it requires that you suspend everything else whenever destiny calls."

Whenever it comes to Kingdom matters, Jesus suspends every other thing. Where to sleep doesn't matter because foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Hunger has lost his power because his meat is to do the work of his Father and to finish it. Whenever destiny calls, and Jesus' family members are also calling, He would rather answer the call of destiny because his mother and brethren are those who hear the Word of God.

 

Jesus didn't disrespect or disregard his family. He was simply teaching us a powerful lesson: Whenever destiny is calling, let every other thing be on hold! If you are not this crazy as far as purpose fulfilment is concerned, you can hardly fulfill one!

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WINEPRESS💃💃🕺🕺😁🍏🍇🍒🍷🍾🎉

WE ARE SAVED FOR GOOD WORKS..!

 

“For by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9)…

…but, we are saved for works.

Sometimes ago, a question was asked concerning Christians who maintain that as long as their heaven is sure, they care less if others don’t make it to heaven, they just want to get there by all means, at all cost.

The truth is, heaven is not a place for those who don’t want to go to hell, heaven is for those who love God and are ready to do His will.  Our Lord Jesus Christ said; “if you love me, you will obey my commandments” and at the end of His ministry here on earth, He commanded His disciples saying “… go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

This means as believers, we have the obligation of showing others the way to salvation. We are not expected to live our lives as though we can protect it and keep it to the end. We can’t keep ourselves from sinning by living in the consciousness of sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ said; “he that keeps his life shall lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake shall keep it”. The bible in Rev. 12:11 says “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the power of their testimony, not loving their lives unto death”

The story was told of a newly employed young man in an organisation, for the first few months he was doing so well that his colleagues had to approach him to learn of his secretes, secretes about how he's managed not to break any of the company’s rules; he gets to work very early, he doesn’t sleep on duty, among others. His reply was “I'm not aware of any of the rules, I only do what I think is the right thing to do”. The following month, he got his first query, why? He became aware, and conscious, of the rules.

As long as we continue to live in the consciousness of sin, we will always be its slave, but once we understand that sin has been defeated and power over sin has been given to us by Christ, then, that is when we begin to live in victory over sin.

The kind of life lived by the early apostles is a very good example that corroborates this, according to Apostle Paul in 2Corinth. 11:23 – 33. He said they were always in one danger or the other, but never for once do they ever think of saving their lives because they are “… persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 38 – 39).

Therefore, as believers, we are not saved just for the sake of it, but to also serve as a light for others to be saved.

THE REWARD FOR PATIENCE Rom. 8 ²⁴-³°

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal. 6:9

Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, a virtue that should be evident in the life of the new creation (2 Corinth. 5:17). However, patience is not something that is developed overnight, as it involves the shedding off the old self and putting on the new man, a process that can be painstaking and might even seem time-consuming, but then, it is a process that is worth enduring.

Patience is defined as the quality of being patient, which is to be contented to wait if necessary, persevering, and calmly diligent while at the same time, not losing one’s temper and focus while waiting. Unfortunately, it is a path that a lot of people find difficult to take. But then, there are lots of benefits attached to patience, the Bible says; "...and not only so , but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience (proven character); and experience (proven character), hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us". Rom. 5:3‭-‬5

The truth is, you're not an accident, God planned you! Nobody else can be like you; nobody else can do the things you do. You are unlike anyone else on earth. God does not duplicate, He creates. You are absolutely perfect and genetically accurate for solving a specific problem for somebody on earth.

Your ability to grow in the place of patience, as a child of God, is a reward for somebody that others would not tolerate, your words will motivate someone incapable of seeing what you see. Somebody desperately needs you today, the patient you.

Somebody needs exactly what you have been given by God; somebody is literally dying emotionally, mentally or even spiritually waiting for you to come along and rescue them. Somebody has been lying awake at night praying that God would send you into their life. You are their reward!!!

However, you must recognise that some people do not really need you. You're not their answer. You're not their solution. You shouldn’t take offence at this, because God has somebody else planned for them.

You're not needed everywhere, you're only needed at a specific place, at a specific time and for a specific person or persons. And if you're struggling with anything, any issue at all, always remember that God will provide you with understanding and time to respond properly to the problem. God will confirm your assignment with inner peace in you and joy in them and the person will have great confidence in your ability and calling to solve the problem for them.

NEVER FORGET: You are a Reward from God to Somebody! And being honest is far better than pretending to be perfect…

FINDING AND KNOWING GOD’S WILL IN MARRIAGE

For someone who is still growing in the knowledge of the “Will of God” (especially in the area of marriage) to be writing about finding His Will may be somewhat funny or even questionable. But as we have seen with God over the years, the mouthpiece usually doesn’t matter, but what matters most is the ONE speaking through it. (Jer. 1:4-10)

As young men and women, the second most important decision we will ever make is deciding whom to marry. The first is who to serve. More often than not, most of us have wandered through the world and we've had different experiences; from disappointments to heartbreaks to rejections, and all these, smeared with a little bit of fun and happiness and a brief experience of what a perfect relationship looks like, which last for only a short period, leaves us wanting for more and all efforts to hold on to it have proved abortive. Then we realise that only in God can we truly have that which we have always longed for.

However, a host of us run to God for the sole purpose of finding His Will concerning marriage but not willing to surrender every other aspect of our life to Him. The thing is, God is interested in all areas of our life just as much as He is interested in our marital life, and God, being an intentional God that cannot be coaxed or forced to do anything, will remain silent until we come to the light of His word, i.e. building a relationship with Him first. In Gen. 17:1, God said to Abraham;

“…walk before me and be thou perfect”.

To know God’s Will, two steps, out of several, are recommended;

1. Seek Him: This cannot be stressed enough. Seeking God is the most important step in knowing His Will, as those who seek Him will eventually find Him. In Mat. 6:33, Jesus Christ said;

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and EVERY OTHER thing will be added unto you”

In Prov. 8:17, our loving Father declared;

“I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me”

The Holy Spirit corroborated the points above, with an added ingredient in seeking him in Heb. 11:6, which says:

“But without FAITH it is impossible to please God; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”

2. Do His Will: To know His Will, we must be ready to do His Will. The most important Will of the Father is that “His kingdom be established here on earth, just as it is in heaven, and that we love our neighbours as ourselves”. As we will see very soon, anyone that wants to know the Will of God concerning anything should be ready to do His Will in all things.

You see, God’s will is not some kind of sacred principles or enigmatic formula that we can use to solve all issues automatically. God’s will is not partitioned such that we can choose to acknowledge it in areas such a marriage, finance or moral conducts and then decide to take charge or control over other areas as we deem fit. God’s will encompasses all areas of our life. It involves walking before Him in total obedience and holiness, submitting EVERYTHING to Him and seeking Him wholeheartedly to know Him and to be completely filled with Him. Imagine a scenario where God is in control of your life, He’s the only pilot in your craft, the only one in the driver’s seat of your life, now, what do you think will happen when the wrong person tries to come along? Either the person submits to Him or flees. This is just a minuscule experience compared to what He's able to do when He's in complete control.

Now, having established the line of thoughts above, let us now consider the characteristics of God’s will to help us understand it better and identify it when we see it.

1. The will of God is 100% about God and 0% about us.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created”. (Rev. 4:11)

In seeking God’s Will for our lives, especially in areas such as marriage, we erroneously make our search self-centred. We think of that perfect partner and imagine all manner of things we want to do with that person, we have that seven-figure paying job at the top of our heart and in all of these, the focus of our prayer points is; God please make it happen by all means! Our prayer life becomes more of asking God to bless our plans instead of asking Him to show us His.

Three characters that placed God’s needs before theirs that I’d like us to quickly examine are; First, King Solomon, who of all the things he could have asked, told God he only wants wisdom, to enable him to judge God’s PEOPLE rightly and now we’re not only talking about him being the wisest king to have ever lived, but also the wealthiest and the most famous during his time. The second person is Moses, who realised that it is only by surrendering to God’s Will by leading His PEOPLE out of Egypt would he ever be able to make something out of an impact-less, wilderness-wandering life and the mighty things God did through him reeks throughout history. The third character is our Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the challenges in God’s will that were placed before Him in Luke 22:42, which He accepted and now, our souls owe its salvation to Him. Summarising His life, trial, and reward, Heb. 12:2 says;

”Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God”

The truth is, His will is the highest quality material, His desire is far greater than ours and His plans supersede our plans; because God’s ways are infinitely greater than our own (Is. 55:8-9) and so, our thinking should be; “How will my relationship bring glory to God? In what ways will my job benefits the Lord? Putting the needs of God first ends up providing for our own.

2. The Will of God is not ambiguous.

“For our God is not the author of confusion but of peace…” (1Cor. 14:33)

His will is precise, it is straightforward, with no buts or maybe. It only has a single objective. When waiting on God for anything, we must avoid the temptation of creating a backup plan, as we cannot be planning for our success and failure at the same time.

3. Two people coming together under the Will of God will always have their purposes align or in agreement.

A story was shared concerning a lady, to whom God revealed her purpose in life while she was yet an undergraduate. God told her she’d go to one of the African countries as a missionary and the man to be her husband will also have the same assignment. Along the line, different men started showing up with marriage proposals, with an identical mission but not exactly the same, which makes it easy for her to turn them down until the right one eventually showed up. The bottom line is, knowing your purpose in life will greatly help when it comes to choosing the right partner.

4. Finally, the Will of God has its own challenges…

…but we have confidence in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ has promised to be with us even in the midst of the storm. Marriages and even relationships will always have challenges as it involves the coming together of two people with different orientations and background and being an institution the devil so loathes because it involves unity, he will never stop until it crumbles. But speaking in John 16:33, our Lord Jesus Christ has assured us, saying;

“In the world, ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”

In summary, if you really want to know the Will of God for your life, concerning marriage but you're not ready to submit all other areas of your life to Him, you might as well, not bother about knowing His Will at all.

I will conclude with Gregg Matte’s quote in his book “Finding God’s Will”

“God’s Will is what happens when you seek Him”.