YOUR STRENGTH LIES IN YOUR QUIETNESS

                                                           

TEXT- JUDGES 16: 6-20                                     

Nobody loves us more than our God; His love for us is true and sure. He gave us dominion over everything He created, He delegated some of His power to us, but He did not reveal the secret behind His strength and greatness to us. (Psalm 145: 3) This is not because He loves us less, but He knows that there should be boundary. God said we should be like Him in all that we do. He is a wise God, and as His children we cannot be foolish.

Samson’s destruction came because he could not control his mouth, as strong as he was, he could not tame his mouth, his tongue which is the smallest part of his body caused his downfall. This implies that you may be rich, strong, intelligent, influential and spiritually sound, if you don’t tame your tongue or if you don’t learn how to be quiet or talk less, you may talk yourself to trouble.

Talking too much can expose your strength and your weakness to your enemies. Not revealing all your secrets to people does not mean you don’t love them, and telling everybody about yourself does not show your “unfailing love” for them, rather it shows that you are weak and not being able to control your mouth. Delilah betrayed Samson three times before he finally opened up on his source of strength. This shows that he was foolish; God said we should be wise as serpent and be as gentle as dove. We need divine wisdom to be able to sail through  in this world. Samson found it difficult to learn from his mistake, he had been betrayed by a woman once even before Delilah came into scene. 

His first betrayal happened when he told a riddle about the honey he ate from the lion that he killed, he said whoever finds answer to the riddle will be rewarded. A girl that he wanted to marry was used to retrieve the answer from him. He became angry and was unable to marry the girl, but he did not learn any lesson from the incidence. Samson refused to caution himself, he refused to bridle his tongue until he ended in destruction.

Some of us are like Samson; that we keep falling and falling by the words of our mouth, without making a change to the way we talk. You may be a prayer warrior, your anointing may be like that of Elijah and Elisha altogether, if you don’t control your mouth; your fall will be very easy. May we not fall into the hands of our enemies in Jesus name!

Be eager to hear and be slow to answer. Always remember “IN QUIETNESS LIES YOUR STRENGTH” (Isaiah 30:15) Bridle your tongue!

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WHO SHOULD PRAISE GOD?

The scripture says “let everything that has breath praise the lord”. (Psalm 150:6) as long as you are living; it is mandatory for you to praise the lord your maker. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, happy or sad, healthy or sick. We need to praise God no

matter the situation we find ourselves. (Thessalonians 4-18) “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

Praising God should not be done when you are happy only; it should not be done only when you have gotten answer to your prayer, it should be done at all times, in any situation or condition.

Some people did not see any reason to praise God in the condition they are; they believe that praise should be given to God when they have achieved something.

The mistake people are making is that they are ignorant of who God is. Whether they praise God or not God remains unchanged. The bible says delight yourself in the lord and He will grant you your heart desire.

Praise should not be given to God only when you are looking up to Him for one thing or the other, rather praise should be rendered to Him everyday. Some people run to God when they are in need, once that need is met; they go away from His presence.

Nobody is exempted from praising God, (Psalm 8-2) From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. If God wants little children to praise Him for all His deeds, we can clearly affirm that there is no excuse for any creature not to praise Him.  In Psalm 47:1-2 there is a clarion call to all nations to praise the lord our maker, that reigns all over the earth, all the nations are His own, and they are under Him.

The verse also explained further why we should praise God. “The great kings over all the earth” We see how the earthly kings are being honoured and worshiped, how much more the king of kings that created all the earthly kings. He is the one that enthrones and dethrones, He deserves more praise and honour more than the earthly kings.

We need to praise God because everything comes from Him, the bible says everything comes from God and without Him; nothing was made.

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DOING THE WILL OF GOD

TEXT: 1 THESSALONIANS 4: 1-12

As children of God our primary aim is to live our lives to please God. For us to do the will of God perfectly, we need to live in absolute obedience.

God does not accept partial obedience; He wants His children to obey Him absolutely, even when it seems too hard to do. The text highlighted ways that believers needs to follow to do the will of God. These are:

v    You should be sanctified- sanctification means separation from the world and unto God. You need to separate yourself from things of the world, and focus on things of God/spirit. You should not do things the way people of the world do things, because you are different from them. This change should reflect both inwardly and outwardly. Your dressing, your group of friends, your attitude your utterances should show that you are for God.

v    You should avoid sexual immorality- Our body is the temple of God, therefore we should honour God with our body. God cannot dwell in a filthy body, He says whoever destroys His temple (our body) He will destroy. ( 1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

v    Present yourself in sanctification and in honour- purge yourself of anything that does not glorify God. Things like anger, malice, backbiting, bitterness, strife, hatred, jealousy and other works of the flesh. (Romans 8:8) says that those that live in flesh cannot please God.

v    Don’t be in passionate lust – As children of God; we should not lust after worldly things like people of the world. Our desires should be on the things of God rather than things of the world. ( 1 John 2: 15-17)  (Matt 6:19-21)

v    Live in peace with people – Don’t take advantage of people, do not cheat, and do not have dubious character towards people that comes your way.

v    Live in love – The bible says whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4: 7-8) W e need to demonstrate the love of God to others by loving and forgiving them when they offend us. Though there are some “unloving ones” you would do everything to be at peace with them; yet they will not love or like you. You do not need to follow their way, show them love in return. The bible says we should love them that hates us. God demonstrated His love for us, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We should not wait for those people to love us before we would  show them love.

v    Live a quiet life- The bible says in Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. God wants us to glorify Him in all we do; our way of life is not an exception. Living a quiet life does not  mean you should live in penury, it does not mean you  should become a loner by moving away from friends and family, but do things moderately and in order. Use your wealth or resources in a way that it will glorify God.  Let your daily life win the respect of outsiders.

v    Study the word of God- Commit yourself to the word of God; let studying the word be your lifestyle. Worship Him constantly, give yourself  to the things of God, and live in obedience of His word. 

 We need to make it a point of duty to do the will of God so that we can receive what He promise us.

WHY SHOULD WE PRAISE GOD?

Many people ask “why should I praise God? There is nothing worth praising God for in my life” If you think there is nothing to praise God for in your life, for Him being your creator, you owe Him all your praise.

We praise God because He is worthy of our praise (1 Chron. 16:25) “for great is the lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods” He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our Creator, Provider, Healer, Redeemer, Judge, Defender and much more. No matter what you are going through, it is mandatory for you to praise God. (That is the purpose of your creation)

(Psalm 24:1) “The earth is the lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein”. God is the Supreme Being, the maker of heaven and the earth; he is the creator of things that are living and things that are not living. (Psalm 47:7) “For God is the King of all the earth: sing you praises with understanding. The above scripture made us to know what to do when you are praising God. “Understanding” this means do not praise God because you love the music that is being played; praise him for his mercy, greatness etc.

For the fact that He made heaven and the earth with His wisdom and strength, and all things were made good; He deserves our praise.

 (Gen1:31) and God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good. You are part of His creation, so He created you very well. That situation that is making you to believe that there is nothing good in your life is just the scheme of the devil. The above verse said God looked at all He created and see that it was very good. That includes you praise God!

We need to praise God for creating us in his own image; God loves us that he created us like himself so that we can have dominion over every other thing that He created.  God loves us from the inception of the earth; this unfailing love should be reciprocated by praising him and showing him our love and respect. We cannot pay God monetarily for his love for us, but we can pay him with our genuine praise that comes from the innermost part of our heart.

WHAT IS PRAISE?

WHAT IS PRAISE?

Praise is the act of worshiping God for who he is, and for all the wonders of his hands. It is a way of appreciating his sovereignty.

Praise means “to commend, applaud or magnify.”  Praise to God is an expression of worship, lifting-up and glorifying the Lord. It is an expression of humbling ourselves and focusing our attention upon the Lord with heart-felt expressions of love, adoration and thanksgiving.     

Praises brings our spirit into a point of fellowship and intimacy between us and God. Praise brings awareness of our spiritual union with the most high God. Praise takes us into the realm of the supernatural and into the power of God. (Psalms 89:15).says   “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence oh, lord.”

Praise is the way of acknowledging God as the Supreme Being

(Psalms 47:6-7) “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our king, sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth, sing to him a psalm of praise”

Praise should be given to God in humility, in spirit and in truth. Praise is a powerful weapon for spiritual warfare. Praise is acknowledging the perfection of God, through speaking or singing. 

God is pleased when He sees His children praising Him, the best way to move God into action is by singing His praise. This implies that praise is an essential weapon that every believer should have to make God to be pleased with them.

If we look at the account of David, God said he is the man after his own heart, not because of his righteousness or because he does not sin, but because he knows how to be in the presence of God by giving quality praise. When you develop the habit of praising God, you will be close to his heart like David. He will find you worthy to reveal his secret and plan to.

 Praising God should be done in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) 

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Misplace expectation on food

TITLE: MISPLACE EXPECTATION ON FOOD

TEXT: GENESIS 3: 1-5, DANIEL 1: 5-8

Food is very important to every human being. For a believer to grow fully without any malnutrition or deficiency, he/she needs to feed on both physical and spiritual food.

Physical food nourishes you physical body for growth and development to take place in your body. If you fail to eat all your balanced diet, malnutrition will take place in the body. This can pose danger into our health.

As important as it is to take balanced diet, it is crucial to know that there are some food that you need to avoid so that your health will not be in danger. (1 Cor 6: 12-13) 

Likewise as believers we eat spiritual food together with the physical food so that we can grow both physically and spiritually. (1 Peter 2:2) “

 we need to be spiritually healthy for us to be able to run our Christian race successfully.

Spiritual food nourishes our spiritual man; it draws us closer to God. As believers, if we fail to eat the spiritual food that God wants us to eat, it will lead to spiritual dryness and spiritual undernourishment.  We need to be careful of the spiritual food that we eat. The kingdom of darkness also have their own spiritual food. Examples are lies, hatred, bitterness, anger, unclean spirit, jealousy, strife and so on.

In our text; God told Adam and Eve to eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden, except one particular tree. When the serpent came to deceive Eve, he presented it to her that eating from the forbidden fruit is not bad, but will only make them to be as wise as God.

The serpent already knew what would happen after eating the forbidden fruit, but he presented the deceit in a very good way that was irresistible to them. This was the beginning of the fall of man, the serpent succeeded in breaking the relationship between God, Adam and Eve.

The serpent used his tactics to deceive Eve by making her to see the forbidden fruit as a very good and harmless way of being like God. The devil is still at work of deceiving believers to see some “satanic food” as the best and fastest way to their breakthrough.

The “forbidden fruit” that the devil is using to deceive believer may be sexual immorality, lies, fraud and so on. If you are trying to have a rethink of your actions, he will be giving you a good reason why you are being justified for your actions. That is why you need to constantly ask for God’s leading and direction.

Eve’s expectation when she wanted to eat the fruit was to become like God in knowing good from bad (getting wiser) instead, it brought about separation between them and God. All the benefit they were enjoying from God ceased because of their misplaced expectation.

If we allow the devil to deceive us by bringing something that is against the will of God for us, as a way to our breakthrough, it can break the relationship between God and us. In the quest to “help God” in their situation, some believers have put their expectation on wrong or negative spiritual food that the devil gives, and this has made the glory of God to depart from them.

There are some “forbidden fruits” that God does not want His children to eat. Examples are lies, anger, hatred, jealousy, strife, back-biting, sexual immorality, evil thoughts towards others. (These are spiritual food from the kingdom of darkness.) The devil has his ways of making these things to be attractive to believers.

If you fall into the trap of the devil by yielding to his advice, you will not achieve your expectation, but the devil would accomplish his own purpose, which is to separate you from God. Daniel refused to defile himself with the royal food that the king made available for him. Eating royal food and drink could be the best thing anybody could ask for, but it could be a bait against somebody’s destiny. Not all that glitter is gold!

               WHAT TO DO TO AVOID MISPLACE EXPECTATION

• Ask for God’s direction and guidance before taking any step. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

• Don’t jump at every opportunity without seeking the face of the lord.

• Don’t be enticed with “Rosie” or fast way to breakthrough.

• Make up your mind not to follow the broad way that leads to destruction and death. (Proverbs 14:12)

We should not be ignorant of the devices of the enemy; the devil may present that “poisonous food” in a well presented package, but do not misplace your expectation. Be on your guard against the devices of the enemy.