COME LET US REASON TOGETHER

TEXT: ISAIAH 1:18

“Come now, let us reason together says the lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are Red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

The scripture made us to know that the eyes of the Lord are too pure to behold iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13) yet God did not hate sinners but the sin in them. Sin is a stumbling block that deprives man from enjoying quality fellowship with God.

When Adam and Eve committed sin in the Garden of Eden, there was separation between them and God. They were unable to continue the privilege of God coming down to them in the dawn of the evening to “gist” with them. Despite their sin, God was still protecting and providing for them. This shows that God loves sinners, He does not want them to die in their sin but repent and turn away from their sinful way, and then He would embrace them and adopt them into His kingdom as children. If your child soiled him or herself with chocolate and was coming to you in your flowing white attire, you would not embrace the child; instead you would move back so that your white apparel would not be soiled too. If the child cleansed herself and ran toward you to embrace you, you would not move back but embrace the child to show your love to him/her. This illustration is applicable to us and God. When our clothes are soiled with sin, God would not embrace us, but when we are clean without any blemish; He would be willing and happy to embrace us. Moving away from your child that soiled himself with chocolate; does not mean that you hate the child, but because you wouldn't want to be stained with chocolate. For God to keep sinners at arm length does not mean He hate them, but he wants them to do the right thing- to clean up their “mess” so that He would be able to embrace them.

Our text is giving the assurance that no matter how deep you are in sin, God is ALWAYS ready to cleanse and forgive your sin. It does not matter how far you have travelled with the devil, if you can make a U turn and follow the right route by confessing your sin and depart from it, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness( 1 John 1:9). Don’t continue in sin, don't allow the devil to rob you of your salvation, don't fall for the lie of the devil that your sin are too grievous to be forgiven.

Like the prodigal son, make a U turn today; go back to your maker, ask Him to wash and cleanse you of every iniquity. Rededicate your life to Him and make every effort to live for Him alone.

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GIVE AND TAKE

PSALM 18: 24-26

“The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.”

Who you are determines who God will be to you, our God is capable of changing from being a Lamb to a Lion. He can change from being a fountain of love and rivers of life to the consuming fire. Your attitude and your behaviour will determine the side of God that He will show to you.

The Lord showed the side of favour to the Israelites at the Red sea, and they walked on dry land. At the same time God showed His side of vengeance to the Egyptians, the Lord did baptism of destruction for Pharaoh and his chariots at the Red sea. What an awesome God we serve!  Though our God is a merciful God, yet He is a God that stands His word.

Our text can be used to drive home the fact that whatever you sow you will reap (Galatians 6:7). The Lord will reward each and every one of us according to what we do and who we are. If you are kind; you will receive kindness, if you are mean and cruel; you will drink from the same cup. If you are faithful; the lord will not forsake you, He will remain faithful to you in all your ways. If you live to bless others, the Lord will bless you beyond your imagination. If you use your wealth to oppress others, you will be oppressed in return.

If your work is blameless and you live pure, the same measure will be used for you. Search yourself today, take the inventory of your life, do genuine examination of yourself. “Let everyone examine himself; and let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” (1 Corinthians 11:28). Only you can genuinely examine yourself, no one else can. Do the soul searching today and make necessary amends. 

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CALLED OR CHOSEN ?

TEXT: JEREMIAH 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I chose you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nation.”

God created each and every one of us for a purpose; nobody came to the world by an accident or by mistake. He predestined us to come to the world to fulfill our different purposes He created us for. God has good plan for all of His children at creation (Jere 29:11) and He want His children to fulfill these purposes as He has planned.

However, many people are out there running the wrong race, they have deviated from the predestined calling, trying to emulate others or trying to follow multitude to engage in reigning thing like business or Endeavour that people are trooping in to do, not minding if that is what God want them to do or not.

The Bible tells us in Romans 8:30 that “and those He PREDESTINED, He also CALLED, those He called justified, those He justified He also glorified.” You don’t need to run after people’s vision, because it is not your vision; you may not see it clearly. It may become an illusion to you. You don’t need to steal people’s dream and make them yours. You were not in the dream when God gave the dream to the owner. Therefore you CANNOT interpret it well; no stolen dream can achieve much!

Many are cultivating another man’s land, dressing and watering another man’s seed. Stay on your path; don’t lose your track because that could be dangerous and frustrating.

Our text pointed to the fact that everybody has been appointed and ordained for one purpose or the other. God showed Joshua his own divine purpose, you too can be shown yours if you ask God. Trying to fulfill another person’s purpose (which is impossible) will lead to failure.

In psalm 105:26 the scripture says “He sent Moses servant and Aaron whom He had chosen.”The question now is are you sent or chosen? The dreams and visions you are trying to fulfill, are they yours? Your purpose and vision gives you great joy and fulfillment even when you are not getting any financial gain from it. If the vision and dreams you are running after are not marked out for you by God, it would lead to frustration if your expectations are not coming to fulfillment. You need perseverance to run the race that has been marked out for you (destiny race) because God ordained you to fulfil a vision do not mean you will not meet with challenges, but when you are sure that you are in line with destiny, you will have divine booster to keep you going. God will not back you up in what He has not called you to, be sure you are called or chosen for that assignment. Shalom.

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THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

TEXT: JOSHUA 1:8

“Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

Prosperity has nothing to do with your efforts, hard work or your hard labour. It has nothing to do with your intellectual knowledge or your academic achievements, it does not matter how many degrees you bagged in famous universities. True prosperity is of God, there are people that are well educated; yet they can barely meet the basic needs of their lives. Many are working tooth and nail with nothing to show for it.

The scripture says in Deuteronomy 28:12^b that “I will bless the work of your hand...” Except the lord blesses you, your struggle, efforts, and hard labour may yield nothing, this is because hard labour is nothing without God. The secret to great success is obedience to God’s instructions or His commandments. Our text shows the commandments that God gave to Joshua, “the book of the law should not depart from Joshua’s mouth; he should meditate on it day and night. He must also obey and do all that is written in the book of law, then God will bless him and make his way prosperous.”

Likewise, as children of God if you desire success; the book of the law (the Bible) must not depart from your mouth. You must study and mediate on the word daily. You must diligently follow the instructions in it, then the lord will open His bounty to bless you more than you can ever think or imagine.

The word of God is rich with “prosperity nuggets” for all areas of profession. The word of God is capable of giving you insight to what will launch you out to limelight even more than what your qualifications or university degrees would do. Examples of this fact are the mighty men of God all over the world that are doing great exploit for God. Some of them are highly educated while some are averagely educated. Yet these people are globally known not because of their university degrees or by their professional achievements. Their success and fame came when they surrender their totality to God; they decided to make the word of God their number one. The way of God and His commandment became paramount in their lives.

If these people had decided to stay in their field or area of professions, I can tell you that their fame may not spread all over the world, they would only be known in their lines of professions and not globally.

The lord may have a secret that will make you a household name worldwide. This will only be possible if you allow the word of the lord to dwell richly in your heart, when you meditate on the word and diligently obey all that is written in it, and then the revelation of what will bring you into limelight would be given to you.

You don’t need to be running around looking for success and prosperity, if you make the word of God your number one and make all effort to walk in obedience; the lord promise that He would make you the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:13). Don’t look for success look for God and success will come looking for you!

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