THE MIGHTY HANDS OF GOD

TEXT: EZRA 8:32 ^b, 8:31

 “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.”

^31 “On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canalto go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way.”

Our God is a mighty God that created the universe by the outstretched of His hands. The hands of God are so strong and mighty that nothing can hinder Him from whatever He wants to accomplish.

Talking about the mighty hands of God is talking about His awesome power. The mighty hands of God make the impossible to become possible- His hands are “situation changer.” This is why people say “Lord, I can see your hands in my life- that means the power of God has changed their situation for good. “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” (Ezra 8:22 ^b ). This verse is telling us that the hands of God have “dual functionality”- To us His righteous children; His hands will work in our favour to deliver, heal,  give blessing and breakthrough set free, fight and win our battles, make way for us, makes us to advance over adversaries and so on. On the other hand, God’s mighty hands work to bring calamity, defeat, hardship, failure, wrath and judgement on His enemies and the enemies of His children.

I said earlier that God’s hands mean God’s power- we will be considering the wonders that God did in the Bible with His mighty hands.

Our first reference is going to be the mighty hands that delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Genesis 14).

Pharaoh was very stubborn in the beginning; he did not want to release the children of God to be free from the age long bondage of slavery.

The wrath of God came upon Egypt when God stretched His mighty hands on the land and affected them with plagues.  The lord proved his power and might at the Red sea to the detriment of Pharaoh and his chariots.

God’s out stretched hands parted the Red sea and the children of Israel walked freely on dry land to safety- the Lord granted deliverance to His children with His out stretched mighty hands!

However, the same mighty hand that delivered God’s children was what drowned His enemies the Egyptian army.

The hands of God can be seen positively or negatively it depends on where you stand (if you are for Him or against Him).

I pray for you that you will not encounter the hands of God in a negative way in Jesus name.

Another example of God’s mighty hands at work is in the book of second Chronicles 20. It is the account of Jehoshaphat. The Ammonites, the Moabites and the rest were coming to wage war against Jehoshaphat. He went to God and asked for God to help them fight their battle. Jehoshaphat followed God’s instruction of inviting worshippers and playing, singing and dancing to the Lord at the war front.

Without them having any weapon of war, the Lord gave victory to Jehoshaphat. The Lord took it upon himself to fight the battle with His mighty hands. There are other numerous instances where God used His mighty hands to bring deliverance and judgement accordingly.

If you are against Him, He will show you His hands negatively and if you are for Him; He will show you His hands positively. May destruction not be our portion in Jesus name.

May the mighty hands of God that does wonders work in our favour in Jesus name. Amen.

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THE PUZZLE OF LIFE

TEXT: JOHN 15:4- 7

“4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.⁷ if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

Life is a puzzle and putting it together could be challenging. That is why we need the help and assistance of God.

A jigsaw puzzle can be defined as puzzle consisting of small irregularly cut pieces that are to be fitted together to form a picture. (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

I work as a childcare practitioner- a Classroom leader to be precise. My duty is to assist the children in my group to make their day in the playschool meaningful and enjoyable by stimulating learning environment and planning child centred activities- guiding them through the learning period.

One beautiful morning, as I welcomed the children as they were coming in; we planned the day and the children chose what they wanted to do at their work time (this is when each child decides where they want to play in the room). There was a beautiful girl that always starts her day by setting all the jigsaw puzzles in the room before she would move to any other activity in the room.  I sat beside her as she was setting the puzzles- I was motivating her as she succeeds in putting the right piece in the right place. I used words of encouragement like “good girl, well-done, brilliant and so on to motivate her.

At a point she got stuck and she called me for help (that was my reason for sitting beside her). “Teacher, I need help” she stated. I moved close to the board and found out that she was holding a wrong piece of puzzle in her hand and she was forcing it to the wrong place with all rigors! “I said to her “you have the wrong piece in your hand, drop it and let’s look for the right one.” She replied “NO, I want to put this one first.”

I tried my best to explain to her that she has to drop the wrong piece for us to look and place the right piece in the puzzle so that she can continue with the setting- as the wrong piece WILL NOT fit in that place that she’s forcing it to.

However, all my explanation and implorations was to no avail as she refused to let go of the wrong piece she was holding. I have to respect her will and choice; I cannot impose my will on her so I let her be. She continued to struggle with the wrong piece she refused to let go. She continues forcing the wrong piece in the wrong place while I look.

After a while, she became frustrated and got fed up with the struggle; she left the table without being able to set the puzzle to completion. Her strong self-will made her to refuse to let go of the wrong piece even though it debar her from achieving her goal of completing the jigsaw puzzle.

As I watched her struggling with the wrong piece, the Holy Spirit said to me

“This is how you human beings struggle with your maker in the issues of your life. You hold on to the wrong thing in life and you will start calling on God for help and assistance. When God tells you to drop your will for His will, you will start arguing and look for a way to manipulate God to work with your will and choice. Being who God is – Polite and gentile, He will respect your will without forcing His will on you, and He will let you make your choice. When your choice or what you decided is not working as you expected; you will become angry and frustrated thinking God has failed you.”

For days, I reflected on the illustration of the Holy Spirit and the scenario that happened at work. Permit me to ask you readers “do you see yourself in this illustration? Are you in anyway struggling with the will of God for your life? Are you holding on to the wrong piece of life’s endeavour or task to complete the puzzle of your life? Trust me, it will not work. You have to drop any wrong thing that you are holding on to, the Lord is set to give you the right piece that will compliment and complete your life. Without the right piece of puzzle that the Lord wants to add to your life, your life cannot be complete. It may be in the area of business, career, and life partner and so on. Take an inventory of your life and see where you are struggling with the will of God. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 1:5 that God knew you before He made you, He is the only one that has the right piece of puzzle that will make  the picture of your life to be complete- Not your pastor, parents, or your career guidance counsellor!

He will not force His will on you, therefore, you have to be willingly let go of your will for His will.

Like I couldn’t help the girl in the story as much as I made myself available to help her, in the same way; God will not be able to render any help if you are not willing to let go of your wrong choice.

For you not to be frustrated, drop that wrong piece and allow God to give you the right piece. that will bring about the perfect picture for your life.

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MOVE TO THE NEXT LEVEL

TEXT: DEUTERONOMY 1: 6-8

“⁶ The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.” 

The plan of God for us His children is to prosper, flourish and dominate the earth. God wants us to make positive impact in our generation.

God does not want His children to be stagnant, He wants us to enjoy accelerated or progressive blessing- that is to be moving from one level of greatness to another higher level of greatness.

The scripture says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof… (Psalm 24: 1). The earth belongs to your father, therefore you should not be stranded at a location- You are to break grounds to have global relevance. God told us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations.

The gift of God in you should be made known all over the world. Do not let anything debar you from moving from glory to glory because that is the disposition of God for your life.

If your gift is making way for you as the scripture has promised, have it in mind that there is room for improvement for you to do greater exploits.

Do not stay too long at a level celebrating your victory or success.

Rather, keep soaring and aspire to get to the next level of greatness that the Lord has prepared for you.

The anchor scripture tells us how God prompted the children of Israel not to stay stagnant at Horeb- because He has given them a vast land for their possession.

God has released His blessing on them, He prepared a land flowing with milk and honey for them to inherit and enjoy; but for one reason or the other they were delaying the “Taking over” of the land until God rebuked them for their stagnation.

There are things that you have to do for you to enter into your greatness. Whatever part God wants you to play for your blessing and divine transformation, if you don’t do it; God will not play your part for you.

This is where some believers are missing it, there are things that do not need prayers to accomplish again because God has already decided to favour you- He has opened the door before you. When a door is opened, what is the next thing to do? The next thing is to move! You cannot substitute prayers for action: if you do and you didn’t get your expected answer, you will be “blaming” God that He did not answer your prayers.

I am telling you today that the Lord has opened the door of breakthrough before you; you do not need prayers and fasting to take the action of moving to the higher level of greatness.

Have you gone into the wrong direction of destiny and you found yourself stagnant? Or are you in the right direction of destiny but for one reason or the other, things are not working as expected because of some stumbling blocks and hurdles on your way to the next level? You cannot afford to be stagnant because you are created for upward movement- Look for the exit door from your stagnated point and retrace your steps to where you will possess the blessing that the Lord has prepared for you.

Ask God for help to advance against all barriers and oppositions to your greatness and be ready to take corresponding action. You are not created to be limited in your career, spiritual life, ministry and in all aspects of life- You are a global champion not local champion, let nothing hinder you. Arise now and take your possession, break every barrier against all odds DO NOT STOP MOVING. It does not matter the size of your step; either baby step or giant step- Just keep moving forward!

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BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

TEXT: PROVERBS 14: 34

“Righteousness [moral and spiritual integrity and virtuous character] exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

Righteousness means uprightness, decency, honesty and guiltlessness. It is the quality of being morally right or justifiable. Being righteous is when no mistake or bad deed is found in you- when you are blameless.

God encouraged us to live righteous so that we would partake in the blessing of righteousness. God wants absolute righteousness from us without spot or wrinkle- though the scripture says our righteousness is like filthy rag in His presence, yet God wants us to try all our best to live a holy life (we cannot continue in sin and ask grace to abound). Grace is available for all the children of God, but you MUST strive to live a holy life because righteous living cannot be replaced with anything.

The scripture made us to know that the spirit is willing but our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).

¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

(Romans 7:15-20).

The above quote is from Apostle Paul in his wrestle against flesh and sin. We must constantly subject our flesh so that we will be able to live a righteous life to enjoy the promises of God concerning righteous living.

BENEFITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

·        It makes your way to be straight (Proverbs 11:5)

·        Righteousness delivers from problem (Proverbs 11:6)

·        You will be rescued from trouble (Proverbs 11: 8)

·        God will make your enemies to be at peace with you (Proverbs 16:7)

·        You will inherit the land – This means you will flourish in the land

·        (Psalm 37: 29)

·        It shall be well with you (Isaiah 3:10)

·        You will not be forsaken (Psalm 37: 25)

·        The Lord will grant you your heart desires (Proverbs 10:24)

·        Your children shall be delivered from evil and affliction (Proverbs 11: 21)

·        You will live in safety under the shadow of the almighty God (Proverb 18: 10)

·        Your path will be smooth and glorious- you will be moving from one level of glory to another (Proverbs 4: 18)

·        God will not withhold any good thing from you (Psalm 84: 11)

·        You will enjoy God’s favour in every area of your life (Psalm 5:12)

HOW TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY

·        Fear the Lord and do not do anything that can cause separation between you and God.

·        Study His word (Bible) and apply it to your lifestyle.

·        Obedience is crucial- not partial obedience to His commands.

·        Put your flesh into subjection and let the spirit of God rule over your flesh.

·        Holiness and humility is key to righteous living.

·        Acknowledge God in all your doing, so that He can direct your path..

·        Live a lifestyle of praise, worship and prayer.

·        Live in love- love the “unlovable” do not follow the slogan of “an eye for an eye.”- Do good to them that hates you (This takes the grace of God… the grace is sufficient for you- ask for it).

The benefits of righteousness cannot be over emphasised. If we can stand right with God and walk in His will, we would not need to struggle for many things in life, because God will take care of everything in our favour.
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