SAVE FOR RAINY DAYS

TEXT: PROVERBS 21:20

There is precious treasure and oil in the house of the wise (who prepares for the future), but a short sighted and foolish man swallows it all and wastes it. (Amplified Version).

God our maker created the heaven, the earth and everything in them out of His resources without having to borrow from anyone. Our God is an ALL-sufficient God. The almighty God told us in Psalm 50 verse 9 and 10 that “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” He continued in verse 12^b “for the world is mine, and all that is in it.”

The book of Haggai also testifies of the riches of our Lord, “the silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the lord almighty. (Haggai 2: 8). Despite God’s riches and wealth, He does not squander or waste resources- He is a prudent God. As God’s children, we must emulate the prudence of God. To be prudent is to be careful, prudence is the ability to be disciplined in management, to have good management in the use of resources. To be successful in life, you need to have good understanding or knowledge of financial management.

If your business, job or whatever generates income for you is buoyant and is generating bountiful income for you, do not use them all- do not spend, lavish, or squander all the resources. Remember, the Sun does not shine for 24 hours, there are days of “cloudy or dark weather.” This means that there are times that you may experience a downturn in your earnings or income. If that happens and you have no saving, living may be difficult. "Money speaks only one language: "If you save me today, I will save you tomorrow."

Develop a very good and strong spending and saving plan. Have budget for your money and spend sensibly. Make sure you save for the days that things may not go well. We cannot say because we are believers, we want to receive everything by faith. The scripture says that in this world we will have tribulation… Being financially unstable is part of tribulation.

Our text says the wise will have treasures in his house because he saved for the future. However, the foolish man does not have plan for his future- he spent all he had. I do not want us to act like the fool but the wise that saved for his future. Plan and set goals for the unknown future. Do not be an impulsive spender or buyer, hence you may become broke and have nothing to fall back on later. When Jesus fed the multitude in John chapter 6, there were twelve baskets of leftover food. He instructed the disciples to gather all the leftovers so that nothing will be wasted- that is prudence! The lesson here is, even during your years of overflowing success, do not waste resources! Jesus has the power to multiply and create things. Yet, he did not allow things to be wasted. In the same vein, do not waste resources, do not buy what you do not need, do not deplete all your resources over items that are not assets. Look for any financial investment you can engage in. search for suitable pension plan to help you in your old age. Save for old and rainy days. Shalom!

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WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED?

TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 4:7-9

Human beings love to be respected and elevated. We like to showcase our skills, talents, wealth, affluence, intellect and so on. We boast of these qualities to step up the social ladder of the society.

We tend to think too high of ourselves that if care is not taken, pride may set in.

I have seen some people that the prefixes in their names are longer than their real names! (This is nothing but a way of getting recognition and applauds of men).

Men may give you standing ovation when you are addressed with your many “titles” before mentioning your real name. However, you must be very careful not to let these “lorry loads” of titles get into you and cause you to become arrogant.

The scripture says in 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under God’s mighty hands, that He may lift you up in due time.” God does not like proud hearts; He loves meek and humble people.

Whatever you think you are now is by the grace of God- all good and perfect gifts are from above coming down from the father (God) of the heavenly lights (James 1:17).

Do not attribute your success to your wisdom, connection, intellectual ability, strength, or strategy. If you are able to acknowledge that God made that status possible by His grace, it will make you to be humble and be able to ascribe all the glory to Him and not to yourself.

In our text, Apostle Paul asked “What makes you different from anyone?” I will answer by saying it is the grace of God over your life that makes the difference not human wisdom, strength or effort.

Consequently, the grace of God that made you to stand out among your counterparts is also available to others- do not be intoxicated with success or achievement, rather, glorify God and be able to be a blessing to people.

You received your blessing, breakthrough and success from God- it will not stop with you, our God is not a partial God; He gives literarily without finding fault. What He did for you, He will do it for others as well.

Let no pride override your sense of gratitude- do not bully people with your success, relatively, bless people with it so that the name of the Lord can be glorified through you.

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BEWARE OF EVIL HELPERS

TEXT: EZRA 4:1-5

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”

Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Help can be defined as the act of rendering assistance to someone in order to get a task done faster and quicker. It is an assistance given to accomplish a task in a less difficult way.

As human beings, we all love it when someone offers to render help for us in order to accomplish our mission. As good as help and assistance may be, we must be careful of the offer of help and assistance we would accept because not all helpers are genuine or real.

The devil knows how to “wrap” and present disaster and calamity with an attractive “wrapper” to make it enticing and irresistible to his victims.

Many believers have fallen victims of the deceit of these “evil helpers” and have missed their glorious destiny as a result. God promised to help us by sending helpers our way. However, it is not all helpers that are genuinely from God.

Some so called “helpers” are from the pit of hell working for their master the devil to frustrate and truncate great destinies- TAKE HEED!

Some people have met their Waterloo as a result of “strange helpers” that “helped” them to destroy their destiny instead of improving it as expected.

Our text today shows how the devil can be cunning in destroying people’s testimony by pretending to be their “helper.”

“When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “LET US HELP YOU BUILD…” (Ezra 4:1-2).

These people were not genuine helpers but enemies that pretended to be helpers. They disguised themselves as helpers so that they can frustrate the good work that the builders of the temple were doing. Thank God for the spirit of discernment that the Lord gave to the builders to recognise them as enemies rather than helpers.

In the same vein, you have to be very careful of the offer of help you would accept from people, because some “helpers” are meant for your destruction and not for your elevation. Pray for the spirit of discernment to identify godly and genuine helpers.

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THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR OTHER THINGS?

TEXT: MATTHEW 6:33

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

The scripture tells us that the first and paramount thing to seek or to long for is the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That is, we would strive to know God genuinely; we should seek Him not only with our lips but with the totality of our life- body, soul and spirit.

We you are seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness; it means you are passionate in pleasing the Lord your maker in all your ways. It means you are always conscious of your ways of life, and you examine yourself at every point in time to see if you are still in tune with God. It means you are heaven minded, courteous to live a life without blemish, spot or wrinkle; a life that glorifies God.

Kingdom seekers are those that believe that there is a place they will go to after leaving this world (eternity).

Kingdom seekers put their minds on things that are not seen (which are eternal) and not on things that are seen (which are temporal and perishable).

The Lord did not say we should be poor, he did not say He will not bless us; He did not say He will not take us to the height that we aspire to be. All He’s saying is that we should seek and love Him genuinely, to have a genuine relationship with Him. God wants us to be rooted and grounded in Him, so that when the day of evil comes; we will triumph.

It is so sad these days that people have put the first thing last and the last thing first. They have put the cart before the horse! Instead of seeking the kingdom of God first, they are busy seeking and running after other things (the world and its pleasures).

People want to become rich overnight. They are passionate and more concerned about building multi-million dollar Business Empire than genuinely seeking after the Lord their maker.

Many people out of desperation have gotten themselves in dubious, sinful and ungodly way to acquire these things that are just for the time being.

Men and women of God are not left out in this quest for the pleasures of the world. The motive of some pastors has changed from genuinely seeking the kingdom of God, to milking and exploiting their members to fulfil their worldly desires.

Many so called gospel singers are lost in the world of deceit. They sing songs that glorify man rather than God. They have diluted their songs with the worldliness of this world so that they would be widely accepted and make money as a result.

Gone are those days when a sinner will hear gospel music and be convicted of his or her sin! The subject and the focus have been changed from the Almighty God to worldliness disguised as gospel of God.

The mistake that people are making is that they refused to follow the instruction of God that says “SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO IT.”

If you follow this instruction or commandment of God, you will be doing yourself a lot of good; because life will be very easy for you(not that problem will not come, but you will have victory).

If you devote yourself to serving and pleasing God wholeheartedly, wealth, blessing and every other thing shall be added to you freely as bonus. You wouldn't need to struggle tooth and nail for it.

Solomon never asked for wealth but wisdom to lead God’s people. Because of his commitment to God’s assignment in his hands, God decided to bless him richly beyond his request. Great wealth was added as a bonus to his request.

The scripture says “The blessing of the Lord makes riches and adds no sorrow to it.” (Proverbs 10:22).

Be determined today that you want to genuinely seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness; don’t run after “other thing”- (material blessings). Leave other things for God to add to you as a reward of your steadfastness in seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.

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IN HIM THERE IS NO DARKNESS

TEXT: 1 JOHN 1: 5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Christmas season is a very unique season.  The way it is being celebrated is different from other festive season. The lighting all over the streets and the neighbourhood makes Christmas to be different from other celebration.
Jesus Christ is the LIGHT of the world, and in him there is no darkness AT ALL. Light is used as a metaphor in the Bible. It symbolises RIGHTEOUSNESS, BLAMELESS, HOLINESS, GOODNESS, PURITY, KINDNESS, LOVE, and all other fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Light illuminates and make everything visible. Every hidden things becomes visible at the entrance of light.
Darkness on the other hand is the absence of light. Darkness conceals and make things to be gloomy, shady and scary!
Darkness connotes WICKEDNESS, EVIL DOING, SIN, INIQUITY, IMPURITY, IMMORALITY, HATRED, STRIVE, JEALOUSY, LUST and all other works of the flesh.
Light is being used in the scripture as picture of good works. Jesus as the light of the world means that he is good, kind, holy, loving, righteous and caring. Jesus came into the world to illuminate the world with his light through his followers.
As believers, if we are truly his followers, if you truly have genuine fellowship with him, we shouldn't have any dealings with darkness again. This is so because his light supposed to have illuminated in every area of darkness in our lives.
The verse six of the text says " if we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live in truth."
Jesus called us the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, he said we should shine our lights before all men, so that they may see our good deeds and glorify God ( Matthew 5: 16).
You cannot continue in darkness as a follower of Jesus, your way of life must change if you are a genuine follower of Christ. It is the plan of God that every believer must emulate Him by shining forth His light and by becoming like him everyday.
The Christmas season is the period of lightning. Beautiful lights would be seen everywhere to celebrate the birth of our lord Jesus (the light of the world!).
Ironically. Knowingly or unknowingly, the light of the world is being celebrated with beautiful lightings all over the world! ( Even those that argues his birth and his claim as the child of God, puts up lights to celebrate the "Holiday" as they called it). Isn't that wonderful?
My piece of advice or admonition for all believers is that we should not only light the house and the Christmas trees. Rather, we should put on the light of our hearts, and let it illuminate and impart the lives of people around us.
We are the light of the world, no one lights candle and keeps it under the bed. Let your goodness be evident to everyone that comes in contact with you in this season and always.
If we do not have light, we do not know God. Those that knows God are those that walks in His light. Ephesians 5:8 says " for you were once darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the lord. Live as children of light.
Let us continue to shine the light of God by putting away every works of darkness like envy, hatred, sin, wickedness, unholy living, lust and immorality. Let us manifest the light of God by loving people, helping others, showing goodness, live a righteous life, forgive and be blameless before our Lord Jesus.
MAY THE LIGHT OF GOD NEVER DEPART FROM OUR LIVES IN JESUS NAME.AMEN.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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REBUILD YOUR ALTAR

TEXT: 1 KINGS: 18: 30-40

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come over here.” So all the people came to him. He rebuilt the Lord’s altar that had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes named after Jacob’s sons. (The Lord had spoken his word to Jacob: “Your name will be Israel.”) ³² Elijah built an altar in the Lord’s name with those stones. He also made a trench that could hold 12 quarts of grain around the altar. ³³ He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and put it on the wood.

³⁴ He said, “Fill four jars with water. Pour the water on the offering and on the wood.” Then he said, “Do it again,” and they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar, and even the trench was filled with water.

³⁶ When it was time to offer the sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward. He said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make known today that you are God in Israel and that I’m your servant and have done all these things by your instructions. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord! Answer me! Then these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are winning back their hearts.”

³⁸ So a fire from the Lord fell down and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dirt. The fire even dried up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ All the people saw it and immediately bowed down to the ground. “The Lord is God!” they said. “The Lord is God!”

⁴⁰ Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let any of them escape.” The people seized them, and Elijah took them to the Kishon River and slaughtered them there.

An altar is a sacred place dedicated to worshiping God. It is a meeting place with God it is a place where we call on God and he answers.

In the Levitical days, sacrifices are made to God on altars with the help of priests. Thank God for Jesus that came as one and for all sacrificial lamb that took away the sacrificial system; and the need to go through the Levitical priests to get to God (Hebrew 10:1-18).

Gone are the days when we have to stand before a particular altar to pray or to seek God. The spirit of God resides in every genuine child of God, we are God’s temple (1 Cor 6:19 1 Cor 3:16).

 As a temple of God, the onus is on you to build an altar to God in your heart guard and maintain it. Be sure that there are no unworthy things at your altar; so that the presence of God can be manifested at your altar.

Talking about “rebuilding an altar” there is evidence that there was an altar that was either broken neglected or deserted for one reason or the other. As a child of God, you are the temple of God and your heart is the altar of God.

A broken or desolated altar may be as a backslidden sin unforgiveness or bitterness or heart towards God or man. Have you neglected your altar? Have you given up on studying the word of God? How is our prayer life? Do you feel so weak weary and uninterested about the things of God? If your answer is yes to any of these questions it means that your spiritual altar is either broken or neglected!

If you want God’s attention the broken or the neglected altar of your heart must be rebuilt without any delay.

From our anchor text, Elijah was able to defeat the prophets of Baal because the presence of God was with him. This was made possible because he rebuilt the broken altar of the Lord. He did not just jumped up to start calling on the lord of Elijah to send down fire while the altar is broken, dirty and in shamble. Rather Elijah rebuilt the altar from the ground he removed all the dirt and rubbish he made the altar clean and conducive for God to dwell in.

To rebuild your altar you must do like Elijah did- you must rebuild your altar from the scratch by going back to God in humility and confess your sin and ask for forgiveness and purification so that the lord will start afresh with you. Renewal of vow and covenant is a must for you because you are starting on a new page with God.  All the spiritual exercises that you have neglected must be revisited again. You need God to revive you to be able to have zeal and interest in the things of God like studying the word praying and worshiping God.

When you have retraced your steps back to God; I will advise you to be conscious of your spiritual altar, keep your spiritual fire burning and never neglect your spiritual altar again.

There is no assurance of peace and joy of salvation until you rebuild the altar of God in your heart. Void your heart of every work of the flesh like malice anger, hatred bitterness and so on. Your spiritual altar cannot be rebuilt if you are living in sin or if you are complacent about the things of God. Elijah rebuilt the altar by removing all the rubbish on the altar so also you have to remove everything that is not glorifying God in your life so that God’s presence can be evident in your spiritual altar (your heart). Shalom!

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VOID YOURSELF OF PRIDE

TEXT: JAMES 4:6

But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 

Pride is the weapon the devil is using against people of God. Satan does not want to see anybody fulfil his or her God given purpose. He would make all effort to rid them of the glorious future that the Lord has prepared for them. This he would achieve by enduing them with the spirit of pride, the devil wears pride like garment on people.

The bible says “God RESISTS the proud and gives grace to the humble.” If a proud man is resisted by God, tell me how the person will fulfil destiny.

There are many that God have the plan of taking to a height they least expected in life, but after some success stories in their favour, the spirit of pride begin to manifest in them. Not knowing that the success that is making them proud is a tip of iceberg compared to what God has in stock for them.

However, instead of them to keep going higher on the ladder of success, they will be coming down until they are relegated to nothing! Did you just ask why? Because pride is a heavy burden and nobody can run or climb successfully at a faster rate having a load with him or her. That is why Hebrew 12:1 admonish us to throw of everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles…

The bible warned about pride in several verses of the scripture. Pride goes before a fall (Proverbs 16: 18). King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon suffered from the sin of pride and he lost his kingdom to pride (Daniel 4). When Nebuchadnezzar came back to his senses and exalted God rather than exalting himself for his greatness and wealth, God reinstated him back to his throne.

His statement after he was reinstated showed that he had learnt his lesson that God is capable of subduing any proud heart. “And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.” (Dan 4:37^b). Without God we can do NOTHING. That is why we should not allow the devil to fill our hearts with the spirit of pride. Apostle Paul knew this, so he wouldn't have to learn humility in the hard way like Nebuchadnezzar.

Paul understood that it is God that promotes and not human wisdom and effort. No wonder he said “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Whatever position you may be occupying, no matter the height you find yourself on the ladder of success, no matter the level of your achievement and greatness. DO NOT forget that it is by the GRACE of God that you achieved everything. Always have it in mind that you cannot do anything without God (John 15:5). Do not let pride disconnect you from God, because the result could be disastrous. I pray you will not lose your destiny to pride in Jesus name. Amen. 

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BY STRENGTH SHALL NO MAN PREVAIL

TEXT: PSALM 127: 1

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

God talk to His children through different means and channels. He relates with you with what you are conversant with, for instance; God can communicate the same message to people in different professions with examples and illustrations in line with their profession. For example, God can use different illustrations to explain a message to a teacher and a doctor. If you love playing golf, His illustration to you will be golf related. God’s illustration will always be from what you know and can relate with, He will not use something that is out of the blues to explain things to you, because He wants you to get the right understanding of what He is talking about. Therefore God has His way of expressing Himself to people by using different illustrations best known to the person He’s communicating with. God’s wisdom is unfathomable!

At my free time, when I feel like taking a break from work, I love to unwind by playing a particular game. The game has different levels, to move to the next level, you have to perform well and score high point. I do not play the game constantly, but only when I needed to have a break from writing or typing. There was a particular level that I got to that requires unlocking a key before I would get to the next level. I tried all I could to unlock this key, yet I was unable to do so, despite my effort and high scores.

I spent weeks (since I don’t play the game often) trying to achieve my purpose, with high scores, yet I was unable to unlock the key despite all effort, and techniques devised. All was to no avail. As I was determined to unlock the key to go to the next level, the Holy Spirit ministered to me using the game!

The Lord used the game to explain to me how human beings struggle to achieve greatness with human efforts and wisdom, with little or nothing to show for it. I was trying all human wisdom and effort to get to the next level, yet my effort was thwarted because I could not unlock the key that will take me to the next level. The Holy Spirit made me to see how human beings struggle to get to the next level of their life, by applying all human strength and wisdom, coupled with the best instrument, tools, and technique. Instead of getting to the next level, they meet with obstacles and walls of limitation.

The Holy Spirit made me to see that human effort is futile without the help of God. You cannot get to the next level of your life without God. It is God that will give you the key that will unlock your passage to the next level. Without this key, progress will be impeded regardless of the effort, tools and techniques. Ask God for the master key that will take you to your next level. I pray that the key that will unlock the door to our will not be stolen by Satan and his cohorts in Jesus name.

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QUERYING GOD?

(JOB 9:15-19)

"For though I was right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my judge. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?”
God is all sufficient, the all knowing God that cannot be queried or questioned. The scripture says “God does as He pleases (Job 23:13). God can decide to promote the poor and make him sit among princes, and He can demote kings and princes and relegate them to nothing. Nobody can challenge the decision of the Lord Almighty, He cannot be taken to court, and nobody can judge Him because He is the judge of all judges. In fact, He is the chief judge of the universe!

There are some circumstances that had caused people to query where God was when their lives were in shambles. Some can even take it to the extent of saying “if God is truly existing; why are evil things happening to good people? The answer to these questions are not farfetched-   He is God of all flesh, His ways are not our ways, He decides who He wants to have mercy on (Romans 9:15).

Job was a man that did the will of God, he was steadfast and God was boastful of him. Yet the devil with the permission of God; attacked him to test his faith and loyalty in God. Job was upright and yet afflicted by the devil, however, Job did not query God, and instead he pleaded for mercy. “Though I was innocent, I could not answer Him, I could only plead with my judge for mercy.” (Job 9:15).

The lesson here is that no matter what you are going through, don’t query God, and don’t be angry with Him. All you need to do is to plead for His mercy. God cannot be taken to court, He cannot be flogged or beaten, and since you cannot fight God; the best thing to do when life is tough and difficult is to ask for His mercy and wait patiently like Job, and watch God elevating you to a greater height after your trial of faith.

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WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

TEXT: EPHESIANS 3:20

“Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

There is great power in our thoughts. Thought is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the use of our senses. Thought is the perception about a thing, circumstance or situation. Thought can be positive and negative, it can be said that your thought is what determines your action; and your actions shapes who you are or what you become. Your life will reflect your dominant thought, if all you think is negative; the same will reflect in your life. If you think positive at all times, you will experience positive transformation in your life always. This is so because whatever is not present in your thought can NEVER be evident in your life!

Our text talks about how our God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than our THOUGHTS AND IMAGINATION! Therefore, if you think positively, the Lord will do unto you more than your positive thoughts and imagination, consequently, if you think negatively about yourself; the Lord will do to you more than your negative thought and imagination. The scripture says “as a man thinks in his heart so is he” (Proverbs 23: 7).  This is to buttress the fact that whatever you think about yourself, so shall God make you to be.

In Numbers 14 when the children of Israel were complaining in the dessert, they said “If only we have died in Egypt or in the dessert… this utterance came as a result of what they had in their mind (thought) - they were “thinking aloud.” The lord replied them in verse 28 “As surely as I live declare the Lord. I will do to you the VERY THING I HEARD YOU SAY, in the dessert your bodies will fall…” Their thoughts caused them to utter words of destruction into their lives! The scripture says “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34) either you are thinking it or you go a step further to confess it with your mouth, the Lord is ready to do beyond your thought, confession and imagination.

On this note, if you have been thinking negatively before, it is high time you changed your perspective. Even if the situation shows negative and unpleasant, your positive thought and confession can change the situation for good. Change your thought and your world will change, once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you are on your way to positive result and great success. Your thoughts create your future, THINK POSITIVE!

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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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ASK FOR THE ANOINTING

TEXT: ACT 10:38

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

Before Jesus Christ could start his ministry, he waited to be anointed by God. Without God’s anointing in a man’s life; his efforts may yield little or no result.

Anointing is the drive power that enable believers to work and walk in the real m of the supernatural. Anointing empowers you beyond your human efforts and wisdom. What you cannot do ordinarily; when the anointing of God falls upon you, you will continue to do them. Peter was a coward before he got anointed on the day of Pentecost. After Peter was anointed, he received boldness to stand up and preach the gospel among multitude and many souls were saved! Anointing gives you courage to do exploit.

Another advantage of the anointing is that it gives you speed and accelerate your progress to outrun people that are doing things with human efforts and wisdom. This can be seen in 1 King 18:45-46. When Elijah told Ahab to go on his chariot because it’s going to start raining, Ahab had gone before Elijah, but when the spirit of God (anointing) came upon Elijah he outran Ahab on his chariot while he was running on his feet! It takes the supernatural power of God to do that not with human strength.

Anointing also breaks the yoke (Isaiah 10:27) When God anoints you it breaks every yoke of limitation, affection and barriers. Anointing gives you the power to do things with ease and achieve greatly where others are struggling.

Anointing goes beyond being ordained as pastor, deacon or deaconess, you may be an ordinary believer without any title and have anointing to do better than what other title holders in the church will do. Anointing equips the anointed for spiritual assignments that human strength and wisdom cannot do.

Another benefit of the anointing is seen in Psalm 18:50^b “He shows unfailing kindness to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.” God showed David His unfailing kindness because he was God’s anointed vessel. He committed a lot of sin; but God did not discard him and his generation from His presence.

Anointing makes your talents to make launch you out to greatness. If you have talents and you lack anointing, you won’t be able to make impact with your gift. Your talents with the anointing of God launch you to a height that you cannot think of getting to.

God’s unfailing live and kindness will be for you if you are his anointed. Without God’s anointing; believers will not be able to fulfill their God’s original plan for their lives. No much success can be recorded in ministry, business, work life, marriage and in the entirety of existence. Ask God to anoint you today for supernatural breakthrough and greatness.

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ARE YOU A GOOD SHEPHERD OR A HIRED HAND? (11)

TEXT: EZEKIEL 34:1-10

 The word of the Lord came to me:  “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?  You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.  So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock,  therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

In the first part of this message, we read about Jesus as the good shepherd, we defined the meaning of the good shepherd both literarily and scripturally. We also mentioned the characteristics of a good shepherd and a hired hand.

Today, we will continue by looking at the in-depth meaning of what Jesus said in John 10:11 that “I am the good shepherd... this statement shows that there are bad shepherds if Jesus can qualify himself as the good shepherd. The adjective “good” in Jesus’ statement made it known to us that shepherds are of different categories.

Our text above listed the attributes of the bad shepherds:

·        They only take care of themselves. They only cares for their immediate family, they live in the best houses, ride the best cars, wear the best clothes while the members of their congregations are wallowing in lack.

·        They feed themselves and not the flock (selfishness)

·        They did not heal the sick or the injured, no encouragement for the broken hearted (wickedness)

·        Clothe themselves, and eat choice food without meeting the needs of their flock (greed)

·        They did not seek the lost or scattered (lack of compassion)

·        They dominate the flock with force and severity (autocratic leaders)

Jesus as the good shepherd did not manifest any of the attributes listed above. Instead he lived a selfless life, he healed the sick, and bound the broken hearted, and minister to the needs of everybody that came in contact with him.  He looked for the scattered Sheep and brought them back to God. Above all, he laid his life down for his Sheep!

What will be the judgement of the wicked and bad shepherd? The answer is in verse 10 “this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I WILL REMOVE THEM FROM TENDING THE FLOCK SO THAT THE SHEPHERDS CAN NO LONGER FEED THEMSELVES. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.”

Now as a shepherd you know if you are a good shepherd, bad shepherd, or hired hands. Make necessary adjustments if you need to, may we not be held accountable for wrong doings in Jesus name. Amen.

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