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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MAINTAIN YOUR INTEGRITY

TEXT: JOB 2:3-9

“Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”  So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.  Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

Integrity is the act of doing the right thing at all times and in all situations, whether or not anyone is watching. It takes discipline and determination to live a life of integrity, it takes years to build integrity but it can take a second to destroy what has been built over a period of lengthy years. The world has become a place where there is no regard for integrity, instead the popular slogan by Niccolo Machiavelli “The end justifies the means” has become an acceptable norm!

There are some situation we find ourselves that makes us wanting to doubt the power and the wonders of the name of God. Most of the time afflictions come after you have decided to walk uprightly with God, and have forsaken the way that leads to eternal damnation. Are you asking why this is so? Well the reason is not farfetched; Satan is a liar and a deceiver. He wanted to deceive you to believe that God is not a custodian of every good and perfect thing. He wants you to think and be convinced that he is the only one that can give you all that you would need to be happy, and enjoy the best in life. Satan deceives his victims by enticing them with “perishable blessing” to make them forget the giver of “imperishable blessing”- the only living God.  The lesson here is that dishonesty may give you instant gratification, but it won’t last. At times you wonder why sinners and unbelievers should be flourishing while believers are languishing in lack. Satan blesses his victims with quick blessing because he is sure that his time and that of his victims are limited (Revelation 12:12). He wants them to enjoy their short lived blessing, before they will end it up together in Hell.

It is when you have make up your mind to walk uprightly with God that Satan will be bringing afflictions your way so that you can change your mind against God, he is doing this to win you to his kingdom. Beware!

The text shows how Job was affected by Satan so that he would sin against God. God was pleased with Job for being upright and He was boasting about him to Satan. Satan detests when God is boasting about any of His children, he will make all effort to cause the person to compromise and sin against God. Hear God- “And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him and ruin him without any reason.”  God was impressed by Job maintaining his integrity despite all he was going though. “Job made up his mind and determined not to compromise. “I will maintain my integrity until I die” (Job 27:5^b). One good lesson here is that, no matter what is happening to us, we must maintain our stand in God. Do not throw caution into air, always maintain your integrity even in the face of affliction, be rest assured that God will come to your rescue; He will not leave you alone in the mess.

Job was afflicted with painful sores, the wife got fed up and told him to forget about his integrity, and instead “curse God and die” she advised! (Job 2:9).

Many times we go through tribulations and afflictions that “advisers” would be coming with different counsels and “solutions.” Be very careful to select what and who you listen to when you are in any difficult situation. Your closest people can be used by the devil to make you compromise your stand in Christ, and cause you to lose your integrity- like the devil wanted to use Job’s wife to cause his downfall.

If you maintain your integrity at the time of trial like Job did, the lord will bless you the way He blessed Job. “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first… (Job 42:12^A). After the cross comes the crown, endure affliction to get the blessing. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD DAMAGE YOUR INTEGRITY. May the Lord grant us the grace to maintain our integrity in Jesus name. Amen.

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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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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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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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