DON'T PUT GOD IN A BOX

TEXT: 2 KINGS 5: 1-5, 9-14

 Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.”
5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 Are not the Abanah[a] and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?.” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
God is a God of wonders, His knowledge as the scripture tells us no one can fathom ( Isaiah 40: 28). The Lord does things in diverse ways, He has all strategies at His beckon.
Most of the time, what God will use as solution to a problem or a challenge may look or sound irrelevant or "foolish" to the situation at hand. This is because God has different approaches that He feels appropriate for situations.
Hence, the scripture says that the foolishness of God is wiser than men! On this note, if you want to enjoy all the benefits and blessings of God, you need to be obedient.
Talking of obedience; I am not talking of partial obedience but TOTAL OBEDIENCE. Partial obedience will only give you partial solution or partial blessing. However, total obedience will give you total victory and blessings.
If the Lord gives you an instruction, no matter how foolish it may look or sound; if you follow it diligently,  even though it's not in line with your expected approach, you will get your expected result.

In our text, Naaman was struck with leprosy, he wanted a cure. He went to prophet Elisha with the mind that he would come out to him and stand and call the name of God, and wave his hand over the spot to cure him ( 2 Kings 5:11).
The prophet did not work according to Naaman's expected approach, instead the prophet sent a messenger to tell him to go and wash himself seven times in river Jordan for his flesh to be restored.
Naaman was very angry and disappointed because the prophet did not use his expected approach, and he went back home in rage.
 Like Naaman, many believers are angry and disappointed at the "foolish" instruction they received from God to solve a problem or to launch out to breakthrough. Maybe they are expecting to be touched by big and mighty servant of God for healing or breakthrough.
Your healing and breakthrough may not be tied to " the laying of hand approach" you cannot put God in a box by restricting how he wants to attend to your needs.
 All you need to do is to faithfully follow God in obedience. Jesus healed the blind man with saliva and clay! Who could have believed that healing can be possible in such manner?
That is why God is referred to as "God of mystery." Be sensitive in your spirit and follow God's instructions diligently without leaving any thing out. Naaman was not healed untill he dipped himself into the river the seventh time.
Do not underestimate the power and the ways of God, for His ways are not our ways. May our miracles not elude us in Jesus name. Amen.

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YOU SHALL DECREE A THING AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS

TEXT: JOB 22:28
"Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways."
There is great power of accomplishment in our spoken words. As children of God, the Lord has delegated some of His rights to us. One of these rights is the power and ability to decree a thing and see it become established.
Jeremiah 1:9-10 says "then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. "See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant."
If you have faith and you believe in God, you don't have much stress to deal with any situation; no matter how difficult it may look. All you need to do is to speak the word, decree what you want to see to come to manifestation; and it shall be done and established.
As you speak God's word with faith and confidence, divine power accompanies it to make it fulfilled. When David went to face Goliath in 1st Samuel chapter 17, from verse 45 down to 50.
Before David could raise his hand to fight the battle physically, he had fought and won the battle spiritually by sending out "God's spiritual bullet" ( name and the word of God).
45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
48 So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David."
The scripture made us to know that there is no force or power that is greater than the name of God. At the mention of the name of God every knee must bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2: 9-11).
The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs to Him and they are saved (Proverbs 18:10).
What difficult situation are you?  Don't be afraid to speak and decree the powerful word of God into the situation. Decree healing into that sick body, speak life upon that dead business, decree fruitfulness into that barren womb. What about the dead situation? Common speak life upon all those dry bones. The Lord is waiting for your declaration, so that He can stamp it with the zeal of accomplishment.
Do your part by decreeing the word, and the Lord will fulfil His own part by making the word come to pass. The only thing that could make a believer's word not to hold water when spoken is sin, unbelief/ lack of faith. Void yourself of sin, ask for forgiveness, repent genuinely, act in faith and be confident to decree a thing and watch as God backs up your word and bring it to pass.
I speak to you today that the power to decree a thing, and see it become established shall rest upon you in Jesus name. Amen.
Shalom.

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BE PROFITABLE

TEXT: MATTHEW 25:14-30

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. ¹⁷ So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. ¹⁸ But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

The Lord created all His children to be productive and do exploits in His kingdom. You are created to make positive impact in your generation; you are not created to be complacent or unproductive. Why? Because we are created in the likeness of God our father. Our God is never a lazy God, though He has every right to be on His throne without doing anything, yet He devoted His time into smooth running of the universe. God is a busy God that rules in the affairs of all men.

Jesus also worked during his earthly ministry. He went around doing good, healing the sick and casting out demons (Act 10:38).

When Jesus was ascending, he gave us the mandate to continue where he stopped (John 14:12). Therefore, you have no excuse to be idle or unprofitable.

There are potentials embedded in you at creation. The question is; what have you done or what are you doing with your talents?

Our anchor text talked about a parable told by Jesus, that a certain man was going on a journey and he called his servants and gave them some talents. He gave one servant five talents, he gave another two and the last servant was given one talent, each according to their ability.

These servants traded and multiplied their talents, except the servant with one talent. He dug a hole and buried his talent. When the master came back from his journey, he was very delighted with the servants that traded and multiplied their talents. The master commended them and added more for them.

When it was the turn of the unprofitable servant that buried his own talent, he told his master what he did with his own talent and he explained why he did so. The master was very angry with the servant, he scolded the servant and collected the talent back from him and added it with the servant with the five talents. The unprofitable servant was thrown into darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, despite his excuses!

No excuse is genuine to make you useless and unproductive in your life time. The master in the parable can be likened to God. If you make use of the gift that God deposited in you at your creation, you will be blessed abundantly and God will add more value into your life through your gift and talent.

On the other hand, whoever decides to be unprofitable like the servant in the parable, the person will be dealt with by God the same way the master dealt with the servant.

I pray you will not be rejected or cursed by God in Jesus name. On that day that you will give the account of your life, may you be commended and not condemned.

Make every effort to be productive in the kingdom of God; do not waste your existence. The Lord said in His word that any tree that is not bearing good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire (Matthew 7:19).

May we not be part of the wasted generation in Jesus name. Keep bearing good fruit for God as long as you live.

 

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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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WHAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD?

TEXT: ROMANS 8:35-39

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The above scripture is asking us a question and at the same time emphasizing that even in time of trouble, problems and afflictions; we should not turn our back against God. Nothing on earth is worth losing God for, no situation or problem is genuine enough to cause us to turn away from God our maker.

The later part of our text tells us that nothing in this world should make our love for God to grow cold; rather it should wax stronger because in every situation; God loves us and He is always with us, even in our times of darkness!

Our anchor scripture listed some things that can cause people to back off from serving God- Trouble, calamity, hunger, danger, persecution, being destitute, or death. In truth, many people throw in the towel when things are difficult for them.

However, there are some people that serve God more and better when they are in difficulty. Many people turn to God when during tribulation, distress, affliction, lack and hardship.

In other words, the problem they are facing drew them to God, knowing that He is their lasting hope and solution. Hence, as soon as they overcome the problem, they turn their back against God. Why?  This is because their problem has been solved and they don’t see any reason to stay with God again. The blessing or the divine turnaround was what separated them from God and not the problem {problem knitted them to God and they allowed blessing or answered prayer to separate them from God}.

Some people are driven away from God because of problem or affliction while some are driven away as a result of answered prayer. When God bless them, they believe there is no reason to serve God again!

Today, I am encouraging you not to allow problem or success to separate you from God. No success or breakthrough is good enough to separate you from God, and no problem is too big or bad enough to drift you apart from your maker.

If you are in the midst of trouble or affliction, hold on to God; let not your love for the lover of your soul go cold. Also, if you pray for blessing and He blesses you, do not be an ingrate by taking the blessing and rejecting the giver of the blessing.

Remember, in blessing, tribulation, lack, hunger, and in death, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

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THE PRICE OF SUCCESS

TEXT: GENESIS 26: 12-16

¹² Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵ So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. ¹⁶ Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

As well as we all love to be successful; not all of us is ready to pay the price of being successful. There are many unpalatable situations that come with being successful- this I refer to as the “price of success.” Either you like it or not; as soon as you become successful, you will start paying the price that comes with success.

 Some of these prices are ENVY, HATRED, JEALOUSY, BACKBITING, BACK STABBING, HAVING TO LOSE CLOSE FRIENDS AND RELATIVES, and so on.

When you are at your struggling stage and trying to figure out your life, you may not encounter any problem- why?  This is because people have no reason to envy you because you have not achieved anything tangible. Nobody will oppose you because you have not made headway in your Endeavour. Rather, pity parties that are not ready to help you will be all over you.

As soon as your situation changes for better, you will also see negative changes from close friends and associates that used to pity you! You will now be wondering “are these not the people that were consoling and pitying me when I was struggling? Are these not the people hoping and praying for a change in my situation? Even your fellow believers that you pray together may end up becoming your enemies at your elevation!

Isaac came to Gerar because he had a problem of famine in his own land. He was well received in Gerar when he first arrived; he was living peacefully with the native of the land. Isaac had no problem with anybody until he became successful, the people that were friendly and accommodated him nicely suddenly turned against him in envy because the Lord has blessed him in the land.

The great lesson of this story is that you should be prepared to lose family and friends as you become successful! The people of Gerar that had loved Isaac turned to become the enemy of his progress. To truncate Isaac’s success; they filled all his father’s well with sand, even Abimelech that once gave an order to all the people of the land that nobody should molest Isaac and his wife if they don’t want to die ended up giving Isaac a “quit notice” from Gerar! This is to tell you that your friends and pity parties, those that you think are genuinely “upholding” you in prayer for a positive change in your situation may turn against you when you become successful.

To be able to stand and prevail over the devices of the enemies when you are successful, you must be sure that God is your sure foundation and stronghold. So that when the enemy comes like flood against you, the lord will fight for you and raise a standard against them on your behalf. Let God be the source of your success so that He can protect you against the enemies. Isaac was able to triumph in the midst of adversaries because it was God that blessed him. It is the blessing of God that makes riches without sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).

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