Month: August 2013

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage: Joshua 1:1-9

 

Key Text; Joshua 1:8 – ‘This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.’

 

This is a continuation of my last blog, when I started exploring the awesome benefits of obeying God. As I have studied this subject, I have discovered that history is divided into two main categories, those who obeyed God and those who did not. I am also quite amazed at how many specific blessings are tied to obedience. In today’s passage, it is clear that God instructed Joshua to ensure he obeys the word of God and so his walk in life will be successful and prosperous. God gave Him the key to walking in obedience. He told him he had to meditate in the word, day and night and he must keep on confessing the word of God. I really believe that one of the easiest ways to develop a heart of obedience is to keep dwelling and meditating on the words of God and never let any of the things of this world take our hearts off what God says. We believe God regardless, and if we do we would go His way and not the way of the world.

 

Here are seven more blessing s of obedience for you to ponder.

 

6. Recognition – The Lord knows those who are His. He also knows those who are genuinely doing His work and those who are just fooling around. Obedience to God, means you get special recognition and disobedience means He denies knowing you. God never denies those who do his will and obey Him.

Matthew 7:21-23

I Never Knew You

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? ’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

 

7. Protection from Global Troubles – One thing we can be sure of in this world and these days, is that there will continue to be global shakings. God has declared it and no amount of economic bail out packages or human strategies will stop the shakings. They will continue until Jesus returns. But there is a place where you are insulated and cushioned from the effects of all these shakings. Jesus said those who hear His words and do them are like those who have built their houses on the rock. Most activities of life that we engage in daily running helter skelter have no real foundations and cannot withstand the shakings of God. But what ever we do in obedience to God becomes ‘shake proof’. Be wise and obey God and build on His words and not man’s thoughts or wisdom.

Matthew 7:24-25

Build on the Rock

²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

 

 

8. Brothers and Sisters of God – What a joy to be called a brother or sister of God. Jesus said in clear terms that those who are His family members are those who do His will and honour him with their lives. It is not our profession alone that makes us God’s family; it also has a lot to do with our obedience. It is amazing how much is tied to simply obeying.

 

Matthew 12:50

⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Luke 8:21

New King James Version (NKJV)

²¹ But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

 

 

 

 

9. Honour From God – Again, those who obey the Lord get special honours. Jesus said God would honour those who do His will. I can only wonder what that honour will feel and be like. Men mostly seek the honour that comes from men, but it is wise to seek the honour that comes from God. The honour of men is transient and ephemeral, and fades away so quickly, but the honour that comes from God is eternal.

 

John 12:26

²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.

 

 

10. God’s Presence – This is a really fantastic promise tied to obedience. Jesus said that if anyone loves Him, he will obey His word and the Father will love that person too, but more profound is the fact that Jesus, The Father and the Holy Spirit will come and dwell with such a person. God wants to make a habitation with you, but you have to obey Him.

John 14:23

²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

 

 

11. Eternal Legacy – We must be aware of the things we are building. Is it going to last beyond this life? There are things we engage in that has no eternal benefit. Yet we can spend our time on earth so wisely that for all eternity, what we did will continue to stand and be a testimony to the life we lived here on earth. Just think for a moment about this, after it is all done, will your legacy be remembered for all eternity?

1 John 2:17

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

 

 12. Friends of God – Finally, I see no GREATER accolade God can bestow on a man, that this, to be called His friend. Not many biblical men attained this position, but it is open to all who would obey Him. Abraham is God’s friend. He attained this status because he obeyed God. Jesus also called His disciples His friends, because they know and do his will. Are you a friend of God?

John 15:14¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

 

Conclusion:

 

We should do our best to always obey God in all matters, Big or Small.

 Philippians 2:13¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

 Let’s Pray – Father, Help us to obey you in all things and at all times. In Jesus name. Amen. 

 

 

 

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage– 1 Samuel 15: 22-23

22 So Samuel said:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.”

 

Key Text – Isaiah 1:19¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;

 

 

 

 

I once heard a preacher say that whatever God tells us to do is not for God but for our benefit. Honestly, it sounded corny and hard to swallow. We like to believe if someone orders us to do something, they have something to gain from us obeying them. Most times this is true, but much like our parents, most of the instructions and commandments they give us whilst growing up has nothing to do with them, but mostly it is about our well being. God does not need anything. He is Jehova, the completely self-existing one. He depends on no one and need no one. He is God. But He loves us and wants to see us do well and prosper. So He painstakingly teaches us how to conduct our lives and live successfully.

 I am now completely convinced that obeying God totally is all to our ultimate benefit. Please find some of the blessings of obedience I gleaned from a recent study of His word.

 

1. Promotion: If you are obedient to God, He would promote you and elevate you. He has a way of lifting up those who do His will. In Philippians 2: 8-11, we read “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Exodus 19:5⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

If you want God to lift you up, try obeying Him. As you do, you would discover the truth about ‘promotion comes form the Lord’.

 

 2. Loved by God – God loves every one. But I am convinced that there are those God loves even more specially. Some of such people are those who are obedient to Him. Just think of the elevated positions and intimate relationship God had with Abraham, David and Enoch.

John 15:10¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

 3. Generational Blessings – God maintains the generations of those who obey Him and love Him. He cares for them and prospers them. So if you are generational thinker like God, then you would do His will and you can go to rest, knowing your seed will be blessed. Think about how many times God spoke about blessing Israel because of Abraham and helping Judah because of David.

Deuteronomy 5:29²⁹ Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

 

4. Long Life – God wants us to live long and be full of years before we leave this earth. Sadly a lot of people die young and some of them depart early because of disobedience. God spoke of David, he said ‘With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.’ If you are obedient to the Lord he will keep you alive and give you a long life.

1 Kings 3:14¹⁴ So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

 

5. Prosperity – It is amazing how many promises are in the bible about obedience and prosperity. This goes beyond financial wealth, but certainly includes it. If you obey God, He would make sure you have a good life. Everything will work for you. In actual fact, what the Job scripture is saying is that you will spend your years in an Eden-like place. Eden means Pleasurable place. Wow! It is so wise to obey God regardless of personal consequences. He will look after you beyond what you or any man can do for you.

2 Kings 18:5-7 ⁵ He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.⁶ For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁷ The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.

 Job 36:11 – If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

It is amazing what obedience to God produces in our lives and generations. Let us do our best to always obey God, in both the little and big things and see His blessings come upon us and overtake us. I think it is simply wise to obey God.

Let’s us remember that God does not want to trip us up, so He would also help us to obey Him. 

Philippians 2:13¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

So we can ask for God’s help and He would work in us both to will and do His good pleasure.

 

Let’s Pray: Father God, to obey you is better than sacrifice. Father please remove every stony heart from me and grant me the heart of flesh, that is malleable and soft towards you. Father I desire total obedience to you, please grant me this grace. I believe that you want the best for me, so help me to always understand that your commandments and instructions are ultimately for my benefit. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

 

 

Morning Dew

 

Key Text: Ephesians 5:1 – “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

 

I know you have heard the expression ‘like father, like son’. Another one is the ‘fruit never falls far from the tree’, or a ‘chip off the old block’. These statements are an attestation to the fact that we look like and act like our parents. Its amazing how we start noticing that we have our parents mannerisms and habits and this can sometimes be unnerving and annoying. Whilst most of us had great natural parents, I am certain none of us want to be exactly like our parents. We all love a lot of things about our parents, but there are those few things you say God please don’t let me acquire that trait of my father or mother. As true as this is for our earthly parents, as believers in Christ Jesus, we have a spiritual father and a heavenly Father. Both of who we would be totally happy to be like in all things.

Let me explain what I mean. All believers are children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.) Abraham was a man of incredible faith and a friend of God. (2 Chronicles 20:7 – Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?) He fully obeyed God and succeeded in birthing a new nation for God. (Hebrews 11:8 – By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.) In this regard, we should be like Abraham our father. We should completely trust God and walk in absolute faith like our dad did. We should also rise to being friends of God. I would like God to call me His friend, just like He said of my daddy, Abraham. The bible is very clear about how we should emulate Abraham our father. So as children of Abraham, let us live like our father did before God in Faith, devotion, dedication and communion with God.

But we also have a heavenly Father, who has recreated all of us in the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Only those who have become true followers of Jesus Christ can truly say they are God’s Children). In Ephesians 5:1 the bible encourages us to be imitators of God as His dear children. We should all desire to be like our heavenly Father, especially in the way He loves. God loves absolutely and unconditionally. God expects us to love like Him. I know you might say you can’t love like God, but please understand if you are born again and belong to Christ, the bible tells us in John 1:12 – As many as believe in Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God. If we are children of God, then we have God in us and we really can be like Him. We can love like God. We are like our Heavenly daddy, we have His heart and we have His Spirit, so we can love like Him.

Honestly, think about it. What potential we have as God’s children. What Faith we have as spiritual children of Abraham. What power to obey God and to be friends of God. It is all in our DNA. It is all in us as God’s children. All we need to do is allow the God in us to flow. You might really be surprised what will come out of you when you allow God to act through you. You know that at times we hear ourselves speak like our natural parents, we see ourselves doing what our parents did and it happens without us really thinking about it. It just happens spontaneously. So  faith will flow out of you, love will flow from you as you go about recognising that you are a child of God.

It is in the nature of birds to fly, fish will swim, cheetahs will run, so those who are children of God will act like God.

 

Let’s pray: My Father in heaven, I thank you that you have created me to be like you. I yield myself to you and allow your nature to flow from me to my fellow man. Help me to be an example of your love to my family, friends and the larger world in Jesus name. Amen.

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage – Psalm 18

 

Key Word – Psalm 18:29 –  “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.”

 

Walls are erected to protect valuable things. The higher and bigger the walls, the more valuable the things behind the walls are. Walls are meant to prevent illegal entry into territories, Cities have walls, communities have walls and so do our homes. They are mostly deterrents. But walls have also been erected to keep people out of the best they could get. There are walls of qualifications and education, walls of race, walls of finances. These are all formidable walls that have the power to keep a person out of the best God has planned for them. The tragedy of life is that most people back off once they see a wall. They are discouraged by the size of the wall and they assume they cannot break through or scale these walls. So a lot of people have been kept just outside the very best by seemingly impregnable walls.

I once was asked by the Lord to go to certain country for a prayer assignment. It meant I had to go to capital city to the Government building and I had no real connections to take me in. So when I got there, it was like a fortress and I thought how would I ever get in there to carry out this prayer assignment? I went to the security officers and asked for permission, but they just laughed and said only people with appointments who had been pre-cleared could get in. So I went back to the Lord how I was to get in. The Lord reminded me of the story of Rahab and the spies from Israel. He told me to tell the man at the gate the story and let him know I have a prayer assignment to fulfil. So I obeyed and told the man the story of Rahab and how she was blessed for helping the spies. The man began to weep and sob as though the story meant something to him personally. He then tod me this could cost him his job, but he would do this for us. He took me us into the heart of the building and we were able to by pass all the security details and posts and we were able to pray for as long as we wanted. God is awesome!

Today’s scripture tells us “By my God I can scale a wall”. There is no wall too high for the Lord to take you over our break you through.

Look at Joshua by the walls of Jericho. It was secure and tightly shut up. It was a formidable wall by any standards. Joshua had no natural way of scaling this wall, so he looked up. When He looked up he saw the Commander of The Army of The Lord. He saw the Captain of the Hosts. When there is no way in or out, there is always a way up. God gave him a simple strategy that did not make human common sense, but through this seemingly ‘foolish’ strategy God brought down the entire wall for Joshua.

What is your wall of opposition today? What is keeping you out of God’s best for your life? God is bigger than your wall and there has never been any all constructed or devised that can keep Him out. He is the Lord of breakthroughs and He is the Master of all. He will help you over your wall. Just look to Him. Don’t allow the size of your wall to limit your faith. Look at the size of your God and know he is more than able to crush your wall.

 

Let’s Pray: Father God I thank-you for your faithfulness. I thank you that there is no wall of opposition that you cannot break through or shatter. I confess that by my God I can leap over a wall. Every wall of opposition in my life is scalable and crushable. So I boldly take a step of faith towards the wall, believing that you would give me the victory, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

 

 

Morning Dew

 

Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 2: 9-16

 

Key Text: Jude 20 – “But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;”

 

 

There is a part of us human beings that tend to trivialise the common. Whatever is easy to come by, we treat as unimportant and non vital. It’s just like us to think that because something is so readily available, we can take it for granted or worse still that we don’t need it. Recently I was in London during the recent heat wave and I was in the underground going for a meeting in Knights Bridge. The tubes were so hot and congested, that I found myself gasping for air. I almost passed out in the experience and it made me appreciate the air we so easily breathe and sometimes don’t realise how so vital it is. Because something is so readily available does not make it less important.

Today, I feel a deep need to remind the body of Christ of the often neglected, yet powerful and vital gift of God in giving us the power to pray in an unknown tongue, or what we refer to as speaking in tongues.  Before I delve deeply into this subject, let me first say that, our generation is blessed. We so easily get filled and baptised in the Holy Spirit that it has become commonplace and in some cases trivialised. But it was not always like this. In the early days, people were known to spend weeks, month and in some cases years seeking God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They had ‘tarrying’ meetings and prayed fervently till God came and baptised them with His Holy Spirit. In those days, once you get filled, you are treated like a celebrity. You dare not think what you got is common and you do everything to keep the fire burning.

These days, it is almost the opposite. Before you lay hands on people they get filled and speak in some of the most glorious tongues you have ever heard. But do they know what potential power God has just deposited in their lives?

The bible is very clear in 1 Corinthians 14:2 – “For one who speaks in an [unknown] tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the [Holy] Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things [not obvious to the understanding].” Praying in tongues is praying by the Holy Spirit and He helps us to pray the perfect prayers concerning any issue we bring to God.

Also in Romans 8:26 we read “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” The bible says we do not know what to pray and how we ought to pray, so God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us in our prayers. The Holy Spirit knows the heart of God perfectly and when He intercedes for us, He prays the perfect prayers according to God’s will.

In Jude 20, the bible tells us of something quite powerful about praying in the Spirit. “But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;” This scripture tells us that our faith is built up as we pray in the Holy Spirit. We rise like and edifice, we soar like eagles and we catch the realms of God when we pray in the Holy Spirit. The bible tells us that when we pray in tongues we edify or build ourselves up.

Truth is I have noticed a neglect of this powerful gift in the church and I am wondering how many things we are missing out on because we do not pray as often in the Holy Spirit.

Let me encourage you to return to praying in the Holy Spirit and if you are not filled in the Holy Spirit and desire to be filled, let me encourage you to find a bible based Pentecostal church close to you that believes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit and ask the leaders to pray with you.

But for the believer that is filled, go back to praying in tongues for 30 minutes, one hour or even two hours daily and see how divine incidences start to break out all around you. Perhaps that issue you’ve been praying for so much just needs a five-minute blast in tongues to deal with it.

Pray in tongues because it is God’s gift to help you have an unfair advantage in this world.

 

Let’s pray: Father God, please forgive me for neglecting this gift of the Holy Spirit. Today I ask that you rekindle the fire and passion of praying in tongues and enable me never to treat this powerful grace as common. I thank you for this special ability in Jesus name. Amen.