Sandalili Sandalili Sandalili Sandalili
I’m a lawyer in my country…
That’s all I wanted to be
My childhood dream
Career is all I intended to pursue
And to finance the kingdom from my income
Not to “live” on people’s tithe, offerings or gifts.
But suddenly, my heart rang
He called
With much persuasion
I obeyed,
Here I am, slained on His altar
In my hopeless state, I’m tasked to give hopes
In my poverty, I’m called to make others rich
In my sickness, I’m asked to heal
In my mourning, I’m demanded to give comfort
And in all, I’m not permitted to show my inner pains
I had my will, I had my passion
I had my skills, I had my plans
Tarshish I wanted, Nineveh I am
Lecturing I loved but here preaching
Lab coat I desired but here in cassock
Seed, I wanted to give but here, raising one.
Don’t give me pity but empathy
I’m not a beggar
Don’t give me sympathy but understanding
I’m not complaining
Don’t toss crumbs to me from your tables
I am not the poor Lazarus
Don’t troll me for my Abrahamic blessings,
I’m not a politician you elected
I’m here only to help you
I die daily saving you
Poured out as a drink offering
Fufiling all in the volume of the book written of me.
Digest my doctrines,
Grow in understanding
Live holy and make it to heaven
That my joy may be full.
Not be me, I dey here. Whenever I hear young people make this announcement, two things come to mind. If they announced it publicly, it is childish and it was an invitation to a “pity party”. They want you to ask “why”. On the other hand, whether they make it public or not, it sounds to me like, “help, I am depressed”.
I have had to speak with some people who are very close to me and the reason they usually state is: “I have an academic challenge, I want some focus”. ” I am depressed”, “I want to retreat and stay off my phone”, “God spoke to me to do so”.
If your world is built around the social media. If that is where you impart lives. If that is where you see your friends and sometimes peep upon your enemies. If that is where your neighbours are. Not mentioning the educational or spiritual energy you derive, if you go off social media, it could be the first stage of depression which is called “withdrawal”. If your reason is not because of some external rules either in a school or in the military, then you may have to check it very well.
If you think you’re growing addicted or excessive, put moderation in place. If it is affecting your social skills and interaction with the physical world, you need to look into moderation instead of a short term or long term withdrawal. There could also be a need to stay off some social media apps, especially the “gossip” apps. Yes, some apps directly affect us and some apps are just there for you to scroll up and down to know what is trendy and listen to every gossip. Those, you may stay away fully or limit the time spent on it.
For those who say: for retreat’s sake or that God asked them to do that. Think of yourself as a salt. Remember God’s word: if salt stays aloof, it is worthless but if it makes itself available to interact with other ingredients, it is indispensable. Think about it.
Before the advent of phones, people do say that they received words from God to isolate themselves for a short to a long period. They just go away from the reach of people. While we know God could say that to some people, most of those cases we heard of always end up that it was the devil. Huhmmm, if you study the history of some religions and cults, that was how they started. Some started with God and ended with jinns. Some just go off that way. Some vibrant brothers ended up weird as a result of these “staying off voice”.
If you think you’ve got such instruction, you may want to ask yourself the “salt question” seven times and check your spirit again and again.
As for great men of God who aren’t on social media. They are on social media, they only make it private. Secondly, many of them started their ministry before the advent of social media so, they didn’t build their ministry around it. If yours is built around it, imagine staying off as a pastor staying off his church to retreat.
Russia did believe that when they roll their tanks into Ukraine, they will surrender or flex some muscles but in a week or two, it will all be over. I guess they thought it would work out just like when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021 or when Russia seized Crimea in 2014.
Don’t dare a man ready to die fighting. Zelensky, Ukraine’s President said they will not surrender until the last man is dead. They defended their territory.
The USA called the President, “let’s fly you out of Ukraine to a safe place”. He replied: ” I don’t need a ride, give me weapons”. The US and NATO felt, “well, let’s help these guys with weapons to defend themselves. We know they won’t last but at least, they would know that we tried”. Weapons were supplied, Ukraine soldiers used them well, and they lasted the night. The world was again surprised. And said, okay, let’s send them more weapons then.
Zelensky wanted to drag NATO into the war by calling for a “no-flight zone”. If NATO declares a no-flight zone over Ukraine as they have freely done in some warring territories, it means they will shoot down any Russian aircraft in Ukraine’s air space. If they do that, Putin has an excuse to attack the US or any NATO country. That will result in an escalation because NATO will have to fight back. That is simply World War III because North Korea and other Russian friends can join in. NATO said it’s not the wise thing to do.
Meanwhile, more defensive weapons began to pour in. Note the word “defensive”. Ukraine has not shot down a fly in Russia since the start of the war. If they do, Russia has an excuse to wipe out Ukraine from the map with more sophisticated weapons. So far, they’ve only been defending.
More support rained into Ukraine on the following day. Foods, basic needs, transportation for fleeing citizens into other European countries especially Poland, the next-door neighbour. Russia was going to cut Ukraine’s internet. They ran to Elon Musk the richest man who has a satellite in the space for help, he gave them under 24-48 hours. Supports and cheering everywhere. People volunteered to go fight for them from various countries as well.
NATO decided to join the battle but indirectly. Aside from supplying weapons, they supplied intelligence and training. Intelligence is key to winning any war! It is reported that it is NATO that reveals to Ukraine where the Russian army is, they tell them where to shoot and when to shoot. That way, they have reported the killing of up to eight major army generals of Russia. That’s unprecedented.
Europe and the USA also started slamming economic bans, travel bans and especially targeted bans on Russian billionaires hoping those billionaires will influence Putin’s decision. Even private companies banned Russia. It was enormous.
The toughest of all the bans is the OIL BAN. I told you that Europe is dependent on Russian oil. The US is also a major customer. Banning the oil would mean starving yourself while trying to make your enemy suffer. Putin had thought that they can’t do it since the war will be over in a few days anyway. But the longer it takes, the more the pressure on those countries to act selflessly. Biden took the bold step. Some other European and NATO countries followed suit. Yet, in most quarters, it is still a partial ban and not a total ban. And they still buy the oil through third parties. Like they won’t buy from Russia but can buy from a third party who bought from Russia. However, the ban led to increasing in demand, shortage in supply thereby, increase in price. This affects every country and every man in the world.
Negotiation is always the twin in every war. It is believed that war could only end on the table. Ukraine and Russia began to discuss. Russia listed her demands- “give us Crimea officially, the land we seized from you the other time. Also, allow those guys who have been trying to break away to go in peace. And also, forget about your dream of joining NATO. And lastly, we don’t want you to have military again”. Russia quickly erased that last one and replaced it with, “your military should be neutral, it should have nothing to do with NATO or other country’s military”.
At the beginning of the negotiation, Ukraine was ready to succumb. They told Russia, we will forgo NATO ambition. We will look into those guys that want to break away provided we can address the needs of those living there that wish to stay with Ukraine. The piece of land you stole, you know we can’t give you. We may just pretend that it’s yours but we won’t make it official.
As the negotiation was on, the war was on and Ukraine was making gains. At least, they were beating back Russian troops and have a large support base. I believe they started backtracking on succumbing at that point.
I should tell you about the approach of Russia in this war. Russia didn’t want to wipe out Ukraine. That will be too much and unforgivable. They only want to oppress them and wear them out by destroying their country, the buildings and kill people to order to pressurize the government to surrender and say, “it’s enough, we can’t take it anymore”. If Russia has it’s way, they also want to seize the capital, remove or assassinate the president and install another person. But Ukraine’s president seems to have a coconut head. His statement has been, ” you have to kill the last man. You have started already, you must kill us all”.
In all sincerity, the world powers and NATO especially could help Ukraine negotiate its way out quickly. They just need to give Russia some concession here and there. But they are not ready to do that for some reasons:
“At this point, if we give Putin what he wants, he would think he is smart. He could do the same for another country tomorrow.”
“If Ukraine is ready to fight, why should we stop them? Let’s see how much Russia can go”. We may even use the window to study Russia to know their weak points against future wars”.
When a teacher is beating a student, the teacher also gets tired. NATO believes that Russia is getting tired too of the loss at the war and the sanctions. “Let’s allow them to suffer for long so they won’t even try such again ever in their life”.
Lastly, they are like, ” what tells you that Ukraine will not even win this war. We thought they would surrender in 7days but it’s over 70 days already and they are still standing. They should hold on a little more.
😰I’ve been trying to be a good reader but I do lose my zeal a long way
😰I planned to be reading 2 books monthly, but this is the 7th month of the year, and I’ve not been able to read up to 5 books
😰 I used to push myself to read but books are always boring to me
😰 I’ve done everything in my capacity to be a good reader but all are not just working.
These and many more are the complaints of so many great minded people outside there. There was a time I was in this mess as well, but when I discovered that for me to be great in life book reading is not an option, If Jesus, Daniel, Paul, Luke, and many great men in the Bible age and our century are functions of book, and I wish to be enlisted in their ranks, then I must consciously look for the way to develop the reading culture in me.
It was the 7th of January, 2020, My Spiritual father(Pastor Ife Adetona) told me that he just finished reading the 11th book (big books)of the year and this stroke a chord in me and I took up the challenge via some steps he gave me. And by the grace of God, I read 53 books in that same year and since then reading at least 60 books (excluding the books of the Bible) in a year has been my yearly goal.
#1. KNOW THAT THERE ARE TYPES OF BOOKS
You must firstly sustain the understanding that we have 2 major types of books, it’s either Mini or Voluminous books, for you to start developing this habit, don’t start by moving closer to voluminous books, start with mini-books.
Mini books are books that won’t take your time before you finish reading them, they are mostly less than 100pages with very bold fonts inside but voluminous books are books that will take your time, you can even go on days before you finish them, it mostly more than 100 pages and some are less than 100 pages but with very small font size and can take you days as well. Starting the development of a reading culture with voluminous books is like saying you want to start your academics from tertiary institutions and neglecting the primary and secondary schools.
#2. UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS
What some people use to hunt for is to read books, you must first identify your area of interest and go for it first. Are you starting with Spiritual books? Which concept is your area of interest? Faith? Prosperity?Healing? Deliverance? Prayer? Other areas of interest may be your personal development, human and resource management, leadership etc.
The understanding of the concept you need will magnetise you to the books to read at a particular period.
#3. AUTHORS
While developing the reading habits, go for interesting authors, some authors use too much grammar which will always make book reading boring to you. You may want to ask how are you going to know interesting authors? Go to the introduction or the first chapter of any book, you’ll know how boring or interesting the book is going to be. The first book I firstly finished reading was “The Communion of Holy Spirit” By Pastor Ife Adetona.it was the first page of the book that created a craving for the whole book in me.
You can also go for recommended authors, many people love listening to messages, when you heard a preacher recommend an author, It will also help you in developing reading habits. Same with Popular authors as well.
#4. INTENTIONALITY
In developing this habit, you have to know that it’s your responsibility, so you have to be intentional about it, to be intentional about it, take note of these;
A. Set a specific goal on book reading, and this goal must be fact and not fat, saying I want to read 50 books in a month is a fat goal, the fact goal is the one that is attainable when coupled with your schedule. This calls for intentionally sitting down and planning it out. B. It must be Time-bound; to realize your goal monthly you have to set a daily goal for it, which means that there must not be a day that will go without you opening to read a book, in actualizing this, you must decide to be reading a certain number of chapters per day or schedule a particular number of minutes for book reading daily, E.g I must read for 1hour every day or I must cover 2 chapters daily out of a 10 chapters book.
C. Have a reading mentor: The role of a reading mentor is that you will be accountable to such fellow, S/he must be able to query you if you didn’t report to them on daily basis.
#5. READING TECHNOLOGY
With Reading technology, you can read faster using a reading application, the one I use mostly is @voice, just type it on Google play, and you’ll see the image beneath this paragraph there, just download it and do the necessary settings. With the reading application, you can increase and decrease the reading speed rate and cover many pages in fewer minutes.
#6.SOFT COPIES vs HARD COPIES
Some people planned to start reading books but couldn’t start because of money, the money attached to soft copies is free compared to the amount on hard copies, Even there are some soft copies that you can even get for free. Visit Fountain publisher through available links to access some books of your choice.
Long before this topic came into the public domain, one of my spiritual daughters once asked me a question on divorce. She said something like, daddy, “what’s your take on divorce?”
NB: if you read this lecture to the end, I have a joke for you which I shared at the tail end.
Before the lecture commences, let me point out that, I could decide not to tell that inquisitive lady or even you about such a Biblical subject but you would get the answer some other way even though it could be the wrong one. So, it is my responsibility to teach you…right?
To the lecture –
Many people will tell you that ADULTERY is the only condition for divorce. I wish to disappoint you by saying “adultery” is not even enough reason for divorce. The Bible teaches unconditional love and forgiveness. When Peter asked how many times should we forgive,¶ Jesus said 77×7. ¶The Bible says love shall cover the multitude of sins- isn’t it?
Meaning what? This means that adultery like every other sin is forgivable. You can’t argue that.
So, what is the implication of the word “fornication” set as a condition in the Bible context? ¶
Let’s explain the scripture in the light of another scripture.
1 Corinthians 7:13&15 And if a Christian woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to continue living with her, she must not leave him. 15 But if the husband or wife who isn’t a believer insists on leaving, let them go. In such cases, the Christian husband or wife is no longer bound to the other, for God has called you to live in peace.
Here, Apostle Paul says if you have an “unbelieving” spouse who “wishes to stay” with you, let them remain. But if not, you are free.
Before I go further. The Bible didn’t say you can marry an unbeliever, it is if you both marry as unbelievers but you got converted and the other person is not yet saved. However, if you thought you marry a believer but it turned out otherwise, the Scripture covers you as well.
Jesus said it is not all that call me LORD that will see the Kingdom but only those that do the will of my Father. ¶The Scripture also says, show me you’re in faith by your deeds; faith without complementing works is dead. One of my daughters once said she had to ask herself, ” wait o, am I engaged to an unbeliever?” Show me your faith, through your works. ¶
The second condition in that passage is “wish to stay” with you. Okay, is it by saying “I don’t want to stay with you” or “I want to stay with you?” What if their attitudes show that they don’t even want you alive? I hope you get it now.
In short, if the situation is convincingly LIFE-THREATENING, they are not willing to stay with you. Or better put, they don’t want you to stay with them. Or we should say, they want you dead by their deeds. The Bible says God has called you to a life of peace and not bondage.
Now, let’s go back to the word adultery as used by Jesus. Adultery is life-threatening. Killer STDs are plenty. I have seen marriages and children devasted by HIV and STDs. These things are real. I have attended to a few HIV+ cases from 2013 to date. A doctor once said that if you visit the HIV counselling section in teaching hospitals, you will think everybody on earth is positive.
What’s my point? Leaving a marriage because of un-forgiveness is different from life-threatening situations. And many things could be life-threatening- adultery, battery (beating) and lots.
SO WHAT happens to a divorcee?
You see them as divorcees, God sees them as SINGLES because the old things have passed away by the reason of the works of Christ.
This is what God says about singles- He set the singles in families. Psalms 68:6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
The Bible also says no single will lack a partner- Isaiah 34:16.
WHAT if someone just pack their things and left the marriage citing a flimsy excuse?
Many consequences come with taking the wrong steps or disregarding holy matrimony. We are not God to judge or punish the offenders but one thing is sure if a person commits a sin and repents, God forgives and the person becomes new. In short, the person becomes a SINGLE and fit for marriage. If you’re angry about that, raise your hand if you have never sinned.
CAN the person marry again to the person they left?
The next thing after leaving a marriage is not to walk into another but to heal and get led by the Spirit. God can take you back to the person or lead you forward. I have journeyed with at least a counsellee in such a situation. She got back with the man she left after two years. Anyone in this shoe should be patient and get God’s mind when making the next move.
And here is the joke. I asked my daughter her reason for asking about divorce. I love dealing with some sensitive questions before asking for the reason.
She said the Pastor in her former Church left his wife because according to him, God said she’s a witch. But he couldn’t re-marry because he believed the woman must die before he can take another wife. So, from time to time, he would gather some pastors and select people in the Church to pray that mama should die. In short, they are still separated, Baba is around 90 years now and mama is also very old but has refused to die.
¶Mathew 18:22, 1 Peter 4:8, Mathew 5:32, James 2:14-28
If not that “Mummy G.O” overplayed her hand and added to the scripts…if she had stayed with the scripts like her predecessors and simply condemn Baba Adeboye, Prophet Obadare, Bishop Oyedepo, Arch Bishop Benson Idahosa, Bimbo Odukoya and others who are the regular mentions when it comes to their hellish vision–may be you would have believed her. May be you would have bought her books. May be you would have distributed her tapes. May the LORD help you.
Hear this, any vision that makes it looks harder for a believer to enter heaven and makes hell easier to go to IS FROM HELL in order to discourage you from the heavenly race.
It is very difficult for a believer (a person who confesses Jesus as Lord and lives in the consciousness of that confession) to miss heaven and quite easy to make heaven. A believer cannot be on the way to hell and not know it. It is not something you enter into by mistake.
While you are busy praying, groaning and crying to God to help you to make heaven- angels are busy saying to you that heaven is not a problem but your dominion here on the earth. You are asking for the Kingdom of Heaven, God is saying no problem but you haven’t occupied the earth with the power of the gospel. See- you can’t reign on the earth as His priest and His king and lose heaven.
I have said this 100 times- some have chosen to go to heaven like the poor Lazarus but I have chosen to go like the rich Abraham.
Welcome to the concluding part of this series. I talked about service as a means of creating the needed job in the previous session. If you missed the first 2 sessions, you can have them back via these links:
In the previous session, I promised to teach on how to create the work we need through the instrumentality of Faith.
FAITH
Let me start by explaining to us that Faith is an action word(verb), not a noun. There are different kinds of Faith;
👉Saving faith Ephesians 2:8 👉Gift of Faith 1Corinthians 12:9 👉Fruit of Faith Galatians 5:22 👉Living Faith Romans1:17
👉 God kind of Faith Mark 11:22.
LIVING FAITH vs GOD KIND OF FAITH
Out of the kinds of Faith that we have, we shall be considering living faith and the God’s kind of Faith, because we live, and have our being, through the Living Faith
*Romans 1:17* _”For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the Just shall live by faith.”_
This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This has been accomplished right from the beginning to the end, by faith. As the Scriptures say, “Romans 1:
[17]For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Mark 11:22 “Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.”
The book of Romans tells us that we live by Faith, and the book of also Mark tells us that we should have God kind of Faith. Then we should ask ourselves what kind of Faith is God’s kind of Faith? 👉 It’s a SPEAKING Faith
Hebrews 11:3 “Through faith we understand that the words were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
We can deduce from here, that the whole universe was created by God through the words He said. As He’s saying it, they were coming to manifestation. So therefore, to use faith to create the needed Job after your service too, you need to be ‘SPEAKING FORTH’ whatever you want to see in Faith. How then do we achieve this?:
1. You keep declaring thus: ‘It’s not possible for me to be jobless after my service year because I am a servant of God even while serving.
2. When you’re about to pass out of your service, you act in faith by applying for job opportunities online and you keep confessing, declaring and annoucing that you’ve been employed, because the word of God says you shall spend your days in Prosperity (Job 36:11).
3. Acting in faith still means that you acquire a skill and start a business of your own,trust me, you’ll enjoy God’s blessings in it. And you can be as rich as you desire/imagine, If you meet up with the first point I mentioned in session 2, and you are diligent, hardworking and a thinker in whatever you do.
4. Acting in faith is still withdrawing from applying for job whenever God says so. Let me share my experience with you here.
I shared in the previous session of how I got an appointment immediately after my service year. But it’ll interest you to know that I spent only 3 months at the work place because I resigned. Why??? God says so.
He said I should resign into ministry. Peradventure you are reading this, and God is calling you into ministry as well, please do not be afraid. Do not bother about where your food will come from. In fact, rejoice that you have been (also) employed into the company of God, and the wealth of every worker is always measured by the track record the owner had made over time. If you are working in Chevron, you automatically know that you’ll be paid in :6 digits’ because of how wealthy the owners of the company are. So, do not compare yourself with the wealth of God being the CEO of the company you’re working in. Then you’d realize that God is having a much better offer for you. You don’t need worry about the expected way, what He promised you is the expected end, and friend, may I tell you this for free?
After subscribing to what God says, the blessings that came to me just within 2 months of my resignation from the company I was working with, was 4 folds of what I was earning in the company as well. So.. Trust God to take care of you if He’s giving you the appointment to work with Him in ministry.
The next Series on this blog with me is on ‘Angels‘ .
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Fear is belittling the ability and capability of God. Anything that is fearful is not of faith, and anything that is not of faith is a sin. Fear is Spiritual, so we must deal with it Spiritually.
What am I to do to overcome the fear of joblessness after my service year?
Fear is belittling the ability and capability of God
1. SERVICE
If you are a believer, you must let this settle in you that you’re saved and sanctified so as to serve in God’s vineyard. But there are some believers who are saved , sanctified and are satisfied. Those that fall into this second category, are the believers that are ignorant. You must let this settle down in you that to receive anything from God, you must be a servant. Of course, we are serving God primarily because we love Him. But much more, the other reason serve as an added advantage to our service to God which is, He attends to every of our needs. So, you can’t be in service in God’s vineyard, and not be serviced.
Every church do have an entry door and an exit door. Likewise, every input device must always give out information as a result, so is every believer that God is daily loading with benefits for us. So, the returns we are to give to him, is to serve Him.
JOB 36:11 vs MATTHEW 6:33
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you .
Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Matthew 6:33 can be read CONTEXTUALLY and CONCEPTUALLY. To treat this verse of the Bible Contextually, we are going to read it from verse 30 to 33 and we would see that the verse is saying is ‘ALL THESE‘ not ‘ALL OTHER THINGS’ shall be added to you. So, what are ‘these things’ that the verse is addressing? The basic needs of life; Food, clothing and shelter.
But addressing that verse of the Bible CONCEPTUALLY can be addressed by saying ‘ALL OTHER THINGS’ and while doing that, we will address it from the standpoint of Job 36:11 which is paraphrased as ” If they obey the call to salvation and afterward serve me, they shall spend their days after NYSC corps in prosperity because I’m going to secure a work for them and their years in pleasure, because the work will be paying them alot and be bringing food to their table”… Isn’t that awesome???
SEEKING FIRST
Back to Matthew 6:33, The first thing that should be done is to advance the kingdom through your service. During your service year, you have to seek His kingdom first. Many people love to plan on how to have a good savings to sustain themselves after service but failed to plan on how to serve God, how to spread the gospel in the territory they were sent to, and that’s why God also didn’t get them serviced then after service.
The first thing which you must do as an intending Corp member is to be thinking of where to serve. In fact, to you, NYSC should not be ‘National Youth Service Corps’ but ‘National Youth Serving Christ’. There are various platforms where you can serve during NYSC and these Include: Nigeria Christian Corpers Fellowship, Deeper life Corpers Fellowship, Redeemed Christian Corpers Fellowship and many other religious bodies. The most important thing is that you must think of how to spread the gospel through a religious body during your service year.
You have to serve God first. Elijah told the woman, give me everything you have FIRST, and after doing that, testimonies follow suite. NYSC is a wisdom of God in gaining territories and you must follow God’s plan for your life. The fact that you are alive and enlisted to be part of those that will be mobilized for Service, is an attestation that you are enlisted to be part of the end-time army of God that will cause revival to happen at every territory God is interested at.
Let me conclude by saying that it is normal and expected to have a feeling of fear while trying to pack out of NYSC assignment, but what I did during my own time will encourage you:
What I did
I served as the Evangelism Coordinator (Rugged) of the Nigeria Christian Corpers Fellowship (NCCF), Imo state chapter, central phase 2020/2021. So, when we were about to finish and I began to think about the status of joblessness in the country, what I did was to start praising God for He’s able to do exceedingly, and abundantly ABOVE whatever I can ASK…. I would confess that I will not wait before I get a Job. After various confessions, I would back it up with the fact that I am a servant…. So, the fear will leave me.
And by the special Grace of God, I stepped into the land (Imo state) on 10th March ,2020 and I resumed work on 10th March, 2021 (immediately after my service year). Why?? Because I didn’t belittle the ability and capacity of God to get me work.
In the next part of this Series, I shall be teaching us how we can use Faith to create the work of our choice.
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We are back to the Christocentric series.🤩🤩 Don’t forget the attributes we’ve examined about the Israelites overtime
1. THEY WERE NOT WISE
They preferred good, rather than better and preferred better than best. They always wished to go back to their slavery experience rather than to pass through the wilderness experience.
2. THEY WERE NOT GRATEFUL
The best way to command result at the point of need is to raise an incense of Thanksgiving but reverse was the case, in the life of the Israelites. They would rather forget everything the Lord had done for them and start complaining. At Marah, they forgot the red Sea experience. At the Sin desert, they forgot Marah experience and at Rephidim, they forgot the Sin desert Experience.
3. THEY DISRESPECTED GOD Anytime they were in need of any material thing and could not get it on time, what they do is to speak against Moses their leader and God Himself. They had no respect for the ruling authority.
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Also, don’t forget that God had always been merciful to them by making provisions for every of their needs. But this time around, God changed it for them by sending fiery snakes to bite them, and many of them died and got injured.
Numbers 21:4-6
And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Dear Reader, are you a complainer like the Israelites? Hope you haven’t forgotten what He had done for you before now? The Psalmist knew that instead of complaining, he needs to be giving thanks and he said that everything within him should give thanks to the Lord.
However, the Isralites recognized that they had sinned against God, and they went back to Moses to plead with God on their behalf, and of course, God still made provision for them.
Numbers 21:7-9
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
The lesson here:
Have you ever gone against God’s standard by sinning?
Firstly acknowledge your error and don’t allow the devil to deny you of your right in God. The devil will want to pin you down with guilt, condemnation and worry, but God is still very much interested in you. So, all you need to do is to go back to Him and seek His forgiveness. Your sin is not thicker than the blood of Jesus.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
1500 years ago, we see Jesus referring us to this same account
John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Just as the bronze serpent was lifted on a pole, Jesus was also lifted up on a cross
Just as the bronze serpent represented the curse, Jesus also became the curse.
Galatians 3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Just as those who would look upon the serpent shall live, those who will look and Believe in Jesus shall live as well.
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the Law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.” (Romans 4:16)
This is actually one of the many verses in the book of Romans that may make some Twenty-first century believers think that their eternal salvation is permanent and unconditional. And that is because we don’t understand the context of that discussion or even appreciate the gift of salvation we have.
The verse in particular is not talking of rapture, the promise it is talking about is salvation. You really don’t know what a big deal that is. You may ask, if accepting Jesus into one’s life require a lot of explanation. Yes, it does. Those people were already loosing it. Some people were telling them that salvation can’t be that simple or cheap. The Jewish Christians were telling the Gentile Christians that they needed to do some other things particularly circumcision before they can be accepted as Christians. I hope you understand that?
The Jews were like, you have to write WAEC and have 6 credits and write JAMB with over 200 scores before getting admitted into a university because, we did the same. But Paul was saying whether they wrote the exams or not, Jesus had already given them admissions. They have been granted admission into the presence of God, into the University of Heaven unconditionally as long as they’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
I have come across people who think that have committed severe unpardonable sins and after giving their lives to Christ and confessing Jesus they asked, “is that all?” They feel that it can’t be that easy. The Devil actually makes them feel that that can’t be all that is required to be forgiven. So, Paul is saying, that is actually all. And I am telling you today, that is all.
The Bible isn’t essentially referring to rapture or eternal salvation here or anywhere in most of the epistles as regards law and grace. Get the fact. But this is the good news; salvation guarantees that you will surely be raptured provided you live a holy life. Yes, your admission was certain and unconditional. Yes, your admission guarantees you a graduation but the graduation is not automatic. Your matriculation guarantees makes your convocation certain, but there is a price. You must consciously live a holy life. We know that it is not all who gained admission into a school that graduates. That is why Paul told us in Romans 12:1 to present our body as “a living and holy sacrifice.” Most students have never thought about losing their admission or not graduating from the school. In that same way, a true Christian will not be worried about losing his salvation or eternal security (getting raptured). But there are students who need to be worried and disturbed. Why? They play truancy. They are in school this hour and out of school the next hour. They are in Christ this hour and out of Christ the next hour. If you are such and any preacher told you not to be worried and be rest assured that you will be raptured, he is deceiving you. This is not a school where lecturers can be bribed in order for you to graduate. A lecturer in this school can however assure focused students that they will graduate irrespective of their low marks in certain courses or even their failure to pass certain courses. As long as they are on track with the mind of Christ, they will not lose heaven. “But how did his faith help him? Was he (Abraham) declared righteous only after he had been circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? The answer is that God accepted him first, and then he was circumcised later!” (Romans 4:10)
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the Law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.” (Romans 4:16)
This is actually one of the many verses in the book of Romans that may make some Twenty-first century believers think that their eternal salvation is permanent and unconditional. And that is because we don’t understand the context of that discussion or even appreciate the gift of salvation we have.
The verse in particular is not talking of rapture, the promise it is talking about is salvation. You really don’t know what a big deal that is. You may ask, if accepting Jesus into one’s life require a lot of explanation. Yes, it does. Those people were already loosing it. Some people were telling them that salvation can’t be that simple or cheap. The Jewish Christians were telling the Gentile Christians that they needed to do some other things particularly circumcision before they can be accepted as Christians. I hope you understand that?
The Jews were like, you have to write WAEC and have 6 credits and write JAMB with over 200 scores before getting admitted into a university because, we did the same. But Paul was saying whether they wrote the exams or not, Jesus had already given them admissions. They have been granted admission into the presence of God, into the University of Heaven unconditionally as long as they’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
I have come across people who think that have committed severe unpardonable sins and after giving their lives to Christ and confessing Jesus they asked, “is that all?” They feel that it can’t be that easy. The Devil actually makes them feel that that can’t be all that is required to be forgiven. So, Paul is saying, that is actually all. And I am telling you today, that is all.
The Bible isn’t essentially referring to rapture or eternal salvation here or anywhere in most of the epistles as regards law and grace. Get the fact. But this is the good news; salvation guarantees that you will surely be raptured provided you live a holy life. Yes, your admission was certain and unconditional. Yes, your admission guarantees you a graduation but the graduation is not automatic. Your matriculation guarantees makes your convocation certain, but there is a price. You must consciously live a holy life. We know that it is not all who gained admission into a school that graduates. That is why Paul told us in Romans 12:1 to present our body as “a living and holy sacrifice.”
Most students have never thought about losing their admission or not graduating from the school. In that same way, a true Christian will not be worried about losing his salvation or eternal security (getting raptured). But there are students who need to be worried and disturbed. Why? They play truancy. They are in school this hour and out of school the next hour. They are in Christ this hour and out of Christ the next hour. If you are such and any preacher told you not to be worried and be rest assured that you will be raptured, he is deceiving you. This is not a school where lecturers can be bribed in order for you to graduate. A lecturer in this school can however assure focused students that they will graduate irrespective of their low marks in certain courses or even their failure to pass certain courses. As long as they are on track with the mind of Christ, they will not lose heaven.
“But how did his faith help him? Was he (Abraham) declared righteous only after he had been circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? The answer is that God accepted him first, and then he was circumcised later!” (Romans 4:10)
After subscribing to what God says, the blessings that came to me just within 2 months of my resignation from the company I was working with, was 4 folds of what I was earning in the company as well.
