REMEMBERED BY GOD

Gen 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark.

Several questions come to mind when I consider the scripture above. Questions like, did God forget Noah? What occupied God’s mind in the place of Noah, his family and all the animals that were in the ark with him?

I mean think about it for a minute, Noah, his family members and all that was in the ark were all that was on planet earth. There were just eight people on earth, Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and his 3 daughter-in-laws. Even I will not have a problem remembering just 8 people! Every other person on planet earth had died in the flood. All the land animals that were on earth were with Noah in the ark. God’s entire creation was riding in the ark and God choose to forget them? All God’s investment and the future of all his creation was riding on the ark and God forget them?

Imagine you were Noah for a minute. You were riding a flood that has killed almost everyone you know and it seems that God whose words brought the flood has abandoned you. I have found out that storms and floods do not come to our lives until the word of God comes! Every trouble we are forced to endure comes as a result of seeking to obey God’s word or to fight a promise God gave to us.

Have you noticed how hard it gets at the point you choose to obey God or God gives you a vision? Peter never had a problem until Jesus told him to walk on water. The disciples encountered a storm when Jesus sent them to the other side. Paul was well liked by the Pharisees until he met Jesus and had his life changed.

Satan will fight God’s vision in your life; he wants to take you out before you have had a chance to live out your dream. He sort to kill Moses on the birthing stools and to kill Jesus as a baby. Do you feel like God has forgotten you in your trails? Then this message is for you!

I have found out that it was not that God forgot Noah but whenever the bible talks about the Lord remembering a man, it means that God intends to intervene in his situation. It means that God is about to act on that situation. He is about to bring a turnaround in the circumstance!

In Egypt, God remembered his covenant with Abraham and sent Moses to bring his people out. He remembered Rachel and turned her barrenness. He remembered Hannah and gave her Samuel.

God says even though a mother may forget a nursing child he will not forget us. He says we are engraved in the palms of His hands but a time comes when he uniquely remembers us, A season when He decides to favour and to met us at the point of our greatest need.

When the Almighty God remembers you, with that one thought your life will not remain the same. May God remember your labour of love! May He remember all your tithes and offerings!

I will end this with a simple expression of my great desire, May God remember you!

Michael

RESERVED SEATS

Mat 20:23 Jesus said to them, "You will drink my cup. But I don't have the authority to grant

you a seat at my right or left. My Father has already prepared these positions for certain

people" (God’s word version).

Every one of us has gone to those programs or occasions or restaurants were seats are reserved or to parking lots were spaces are reserved. These reserved seats or spaces are saved for people who may not have come to the event yet but when they show up, who ever had taken their seats will have to vacate the seats. These are seats that a lot of people desire and are normally the best the house has to offer. The people for whom the seats are reserved are special and important people.

Friend even in the things of God, seats has been reserved and places have been kept!

You have a place in the program of God! You are not here by mistake, there is a place that God has kept and reserved for you both in this life and in the life to come.

The bible says you are to be above only and not beneath! You are destined for the top. You are not expected to be beneath in life. He has made provision for you at the top.

With regards to our place in the life to come, in the book of Revelation, Jesus kept commenting on provisions made for over-comers. He also said that in his father’s house there are many mansions there and that he goes to prepare a place for us. Friend a place has been reserved for you! When a place is reserved, your name is put on the seat or table. Sometimes it could be access to several areas being sealed off because it is reserved.

The passage above starts with a request by the mother of two sons. She was requesting for these reserved seats for her children. Jesus asked the children if they could go through what he was to go through.

Without a test there is no testimony! Without something to overcome, we cannot claim to be over-comers. If there is no contest, conflict, fight or battles then how do you determine who is a victor? To get to that reserved place you are to over-come some stuff here on earth. You are required to come out victorious here on planet earth.

Friend a place has been prepared for you. Your seat is reserved and you’re destined for the top! Don’t settle for less.

For you to get to that prepared place, you have to be yielded to God. You need to be born again. The place is prepared, the wedding feast is set but not every one called is worthy of a reserved seat.  Not everyone seats on the high table! Places have been kept but those who refuse to submit to God will not enter those places.  Some will lose their places out of careless deeds. Judas Ischariot had a place in the ministry committed to the apostles but his place another had to take. A seat was reserved for him but he lost it!

May our places not be taken or our crowns given to another!

I would like to end with this scripture:

John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 Destinies are elusive and the place prepared is only a dream if one does not yield to God. Are you yielded? Are you born again?

A CORRECTED LIFE

Rev 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Let’s say you are sitting in an exam hall sweating profusely. You are so uncomfortable and frustrated. The large exam hall seems stuffy and small. You think what kind of school can’t get their air-conditioning working, but you notice that the problem is not with the air-conditioning. All your life you had studied hard for this exam but all that you studied seem to have flown out of the window. You have looked at the questions before you and though you attempted all, as was the instruction, you seem to realise that you don’t know what you are doing.

You look around the hall at various brilliant students who are scribbling away and you count the ceiling boards to pass the time and avoid the temptation to cheat. You know that if you failed this exam, your life would never be the same. All the years of investment would have been wasted and you will not get a second chance. What if during the course of this exam you remember that you are allowed to ask the supervisor, who also happens to be the lecturer of the course, for help?

I can imagine you taking advantage of that opportunity and calling over the supervisor. Who when He comes, takes a look at you paper and begins to tell you what to write.  He gives you all the correct answers and helps you through the exam. When the result of the exam comes out, would you be surprised that you made an A? Of course not!

When I think of the above scripture, I get the picture painted above. These were men who where now sitting on thrones. Their crowns, which they threw at the feet of Jesus, they knew they never deserved it. It was grace that allowed them a place here. They got help to make it in life.

Friends, these men were made Kings and Priests. They received help for the exam of their lives.  The master made corrections on their lives until they became candidates for the throne!

These were redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Their lives had been washed; they had been made worthy to be kings and priests unto God. The point remains that these received help from God!

You too can have a corrected life! Every great man or woman of God in the bible was not born holy. In fact except Jesus none can claim to be without sin. What made the difference is that in the course of their lives they looked up to God and cried out through their various blunders/mistakes.

Name them and we will easily find the various mistakes they made in their lives.Peter denied Jesus thrice before a little girl (not a very good martyr material); Paul consented to the murder of Christians, or David who committed adultery and murder or Jonah who ran away from God in disobedience.

The bible is full of imperfect men who had the privilege of inviting the master to correct their lives before the exam was over! They had the opportunity to ask for God’s mercy before they died.They lived a corrected life!

Friend, what have you done wrong that is eating at the core of your heart? What are those errors you have made in the past that makes you sweat when you remember them? You are woken up in the night by the cries of the child you aborted or the cry of man you killed as a cultist or the friend or subordinate you lied against.  These acts you committed seem to follow you about long after you have committed them. You have silenced every other thing but your conscience.

Maybe you are already a Christian but you are struggling with secret sin. You have known several failures with regards to the same besetting sin that you don’t think you can make it. This is not something that is demonic, it is unconquered human nature. Instead of giving up, look up to God. The blood of Jesus cleansed you, the cross also dealt with that sinful nature. Jesus came to deliver his people from sin; I believe he can deliver you.

When we get to heaven, it would not be because we were perfect; it would be because we were made perfect! It would not be because we got everything right but it will be because of His help to us. He came when we were writing the course, while we were still in the exam called life and he corrected our lives.  When we were sweating it out, He came to our aid.

When we make it to heaven we will realise that it was because we allowed Him to correct our lives and destinies on the earth. If we are going to make anything worth rejoicing about in heaven it will be because of God’s correction to us while we lived.

Jesus wants t o correct your life too. He can cleanse your sins by his blood and bring you to your throne in heaven. All the help can be offered now that we are alive because you can’t correct your life when you are dead! The exam would have been over and you would have made a mess of the opportunity given you in life.

There are still some self-confident and brilliant students who will keep writing and never ask for help. Don’t be like them! Yield your life to the saviour and ask him to take control. Ask for him to correct your life and destiny.

There are several brilliant students who believe they can make it without Jesus. Have you ever seen those guys who write vigorously in exams only at the end to discover that they wrote off point?  Some well read professors who term God as a figment of our imagination. Those that have educated God out of all their thoughts and there are also those who have believed a lie. What a tragedy it would be to discover at the end of their lives that they were wrong! Yes, they were sincere but sincerely wrong!  May this not be our portion or experience! To finish lives journey and be denied of heaven is the worst experience one can have.

Allow Him to correct the errors in your life. David understood this and that’s why he said in Ps. 23 Your rod and your staff they comfort me. The rod was a shepherd’s instrument of protection, guidance and correction.  Jeremiah put it more clearly:

Jer. 10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but please be fair. Don't correct me when you're angry. Otherwise, you'll reduce me to nothing. (God’s word version)

Lord, correct my life today, help me to live for you every day. Make me worthy to sit with you in heaven. Amen

LEFT ALONE

Gen_32:24  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

 

One thing we are made to confront when we are going through a rough patch in our life is that not everyone who promised to stick by you will. Some friends will hit the road when the fire gets hot. Friends who used to call you daily or weekly don’t remember your number when you call them, that is, if they will pick your call. Few people want to be close to you, many will avoid you!

Somehow you get to know that success has many friends but failure, whether perceived or otherwise, is an orphan with very few friends if any. 

Mat 26:40  And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

 

Jesus too experienced this, as his own time of crisis drew near. He was shocked with Peter and I can imagine him shout ‘What! Could you not watch with me one hour?’   Have you ever called for a night vigil with a close friend only to later discover that he fell asleep when you were agonizing about your problem? Then you will understand how Jesus must have felt. When you tried to share the burden of what you are going through and no one seems to understand. In the middle of that large congregation you still find yourself alone! No one knows what you are going through.

In the lead verse, Jacob was left alone! He did not choose to be alone, some people left him! You may argue but he sent away his wife and kids. Didn’t Naomi send away Ruth and Oprah? What made Ruth to stay and Oprah leave? A surface commitment to you and your agenda will always make people leave in unfavourable situations. Whether they are husbands, wives, close friends, you name it.

What do you do when someone who has promised to be there all along leaves? When the friends you had invested in, think you are no longer worthy of their company or time.When that relationship ends or the friend walks away. Where does one turn when the very people you thought you could turn to in your crisis, are not there when you need them? It’s easy when we lose people who hold no value for us but when those we thought were pillars go, what do we do? It leaves us sad when people leave. We become depressed and nurse a sense of betrayal. This was Jacob’s state.

In the midst of this place of crisis, Jacob turns to the God that promises to be with him in his trouble. He turns to the strong hold that promises to answer when we call on Him in the time of trouble. His attention is focused on God from whom he expects help to come.

Who you turn to when you are in trouble tells a lot about who you trust! Do you first look to a doctor whether native or medical? Are you confident that that man or woman will help? Is your uncle there for you?

Jacob ran to God. His first agenda was not to recruit men to help him fight his brother who was coming against him.  He did not run back to Laban, his father-in-law, for help or protection. No, he called a night vigil and sought God for himself.

He sought comfort from the God of all Comfort But instead of being comforted, God began wrestling him! He had problems that were coming his way and here he is engaged in a wrestling match with God. The last place to turn to for refuge is also wrestling with you. 

In trying to apply these series of messages, you too may feel that you are also engaged in a wrestling match, I know I felt that way and still do.  

In reading these series, are you being challenged that what you are going through isn’t enough reason to compromise? Does it raise a call for you to hold on to your faith in God when all you wanted to do was to let go? Does it still point you toward God even when your situation calls for you to look away?  Or maybe some other questions have been going on in your heart as you wrestle with God. 

Some others just say comfort me. Tell me it will be well without giving any conditions. Encourage me that I will prosper but give me no other conditions but God has different plans. God did the same with Job before he intervened in his situation. He kept challenging him and threw a question that provoked him to rethink his very lifestyle. He wrestled with him till his heart came in alignment with God’s heart.

Jacob held on and made a request of God. He asked; wait for it, to be blessed! Wait a minute; is Jacob beside himself for asking this?  Why ask to be blessed, when the brother he had cheated and robbed of a fathers blessing was coming at him with an army of 400 men? Is Jacob so addicted to being blessed? Why was the blessing a major concern for him? He gave away food for a fathers blessing, deceived a father for the blessing and here again lost sleep for God’s blessing. 

Initially when I read his request I was confused by his request.  If Jacob had asked for protection from his brother it would have made practical sense. If he had asked for angelic protection that would have been correct for me but not Jacob. He kept insisting, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’.

Jacob understood more than I did that the blessing was more than having a new car or property or even protection.  He had seen and witnessed the results of a fathers blessing that even made Laban confess that God blessed his house-hold because of Jacob. If a man’s blessing was that powerful, how much more will God’s blessing be. Jacob knew that it was better to be a blessed man.  He knew from the accounts given him by his grandfather-Abraham, his father, Isaac and from his own personal experience that God’s blessing comes with protection, provision, position and other privileges. Gen. 12:3.

Gen 28:13  And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

Gen 28:15  And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 

God is never far from the one he has blessed! He becomes your constant companion. He sets a seal on the man he has blessed and situations favour him, whatsoever he does is prosperous. He becomes a tree by the rivers of water. No wonder Jabez cried out ‘Oh that thou would bless me indeed!’

My cry is that God will bless me indeed. I’m not asking him for just his provision or protection but for his true blessing. A blessing that can be carried with me, into my job, business, marital life etc. Did you notice that Jacob carried the blessing?

When Abraham carried the blessing even Lot became great! Joseph carried the blessing and Potiphar left everything in his care. The blessing makes rich! It is not just riches! The bible says the ‘blessings of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow’ (Prov. 10:22). It makes rich, it is not merely riches.

There is comfort in receiving the blessing of God! Friend, seek his blessing and when you have found it your life will not be the same.

Lastly note that before the blessing came, He changed his name. God can rename you! They said you where a failure but May God rename you! They called you hopeless but may God rename you! They said you were a thief or cheat or a fraudster but go to God and he can rename you!

I wonder what people would later start calling the woman with the issue of blood. They did not care to know her name, they knew only her problem. So what would they call her after the problem is taken away? May be they would say, that used to be the woman that had an issue of blood.  I think thats better!

Oh! Can you hear your own situation being talked about too? That used to be the barren woman or that used to be the unemployed graduate or that used to be....

God changed his name, his very nature, and blessed Him. After this encounter his brother could not mistreat him. No army was confident enough to fight him (Gen. 35:5). God was no longer unfamiliar with Jacob. He knew Jacob by name. He became the Lord God of Israel.

What is this blessing you may ask? Well, isn’t it obvious? The blessing Jacob carried was God’s abiding presence. God became his shield and his exceeding great reward! Just like he had promised Jacob’s grandfather in Gen. 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

Oh! That God will bless me indeed!!

DESTINED FOR THE PALACE BUT LEAVE THE SLUM BEHIND

Psa 105:17-22 : He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:

Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

 

Nobody starts off in life thinking of being a failure! Everyone wants to succeed at one point or the other. No one comes out in life and says ‘I want to be a failure’.

In life our travelling bags are so full and equipped for the throne (though this could mean several things to each of us). We have all the gadgets, tools and equipment for the palace. The crown we will wear in the Palace is ready; the way we will talk, walk and laugh when we have been promoted to the Palace has all been practiced. Our shoes are polished and shining. We are fully equipped for the palace as we should be but sometimes we find ourselves in the slums of life. All of a sudden we search through that big nice kingly bag of ours and are shocked to find out we were never prepared for this place!

The slums met us by surprise!  We have no choice but to wear our kingly cloths here if we still have them.

Joseph was like that. Imagine dreaming big. Expecting a day to come when your mean big brothers are going to bow before you, your dad and Mum too but all of a sudden you end up in slavery!  

Joseph started on top, landed at the bottom but got to the top again. How did he start at the top? Well He was the favoured son of his father. He stayed at home while his brothers toiled in the heat. He had a coat of many colours made just for him. As if he had not been blessed enough by his earthly father, God gave him big dreams about his future. He had it made and was still going to make it!

But in one day, he lost it all. His coat was stripped from him. He was sold into slavery, which took away the comfort of his father’s house; His dreams seemed aborted. Joseph was an example of a man that had gone from Hero to Zero! Well, at least for a while.

But please note that Joseph did not know how his story was going to end. He did not have the privilege of knowing that one day he will end in the palace except for the vision that God gave him. When he was sold into slavery, no angel told him he would end up a chief servant in Potiphar’s house. No one told him that his not giving in to Mrs. Potiphar would move him closer to his destiny. No one gave him the inside story about his life.

The only thing that Joseph had, just like you and I, was the word of God. He was just assured of God’s promise and word over his life. But unlike us, though he was not experiencing the reality of that word, he fought to keep his relationship with God!

Yet Joseph’s ability to respond correctly to the negative situation he found himself made him a candidate for the palace.

I really had a hard time choosing a scripture for this write-up because there are several examples of men who had similar experiences.

 Moses went from palace to wilderness and then took up the occupation of being a shepherd (An occupation that must have insulted his Egyptian upbringing because every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians-Gen. 46:34, Ruth that decided to follow an old mother-in-law (who by the way may have been termed a witch in our day, just jokingly serious) or need I talk about Job.

Imagine you where Joseph after the tide had turned. What would you do? His mandate included to teach Pharaohs senators wisdom even to bind princes at his pleasure. Oh, left to me Mrs. Potiphar and her husband who put me in prison...I would just bind them up and if Pharaoh asked me I would tell him, I just felt like it.I know you get the picture.

The point I want to make here is that even though these men went through unpleasant places in their lives what made them exceptional was not only their actions in the slums that came their way, but also what they did when they came out.

What prepares us to enjoy the palace, which we packed for, is our response in the prisons or wilderness of life as well as when we come out!

Imagine you were Moses, would you be found going back to rescue the people that rejected your help in the first place? Think of young beautiful Ruth that was following a bitter old mother-in-law. Or Job praying for friends that had mocked him throughout his trials.

 Are you equipped to respond accurately for those unpleasant situations of life or have you let them change you? What do you do when you hoped for the best and the worst happened? When you looked for comfort and ended up in discomfort? How do you react when you come into trouble and then out of trouble?

Some become bitter or angry at other people and try to pin their failure on every other person but themselves. Some fold their sleeves and go to work but with the sole aim that when they get back on their feet, they would revenge. Some reach broad classifications of mankind in other to avoid falling again. These are the ones we hear saying ‘men will always cheat or lie’, ‘I can’t trust anyone again cause they will disappoint, no am not bitter, am just being careful’ or ’People from that tribe are like that’

Some others lock up their hearts; vow never to give and the entire situation changes them. These are the ones who go through the slum but come out stained by it. They are out of the grave but are still dressed in grave cloths. The Slum has changed their attitude to God and their fellow men. They end up bitter, angry, unforgiving and irritated.

 Everyone envies where they are but they are not able to be grateful for where God brought them to. They are unhappy with themselves and still ungrateful to God.

Have you met such people? Who are so blessed but are still so unhappy? They live in houses you envy, married to a man or woman any lady or man would die to have, drive the best cars, their children are doing so well but are still unhappy because of where they came from.  They hold on to that negative experience and use it to determine their actions today.

These are people who have come out of their problems but have allowed what they have gone through make them worse than they were. Are you still bitter at people? Have you vowed never to forgive the one that lied against you? Are you still angry at those that left you when the storms came? Then you may have left the slum but the slum has not left you!

Some are married but act as though they are unmarried. Some are now working but still bitter towards their former employers; some have kids now but are still angry at their mother-in-law who once called them barren and suggested a second wife then.

These all are trying to move forward by looking at the rear view mirror, friend you are headed for disaster!

The first thing we do when we are about to enter a person’s home is to wipe our feet at the door. Some have those funny mats that tell us to wipe our paws and not our feet. But whatever the case the message has been passed across ‘Don’t bring that dirt into my House!’ Can you imagine going to a friend’s home with a bag of trash from your house and very filthy clothes? And the guy has white rugs and seats. When he opens the door I don’t think he will be too glad to let you in.

Stop destroying your future based on your past experiences! Some would have been in great relationships now but because someone has hurt them they have classified that everyone is like that. One pastor lied, so every pastor is a liar. One brother cheated you, so everyone cheats.

Friend, leave your trash outside! Clean up and come to the table. You are meant for the palace.

Leave the bitterness behind. Drop your anger. Stop plotting your revenge!

It’s time to let go of the slum. Forgive and leave the past behind you. There is no place for the slum in the palace.  Some of you need to release those you had tied up in your heart.

John 11:44b Jesus said unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

 

Friend it’s time to let it go!

.

Our need for God’s Mercy.

Psa 102:13  Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

You would be forgiven if you read the topic and decided that it could not apply to you. You may have been tempted to read the heading and say am sure he wants to talk to sinners but that is not the case here.

The above scripture tells us that the time to favour Zion has come, or as the King James Version put it is come. This is a very definite word of fact! It was so strong a promise that was so sure of fulfilment that the writer cries out that’ Yes! That appointed time is come’.

Please note how emphatic or forceful the writer is about this. Also note that the KJV says ’is come’. What does ‘is come’ mean? This phrase puts things in a present tense. It indicates to us that the time has come for the fulfilment of this promise and it is not for a future date! It is for NOW! The promise is not something that will suffer any delay. It is time for the fulfilment.

I know you too have experienced this in your life. You have come to a point in time when you felt God was about to honour his word in your life. In fact it was so strong that you have gone ahead to declare it and you knew with all your heart it would come to pass. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Remember that God needs to first arise.

In the Scripture above, the writer starts talking first of the fact that God needed to arise. Oh! May God arise for our sake! May God rise up to fight on our behalf! May he rise up to fulfil His plans for our life! We need God to arise and put our enemies to flight. May God move into action on our behalf in Jesus name!

The next few words tell us, what will be first on God’s agenda when He arises. He will arise first of all to have mercy on Zion. That’s where my problem started.  I was ok with God getting up and that my season of favour had come but why the mercy part first?

Why mercy first? Why not move things along a bit and get to the ‘good’ stuff of favouring us?

Does it mean that they were sinners in Zion? That may not necessarily be the case.

We have come to think that we need mercy only when we have done a wrong thing but read the scripture below:

Psa 147:10-11  He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

When it comes to the things of God, our abilities are our greatest undoing! Our greatest handicap is not what we feel helpless to achieve but what we can do without God’s help.

 Paul said having therefore this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not-2 Cor. 4:1. The reason we are not fainting is that we received mercy, not because we are strong in our selves.

Think about this, If Samson was well built or looked very strong; would his enemies have asked Delilah to find out the source of his strength? Just a thought!

We are too wise to be fools for Christ’s sake. We are too educated to subject ourselves to some stupid fanatical belief, too self sufficient to ask for help, too well connected to men to seek to be connected to God. Our resumes are too impressive that if we did not get the job, who would have got it?

In some instances we put aside God’s help or determine that we can do it so no need to bother God.

There is an adage in my place, it goes like this ‘the one whom I can beat, there is no need to ask God to help me when it is time to fight him’. A very wise saying, right? Very insightful, but I wonder if Goliath thought that way when He saw David. Forget the outcome we now Know, if you were to bet on the fight between David and Goliath who would you pick? If you said David, then you have more faith than I do.

Goliath had abilities, He had years of military training, he was already a champion who had won several battles in the past, he had a sword, a spear, a shield, was well built and an armour bearer while David had a sling, five stones in a bag and pimples (just joking).

In a fair fight, David was dead meat but mercy isn’t fair. Mercy gives a man what he does not deserve. It lets a man escape the consequences of his action and allows him have more than he deserves.

In the fight between David and Goliath, each man however carried something else that we could not see but proved to be the deciding factor in the battle. One trusted in Jehovah, the other trusted in his gods. One obtained mercy and favour from God while the other did not.

Do you trust that with what you have, that you can do the work of God? Are you looking to your various connections to make it? Is your PHD the source of your confidence? Has your accomplishment blinded you to your need for help? Do you see now that you have no need for God’s help?

If the above is your case then can I say that I don’t envy you. David says it well: Some trust in horses, others in chariots but we will remember the Lord our God.

That day on the battlefield men praised David but David knew in his heart that without the help of God he would have been a dead man! I can picture him coming out of the battlefield with Goliath’s head in his hand and goose bumps, after the adrenaline rush had gone, while thinking ‘what did I just do?! This could have been my head if not for God’s mercy’.

Back to our first scripture, it says even though it was time to favour Zion. God needed to intervene not just because it was time but out of mercy.

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

It is not about any religious activity or based on how holy or prayerful you are or your fasting ability, though these are very important. You will still get it based only on the mercy of God

You still need God’s mercy! You never come to a place where you have made it and become too big for God. Some people who don’t realise this soon enough end up in a mess that only God can get them out of! 

Ask Nebuchadnezzar and he will tell you all about it in his own words in Daniel chapter 4.

Can I give you an advice you? Please take that promise to God and ask him to show you mercy because it will only come to pass based on God’s mercy Daniel knew that.  So when he started his prayer to God he asked for mercy. Again I will end with this scripture

Heb 2:16  For it is clear that it is not the angels that he helps. Instead, he helps the descendants of Abraham.(Goodnews version)

 

Michael

Living Right despite the trouble

Gen 17:1  And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

What I am about to share with you is something I have personally experienced and still experience. I wish I could tell you that I did all the right things in the midst of my trouble but I can’t. Let me not get ahead of myself here.

Here we see God come and talk to Abraham in a time of crisis in his life. To understand the verse above let me give a bit of background information.

God in chapter fifteen had made Abraham a powerful promise. That He would make his descendants like the sand on the sea shore in terms of their number. this promise to Abraham was when he had no son at all. so strong was God’s promise that he demonstrated it by an act of covenant. God walked in between the pieces of a torn animal. What does that mean you may ask? In the Hebrew culture if someone made you a promise and wanted to show you that he would definitely keep it, he would need to go through the middle of an animal that has been torn or cut in two.  The significance of that was that if I fail to honour what I said to you, let me end up like these animals. Torn, divided and dead, now that is strong stuff! It’s a serious issue but it gave the other person the assurance that the one that said it, would come through. That instead of not keeping my promise to you, I’ll rather die! That was the kind of promise made to Abraham.

Friend, before we continue, do you know that’s the kind of promise God made to you! Yes, you! The bible says he has exalted his word above his name. God will rather lose a reputation than not honour his word. If you believe God’s word, I challenge you to hold on to it because he is so committed to it that He even sent his son to die to keep your hope alive and the bible says in Rom_8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? That’s strong! He is saying if I allowed my Son to die for you, I can give you every other thing along with him.

As strong as this promise was and as powerful as it was, Abraham was still Abram in chapter sixteen. The promise had not come to pass even in this chapter we are looking at.

Has God promised you something so strongly that you believed with all your heart but years later you have not seen the fulfilment? This has made a lot of people when they listen to the pastor preaching they doubt and say ‘I have heard that before’. ‘That’s what the last preacher said and I gave all my money’, don’t deceive me into believing a lie!  So they close up their hearts to God’s word and believe it does not work.

As bad as the scene painted above may be, the more painful one is what happened in chapter sixteen of Genesis. God made a promise in 15 and then in 16 because the promise had not come to pass, Abraham and his wife decided to help God! The agreed for Abraham to sleep with the house help in order to have the promised child! 

Now that’s very strange. For a woman to agree to that arrangement she must have lost all hope. Completely given up! She has concluded am going to die in this condition. I would have wanted to sit on my high horse and say why would Sarah do that? See the mistake she made, look at all the trouble we have with the descendants of that illicit affair and you will easily blame her and her husband, but try as I might I have to confess to you, I am not the best person to condemn her action or that of her husband. 

I have been there too and I can confess to you, I did not do any better than they did! I tried to help God move things along, I tried to borrow to come out of debt, and I got tired of being the only one around who does not have a fiancée that I entered into a wrong relationship. I also got impatient and messed up. I acted too quickly and reached a wrong conclusion. I have made the same mistakes as they did so I can’t condemn them.  

Can you relate to what I am talking about? Have you always made the right choices? Have you always lived life in such a way that you always pleased God?  You know we like passing the blame to others but Christianity makes you take some responsibility. Even in Nigeria we are still blaming every past leader for where we are today.

 I have heard Christians who are still blaming Adam and Eve for the evil in the world! They go like ’if they had not; we would not have’......Oh, please !! You can’t change that, work on what you can change. Jesus has come to right the wrong that they did. What are you doing about applying what Christ did in your own life? 

So even though I can’t blame them but I agree that they made a mistake. They should have waited on God but they didn’t. They fell below my expectation of someone that has faith but God still put them in the great hall of fame in Hebrews 11. Oh, Praise God!! They didn’t do right all the time but God still forgave them. Sometimes they messed up but God didn’t give up on them! They made mistakes that outlived them but God still boasted about them. 

Friend, I know you have done things you are not proud of but please note that God still wants to talk to you. He is still interested in walking with you.

Please note that after everything that Abraham and Sarah did in verse 16, God comes to Abraham and says to him, let me paraphrase, I know what you did is not right but get your act together! Let’s start over again. I need you to walk before me and be perfect.

If I was Abraham I might have gotten upset with God here! Why? Well did you notice that God did not address the promise He made that seems to have failed? It was waiting for the fulfilment of the promise that got them into that mess in the first place. They had told their neighbours, shared with friends, bought the baby clothes and Abraham had rewritten his will from Eliezer of Damascus inheriting everything in chapter 15 and yet no baby.

Such a strong promise from God had come and a definite word but nothing to show for it! Still when God shows up He begins by addressing the sin in their lives.

I would shout and say hold on God! Can we talk about how you disappointed me? Can we talk about you walking through those dead animals and telling me you will honour your word? Can I show you where you made that promise to me? I can tell you the pastor you used, the message and the day it was you made that promise. And instead of addressing that, you are asking me to change my ways! No God you need to change. I don’t have any more to give and am at the end of my rope. I have been tithing and it’s not working. Praying but nothing to show and instead of addressing that you are asking me to change my ways! No God you need to change! You need to start keeping some of your promises to me.  You want me to believe you start with this one.

I know some of you cringed on the inside when you read the paragraph above but God already knows what your thoughts are like so he hears it even when you did not voice it out. You are angry at God but religiously quiet.

Abraham may have started feeling that way so God comes to him and the first words out of the mouth of God is ‘I am the Almighty God...’ Am able to do everything, in case you forgot who you are talking to, I am all powerful. You did not create me, I created you! You remember when God answered Job when Job was talking like that?

God asked Job where you were when I created the earth. Oh just read it.

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Job 38:3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

Job 38:4  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

He went on and on until Job had to apologise to God and repent. Can a clay say to the potter what are you making? After correcting Job he blessed him with double for his trouble. Let go of that unvoiced anger because God is up to something in your life.

But why is God concerned about how you are living your life and not just about what you are passing through? Why would God start talking to you about living right and not about your problem. Why is it important that you live right with God even when things are not right in your marriage or finances or health or relationship? Psalm 23 explains it so clearly, its starts with the Lord being my shepherd and the fact that when I pass through the valley of shadow of death because he is with me I fear no evil!!

Isaiah puts it more clearly in Isa. 59:

Isa 59:1  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

God needed to deal with the interference before He could intervene! He needed to deal with sin so that he can act! Abraham was so close to the fulfilment of God’s promise in his life but He had an issue that could hinder it.

Friend is your night so dark that you have lost your way. Come back to Jesus, he has a plan all worked out for you. And if you’re going through things and you’re holding on to your integrity. Please, hold on! The morning is about to break.

I want to honour God even when things are not working out! I’ll sing in the choir even when it seems there’s nothing to sing about in my own life. I want to still believe even when it seems some of what he says has not come to pass in my life. I want to live for Him even when it seems there is no benefit in living for Him. I would like to tell Him he is still faithful even when everything around me says otherwise. I will praise and worship him even... I want to walk before Him and be perfect!

I hope this too is your heart’s desire.

God bless you and keep you till the end.

 The best thing about being down is that you can only go up from here.