HIS ARMS ARE UNDER YOU!!!

Deut. 33:27  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. 

As I consider this scripture, I get the picture of a man who has been asked to fall from a height, after a safety net that can hold him has been put under him. 

In my experience, I have found out that I do not know every information about the trials or pains I am going through, at the time I am experiencing them. I feel helpless like every other man and pain feels my heart but I have come to understand that even when I don't have the answers I serve a God that has all the answers and knows the way through every wilderness.

Do you feel as though you are on a free fall right now? Have you tried to hold on, but your grip seems to have slipped completely? Does it seem as though events have gone beyond what you can manage or control? Has all your hope been dashed and your confidence in your ability gone?

Then friend you have come to the place where God can help you. At the end of your strength, His strength begins.

Our God is a refuge in the times of trouble, a very present help in times of trouble. He does not abandon us when trouble comes. You can run to Him in the place of prayer and feel the embrace of a true Father. 

Note that the scripture calls him the eternal God, that means that He does not get exhausted. He is self-sustaining and gives life to all, but His life originates and is sustained from no one. He has neither beginning of days nor end of days yet He is the ancient of days. 

The bible goes on to talk about His everlasting arms being underneath you, so you can be sure that before you hit the ground He will catch you. His arms are wide and big enough to accommodate you. You are not finished yet, His arms are underneath you.

Those that have tried to make you fall, will fail completely because they have to locate a place beyond the reach of His arms to cause you to hit the ground. If you are a child of God, I would like to tell you that where you are is not rock bottom. If you still maintain a relationship with God, He holds you in His arms and his strength does wear out!

Hold on dear friend and he will thrust your enemies out before you for you to have a victory that you did not fight for.

Underneath you are Gods everlasting arms, stay with Him.

LIVING UNDER AN INFLUENCE-ARE YOU DRUNK?

Eph 5:18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

He staggered as he walked, a bottle under his arm. His breathe was so foul ,that if he turned in your direction to speak you would almost fall over from the stench that hits you. He is no longer in control of his action nor his words but seems to be moved by the contents of the bottle under his arm. Totally under the influence and control of alcohol.

I painted this scene above because of the scripture above and what I have seen in our society.

You may not be like the drunkard who goes about with a bottle under the arm, but none the less, I have seen drunk men who are not drunk with alcohol. I have seen drunkards who look 'respectable' to society but are none the less drunk. 

Some are drunk with power, beauty,ambition, possession or pleasure. You name it.

So drunk with their pursuits that they have no interest in God or in the word of God. The influence of what occupies their heart, just like the drunkard, finds expression in their manner of life, speech and general conduct. A man who is drunk with power, would be upset if he is not revered or recognized. He will ask, if he feels slighted, whether you do not know him. Those drunk with possession, show great devotion to what they have and are greatly offended if any of it is touched or damaged. Some are drunk on their intellect and refinement. Their attitudes become offensive to everyone around them but themselves!

A drunkard is one who is overcome or under an influence that dictates the direction of his life or actions.

His money, attention and passion goes to it.

Friend, from the scripture above there is only one kind of drunkenness that is allowed, and that is to be filled with the Spirit!  When the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in the book of Acts they were considered drunkards, because they behaved strangely.

Many believers are empty and have never experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Yet they go about unmoved by the emptiness they feel and like the Church of Laodicean in Rev. 3:14 where we declare that we are rich yet are unaware of our deep poverty. Their lifestyle has not changed, their friends are still the same, their language is still the same and people do not see in them any influence of the world from which they claim they belong. This is the great tragedy of our generation! 

Pastors stand to change a people without the presence of the Holy Spirit but the Apostles in Acts sent Peter to pray for Phillip's converts to receive the Holy Spirit knowing how important He is to the Christian life and that no true or lasting change can occur without Him.

Friend there is a fountain that flows from the throne of grace, that we must drink from, if we are to be effective in our walk with God(I am not talking about our work but our walk with God). Free yourself from the influence of the world and come under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit.

For it is as many as are led by the Spirit of God(and not by their Pastors, Evangelists, Prophets, Teachers or Apostles) that are  they sons of God!

Act_19:2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

Today, I encourage you to wake up the hunger and seek to  be filled by Him that sustains all life. 

Your world will know the difference if you dare to drink of that fountain!

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD- GIVING YOUR KIDS POSITIVE FEEDBACK

Mark 1:11:  A voice from heaven said, "You are my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you." 

I know that Jesus said that the comment above was made for the benefit of those around Him at that time but imagine what hearing the approval of His Father would have meant for Him.

I heard a great man of God,who grew up with his grandmother,talk about how she believed the best of him. That strong belief  was expressed to him by her positive confessions and approval towards him. This helped shape his life and give him a strong self belief.

So I want to write on the Power of giving Positive feed back to our kids. 

In the scripture above, God risked it all by speaking directly from heaven about a son of whom he was well pleased. Notice He didn't send an angel or a prophet to talk about his son, so don't just bribe your kid with gifts that replace your approval of them. God tore up the heavens and shouted out his approval of Jesus even before he fulfilled what God had destined for him. Now that was a risk cause if Jesus failed, God would have expressed an approval for him already.

Some of us(and I admit I am one of them) are waiting for our children to be almost everything we expect them to be before we show our approval of them. We place huge demands on them to perform that we forget to praise the efforts they make to achieve these expectations. God did not! Long before Jesus died to fulfill God's will and purposes, God tore up heaven and shouted his approval for his son! That's quite radical!

 How much do we express our approval of our children. Some times it could mean our attending their school sports games and shouting out our lungs in support for them or just telling them how much we love them. I think the approval of a parent is the most important praise a kid can have.

Some times we get so caught up in all that they have done wrong but never acknowledge what they have done right! 

I think the time has come for us to continually tell our children that we appreciate the little efforts they make to obey and honor us.

Tell them how much you love them. Thank them for obeying us or doing what we asked them to do. 

You can teach your kids to say thank you, please and sorry but if you never use those words towards them they may not learn that you can say sorry when you are in a place of authority or older.

Lets not spend the whole of our time pointing out all they have done wrong. 

You cant find a better father than God yet He tore the heavens to tell His son how pleased He was with Him. 

Would you dare to follow God's lead? and tell that kid how much you love them today or how pleased you are with them?

Ray Boltz - I pledge allegiance to the Lamb [with lyrics]

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb
With all my strength, with all I am
I will seek to honor His commands
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

I have heard how Christians long ago
Were brought before a tyrants throne
They were told that he would spare their lives
If they would renounce the name of Christ

But one by one, they chose to die
The Son of God, they would not deny
Like a great angelic choir sings
I can almost hear their voices ring

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb
With all my strength, with all I am
I will seek to honor His commands
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

Now, the years have come and the years have gone
And the 'cause of Jesus still goes on
Now, our time has come to count the cost
To reject this world, to embrace the Cross

And one by one let us live our lives
For the One who died to give us life
Till the trumpet sounds on the final day
Let us gladly stand and boldly say

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb
With all my strength, with all I am
I will seek to honor His commands
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

To the Lamb of God who bore my pain
Who took my place, who wore my shame
I will seek to honor His commands
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb
With all my strength, with all I am
I will seek to honor His commands
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb

Read more: Ray Boltz - I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD-Are Your Passions Reflecting On Your Children?

Deut 6:6-7 says

"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

A popular statement I often hear about child training is that 'Children have a short attention span.' Have you ever heard those words?

As I start this piece, I wonder if that statement is really completely true.

The reason I am left wondering this is that as I consider the word of God especially the verse above,it seems to suggest that we use every opportunity to teach. The verse above seems very intense when it comes to training and teaching our children. Now, please note that I am not against having fun with our children and neither is the verse above against that, but it seems to me that when we are engaged in those relaxing exercises with our children(notice that the bible talks about when we lie down, now what could be more relaxing than lying down, we should still teach), we should be able to use those fun activities we do together to train them in the way of the Lord.

Also I have also watched my son to determine how long his attention span is, and I find to my amazement that he can pay attention to anything as long as he is Enjoying it!

He can spend hours on-end watching cartoons but when I call him away from it to eat, pray or study his bible, he comes away from "Tom and Jerry" with a great sense of reluctance. Its almost as if I was punishing him! This observation of mine is the reason for my questioning this popular saying about kids attention span.

Please note that I am not a child psychologist or expert in child training and I would like to admit that a lot of what I am writing I am a Dad-in-training and I am learning on the job, But I think that statement is not correct or rather is incomplete.

So I turned to the word of God again, knowing that my experience is not enough to make me an authority on this topic(and to be honest in any subject at all) but I think you would agree with me that if the bible says its true then we can trust the word of God to be true and accurate.

I find quickened in my heart this verse that helped give my insight on this issue.


2 Tim 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

1Sam. 2:18  But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.

Timothy and Samuel seem to have paid attention as kids!

As I consider the scriptures above I would have loved to interview Timothy's parents to know how they did it. I find that the scripture is almost silent about this except to mention the fact that Timothy's faith seems to have come from his grandma and his mum. But in the case of Samuel, he was involved in ministering to the Lord. God got a hold of him because of a mothers prayer and kept him in the midst of Eli's children who were not living right. (Now hold onto these insights we will come back to it at the end of this write-up.)

Having considered the above I would like to say then that, I think Children have a short attention span when something does not interest them, but if they get interested in a thing you can have their full and undivided attention!(come to think about it, the same statement holds true for adults. Check out men when they watch football and you would understand.)   

The problem then becomes, how do I get my children interested in the word of God? How do I make my children enjoy hearing the word of God and praying?(Won't our Sunday schools be a better place if most parents take time to get their children use to hearing the word of God? I am sure a lot of Sunday school teachers would be relieved if this were the case).

The answer  to these questions may lie in the questions below:

What holds your attention? What are you passionate about? What do you love doing? Do you love God so much that it finds expression in your daily life? How is your devotion to God? Does God have your full and undivided attention?

One reason a lot of parents cant teach, is because the bible isn't a part of their daily life or rather don't apply it in their every day living instead its a "Sunday Sunday" thing. They don't find expressions of God's word in their day to day life. 

If you do, it would be easier to teach your children because things would happen and you would tell them what the word of God says about that thing. It doesn't have to be a solemn affair before you teach.

So the sickness of the fathers and mothers is what is bothering the child!  A man came to Jesus and said to him heal my son but Jesus addresses the faith or lack of it in the man. Mark 9:17-25

The source or cure to all our problems do not necessarily lie on the other person but sometimes it lies with a change occurring in us. For our children to start paying attention we must start paying attention and praying that the love of God would be created in the hearts of our children as well.

I would like to end with this illustration, My son supports the same football club I do and I never sat him down to tell him to support my team. He knows the names of the players, and feels bad when they lose. This told me that my passions where becoming his passions.(I have started trying to develop a new and godly passion with him now)

Why did this happen you may ask? The only answer I can give is that my passions rubbed off on him.

Are your passions reflecting on your children?

MOVE BEYOND SALVATION TO SUBMISSION

1Ti 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Gal 2:20  so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

Our sins no matter how few or many they may be, have condemned us to face an eternity separate from God. 

I spoke to  someone who said to me, that he was essentially a good person(and to be honest he is) and felt it would be unjust for God to condemn him to the same hell that 'other' worse sinners are headed to, since his sins where fewer and less grievous.

I said to him that if a man obeyed all the laws of a land and broke just one, would the state let him off the hook for that one misdeed? To this he said that of-course he could get a light sentence or the court would be merciful as he was a first offender.  I then asked him, what if his first offence was a coup against the government? and that he actual wanted to overthrow the government, would that not be a very grievous crime? Would he get a suspended sentence then?

The greatest sin that we are all guilty of is the same for each of us if we ignore the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

That sin is the rejection of the Lordship of Jesus and the looking to other things than him to cleanse our sins. This rejection of God's authority and Lordship is the same as rebellion that Satan had towards God. If Satan's rebellion then condemned him to hell, why do we think that rejecting the authority of Jesus in our lives would result in a different outcome.

Jesus came to save sinners, that is true but also he came to draw a people to himself. 

He is our Savior who saves us from sin, the world and the devil but also he longs to be the Lord our lives.

You may read this and you have repeated a few words to accept him and you may feel secure in this knowledge but is He the Lord of your life? Does he determine where you go? what you do? How you live? 

The time has come for us to move beyond being saved and delivered to submitting our lives to Him to control/lead us. Yes, Jesus saves us from all sins but are we also willing to give up our all for him as He did for us?

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

1Co 9:16  For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! 

Leonard Ravenhill in his book Why Revival Tarries recounts the last moments of Charlie Peace's life:

He was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. “The Consolations of Religion,” was the reply.

Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase without a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”?

All this was too much for Charlie Peace. “Sir”, he addressed the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”^[5]

Having read the above, I would like to ask you how far would you go to share the gospel? 

The people you would need to speak to may be neighbors, friends, colleagues, family members etc. 

Paul said necessity is laid upon me! is it necessary for you to preach in your business? work place? God placed you there for a purpose. 

Think of these Statements:

You may be the only christian these people may meet or may come to know.

You may have been put in that organization by God to reach out to the lost there and not many Christians may be able to reach the people that you work with.

You're life is either drawing men to Christ or drawing them away from Christ.

Though Charlie Peace was sinner but I pray I could have that passion for the lost, that he spoke about, to show my believe in Christ saving grace that can deliver from sin and a hell that is real.

SPIRITUAL PARENTHOOD- WHEN THE TRAINER NEEDS TRAINING

After writing the blog on Raising a Godly Seed, I have had to face my role as a father with a new sense of responsibility.  

As I study the bible, I find that the responsibility of teaching a household to follow God, rests squarely on the shoulders of fathers. Yes, mothers may help but fathers are the ones who are charged with this responsibility. 

Its like, you are the one who was handed the keys to take care and drive the company car. If you hand over this responsibility to another person who is also a driver by giving them the keys, you will not be let off the hook if that person has an accident with the car!

To drive home my point, of fathers being the ones responsible for teaching the home, please read the scriptures below:

God speaking of Abraham says:

Gen 18:19  I have chosen him to teach his family to obey me forever and to do what is right and fair. Then I will give Abraham many descendants, just as I promised." (CEV)

God choose Abraham to do this not Sarah. .

1 Timothy 3:2-5:  An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity

Psalms 78:2-8

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

Jdg 6:13  And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 

Friend I could go on and on, in showing you scripture after scripture that point to the role of a father in teaching the children. In fact, some verses raise his responsibility to commanding his children to serve the Lord. Check through the bible for yourself and see if I am right.

When Eli's Kids where misbehaving, It was their father that God rebuked and laid the blame on. We never heard about Eli's wife or God rebuking her. This tells me that if a father neglects his role as a teacher in the home a lot of harm could come to the home.

Having said all the above, I would like to tell you that even though I have found that I have a great responsibility to teach my home(not just my children but also my wife), I am overwhelmed by the size of that responsibility and how intense the bible wants us to take our teaching assignment.

Deut 6:6-7 says

"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Teach when you sit down, when you walk, when you are relaxing and when you rise up. 

That's a very intense training right? and there seems to be no letting up! 

Having understood the size of the responsibility and knowing that I can't back off from my responsibility, I have come to acknowledge that I need God to help me to know how to be a father. (Cause honestly I really don't think I measure up to what the bible says as of yet)

 I hope and pray that God will bring me across the paths of men who take their teaching responsibility seriously and model their lives to honor God in their home but this is no excuse as Abraham came from an idolatrous background but yet taught his children. 

Fatherhood is not just about getting a woman pregnant, Its responsibility!

I find that I can ask help to do the right thing in life from my heavenly father and today I wish all men,who have become fathers, would raise a genuine cry from their hearts to God and say simply: 

Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness-Ps143:10

For every woman reading this, I ask that You pray for the man in you life that they would be able to carry out this responsibility well.

God bless you.

PS: For those of you who care to know more, I would recommend a set of teachings i found online by Paul Washer on Biblical Manhood and his family series. I have found that even though his teachings may seem hard, it is like the bitter pill that I have to swallow to be cured of my ignorance and to get me back to the narrow way.

Go to this website, listen and freely download as much of his teachings as you can.

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=442&min=60&orderby=titleA&show=20