THE SUMMARY OF THE LIFE OF A MAN WHO PRAYED....

James 5:17-18  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

If there was a portion of scripture, that I believe best summarizes the life of Elijah, it would be the one above.

When I read this chapter in the Book of James, at first glance the above scripture seems out of place. It seems as if James took a detour from what he was writing about, just to give an account of this man's life. However, when you consider the style of his writing, you will understand better what he was trying to say. 

For instance in verse 10, when he spoke about suffering and how the believers should handle hardships, he gives them Job as an example. God's dealings in the life of Job was meant to be an example to all mankind in times of suffering. It was meant to teach us, that after all is said and done, the tender mercies of God will always endure.

Having understood, that each example given was meant to buttress the message that was being passed across, ELIJAH here then comes as an example of a righteous man who prayed to great effect. He did not just pray but he had ''much'' results from praying. So the example James offers us of a man who had results in prayer was the example of Elijah. Lets examine 4 things he said about him.

1. HE WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN

The first thing that we can get from earlier scripture, is the reason why Elijah's prayer was so effective. James  was talking, first of all, about how effective the prayer of a RIGHTEOUS man can be. We know that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This position has been afforded us by grace, but in our daily lives, we must live it out! Righteousness is in how you treat others. You can not lay claim on the position that grace brought you into as a license to be careless in your dealings with men. So the first way to have prayers that release tremendous power is to check your life.

2. HE WAS NOT SUPERHUMAN
  
When you consider the above, we may be tempted to think that Elijah was superhuman but James was quick to dispel that notion. He tells us first that he was a man and had the same kinds of passions that we have. I would like to state here that you have passions or desires stirred up, is not enough an excuse to sin. The ability to keep our passions under check is important if we are to have an effective prayer life.

3. HE WAS PERSISTENT IN PRAYER

  James records that Elijah prayed and then he prayed again. In this age of positive confession, the place of praying once and again is often overlooked. In fact, in one of the instances where we see Elijah praying in the Old testament, he stayed at it for sometime, sending his servant 7 times to check for the sign he expected his prayer to create. These days we give up too soon in the place of prayer.

4. HE PRAYED EARNESTLY

Elijah wasn't the kind of person who prayed and had his mind on the clock or while he chewed gum absentmindedly. His who attention was in his prayer. Pray for him was not a mindless exercise. He did not pray and hope that one of his prayers would hit the mark.

James then concludes with results he had. His prayers received the answers he prayed for! Too many pray and give up when no answer comes but not Elijah. We explain away the lack of answers and excuse the lack of effectiveness of our prayers but not Elijah. 

Do you have a consistent prayer life?

A SET HEART

Col-3:1-2:  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth

One great challenge that faces preachers when the stand before a congregation is what to say that will capture their desires or hearts.

This method of ministry is however carried on, because the hearts of most believers are set on material things, most preachers have now adopted messages that satisfy that need. All their preaching and endeavor must end up in the corridors of one material blessing or the other.

Check the posters of programs of most churches and you will understand the priority of the Christian Church.  Success for most in the Church today, is measured based on how much material resources they are able to amass. We boast in our achievements, even if such achievements will not outlast our very existence.

I wish at this point to ask you the reader, to examine your desires, ambitions and what matters most to you. Take stock of what emphasis you hold in your life, if all the things you hold dear are things that will perish with the earth then, your whole existence would have been a waste as far as the Kingdom of God is concerned.

Dear Pastor, If all your labor is to satisfy the needs of men  alone and you are unable to stir their hearts towards God and living for his kingdom, then your ministry, even if it is great, will not amount to anything before God. In fact as Paul said:

 1Co 3:13-15  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire

Where is your heart set, Oh Child of God? What has captured your desires? What is your ambition or vision in life? Are they of things above? Do you have desire for the things of God? What holds your attention? where or on what do you spend most of your resources on? such resources as your time, money, ability etc. The answers you give to these questions will give clarity as to where your affection is set.

Paul in the above introductory passages of scripture offers us an advice.Did you notice that he tells us to SET our affections. This means that if our affections are not set on things above, you can not blame the pastor of your church even if all his messages are focused on material things. You can not blame anyone  else but yourself!

You owe yourself the responsibility to set your own heart, no one else can do it for you.

Check your heart dear friend and see where your heart is set on.if all it is set on is not on things above where Christ is seated then you need to seek God in repentance.

WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND PRIORITY?

Mat 6:19-23 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if  therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

I will try in a round-about way to lay the foundation of understanding the above scripture and would ask you the reader to think more deeply about the above scripture. I will be limited in my explanation because of the lengthy illustration I will give.  I trust the Holy Spirit will do a better job than I can in explaining the above. So here goes:

During my undergraduate days, I once gave a book to a lady who attended the same Christian campus fellowship as I did. You see I loved, and still love, reading Christian literature, so much so that if I wanted to give a gift to someone, you would most likely get the latest book I was reading, if such a book was or is a blessing to me. So I gave away a lot of “Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill” to various people at varying times.

For me then, it was only natural to give this Christian Lady the book I was currently reading that had been a blessing to me. Well, after I gave her the book, she politely collected it but never spoke to me again (Ok maybe she did speak to me but I guess our friendship was not quite the same again after that).

Why? You may ask. Good question in my opinion because I felt that I had given her a treasure.

Thinking about it now, I am almost smiling and kicking myself at how stupid I was! The problem was actually obvious from the very title of the book. I gave her a book titled (now don’t laugh)“HE CAME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE” written by Rebecca Brown. I hope you can at least appreciate why she was upset with me.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, the book is a great book and I still have a copy in my library today but I guess I should have thought about the implications of giving her that book and how it could be perceived given the title first of all.

Before you write me off completely, as a nut head who would give his wife a toaster for a wedding anniversary gift (who does that? I wonder.), I would like to say in my defense that I believe that when any one reads a Christian literature the emphasis of the book, if it is of any use, speaks to you according to the dealings of God in your life at that moment.

Many may have read the Book “He came to set the captives free” and come away with a fear of demons and the very real depictions of our battle with the spiritual realm but not me.

When I read that book (and when I still read it) what stood out/stands out for me was/is not the encounters with demons. I found in the pages of that book a moving story of an “ordinary” woman who though a medical doctor was faithfully serving the Lord. As I read it, I found a woman who had a very real and intimate relationship with God despite a very busy schedule of medical practice with all the attendant odd hours on call duty. My heart was stirred that a medical doctor, despite how busy her schedule was, could find time to develop such a close relationship with God.

How God spoke to her heart while she worked and brought her attention to errors she made at work. How that by living out her “ordinary” Christian life in such a dark work environment, many were delivered from the captivity of Satan. I cheered at the victory that God could bring to a place if just only one of us could just walk with Him like she did. I came away with the understanding that even the weakest of us could by partnership with a great God, be used to bring about a great deliverance.

I read about the 3 months she spent seeking God for a more intimate relationship and that set my desire for God on fire. While I cannot claim to have achieved any of her results, because of my inconsistency, I still long for such a close walk with Jesus. I also learnt a lot about deliverance.

My point is then that when I read the book, I believe I came away with a different understanding than the lady.  Thinking about it now, one reason I think that happened (if she actually read that book and was still angry with me) could be because of what I considered to be most important to me. I had a very different focus and understanding because of the dealings of God in my life.

Friends, the perspective you hold in this life matters a lot.

Depending on your relationship with God, what you consider most important in your life can be clearly seen. Many consider their careers in life more important than a relationship with God, hence, they devote great amount of time to further their careers and very little to the things of God. When they sit in a church service, they are on a stop watch and can’t seem to get out quickly enough.

What is most important to you? What have you given your life, time, and energy to serve? What is most important to you based on your perspective?

In reading the bible too, if you make prosperity your priority, what you might see in every page are things that feed that desire. Anyone can get the scriptures to say anything based on their perspective but the one thing that God wants us to focus on is Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let your eye be singularly on Him!

Some do not believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, this perspective has made them merely tolerate and not treat it so seriously. They study it to poke holes at what is said or to get good basis for philosophical arguments from it but never to see how to develop a real relationship with the living personality the Bible speaks about in all its books. The world has made the feminist Bible to suit the need of women who may feel marginalized but the Bible was never about us but about Him!

That is why Jesus could speak to people who studied the scriptures diligently but still did not recognize who all the scriptures spoke about when he stood before them. They were blind because he was not their focus in searching the scriptures. They sought religious doctrines and not a living relationship.

Friends, let your focus and desire be Jesus! If it is, then your whole body will be full of light and you will never walk in darkness. Make Christ your unique goal

GOING?... AT WHOSE COMMAND?

Gen 26:1-3 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.  And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

 Gen 26:12-13  Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.  And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

What makes one location better than the other, for a Christian, is not how good the economic situation of one location compared to what is obtainable at the other.

Many look for greener pastures and compare locations to make their choice of which is a greener pasture. The basis of their deductions as to which location is preferable to the other, is based on what they can see or what their senses have perceived.

Some have great ambitions and have gone to great lengths to secure visas or green cards. Telling lies, falsifying documents and submitting to various degrading treatments just to secure this.

For instance, let me ask this: Is living in America better than living in Nigeria?

If you believe the bible then understand that Isaac sowed in a land of famine and prospered. What makes a land of famine better than a land that did not have famine?

Well, the answer to the above lies in what God has told a man.

What makes one land better than the other is that we step into it at the command of our God. Whether he bids us to serve him in a land of famine or in a land of plenty our response and considerations should not be influenced by which we perceive is the better location but obedience to God's command.

America is a better location than Nigeria, if God sent you there but if God sends you to Nigeria and you leave for America, if you succeed in your journey, then you would live wasted life. May God stop us from embarking on Jonah-like journeys. It was God's mercy that made Jonah not to succeed in his journey.

Is God resisting your journey? May we not succeed in having our way apart from God's will.

Higher Platform: The Speaking voice (Part 1)

Higher Platform: The Speaking voice (Part 1): "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the firs...

SET YOUR HEART ON HIS FAITHFULNESS

Heb 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

As I thought of God's faithfulness the below analogy came to mind.

The best navigation equipment are installed on every ship to ensure that the can be guided to harbor safely. Captains are trained to navigate ships using several of these navigation equipment, however, their mastery of these equipment will not be enough to ensure them a command of a ship.

He needs to be trained to be guided by one more way.

The captain in addition to knowing how to navigate with these equipment must add to his knowledge how to navigate without them!

So that if there ever comes a time, when these equipment fail, He has, as a guide, something outside of his sphere of influence and control but which holds its position, remaining sure no matter the conditions he is faced with.The Captain must then learn to navigate using the Stars!

The reliance on the unchanging position of the Stars makes it suitable to be used to guide a ship for the well trained.


You see we all want to get to safe harbor, whatever that would mean to each of us. In our journey through the turbulent waters of this life,a lot of people have chosen to navigate through life using their intellect alone through forecasts, science, opinions of men and various other means. At this time when the economy of many nations are failing,navigating life, using these navigation 'tools', will not be to the advantage of anyone especially not for the believer. As the predictions about the days ahead are not too favorable.

The time has come for us to look up and receive guidance for our path and the course of our life from the Light that can not be influenced by anything that the world has to offer.

Those who get their direction from the ONE who never fails, in a world were a lot is uncertain, will always find a guiding light in the midst of darkness. Trust in Gods faithfulness and personality should be our unshakable confidence when all else fails.

Job was such  a man who had all around him fail. When this happened, he could only look up to the only one that is stable in the midst of the storms of life. He said:  For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Job looked beyond his circumstance and diseased body to the faithfulness of God. His truth that God will remain faithful after all is said and done saw him through and so can it us.

Someone authored our faith and he can finish it. The Psalmist said I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help...My help comes from the Lord. Your help doesn't lie in any other.
Look beyond your circumstance to the God that remains constant and be guided by the light in His word and trust in his faithfulness. Your 'ship' will arrive at a safe harbor if you do!.

The Supreme Court vs. The Supreme Being

 
Go to this link for full article. 
 

MorningStar Prophetic Bulletin #94 - June 30, 2015

Rick Joyner

        When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) declared same-sex marriage to be a constitutional right, it was a slap in the face to the laws of God and man. It was a direct frontal assault on both religious freedom and the Constitution of the United States, undercutting the very foundations on which they stand. This is a brief on the consequences of this momentous decision using “The Three Questions” from the U.S. Army Manual for addressing a crisis. Those questions are:

1)  What is happening?

2)  What is not happening?

3)  What can we do about it?

         As we address these, we will begin with the natural first and then the spiritual.
What is Happening?
         As the four dissenting justices pointed out, the Supreme Court does not have the constitutional authority to make this decision. First, even though SCOTUS has taken this authority upon itself, it is a usurped authority and nowhere does the Constitution give it this authority. The authority to determine the constitutionality of laws was given to Congress, not the courts. We are now suffering under the very tyranny that the founders warned about if the courts ever presumed this authority. Regardless of our position on same-sex marriage, every American should be deeply troubled by the actions of SCOTUS that this case is just the most recent and dramatic.
Creeping Tyranny
         The first reason this crucial authority was given to Congress instead of the Executive branch, or the courts, is because the Congress is elected every two years, and therefore would be the most accountable to the people, who in the U.S. are the sovereign. The courts were for deciding whether or not individual cases had been tried fairly and justly. But nowhere is any court, including the Supreme Court, given authority to determine if a law or action is constitutional.
         Congress does have the authority to designate specific cases to the court for this purpose if it chooses to, but if Congress does not give this authority in a specific case, SCOTUS has no legal authority for such a decision, and it is therefore not valid.
         The second reason why this was an unlawful decision is that the Constitution states that any authority not specifically given to the Federal Government is reserved to the states and the people. Nowhere is the Federal Government given authority to give definitions or policy on social issues such as marriage and the family. The hubris of the Supreme Court to change the definition of marriage that has been universally accepted in civilized nations for six thousand years of recorded history is not only shocking, but an unprecedented level of arrogance by the Supreme Court.
         Because Congress’ accountability to the people would be the most direct, it was designed to be the most powerful of the three branches of government. It was given “the power of the purse” to maintain their ultimate authority. Because of weak leadership in Congress, both the Executive and Judicial branches have usurped Congress’ authority in recent times to the point where it is now almost powerless, and the predicted tyranny is now a reality.
        Without the constitutional authority to do what it did, the SCOTUS has violated its oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic. It is against every principle of a republic to have five un-elected officials determine the law of the land. This is why Justice Scalia declared this decision “a threat to democracy.” This was not an overstatement. If this is allowed to stand, we no longer have a Constitutional Republic in America.   
        What the Federal Government has become is proof that you can have the best form of government and still have bad government if you put bad people in it. The whole system by which we nominate our leaders has become distorted in order to favor incumbents and the establishment so that it is nearly impossible for the will of the people to prevail now.
        The government of the United States was not established to be the all-powerful authority over everyone, but rather to be the servant of the people. We, the people, are the sovereign and everyone who works in government is supposed to be working for us. It has now become a runaway monster that is consuming everything in its path. If the people do not rise up to take their authority back, then it will very soon require another revolution to recover democracy in America.
The Foundation of Our Union
        The Constitution is the foundation upon which our Federal Government is based, and without the Constitution, our Federal Government no longer has legitimate authority to govern. There has been a long and continuous erosion of the links between the laws and actions of the Federal Government and the Constitution. This decision on same-sex marriage may seem innocuous and even frivolous to most Americans, but it represents such a radical decoupling the Federal Government from the Constitution that it will destroy the legitimacy of the Federal Government if allowed to stand.       
        The overreach of our Federal Government has put itself in great jeopardy, and in recent years it has divided Americans into factions instead of uniting them. A growing chorus of states is talking seriously about secession, and this is a very real possibility.
        Paul the Apostle wrote to Titus that even false prophets can sometimes tell the truth (see Titus 1:12-13). Pravda, the Moscow daily newspaper, has been predicting for years that the United States would break up into several pieces just like the Soviet Union. Their reasoning was not based merely on sour grapes, but on the historically proven consequences of the kind of direction in which our government has been going. To date, we have most alarmingly followed the pattern predicted. We really are close to breaking apart.
Worldview
        Islamists consider America “the great Satan” because of our moral and spiritual debauchery that has made us “a homosexual nation”—so perverted that the only remedy is to wipe us off the face of the earth. Their belief about the U.S. has now been affirmed by this Supreme Court decision. This decision will likely make their recruiting to this cause much easier. This is not the only issue fueling these groups, but it is a major one.
This is not to imply we should ever base our laws or domestic policy on what other nations think, but we should understand how we are perceived by the nations and how it will affect our relations with them. This has also been a major wedge driven between the U.S., Russia, and China, as well as Africa and South America. To much of the world, the U.S. and Western Europe now look like Sodom and Gomorrah.