When THE ALMIGHTY GOD shows up.

2 kings6:24-33, 2 Kings 7:1-20
 

An Impossible situation...

 Samaria has been surrounded by an enemy,The gates of the city have been locked and none of its merchants could trade. There was scarcity in the Land, The city was suffering from lack and poverty/famine was destroying the land.
 
An "Easy" but Costly Temporary Solution...
 
This state of affairs drove two Women to reach and unusual and a terrible agreement.Their agreement was to eat the children born from their own wombs!!! Note that these were not the sons of strangers they wanted to eat (Though that would have been strange enough) These were children they had nursed and raised all through the years.

Sometimes the circumstances we face can drive us to take terrible decisions. A woman who has been barren for a long time toys with the idea of visiting a native doctor. We are tempted to cut corners or to give bribe to get ahead in life.We are always tempted with an easy way out to a problem that seems too great for us to handle.

These women choose an "easy but costly solution".

How much are you willing to pay for that easy solution? When you go to the native doctor, the price tag is always hidden and always costs more than is advertised. You may be wondering if these women had any faith at all. You may question their spirituality but the truth is that no matter how much faith you have it takes God to keep you from taking that easy solution

For Example, Abraham, the father of faith, who did not have a son slept with a maid to get a seed.
This solution still affects all of Abraham's descendants till date.Elijah, after calling down fire from heaven and slaughtering 850 false prophets, wanted to die instead of face the threat Jezebel.
What are you willing to do anything to ensure your survival?
These women having reached their agreement took the first child and killed him. I wonder how it must have been for the woman who gave birth to this child.To look into your child's eyes and kill him! Did the child beg for mercy? Did he trust mummy not to do this?

All that does not matter as the evil deed has been done.

The first child is dead and digested.The women are hungry again and the time to kill the second child has
come. Sinful pleasures never truly satisfy.The second woman finds she can not do it and hides her child. The aggrieved former mother takes her case to the king.

Seeking Help from the Helpless... (When the Helper needs Help)
I think you need to hear her appeal to him, as the king was passing," Help, my lord, O King!"(2 Kings 6:26)People only seek help from others whom they assume have the solution to their problem. No one goes to a poor man for money; No one asks the blind to look after his property for him.The king in this case was being looked at to judge the issue and probably give a judgment in favor of the woman.While I would like to know how the king might have judged this case, of greater interest is his reply to the woman. Hear him:

"If the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? ..."
After he heard the problem, he rents his Kingly robes to reveal that the King Himself needed help too! Under the facade of kingly robes and bearing was a sackcloth! When your supposed help needs help what can you do? When the one you consider to be the solution to your problem has a few questions that require answers.

What do you do? The idols that Goliath trusted in could not help him.That's what Satan does; he leads one to a battle only to abandon him on the battlefield.In Egypt the bible says God judged not only the people but the gods of Egypt that was supposed to be their source of help.

What is your source of confidence?  Trust God He has never lost a battle.

The King got so upset and cancelled his fast. He had been waiting on the Lord with sack cloth but when he heard this cry he became dissatisfied. He was in desperate need of a solution and he faced off with the man of God.

And God Stepped in
The solution to their problem can by the word of the Lord.Can you imagine how the woman that ate her child would have felt when she heard that by the next day the famine would be over?

Can you imagine when the next day the word of God came to pass?

"At this time tomorrow a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria"

Praise God!! No matter how bad the situation may be it takes the word of God to turn it around.He can speak to that situation and change it.

He can raise your Lazarus;Heal your issue of blood;Calm your storms;Slay your Goliath;Divide your red sea;Make fruitful Barren Sarah.The beauty of this is that he can do it in an instant!!

A famine that had lasted for a while was dealt with by the next day by God.God did not only provide a solution but he made it easy to access.It is at the gate of Samaria that the solution will be at. Your situation will not be an exception.
He can deal with that mountain,He can handle that situation if only you would trust him. Don't be impatient, Wait on God. He would do it. It is well. God will show up for your sake!

Dare To Begin Again

"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent." (Genesis 9:20-21).

When we have been struck by a tragic event or have experienced a storm or set back in our lives, starting afresh could be a difficult task.

We wonder how we will build what has broken down, where we will find the strength to pick up the pieces of our lives and move on.

Some keep on recounting what has been lost and hold regrets for what failed to happen, so much so, that the strength to move on is spent on dealing with all the generated ill-feeling from the past experience.

Noah was an example of a man struck with tragedy. He lost his neighbours in the flood, he lost some of his personal belongings, he heard the cries of his neighbours calling out to him as they drowned in the flood, such voices must have echoed in his memory and haunted his dreams. could that be why Noah took to drinking? to suppress the voices and the memory of drowning neighbours and friends? Just asking but these are not the issue I seek for us to discuss today.

The point is that after his tragedy and loss of friends, neighbours property(whatever could not enter the ark), Noah began to be something! He started picking up the pieces of his life and building again. He took up the challenge and started a career. Despite his age he could start over!

Friend no matter the pain life throws at you its not enough an excuse to curl up and give up. Your life can begin again! You can still make something out of that experience.

Rise up and begin again. You were something before the tragedy and you can still become something after it. Don't give up on your dreams!

Dare to begin again.

God, Can I tell you that I am struggling?

I really don’t know how to start this and my heart is so overwhelmed that I can’t stop the tears from failing down my face.

I am fine on the outside, I have got a job, I’m doing ok at, My wife isn’t the problem, I thank you for those blessings you have brought to my life but I know all isn’t well on the inside of me.

I want to serve you and I would love to love you with all my heart but God I would be lying if I told you I have done that. I want to know you, I need you in my life and I can’t carry on with this religious façade for one moment longer. I’m tired of the mask I wear to church, that mask that makes everyone think, that I am such a wonderful brother but you know me.

You know the pride that lives within my heart, you know my struggle with thoughts that no one else knows. You know my pray less condition even when I shout so much in church at prayer times.

So please step into the darkness that is in my soul and save me from myself. Thank you for dealing with the power of the enemy but help me with my self! 

Help me to know you more! Help me worship you in spirit and in truth, Jesus speak to me cause it has been a while we shared fellowship together. Help me deal with the darkness in my own Heart and Change me.

Can I know you for real? That is my cry today. If this bible is real then God let it work for me! I’m not asking for a new job, car or things but Let me know you as your word has said is possible to. Let me walk with you today and for the rest of my existence. Let me know the peace that comes from an inner change into the image of your dear son.

Let me know this Love of yours that passes Knowledge.

In Jesus Name. Amen

L

John Chapter 11-Part 2

"Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. " (John 11:3-4).

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28).

In the previous study I wrote of John chapter 11, I highlighted the fact that bad things indeed do happen to good people. By good people I mean people who are dedicated to God and have sacrificed so much for God.

This train of thought will be incomplete if I do not also tell you that God can turn the bad situation to favour you!

Now this may sound impossible to you especially if you are going through a trying experience right now, but may I ask you some questions? How does one get to become a prime minister by first going through prison? How does a man go from a king's servant to a king? How does a man go from losing everything he had to becoming twice as rich as was before?

All these questions are based on characters you should know very well from the bible. God turned their unpleasant situations around and gave them a testimony from their test. How did they provoke God's intervention in their lives?

In John Chapter 11, we see that the first step to provoking God's intervention is to call unto God! When Lazarus was sick his sisters sent for Jesus, why didn't they send for a doctor?-maybe they may have but the bible only tells us of their seeking assistance from Jesus. Who you call on when there is a problem reveals where you trust for the solution to your problem. Some call friends, others call their various connections only a few dare to call on their God. Friend could it be that, this problem still persists because you have told everyone about it apart from God?

Call on God in this time of trouble and he will answer you. That bitter water can be turned sweet, the wine that is finished can be replenished again, the unpleasant situation can be turned around, the lost axe-head can be restored, your lost glory can be restored if only you can turn to God for the help you need.

The help you need is a prayer away.

GOD HAS NEEDS TOO

GOD HAS NEEDS TOO!

Sa 1:2  And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children

1Sa 1:7  And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

Eric and Lucy were the only children of a very wealthy family, but they could not have been more different in character.

 Eric only talked to his parents when he had a need and He could be very persistent about it! He would wine, cry, scream, scheme and do whatever it took to get what he wanted. In fact, Eric was a goal-getter!  As far as those goals were his and no other persons! He knew how to get all his needs from his father! He was only polite or greeted you only when you could meet his need. The first word out of Eric’s mouth whenever his father came back from a trip was always ‘Dad, did you buy chocolates for me?’ There was always a need to be met with Eric since his father had come to know that the only way to keep Eric talking to him was to ignore his needs as long as he could.

Lucy on the other hand was so adorable. She was the joy of her father. She curled on her father’s laps when he came back from a trip. In fact that joy of seeing her father was all that mattered to her. She wanted to know how his trip was; she needed full details of what he did and where he went to. Oh, Lucy could be persistent but not like Eric. For unlike Eric she longed to spend time with her father just talking or asking several questions that came to her very curious mind. Her parents knew with Lucy we don’t need to have any gifts or withhold any to get her attention. So she got all she needed and some she never thought to ask for!

In the Christian race, I have also come across the Eric and the Lucy. Some are those who declare fasting and night vigils only when there is a need in their lives. They only crave a relationship with God as long as it advances their own personal needs! While on the other hand we have those who will seek God just to be with Him. 

Could it be that God is withholding the answer because He knows you would never pray as much if the answer is given?

We must examine our relationship with God to see if we only seeking for our needs to be met or if we have a heart that seeks to meet God’s needs .Ops! That was a shocking statement, Yes, God has needs!

Many of us are in a give me, give me relationship with God and are not bothered if we meet His needs or not. We go to Him with our demands and ask Him to give it to us. When we get our needs we rush off and only return when we have another list of needs! Our relationship with God is based on what God gives to us and this puts no demand on us. We don’t change the way we live, we don’t want to honour God, or change the ungodly company we keep, and we don’t do anything that meets God’s demand on our lives.

In the above scripture, Hannah was a woman that kept going year to year. I believe her childlessness and the torment of the other wife may have driven her severally to ask God for a child. I mean you can’t go to the presence of God for that long and not ask God to intervene in your situation but God seemed quiet about Hannah’s issue until a day came when Hannah changed her prayer strategy.

Finally, Hannah went to God with a bargain God could not resist.  Read it below:

1Sa 1:10 -11 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

  And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

Now that was one prayer God could not ignore. Hannah had changed from an Eric to a Lucy! She had realized that God also had a need in his house and that need was for a man to serve him. Here God needed a prophet and Hannah was willing to give Him one. Little wonder that God answered her prayer!

1Sa 1:27-28  For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.

Friend do you realize God also has a need or has your own need so clouded your mind that you don’t care about what God wants. Hannah forgot about her needs for a moment and had a divine intervention from God. She lent to God a son and God paid her back with 3 sons and 2 daughters.

1Sa 2:21 And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD.

What a great return on investment!

Today you may look around and ask yourself, ‘what is God’s need?’ Well, it may surprise you that there are several but Let me share with you a few.

1. He needs a place to dwell. Isa. 66:1-Can you imagine God having accommodation problems on the earth? He has an office space in heaven but needs a house here on earth. Heaven is His throne. A throne is located were a kings authority goes out from.
2. He needs true worshippers. Those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23
3. He needs a man who will stand in the place of prayer. Ezk. 22:30
4. He needs labourer s in his harvest-Matt. 9:37;7

These are  a few of the needs of God and i know there are more but choose to met one and God will not forget to repay that which you have  given.

Heb 6:10  For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

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?