The Efficacy Of The Word Of God

Isaiah 55:10-11
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out of my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 

Matthew 8:5-10
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralysed and in terrible suffering."
Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."
The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, i have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

I want to start this post with much apologies for my inconsistency with my blog posts in recent days, I am really very sorry and this is due to so many distracting factors. I am trusting God to help me manage my time a lot better in the days ahead. But I am positive that with the efforts I am making at the moment, I will be able to give more attention to my blog site.
Today I want to pay a little attention to the efficacy of the word of God, the potential power that the word of God carries. It is an impossibility to see God face-to-face and we are thousands of years past the days when Jesus came to earth, so what we hold as anchor for our behalf and sustenance as Christians and as children of God is the unfailing word of God.
Not so many people have the same encounter of salvation as that of Saul who was later named Paul on his way to Damascus, but a lot of people, including me, have encountered the power of God through His word. And so it is somewhat a joke, if as a Christian, you do not have the word of God dwell richly in you. In present generation there are a lot of church goers whose faith is based solely on what the pastor says. A lot of people no longer see the need to test the spirit operating in the pastors and so we have a generation of easily deceived individual swept away by the spirit of religion with absolutely no relationship or personal contact with God.
God made so many promises, so many covenants with man and His children that are still binding on Him till date and He is still committed to fulfilling in our lives and present generation, but in truth only a few knows the truth about these promises and covenants and only a few benefit from them because only a few take the time to search the word of God to know the truth about their rightful place in Christ and the inheritance that accrues to them by virtue of them being children of God. Thus God says "My people perish for lack of knowledge."
I totally agree with the fact that satan will attempt to distract us in so many ways. Our acquisition of the  knowledge of the truth  from the word of God, disarms him and prevents him from stealing our goods, but we have to wage war against whatever it is that will prevent us from get acquainted with the word of God.
In Isaiah 55 the Lord declared that His word will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish that which He desires and fulfill the purpose for which He sent it. So that tells us that the word of God is just as powerful as the presence of God. If the word of God is present everywhere around us, then it automatically reveals that the presence of God is with us.    
The centurion in the book of Matthew really did understand the power of the word of God spoken through Jesus. He knew that the words of Jesus are not empty words, but full of power and they are effective. He knew that the words of Jesus where as good as His physical presence. He understand that the host of heaven where on attention to just hear the words spoken and they effect the performance thereof immediately. So he said to Jesus, "never mind coming over, you are too powerful to come under the roof of an undeserving servant as me, but speak and my servant will be healed."
In our generation and days now, do we still believe in the power of God's word? Are we acquainted with the truth that as long as the word of God is with us, His presence is with us? Do we still yearn to have God speak His powerful word into our situation. You do not need to wait on your pastor or spiritual leader to hear from God. The Lord desires a communication with you on a personal basis. Don't get too busy to have a chat with God and have Him speak directly to you. He alone can give a direction to your life that will not fail or disappoint. Start by getting familiar with the Bible, know that truth that leads to freedom and enjoy heaven even as you live on earth.      

Having The Attitude Of Gratitude

Genesis 8:18-22
So Noah came out, together with his sons and wife and sons’ wives. All the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds - everything that moves on the earth - came out of the ark, one kind after another.
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasant aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. 
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Genesis 19:15-22, 29-30
With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 
As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! Your servant has found favour in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains: this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it  - it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. But flee quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town is called Zoar.)

So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Lot and his daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his daughters lived in a cave.

I thank God for the grace of another opportunity to share a post on this blog and in the spirit of gratitude, I will appreciate if my readers can help thank God on my behalf for adding another year unto me. For 40years I have enjoyed the grace and goodness God in my life, home and family. It was my 40th birthday 2days ago and the Lord has been and is still and will always be gracious to me.
The topic of showing gratitude or appreciation or better still thanksgiving cannot be overemphasized. Gratitude is a virtue that is closely linked with blessings. A man who knows how to show gratitude for help or gift received is a man who will always enjoy more and more blessings in his life. Paul instructed in Philippians 4:6b that our prayers and petitions should be presented before God with thanksgiving. We also learnt in 1 Thessalonians to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. Thanksgiving is a characteristic of champions, a life that has learnt to be thankful is a life that will enjoy all round blessing.
As humans when we render help or assistance to someone who comes back to show appreciation for the help rendered, we will be more inclined to help such a person when next it is required more than one who was helped and never came back to say thank you for the help received. So knowing that we who are  created in the image and likeness of God have this nature in us, should we expect anything different from God who created us after His own image. We should therefore understand that just as we feel honoured when appreciated so does God feel when we appreciate His goodness in our lives and show gratitude for His unending love for us.
When you sometimes feel God has done nothing in your life to be grateful for, try to understand that the breath you have that makes you living rather than dead is a gift that you have undeservingly received from the Lord. You have absolutely no control over that breath and it can be taken away from you without your permission. And so, that you still have that breath is as a result of God’s mercy, it is a gift from God that is worth thanking Him for. As you learn to start a life of thanksgiving just by appreciating God for that breath you still possess, then you will start to see more of His goodness being displayed in your life.    
Looking at the passages above and comparing the life of Noah and Lot with regards to the issue of gratitude, there are a lot of lessons to learn. Noah was a righteous man who was singled out for deliverance by God from the destruction that swept through the face of the earth. On the land of the living at that time when God destroyed all that He had created, Noah and his household were the only ones spared by God. When calm returned to earth and Noah came out of the ark with his household, the Bible tells us that he built an altar to God and offered a sacrifice to God. He was not asked to do this, he just did it because he was grateful to God that his life and that of his household was spared. The result of this show of gratitude was a covenant of blessing by God. The Bible tells us that when God smelled the aroma of Noah’s sacrifice he was pleased and said in His heart that never again will He curse the ground on account of man, and never again will He destroy all living creature like He did then.
The aroma of Noah’s sacrifice produced a covenant not just for Noah and his household, but for all that God had created. That covenant is still in effect till date. The chapter 9 of the book of Genesis shows a continuation of the blessings of God on the life of Noah and all humans on account of that pleasing aroma of Noah’s sacrifice as a show of gratitude for God’s mercy on him and his family.
Now moving on to Lot, he had a similar experience as that of Noah. He enjoyed of similar grace of God’s mercy just the way Noah did. When God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and all the cities of the plain, it was just Lot that the Lord showed mercy to on account of his relationship with Abraham. In fact the angels of the Lord had to grasped Lot by the hand together with his wife and daughters and carried them to safety. But unlike Noah, Lot never saw the need to build an altar and sacrifice to God.  Instead he grew afraid and went to live in the cave. The end result of his lack of gratitude saw his daughters getting him drunk and making babies through him. In fact he didn’t get drunk once, but twice and from there began a generation of people who were hostile to the children of God, the seed of Abraham.(Genesis 19:31-38). Rather than Lot thanking God for his deliverance, he was afraid and drank himself to sin.
The gratitude that Noah expressed, saw him getting more blessed by God than before the time he went into the ark, and the lack of gratitude in the life of Lot saw him in self destruct activities. And so I can confirm again that the issue of thanksgiving cannot be overemphasized to one who dears to receive true blessings from God. “When praises go up, blessings come down,” that is a slogan I am very familiar with and I am sure is common among Christians. There is the will for God to let loose and open the flood gates of heaven’s blessings over the life who has learnt the secret of praising God.
Start today by thanking God for those assumed irrelevant blessings, the attitude of thanking God for what you think are irrelevant will birth the release of the relevant blessings in your life.

Standing Firm For God

Job 1:6-12
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and going to and fro in it.” 
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no-one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”  

Job 2:1-7
On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and going to and fro in it.” 
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no-one like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 

I will need to first of all apologise for the very long interval between my last post and this one, I have been held up with editing my books for publishing. I have six books in all that I am working on and I discovered that even the ones that had initially been published required re-editing so I needed to withdraw them and start work on them all over again. It will take a while to complete though, but the journey has began and at least two out of six are almost back on the book shelve for sale.
That said, my message in this post requires that we take a pause in our life’s activities and reflect on our relationship with God. While re-editing one of my books “Gleanings From The Throne of God,” I came across a message I wrote about four years ago and I felt a strong need to share same on this blog. On several occasions I had wondered what was it that God had in mind when He created man? I thought that perhaps if we who long to do the will of God will understand better what His intension was when He created man, we can better understand how to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives and do His will.
In answer to my questions, the Lord opened my mind to the book of Job chapters 1 & 2. What I learnt from this two Bible passages was that in truth satan appears before the Lord from time to time, though he might not have been invited but still he was always not turned back when he does. Another lesson there is the purpose of his appearance before God, and from what we read in this passages, his mission is primarily to accuse those whom the Lord loves.
I also discovered that God delights in making a proud declaration over the life of a man who has lived right before Him and has fully obeyed His commands and requirements, this He did over the life of Job with confidence in the two passages above. With this discovery came the answer to my question that one of the purposes that God had in mind when He created man was to use man as an example of righteous living to satan. God created man, made them a little below the angels that they might obey Him and follow His commands even though they have not seen Him in the physical form thereby using them as an example of righteousness, something that was impossible for satan to do and so justify the eternal condemnation that has been earmarked for satan. And I believe that is why though satan has been sentenced to eternal condemnation, his sentence still awaits execution. And for as many lives that is able to fulfill this purpose for God, He makes a boastful declaration of such a life before satan and also before the host of heaven.
In moving forward with this study, we also need to realize that for every life that God makes a boastful declaration of, satan tries to accuse or tempt such a life to sin thereby calling God a liar. And so satan tempted Job. Also looking at the life of Jesus, in Matthew 3:13 - 4:11, immediate the Lord declared over Jesus saying “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased,” He was led to the desert to be tempted by satan. David was a man that the Lord called “a man after His heart,” still he was tempted by satan. So we can conclude that for every life that has walked right before the Lord, God makes a proud declaration over such a life and satan also tempts such life to challenge the words of the Lord.
But we need to understand that for any life that God is unable to make a proud declaration over due to unrighteousness, sstan is making a mockery of such life and the judgement that awaits satan also awaits such a life.  In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist says “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing-floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” So all the lives that have not fulfilled the purpose of God through their obedience to the word of God and righteous living, the Bible says they will be burned up with unquenchable fire.
We need to come to the full realization that satan appearing before the Lord in the days of Job was not a one-off situation, when David sinned and Prophet Nathan was sent by the Lord to rebuke him in 2 Samuel 12:13-14, and he had this to say. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.” The enemies of God mentioned here refers to satan and his demons. If our lives is not making God proud, then it sure is making the enemies of God show utter contempt. Satan is having a filled day before the Lord as a result of your sinful life.
If satan appeared before the Lord in the days of Job, and he appeared before the Lord in the days of David and also had the confidence to appear before the Lord in the book of Zechariah 3:1-4 in the days of Joshua the high priest, then he is still appearing before the Lord till date.
The food for thought is this: Over your own life and deeds will it be God making a proud declaration of your life due to your obedience to His words and righteousness on the face of the earth, or will it be satan showing utter contempt to God due to your unending sins? Even in the face of great trials are you willing to stand for God and silence the accuser of your life for good? Job did get his glory back in multiple fold after standing firm on the side of God and so will you when you stand firm for God.

The Importance Of The Presence Of God In Your Business & Work-life

Luke 5:1-7

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding round him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boats. 

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work - this is a gift from God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.  

I bless God for another beautiful opportunity to share a piece of His truth on this blog, and I pray we are all blessed by it. I have heard and read of people and sometimes Christians who don't see the need to bring religious sentiments into their workplace or work-life. I have read of a debate on a Christian Business community where a question was asked if it was alright to pray before a business meeting. I do not intend to make a statement for or against that question but the focus of my message today is the importance and in fact the very important need for the presence and the hand of God in our business and work-life.

My previous post focused on the impact of the Presence of God in the life of a man and I appreciate and seek mostly for the presence of God in every area of my life because His presence in our lives brings with it an undeniable blessing. The kind of blessing that shouts and people around do not have a choice but to notice that in truth this person carries the presence of God in him or her.

In looking at the impact of God in our business or work-life, I found a very good example in the passage before us, the story of Peter and the catch of fish. When we do a research on the man called Simon Peter the disciple of Jesus, we will discover that he was a seasoned fisherman of his time. He was good at his trade and he understood the antics and technicalities of fishing. He knew the best times, areas of the sea and season to make the most catch. But his expertise sometimes fails him and his calculations might sometimes run on the negative. We all know for sure that nature is not static, we can try but cannot hold the waves of the sea or stop a tornado. 

The night in this passage was one of such nights that Peter toiled so hard but caught nothing. Peter and his colleagues had put all their fisherman expertise to test but caught absolutely nothing. In fact they had retired for the night and were watching their nets when they caught the attention of Jesus. So when the Lord Jesus had finished making use of their boat as a podium for His sermon, it was time to bless Peter, and so Jesus told him to launch into the deep for a catch. 

I am so very happy for Peter that he didn't by virtue of his knowledge of fishing argue with Jesus or disobey the instruction. He only made known his own limitations by telling Jesus that he had tried his best based on what he knew about fishing and caught nothing. But Jesus is He that has no limitations, everything about the existence of the earth is subject to His control. Nature is on attention to do the bidding of our Lord Jesus, remember that even the winds obey Him, so its not a surprise at all that the fish in the sea will obey Him. The result of the supremacy of Christ that night was that Peter the expert fisherman that was unable to catch any fish by himself caught two boats filled with fish to the points that the boats began to sink at the command of the Lord Jesus Christ.

With what we have read in the book of Luke chapter 5, I am not sure if there is still a need to argue the necessity of the presence of God in our business. When you have made God the number one director of your business and work-life and you do not rely on your ability to make things work, then I can assure you that your business does not have any association with failure, because all the elements that are involved are under the direct and express control of the Almighty God. 

I am learning a big lesson from the wisdom of Solomon in the book Ecclesiastes chapter 2 that the best thing for any man is to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work and this is a gift from God, because without God you cannot eat or find enjoyment. So in plain terms all your hard work and expertise in whatever trade you think you are good at is meaningless without God. 

Solomon went further to say that to the man who pleases God, He gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness. What this means to me is that when you please God He endows you with a talent, He gives you skill, knowledge and ability to excel in your trade and then grants you happiness in that trade. You are not just an expert in your field of trade, but you are a happy and fulfilled expert in what you do. That is what God gives. As a sinner you might have knowledge of the trade, but you will work hard to hand it over to the man who pleases the Lord. No wonder the Lord Jesus implored us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things will be added unto us. This includes the ability to make wealth that we will enjoy. Moses says it is God that teaches our hands to make wealth. 

Just try and make God the first CEO of that business and watch Him do what He alone can do best. And for those who are under another's employment or you have a boss you report to, this is what Paul says in Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as reward." What I understand Paul to be saying is that though you report to an earthly boss, but your attitude should be such that you report to God. When you have the mindset of one working for the Lord you tend to put your best to your work with reverence to God. And such will never go unrewarded both here on earth and in heaven. The Bible says promotion comes neither from the north nor from the south, but it comes from God. The desired promotion on that Job will be worked out effortlessly by God for you if you work at what you do as one working for God and not for men.