Saturday 13 April 2013

You, Your Marriage and Your Home: The Expectations of God on all These (Part 2)

In as much as I am excited to move on and explore what the Lord has for the man in marriage, the Spirit of God is laying it heavily on my heart to discuss the pre-marriage terms first. And so we will need to take one step back on this topic to find out what the word of God says about choosing a life partner. 
One thing I discovered about choosing a spouse is that the first thing we always want to know is if this man or woman you want to marry is someone you love and loves you back. The love element is what we always look out for first in the equation before going further to conclude if that man is good enough for us to marry or not. What we will now search the word of God for, is to know if this method is correct or not. Is love suppose to be the main criteria to choose a life partner or should it be a secondary thing to look out for. In order to get things right, we will be going back to the Creator's Manual, the Bible to know what God is saying about this.


Genesis 2:22b-25
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman', for she was taken out of man" 
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. 


Matthew 19:4-6
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female', and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."


I believe we should be able to get answers to our question from these two Bible passages. The first thing that struck my mind when I got the revelation of the word of God in Genesis 2 is that Adam didn't by virtue of his need, pick a wife for himself. Adam's parent (though didn't exist) could not get a wife for Adam, and love as it were could not bring Adam a wife. But it was the Lord who saw the need in the life of Adam, that created a fitting helper for him and then brought her to him. In any marriage union, the first thing that a man needing a wife or a woman needing a husband should do is to approach the throne of God and lay their petition there with thanksgiving.
The Bible tells us that it was God who created the woman and brought her to the man. God didn't create the woman and then ask the man to go in search of her. But that He brought the woman to the man and presented her to him. Then the status of the woman changed from being just a woman to a wife. What I have learnt here is that as a man the Lord knows you need a wife even when you did not realize it. He made a woman from the bones of your ribs when you never asked Him to and He will bring that woman to you at the time He knows is right.  
The Lord Jesus Christ said "what God has joined together, let man not separate," if we look at this words critically, it is God that is doing the joining and not any man nor is it love, but God. When it is God that has joined you to your wife, I tell you no force from the pit of hell can wage war against that union. There may be shakings here and there, but that union can never break. 
I really do agree to and recognize the importance of love in marriage, even the Bible says that "can two come together except they agree?" But the important thing here is that the basis of a lasting union should be God and not love. Love I have come to understand is an emotion just like sadness, happiness, anger, laughter, anxiety, jealousy and so many other emotions that the Lord has built into our lives. Love as an emotion fades and re-appears, just like you have happy times and sad moments. When love which has been used as a basis of marriage gets to the point where it fades then we have cases of marriages crumbling.
The fact that a lot of marriages today have been based on love and not God has been responsible for the very high rate of divorce and domestic violence. Love is essential for marriages no doubt, but I have come to understand and appreciate love as a spice in marriage that God has put in the hearts of the man and woman He has joined together to firm up their union. It's like bringing two pieces of objects together and adding a form of adhesive or glue to hold the objects firmly together. After sometime, the adhesive or glue looses it strength and when nothing else but the adhesive is what is keeping the objects together, they naturally will fall apart. But when the eye of the one who has joined the two objects together is still watching over them, he notices when the glue looses strength or wears out, and once the objects are about to fall apart he quickly puts them back together and adds fresh glue.
This illustration fits well into the marriage situation. If what is keeping your marriage together is just the adhesive or glue of love and not God, then there are no guarantees. But when the basis of your marriage has been established on the foundation of God and it is the Lord that has brought you two wonderful people together then even in that raging storm your marriage will surely stand. 


Genesis 24:1-4, 6-7, 12-14 (NIV)
Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had. "Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac." 

"Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. "The Lord the God of heaven who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land - he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son there."  

Then he prayed, "O Lord, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too' - let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."


What a way to choose a life partner! But the story of how a wife was got for Isaac best illustrates what the Lord has laid in my heart to share in the issue of choosing a life partner. Most definitely this marriage was not based on any other factor but on God. Abraham knowing that it is only God that can adequately get the best wife for his son told his servant that "The Lord God of heaven who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land - he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son there." 
Isaac's marriage to Rebekah was one that stood the test of time; even when Rebekah could not conceive  the marriage was still standing. No doubt Isaac and Rebekah were very much in love each other, we read in Genesis 26:8 that they were both openly caressing. Yet these were two people who had never set eyes on each other until the Lord brought Rebekah to Isaac; the woman He had created for him from the beginning of time.
It is of the essence that love reigns in a marriage, but if a man who is yet unmarried sees a woman he loves and wish to marry, it is important that he prays first and seek the consent of God on the matter and ultimately get the approval of God before going ahead with the union. This is a very vital step that should never be overlooked or watered down as unimportant. 
Jacob was one man who married for love, in fact he laboured twice to marry the one he loved, but one question that still keeps coming to my mind is that "was Rachel God's best for Jacob"? Genesis 31 tells us the story of how Jacob and his household fled from Laban his master and father-in-law, but the point to note is that Rachel the well loved wife of Jacob was a thief. She almost got Jacob into trouble and bring him so much embarrassment when she stole the gods of her father's household. If God and not love had picked a wife for Jacob, will God pick a thief? No wonder God favoured Leah above Rachel. 
So I still wonder within me if love is a good basis for marriage. If you have married based on love you are still not condemned, the Lord still has your marriage within His reach when you hand it over to Him to watch over for you. He is still able to protect your marriage from every possible harm. And when the love fades, the hand of God that is more powerful than any love will still keep your union intact.

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Thursday 11 April 2013

You, Your Marriage and Your Home. The Expectations of God on all These (Part 1)

The issue of marriage and the home is one topic I so love to discuss from time and time. I have so experienced and I am still experiencing the power of God in my marriage and home that I am of the opinion that if we really do follow the precepts of God in our marriages and our homes, then the issue of divorce and it accompanying heartbreaks will never arise. And you will never have to raise your children alone or have them carry on them the stigma of a broken home. 
It is almost an overwhelming general opinion that it is the duty of the man to pamper and care for his wife and in most cases the wife has the upper hand in divorce cases most especially in the advanced world based on their culture. In Africa the case in not exactly the same, while some cultures see the wife as someone to be cared for, some other culture see the wife as just a piece of entity to bear children, run errands and be the glorified housekeeper. In such cases the wife losses her pride and dignity and accepts her fate of never been loved, while some fight back and then we have a lot of cases of violence in the homes.
This write up is not designed to apportion blame or judge anyone, but above what the culture says, above the traditional norms of our environment we will try to evaluate the institute of marriage based on the expectations and design of God who instituted marriage. And I assure you that if we adhere to God's guiding principle for our marriage, then we are getting ready for the best time of our lives beginning from our homes.
As we begin this series of discuss on the issue of marriage, I will want us to start with the woman who has evolved into a wife by the joining together of the woman to her husband. Please note that we are starting with the wife going by the order of instruction in the Bible. With the word of God, it all starts with the wife.

Ephesians 5:22-31, 33  
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all no-one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 

However, each one of you must love his wife  as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.


Colossians 3:18-19
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.


1 Peter 3:1-7
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their trust in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.


Genesis 2:18, 20b-25
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 
The man said, 
"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' , for she was taken out of the man."
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. 


The Bible passages above will be the basis on which we will discuss and consider critical the issue of marriage. Based on my own understanding, these are the rules of engagement for our marriages. They are the guiding instructions on which our marriages will hold firm and not break.
From the book of Ephesians, Colossians and 1 Peter, we will notice that the first to be addressed on the issue of marriage is the wife. These instruction coming from two different authors tells us that this is God's order of issuing out the marriage instruction. The first in line in marriage is the wife. Not that she is the one that holds the authority, but because she is the base of the home. She is the heartbeat of the marriage. I tell you one truth that if the woman gives up on the marriage little can be done by the man to resuscitate that marriage except by the Lord. 
The instruction to the wife says "to SUBMIT to her husband as to the Lord." The first thing I want us to do is to search out the meaning of the word submit. Based on dictionary meaning, to submit means 1)to give over or yield to the power or authority of another; 2)to agree to obey a person, group, set of rules, especially when you have no choice; 3)to place oneself under another. So what God expects of His woman is that without any force whatsoever, God's woman as a wife to her husband, places herself under the authority of her husband. She is to willingly yielding the authority of her life to her husband as though she were yielding to the Lord. 
The first and most important assignment of the wife as given by the Lord is to be a helper, suitable, meet, fitting to her husband. This is the number one reason why the Lord conceived in His heart to make the woman. Now in order to carry out this role adequately and successfully in the life of your husband God says you need to submit to his authority. This does not really sound good to the feminist, but it is the word of God. For a woman to be all that God has designed her to be in the life of her husband, she first needs to submit to her husband unconditionally. 
Some times I tend to conclude that the teachings of the Lord is hard. When we consider the passages very well we will notice that the woman is to submit to her husband in everything. So the fact that your husband is an unbeliever is not an excuse for you not to submit, the fact that he is harsh and uncaring is not an excuse for you not to submit, the fact that he is stingy is not an excuse for you not to submit. But God in 1 Peter 3 says it is the purity and reverence of your life, birth by your submission that the Lord uses in drawing your husband to Himself. The tool of change that your husband needs to become all that God wills him to be resides in your submission. You are the agent of change in the life of your husband. 
Proverbs 18:22 says "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favour from God." Another point that we as woman need to know is that we are the physical container that carries all of God's favour for our husbands. What I am understanding from this passage is that when God is ready to favour a man, He hands him a wife to birth a new era of God's favour in his life. So as a wife you carry not just all of your husband's help in you, but you also carry in you all of God's favour for his life in you. You cannot deposit the gift that God has placed in your life for your husband into his life without submitting to him. You cannot be all that God has destined you to be in the life of your husband if you do not submit to him.
It might appear as though God is unfair to the woman as some women might view it, but when we move over to discuss the rules for the men still found in the passages above, you will appreciate the balance in what God is instructing the man and his wife to do and be. But before we drop for the day, I will want the women to understand that submission to the husband without prayers is a dangerous venture. The Bible speaks the instruction to the holy/godly wife not the canal wife. As you learn to submit, you also need to pray. A submissive wife without the God element in her is as one with the substance but lacks the power, and a prayerful wife who is not submitting to her husband is just wasting energy on her kneels. The Bible says prayers without deed is dead. But if as you submit, you also commit the heart of your husband to the Lord, I assure you, you will flourish in your marriage. Your marriage and home then becomes a positive reference point for many to see and emulate.       


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Monday 8 April 2013

You Have A Gift (Series 2)

One of the points we closed the series 1 of this message on is that your gift/talent as endowed you by God is on a mission to bring you prominence. We saw in Proverbs 18:6 that a man's gift makes a way for him and brings in before great men. In moving forward there is a story in Exodus 31:1-6, its read "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'See I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of craft - to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you.'" From yesterday's post we were able to establish the fact that indeed God does give gifts and talents to the man He has created and that every good and perfect gift is from God. And that the Lord give us gift as He alone determines in accordance with the assignment that He has assigned us to do.
From the passage in Exodus 31 there are a lot of truths that I have learnt and will love to share. The first thing I want us to appreciate is that Bezalel was a nobody without the gift of God in his life. Looking through the book of Exodus, no mention of that name Bezalel surfaced, He was not among the 70 elders of Israel, he was not prominent. But because of the Spirit of God that he was filled with and because of the skill, ability and knowledge that the Lord filled him with to be able to carry out the construction of God's temple, Bezalel's name surfaced in the Bible. By his gift he became prominent, the gift of God in his life brought him before great men like Moses. That sure proves true the word of God in Proverbs 18:6.
The second lesson that I have learnt and will like to share is that the gift of God in the life of Bezalel birth by the infilling of the Spirit of God in his life was just fitting for the assignment the Lord will have him do. And by the time they finished the construction of the Tabernacle in the book of Exodus 39:32 and 42-43, the Bible said they did the work just as the Lord commanded Moses. They did the work to perfection because the Lord had filled them with skill, ability and knowledge required to carry out the assignment to perfection. 
It is important to note that if Moses to whom the Lord gave the instruction and dimensions of the Tabernacle decides by virtue of his position as the elder of the Israelites to carry out the construction work himself, he will make a big mess of it, mainly because that is not his own area of gifting. He has not been filled with the skill, ability and knowledge in that area of work. And in like manner Bazelel will not do a good job leading the children of Israel because the has not been filled with skill and ability in that area of work.  
So now that we have been able to understand the dimension of God's dealings in our lives, there is the need to understand God's placement for our lives in His agenda. In fulfilling our own God given role in the program of the Lord, there we will excel exceeding when we pursue this assignment with all diligence and competence. God will not give you an assignment He has not filled with skill, ability and knowledge to perform. 
There is the need to pray that the desires of our lives should be in line with God's plan for our lives. The fact that you may experience bottlenecks in your field of operation does not necessarily give a signal that you are operating outside your own area of gifting, in this case the diligence and determination you show in your work tells a lot about your success level. But in order to ascertain your own area of gifting, there is the need to pray and be able to hear from God, your genuine interest  and fervent prayers in what you do tells a lot about how far you will go on that task 


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Sunday 7 April 2013

You Have A Gift (Series 1)

I once heard the story of an American Surgeon by the name Ben Carson, I have seen quite a number of his books, one very prominent one titled "Gifted Hands." I have not read any of his books but learnt that the highlight of his life is that he is the first surgeon to successfully attempt to separate twins joined together from birth. It must have taken some guts for him to make such an attempt and I presume with a determined heart he saw the process through successful. 
But thinking about the whole story, one thing that did't skip my mind was that "why would the Lord in all His Majesty create twins that are joined from birth?" There are countless sets of twins that have passed through the face of the earth without been joined together in any form, in fact there are twins with different genders, and some are totally nonidentical, yet there are some joined together. When I began to seek the face of God for an answer to this mystery the Lord took me to a passage in the book of John 9:1-7. Here we read the story of how Jesus healed the man who was born blind. The Bible tells us that when Jesus and His disciples saw the man blind from birth, they asked a question similar to the question I asked the Lord about the twins joined from birth, they asked "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" and the answer Jesus gave to the disciples was what the Lord impressed on my mind in answer to my question about the joined twins. Jesus said, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." 
This man Ben Carson has been endowed with the gift to be able to separate joined twins, if God didn't create some twins joined, the gift of God in this man's life will never be displayed. God knowing that He has created a man with the gift to separate joined twins, is not in any in doubt about the survival of such joined twins and so He allowed such on the face of the earth. 
James 1:17 tells us that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." The wonderful gifts we see displayed in the lives of men are from the Lord above. Then when we read through the book of Matthew 25:14-28, Jesus told a parable likening the the kingdom of God to a man going on a journey and entrusting his property to his servants, giving each one talents based on their ability. And that tells me that every child of God has been entrusted with a gift or talent based on the ability God has given to us. No child of God is lacking a gift. There is a measure of talent deposited in each of us.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 tells us that there are different kinds of gift from the same God for different assignment in the Kingdom and it is only God that determines how these gifts are distributed. He determines who gets what based on the assignment assigned to each one. But the beautiful thing about this gift is found in Proverbs 18:6 which says "A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men." (NKJV) That gift from God in your life is designed to bring you prominence. It is the light of God in your life that must shine for the world to see. 
It cost God nothing to create a form of scarcity in the world that requires only your gift to meet. There need not be a big reason for that man to be born blind safe of the need to display the power of God in his life. No one can question the existence of joined twins if that is what God decides to do in order to display His grace in the life of that surgeon. But believe it or not, You Have A Gift of God in Your Life.


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Friday 22 February 2013

The Power of Sacrifice

Looking up the meaning of the word sacrifice we come across a lot definitions in diverse line of reasoning. The word Sacrifice is defined to be an act of slaughtering an animal or person or surrendering a possession as an offering as to a deity. This refers to making a blood sacrifice and something similar to whatever an individual regards as god. But the meaning of sacrifice that I'd love to hold onto and talk about is Sacrifice defined as an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.
Moving forward we will see this definition of sacrifice in line with biblical values and also learn the power in giving up something valued to God for the sake of something regarded as more important or worthy. Proverbs 3:9-10 teaches us to honour the Lord with our wealth, with the firstfruits of all our crops; then our barns will be filled to overflowing, and our vats will brim over with new wine. This is the kind of sacrifice that I wish for us to consider, the sacrifice of our best, in wealth and in the fruits of our labour to God who alone is able to cause them to multiple in yields and returns for us. 
Sacrifice to God serves a two-fold mission, it acts as an expression of whatever we actually feel in our hearts for God and also as a seed sown that will germinate and yield returns for whoever dears to sow the seed. If you truly love God, then it will reflect in the quality of substance you are willing to give to Him as a reflection of your claim to love Him. Gift given is an expression of love and I am positive a lot of people will agree with me on that. So whatever we are willing to give in gratitude to God reflects how much we love and appreciate Him. 
This gift is not weighed in volume, size of quantity, but it is weighed as a ratio of what you are giving to what you actually have or own. The widow in Luke 21:1-4 gave all she had to live on to God because that was how much God meant to her. Although what she gave was little compared to what the rich people gave, yet that was all she had to live on and that was how much God meant to her. 
Considering the act of giving to God as a seed sown that will germinate and multiply in returns, let us again consider Proverbs 3:9-10. When your honour God with your wealth and the firstfruits of your crops, you are actually making an investment that must yield good returns. Those who enter into partnership with God never make loses. When you learn to honour God with your substance, He will in turn honour you in multiples of what you have given to Him and return back to you with a package of heavenly riches, wealth, blessings and whatever it is your heart desires. 
There are two people in the early Bible days that I will like to do a brief analysis and compare their attitudes in relation to the issue of sacrifice. The first man I want us to note is Noah (Genesis 6-9) Noah was a man who by virtue of his righteous living found favour with God and was spared from the flood and God repopulated the earth through him and his sons. Genesis 8:18-22 tells us that as soon as Noah came out of the ark he built an altar to God and offered sacrifices to God which was a pleasing aroma to God and the Lord blessed him and his household and entered into a covenant with him placing the rainbow as a sign of His covenant.
The second man I want us to consider is Lot, Abraham's nephew (Genesis 18-19). When God was ready to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah were Lot was living, He informed Abraham who pleaded the case of Sodom and Gomorrah before God. But when the angels proceeded to carry out the destruction, Lot did something really commendable, he hosted the angels and prevented the men of Sodom and Gomorrah from molesting them and so he was spared from the destruction alongside his daughters. But unlike Noah, Lot never remembered to show gratitude to God, he never sacrificed to God. And so the resulting story of the life of Lot was a far cry from that of Noah. In the place of blessings and covenant, Lot was made drunk by her daughters and they took their turn to have sexual intimacy with their father, a sin before the Lord.
A man who understands the power and the importance of sacrifice and giving to God is a man who has positioned himself ready to be blessed by God. The Bible tells us to give and it will come back to us in good measure, pressed down and running over will men bring to our bosom. David in 1 Chronicles 21:24 says he will not offer to God a burnt offering that cost him nothing simple because he had walked with God well enough to understand the power of sacrifice. 
There is no investment that yields better returns than to honour God with our wealth understanding perfectly well that it is God that has empowered our hands to make that wealth. When your sacrifice is offered in holiness and righteousness to God, then it is a seed that is guaranteed to yield returns in due course of time and in season too. 
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Thursday 14 February 2013

You As A Parent

Everything about the world is evolving, there is the awakening of a need for improvement in technology and better ways of getting by in every area of our daily lives. There is the advent of different gadgets and so many companies are coming up with different innovations to improve their turnover, and we can go on and on about the so many changes that is taking place the world over. But one change that does not tend to improve but rather decline the world over is moral values. The world is dynamic, life is not designed to be stagnant, but the beauty of the world's dynamism is when it tends to improve on the previous state of things. 
With the older generation of the world's population benefiting so much from moral values, that cannot be said of the world today. But what calls for concern the most is what the future holds for the children that are fasting growing into adults. The children today have not been given the privilege to enjoy youthfulness in so many ways. What I am perceiving is children growing from toddlers straight to adults. A teenage girl feels very comfortable to wear make-up and the parents feel it trendy to let that happens. A child living the life of early thirties at age 15, while she lives the life of her fifties in her early thirties and so by the time she is in the mid-fifties to early sixties she is getting ready to die just because her life has been fast tracked unnecessarily. And the same applies to the male gender. But the very sad aspect of all these is that the parents who are responsible for the training of these children are busy either over pampering them in the name of love or are not even training them at all. 
Money answers all things just as the Bible has rightly put it, but money does not instill moral values neither does money train. Rather the Bible has instructed the parents to train their children in the way they should go and when they grow, they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). From what I am discovering in the lives of many, the pursuit of money is never an excuse to neglect the training of your children. There is a place for monetary pursuit and also a place for the matters of training our children. If the pursuit of money is beginning to take dominance over the training of your child/children then it is time to start to pray. It is time to start to seek the face of God for a means to generate wealth that will not hinder your assignment from God in life to train your children in the way of the Lord. 
The training of our children begins with the training of ourselves, noting that it is impossible to give what you don't have. A man or woman who lacks self discipline will not be able to discipline a child. Even the Lord Jesus Christ says in the Bible that "we should remove the log in our eyes before attempting to remove the speck in another person's eye." Far more than the verbal instructions we give to our children, the values they pick and copy from our lives goes a long way in molding their persons and shaping their values in life. 
The second aspect of training once the first aspect has been well taken care of is the training of the children themselves. A lot of parents are beginning to tolerate indiscipline in the lives of their children all in the name of love. The children are allowed to have their way at all times and are totally been over pampered just because the parent/parents are desirous of showing love to their children, and even when these children needs to be corrected, they are either too small to be corrected or the children will cry and that will break the parent's heart. Now here what the Bible says in the case of disciplining the child; Proverbs 23:13-14 "Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death." Even the Bible speaks of the importance of discipline, it is very necessary that a parent wanting the best for his/her child needs to discipline him/her. There is the need to find a suitable means of correction for the child and apply it when necessary.
There is a big difference between discipline and child abuse. To use the rod on a child when it is required is NOT child abuse. To inflict bodily harm on a child is what is regarded as child abuse. To render a child disabled in any way is child abuse, but to cane a child when he/she is nutty and it is required is an act recommended even in the Bible. 
Another fact to note is that: effective discipline either by the rod or as any other form of punishment should be applied in love otherwise it is rendered ineffective. It is when love is lacking in discipline that we have cases of abuse. Our children are meant to be loved and disciplined all in one package. Excessive love without discipline leads to death (of moral values), and excessive discipline without love leads also to death (in emotions and even leads to physical harm). So there is a need to balance both. 
To discipline your child is a huge investment that you make in advance for your retirement, and so it is important to make that investment now that you are able to in order to enjoy the dividends when you need it the most. Children who are well trained are those who will take care of their parents when they are old. If you don't train your children well now and instill in them the right and godly values, they will not be available for you at old age.
So as you pursue money and make plans for retirement, be mindful of the fact that it is the investment you make in the lives of your children that yields the greatest dividend of all. So make the right investment now. If all parents will take their time to deposit the right values and good discipline in the lives of their children, then in the world over, there is a guarantee of a beautiful future for all.

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Saturday 9 February 2013

You Were Not Created Empty

I have meet quite a handful of people who have one negative thing or the other to say about their jobs, some others don't even have the jobs at all. For so many people the ability to make and retain wealth seem an impossible task, and yet the Bible says money answers all things. And so without a decent means of livelihood, so many people have resorted to doing insane things in order to meet up with the financial demands on their lives. 
In the book of Deuteronomy 8:18, Moses declared that it is God that gives us the ability to make wealth, and so I wondered that will God really give some the ability to make wealth and not give others? If God is not a partial God, then there is a need to find out why some are able to produce wealth while others are still finding it rather difficult to carry on that task successfully.
In my search for answers to this assumed imbalance I made some discoveries that is worth sharing. The first thing I discovered is that No Man Was Created by God Empty. Paul talking about spiritual gifts in the book of 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 says there are different kind of gifts all from the same God and that it is the same God that works all of them in all men. He didn't say some men, but all men. One thing to note is that these gifts given by God is not just limited spiritual gifts alone, but that all gifts given by God designed to give man the ability to make wealth has been given to all men.
Proverbs 18:16 says "A man's gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men." (NKJV) That tells me that the gift of God given to all men is design to make room for him and bring him before great men. This is a confirmation of the declaration of Moses in Deuteronomy 8:18 that it is the Lord that gives us the ability to make wealth. And so as a man created by God, you have residing within you the ability to make wealth deposited in you at the time of your creation. That gift has been given to all men.
In order to have an example of what I am talking about lets take a look at Exodus 31:1-6, this passage follows after when the Lord gave Moses the details for constructing the Tabernacle. When the Lord was finished with giving the construction details, He told Moses that He had set a man aside to do the job, Exodus 31:2-5 says "See I have chosen Bezalel son Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God,with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of craft-to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftmanship." So that tells us that the gift of God are not limited to spiritual gifts and they are given to all men in different aspects of life. Moses was given the skill, ability and knowledge to lead, but Bezalel was given the skill, ability and knowledge in craftmanship. Yet some been blessed with the gift of good voice, while others have been given the gift to heal. Diverse gifts all from the same God for different assignment in life.
I have heard so much about the man called Ben Carson, I have seen but yet to read his book "the gifted hands," but when I heard he was the first surgeon to separate twins joined together from birth a thought came to my mind. I wondered why God will create and join twins from birth? He had created and brought to this world millions of twins that were not joined, some never even looked like each other, there are twins with different sex gender, some other sets will come with one tall while the other is short and some will have different complexion entirely, while one is fair the other is dark. But this same God created some twins joined together. And so the gift He had placed in the life of this man Ben Carson was activated and brought into action in order to meet with the need in the lives of these joined twins.
There is a need in the world that your gift is designed to meet. You have something locked inside of you that is designed to bring you to prominence and birth in you the ability to make wealth.In Nigeria there is a package of sachet water sold around, someone came up with that idea and it has well satisfied the thirst of millions of low income citizens of Nigeria and created wealth for the inventor. We all have a gift that is designed to move us out of financial stagnation that God had placed in us. All that we need is to discover it and run diligently with it. 
In Matthew 26:11, Jesus said the poor will always be among us, while in Deuteronomy 15:4 Moses speaking as a mouthpiece for God declared that in the Land of Promise, there should be no poor among us. There is no contraction in these two Bible passages at all. Moses said there should be no poor; but he didn't say there shall be no poor. That is to say, based on the creation work of God and the gift deposited in the life of man by God there shouldn't be anyone poor. But like the Lord Jesus said there will always be poor people among us because there will always be people too lazy or too ignorant to discover there locked in gifts. There will be people who will not be patient and diligent enough to allow their gift to grow and mature, and there will always be people who have allowed sin to dominate their lives thereby robbing them off their heavenly blessings and so there will always be poor people among us. But based on what God has done and perfected in us there should not be poor people among us. 
You have a right to be successful, in fact you were created by God to be a success, in you resides the ability to make wealth given to you by God. You need to search out your own area of gifting, if you are finding it hard to lay hold of it, then start to pray and the Lord will help you. Do not be included in the category of frustrated beings who are poor among us. Take hold of the blessings of us provided for you before hand, discover your gift and run diligently with it.

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