Knowing God Intimately

My post today is from my hubby’s Monday Devotional. I trust you will be blessed by this article, which can also be found here: www.changemakersforchrist.org

Friends, greetings in Jesus Name! Today I will be sharing with you on what I title, “Knowing God Intimately”. As a believer, your endurance and perseverance in your walk with God can only come by your depth of knowledge and understanding of His ways – knowing who He is, what He stands for, what He hates, what He loves, and how He operates. This clear knowledge of His personality enables you to clear the fog off your eyes from any wrong perception about His person. I know some people who fell out of the way just by a slight trial of life. Unfortunately, many of such people have made God their enemy. Simply because certain things did not work out as expected, they blame God as the cause. Remember, our God is loving, tenderhearted, caring, and kind. He cannot tempt you with evil, and neither does He tempt any man (James 1:13). He is never the cause of our problems as some thinks. He is the one who tries every possible means to save you from your problems. The real enemy of your destiny is the devil. He hates you with passion!

The bible declares in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Why? It is in knowing God and His son Jesus Christ, that you can truly live and lead a successful life. Apostle Paul said, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Listen, what distinguished Moses from the rest of Israelites was his knowledge of God. Psalm 103:7 says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel.” There are certain things others don’t know but you know when God makes His ways known to you. Unfortunately, God cannot make His ways known to you when you do not thirst after Him. Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are they that thirst and long after righteousness for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). What is righteousness? It is having right standing with God. This occurs when you constantly desire to fellowship with God, walking intimately with Him, and learning His ways like Moses did.

Many years ago, when I was learning to drive a car using the manual gear system, I remember starting out with gear one, then I move a while and change to gear two, and to gear three, and to gear four, and finally to gear five depending on my speed or traffic on the road. Really, you don’t start out with gear one and quickly change to gear four. If you do so, the car will stall and malfunction. The general rule is to understand the law of “gradual process”. Likewise, walking with God requires a process. You do not start with God from gear three. No! You have to start from the basics, and learn through the ranks. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Learn of Me”. Therefore, as the year draws to a close, seek to know God, learn of Him, and walk closely with Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not carry-over your mistakes, failures, disappointment, and setbacks of 2017 into the year 2018. You must desire to cross-over to take-over in the New Year. Have a fantastic week. With love, Elvis!

Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4 (NKJV) 
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, 
And into His courts with praise. 
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Thanksgiving according to the dictionary.com is expression of gratitude especially to God and the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.

Most times it is difficult to give thanks to God when we are overwhelmed by unfavorable situations, however it is important that we look beyond our circumstances and thank God for who He is, He daily loads us with benefits and His word is true, so for each day if we would look closely we will see the benefits for the day irrespective of whatever the situation is.

When Jesus went to Lazarus tomb, He lifted His eyes and said, He looked up beyond what the situation was at that time and gave thanks. 
John 11:41 (NKJV) Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 

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Thanksgiving or gratitude to God shows that we have complete trust in Him and we appreciate who He is. It is the will of God that we give thanks. 
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV) in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

We see ten lepers who were healed and only one returned to give thanks.

We must ensure that we give thanks to God daily for His benefits, there is always something to appreciate God for. We cannot operate in an attitude of gratitude and complaining at the same time, they are mutually exclusive.

Philippians 4:6 (NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God 

Even when we pray and ask God for things, we thank Him in faith knowing that He has answered, He already knows what we need before we ask and He is able to do exceedingly above all that we could ever ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father I thank you for loving me, thank you for sending Jesus to die for me, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, thank you for the outworking of your purpose in my life. Thank you for who you are. Help to always remember to appreciate you in every season of my life, to look beyond what I face and be grateful at all times. In Jesus Name. Amen

Renewed Strength

Isa 40:28-31 (NKJV)

28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

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The Lord gives power to the weak, sometimes in our walk with the Lord we become weary, like Jesus said in this world we would have tribulations but be of good cheer.
He will never leave us nor forsake us. He strengthens us when we become weary in this journey of faith, we must learn to exchange our weakness for His strength, Apostle Paul said that when I am weak, then I am strong, (2 Cor 12:10) for His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

God gives us emotional strength, physical strength, mental strength and spiritual strength, it is His plan to make us whole, even though sometimes we get sick, yet His promises never fail. We must receive that which has been made available to us through the blood of Jesus Christ. For by His stripes we were healed.
Meditating on God’s word and remaining focused despite the challenges and distractions we face, produces strength. 

Prayer
Lord help me to remember that you are always here with me, though I may be weak, you are my strength, help me to draw strength from you always, to run this race set before me. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Increase in Love

Few days ago, during my devotion time with the Lord I read in 1 Thessalonians 4:10b But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; in it I saw that the Lord wants us to continue to increase so I thought about Joseph, from being sold into slavery down to Potiphar’s’ house to prison. During that period of his life, it didn’t look like he was increasing - from Potiphar’s house straight to prison, in the natural it was obvious he was going down. However, the Holy Spirit told me that Joseph was increasing on the inside in terms of character development and as far as heaven was concerned it was important for Joseph to go through that season. In God’s eyes he was increasing.

 

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In Thessalonians, again chapter 3:15, we see Paul praying for the believers for increase more and more in their love for one another.

In Philippians 1:9: And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment

Meaning there is capacity to increase our love for one another.

Prayer

Lord I pray that my love for you and people will increase more and more. In Jesus Name. Amen.

All things Work Together…

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (NKJV)

One of my goals in life is to become like Jesus. So yesterday after closing from work, I got to the car park and was ready to zoom off. I had earlier asked for my car to be washed, I gave the washerman N1000 note and he went to get the balance. I waited and waited and was already getting impatient, I couldn’t find him anywhere, traffic was already building up and I needed the balance to complete the amount to fill up my tank at a nearby petrol station. My fuel indicator had given me warning signs in the morning, so I needed to top up to make the ~16km journey home.

Feeling frustrated I decided to go wait for the washerman in my car and there he was standing by the car, he said he had been waiting for me there for over five minutes. Well I collected the balance and drove out of the car park to the petrol station. On getting there, there was a queue and only one service point was functional. I was already agitated, I just wanted to get home on time. Why today of all days that I planned to get home on time? For those of us who live in Lagos, every minute counts when it comes to beating the traffic.

As I waited for my turn, a few other drivers decided to shunt the queue by reversing their cars and queuing up at the other side of the fuel pump, two motorcycles also got ahead of me. At some point I just felt I needed to calm down and wait quietly until it gets to my turn.

When it got to my turn and I asked the attendant why they had just one fuel pump working and he said they were almost out of fuel and what they have left can only be dispensed from that pump. On my way I began to thank God I was able to get fuel before beginning the journey home, how would I have coped without fuel in my tank from “Island to Mainland”.

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At night the Holy Spirit replayed the events of that evening to me and I saw my reactions/response to slight delays. I felt bad that I had not reflected His character. The fruit of the spirit is peace, peace that passes all understanding that does not depend on the circumstances around us. Nevertheless, I thank God He allowed the situation to show me areas of my life that needed to be worked on. All things work together for good, the journey of becoming more like Him continues…

Hearing Ear

Proverbs 20:12 (NKJV) The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made them both.

Three weeks ago, I returned from choir rehearsal at about 9:30pm, I was ready to go to bed immediately. As I lay on my bed after praying, I heard the Holy Spirit asked me to go check my son’s homework. I reasoned that well, his Dad would have helped him out with it and if he hadn’t, worst case scenario would be that he would miss some of the questions but not all.

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I got the nudge from the Holy spirit again and I got up. I checked his math homework and lo and behold he missed all the questions he attempted and didn’t complete another set.

I woke him my son up immediately and we re-visited the questions and completed the homework. Wow, I was glad I obeyed the Holy spirit.
The Lord cares about us and speaks to us, we are His children.

Prayer
Lord give me seeing eyes, hearing ears and understanding heart and grant grace to be obedient to your promptings.

Seeing Eye

Proverbs 20:12 (NKJV)

12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye,

The Lord has made them both.

One prayer we should pray always is for God to give us seeing eyes, hearing ears and an understanding heart.

Some weeks ago, I got a call from my mum that her domestic help who was to return from the Easter break the previous day, was nowhere to be found. Her father had helped her board a cab, the journey to my parents' house was about 2 hours and she had plied that route severally without any hitches.

I was concerned and began to pray, my parents went to make inquiries at the hospital and the motor park if there had been an accident along the road, but there was none. They eventually contacted the police who said they had to wait for about 48 hours and get back to them, they’ve had several of such cases and the people eventually show up. Well with the stories of kidnapping that abound, I was quite anxious about her whereabouts and hoped that she was safe wherever she was.

However, I remembered a dream I had early that morning before I received the call from my mum. In that dream I was looking for a baby who had been entrusted into my care, I left the baby in the car and quickly dashed into a salon to pick up something when I returned to the car, I couldn’t find the baby and I started asking the people seated around if they had seen the baby. A middle-aged woman brought out the baby and told me she had laid him on a rocking chair. Then I woke up.

Unknown to me, the Holy Spirit had gone ahead of me to reveal the events that would take place shortly and that the domestic help would be found but I didn’t relate the dream to the events that panned out later until I discussed the dream with my husband and he said to me: isn’t it obvious that God has showed you what would happen.

I was now at peace and believed that she would be found. At about 6:13pm, in the evening I received messages from my siblings but wasn’t able to read them, when I contacted my parents I was told she had returned home, she went to visit a friend somewhere and did not bother to inform anyone – story for another day.

Lessons learnt

God loves us, he speaks to us and shows us things to come.

Promise

Definition of Promise – Merriam-Webster Dictionary
1a:  a declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified
b:  a legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act

When God gives a promise, He fulfills it. It may not happen when we expect but He is always on time. The promise of a Saviour was made long before Jesus was born and even after the children of Israel went into captivity, that bloodline was preserved.

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To see the promise of God fulfilled in our lives, we have to pray, yes God had promised to send the Saviour, yet He raised Simeon and Anna who prayed in the temple day and night until the fulfillment.

Luke 2:25 (NKJV) And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 

36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Daniel prayed when he discovered that it was about time for the children of Israel to be liberated from captivity and the fulfillment began during the reign of Cyrus.

We can identify with some people around us whose word is bond and we believe them when they make promises to us. How much more our Heavenly Father. God wants us to trust Him to fulfill His promises in our lives. 

Have you received a promise from the Lord that seems impossible or doesn't look like it will ever come to pass? Hang in there! Do not lose hope, we see the life of Abraham, how God fulfilled the promise of a son to Him even when it appeared impossible.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV)
20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us

Seek out the promises of God for your life in the scriptures and pray them into manifestation. Don’t give up, do not lose faith. He fulfills His promises!

Our walk with God – Not a 100m dash

Last night I was thinking about my daily walk with the Lord and I came to realise that it’s not a 100m dash. The Spirit of the Lord directed me to:

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I used to be a sprinter in secondary school and it was fun. For sprinters in a matter of seconds we are already at the finishing line. But for marathoners or long distance runners, they have a capacity to endure and keep on trudging on until they get to the finishing line.

In this life we would have challenges, trials and temptations that would want to hinder us from walking in pace with our Father. As Jesus told His disciples who were concerned about the signs of the end times.

Matthew 24:13 (NKJV)

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

To run this race, we have to understand that

•        It is not a 100m dash
•        We have the Holy Spirit always with us to empower us
•        Remain focused on Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our Faith
•        When we fall, we rise up and keep moving
•        There will be trials and temptations on the way to overcome
•        Lay aside every weight and the sin that easily beset us
•        God loves us

Prayer

Father I thank you for your love towards me. I pray that you will grant me the grace to finish the race you’ve set before me and to finish strong. In Jesus Name. Amen

Do not lose hope!

I feel led to share the song below, HOPE it blesses someone☺

Romans 15:13 NIV
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home:
Under the shadow of thy throne,
thy saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting thou art God,
to endless years the same.

A thousand ages in thy sight
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
bears all its sons away;
they fly, forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
be thou our guide while troubles last,
and our eternal home!

Source: http://www.oremus.org/hymnal
Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748), 1719

Your Words were Found

Jeremiah 15:16 (NKJV) - Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

It’s a New Year and we’ve got several messages going forth about God’s mind for His people this year.

However one thing that will not change is His Word. 

1. I strongly believe that this year is one which we must choose, to live by God’s word. 
Matthew 4:4 (KJV) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

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2. We must purpose that this year our faith in Him would grow. 
Romans 10:17 (NKJV) - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

3. Through faith and patience, we inherit His promises.
Hebrews 6:12 - That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises

4. We choose to study and meditate on His word; His word becomes the source of our joy and rejoicing.

Joshua 1:8 (KJV) - This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) - Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I ask that you give me a fresh hunger and passion for your Word, grant me grace to be a student of the word this year and to apply the truths I learn daily. In Jesus Name. Amen