In search of God

Exodus 33:20-23, ‘‘“But,” he said, “You cannot see my face, for no-one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”’ We all just like Moses wish to see our Holy God, to be in His presence, but because of His Holiness and our sinfulness, we on our own cannot come to Him lest we will die. But our loving God wants us to experience His wonderful presence and for us now it is able to come unto the presence of the Lord, because there is our rock – that is Jesus’, is seated at the right hand of God in heavenly places and we are hidden in the cleft in the rock and can now see the glory of God before us. We can now with confidence approach the throne of God because we are hidden in the rock that has covered us with righteousness before God, so t

Exodus 33:17, ‘And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do everything you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”’ God knows all of us and everything about us for He says that even before we are born, He knows us. But God had an intimate and personal relationship with Moses; He met him face to face! The reason this happened was because Moses had pleased God. And how can we please God, by living a life of total submission and obedience. Moses had abandoned everything and done everything God had asked of Him, even when it did not make sense to Him; He trusted in and humbled himself to the Lord. And when you live a life of obedience, God will grant every desire and request of your heart because your will is based upon His perfect and good will for your life and everything that you ask for you will find that He has already given unto you. This will give you the confidence to ask, knowing that your requests and petitions have already been answered. Abraham, a man

Psalm 1:4,5, ‘Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.’ The sinners, rebellious and disobedient in nature, lack an anchoring and are blown away and tossed about because they do not know the truth. They deceive themselves by trusting in their own thinking, their own foolish wisdom that cannot stand scrutiny, that is weak and thus when they come to a fad, a current trend, they are easily swayed, moved about like chaff blown off by the wind to oblivion. SO how can they stand judgment, how can they survive to stand in the assembly of the righteous that are anchored on Jesus, that are filled with the truth of God. Jesus was tested by the holy justice of God and found to be firm, the only sinless man in the world and it is on this solid ground that the Father built the church, so that when we walk we shall not fall, that when we are tested by the holy fire, we shall r

Psalm 1:6, ‘For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.’ God watches over the way of the righteous, protecting them from evil, any traps laid for them by the enemy Satan, so that no plans formed against them may prosper, and using all things for good for those that love that love Him. Even if a righteous person stumbles, He will not fall, for the Lord is watching over Him. He may lose His way for a moment but God in His faithfulness will provide enough opportunities for him to find his way back. But the way of the wicked is death for the wages of sin is death, total separation from the love of God, which we receive through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wicked are still slaves to the Prince of this world, the prince of darkness, whose purpose is to rob, kill and destroy. He knows no love and hates those that are loved by God and love God. He persecutes, lies, condemns so that we may lose our focus on who we are in Christ and instead focus o

Psalm 28:6-9, ‘Praise be to the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. The LORD is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them for ever.’ We are all God’s workmanship, so that no one can boast that he is saved by his own deeds, might or will. It is by the grace of God that we are saved, by having faith in He who He sent to suffer our judgment and die in our place, to be our fortress of salvation, so that those that believe in Him, who submit and wholly trust the anointed one of God – the Christ – then they will be redeemed, they will be strengthened, filled with peace and joy of God that is circumstance defying. Those that know who their Savior is, their Redeemer, sing shouts of praise to Him, thanking Him for all He has done, for His

Job 53:15-21, ‘But those who suffer He delivers in their suffering; He speaks to them in their suffering. He is wooing you from the joys of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. But now you are laden with the judgment due to the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you. Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside. Would your wealth or even all your mighty effort sustain you so you would not be in distress? Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes. Beware of turning to evil which you seem to prefer to affliction.’ Suffering causes discomfort to us and we try as much as possible to avoid it. But we should not despair when faced with suffering because suffering brings perseverance and perseverance builds hope and hope gives us joy in the Lord Jesus Christ that though we suffer now, it is only for a short while and our reward awaits us, those that

Job 35:13, ‘The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He fetters them, they do not cry for help.’ Are you so stiff necked, so arrogant, so steeped in your ways that you cannot hear that still small voice that calls out to you that is pleading with you to change your ways, to repent so that you will not perish. Is your heart so hardened, so dead that you cannot recognize the voice of God, the Holy Spirit trying to convict you. The arrogant are filled with resentment toward God and are not willing to hear His call and surrender to Him, to accept that they need Him in their lives, that He is their only salvation and will perish in their arrogance.

Job 36:5-12, ‘God is mighty but He does not despise men; He is mighty and firm in purpose. He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. He does not take His eyes off the righteous, He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if men are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, He tells them what they have done – that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. If they obey and serve Him, they will spend the rest of their lives in prosperity and their years in contentment. But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.’ God loves us so much that He gave us a gift of salvation to those that are willing to accept it. Even though we were His enemies, He came and died for us at the cross, taking on the sins of the world, though He did not sin, suffering separation from The Father – what we as sinners deserved – so that we could enjoy and ce

Job 35:2-8, ‘Do you think this is just? You say, “I shall be cleared by God.” Yet you ask Him, “What profit is it to me, and what do I gain by not sinning?” I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. If you sin, how does that affect Him? If your sins are many, what does that do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, or what does He receive from your hand? Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men.’ Most of us think that when we are doing good, we are doing God a favor, but ask yourself, how does He profit when you care for the needy, when you love your neighbor as yourself. How does it affect Him if you decide not to love your neighbor, when you live a life of selfishness and greed? Not one of your deeds affect Him. It is only people, fellow men and women, that are affected by your deeds here on earth and will either be uplifted, enc

Hi guys and welcome to today’s inaugural show of ‘In Search of God’ that is all about finding and knowing our God. God loves us so much but sadly for most of us we are not aware or do not really appreciate the extent and depth of this love. We are told of this love in John 3:16 that says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…’. Can you just imagine that for a minute, God sending His Divine Son to live like a man, a creature lower than angels ,and not only live but to experience a shameful death of a at the cross that He did not deserve at all and worse still to bear the sins of mankind, heaped upon Him at the cross and suffer separation from the Father, something that had not happened since the beginning of time. Now why does God do that, why does He put His Son through all this, ‘… so that whoever believes in Him, the Son, should not perish but have eternal life.’ In other words, to redeem the fallen and oppressed, that is us and free us from the consequen

Exodus 33:12, 13, ‘Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”’ As members of the church, we are called upon to be leaders to those that are weaker than us, we are called upon to be a refreshing for others. Often when God has placed us in such positions where He is using us to refresh and nourish others, to lead others in the faith, we tend to forget about Him and think it is all about us, we forget that all that we are, all that we have is from Him. Moses found great favor with God. God met with Him face to face! Yet in all humility, Moses still knew that without God, he could not make it. He asked God to teach Him His ways so as to continue to be in right standing before God. How many t

Exodus 33:3, ‘…But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.’ On my own I am nothing but a wretched sinner not worthy to be in the presence of the Lord. I try to live a right life but I do what I do not want to do and do not do what I want to do. Left to myself, to my own devises, I face certain death and am doomed to destruction for the Lord is not with me. I am arrogant, selfish, all alone. I deserve death, my full pay for my scorn is eternal shame. I thought I had nothing to look forward to but doomed to burn in the lake of fire, that is until I was told about Jesus, how He set aside His divinity and came to live like a lowly creature He had created, how He faced scorn and God’s righteous judgment at the cross for all my sins, how He had redeemed me, how He had interceded on my behalf finding a ransom for me, how he had lifted me out of my death pit and lifted me to heaven and how now I have a received a gift, something that

Exodus 32:26, ‘So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.”…’ The call has been made and you have to make a choice, who are you for? You can no longer sit at the fence, hoping not to be noticed. There are only two sides to choose from, either you are of God the Most High or you are His enemy. Atheism and Agnosticism beliefs that posit the non existence or the lack of knowledge of the existence of God are all forms of rebelliousness against God. They are a form of self exaltation where the there is no higher being than the self. They only bring hopelessness, despair and selfishness. So where are you? Have you made your choice, are you aware of the consequences of your choice, are you willing to live with the consequences of your choice. If you decide not to choose whether to do something or not is the same as choosing not to do it. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope you have made your choice well. If you feel convicted in your heart enough

Exodus 32:9-14, ‘“I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that He brought them out, to kill them in the mountains, and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance for ever.’” Then the LORD

Exodus 32:1-4, ‘When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered round Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”’ How easy and soon we forget us sons of men. When we are afflicted and We call unto God in prayer then He answers us, we rejoice and give praise to Him, but as soon as we are delivered, as soon as we are enjoying God’s blessings, we cast off our God, we put Him aside and devote our time, body and soul to the pursuit of our carnal needs and

Job 34:31-33, ‘Suppose a man says to God, “I am guilty but will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.” Should God reward you then on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.’ Most of us are ignorant of our sins and arrogant in our repentance of our sins. We see ourselves as being ‘good’ but by God’s holy standards we are all sinners, having fallen short. Even when we acknowledge of our sins we still think so highly of ourselves and feel that we can dictate to God how He should forgive us. We dictate to him how He should ‘save’ us from the pit, how He should show us His mercy, how He should redeem us. How cynical is that, that even when we should humble ourselves, we are still haughty, standing in pride before Him? Since when does a convict dictate to the judge the sentence He should receive? God tell us that He opposes the proud but He will exalt the humble according to His will and p

Job 34:17-30, ‘Can he who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and mighty One? Is He not the One who says to Kings, “You are worthless,” and to nobles, “You are wicked,” who shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor, for they are all the works of his hands? They die in an instant in the middle of the night; the people are shaken and they pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand. His eyes are on the ways of men; He sees their every step. There is no dark place, no deep shadows, where evil doers can hide. God has no need to examine men further, that they should come before Him for judgment. Without enquiry He shatters the mighty and sets up others in their place. Because He takes note of their deeds, He overthrows them in the night and they are crushed. He punishes them for their wickedness where everyone can see them, because they turned from following Him and had no regard for any of His ways. They caused the cry of the poor to com

Job 34:10-15, ‘So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. He repays a man for what he has done; He brings upon him what his conduct deserves. It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice. Who appointed Him over the earth? Who put Him in charge of the whole world? If it were His intention and He withdrew His spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to dust.’ God is a holy God and His standard for holiness is not like man’s. All men have fallen short of the glory of God and we stand condemned by our rebelliousness and disobedient nature that leads us to sin. By the sin of Adam, all men are born spiritually dead, ruled by their rebelliousness and disobedient nature that is self seeking, incapable of loving any other than self. God hates sin, and any sinful man that comes to His holy presence will die. But by His grace through Jesus Christ we are born again

Mathew 6:32,33, ‘For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’ These are dangerous times for the fellowship of believers’ whose faith and trust in God is like what Jesus warned us of as the seed that fell on good soil but was choked by the weeds – the cares and concerns of this world. We have steered away from the path of salvation, seeking first the desires of our hearts instead of seeking God and His kingdom. Our God is a holy God and all of us that are called to Him must live holy lives in Christ. Salvation We need to re ask ourselves if we know why we are saved. Why did Christ die for you and me? Did He do so for us to have wealth and health only, for us to have big cars, for us to be important or did He shed His blood at the cross, facing its scorn to redeem our relationship with God, to restore our relationship with Him, to experience

Job 34:2-9, ‘Hear my words you wise men; listen to me, you men of learning. For the ears tests words as the tongue tastes food. Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good. Job says, “I am innocent, but God denies me justice. Although I am right, I am considered a liar; although I am guiltless, his arrows inflicts an incurable wound.” What man is like job, who drinks scorn like water? He who keeps company with evildoers; he associates with wicked men. For he says, “It profits a man nothing when he tries to please God.” Most of us think that we are generally good people, we go to church on Sunday, we pay our tithes, we support charity, are kind to others, do good and therefore believe that this should automatically give us a pass to heaven. But when most of us are faced with persistent hardships and trials, injustice, persecution and challenges, we tend to start grumbling, complaining to God that we do not deserve what we are going through and that He

Job 33:14-28, ‘For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, He may speak in their ears and terrifying them with warnings, to turn from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones, so that his very being finds food repulsive and his soul loathes the choicest meal. His flesh wastes away to nothing, and his bones, once hidden now stick out. His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the messengers of death. Yet if there is an angel on his side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, “Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him” – then his flesh is renewed like a child’s; it is restored as in the days of his youth. He pr

2 Kings 15-17, ‘When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.’ One weapon the Devil uses against us when we are overwhelmed by a myriad of problems is loneliness. He causes us to be abandoned and neglected by our family and friends, leaving us feeling vulnerable and all alone. We are then prone to despair, anxiety, depression and fear, choosing to give up and succumb to our situation instead of persevering and forging ahead in the knowledge that our God is with us, even when we cannot see Him in our present circumstances. The Devil reminds us of the grea

Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.’ Do not despair if things look bad, do not lose hope thinking that you have messed everything up and you have no chance at reaping any good for in all things God plans good things for those who love Him. Just look at how in Adam man was lost in rebellion and disobedience, cursed to face eternal death because of the sinful life we led, yet in His divine wisdom and mercy and love, God came and lived as man in Jesus, showing us the example by which we should live and then redeeming us unto Himself by His death at the cross thus satisfying the requirement of the law that demanded death for sin and disobedience while giving us the gift of life eternal and clothing us with righteousness in Jesus Christ that we do not deserve. God knows that you are broken, you are a cracked pot and there is no other way that He would want you because only in your broke

1 Corinthians 1:11-13, ‘My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; “I follow Cephas (Peter)”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?’ The body of Christ has become so stratified nowadays yet we are supposed to be one for how many bodies does the head, who is Christ Jesus, have but one. We have allowed our own petty differences, competitions and comparisons to confuse and inflame us to the point of hating each other rather than loving each other as commanded by the Lord. We are now followers of the servants of God instead of the Lord Himself. We have forgotten that the church is the fellowship of believers and now have limited into identifying ourselves with the physical church we attend. The church has been taken over by religion, where doctrine has become more importa

Joshua 1:5-10, ‘“No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” So Joshua ordered the officers of the people…’ Moses was a great man of God and was able to do numerous miracles. After he died, Joshua, his assistant that had been groomed as successor was called to fill in the big shoes that Mose

Psalm 51:16,17, ‘You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.’ In the olden days of the Jews would offer burnt offering to God as an appeasement. Now let us ask ourselves one thing, why did God want the Jews to offer sacrifices for sin, thanksgiving, dedication, atonement and other such events, was it for the meat, aroma (the seen things) or was there more? Now before a person makes a sin sacrifice, for example, he has to be aware that he has sinned in the first place. After knowing his sin, then he has to be remorseful and sorry about the wrong he has done. But it does not end there, he has to be repentant; that is, being sorry enough to stop doing the wrong thing and then know that it is only He who needs to and can forgive our sins. That is why He accepted Abel’s sacrifice but rejected Cain’s. God desires that whatever we do; be it thanksgiving, seeking fo

Psalm 1:1-3, ‘Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he mediates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.’ Jesus told us that we should first seek the kingdom of God and God in His faithfulness would meet our needs. Seeking God’s kingdom means loving God and to His will for your life is the demonstration of this love. God created each one of us for a purpose in life, He wants us to achieve that purpose and the only way we can do is by aligning our will with His by submission because He knows the path that we are to take to reach there. In other words we need to walk in His counsel and away from those that will mislead and derail us from our God given path of obedience to a path of rebellion and selfishness and ultimate destructio

Psalm 53:1-3, ‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt and their ways are vile; there is no-one who does good. God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no-one who does good, not even one.’ The human nature is carnal in nature; that is to say that it is ruled by selfishness, arrogance, pride, jealousy, envy where we are more or only concerned with ‘number one’ than with the needs and feelings of others. Still unconvinced? Just look at the selfish behavior of small children that have not yet been socialized with a sense of right or wrong and you will notice that are only concerned with their own needs. This is the sinfulness of the human nature where we justify many a great atrocities in the name of the meeting our needs or ‘rights’ as we like to call them. Some of these ‘rights’ that we say are inalienable and fundamental are sim

Psalm 51:1-13, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to yo

Psalm 118:14, ‘The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.’ In Jesus we find salvation, in Him we find the strength to forge ahead, move on towards that prize, that has been promised to us through Him. On the cross, Jesus suffered the judgment once and for all, therefore taking the sting out of death by satisfying the requirement of the law that demands death as a just payment for sin and in God’s divine wisdom now affords any that choose to believe in and surrender their life in total obedience to Him eternal life. Jesus was given power and authority over everything in this world by the Father and now that we as believers are in Him, we have access to this power and authority over the sin of this world, able to live as new creatures in righteousness in Christ able to patiently wait with confidence the judgment day, knowing that our sins are remembered no more while we are in Him for we are covered by the blood He shed at Calvary. Therefore when we feel fearfu

Psalm 52:1-7, ‘Why do you boast of evil you mighty man? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God? Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit. You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. You love every harmful word; O you deceitful tongue! Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him saying, “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew by destroying others!”’ The tongue is a very treacherous tool that can be used to either build up or tear down people. With a tongue you can offer praise to God and with it you can curse men. The world as we know it was spoken into existence and in faith believers call into existence what is not seen. We need to be masters of our tongue so

Psalm 118:7, ‘The LORD is with me; He is my helper. I will look in triumph over my enemies.’ Believer, the creator of the universe, He who made something from nothing, He who sees the end from the beginning, He who spoke and it was, the great I AM, I with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is your helper and will provide a way for you where there is none. It does not matter what you are faced with, nothing is too big for Him, nothing is impossible for Him. Your enemies might have already written you off, rejoicing that they have destroyed you, rejoicing over your corpse and your death but He has brought you back to life, to restore you to your former position, to uplift you even higher than you have ever imagined. You are no longer a servant but a child of the Most High God through Jesus Christ. You can now look over your enemies in victory, knowing that in Christ you have made a spectacle of them, that you have the victory, that you are more than a conqueror in Chri

Psalm 118:10-13, ‘All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off. I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me.’ The world is full of trouble, and we are constantly under attack from the Devil who wants us to lose hope and give up on our inheritance as believers. He will use family, friends, strangers and enemies to try and put us down, persecute us, oppress us, discourage us, mislead us, tempt us so that we may lose our way and not focus on Jesus Christ who is the author and perfecter of our faith and strengthens us through everything. But in all these we should never lose our focus, keeping our eyes on the prize, shedding off all encumbrances that might prevent us from reaching our destination and completing our race by focusing on Jesus, our Lord

Psalm 118:5, ‘In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and He answered by setting me free.’ We were in shackles of sin, living in slavery to it, submitting to our selfish and sinful desires but the Lord saw our anguish and sent His one and only begotten Son, called Jesus, to take our sins away and by washing our transgressions away with His blood at the cross. He has set us free from the yoke of sin and death and has given us righteousness and life. What a joy to know that you are no longer dead but alive, that your name has been written in the book of life, that you are victorious, a conqueror of this world, that you are a visitor, an ambassador of the Kingdom of God on earth longing to go home to your God because of His Amazing Grace.

Psalm 118:6, ‘The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ Imagine this believer; the creator has got your back. What a wonderful thought that is, to possess the knowledge that the Almighty, Holy God is always with you. If you possess this knowledge, this truth, then despair and fear of men and angels should not grasp you. You should not allow anxiety to grip and envelop your heart even when you are confronted by troubles, trials and persecutions because He who is with you is greater than all that come against you. What might seem impossible to you is possible to Him because everything is possible through Him. He has you in the palm of your hand and no one can snatch you away from His grasp. Replace fear with faith and hope, trusting in the Lord’s faithfulness to help you through your problems and afflictions. Your enemies, both physical and spiritual, may gnash their teeth at you, plotting and planning your demise but God works out everything for the good of t

Psalm 116:8,9, ‘For you O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living.’ We were dead in spirit but as believer we now live, through Jesus Christ’ death at the cross, we have been given a fresh lease of life, to start a new, to live only for Him who purchased our life with His, to share in His inheritance, to live in joy and peace and love for in sin all we had was heartache, misery, pain and death. God is giving you salvation, reach out with your heart and take hold of this life, this promise from a faithful and just God, to lift you up higher, from being a servant to being a son, do not hesitate, accept the deliverance of the Lord now and be counted among the living whose hope and trust is in the Lord, who are anchored on the Rock, the cornerstone that the builder’s refused that now gives life to whosoever believes.

Psalm 118:8,9, ‘It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.’ God is not man. He does not change His mind, He is faithful and just, He is Almighty and powerful, He is Holy, He is all knowing, all seeing and ever present and we need to place our hopes and trust in Him for He will never forsake nor leave us unlike men who will be with you only when things are good, only for a season, who are irrational and cannot change even the head on their head to be grey. Men’s hearts are full of deceit and will deceive you but God is good all the time, having good plans for you, to prosper and provide a hope and a future. There is no other person that we can depend on other than God. Placing your hope and trust in a fellow man is like building sand castles that will be washed away but trusting and having faith in God is building your foundation on Christ the Solid Rock. Simply put He is dependable.

Psalm 118:24, ‘This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’ The fact that you are reading this is a cause for celebration because many would have wished to have been added more time, just enough to tell the ones they love how they feel, enough to ask for forgiveness from those they wronged, to do things differently but unfortunately for them, their time is up. But yours is not so rejoice and be glad that the Lord has allowed you one more minute, one more hour, one more day, to live. If you have not yet repented this is your time to repent, stop procrastinating and putting it off for you know not what tomorrow holds for you. Believer, rejoice that the Lord has given you more time to do the work that He has set before you, to win more souls to Christ, to share the good news that has transformed your life with the ignorant and the oppressed. Do not procrastinate for you shall be called to account for your time. You are here because the Lord willed you to b

Psalm 116:5-7, ‘The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The LORD protects the simple hearted; when I was in great need He saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.’ Before we knew Christ, we were living in slavery to sin and to the Evil one, but now that we know Christ, we have been set free and free indeed! Our freedom, we did not earn but by the grace of God, His free mercy and compassion, He forgave us, once and for all in and through Christ. We were in great need of His salvation fro we were doomed to the pit, the lake of fire that had been made for the Prince of Darkness and His fallen angels, yet because of His love and compassion for man, Jesus came, shedding His divinity and choosing to live lover than angels, taking on the life of a servant, He redeemed us by His blood, at the cross, and all we have to do is to be childlike in our minds, believing that He is the Son of the living God and that He died and rose agai

Psalm 112:5-8, ‘Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely, who conducts his affairs with justice. Surely he will never be shaken; a righteous man will be remembered for ever. He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.’ We live in a world that justifies the means used by the end sought; we lie, cheat and steal all in the name of acquiring wealth and status. We have replaced justice and equity with a clogged up, blind and unfair legal system that is tied up and led by not what is wrong or right but by rules and regulations. It teaches us to view our success with our accumulation. We hoard and accumulate and become stingy where someone with millions in his account will not even spare a few hundreds of shillings to provide just a single meal to a starving neighbor. But the living word of God teaches us that for us to receive; we need to generously a

Psalm 112:10, ‘The wicked man will see and be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.’ We should live in this world fear free, doing what the Lord has put into our hearts without fear of persecution because their plans to stop you from enjoying God’s peace, joy and hope; to dissuade you from believing in good purpose for your life and getting fulfillment from living and achieving your destiny; to keep you from exercising your power over sin; to keep you from experiencing God’s unconditional, selfless and boundless love; to keep you from maturing and growing spiritually into all you are meant to be; to keep you paralyzed with fear and many other reasons. Elisha once told us that we should not fear because those that are with us are more and greater than those that are with the wicked. They may go to witch doctors, they may harm your body but Jesus warned us to be very wary of who destroys the soul, that is the Devil, who is the p

Psalm 112:4, ‘Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.’ We are living in dark times full of strife, tribulations, hate, wickedness, rebellion, anger, collapse and death, a state that leads to despair, discouragement and hopelessness. Look at the news, the internet, social media and hang outs, what we hear and see is depressing. But there is good news for the believer, because God has promised never to forsake us and that we should place all our trust in Him, believing that He will make our crooked way straight, that even when others are afflicted by the plagues of death and suffering, we will not be touched that His angels will not allow us to fall even when we stumble. As believers, we are more than conquerors and God works everything for the good for those that have faith in Him. Even in this difficult and trying times, do not loose hope, do not allow fear into your heart because fear will stifle and strangle your faith. Y

Colossians 3:12-17, ‘Therefore, as God´s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Jesus Christ taught us how to live in righteousness. Paul told the Colossians the traits we need to hold dear in our heart as men and women of God namely compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness

Proverbs 22:1, ‘A good name is more desirable than great riches, to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.’ We live in a world that loves things and uses people. We place more value on things that we are willing to do anything to obtain it. The Lord asks what it profits a man to gain the whole world but lose His soul, highlighting that our soul was more valuable than the whole world. But how many of us sell ourselves cheap, selling our souls to the Devil for eternal damnation for a fleeting moment of pleasure. Moths and rust destroy the riches of this world so it wise to store up your riches in heaven where they will remain eternally by living a righteous life. You need to know your value, you can choose to be a child of the Most High God and inherit everything or settle for less and pay for eternity for your poor choice. Know your value, don’t sell yourself short.

Proverbs 21:31, ‘The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.’ We need to place all our trust and hope in the Lord for nothing is possible apart from Him but everything is possible through Him. Trusting in ourselves is futile because we cannot control anything and everything happens by the will of God. Trusting in ourselves is a form of pride and rebellion where we exalt our own way, thinking, plans above those of the Lord. God is faithful and will honor His promises if we come to Him in faith.

Proverbs 21:30, ‘There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.’ We live in a time that is the most advanced in the history of man yet, with all this knowledge, we are still foolish in the sight of God. God knows everything, even what is in the heart of man. God’s will is sovereign and no one can prevent God from achieving what He wants. We might plan all we want but God’s will prevails. It is therefore important for us, in order to have peace and joy, to live through His grace in humility and obedience to His divine will for our lives and He will exalt us. But if we exalt ourselves in pride, placing ourselves above Him, He will oppose us to our ruin.

Proverbs 12:23, ‘A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly.’ We live in a world where everyone feels obliged to give His two cents worth about everything. We have blogs on everything, we have experts who give us free advice us on everything. We demand that we have the right to know everything and we now have leaks on every issue from government to personal and private matters. But this freedom of speech of exercise at times exposes the ignorance of our generation as we say a lot but reveal nothing meaningful. It is election period and our politicians are falling over themselves to be constantly seen in the media spot light, in rallies, on podiums speaking for hours but telling us nothing really. This political noise that is raising tribal tensions is aggravating rather than edifying us and I would rather they just keep quiet if they have nothing better to say. Even a fool is thought to be wise if he keeps quiet.

Psalm 119: 33-40, ‘Teach me O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart towards your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.’ Who am I that I may know the plans of God? Who am I to question His wisdom? I am nothing apart from Him and all I need and desire is for Him to reveal to me His will for my life, what He has purposed for my life that I may live my life rejoicing in His will and not mine, through Jesus Christ and not on my own strength, for I cannot do anything without Christ who strengthens me. My focus is now only on Jesus who now

John 15:16, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.’ Jesus chose each and every one of us in Him to do His purpose and will. Even before He formed us, He knew us, before we were born, He set us apart, anointing us for His will and purpose, and therefore we should not be discouraged, fearful or ashamed for He has good plans for us, to bear good fruit according to His will and purpose for His eternal glory, praise be to God. We can therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence of asking anything according to His will and purpose of our lives because we have already received it through the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for we that believe in Him, called to Him for His purpose, are now in Him, clothed in His righteousness and seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

John 15:14, 15, ‘You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from the Father I have made known to you.’ In Jesus we are now joint heirs of the promises made by the Father having power and authority and dominion over everything of this world and the one to come through Jesus. Rejoice because we are no longer servants but brothers with Christ, sharing with Him His glory. Having learned everything from Him, we are now empowered with the knowledge of truth and no longer fall prey to the Devil who prowls like a lion waiting for someone to devour. We are now able to resist the Devil in Christ. Then what shall I say of the Day that He promised to come back in full glory, I longingly await for it with joy and hope trusting that I will be made just as He is, having been crowned with His righteousness, because my God is faithful and will not

John 15:9-13, 17, ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends. …This is my command: Love each other.’ Jesus wholly depended on God the Father while He was on earth, and whatever He received from Him, He shared with us, His love, His power and authority. He showed us a perfect example of humility and obedience submitting to the Father’s will to die at the cross as atonement, a sacrifice, for our sins and to provide a way for our salvation. His love for the Father was selfless and unconditional, obeying to the point of shedding His divinity and living as a servant. His love for us was also selfless and unconditional in that He

Mathew 28:19,20, ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ As His time to go back to the Father came, Jesus gave His disciples a charge to accomplish: they were to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching them to obey His teachings. More than 2000 years have elapsed since His ascension and we who are now His disciples are still charged to spread the gospel of the good news that through God’s grace, whosoever believes in the one and only Son of God will not perish but have everlasting life. Many believers however are scared and ashamed into silence of sharing this knowledge with those in our life for fear of rejection. We believe like Samuel that if we minister unto them and they reject it they have rejected us, we feel obliged to convince and convict them into getting saved. But that is where we get it wrong. In love we

John 15:7, 8, ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ When we live a life of love through obedience to Jesus Christ, we have the confidence of asking anything from the Father according to His will in the name of Jesus Christ and we shall receive it because we are clothed in His righteousness. By granting us according to His will all that we ask through the name of the Son, God is glorifying the Jesus as His one and only Son who He loves and lives a life of obedience. In this the Son glorifies the Father as being a just God, who is mighty, loving, merciful and faithful to all that believe in the Son giving us a hope that we shall see and enjoy the promises He has made to us in the Son,. As disciples of Jesus, go to the Father with confidence expecting your prayers to be answered and receiving in faith the spiritual gifts and bles

John 15:1-6, ‘“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. Jesus is the tree of life and the church is the branches that are attached to and wholly dependent on Him. Without Him we are nothing but in Him we are more than conquerors. If we allow ourselves to be fully ingrafted in Him, allowing Him to be the supplier of all our needs, feedi

John 14:27, ‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’ Jesus Christ gives us peace that transcends above the storm so that even the midst of turmoil, we remain at peace and retain our joy and fear will not overtake us and cause us to despair and loose hope. Where there is peace there is hope and where there hope, there abounds joy. This gives us power over the plans of the Devil so that even when He brings the greatest trials and troubles our way, we will continue to live in faith, believing that we are more than conquerors in Christ who strengthens us, having already received the victory over the challenges we are facing. Peace gives you the assurance that all things will work out for the good for those who have placed their faith and trust in the Lord. With a peaceful heart you will cast away any doubts that the Devil may bring your way through His lies and manipulations about y

John 14:26, ‘But the Counselor, the holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.’ The Holy Spirit reveals to us the truth about God, His immense and boundless love for us, His mercifulness and faithfulness, His divine justice and judgment and His sovereign will for us. He lives in us, ministering, convicting, guiding, leading admonishing, edifying as that still small voice within. The Holy Spirit speaks what He hears from the Father, guiding us into all truth and teaching us more about Jesus so that we may know Him more intimately, more deeply to enable us to place our trust and faith in Him. He gives us spiritual gifts to members of the church so that through men, the Son may be glorified and the Son may glorify the Father.

John 14:18, 19, ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live you also will live.’ After the resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. But for those that are His, ingrafted in Him know that we are not alone but He is always with us in all our daily endeavor guiding us, leading us, ministering to us, reassuring us, preparing the path before us and we are always with him in heaven seated in Him at the right hand of God having the confidence to present our petitions to the Father in heaven. By faith, we are reborn into His likeness and just as He has overcome death by His resurrection, we are also like Him resurrected and with power over the sting of death that came because of sin because the full price for our sins has been paid at the cross by He who loves us, when He cried out ‘It is finished’ while H

John 14:17, ‘…the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him for He lives with you and will be in you.’ When we accept Jesus Christ in our lives by faith, a wonderful miracle happens, God resurrects our spirit and comes fills us with His Spirit – the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, making His home with us and what a joy it is to have Him in and with you! For he will always live in us, never leaving nor forsaking us. Then you can have all the confidence to do everything according to His will with the knowledge that He who is in us is greater than those that are in the world. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so that we may repent of our sins and receive the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ, of righteousness so that we may have the confidence to approach the throne of God through Christ who has clothed us with His righteousness and is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven interceding on our behalf and o