In search of God

Deuteronomy 4:35-39, ‘You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides Him there is no other. From heaven He made you hear His voice to discipline you. On earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from out of the fire. Because He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, He brought you out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today. Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.’ God shows Himself to us through signs and wonders so that we may know His mighty power and majesty. The LORD choose the Israelites as the people through which to show the world Himself; His love, His faithfulness, His power, His mercy, His majesty, His judgment and so many other characteristics of His divine nature.

John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ The birth of Jesus was a love gift – a sacrifice made by God for the world, (that is you and me) that He loves with immeasurable and incomprehensible love. To fully understand this, we need to go back to the beginning, to the genesis of all things. John 1:1-4, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.’ You see God is the beginning of all things and in all things He has set laws to govern. Because He is a just God, He will not break even one of His laws that He has set. The first man Adam sinned and as a consequence his nature became sinful which we have inherited as his descendants. The consequence of man’s sinful nature was death and e

In Romans 12:17-21 'Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.', It is hard for us to forgive because the world teaches us from a tender age that tit for tat is the order of the day. If someone wrongs you, you must avenge yourself so that you can feel better about it. Even us Christians, when we are wronged, we might not do it ourselves but we ask God to avenge on our behalf so that we can feel better. But is that why God commands us to forgive and do good to those that have wronged

Numbers 13:31,32, ‘But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.’ Pessimism is defined as having an attitude of anticipating undesirable outcomes or believes that the hardships in life outweigh the good. The world that we live in is pessimistic. We in turn have become pessimistic in our nature anticipating that the undesirable or negative outcome is more likely to happen and that the evil in the world triumph over good. This is just the way the natural world is. This is the attitude that the ten men chosen from the twelve tribes of Israel had. And because of this pessimism, they spread a negative report among the camp of Israel about the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by God on oath, a land flowing with milk

Psalm 73:2-10,12, ‘But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. This is what the wicked are like – always carefree, they increase in wealth.’ How many of us are envious of the wicked – the liars, cheats, murderers – of the world. Life looks like it is kinder to them, they have the best in and of life. And the world honours and adores them; we aspire to be like

Genesis 6:5, ‘The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. After the fall of Adam (not from grace as is usually put) in the Garden of Eden when He rebelled against a life of obedience to God, his nature became sinful (rebellious, disobedience, selfish). It did not take long before the evil became prevalent in the world. Now sin is just a manifestation of the sinfulness of our nature but it is our nature that is sinful. For example, when is a tree a mango tree, is it when it produces fruit that it is called a mango tree or is it even before it produces fruit. Of course the tree is a mango tree even before it produces the mango fruit. The fruit is just the manifestation of the nature of the tree and so it is with the nature of man, you are sinful not because you sin but because that is your nature. Now the nature of man is not gained from the world after birth by exposure to sin

Romans 8:29-33, ‘For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.’ Do you know who you are to and what you mean to God? Do you know the extent of the great love that God has for you, His thought about and for you? Before you were God knew you, before the beginning, He knew you, He set aside a destiny for you, that you would be conformed to the likeness of Christ. This means that the plan of the Father is that as Christ is you are; as He is the Father’s beloved son in whom you are we

Proverbs 15:3, 'The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.' The LORD is all seeing, keeping watch over your deeds, so if you are doing wrong, repent and He is merciful and faithful and He will forgive your iniquities and remember them no more. And if you are doing good, keep on doing good for He is faithful and just and will surely reward you. Do not be foolish to think that you can escape for those that have not called unto the name that can save, the name of Jesus, the Son of God, who came as a sacrificial lamb to redeem you, stand condemned. So repent, turn away from your sin and start doing good in faith and surely as He lives, He will reward you in this life and the one to come.

Proverbs 14:12, 'There is always a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.' Isn't this a telling proverb and a great reason to trust in the plan of God? You might be planning to do something that in your eyes seems to be right, a decision or plan that looks like it will benefit your tremendously, but later on, with the benefit of hindsight, you painfully realize that there was something ahead that you had not foreseen that brings so much pain and unravels your plan. But God, who sees the beginning from the end, He who has a wonderful plan for you, to give you hope and a future, if you let Him will guide your steps, your decisions, your plans to align with what He has in store for you and you will not be destroyed. Eve, when enticed by the Devil saw that the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil was beneficial and ate it, but that choice, led to the beginning of suffering, pain, separation and death for man. But God in His divine wisdom and beca

Proverbs 14:23, 'All hard work brings profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.' If we want to achieve something in life we need to do a honest days work. Each one of us was created for a purpose and that purpose involves you doing something. Our main purpose in life is to find out the plan God has for our life then living it. Unfortunately for most of us, either through coercion by our parents/ guardians - who have our best interest at heart, or through our own thinking led by envy, we tend to try and live someone else's plan that no matter how hard you work, you still end up being frustrated. Then we give up and start to day dream hoping that God will open our doors, our way refusing to listen to that still small voice within that is guiding you towards your destiny. Eventually we live unfulfilled lives without hope and a broken spirit. So we need to work and stop wasting our lives in mindless talk, or wallowing in self pity. God's favor is always upon you and H

Proverbs 13:24, 'He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.' We are all born with rebellion and pride in our hearts and that is why a small child does not need to be taught how to be selfish minding only about themselves and their needs. As parents and guardians, we have been given the responsibility of stewardship over the children God has blessed us with. We need to train, mentor, guide our children towards living right with God right from the time they are small because if you train a child to live in a certain way when they are small, those teachings will never depart from their heart. Now as a loving parent, when your child makes a mistake, you need to correct them to help them know the importance of loving others as much as themselves. In most cases, even for us adults, denying self is difficult and that is why you need when necessary to discipline your child with love including spanking them so that you uproot that bad beha

Proverbs 14:1, 'The wise woman builds her own house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.' It is a woman who turns a house into a home through her tenderness and caring heart. A wise woman of God knows this and through her noble character earns her husband's confidence, good and ensures that everything in the home is in ordered in its place by watching over the affairs of her home. Her husband will be honored and respected and he is sure to bless and praise her all the days of her life (Proverbs 31:10-31). But a foolish woman tears down her home by constant nagging, driving the husband away from the home, disparaging the name of her husband to everyone caring to listen, not watching over the affairs of her home, not instructing her children on the way to go. All this will bring curses and rebuke from her husband. O woman, be wise and build your home for prosperity and posterity. And if you lack wisdom ask God who gives generously to all without findin

James 1:12, 'Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.' When we are born again and surrender our life to Christ, there is a struggle between the soul that wishes to please the self and the Spirit of God deposited within us that wishes to please God. The Devil through trials, tries to cause us to loose faith in God, to remove our trust in Him who conquers all and to trust ourselves. But those that love Him are called to stand firm, never loosing heart but trusting in Him who is the author and perfecter of our faith that He is faithful and will complete the work He has began in us. Jesus tells us in John 14:23 that we display our love for Him by living in obedience to Him, keeping His teachings that will lead us to life eternal that He gave unto us through His amazing grace at the cross. So despite all the enemy, who steals, robs and kills, might bring your w

Psalm 121, 'I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip - He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore.' Are you in despair, do you feel overwhelmed by the trials and tribulations you are facing, does it seem like the barrage of bad news, bad breaks and bad luck is unyielding, do you feel like giving up. well friend, am here to tell you that you are not alone. that there is one who loves and cares for you so much and has never stopped loving you, no matter what you have done. It is the LORD God our Savior and refuge, the maker of heaven and

Ecclesiastes 6:29, ‘This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.’ When God made Adam, he was perfect, filled with the Spirit of God. But Adam rebelled against God’s authority by disobeying Him. Since then we have been living life chasing our own schemes which is vanity because no matter what we chase, we will never be satisfied. Now through the second Adam, Jesus the Christ, we have been made upright again by faith through the grace of God. In Christ we can now stand confidently before God, because we are clothed by the righteousness of Christ, who at the cross ,became our sin and faced the righteous judgment of God for our sins so that we are now no longer slaves but children of the living God. If you depend on yourself, you will always be chasing after worthless schemes that will lead down the path of death and destruction. I urge dear reader, make the choice of letting God make you righteous again.

Isaiah 61:3, ‘They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.’ Under the new cross, we are clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ, not because of our own effort but because of the efforts of the second Adam, that was judged and found to be without sin and then He was made sin so that we may be righteous. We do not earn our righteousness but receive it by faith through the amazing grace of God, therefore we are a planting of the LORD, so that through us His magnificence can be seen and He may glorifed forever more.

Ezekiel 18:20, ‘The soul who sins is the one who will die.’ The world has led us to believe that so long as everyone is doing something then it is right, that corporate sins remove responsibility from us. But this is a lie; everyone will pay for their own sins. If you do not live a life dedicated to loving God and your fellow man, only you will be guilty of your rebellion. No one can and will share your guilt. Your righteousness will be credited to you as your wickedness will be credited to you. God is just and will not punish you for the sins of another, therefore rebuke generational curses that have been laid upon your family for in the new covenant you are free from them. Believer, you are covered with the righteousness by faith, therefore through your faith this righteousness will be credited to you. Do not allow yourself to be deceived by the world, just because everyone is doing it, does not make it right before God.

Joshua 2:24, ‘They said to Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”’ The LORD is faithful and has already given us victory over all circumstances of this life. All we need to do is trust in Him and depend on His grace. Be it financial, health, mercy, love, hope, faith, He has given us abundantly above and beyond our imagination or what we could ask. Isn’t that wonderful news? Rejoice in Him who has called you according to His purposes, dwell in His amazing grace and see yourself lifted from glory to glory, not because you deserve it but because He loves you and has clothed you with His righteousness in Christ and therefore you can access all the promises due to the righteous. Because of His Mighty hand upon you, your name will precede you, wherever you go, people will glorify the name of the LORD, saying there is the LORD’s anointed, His favor has rested on Him, everything He touches prospers, so that as y

Matthew 6:31,32 'So do not worry, saying, "What shall we ate?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and you heavenly Father knows that you need them.' If you worry about something that is troubling you, a need that needs to be provided for, a problem that needs a solution, are you guaranteed of getting the provision or solution? I know you will not so why then do we worry. We worry because we allow fear into our hearts and also because we place our focus on our problems. Fear then magnifies these problems into giants that seem insurmountable. But living in fear and worry robs us of life and we end up living miserable defeated lives instead of enjoying the victory that God has in store for us. Our God is faithful and He knows our needs even before we know of them and provides for us a solution before the problem even comes upon us. You doubt, then look at the cross. God knew that Adam would

Ephesians 4:31,32 'Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.' When we surrender to Christ and accept Him as our LORD, we are born again and receive a new spirit that is like Christ. Through conviction, the word of God and faith, we are supposed to transform our minds and renew our thinking focusing on all that is good. Bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander all are present when there is no love. They burden us with hate and we end up living sad, miserable lives. In this we grieve the Holy Spirit that is in us, that was sealed with us for the day of redemption. But God is love and demands that we love one another just as Christ loved us and willingly gave up His life for us. In His love God forgave us of our sins and transgressions, vowing to remember them no more, at the cross when Christ was punished as the Lamb of

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 'Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up! Also if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.' Life has many troubles and it is easier and better to face them with someone than alone. A strong wind can uproot a tree that is standing alone but not a forest. So believer, go to church - a gathering of believers, so that they can strengthen and comfort you in your time of trouble. They will be your pillars of strength, holding you up when all you want to do is crumble down, wipe away your tears, hold your hand, reassure you, support you so that you endure the weeping as you wait for the dawn. A story is told of a man who fell in a deep pit, he tried to get out but in vain so he gave up. While he was in there several people passed by and when he y

Numbers 14:4, ‘And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”’ What happens when something you believed God for does not happen according to your timeline or in the manner that you had expected? Most of us despair, reject God’s leadership over our lives and then we go back to that old familiar crutch that we are so used to, that addiction that we use to distract our minds from our misfortune, or lift us up, or validate us. That is what the Israelites did when they were at the brink of entering the Promised Land but received a bad report from ten of the twelve spies sent out to inspect the land. They despaired and thought of going back to the land where they had been mistreated and living as slaves. They rejected God’s leadership and wanted to select their own leader to do according to their will. They had forgotten all the miracles that God had performed in display of His Might and Power to them. Isn’t that how most of us react when we are in despair

Ephesians 4:29, 'Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.' The tongue is a very powerful organ that is capable of bringing either life or death. We as believers of Christ need to be very mindful of what we say. But this starts from what we allow into our hearts. There are only two inlets into our hearts, that is, the eyes and the ears, what we see and what we listen to. If we allow filth to enter into our hearts by looking at wrong things and listening to wrong things, we will have wickedness in our hearts. We can only give out what is in our hearts and if it full of wickedness then our outlet, that is the mouth, will only spew out this wickedness. A spring cannot bring forth both fresh and salty water. Live your life being in right standing with God by being careful what you allow into your heart. Feed your heart with the word of God so that you m

Mark 12:38-40, ‘As He taught Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the market places, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at the banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.’ God is a God of the heart. He sees and judges what our motives are rather than our outward appearances. As men, we can deceive each other, living well scripted lives that portray us to be one way, earning the praise and honor of men, but deep down we know the truth about ourselves, we can fool everyone and anyone but ourselves and God. We need to aspire to live like David, only for God. We need to put His purpose above ours. We need to live by His will and not ours. We need to be men and women after God’s hearts. Only then can we live in truth and light. Only then can our actions when passed through the fire of judgment stand. Let

Numbers 14:40-45, ‘Early the next morning they went up towards the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the LORD promised.” But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the LORD’s command? This will not succeed! Do not go up because the LORD is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.” Nevertheless in their presumption they went up towards the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.’ In Ecclesiastes, God reminds us that there is a right time for everything. We need to pray for God to give us an understanding and hearing heart so that we may hear His voice when He gives us direction. We need to pray

Numbers 12:6-8, ‘[The LORD] said, “Listen to my words: When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”’ We need to have a reverence of God’s anointed and those that He has put in authority over us. Like David, let us take special care not to harm them for it is the LORD that has brought them up and if they choose not to be faithful to Him, it is He who will bring them down. We do this in honor of God for He is not like man who sees the outward appearance of man but sees His heart and He uses all things for His purposes and for the good of His chosen people, those that love Him and are called according to His purposes.

Numbers 12:1, ‘Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.’ Envy is a very dangerous and we need to be vigilant and not allow it creep into our hearts. James tell us in James 4:1,2 that our selfish desires causes us to be envious of our neighbors to the extent of coveting and killing. This is what was afflicting the brother and sister of Moses, Miriam and Aaron. They were envious of the favor and position God had given to Moses. They were lusting after that which Moses had given to Moses. As often as is the case, in order to mask that our hatred is driven or fuelled by our raw selfish desires and ambitions, we place it on something that has nothing to do with the other like tribe, race, gender, age and any other reason other than the truth that it is our envy of what this person has that is driving us towards hating them. Miriam and Aaron used Moses’ Cushite wife, a non Jew and dark skinned woman as a justification as to why

Leviticus 26:3-12, ‘“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no-one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelli

Leviticus 25:8-10, ‘“Count off seven sabbaths of years – seven times seven years – so that the seven sabbaths of seven years amount to a period of forty nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his own clan.”’ Jubilee was a time when people or things were restored back to their former self or position. As believers and followers of Christ, our jubilee came 2000 years ago when Christ died on the cross for our sins because at the cross, we were not only forgiven, but we were restored, and restored to a much better position than we were initially for in Christ we are joint heirs with Him of all the promises made to the seed of Abraham. The covenant that we are living under in Christ is much superior than the one that was

Exodus 34:6, 7, ‘And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”’ Our God is compassionate and gracious in that even though we were sinners who had rebelled against Him, He loved us so much that He crafted a divine plan to redeem us to Him by giving us undeserved mercy and favour. His love for us is so pure, so true that we are called unto Him not because of our love for Him but for His love for us, His faithful love that never wavers or changes. Let us take advantage of the mercy of God by approaching the throne of grace through Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour through whom we have been redeemed to God and we are now free from the yoke of sin but are now

Exodus 34:12-14, ‘“…Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”’ It has been said that one rotten apple, spoils a whole basket. Does this mean that if you find a rotten apple in a basket then the whole basket should be thrown out as bad? No! but if you let the bad apple remain in that basket, sure enough, the other apples will become bad as the bacteria in the bad apple spread to the other apples. This is the case with Christians, if you are a Christian and you partner with unbelievers, you live a life of compromise for the sake of the feelings of unbelievers, trying to please everyone at the expense of the truth, sure enough their unbelief is sure to creep on into your heart. You will find yourself making excuses so as to fit in and belong

Leviticus 18:1-5, ‘The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.”’ The Israelites were warned not to do as where they were from or going to because evil is pervasive in this world, it is everywhere you look, in everything you read or listen to. Their only salvation lay in living a life of full obedience to God. The road to righteousness is very narrow and it is only found in Jesus Christ. That is why we need to focus our eyes not on the world or what is happening towards us but on Jesus Christ, the perfecter and finisher of our faith, our salvation, our mercy our righteousness. The narrow road is the eas