The Stronghold of Pride

Psalms  73:6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

Friends nothing causes a man to rebel against God's word like pride does.

The average man has a picture of self sufficiency in his / her heart, I want to do this all by myself. Relying on someone to get something done is a no, no.

Most of us as redeemed as we may appear to be, struggle with the strong hold of pride. We cannot afford to have someone say they were part of our success journey. We want all the credit.

This reality is one reason we tend to always want to do something even after God must have asked us to stand still.

This same pride is what causes us to often refuse to take our issues to God even after He asked us to bring our burdens to Him. We have indirectly bought into the idea that God help those who help themselves".

Pride won't allow us to take seriously God' instruction for obtaining rest in a particular area of life we’ve been trying to obtain for years.

Due to the nature of our present society many of us are not comfortable going with God's plans for achieving our set desire simply because the process eliminates our own effort.

God does not need your help in getting you to the destiny He had arranged for you before He called you to be on earth.

The delay most of us experience while expecting some things from God could be linked to our own pride of wanting to help God out.

Often times God wants His work in our live to speak for itself and not us trying to explain it.
While it’s good to always have a plan on how to get something done let’s not forget to give room for the purpose of God concerning that thing

For many are the plans in a man' heart, but the counsel of the LORD shall stand"

Slain for My Power

"Worthy is the lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Revelation 5:12

There are seven obvious attributes possessed by Jesus Christ as a result of His crucifixion on the cross.

This same attributes has been made available to us through salvation the minute we received Him as Lord and Saviour of our lives. 

According to our text in Revelation 5:12, these attributes was paid for in full by Jesus, and the currency used for the purchase was His blood

To activate and operate these attributes in our daily lives we need to acknowledge the fact that they are ours. And we already possess them in their right proportions.

We need to deliberately use them for the furtherance of the kingdom of God within our sphere of influence. i.e.
Place of work, within our family, circle of friends, among our fellow course mates. Etc.

The attributes we are talking about this morning are as follows;
1. Power
2. Wealth /Riches
3.Wisdom
4.Strength
5.Honor
6.Glory
7. Praise /blessing.

As children of God, it’s important that we understand that this attributes are already residing in every one of us. All we need to do is turn them on. Like we turn on the light whenever we enter a room and feel the need for the light already made available in the room.

Two major ways to turn on these attributes within us;
Constant prayer and
Word study.

Let’s take a quick  look at the first attribute as listed in Revelation 5:12.
POWER
The word power was first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 31:6. It was rightfully used in connection with Jacob while working for Laban, his father in-law and uncle.
The root meaning of the word power which is capacity or means was very obvious in the life of Jacob while he served Laban. Laban himself attests to this truth.


He confessed to Jacob the fact that his presence in his life was what made him so blessed.
This is the same kind of power Jesus Christ purchased for us by His blood. The power to effect change in every area of life.

It’s called dunamis. The ability to produce result even in a desert.
This kind of power has no regard for age, season or geographical location. It’s like dynamite. It has no respect for the condition of the place it’s placed. Once it explodes it changes the condition of that place.

Friends, He was slain for your power. He was slain for your dominion. He was slain for your wealth. It is time to display this power so everyone around you can benefit from it

The Power of Having the Right Understanding

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?  
Who are you, LORD? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting ," He replied. Act 9:3-5

We should never under estimate the power of a positive understanding. It makes a great difference in terms of what we attract both from God and man.
In God, His promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. There is nothing we desire that He cannot give to us. But often times we are limited by our own understanding of Him.
Our attitude towards anything is a function of our understanding of that thing.

The life of Saul who later became Paul at conversion does attest to this truth.
Paul's understanding of who Jesus was, was what informed his decision towards the early Church. He, also like other rulers never understood Jesus.

They did not believe He was God in the form of man. This simple reality led him to persecute Jesus, by persecuting His disciples. But when he encountered Jesus on His way to Damascus, his understanding of Jesus changed and this led to the change of his attitude towards God's people.

He moved from persecuting Jesus before the people of Jerusalem to propagating Jesus before the whole world.
Friends if anything most change in our lives, we have to ask Him to either change our understanding in regards to that thing or better still ask Him to deepen it.
God in His infinite wisdom has made life and placed the understanding of it as a measurement in determining what we get from it.

My prayer for every one of us today is that we will grow in our understanding of Him.
The level of our spirituality in Him is measured by the debt of our understanding of Him.
And the debt of our understanding of Him determines the exploit we will do in Him.
You can never achieve anything in God above your understanding of who He is.

Prayer;
Oh LORD! Increase my understanding of who you are, and what on earth I'm here for.

The Successful Failure

And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep,

and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was

good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,

It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned

back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments.  And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.  1 Samuel 15:7-11. (See 1Samuel 15:3).

Success is not measured by where we work, where we live or what we have acquired, but base on how well will live out the purpose and plans of God for our lives.

Success begins at the discovering of the destiny, purpose and assignment of God for our lives.

When we understand this truth the need to prove to others how successful we have been will ceases to be an issue.

We are anything but successful when we succeed in a task outside the jurisdiction of our God ordained destiny here on earth.

There are two types of people living on the earth today. The successful ones, and the successful failures.

Like Saul, some of us are successful failures. Not because we are useless to our selves or communities. Not because we fail to achieve the things we have set our hearts to achieve. But because we have succeeded in becoming successful in a purpose outside the assignment given to us by God

Friends I have come to realize that success outside the purpose of God for our live is no success at all. I.e.  The story of Saul in 1 Samuel 15

Saul was given the task by God to utterly destroy the Amalekites. Their animals, young and old. But he decided to spare the life of Agag the king, and the good animals.

To him he was a success after the battle, but a successful failure before God.  

To be successful is so simple when we realize it’s just sticking to what on earth we are here for.

The hardest part in being successful is in discovering what we have been called do.

  

As you read through this, this morning. I want you to know that success is what you are if you have discovered what on earth you are here for. The affluence, physical possession and accomplishment are all secondary. Like the scripture in Matthew 6:33.

Discovering your life purpose and sticking to it is to seek the kingdom first and the other things would be added to you.

If as you are reading this right now and you realize that you have been succeeding in ventures outside God’s purpose for your life it’s also not too late to reach out and lay hold of His purpose for your life. Refuse to be busy with a goal or venture that does not help you fulfill God's ultimate destiny for your life

God is NOT Dead

Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? Matthew 26:52-53

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. Daniel 3:17.

Dear friends,

Its interesting  to know that God did not give us salvation (saved us) so we could defend His name. He is not dead, He is capable of defending Himself.

As believers, the temptation to defend God in our everyday live is increasingly becoming over whelming. This same temptation has led  many of us to sought for refuge in places and things God has not commanded us to.

In the past three months I have gone through some critical time in my personal life. I have being challenged so much that all I was doing was trying to make a plan to savage God' name and integrity.

Due to this reality I found my self unconsciously trying to defend God's  reputation in my life. Then I realize that every time I tried to do this, I find my self doing the opposite of what He wants me to do.

I'm sure some of you are experiencing the same thing  right about now.
Spiritually some of you are trying to prove to others that God is not dead in your lives.

Financially, you are doing everything except the very thing God would love you to do. Just so you can defend Him before those who are always critical about your devotion to His service.

In order to shut them up, you have started helping Him.

Friends, I was in such a space few weeks back. And recently the Spirit of God spoke to my heart one evening. And He said to me. " I did not called you to defend Me, but to defend your faith in Me. I can defend Myself in you".

When we focus on defending our faith in God He will in turn defend Himself in our lives.
You and I are not the only ones tempted to defend Jesus' reputation in our lives.

Just like you and I, he took out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the guys who came to arrest Jesus. But again Jesus instructed Him to refrain from defending Him. He reminded him of His ability to call His Father for back up.

Like the Spirit of God said to me. quit trying to defend Me in your life. I'm saying to you, in respect to what you are going through at the moment. God is not dead, He knows your situation, but you have to quit trying to defend Him so He could defend Him self in your life.

Take a look at the story of the three Hebrew boys. They refused to defend Him. All they did was to defend their believe in Him and Jesus stepped into the furnace to defend Himself.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?

They replied, Certainly, O king." He said, look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like the Son God. Daniel 3:24-25.


Friend may this be the outcome of that situation facing you as you allow God defend Himself in your life!