Word of God: September 2012

Wednesday 26 September 2012

Do you love me

Do you love me?

Songs of Solomon 3:4 says Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go , until I had brought him to the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

When we mention the word love, a lot of things come to mind for example giving. The bible says in John 3:16 that for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. Love is not only about giving but it is about giving one’s best. That was what the Lord gave, His son – His best, it’s really not about giving one’s best but it is about giving all. The bible says He gave His only begotten son. The only Son He had He gave. No wonder the bible says He loves us with great love in Ephesians 2:4

Another thing that comes to mind when we talk of love is forgiveness.1 Peter 4:8 says love will cover a multitude of sins. Proverbs 10:12 says love covers all sins. Love does not only forgive but it forgets. Proverbs 17:9 says He who covers transgressions seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friend.

Also love is kind and patient. Colossians 3:12 says therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. Ephesians 4:32 says and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave. There is a lot to learn from love. According to 1 Peter 1:22 love is from the heart. 1 Peter 4:8 says love is fervent. 1 Timothy 1:5 says love is from a pure heart, good conscience and sincere faith.

There are different grades of love .One of the grades is found in Mark 12:31 which says love your neighbor as yourself. What you want for yourself is what you want for your neighbor. Many of us do not take alcohol because we are Christians but we do not mind buying it for people or entertain our guest with them. That is the highest level of hypocrisy and wickedness. If Salvation is good for us, it should be good for our neighbors, friends and families, how come we are reluctant to share Christ with our friends and family. Remember, we can only claim to know God when we show love to our neighbors 1 John 4:8

Another grade is the one between couples .Ephesians 5:24 says just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The submission of the church to Christ is total. This is the standard God expects from a Christian wife. Ephesians 5:25 says husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her. Jesus did not only give Himself for the church, He sacrificed Himself for the church. A man that demonstrated this was Jacob in Genesis 29:18-20.Out of love for Rachel, he served Laban for seven years and the bible records that the seven years looked like days. This is the standard God expects from husbands .

The highest grade of love is found in Matthew 22:38-39, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is not only a grade of love but it is a commandment. Paul demonstrated this in Acts 21:1-13. While everyone was telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem or else he will be arrested. Paul told them he is not only ready to be arrested but to die for Jesus.

In what way can we express our love to Him? Through our obedience to His commandments. Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep My commandments”. John 15:10 says if you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I kept My father’s love and abide in His love. Our love is measured by our obedience to His words. We cannot say we love Jesus and refuse to evangelize. Luke 11:23 says he who is not with Him is against Him, he who does not gather with Him scatters. Jesus says in John 14:21 “he who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he, who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him”.

To proof our love for Him, we must walk according to His commandments. 2 John 1:6 says this is love that we walk according to His commandment. If we say we love Him, what are willing to do to please Him? Our love for Him is measured by what we are willing to go through for Him. What are we willing to suffer for Him?

Our love for Him is measured by what we are willing to sacrifice for Him? Paul sacrificed his status – a prestigious Pharisee to follow Christ, Peter gave up his fishing profession to follow Christ, and Elisha gave up his father’s farm to follow Elijah. Our love is measured by the level of insult we are willing to take for His sake. Also our love is measured by what we are willing to give to Him, Abraham gave Him Isaac in Genesis 22:1-19, Jesus gave His life to Him.

Our love is measured by what we are willing to give up for Him, I know of a brother who gave up a job that pays around 1400 pounds for a job that pays around 600 pounds just to have time for church, help in opening and closing the Church. Our love is measured by the price we are willing to pay to be with Him, what we are willing to do support His projects. Jesus told Peter if you love me , feed my sheep , John 21:17 .How many of his sheep have we fed ?I know of people who have sold their cars to support Kingdom projects. Sometimes back in other to show our gratitude to Him and express our love to Him, in a single day we shared tracts from house to house (telling the world about his faithfulness) for over ten hours with no break or rest.

Someone might ask, what is in it for the individual who is prepared to love the Lord? Proverbs 8: 17 say He loves those who love Him. What happens when He loves a man? Well an example could be found in 1 Kings 3:4-12. He told Solomon to ask, after he asked, He gave him his request and what he did not ask for. If you love Him, He will tell you to make a request , out of His generosity He will grant your request and also give to you what you did not even ask for

The first step to love Him is by giving one’s life to Christ. If you have not given your life to Christ or you have before in times past but you have back slidded, please return to Him today.

The bible said in Romans 3 v 23 that for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6 s 23 says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The gift was explained in John 3 v 16 , For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. What shall we do to be saved? The bible says in Romans 10vs 9 that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10 v 10 – For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with our mouth that you confess and are saved.

Pray this prayer from your heart today!

Dear Jesus, I believe that You died for me and rose again on the third day. I confess I am a sinner. I need your love and forgiveness. Come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I receive Your eternal life. Confirm You love by giving me peace, joy and supernatural love for others, Amen.

Welcome to Christ brethren, Please join a bible believing church.

Samuel Oluwatoki

Please forward this newsletter to a friend, family or colleague. Remember Matthew 10 v 32 which say whoever confesses me before me, him I will confess before my father who is heaven.

Thursday 6 September 2012

TRADING IT TO SIT WITH JESUS

Psalm 16:11 says You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right are pleasures for evermore.

Anyone in search of fullness of joy should do everything possible to earn a place at the side of Jesus. One of the things we all wish for is an opportunity to meet or sit with the queen of England or the king of Spain or meet the president of our nation or the U.S president. Jesus is more than a king, according to Revelations 19:16, He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He owns everything. John 3:35 says the Father loves the son and has given all things into His hands. He says in Matthew 28:18, “all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”. No one can do anything without Jesus; Proverbs 8:15 says by Me kings reign and rulers decree justice, why? Because Jesus is the wisdom from God, 1 Corinthians 1:30.According to John 13:3, God had given all things in His hands.

To really know what it is, to sit with Jesus, we have to study the lives of those who sat with Him in the bible. To better under gist, we will look at the lives of the twelve disciples. One thing we will notice is there was no record of sickness among the twelve disciples. Why? According to John 15:5, He is the vine and any branch connected to Him will receive health from His body. If a vine withers automatically the branch will wither but because Jesus remained in perfect health everyone connected to him remained in perfect health. Do you know that because Jesus never failed, if you are connected to him you will never fail? Because Jesus conquered the world and death and was victorious, you will emerge a victor in life? You will in Jesus name. According to Exodus 15:26 He is the great healer, and Malachi 4:2 says healing is present in His wings. You cannot sit with Jesus and not receive a touch from Him.

There was no record of lack among those who sat with Jesus, they lived in abundance. Studying Matthew 14:13-21, you will agree with me that a man living in lack cannot feed 5000 men not counting women and children and still had 12 baskets left. Where did you think Judas was stealing from? From the money box –John 13:29, although the money box was used to buy gifts for the poor according to John 13:29.Even when He had no physical cash on Him, He was able to tell Peter to go to the sea and catch a fish, inside the fish was a gold coin-Matthew 17:24-27.This He did when He was asked to pay for temple tax.There is a gold coin in the mouth of every every fish you catch for Jesus, fishing for Jesus is evangelizing.

Also those that sat with Jesus enjoyed maximum protection. Most of the time we trust the police or legal system to protect us but we fail to remember that the police officer coming to protect you has wives and kids at home, he is scared of dying just as you are scared. So also the armies, they do not go to war to die? They go to live that is why they undergo several training on how to stay alive at boot camp. Is there any man on earth who can save you from having nightmares? Any that can rescue you when a dog is chasing you or someone is beating you up in the dream? No one can save from sickness or failure except Jesus. Jesus told David in Psalm 110:1 “sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a foot stool”.

The disciples enjoyed round the clock protection from the host of heaven while they sat with Jesus. Jesus at the point of His arrest could have easily called for backup from heaven, the bible says in Matthew 26:53, that a back up means sending up to 12 legions of angels to defend Jesus. If a legion is over 10,000, 12 legions will be around 123,000 of angels. According to the bible an angel is able to take care of 185,000 armies not civilians –Isaiah 37:36. If one out of the 123,000 angels could handle 185,000 soldiers can you guess what 123,000 of those will be able to do? Thank God He didn’t because if He had done that there will not be salvation for men. Elisha saw a glimpse of the host of the angels standing on guard in 2 Kings 6:8-18.

Also amidst the twelve, there was no record of failure instead there was little effort producing massive results. In Luke 5:1-7, Peter cast his net once, and he caught a great number of fish to the extent two boats began to sink. Before the arrival of Jesus, he casted his nets all night and caught absolutely nothing. Also the same peter preached a message and 3000 souls were won In Acts 2:41.With Jesus, little effort brings maximum results. Hannah had been trying all her life and there was nothing to show for it. Immediately God got involved, every effort yielded result no wonder between 1 Samuel 1 and 1 Samuel 2, Hannah went from been barren woman to become a mother of six. Do you know that as you sit with Jesus a little effort will bring great results?

Also those who sat with Jesus received life. Everything dead thing in their life came back to life. Why? Because they sat with Jesus and heard His words. According to John 6:63, the words that come out of the mouth of Jesus are spirit and life. The word is also a hammer and fire according to Jeremiah 23:29. We know that fire consumes and hammer breaks rocks. Anything preventing the glory of God in your will be broken as you sit with Jesus hearing His words.

According to John 8:12, Jesus is the light of the world. When light shines, darkness disappears. Every darkness in the life of those who sat with Jesus disappeared because His light radiated into their life. The mad man of Gadara mentioned in Mark 5:1-14, was filled with darkness .Inside him was a legion demons but immediately he came near Jesus those demon ran away. Mary Magdalene was one of those who sat with Jesus. Before sitting with Jesus, she had 7 demons in her life- Luke 8:2. Light came in and the darkness in her life vanished. As you sit with Jesus, those dark forces will disappear.

One thing with those who sit with Jesus was they became like Jesus. Acts 4:13 says when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realize they had been with Jesus. Because they sat with Jesus, the glory of God was visible in their lives. Those who sat with Jesus were called Christians- Acts 11:26 .Christian means Christ like or like Christ.

What God did through Jesus, He did through them. Jesus told those that sat with Him in John 14:12 that they would do greater things than He had done. The evidence is found in Acts 19:11-12 where God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. We know that the shadow of Peter was healing the sick in Acts 5:15.

Those who sat with Jesus got new names, Saul became Paul, Samuel Fatoki became Samuel Oluwatoki .Fatoki means Ifa (Yoruba god) is worthy to be adored and Oluwatoki means The Most High God is worthy to be adored. Let somebody shout Hallelujah. Evil spirits were subject to those who sat with Jesus; those who sat with Jesus moved from people no one recognized to people the whole world knew-nobody becoming somebody.

Their names were written in heaven, Jesus says in Luke 10:20 nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Those that sit with Jesus will get a crown of life- Revelations 2:10.Those who sat with Jesus also had unusual wisdom; we know that Jesus is the wisdom from God.

To sit with Jesus one must be willing. Secondly one must be prepared. The bible is full of stories of people who were willing but not prepared to sit with Jesus. One of such is the rich man mentioned in Mark10:17-25, He was willing but was not prepared to part away with worldly goods-riches. Anyone who wants to sit with Jesus must be prepared to put Him first. Thirdly the one who wants to sit with Jesus must be committed. The bible is full of this group too, they would walk with Jesus today and tomorrow they were gone. Where were the 5000 men that were fed when Jesus was having the last supper with the twelve? They were not committed. They put pleasure and money before Jesus.

Anyone who wants to sit with Jesus must be committed; you cannot sit with Jesus and still be making dirty jokes. You cannot sit Jesus and still have people you don’t greet, you cannot sit with Jesus and be fighting with your parents, you cannot sit with Jesus and attend service only on Sundays, you cannot sit with Jesus and not be witnessing. The way you dress must change, you cannot continue to give people visa to hell by the way you dress, wearing tight fitting trousers and skirts to show your body shape or worse still wear short skirts or even show cleavage and you say you are a Christian ? Although every man looking will be punished but the one who has caused them to look will not be spared.

Those who sat with Jesus received forgiveness, Judas was forgiven so many times but he did not repent from his sins. Jesus kept on forgiving him but at last his sin caught up with him. To sit with Jesus, the first step is giving your life to Christ.

Monday 3 September 2012

His Words

Psalm 33:8-9 says Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded , and it stood fast

When we talk of God, we talk of His name. According to Philippians 2:9, His name is exalted above every other name. Proverbs 18:10 says the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and is safe. Romans 10:13 says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. According to Psalm 103:1, His name is Holy, all powers submit to His name –Philippians 2:10.

Talking of God, there is His touch. His touch brings healing; Malachi 4:2 says the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings. In Mark 1:30-31, the mother in law of Peter was down with fever ,Jesus held her hands and immediately fever left her body. His touch can bring about reconstructive surgery. In John 9: 1-12, Jesus performed a reconstructive surgery on a man who was born without eyes. He spat on ground, made clay with it and anointed the man’s eyes. He asked him to go and wash, the man came back with brand new eyes.

His touch can bring the dead back to life and also awaken every dead cells in a body. In Mark 5:38-43, Jesus touched the daughter of Jairus and said “Talitha cumi” which is translated, “little girl, I say to you arise” and she arose. His touch brings about multiplication. Talking of God’s multiplication, according to Isaiah 60:22, one can become a thousand. In Matthew 14:13-21, 5 loaves of bread and two fishes multiplied after Jesus touched it. There were twelve baskets left after 5000 men had fed not counting women and children. That is why those who do not pay their tithes asides robbing God are robbing themselves of God’s multiplication because in the spiritual realm once you pay your tithe God touches the rest. I pray that God will give us understanding in the name of Jesus.

Still talking about God, His presence commands joy. Psalm 16:11 says in His presence there is fullness of Joy. In His presence our enemies to flee, Psalms 68:1 says let God arise and His enemies are scattered. His presence signifies an opportunity for salvation, Revelation 3:20 says behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me. His presence causes increase, Elijah the carrier of God’s presence visited the widow of Zarapheth in 1 Kings 17:10-16. Throughout his stay the bible records that her bin of flour was not used up, nor did jar of oil run dry.

It was the presence of God that parted the red sea. The bible says in Exodus 15:8 that at the blast of His nostrils the waters to gather. His presence at times could signify trouble for the disobedient. Hebrews 10:31 says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

We have talked about God’s touch, His presence and His name and they are all good things to experience for example we all want God to touch us so that we will be made whole, we want to be in His presence always so as to enjoy fullness of Joy. We want to be able to shout Jesus and every demon or force operating in our vicinity will vanish. There is something more powerful and greater than all these and it is the word of God. Psalms 33:8-9 says the reason why we should fear God is because of His word, once He says it consider it done. According to Psalm 138:2, God places His word before His name. To proof that He holds His word in high esteem, He swore by Himself in Isaiah 45:23 that the word that has gone out of His mouth in righteousness shall not return.

There are few things we want to remind you of about the words of God. When we talk of the words of God, we are referring to His words .John 6:63, the word that comes from the mouth of God are spirit and they are life. The absence of life signifies death, just the way darkness literally means the absence of light. Darkness and light cannot co-exist, so also life and death. One must give room to another; thank God death gives room to life from God. The word of God is life and when it is applied to any situation death takes its leave. A word came out of the mouth of the Most High God to Sarah in Genesis 18:10-15 and the womb that the bible described as stone dead came back to life. Within a year she became a nursing mother at the age of ninety.

According to Hebrew 4:12, the words spoken by God are alive and powerful. Power is the capacity to do things. Present in the word of God is power-the capacity to make the impossible possible. One story that always fascinate me is the story of the widow of Zarapheth in 1Kings 17:10-16, how the Lord fed Elijah, the widow and her son for several months with a handful of flour and a little jar of oil. How the Lord did it that it was not used up I do not know, all I know is the bin of flour was not used, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah-1 Kings 17:16.

The Most High God describes His word as Fire and a Hammer in Jeremiah 23:29. The bible says for our God is a consuming fire, Hebrew 12:29. The word of God contains fire that consumes everything preventing the manifestation of God’s glory in our lives. The presence of fear in the life of Peter prevented the manifestation of God’s glory in his life. Immediately the fire of Holy Ghost fell on him on the day of Pentecost, fear disappeared and through a sermon, 3000 souls were won. According to Jeremiah 23:29 , the duty of the hammer is to break rock into pieces and if there is any rock on your way to success the word of God will break them.

Once the Lord speaks, consider it done. He told Peter in Matthew 16:18 that on this rock(referring to Peter)will I build my church meaning I will promote you far above your pairs, through you I will shake the world, by your hands I will perform wonders; through your ministries millions of souls will come to Christ. The devil heard this and began to wage war against Peter, it got so severe that Peter found himself denying Jesus in Mark 14:66-70. Despite all this, the Lord still fulfill His promise in the life of Peter. Has the Lord promised you a promotion, a child, success in an endeavor or told you about His plans for your life and the enemies are waging war? Do not worry; as far as He has said it consider it done.

The word of God has its foundations in heaven, that it is why it is potent and cannot be broken. Psalm 119:89 says forever o Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Every promises God has made to you has its foundation in heaven. That is why I can assure you that every promise He has made to you will surely come to fruition. The foundation of a thing is very important; no wonder the bible says when the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do, Psalm 11:3. If your foundation is rooted in the word of God, I can assure you I will see you in heaven. The reason why the word of God is powerful is because it is settled in heaven where no one can get to and change it.

Do you know that He has promised that whatever comes out of your mouth is what He will say amen to? Numbers 14:28 says say to them, ‘as I live’, says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you. If you say you are tired of Life, He will amen, if you say all is well with you, He will say amen! This is the essence of positive confessions.If you say I am the head and not the tail He will say you are the head and not the tail. If you say I am clothed with favor and grace, He will say you are clothed with favor and grace.The bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue, Proverbs 18:21

Brethren you do not have to wait to hear Him speak because He is speaking to you right now and He is saying be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to him.

Founded in heaven is Isaiah 41:10 which say fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. So also founded in heaven is 1 John 4:8 which says He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Whoever does not love is in danger of hell. Also founded in heaven is John 14:6 which say Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father except through Him. We can choose to believe it or not, we can argue against it, we can do all we can but this not change the fact that the only way to God is through Jesus.

If you have not accepted Jesus into your life as your personally Lord and savior please do so because that is the way to Heaven. If you have back-slidded , why not come back to Him today? Founded in heaven is the fact that He is coming back and if He comes back now and finds you in sin, then it will be too late to repent.

How you treat His words will determine the results you get from His words. If we obey His words, we will get the results for example if we honor God with our substance and the first fruit of our increases, He will expand us beyond –Proverbs 3:9-10.He has said in Matthew 11:28 come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest.