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.

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.