Bible In One Year-Day 105 (Tuesday, April 15, 2014)

Commentary: 1Sam4-6. Chapter3 of this book is what every minister and worker of God should prayerfully read for precaution while doing the work of God. Two great things that the people needed were not available while Eli was a priest; the word of God and revelation. Eli was doing the priestly duty without these things. He was working for God without God’s hand in it. No wonder it is written that Samuel did not know God even though he was ministering to God;

1 Samuel 3:7 “Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.”

He couldn’t differentiate between Eli’s voice and another voice. All he knew was that the voice he heard was a voice of an elderly person and Eli was the only person that fitted that thought of his. You could imagine the number of people in this category then. Was Eli inconsistence in the way he spoke then or what? God despised Eli and every adult around and went for a small boy too young to be his grandson; this is ridiculous. This is Peter’s word, Acts 10:34 “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:”

God does not need any permission from Bishop A to call Pastor B. Bishop A could, however, call anybody, it is not the same as he whom God has called or chosen. Bishop A only needs information from God to know if God actually called whoever. We, as workers in the vineyard, need to respect one another. Moses loved Joshua, but he still had to ask God who He had chosen to succeed him, Numbers 27:15-18 “… And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;”

When you look into God’s economy in Moses-Joshua relationship and Eli-Samuel relationship, you will realize that God honored one before his subordinate and ridiculed the other before his subordinate. Until Moses died, God was still talking to Joshua through the mouth of Moses while He went straight to Samuel despising Eli, an old man. You could imagine Eli, the priest, asking Samuel (a small boy who should still be in the present daycare) what God said. As at this time, Samuel’s parents were still packing his needs in his backpack, 1Sam2:19, just as they do in the present daycare. If we refuse to humble ourselves, this is how God humbles us. I was with a friend and his son of three years who was with us in the living room, and pressed, ran to the bathroom, turned on the light, lifted the toilet seat and ran back to us in the living room, holding his pant restlessly, and said “ daddy, I want to pee”. Instead of easing himself out in the toilet, he came back to the father to tell him he wanted to pee. That was the level of Samuel’s thinking then compared to the age of Eli. He came to Eli three times “Here I am, for you called me” If God said He wanted to do a new thing, He starts from nothing to something new. Humility is the ladder to greatness;

James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Jesus also emphasized that greatness in His kingdom is given to those with the garment of humility;

Matthew 18:4 “Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The young, the old, man and woman should desire the cloth of humility. There is no grace for the proud;

1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Yes, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

The humiliation of Eli did not end there, the invasion of the Philistines in chapter4 took the life of his two sons and the Ark of the Lord was taken away. A priest in Israel was nothing without the ark of the Lord. The life of Eli was miserable at old age. The word of God against Eli came to pass fiercely, which became a concern for the daughter-in-law. This led to her early labor. The later end of Eli lost the glory of God. The last chapter of his ministry was titled ICHABOD. May God have mercy on us in the name of Jesus. Workers in the vineyard of God must be conscious of Eli’s predicament and be conscientious in their attitude towards God’s assignment; He will not change His project but, rather, change persons. The Apostles were almost distracted but they quickly realized the importance of prayer (through which revelations come) and the ministry of the word.

Acts 6:4 “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

Whatever, no matter how innocent it looks, that steals these two cogent ministry elements (prayer and the ministry of the word) from you, should be cast away, otherwise, it will eventually cast one out of God’s presence. What remains afterwards is Mr. Flesh. Anything done without God’s Spirit cannot be right or accepted by God; i.e. it is not true. Whatever we do for God must be done in Spirit and in truth. Postings and readings, for instance, on Facebook could look innocent and good, but if it steals our time from praying, reading and studying the word of God, it could be demonic. Whatever we have to post should be as revealed after prayers. The frequency of checks for responses could subtly get us addicted to facebook unaware. Many ministers of God are becoming victims of demonic oppressions, possession and under serious attacks through these social media nowadays without knowing it. The gift of the grace of God should so much be cherished as to allow anything to steal it from us. Our next reading is 1Sam7-9. Keep the fire burning and alive. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

Job 28:28 “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.”

Bible In One Year-Day 104 (Monday, April 14, 2014)

Commentary: 1Sam1-3. The birth of Samuel was God’s way of transiting from the era of the Judges to Prophets and kingdoms. The parents of Samuel were religious people, but the mother was more spiritual. Religious in the sense that they obeyed and followed the principles of the law on yearly basis, and spiritual in the sense that the mother contacted God through an usual manner of prayer, a prayer that was not from priestly prescription, rather it was an out pour from the bitterness of the soul and grieved spirit,

Psalms 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Eli the priest had never seen such prayers before and that was why he regarded it as drunkenness; 1 Samuel 1:13 “Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.”

Yearly sacrifice did not change things but her prayer changed it, her prayer provoked a prophecy that moved the hand of God. Many prophecies are given just to make the hearer comfortable, feel good or because the giver of prophecy loves you and wants to be respected. The one Eli released came from an involuntary action, not within the human elements or figment of imagination but from the spirit. This is what is called “deep calleth unto the deep” This is where we need to understand the efficacy of prayer. God has a sure plan which no ‘one’ man could complete but just have a role to play if such is humble enough to listen to instructions for the role. In essence, there are a lot of vacancies as far as God’s work is concerned and He is the only one who recruits for such jobs. Many of us are actually doing the jobs on hand under another hire (or under a chosen laborer), not God Himself, yet unfaithful. He searches for Himself His own hire or laborer; Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.”

In our reading, the vacancy on ground was somebody to be the last Judge of Israel and also the first prophet in the Promised Land. Whilst performing the duty of a priest in addition. But the person must pant after His heart;

1 Samuel 2:35 “And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.”

Meanwhile, while God was going about searching for a medium to send forth the right candidate, Hannah was busy applying for the vacancy in prayer;

1 Samuel 1:11 “And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.”

When God saw Hannah’s objective in her prayer resume or CV “I will give him unto the Lord” He pulled out her application for consideration. Hannah was somebody we need to learn from in the face of discouragement, ridicules and mockery. She never gave up on praying all manner of prayers;

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

A persevering prayer never give up nor faints. The prayer she prayed before Samuel was born still worked for Samuel all the days of his life. Hannah was a good prayer warrior worthy of emulation, and also a very good praise lifter according to chapter2. Are you at the point of giving up, learn from Hannah. The resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus was His application to God requesting for the Holy Spirit on our behalf;

John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”

This was His word before His death, it had been fulfilled. The Holy Spirit is here and He is the only one that could help us to pray and walk according to God’s will and mind, He gives strength to prevail as Hannah said in her song “For by strength no man shall prevail …” To receive this Spirit that prevails, JESUS must be alive in you through His words in your heart.

John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

God is still searching for laborers for His vineyard, and to be relevant in life and be established like Samuel, you must apply earnestly and faithfully;

Ezekiel 22:30 “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

Though Hannah’s womb brought forth late, it still brought forth the best which was quite outstanding;

1 Samuel 3:19 “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.”

It is what God puts on ground that He increases. I pray that the word that will change the status of your destiny will come to you from the Lord in the name of Jesus. The reading for today is 1Sam4-6. Keep the fire burning and alive. ALL OTHER PROPHETS ARE DEAD WITHOUT KNOWING THEIR FATE ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, but JESUS is alive and will be the JUDGE at the judgment seat; 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Matthew 25:32 “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:”

Bible In One Year-Day 103 (Sunday, April 13, 2014)

Commentary: Ruth1-4. When we concluded the book of Judges, we saw the chaos amongst the Israelites. Israel was in serious trouble with heaven and earth. Imagine a land that was predicted to be flowing with milk and honey, now faced with serious drought and famine. This famine was what made Elimelech from Bethlehem in Judah, the husband of Naomi, to leave for the land of Moab with his two sons. Moab is a descendant of Lot, Genesis 19:37 “And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.”

This Israelite, Elimelech, unfortunately died. The sons took their wives among the Moabites women, Orpah and Ruth. The death of these two sons left three widows behind. When the famine subsided, Naomi decided to return to her hometown, Bethlehem. She summoned her daughters-in-law and briefed them of her decision. The young ladies were to, conclusively, go back to their fathers’ houses. Though they were reluctant, Orpah returned while Ruth was adamant on following Naomi. When you stick to the right people, you will get the correct, true, pure and direct connection. Ruth declared that she had made up her mind to make Israel her people and their God her God. By this, she became born again, i.e. born of water (identified with the Israelites) and of the Spirit (making the God of Israel her God and abandoning her idolatrous heritage). She had the privilege to have a place in the lineage of King David and our Lord Jesus Christ. Ruth was a model of faithfulness, loyalty, dedication, hardwork and honesty. These virtues impressed Boaz greatly that he made Ruth comfortable with his household. Boaz knew he was not the right person to have Ruth by tradition. In chapter4, we could see the trick he played on the right person just for him to decline Ruth. There is a trait we could notice in these lineage; Tricky attitude. His ancestor, Perez was a twin born to Judah by Tamar through tricks. Perez also came to the world through trick; Genesis 38:29 “And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez (Perez).”

Another trait is sexual indiscipline. This was more evident in the life of Solomon. Boaz eventually married Ruth to the delight of Naomi. The beginning was sorrowful but the end of the book ended well with the birth of Obed, the grandfather of King David. The book of Ruth is not about the Judges, law or the prophets but about how an accursed, condemned and rejected (Moab) was graciously accepted into the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ; Deuteronomy 23:3 “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:”

When you remove sin from the Holy Bible, there is no more Bible and the nature of the devil is removed. At the same time when you remove grace from the Holy Bible, you have succeeded in removing the mercy and the nature of God. The purpose of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is to destroy the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8 “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

You need Christ’s grace, which is the Holy Spirit, to overcome the power of sin in the flesh and usher you into the kingdom fold.

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

BE BORN AGAIN. Next reading is the book of 1 Samuel1-3. Keep the fire burning and alive. JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE.

Bible In One Year-Day 102 (Saturday, April 12, 2014)

Commentary: Judges19-21. It was very unfortunate that the Israelites turned against themselves to the point of trying to wipe out a tribe just because of the sin of a few men. Sin came into the world by one man. It could be very disastrous if through the offense of a member of family, the whole family is put in serious trouble. You could imagine the number of lives that died because of few perversed men in Gibeah. Achan sinned and the whole country of Israel remained stagnant and even suffered defeat in the hand of a very minute tribe of Ai. Sin is horrible; it subjects the strong to unexplainable defeats. If the Spirit of God is absent somewhere, liberty disappears and the bondage of sin becomes stronger. Sin kills, steals and destroys. Many families are suffering today just because of the sin of their ancestors or parents. Sin is a thief that steals and defrauds from the future, it repaints the future and gives it another appearance. Sin blinds and turns light into darkness, i.e. it is a switch which the devil uses to turn of the light in a child of light;

Isaiah 59:10 “We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.”

It was sin that nailed our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the cross and made His Father to temporarily forsake Him. Through sin we identify with the devil and through the practices of righteousness we identify with the Savior, 1John3:4-10.

1 John 3:4-10 “Whoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.Whoever abideth in him sinneth not: whoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.He that committeth sin is of the demon; for the demon sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the demon.Whoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the demon: whoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

The garment of salvation makes you to be called but the garment of righteousness makes you to be chosen;

Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

You don’t use the garment of salvation to commit sin; it will get stained and unfit for the Lord’s wedding banquet.When the garment of righteousness is stained with sin, it relegates one to the bottom or even drop off. Flee every appearance of sin. Each sin you commit opens the wound of Jesus afresh, a fresh bleed. Hate it with perfect hatred and have nothing to do with it. May the Lord give more grace to overcome the power of sin in the name of Jesus.

Our reading for today is the whole book of Ruth. It is a very interesting book. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 101 (Friday, April 11, 2014)

Commentary: Judges16-18. The ruin of Samson was not in the enemies surrounding him for greater was Him that was in him than the enemies around, Isaiah 59:19 “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”

The ruin was in him revealing the secret of his strength due to his carelessness and indiscipline. Though he was highly anointed, his weakness was in his inability to resist influences. Though Delilah was an agent, yet she still asked honest questions from Samson three good times. This is how Satan uses the scriptural truth to negatively influence the believers. The negativity is using the truth but with a hidden agenda and evil motive. He did that to the first Adam and the last Adam, he has not changed that style till now. Those who always fall are the double minded. Good ideas could be suggested but with hidden agenda. Anxiety and ambition could be expressed in form of good suggestions. A lot of satanic agents had succeeded in falling great deal of children of God, men of God inclusive. Many think they could play games with the devil just as Samson was playing games with Delilah. A gradual fall is what the devil wants and this is what he pursues in men. Samson’s fall through Delilah was gradual. The first time, Samson was far from the secret of his strength, but by the second attempt, he was already talking about his hair, very close to total woe. Delilah did not give up;

Judges 16:16 “And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;” Samson told Delilah what his condition would be in verse17 if the strength was defiled, “… an ordinary man” what the enemy wants is for us to become ordinary persons, irrelevant, un-mattered, useless, subject of mockery, ridiculed and frustrated. Ahab was a king (power and authority), but unfortunately, the influence in his life was called Jezebel, a horrible spirit that had no power and authority but, through influence, uses the position of her husband to subdue other anointed men of God in favor of her husband to achieve her ulterior evil motive. She wanted more power for her husband just for her to achieve her motive. Such close and uncultured influences, if not tamed, could destroy dynasty and kill anointing. It destroys wonderful relations between good friends, in family and even with God.

If God calls, He shares some secrets with the person, Psalms 25:14 “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” Not every of these secrets must be shared. Inability to keep secret is a horrible sickness and no matter the level of anointing, such cannot go far with God. Quite sometimes the Disciples asked Jesus questions but He told them it was not necessary for them to know. There are deep spiritual secrets that must find a place within you, this is your strength but when ego and pride (self centeredness) are still in your life, you will want people to see things they are not supposed to, just for them to respect you. What the enemy knows is what he will use against a person; Isaiah 30:15 “For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” The stronghold of your strength is in quietness but inability to keep quiet when and where necessary is the beginning of ruin; Micah 7:5 “Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.” Lack of discipline in this wise had made a lot of marriages to break, homes to scatter, caused destinies to be diverted and lives destroyed. The mouth is the gate of the heart and an unruly or untamed tongue is a trap of death. The enemy saw the hair of Samson but did not understand what it was all about until he revealed the secret to them. Don’t be careless with God’s grace.

James 1:26 “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” Our next reading is Judges19-21. Keep the fire burning and alive.