Bible In One Year-Day 95 (Saturday, April 5, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua22-24. Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Joshua’s life and leadership was a demonstration of this verse of the scripture. To seek the kingdom of God is to seek for the will of God, the mind of God and the position of God concerning all situations and conditions. Joshua made the first mistake when he went to fight with Ai without seeking the position of God and he failed. In the spirit of education, that was the last of it; he never repeated that same mistake again. This means he had a teachable spirit, the spirit that learns from mistakes and does not defend mistakes or errors. He recognized what the problem was and he dealt with his weakness. When you know how to deal with weaknesses, you will eventually become a champion, a star and a leader worthy of emulation; making less and less mistakes. You will have many children who want to be like you. The seeking for the righteousness of the kingdom is to live the kingdom life. Joshua lived by the book, i.e. by what is written; no shifting or compromise. He sought the Lord with all his heart. He was not a leader that instructs while engaging himself in a thing contrary, he lived by example. That was why he could boldly tell the Israelites to follow suit. The results of Joshua’s leadership are that God gave them rest from all their enemies and not a thing failed of God’s promises to them, Josh23:1&14. An effective and efficient deliverance ministry takes after Joshua’s teaching in chapter 23:

1. Boldness, steadfastness and obedience to the word of God, Josh23:6
2. Do not adopt their deity or adapt to their way of life, Josh23:7. Your life style should follow the Kingdom life.
3. No marriage, i.e. no covenant in any form. This breaks spiritual immunity and defense, Josh23:12&13. This is talking about the world in the church and the church in the world. Worldliness has taken over the churches now and the power of God is not felt anymore. You could not differentiate between the world and the church in terms of dressing any longer. Ahab is the pastor and Jezebel now the prophetess, seeing visions and dreaming dreams.

Inability to obtain quality deliverance is due to the violation of one or all of these.

Joshua, being used to using natural things in warfare, took a stone and set it in place as witness to the Israelites’ affirmation of serving the only true God;

Joshua 24:27 “And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.”

In Joshua’s days, the Israelites served the Lord, obeyed Him and worshiped Him, the consequence was that the people conquered the land through trust in the power of God. When we live in obedience, the power of God will work for us. Though Joshua died in a very good age, there were still lots to be done. The lesson we could learn is that you should live a life that will not make you regret old age; Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity……”

In a soccer game, the players go through tough moment trying to advance through oppositions, but those watching are going through exciting moment. Both of them will end their experience at the blow of the final whistle, and then commentary starts from different quarters. You are a major player of your life and people are watching, they can’t get into the field with you. The final whistle will be blown one day. The commentary by the grave side cannot bring the life back for replay. It is better to play right and play well to win the trophy;

Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

Moses gave account of his role in God’s agenda, Joshua gave his, what will yours be? Here we conclude the book of Joshua. The next book is Judges and our reading for today is Judges1-3. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 94 (Friday, April 4, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua19-21. In these three chapters, inheritance was distributed to the Israelites by lots. Also, we could see the power of blessing and effect of ancestry on destinies. Birthright is quite important and powerful. When it comes to the issue of blessing, it does not go by age, position in the family or by education but in whom God has taken special delight. Blessing does not look at what you have, who you are but just divine favor. Blessing solves the problems we cannot solve. Jesus blessed five loaves and two fishes, it fed five thousand people with left over of about twelve baskets; which means that blessing is prayer answered beyond our thinking or asking. By right, Reuben was supposed to be given the first lot of the inheritance, but this was not so. Joseph had the first lot instead. This is because of Jacobs pronouncement on Reuben in Genesis 49:3-4 “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.”

The beauty of Reuben’s destiny was first remarked, and then Jacob cursed that destiny that it shall not excel. That curse changed the beauty of the destiny. The curse became an evil river flowing in the lineage of Reuben for any child born into that line to drink. Moses’ blessing in Deut33:6 did not cancel this curse but it only gave him the grace to enjoy long life under this curse. That was what affected his lineage;

1 Chronicles 5:1 “Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.”

An ancestral error could put the whole generation unborn into serious trouble. The other side of curse is blessing. Joseph received this in Gen49:22-26. This blessing changed the position of Joseph in the family. When you are blessed, your status changes, the prison becomes too small for you to stay, the pit of the enemy rejects you and people that matter calls you for solutions. When you are blessed, the seat of destiny is not by the road side but in the palace of the king. The blessing on Joseph made heaven and earth to cooperate to yield excess to the point of swallowing seven years famine. When you are blessed, you don’t have enough space to store and you can’t count what you have because it meets the need of difficult and impossible situations;

Genesis 41:49 “And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.”

The amount you have in the bank is not the measure of heavenly blessing. In most cases, it is foolishness due to ignorant. It can dry up any time. But blessing outlives a man from one generation to the other. A blessed man increases in the face of famine;

Genesis 26:12-13 “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year (year of famine) an hundred fold: and the LORD blessed him.And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:”

God, in His infinite mercy and unquantifiable abundance, has given each family their lots on earth. But some ancestors had traded in with the devil, some messed it up, some went to the grave with it and those who are supposed to be enjoying it now are suffering. You must claim your own lots back from any ancestral grave if you really want to enjoy life and change the history of your family;

Matthew 11:12 “And from the days of John the Baptist, until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”

Nothing else to do but to pray yourself out unrelentingly; i.e. don’t agree for a lesser bargain than claiming them because Jesus had paid the price. Consider the hymn

And now complete in Him
My robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Refrain

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow

Today is 94^th day of reading the bible together and, as you move into the second quarter, may the heaven over your destiny tear open for the out pour of God’s unquantifiable blessings into your life in the name of Jesus. Our next reading is Joshua22-24. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 93 (Thursday, April 3, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua16-18. When God blesses, it is for every member of the family. The distribution of inheritance used to be from father to the sons while female children were left out because they believed that the name of their father would be forgotten if given to them. There was a man among the descendants of Manasseh named Zelophehad, who had no son but daughters. This daughters changed the rule of distributing inheritance;

Numbers 27:1 “Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.”

When these daughters went to Moses in protest, Moses in his usual attitude went to God and God told him what the new rule was;

Numbers 27:6-8 “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.”

This is a lesson to the children of God that through fervent prayers the rule can be changed. These daughters of Manasseh changed the rule in the spirit realm first through prayer, before the actual realization in Joshua17. For the mere fact that you are not seeing result now does not mean you have been denied. The rule was changed in the time of Moses but the result came in the time of Joshua. If those ladies had kept quiet, the unfair rule would still be there. This is the reason why you should pray without ceasing; in difficulties, pains, sickness, hardship, even in comfort. Let not the rod of your prayer be broken and the fire on the altar of your prayer not burn out. There is only one thing that God will mark as “speak right” before Him and that is prayer that is made in righteousness. Our next reading is Joshua19-21. Keep the fire burning and alive. JESUS IS AT THE CORNER

Bible In One Year-Day 92 (Wednesday, April 02, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua13-15. A while ago, I received a post on the facebook which talked about enjoying the coffee in the cup rather than thinking about the design on the cup. A man commented on it “I am 76 years old now, I wish I knew this when I was 25”. Whichever way he meant to enjoy life does not matter to me, but when I looked at the difference in the years, he is regretting the way he spent 51 years out of his own life. When you hear many people telling you “I have experience of life” it is not really experience they have, it is regret in life just like this man on the facebook commented. Moses would have lived such a life if not for God’s grace that eventually called him out of purposeless hard-work and plugged him into the power of purpose.

Joshua13:1 is worth thinking of;

Joshua 13:1 “Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.”

The question is “how are you spending your life as a Christian?” How will you feel if, at old age, God tells you that there are more to be done than you have ever done? This is why the Apostles, then and now, have no time to waste fighting or keeping malice because they have a lot to do. If God increases the hours of the day from 24 to 48, will it still be enough? Hear what Jesus says in John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”

Every man has two moments of the day; the day while the Sun shines (youth) and the night (old age), which is time to go to sleep. That is why the bible calls the death of the righteous “sleep”. Joshua found himself in this situation. God showed Joshua what remained to cover. Unfortunately, the first place mentioned became the problem of the Israelites till this day. When you see a man living in regret, all it means is that he had left what ought to be done undone and had used his time to do what ought to be left undone. In this wise, there is no profit, reward or compensation. This is hard. What needs considering is to make hay whilst the sun shines. Jesus urged us to make use of the day. If the dairy you have is the dairy of offenses, bitter, malice, rivalry, jealousy, resentment, pleasing men, seeking for positions, unforgiveness and the like, it is absolutely a waste of time. These will not add any meaning to life; either yours or those who have offended you. Neither does it keep the devil away. The only thing that defeats the devil is to burn such dairies. Jesus said on the cross “Father forgive them …” Even Jesus didn’t want to hold any grudge against any person for Him to complete His assignment in life. This statement broke the backbone of Satan’s rage against the Kingdom of God. Without any contradiction, Joshua was hard working; he served Moses and he served God with fear. A Christian life is about service just like Joshua. God gives greatness in this wise;

Matthew 20:26 “But it shall not be so among you: but whoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;”

You must touch a life each day. Whatever you know how to do best to affect life is a pointer to purpose. When you face it without any distraction, you will realize that there is work to do and at the end of it all, you will be full of joy. On the other hand, loosing focus will build resentment, envy and jealousy, which are strongholds for the devil. There are lots of beautiful structures called religious houses now but inside is full of decay. Whereas some people don’t have churches but are meeting the needs of the poor on the street by becoming dogs leaking the wounds of various Lazarus lying about on the streets. In Galatian2, we could see Paul’s attitude when he realized that if he didn’t get out for the assignment, the people he was associating with (un-appointed regulators, Gal2:4) would disturb and distract him, he pulled out;

Galatians 2:6 “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:”

Positions could be given due to earthly relationship with authority or how long in you are in a ministry. This is different from heavenly relationship which is what Paul is arguing here. He said those with leadership reputation added nothing to him. His heavenly relationship added life to mankind. Moses and Joshua had heavenly relationship; they worked and built the kingdom of God and not of man. Kingdom work is about heavenly relationship. Would you assess yourself and see where you are in God’s agenda? Each time you check your head and see a tuft of grey hair, instead of shaving or dyeing it, ask God “where am I in your agenda?” A night will soon come when no man can work. Our reading for today is Joshua16-18. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 91 (Tuesday, April 01, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua10-12. There is a hymn which I love

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

Refrain

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

To be taught about God in the Sunday school is not enough as to experience Him, and to experience Him is not as good as to have a revelation of Him. When you receive His revelation you carry Him about. Joshua was at that stage. At a point in time, Joshua fought a kingdom, but in chapter10, God accelerated Joshua’s conquer by stirring the heart of five kings (Josh11:20) to confront Joshua;

Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

However, He told Joshua not to fear them and that not a man of them shall be able to stand before him, i.e. their knees were weakened and legs paralyzed as far as heaven is concerned. This is great grace. Conspiracies against God’s children shouldn’t border them for as long as they still remain in the covenant and the pattern of the vision given on the mountain is not changed. In the Bible, we could see different scenarios in which this happened, but God was glorified in all. He will be glorified in your situation also in the name of Jesus. It is a dangerous thing to gang up against God’s own;

Psalms 125:3 “For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.”

So far, in Joshua’s case, God used different tactics for different battles. This is a lesson to spiritual soldiers, let the Holy Spirit give the tactics. The devil is not staying in one place and so a child of God shouldn’t fight wars with a particular pattern. The anointing was so great on Joshua that he gave the Sun and the Moon assignments to do in this particular battle and the bible testified to it in Joshua 10:14 “And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.”

Unusual weapons were used in this battle, such as hailstones. The five kings that conspired against Joshua ran into captivity just to fulfill Revelation 13:10 “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”

From the look of things, it was as if the dealing with the five kings were not in the agenda for that day because Joshua locked them up where they were hiding and went to finish some other works before returning to deal with them, Joshua10:17-21. The kingdoms began to form clusters against Joshua, but all in all, God laughed them to scorn. We need to ask for the grace to trust this JESUS and to take Him at His words. If He says He has delivered your enemies into your hand, just take Him for that, His faithfulness will bring it to pass. He is awesome and indescribable. His smell is in His words; you need to take Him by His words because He will not fail you. Our reading for today is Joshua13-15. Keep the fire burning and alive