Bible In One Year-Day 156 (Thursday, June 5, 2014)

Commentary: 1Chronicles4-6. The listing of the genealogy continued. In chapter6, we have the allotment of common lands to the Levites. A remarkable character in these chapters is Jabez;

1 Chronicles 4:9 “And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”

The background or foundation of Jabez was not too good. He was born in parental distress and pain, cursed by the mother through the name she gave him. I guess his mother went through the curse on Eve;

Genesis 3:16 “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

As Jabez grew up, many things went wrong in his life and these things could be read from his prayers to God; he lived under a curse, he was limited on every side, the enemy was always prevailing in his life, anywhere he went he was the target of evil and he was always a pain to those around him. He grew up to know his life bore bad fruit which he was not guilty of, neither was he the cause. No one could have helped him but God because it was a parental curse working in his life. He turned to that God in prayer and God proved His faithfulness. What can prayer not change? With all that was in his life, the Bible still recorded that he was more honorable than any of his brethren; this was so because he did something unusual to change his life and that was prayer.

You don’t have a choice as to which family, race or community you want to be born. You don’t even have a choice as to what name to be given to you, but you have a choice to make a change to your life. If one embraces the ignorance of one’s parents, the outcome of the person’s life is not going to be admirable and the sorrow of such becomes multiplied at the long run. Unfortunately, many are bound to family woes, curses and covenants through family names, traditions, beliefs and other strongholds. In any condition you find yourself, prayer does a great deal in it. Even if you are in your destiny, prayer adds more beauty beyond what you could ever think of. Jesus was in His destiny yet He prayed all His life. The power of prayer is immense and it adds splendor to life beyond bargain, Eph3:20.

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”

Here is what Joseph M. Scriven (1855) in Ireland has to say in hymns while his mother was seriously sick;

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

If Jabez changed his life from what his parents gave and dictated to him through prayers, you have no excuse, and complaints are irrelevant. You can’t change your spiritual problem by worrying, crying, complaining, blaming others, logics or scheming but by praying;

Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

The length of days you spent praying do not matter but the efficacy (praying in faith and not in fear) of your prayers; faith is the backbone of any effectual prayer.

James 5:16 “… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Build your faith by reading the word of God regularly. Prayers made using the word of God works more wonders than we think. On the other hand, any prayer made without the basis of God’s word is just noise. You need to carry the word of God in prayer.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is 1C hronicles7-9. Keep the fire burning and alive. PRAYER IS THE KEY.

Bible In One Year-Day 155 (Wednesday, June 4, 2014)

Commentary: 1Chronicles1-3. The books of 1&2Kings are more of the political history while those of Chronicles are religious. The chapters list the royal line of David. One may think of why the names are necessary. The sense is that every name is important in history; more important is the role the name played in making history. Not all the names of David’s children were mentioned, only 9 sons and a daughter. Others were referred to as the sons of the concubines. What you do in life will make you to be outstanding and remarkable. God only identifies with positive contributions. Positive in the sense that God is glorified just as Christ says in John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.”

I will like you to know that lifting Jesus up is not just carrying the Bible about, but it is about your relationship with God and others which is measured in terms of faith (with God), hope (in your destiny) and charity (expression of God’s love through you to others). God desires more of better relationship with others because this connects you faster and concisely with your destiny and God; 1 Corinthians 13:13

1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

Your charity work for the needy is an act of lifting Christ up. A farmer is always looking for a fertile land to plant seeds. If he plants where the seed will not grow, he will reap nothing at harvest;

Luke 6:34 “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.”

The fertile grounds for us as Christians are the poor and the needy (the disabled, those who lack something to eat, the aged and the sick);

Matthew 10:42 “And whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily, I say to you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.”

The best way to building a perfect relationship with God is to build a loving relationship with those around us.

Romans 12:18 “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate who the needy in our surrounding are, and how charity work could single us out remarkably. There were many Samaritans but the expression of love and passion for a dying man tagged this particular Samaritan as “Good”. Another example is the manner the widow gave her offering in the Synagogue. What you receive from God is not as important to Him as the manner you give it out or share it with people. Let us look beyond our relatives and bless the Lord by giving to those who are not able to return what we have given them.

Luke 14:12-14 “Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.”

God gave us His Son, they called Him JESUS, He came to heal, restore and to save. He must be lifted up on the earth, Halleluiah! Amen.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is 1Chron4-6. Keep the fire burning and alive. GIVE LOVE GENUINELY.

Bible In One Year-Day 154 (Tuesday, June 3, 2014)

Commentary: Jer49-52. The judgment of God on all nations was further declared over these chapters. Babylon happened to be the instrument for executing this judgment. However, Babylon was not spared because she was also guilty of the sins of the other nations; idolatry. God is a righteous God and He is no respecter of persons. He only takes delight in whoever is prepared to obey Him. Jeremiah described this God thus in;

Jeremiah 51:15 “He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.”

When He judges or forgives, it stands unchanged by any one, whether they go by it or not. This is why He is call “HIS MAJESTY”; i.e. no one can query His actions.

Babylon received the most terrifying judgment because she was guilty of the sins of those nations God judged. Jesus said in the book of Luke;

Luke 13:4 “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Whatever we see around us is always a message. The man of God should therefore be careful in his doings because preaching against sin on the pulpit should firstly be applied to his personal life otherwise, if not the devil, God Himself could judge him. Every Christian should consider his or her ways before judging others;

Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

Nebuchadnezzar had the grace to be God’s instrument of judgment but, unfortunately, he took pride in it which eventually led him to sin against God.

Whatever gift you have must be used in obedience to God’s instructions, humility of heart and in righteousness. The gift you have is not the yardstick to heaven, but how much it works in your heart and life. King Saul got the wonderful gifts that would make him function very well in his capacity as a king from God after Samuel anointed him but he did not humble himself in them. He takes decisions without consulting God. Lack of humility can make one to lose any spiritual gift. It could even make one to be a shame. It could lead to untimely death.

2 Chronicles 34:27 “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD.”

God hears and attends to a humble heart faster than you could ever imagine. What God wanted to achieve in Israel was done through the hand of the Babylonian king. Humility would be found in them as the prophecy says;

Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God.They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.”

In all we go through, God’s goal is for humility to be found in us. Gentleness is not humility. These are two different things. Gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, i.e. nature of the Holy Spirit which HE exhibits through you. But humility is the state of your own spirit, i.e. your submission to the help of the Holy Spirit to work on you and how you regard another person, not considering yourself better than another; counting grace as an undeserved gift of God, not by works. When you are humble, it means PRIDE is hidden from you.

Job 33:17 “That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.”

Humility is total yield to the directives of the Holy Spirit; you can’t vindicate yourself, but allowing God to do it for you. It is absolutely the opposite of pride. In the school of God, this is a very important and paramount course or subject. Joseph took this course in the prison and that was why he was friendly to other prisoners and warders. His gifts, he attributed the praise to God. That was not the case with King Saul. King Saul was honored without going through this school, unfortunately, he couldn’t defend that certificate of honor; he was stripped of the garment of honor. We need the School of humility where many subjects are taught for you to manage the next level; the subject of poverty for you to manage wealth, subject of persecution and name calling for you to manage praise, the subject of humiliation for you to manage honor, etc. When God takes you through this process, it means He has something great inside of you which He wants to activate after graduation from His school. Some adversities are not demonic but enrolment in the school of God Almighty towards a purpose or goal. Remember Joseph. No one really gets honored by God without graduating from the School of Humility.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is 1Chronicles1-3. Keep the fire burning and alive

Proverbs 15:33 “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”

Proverbs 22:4 “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.”

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.”

Bible In One Year-Day 153 (Monday, June 2, 2014)

Commentary: Jer46-48. The reading of these chapters clearly shows why God gave the warning to the remnant of Judah not to go to Egypt and other nations but to submit to the King of Babylon. Recall from previous readings;

Jeremiah 27:6 “And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.”

Jeremiah 27:8 “And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.”

The hand of Nebuchadnezzar was ordained and anointed for special assignment. The assignment was that God’s judgment was going to be executed through the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. The warnings given to the remnant of Judah against their running to Egypt was because Egypt was already judged and for this reason God told Jeremiah not to pray them out of submitting to Nebuchadnezzar for their good;

Jeremiah 14:11 “Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.” The remnant thought submitting to Nebuchadnezzar would be too oppressive, insulting, and that running to Egypt would be a succor. Little did they know that all nations had been judged and the only place of security and peace was Babylon. Beloved, our difficult and seemingly oppressive moments could be the best for us, especially if you are the praying type. Haggai was told to go back to Sarah while she was running away from Sarah. As at the time she was with Sarah, though oppressive, she still had her conveniences taken care of. But on fleeing, it was more difficult to live to the point that she abandoned her son to die.

Many of us run away from places that seemed unbearable for another place that seemed good without asking God for divine direction. Not all that glitter is gold, as the saying goes. Three nations were mentioned so far in these three chapters; Egypt, Philistines and Moab. Egypt was a nation thought to be very strong in security and warfare not knowing that as far as heaven was concerned it was powerless;

Jeremiah 46:17 “They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.”

Philistines was looked upon as a place of recreation and strong military attainment, but a flood of destruction has been prepared as a standard against her ability;

Jeremiah 47:3 “At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;”

Moab was unusually peaceful and lacked no food. Moab was praise before nations to the point she arrogated her achievement to her intelligence. But as far as heaven was concern, a garment of shame and ridicule was already prepared for her. Her pride was taken away and her praise withdrawn (Jer48:2, 7, 11, 13 and 29 ). Her shame would be so resounding that people who hear would wonder;

Jeremiah 48:42 “And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.”

The difficult times we go through does not mean that God will not visit us, but from what we have read, it is to shake some things that would have harmed us and which we hold tightly onto out of our hands. He has His ways of humbling us. The sin of all this nations was idolatry and this was why He dealt with them in favor of Israel initially but they also turned out to be culprits.

Leviticus 18:24-26 “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:”

It is good for us to learn from these chapters. There are yokes that are convenient; these are God’s yokes.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

God’s yoke and burden are the only inconveniences that lead to rest and comfort. Jeremiah’s ministry was very painful but that was the only thing he could do on earth that would give him a good end. He asked God some questions because he never thought he had to suffer if he was doing the will of God;

Jeremiah 15:17-18 “I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?”

You cannot escape painful experiences whilst bearing Christ’s cross; you only need to stay focused and not be distracted. The convenience in it is that His grace will sustain you; what could have ordinarily killed a person becomes a means of pruning and preparing for another level of glory to be revealed.

Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

If you are going through some difficult times, it is better for you to prayerfully seek the Lord’s face to know the source of it; if it is demonic attack or your personal mistake due to ignorance, cry for the Finger of God to rescue you from its grip and torment. But if the yoke is God’s, count it all joy because the end of it is always glorious; that is an approved enemy. It is not kill you but to prepare you for the next level.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Not every pain we have to pray to be removed. Jesus also concluded after much travail in prayer that the cup before Him was the will of His Father and therefore had to drink it; the end was glorious. Every glorious destiny has its convenient yoke that drags it to the glorious rest. Apostle Paul’s approved enemy was the thorn in the flesh. Any yoke that keeps you on your knees praying to God or that keeps you closer to God is a good yoke. The one that is making you to prefer holiness and righteousness to sinning is a good one. However, whichever is dragging you further and further from God towards destruction is not of God but demonic and must be broken for your total deliverance. Joseph had his approved enemy at every stage of his life until he got to the seat of fulfillment.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. May the Lord give us the grace to overcome our weaknesses in the name of Jesus. Our reading for today is Jer49-52. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Bible In One Year-Day 152 (Sunday, June 1, 2014)

Commentary: Jer43-45. Each time you see Jeremiah do some prophetic action, it means that the matter was concluded in the spirit realm and the words that follows such actions were the judgment established in heaven, Jer43:9-13. The Bible tagged the leadership of the people as proud and wherever you see pride, disobedience is there;

Jeremiah 43:2 “Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:”

Pride is a sign that Satan has taken over just as humility is a token of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The nature of the Holy Spirit is gentleness and humility but that of Satan is pride. Pride made him to disobey the God in heaven, Isaiah14:12-15.

Isaiah 14:12-15 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

Pride is a thing of the heart with selfish notations as “I”. Pride makes one to pervert God’s word. Satan carried the word of God to Adam and Eve with the intention to deceive them, he did it to Jesus also. Satan is still doing it. In Jer42, they sent Jeremiah to God and with a promise that they would do whatever God said. Again they wanted God to say what they had in mind. They despised God’s counsel which Jeremiah was not comfortable with;

Jeremiah 42:20 “For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.”

They rejected God’s counsel and carried every one of them along to Egypt, including Jeremiah. For this reason, God instructed Jeremiah to carry out the prophetic action as a sign of God’s judgment. Nebuchadnezzar was an instrument of divine judgment in the hand of God. Egypt as a nation was not an issue to God as at this very time but the disobedience of the remnant of Judah to God’s counsel caused the unfavorable judgment. They trusted in Egypt instead of God. Though they changed their position (i.e. from Jerusalem to Egypt), their orientation was not changed (burning incense to the queen of heaven). What they did in Jerusalem was what they embarked on in Egypt;

Jeremiah 44:16-17 “As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”

God’s judgment after this statement was very serious, and Pharaoh was seriously affected. Chapter44 was God’s judgment for their involvement in idolatry. The gift of a man is not what makes God to take delight in the man but his obedience to God’s will and instructions.

Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is Jer46-48. Keep the fire burning and alive.

1 Samuel 15:22 “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”