Commentary: Zephaniah1-3. The days of Zephaniah were during the time of religious, political and social imbalance in the land of Judah. The major theme in his message to the people was “The Day of The Lord” Prophet Zephaniah gave a perfect definition of that day which sent his reforming message deeper into the hearers.

Zephaniah 1:15-16 “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.”

The covenant relationship with God never exempted them from His judgment because their unfaithfulness called for it. Zephaniah’s message was a call for repentance; whoever repents and walks righteously and in humility will be hidden from the judgment to come. However, whoever walks wickedly will have a taste of God’s anger. The truth is that if God releases His anger, where can a man run to? Here is the Psalmist experience;

Psalms 139:7-10 “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

We may have that covenant relationship with God, our faithfulness is what makes us enjoy the benefits and grace attached to it; this is what we call real-time relationship and it is what God desires from us. In case this relationship flaws, Zephaniah suggested repentance, Zeph2:1-2.

Zephaniah 2:1-3 “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.”

We may not understand this repentance. Repentance is not just confession with the mouth but a thing that is reflected in our attitude and way of life. Zephaniah mentioned three things in his suggestion that must be the pursuit of a genuinely repentant heart;

1. Seek the Lord: this is a show of your Love for Him in appreciation of His graciousness. It is a show of your love for Him; you want to be in His presence above all other things. Matt6:33
2. Seek righteousness: this is making sure His will is done.
3. Seek humility: this is total reliance on God’s grace, i.e. not being boastful of your input or ability but just grace. John15:5 says “without me ye can do nothing” When you get to this point you become a servant who waits on God with fear to hear His instructions. You don’t attribute any achievement to yourself but to the Giver of life, Jesus.
4. Soberness: this is feeling ashamed of your past deeds. You realize your filthiness and demand for cleansing. No pride is attached to your past sinful acts.

In 2Chron7:14, we notice also that God demanded humility from us as part of repentance.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This means that repentance must be accompanied with some evidences which we call virtues; righteousness, faith in God, humility, honesty and truth. John the Baptist called these virtues FRUITS OF REPENTANCE just as we have fruit of the Spirit from those who have Him.

Luke 3:8 “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say to you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

John the Baptist made them to know that the covenant relationship established through Abraham is not a platform for unfaithfulness but exhibiting the virtues of repentance.

Prophet Zephaniah further made it known to them that if anyone has these virtues, such would be saved from the wrath to come and, of course, will enjoy a promissory splendor as relayed in chapter 3.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”

God is mercy and gracious to those who are meek. May His grace hide calamity from us in the name of Jesus. May the Lord hide pride from us also in the name of Jesus Christ.

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 the book of Malachi. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

Delaware, USA

Commentary: Habakkuk1-3. In the days of Habakkuk, crime and violence were the order of the day. Judah was deep in atrocities, yet God was silent. This posed a concern to Prophet Habakkuk which made him to remain on his knees to seek God’s intervention.

Habakkuk 1:1 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.”

God responded in a vision to him. God’s response started with the description of the nature of the instrument of correction, Babylon, He was going to use, Habakkuk 1:5-11. This was another ponder to the prophet. The prophet threw some questions to God based on the way He wanted to use the weapon in correcting His people. In chapter2, God told the prophet to write the vision down for it was not an instant one but for the future; even if it slows, it was the duty of the Prophet to be patient in waiting for its manifestation. This is a great lesson to us. There is a slow vision, i.e. takes more time to come to pass. Such vision demands our patience if is favorable; all we need to do in such cases is to write it down and read it constantly so that our faith can be built up. If the vision is not a good one, it only shows that God is giving time for man to go through the process of repentance.

Joel 2:13 “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”

Vision is the greatest virtue of a good Christian. It sustains their heart in being faithful to God in the midst of troubles. This is the meaning of the prophet’s statement;

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.”

The Apostle used this phrase severally to encourage Christians going through difficult times; Romans1:17, Gal3:11 and Heb10:38. To be a Christian isn’t an exemption from trials and hard times. But the righteousness and faithfulness of God is revealed in it if we remain faithful to Him. The situation could be so bad as for us to draw back; we should not.

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”

The Christian, hereby referred to as the just, should be steadfast in trusting God in tribulations. The things that has happened or is happening in the spirit realm should be what matters to a child of God because that is where the reality holds. Habakkuk never relented in pressing God for answer to the problem that was on ground; the righteous being oppressed by the wicked and goes free, the law was so weak to the point of open perversion of justice. The crooked was increasing in wealth, innocent blood was shed to gain properties and rape became the usual phenomenon. God’s ways aren’t our ways. We should embrace His will and plan in getting problems solved even if the manner is alien, i.e. unfamiliar, to us. Habakkuk was concerned about the unruly behavior of his countrymen and how the innocent was being put to death and molested. When He contacted God on this issue, the manner God wanted to correct the menace was shocking to him; God was to use a more horrible people to correct that. Habakkuk regarded God’s way as wisdom. He embraced God’s option and concluded by praising Him in chapter 3. The evidence of a believer being faithful is to take delight in God’s will and embrace His response to all situations. The just shall live by faith. The glorious life of a believer is more evident in difficult circumstances. Habakkuk showed us how to praise God in such situations. After seeing the vision, he praised God acknowledging His mightiness. His description of God’s mightiness could have been what He saw in the vision and fear came upon him. Believers need to strive in prayer to see more of God, then worldliness becomes vanity to them. Apostle Paul saw the vision and revelation of the Lord; he submitted his brain power, i.e. acquired knowledge to the feet of Jesus for use. May the Lord unlock our understanding in the name of Jesus.

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 the book of Zephaniah Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA

Commentary: Nahum1-3. Repentance is the most desired by God from us.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Repentance can hold God’s judgment back and set a man before the throne of grace. It could go a long way in healing our wounds because of God’s mercy. Nahum’s prophetic ministry came about 100 years after Jonah preached repentance and brought revival into the city of Nineveh. Nineveh was evangelized by Jonah and the city came to accept God as the only God. By the time Nahum was raised for this ministry, Nineveh had forgotten the revival of the time of Jonah and resorted to wicked ways of bloodshed, idolatry, harlotries, and pride. Witchcraft had taken over and oppression greatly increased.

Nahum 3:1-4 “Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.”

Nahum’s message starts with acknowledgment of God’s greatness and awesomeness; He cannot be restricted by any natural means. For instance, Nahum talked about the mountain quaking before Him and the hills melting away. He further declares that He has His ways in the whirlwind and in the storm. In addition, he said the people of the earth also heave at His presence. God is great. God may be long-suffering and merciful, His judgment is great also; this is part of His greatness. No matter how good you are beloved, stay away from sin.

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.”

The rod of the wicked in this context could be regarded as God’s rod of judgment. Mind you, God is not the wicked but He could allow the wicked to have his ways to chastise His children.

Psalms 89:30-32 “If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.”

He had used Babylon before to deal with the Judeans. Sin can open the door to series of unpleasant hard times. However, repentance is the key to staying the rod of punishment. As a child of God, stay away from sin and iniquity.

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 Habakkuk1-3. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA

Commentary: Micah5-7. God is a God of purpose. We could see that He so much loved Jerusalem. His anger against Jerusalem subsided and the proclamation of His goodness replaced it. Jerusalem had been marked to be the city of the Messiah.

Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

This was fulfilled in Christ;

John 7:42 “Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”

It’s all about Jesus. His root is from the ancient and from everlasting, ending in everlasting. He Himself declared that He had been with God before the world began, John17:24. Here, God so much preserved the city of Jerusalem because of His purpose for it. Once you discover purpose, your life will have meaning, because God will defend His interest, which is purpose, in you. Work of righteousness will take us nowhere but God’s purpose for us and in us. Only the Holy Spirit can achieve divine purpose through us, not by our works. All you need is to remain focused and not be distracted. That purpose is as a result of His grace and not our doings or ability. Apostle Paul said he was called by HIS GRACE, not merit. If we come to realize this truth our relationship with people will change. God cannot be bribed as revealed in Micah6:6-7.

Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

All He wants from us justice (i.e. righteousness), love and humility (i.e. peace). These are pillars of salvation and the greatest is LOVE.

Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

His purpose would be fully realized if we individually upheld these pillars. God’s purpose is in His deep thought (Isa55:8-9) and to discover it, you need His Spirit in you. Ezekiel said His Spirit entered Him and then he heard the voice of Him that spoke.

1 Corinthians 2:10 “But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

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 Nahum1-3. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA

Commentary: Micah1-4. Micah was a prophet during the reign of Kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah. His prophetic assignment was to let the people know that God was accusing them of their sins and iniquities.

Micah 1:5 “For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?”

Micah3 reveals the oppression meted out by the powers that be on the poor. Those in authority took unhealthy advantage of the defenseless. The rulers and the elders thought they were doing the Lord good, but in reality, they were provoking Him. The prophets and priest were not left out. God’s anger was upon them and the grace to receive visions was removed from them.

Micah 3:6-7 “Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.”

Micah couldn’t have been in the position to declare the iniquities of the powerful leaders to them if not for grace, i.e. the resting of the Spirit of the Lord.

Micah 3:8 “But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.”

God hates the oppression of the poor with perfect hatred. Oppression could be in any form; just as we read that the prophets divine for money whilst the priests teach for money, Micah3:11. Any grace we receive from God (spiritual gifts, position or power) is not to satisfy our selfish interest but to meet the need of others. When we use God’s grace for our selfish ego, we have become agents of oppression and we can’t find a place with God. Misuse of power is oppression. A good example is found in the garden of Gethsemane, Matt26:51-56. When Jesus was to be arrested, one of the disciples brought out a sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant thinking he was defending Jesus. They were all surprised that Jesus rebuked that person and then they all fled. To Jesus, the use of the sword at that time was oppression because the servant was acting on his master’s instruction; he had no choice to refuse the instruction. We need to be careful how we use grace. Improper use of grace could sentence us to where we don’t want to go. We shall all give account of every gift received from God. Abuse of grace is unrighteousness and this amounts to sin. Sin is the greatest enemy of grace. Grace increases where sin reduces. The more you resist sin the more you experience the perfection of grace. Without sin, we could have access to the supernatural, the holy of holies. Sin separated Adam and Eve from the presence of God. It is still doing that now and this makes it look as if God is far away from us.

Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

If you know and understand the word of God and still go ahead to do contrary to it, then you are moving far from God because His Word is Him. The richness of God in you is if the Word finds a place to dwell in you. Beloved, I am not saying memorizing the word without doing and living the word. It is not preaching or teaching the Word; it is for the Word to be as life and Spirit within you (inward experience) with the evidence of the fruit (outward disposition). The fruit of a tree is not in the tree but hanging for people to see. Trees are called by the name of the fruit. The fruit introduces the tree; the tree does not introduce itself. Jesus says you should let your light shine before men. It is the light of the Word of God within you that shines for men to see and not being a nuisance.

When the Word enters into you, it becomes Spirit and Life. Prophet Micah received the Word and he declared that he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Ezekiel also received the Word and the veil between him and the supernatural world was broken; he became another man (Ezekiel2) able to hear what spirits speak. This is ANOINTING; IT IS ABOUT THE INNER EXPERIENCE not a show off. Anointing breaks the yoke, i.e. your own yoke first. Anoint teaches just as it did to Apostle Paul (Gal 1:10-12).

1 John 2:27 “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

Anointing reveals. The proper definition, therefore, of ANOINTING is the explosion of God’s WORD (which you received through revelation) in you as SPIRIT and LIFE, then people can tap from that fountain and drink from your cistern. The inner experience precedes the process of becoming another man. There is a WORD you must hear, there is a VISION you need to see and there is a DREAM you must dream. Pray for it. Pray! Pray!! Pray!!!

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 Micah5-7. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA