Commentary: Obadiah/Jonah1-3. God has the final say in all situations. When he speaks, all creations must respond to fulfilling His verdict.

Isaiah 48:13 “Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.”

Obadiah’s message revealed impending justice for Israel and judgment to Edom. Though, they are brothers, unfortunately, an ancient battle which started in the womb turned them into enemies of one another. On two significant occasions, Edom was in the position to help the Israelites in their plights but refused to do that. The first occasion was in the wilderness (Num20:14-21). Again, when Israel was invaded by the enemy, he refused to help to rescue. These two occasions marked the beginning of God’s wrath against the Edomites. Instead of the Edomites to be of help to the Israelites, they mocked at them and rejoiced at their calamities.

Obadiah 1:10-12 “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.”

God’s judgment was directly to give back to Edom for what he did to Israel. In addition to that, God pronounced deliverance for Israel.

Obadiah 1:17 “But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”

The deliverance of Jacob includes a package of empowerment, strength and authority to possess.

The lesson we have in this book is revealed in verse15;

Obadiah 1:15 “For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.”

Be careful what you sow. Let no bitterness of heart refrain you from being of help when you have the grace. This is the parable of the Good Samaritan which Jesus gave in Luke10.

Luke 10:33 “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,”

Samaritans were not known to be in good terms with the Jews, but this particular one recognized a life threatening situation in which this unfortunate man was and he had the grace to help. The kindness is what God asked us to engage in with our neighbor not minding what they must have done. Your action towards your neighbor matters to God.

1 John 4:20-21 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

Love for one another is the summary of God in you.

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 Micah1-4. Keep the fire of burning and alive. (Jonah’s commentary in another article)

Commentary: Amos7-9. The Prophet, by grace, was able to have a glimpse of the five God’s judgment on Israel in the spirit of divine revelation; it was horrible and the he could not hold them. He begged God not to carry out the fierceness of His anger. Amaziah, the priest, was not happy with Amos for his candid prophesy and therefore misinterpreted Amos for seeking financial favor from the King. Amos made it known to him that he only said what God had told him; repentance. He further told him that he was not a professional prophet but only a farmer. He only found favor with God to be used.

The book of Amos ended well with God’s promises and blessings.

Amos 9:13-15 “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”

God is so merciful. We need to repent from all sins to be able to enjoy His fullness. God is righteous and. therefore, hates sin not the sinner.

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.”

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 Obadiah/Jonah1-3. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA

Commentary: Amos4-6. The inputs of women in the nefarious activities of the men of Samaria were outlined in chapter four. Obviously, they encouraged their husbands to horribly sin against the poor. The chapter opened with literal appellation of the women as “fat cows” (feminine description). The nation was so bad to the point that they refused to yield to God’s chastisement through unfavorable circumstances. In the Prophet’s warnings, he described the awesomeness of God by telling of His attributes.

Amos 4:13 “For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.”

The sentence of God was a proclamation of defeat over the nation in battle, Amos5:3. This sentence says that only ten percent of those who go to war shall return, not as victors but as escapees. This is absolutely contrary to what God promised them in the time of Moses;

Leviticus 26:7-8 “And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

This is an indication that transgression against God’s command will incur a repercussion opposite the benefits to obedience. The solution for the Israelites not experience this shame was for them to come back to Him with a genuine heart, Amos5:4; “Seek Me and live”. They were seeking the Lord where He never approved, i.e. Bethel.

In 1 Kings11, King Solomon’s heart was turned against the Lord and God declared His judgment of splitting the kingdom and give one part to his servant and the other to his son because of David.

1 Kings 11:11 “Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.”

1 Kings 11:13 “Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”

Jeroboam was the servant of Solomon who eventually was made King.

1 Kings 11:28 “And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:”

1 Kings 11:31 “And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:”

We need to note very well that God specifically chose Jerusalem as the place of worship and not any other place.

1 Kings 11:32 “(But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)”

This simply means that any other place chosen was an abomination and it was regarded as sin. There is no amount of rituals made in such places, they shall be in vain. For fear of the kingdom given to Jeroboam being returned to the house of David, Jeroboam built altars in Bethel and in Dan, ordained priests and psyched the people to begin to worship idols (1Kings12:26-33). This became serious sin against God.

1 Kings 12:26-27 “And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

Saul, David and King Solomon did not build any shrine for idols, Jeroboam started it as a king. These shrines were the places of worship the rich made sacrifices which God is against in Amos5. God rejected whatever was done there, Amos5:21-23, even their music.

In the Old Testament, it is only the place appointed by God to worship Him that is accepted to Him; any other places were not accepted. Jesus came to change the rule from building to gathering of the saints in His name. And if the Spirit of Christ is not present there, there is no worship.

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

The building no longer played a significant role in the worship of God; no matter how beautiful it is. It is a matter of the heart, i.e. the spirit of man.

John 4:23 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are assembled in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

Our gathering should not be in the flesh. Establishment of churches should not be of the flesh. Our preaching and teaching should not be of the flesh. Nothing should involve the flesh in the things of God

Jeroboam acted on the dictates of the flesh and anything that originates from the flesh is an abomination to God as the flesh profits nothing in the things of God.

God no longer demands worship in the flesh but in spirit and in truth. Any church built or installed out of bitterness of heart has become the rejected Bethel altar. We must be led by the Spirit of God for our services to be accepted by 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 Amos7-9. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

Delaware, USA

Commentary: Amos1-3. Amos was a farmer-turned-prophet. He was from the minority tribe in Judah. The nation was in false worship of God with theologically painted outward worship. In totality, the nation of Israel wasn’t in agreement with God anymore in spite of God’s favor towards them amongst the families of the earth;

Amos 3:2-3 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”

Chapters 1 and 2 are reflections of the atrocities committed by the tribes of Israel ranging from treachery, through rituals using unborn children to prosper, to betrayal of brotherly covenant. God gave reasons for His judgment on each tribe mentioned. However, there is only one common strategy God used to tackle these problems in Israel; attacking the roots.

Amos 2:9 “… yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.”

The roots of the problems (fruits) were in the palaces. The palaces became strongholds for perpetuating evil in the land. There was great perversion of justice and the rich became oppressive by enslaving the poor (Amos2:6-8).

This same decay is prevalent in countries and communities in this present age. The worship of God is now corrupted through theology (which yields to morality) rather than pure relationship with God (an experience).

John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Any worship involving the flesh is not true. Only that which is of the spirit is true worship.

The only way to bring a change is divine intervention in the affairs of the world. Once the roots are destroyed from beneath, the evil fruits will surely wither. The world needs divine intervention. These come in any form; protest, revolution, famine, draught, unfortunate death of the oppressors, etc. Each nation has been divinely assigned the way the decay is going to be addresses. It may differ from nation to nation. The summary is to bring God’s people back to Him through the Lord 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 Amos4-6. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA

Commentary: Joel1-3. Nothing in this world is free from being subject to God, even Satan and his cohorts, at His command.

Joel 2:11 “And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”

It is in Science that things are classified as LIVING and NON-LIVING things; it is not so in the spiritual world. Everything hears the spoken word and goes by the command of the Sovereign God especially in judgment. In the book of Joel, we saw this happen when the fearful appearance of an army of locusts ominously darkened the sky as cloud and everything green that could be food for any creature was stripped to sticks. It was not announced or expected. There was no sign of it before striking. This happened to the southern kingdom of Judah when the region was deep in sin. Natural things can become weapons of divine judgment; rain, famine, blessing, drought, fertility and natural disaster are all under God’s control.

Prophet Joel’s message was that of repentance to the sinning community, consolation and hope for those affected by the disaster. God still promised them future if they repented.

The disaster was very catastrophic and was effected by four kinds of locusts;

Joel 1:4 “That which the palmerworm (chewing or cutting locust) hath left hath the locust (swarming locust) eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm (hopping or crawling locust) eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller (consuming or stripping locust) eaten.” (parenthesis mine)

This attack left behind dryness of joy from the people as concluded in Joel1:12

Joel 1:12 “The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.”

Unfortunately, many lives, homes, families, communities, clans and nations are passing through this type of situation where one problem hands over to another worse problem as if in a relay race. Joy is absent in many lives and what used to be green is reduced to nothingness. Chapter two of the book (verses 1-11) describes the experience of the people during the attack. Verses 12-18 is the message of the Lord to His devastated people;

Joel 2:12-13 “Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 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.”

God’s demand in seeking for deliverance is not an outward show of religious practices but with a sincere heart. The grace and mercy of God can only be fully enjoyed when a sincere heart leads. The remaining part of the chapter is the message of hope for a sincere heart;

Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

God is faithful and His lovingkindness never fails. The central message of Joel is on the day of the Lord. In this book, this refers to two experiences; judgment (or tribulation) and the outpour of His Spirit. Judgment to those that sin has made to become God’s enemy and restoration to those who heard the word and repented.

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 Amos1-3. Keep the fire of burning and alive.

Pastor Supo Abayode

+1-302-230-6792

MFM Delaware, USA