Bible In One Year- Day 44 (Thursday, February 13, 2014)

Aaron and his sons were ceremoniously ordained for the work God has called them for. For them to be properly fit for it, God gave details of what should be done without leaving any stone unturned. God is holy and they that worship Him must be holy. We must know that God’s calling is by His directives and no logic should be attached. The success of Moses before Mount Pisgah experience was because he followed the instructions of God to the point. The using of the blood on the ear lobes, right hand and leg thumbs were quite significant. For a priest to teach the people of God he needs hearing ears, teachable hands and yielding or submissive legs, Psalm144:1.

Psalms 144:1  A Psalm of David. “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:”

These are actually basic parts of the body that could become instrument of sin. By what Moses did, according to God’s commandment, they were consecrated for God’s use. If we could consecrate our ears, hands and legs to God, we have, to a great deal, defeated the devil. To have faith, we need our ears. But if our ears are opened to profane words such as lies, gossips and rumors, we would hardly hear God. And if we even hear Him, we will doubt Him. Our ears have direct influence on our hearts. The bad words we hear contribute a lot to bad thoughts and bring fear into our lives. God uses our hands to bless people and do a lot of things. Moses’ hand was the symbol of ministry and power in the land of Egypt and that was why the Egyptians testified that ‘this is the Finger of God’. A sinning hand does no good to people. What you write matters, beloved. How many lives have you destroyed with your hand? How many hearts have you broken with the works of your hands? For God to go to places, our legs are needed. Where do your legs carry you to? If it is not to the glory of God, you are not supposed to be there. A priest bears the guilt of the people and so must be able to yield totally to God. Nadab and Abihu were destroyed because they dishonored God by carrying out the duty not commanded by God. Many of us try to help God but we never knew that it adds to the problems on ground. No matter how you love a person, the only way to render a spiritual blessing to such person is to wait on the Lord and hear from God for the next action; no profane prophecy or sacrifice should be encouraged. We could see that after Aaron had done the right thing, the glory of God came down accompanied by fire, Lev9:23-24.

Leviticus 9:23-24 “And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”

It is not our duty as priests to fake the presence of God with sweet prophecies or words. Doing so will amount to diabetic tongue. The Holy Spirit will confirm the words you speak if they are from Him and people will know and see and worship the Lord.

Acts 10:44-46 “While Peter yet spoke these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,”

Two types of fire were kindled in these chapters 8-10; that which was kindled by God and that by Aaron’s children. One brought the people to their knees while the other brought about untimely death. The one that brought untimely death was because they were not told to kindle it and again they added incense (sweet talk). Diabetic tongue is death to the body. When we sugarcoat the word of God it loses its power, dignity and glory. Just say it the way God has told you and live the confirmation to God. God wants to be glorified in our lives and this is achieved by those who come near Him, Lev10:3. Sugarcoating the word of God is self glorification; you want popularity and fame. This makes one to be opened to serious demonic attack. LET GOD BE GLORIFIED in all you do. Prayer: O Lord, give me the Spirit that does Your will, in Jesus name. Next mile on the trip is Lev11-13. Keep the fire burning and alive. Let Jesus be glorified in all nations.

Bible In One Year- Day 43 (Wednesday, February 12, 2014)

Commentary: Leviticus 5-7. Reading chapter5 of Leviticus will makme us realize that our daily living cannot do without sinning. What you hear, what you see and what you say, in one way or the other will always put us in a corner of defilement. Especially the tongue, it is a horrible part of us.

James 3:8 “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Greater percentage of the people you meet got into the predicament in which they are because of the tongue. Joseph ran into trouble with his brothers because of his tongue. When one loses control of this aspect of life, the end of such is certainly disastrous; such describes his or her destiny to the enemy. It is with the tongue we make oaths which is what Lev5 is saying. Lev6 also remarked another tongue disease, LYING and FALSEHOOD in swearing.

Leviticus 6:3 “Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:”

Lev7, in addition, talks about what to eat and what not to eat; this is another problem of the tongue. Many cannot control their eating habit. Some even carry it into their dreams. Esau had this problem and he lost his birthright. Tragedy crawled into the life of many through eating in the dream. A lot of people that are supposed to be prophets for the Lord had lost the grace through a leaking tongue. Prophet Isaiah was captured by the King’s delicacies. It was the mercy of God that came to rescue him and the first thing that was done was the purging of that tongue otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to adequately function for the Lord. Jeremiah’s mouth almost killed his anointing by confessing negatively contrary to God’s plan. The father of John the Baptist almost destroyed God’s plan concerning John. But the Angel of God locked his mouth for 9 months. To be useful for the Lord, beloved, the first part of you that must be worked on is your tongue. When God visited Prophet Ezekiel, He realized that he was having a leaking mouth. God then lockd the mouth and put the key in His pocket. He told him that He would unlock it only when there is the need for it. God doesn’t work with talkatives as such. The choice of Moses probably could be that he could not talk much because he was a stammerer. You must submit your tongue to Jesus and let Him use the fire of the Holy Ghost to circumcise it. The tongue must be purged with that fire. A defile tongue will always dishonor God and it is a good instrument for the devil to destroy people. Let God work on your leaking tongue. Th next reading is Lev8-10. Kep the fire burning and alive on the platform of LOVE.

Bible In One Year-Day 42 (Tuesday, February 11, 2014)

Commentary: Lev1-4. When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He made them build a tabernacle to represent His intention of living amongst them after establishing them as a nation. In Exodus we learnt about the making of a nation and the ordination as priests. The Leviticus is a priestly guide on how to relate with God. God emphasized that He is holy and therefore, His people must be holy as well, Lev19:2. That is, we need holiness to be able to relate with God. How could this be possible considering the state of our mind? Heb9:9-10 makes us to understand that those sacrifices and ceremonies attached to cleansing were not able to make the conscience perfect. Only the blood of Jesus can make it. There are lots of sacrifices for different things just to make God approachable. Through the first four chapters, we could read that each time an animal, without blemish, was used for sacrifice, the person who brought it would have to lay hand on the head of the animal and the animal will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. This is SUBSTITUTION. Once the animal is accepted, righteousness will be counted unto such person. Jesus is a substitute for us to become the righteousness of God, 2 Cor5:21.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

The guides and law given were for the deeds of the law. Rom3:20-21 says that no flesh shall be justified through the deeds of the law. We become the righteousness of God only through faith in Christ. Jesus ended the law and established grace; grace to overcome sin and not to embrace sin. Substitution is the result of the grace. Please take time to read Rom10:1-9. You need to stop struggling to be righteous by your own effort but let the Spirit of Christ work you through to pattern you according to the word of God, Rm10:3. The more you struggle to be righteous, the more you find yourself falling into a doctrine and the law and the more sin committed. You could imagine the anointing on Jesus according to Lk4:18-19, let that anointing set you free, heal your wounded heart, proclaim your liberty, give you inner eyes (a seeing grace), witness the good news to your inner being and break your yoke. This is the gospel of Jesus. The essence of the presence of the Holy Spirit here on earth is to supervise grace and help our weaknesses. If you are trying with your effort, it means you don’t need His help. Increase, progress, achievement and breakthrough come by the comforting and the help of the Holy Spirit and not by works of the flesh. Once you realize your weakness, call on Him for help. Check out Acts9:31. To fear God, or get wisdom is by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah11:2). In Lev1, Christ is seen as a male offering without blemish, Lev2 as first fruit offering, Lev3 as peace offering and in Lev4 as sin offering. However, in these chapters, our attitudes matter in bringing these offerings. Lev1 says it should be with a willing heart, Lev2 says without bitterness, i.e. forgive (unleavened), Lev3 says that the offering should be the best and not to regard God as a beggar. Lev4 says that you must be conscious of the sin and that you need forgiveness. Since the conscience was the problem of the priests performing the service and the person who brought the offering, Jesus says the offering is not the issue but the state of your heart. He demands your LOVE for one another, Mark11:25-26. Loving your neighbor is more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, Mark12:33. The request of the scripture is to examine ourselves if we are still in the faith; this is the mark of righteousness. Prayer: Blood of Jesus Christ, wash my heart clean. Next mile on the trip is Lev5-7. Keep the fire burning and alive till His coming. JESUS IS THE LORD. Amen

Bible In One Year-Day 41 (Monday, February 10, 2014)

Commentary: Luke22-24. Heb13:8, Jesus remains the same all the time. We just concluded the book of Luke and we could see who Jesus is, His healing ministry and the sacrifice he made for us on the cross of Calvary. Christ will ever be a mystery; we can’t exhaust knowing Him. His conception was mysterious, birth was a threat to the powers that be (Herod), His growth was amazing (He tasked the brain of the teachers at the synagogue at age 12), His baptism was unequalled and His ministry was unbelievable and unmatched. Everything about Jesus carried the personality of a deity. At His death, the witnesses proclaimed “this must be the SON of God indeed”. JESUS IS THE LORD indeed. The disciples were ever astonished at Him all the time. Since they met Him, they never stopped being amazed. He raised the dead, fed thousands with few loaves, silenced the storm and solved all the issues of life before their very eyes. HE IS BIGGER THAN ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, SORROWS and MOUNTAINS. Each day was new to them. His death was a shock and His resurrection was a thing that was never seen in the land of Israel. Each moment with Jesus was of something new. After His resurrection, He still surprised them by ascending before their gazing eyes. The outstanding part was the manner He expounded the scripture to them. You don’t read the Bible with the flesh but by the Spirit of Christ. There and then you will have a deep understanding of the scripture. Only the Holy Spirit could teach you the bible and you will see what is written in an amazing way because He wrote it. He will take you into His thought; i.e. the motive behind the writing of the bible. For instance, if you wrote me a letter, you had a thought behind the words and sentences in the letter and I could only understand you if I plug into that thought and not by correcting the grammar of the letter. You wrote me to express your mind. The same thing with the bible, the Holy Spirit will take you into God’s thought behind each letter and dot. That is the power behind bible reading. Those who say that there are mistakes in the bible or give up reading the bible lack the power to read it. Knowing God in the flesh is knowledge. But knowing Him in the spirit is awesome and that is revelation power. The two apostles traveling in Lk24:13 knew Jesus in the flesh, but could not recognize Him after resurrection until He fed them with the bread (Lk24:30-31,45). I pray that you will eat the right bread that will give you life in Jesus name. According to Lk10:22, only Jesus could give you the revelation knowledge of the kingdom. The veil of the temple separated the outside from the holy of holies and only the priest with the garment of ministry could go into the tabernacle by the sprinkling of the blood, i.e. a sacrifice was made, Heb5:1-3. Jesus became the sacrifice at the cross of Calvary and immediately the veil was torn for us to have access to the Father. As the High Priest sitting with the Father, we could only have access to the Father through Him as He said in John 14:6.

John 14:6 “Jesus saith to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me.”

However, you need the garment of ministry to access Him; faith and the Holy Spirit, Rm5:2, Eph2:18 and Eph3:12. The first book we read in this project of ‘Bible In One Year’ was the book of Hebrew which explained in details the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus is the sacrifice for all things which has been made once and for all. Please take time to read Heb10:1-10. All the sacrifices in the Old Testament were sacrifices according to the law; they never removed sin, rather, in them there is a reminder of sin every year. Jesus’ sacrifice removed sin once and for all. Halleluiah!!! Without the understanding of Jesus as our sacrifice, we can’t understand the next book to read, the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus, you will see Jesus in every chapter as sacrifice. Prayer: Holy Spirit, take me into Your thought, in Jesus name. The next mile on the trip is Leviticus1-4. Keep the fire burning and alive. Spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus!!!

Bible In One Year-Day 40 (Sunday, February 09, 2014)

Commentary: Luke19-21. Zacchaeus was rich and the ruler in Lk18:18 was comfortable. The ruler, by virtue of his position, lived by example; knew and lived by the Ten Commandments from youth. Most of us actually are Christians because we grew up to be one. Meanwhile, the experience of the joy of salvation is not there. This was the case of Lot, who grew up after his uncle’s principle of life but never heard God spoke to him once. Something was missing in the ruler’s life; he was thirsty for something. He came to Jesus because of this missing thing. Despite his obedience to the Ten Commandments, his soul was still craving for a treasure. Commandments are guides; they don’t give the joy of salvation. He wanted the Kingdom of God which is the Holy Spirit in him to fill the vacuum.

2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Obedience to the Ten Commandments only create false satisfaction of righteousness, whereas salvation is not by works of righteousness but by Jesus’ grace alone. For this man to call Jesus “good” was based on his perception or concept of “good” which is ‘living by the law’. For one to be regarded as a ruler in their time, it means the person must be very religious. Religious living only brings frustration; no power for righteous living. Looking into the book of Luke critically, you will realize that emphasis is so much on care for the poor and warnings against riches. To be rich is not a sin but putting trust in riches idolizes the wealth and this is what constitutes sin. This was the problem of this ruler; his wealth has become a god in his heart and the law has become his righteousness. Hear what Apostle Paul said:

Philippians 3:9 “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

The only thing that leads into life everlasting is LOVE. The ruler lacked love and therefore could not be led to feed or care for the poor. Lazarus was a poor man, the rich man ignored him and he landed in hell fire. Lk14:13 tells us how to feast; the poor should be the paramount.

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 is not taking the care for the poor lightly. The ruler lived a righteous life according to the law but Zacchaeus lived a sinful life. They both listened to Jesus’ teachings. The heart of Zacchaeus was touched while that of the ruler was not because of his wealth. The wealth became god in his heart.  Zacchaeus wanted to have a look at Jesus but his problem was his height. He, however, did not allow that to hinder him and so opted for the tree. He never knew that was the tree of his salvation. Every help you could get to receive salvation should be sought for. When you look at the reactions of Zacchaeus you will see the outcome of the power of salvation. He repented, divided his wealth for the poor and he considered restitution. Genuine salvation causes these three to happen; REPENTANCE, LOVE (to give, hoping for nothing in return, Lk6:35) and RESTITUTION. Isaiah58:7 says that when you fast, you must share out your food to the poor. The poor are not only those physically challenged but those who find it difficult to survive; who have no hope on anything but God. Praying for the sick is caring for the poor. Many are hungry, and some are not able to go to school for financial reasons, all these need your help. I am not talking of your uncle’s son or Aunt’s daughter but your neighbor who has no blood relation with you. Lk16:16-17, the law will not work out salvation; only by pressing into the kingdom of God that we receive salvation. Zacchaeus pressed by climbing the tree, he experienced the power of salvation. Our righteousness is nothing before God, only God’s righteousness matters to Him. When the Holy Spirit comes into you, He brings the righteousness of God into you; this is grace, beloved. This is the righteousness that qualifies you for eternal life which the ruler was seeking for. Once the Holy Spirit comes into you, He introduces God’s nature in you and agape LOVE is the first experience you have and to love another becomes so easy; you hate evil and do good naturally.

Acts 10:38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the demon; for God was with him.”

In chapter20 of Lk, Jesus introduced Himself in parables and from the book of Psalms. However, Lk21 is the prediction of the end time. Those horrible things will surely come to pass and some of them are still happening now. He further gave His advice for the end time in Lk21:32-36; WATCH! WATCH!! WATCH!!! Next mile on the trip is Lk22-24. Keep the fire burning and alive. Spread the gospel of JESUS!!!