Jewish Feasts

Jewish Feasts
Exodus 23:14-19
Friday, January 22, 2016

The Old Testament speaks of God’s will in shadows. The beauty of the Old Testament is the depths of revelations portrayed in simplicity/ or parables. Scriptures speaks of three dimensions, the God who was, the God who is, and the God who is to come.

But we understand that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, what that means is that his will, and priority never changes, but the patterns and devices through which he attains them differs. The secret of Moses was that he saw the back (a revelation of the past) of God.

When you see God’s past and contrast it with His present there is an explosion and indepth understanding of God’s purpose through dispensations and his marvelous character. In our text God commanded the Jews to have three annual feasts, note the word ‘feast’.

The first feast is the Feast of the Passover. This was a celebration of their exit out of Egypt and their deliverance from the spirit of death that attacks the firstborns. Note the word “firstborn” for it is a mystery. In the New Testament we see the translation of that feast into the Lord’s supper.

The Second feast is the Feast of First Fruits, where Israel get to celebrate their first harvest in the year. In the New Testament the word “firstfruits” is used to describe believers who have accepted Jesus Christ. See James 1:18, Revelation 14:4, It’s a celebration of man’s personal salvation

The third feast is the Feast of Ingathering. The Israelites were ordained by God to celebrate the final harvest. In the New Testament this translates to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.(Rev 19:9) Where the saints taken from the earth will celebrate with Christ immediately after the rapture.

Now God made these feasts compulsory in other to keep the memories of his greatness perpetually in the minds of the Israelites. Nehemiah got it exactly, when he said, the joy (feast) of the lord, is my strength (8:10).  Joy is a mystery, how does joy give strength? What is the joy of the Lord?

Now God says if we focus on three events in eternity, the death of Jesus for the world, our salvation as firstfruits with Christ and the hope of being with him forever, we have the joy of the Lord, and this is the secret of strength.

We must constantly renew our minds with these historic events (finished works of Christ, the salvation and hope it brings) Rom 12:2. We find strength in the remembrance of the finished works.

SELAH: Every time you feel weak REMEMBER

Shalom!

Strikers Not Defenders

STRIKERS NOT DEFENDERS
Thursday, January 21, 2016

The church is God’s strategy against the gates of Hell, because the first time Church was mentioned in scriptures, it was given the status of a military force that would establish the kingdom of God, the gates of hell nevertheless (Mathew 16:18)

In the body of Christ there have been a major drift in assignment. Jesus’ final words to the church before leaving the earth was a direct command “Go ye into All the world and preach the gospel….” (Math 28:19) And then he gave us strategies and supplementary instructions.

Now God did not say we should go in and contend with spiritual darkness, that was never our primary assignment, our primary assignment was to establish the kingdom, in the process we will be confronted by the entire arsenal of hell, no doubt.

Now the trick is that if we focus on pulling down strong holds without establishing the kingdom, we have done nothing, or to console the Church we may think we have done half of the job.

Now the church assignment was not to become giant defenders against the kingdom of darkness, we are Strikers and they are the defenders, but now the church is sitting comfortably as a defender, to defend darkness while the devil is ferociously establishing his kingdom.

Our assignment is to go (strike) into cosmos (the entire system of the world). We do not just seek the salvation of men but the salvation of the nations, until the ideology and dominion of our lord permeates the seven mountains of the world.

The seven mountains of the world is seen in theology to describe the seven areas of influence in the world. They include, family, entertainment industry, media, politics, religion, academics, business world.

What God means by go into the word (cosmos) is to go into this systems. The Church of God must arise and stop playing the defensive role, but the striker role. We must permeate the system and enforce Gods dominion, the devil has gone far in modeling the seven mountains according to the ideology of darkness.

SELAH- Which of the seven mountains have I been called into, primarily?

Shalom

The Soul

THE SOUL
Galatians 5:17
Wednesday, January 20, 2016

We often say that the flesh and the spirit are in continuous contention, of course scriptures backs it, saying they lust after themselves and are contrary to each other;  The question then is, what are they fighting for? No one fights without a cause.

The spirit and the flesh are two husbands fighting for a woman called the soul. The spirit and the body cannot cohabit without the soul. The soul is what brings the spirit and the flesh together into existence. The soul is the center of life and control.

Another way of saying this is that the soul is the cockpit of everyman.  The soul consists of the mind, emotions, intellect and will basically. It is the desire of the flesh and spirit to influence your mind, emotions, intellect and will so as to rule over your soul.

If you are a believer the spirit of God lives in your spirit. Scriptures say in Romans 12:2 says that we should not conform to this world (manifested through the desires of the flesh) but we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We do this through prayer, the word, worship…

In the battle of the soul you decide who wins, whether the flesh or the spirit. If you empower the flesh it will defeat the spirit, but if you empower the spirit it would defeat the flesh, so you determine your paths by your investment.

The kingdom of the world understands this mechanism and so they have organized enough corruptions through music, media, entertainment, etc so as to snatch the soul of a man through the flesh. They make the world more attractive, thereby empowering the flesh to defeat the Spirit.

So scriptures say, keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Prov 4:23) Beware of what you let into your heart, because it can control you. If you want to do God’s will then let his words be the greatest and largest investment that comes into the field of your heart.

SELAH: Guard your heart (soul) with all diligence!

Shalom

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What Does He Want?

What Does He Want?
Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Pharaoh to Israel- “…for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God” Exodus 5:8

What does he want? I mean what does the devil wants? Because until we know what he wants we cannot really defend ourselves neither can we fight. You know, scriptures speak of the weapons of our warfare, what do they protect, why do we wrestle, why do we bind the devil.

If like the football game we understand that the end of all the devil’s dribbling is to put a goal into the net, then our greatest security must be around the goal post.

You know what? God is the same yesterday, today and forever, only that his ways of doing things are diverse. But the devil is also the same yesterday, today and forever, what he wants yesterday from Adam is what he wants today from you, the same with God.

In Christian battle, we defend by not letting the devil get his goal achieved, and we score goals by giving to God what he deserves.

Now the Devil wants just one thing, that you be separated from God. He doesn’t care the means of achieving it, whether by business, or multiplied church activities, or poverty, or wealth, or heath or sickness, whatever the state; so far it in fact separates you from deep intimacy with God.

Know this today, the devil does not care whether you are poor or rich, healthy or not, successful or not, all he cares about is your separation from God’s presence. God’s presence is a place of Personal communion, ministering to God and waiting for feedbacks/ response.

The Israelites forgot God for so many years. So far they forgot God, they lived in plenty. But the moment they decided to follow God, affliction came. This is a word to someone, don’t give up, if we hold on to God, soon, we will get to Canaan Land. Never lose your intimacy with God, never lose your praise!

SELAH- The best way to frustrate the devil is to stay in God’s presence no matter what.

Shalom!


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Greatness!

GREATNESS!
Psalm 71:21
Monday, January 18, 2016

I learnt greatness by looking into creation, especially by looking into the character of the animals. I saw how the cow in the mass of its body’s wealth shivers and takes off at the presence of a mere dog. I saw the chicken in its pride, confidence and protection chasing off the hawk.

I saw the lion threatening the elephant, and with its thin waist and big head, it is called the king of the jungle. I saw animals small in stature ruling animals of immerse body fat. And so I asked, what is greatness?

I thought greatness was about natural composition and outward excellence. But those that rule in the earth did not look so intimidating or really big, they just had faith in themselves and then the great outwardly (but small inwardly) bows to them.

I found greatness in three things- faith, conviction and mindset (knowledge)

Every time God wants to make a man or creation great, he puts something inside, for instance he put his Spirit inside man and man became the boss of the earth.

In Psalms 8:5 scriptures said man was made a little lower than Elohim (the direct translation is not angels but Elohim) The angels are messengers to man, yet they appear more excellent in body and fashion than man. Man would never have wings like the cherubs and seraphs.

Have you ever wondered why there is a list of world influential men and a list of world richest men, yet the first top ten of richest men do not all make the list of influential men? Some people still rule the rich and politicians; they are still at the mercy of some people, called influential.

Greatness is about faith and mindset. It is immaterial whether he is more handsome or more beautiful, or he has more money, or he is politically or conditionally above, if you can think above him you are greater than him. If you can have faith in yourself you are the greatest!

I summarize the formula of greatness thus, faith in God + faith in yourself + Plus greater knowledge = Greatness. Many stop in faith and never go for knowledge, and so it appears that their faith does not work, now you see your mistake, make a change.

SELAH: You have greatness in you, dig it out!

Shalom!

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The Mystery of Adversity

THE MYSTERY OF ADVERSITY (1)
Gen 8:22, Sunday, 17th January, 2016

In demystifying adversity, two questions are germane; first, “Why do adversities come, even to the so called believers?” and next “What does the devil want?”

What is adversity? Adversity is a state of mental or physical discomfort. It ranges from simple dissatisfaction to affliction of different kinds.

The first thing you must understand about adversity is that so long we live in time and in cosmos, adversity is inevitable.  The major problem is not adversity but mindset; the torment of adversity is 90 percent mindset.

The above propositions are very controversial but you must let Holy Spirit minister to you.
Genesis 8:22 says, so long the earth remains, seedtime and harvest shall not cease. Between seedtime and harvest is a period called growth time.

Once harvest time comes there is an adjustment in status called ripeness which is simply a season of decay. If such produce is not harvested it rots and that is the end of the fruit. However, if the fruit is sown, instead of extinction, it multiplies. Now is ripeness a curse or a blessing?

Ripeness is what we call adversity. In pregnancy it is called travail or labor. In time it is called night. It only announces the end of a phase, a declaration of exhaustion, and a cry for a higher level.

No time is tied to adversity; it is simply determined by the victim, how soon he contends for higher knowledge, or how fast he can turn the night to day by finding not just a way out, but a system of living above the past level. As soon as he does, the old fades for the new.

Now in adversity the devil sows doubt while God sows faith. Faith pushes man to the next level but doubt complicates adversity. Times of adversity should be times of retreat, declaration, preparation, examination, education, waiting, etc.

A pregnant woman does not just cry in travail, it is okay to cry in travail, however, she prepares for her child in diet, in shopping for needed items and all. Imagine a woman delivers without milk in her breasts, or without a cloth to wrap the child, the child dies and her travail multiplies, except by external intervention.

Trouble announces the coming of a next phase. It did for Joseph when he was sold, it did for the Israelites in Egypt, it did for Jesus when he went to the cross. The above men took advantage of the transition moment and they ascended into realms of greater glory.

SELAH: Trying Times are only Transcending Times, act right!

Shalom!

Save Our Soul!

SAVE OUR SOUL!
Friday, 15th January, 2016

“But thou, O LORD, art a Shield for me; my Glory, and the Lifter of mine head” (Ps 3:3)

Frustration in spirituals is calculated thus- distance from God multiplied by time. A fish separated from water is death on the go. Man’s habitat is the glory, it has been so from creation.

David saw God as his Sun (glory), Shield (defender) and Uplifter, characteristics that showed David’s helplessness. Man is helpless without the creator. He was created in the image of God, meaning he can only find himself in God, he does not know himself unless he knows God.

Everything created can only survive in the glory, once taken away from the glory it dies. It doesn’t appear to die immediately because of absorbed glory, but with time it fades. This is the number one cause of decrease in mortality age/ diminished life span.

Earth is a dying place. Nature has been diminishing in quality from the fall of man. It fact it has become unbearable that some plants and animals have gone extinct, some species are endangered, in response there are all kinds of laws, interbreeding, preservation, among others.

Animals will still go extinct until glory comes. The sun is bleeding, dying very fast. The order of creation keeps collapsing. Animals once submitted to man because of the Glory of God around man, when they saw man, they saw God. Until they see that glory, they won’t submit. (But by Jesus, we are changed if we believe)

The entire creation mourns the absence of the glory. It is high time we understood that man is only an apple plucked from God. Moses understood this and he sought the glory with his life, crying to God for his presence and glory.

The ripple effect of this is seen in Deut 34:7, Moses attained a realm called immortality. Immortality in one sense is a degree of absorbed glory. This is an apostolic call to the place of intimacy with God, until he revives us again.

SELAH: You never came to life until God breathe into you, how dare you think you can survive without his breath (His Spirit, His Life)?

Shalom!