Timely Truths

When the name Abraham is mentioned, the Abraham of the bible that is, one thing that comes to mind immediately is the word faith, he was the one God started a whole new generation with, all because he dared to believe, in fact he is called “The father of Faith”, I have often studied his story from the old testament and its one of the most remarkable stories ever written, for a man that old to completely trust in God even when everything around him contradicted what God said is awesome. The question I have often found myself asking is this, is it that this guy was just a special being and his kind of faith cant be found around here anymore or is it possible to take a critical look at his life and glean a few working principles that could work for anybody who is as determined to take Gods word literarily? I have come to realize that getting things done by faith isn’t the exclusive reserve of anybody, Abraham inclusive, but we as Christians can all make use of the principles he put into operation and get the exact same results he did, that for me was very comforting and it reminded me that its never about a human, its always about God, all He requires is believing Him to the letter and when He finds a man or a woman who satisfies this simple requirement, there’s no telling what He can do with such a person.

I find the principles Abraham employed to great effect outlined so eloquently by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul in Rom 4:19 -22, this verses are filled with divine wisdom and we’ll outline them one after the other, it says, And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God: And being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform: And therefore it was imputed to Him for righteousness.

What a scripture, only the Spirit of God could have compressed the lifetime of a man into these few verses and still not miss out on the significant details which anybody can utilize in order to walk with God and get the same results as Abraham did, vs. 19 gives us an insight into Abrahams lifestyle and how he deal with his thought life, it says, he considered not, these three words carry the key to whether we win or lose in the affairs of life, I often say that success isn’t just about knowing what to do, it also involves first and foremost knowing what not to do, it says here that he wasn’t mindful or to put it in modern terms, he didn’t even think about it, what was it that he didn’t consider, his dead body and the deadness of his wife's womb, the very things that were critical to him having the son God promised, these things stared at him in the face every single day and night and yet he didn’t think they were big deals, never in recorded history at this time had anybody his age who had been barren ever given birth, the odds were stacked against him and even at that, he didn’t give it much thought, is it any surprise the bible said he showed no weakness in faith No wonder Rom 8: 5,6 says, For they that are after the flesh do mind (consider) the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit: For to be carnally minded is death and to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Emphasis mine. And its so easy to determine the things of the flesh and the things of the spirit, Jesus said in Jn 6:63, It is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

My question is what had God told you about your life and destiny, and what are the things of the flesh that negate His spoken word? It doesn’t matter who has said it, do not give them a second thought, don’t let your mind be full of them, they will only lead you to doubt the fact that God is able to do it, so that’s the first thing we learn from his life, what you think about, or in this case don’t think about goes a long way in determining your strength or weakness as far as faith is concerned.

In vs. 20 we find another attitude he showed in obtaining Gods promise for his life, he staggered not, once you focus on the promise unbelief has no place in your heart, the promise thus becomes the sure foundation upon which you build your very life, some people say they find it hard to get rid of unbelief, that’s because they have spent their entire lives focusing on something else but the promise, thereby building on a shaky foundation, no wonder they are being tossed here and there and have little or no stability, having talked about what he didn’t do in , in the latter part of this verse, we find something he did which characterizes the life of everybody that’s strong in faith, giving glory to God, someone asks, how is it possible to give glory and worship God when I haven’t seen any manifestation? If what you claim to possess is the real faith that’s birthed by Gods word, you will rejoice even when you haven’t seen anything in the physical, 1 Pet 1:8 says, Whom having not seen, ye love, in whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. That’s what real belief does, there’s a joy in you that cant be explained and doesn’t have any bearing with what's going on in the outside, it comes from the depths of your heart and a knowing that if He has said it, He will surely bring it to pass.

Finally in vs. 21 he reaches appoint where he is fully persuaded, as far as he was concerned he had reached a place in God where it really didn’t matter anymore if all permutations in the physical realm didn’t gel, God will still do what He said He would, it’s the point of saying what Rom 3:4a says, God forbid, yea, let God be true but every man a liar. It’s the point Paul talked about in 2 Tim 1:12, For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. The Holy Spirit told me that’s the point where most Christians don’t get to before they give up and say may be its not meant to be, that’s the proverbial point of no return when absolute trust in God isn’t in doubt.

There is a progression here, it starts with the thought and now there’s an action to back the thought and an attitude to go with it, then comes vs. 22 where God imputed righteousness, here’s God saying these fellow has right standing with me and I have no choice but to confirm the spoken word with signs following, if it worked for Abraham it will work for any child of God in this new covenant, where we don even have to labor for righteousness, all we need do is believe and accept the price that Christ paid for us on the cross, that’s why it says in vs. 23,24, Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: But also for us, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. God bless you

Gods word is filled with all kinds of promises and blessings for His people, its amazing how many times God spoke His will into the lives of the various personalities who had personal encounters and relationships with Him, and sometimes this blessings weren’t limited to just individuals, as was in the case of Abraham, through him, whole generations would be blessed. In both the old and new covenant, we find examples and warnings, both sides of the scenario, some hearkened to Gods directive and in doing so received His blessing, while others somehow failed to do what He told them to do, and thus missed the blessing of victorious living, the underlining difference in both cases is the word obedience, but the question is, what was responsible for some to obtain a good report while others lost out? Why were people’s attitudes to Gods instruction contrasting, even though sometimes they heard the same words and had the same opportunities, yet the results were as far apart as day and night? I have often said the things of God do not happen to people automatically, its not like a cold or a seizure, you have to believe for them for you to obtain, Heb 4:2 says, For unto us was the word preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. This says, it’s the same word but the way men apply it to their lives differ significantly, and its in the application that the spoken word finds expression in individual lives, faith or belief is essential to the working of the word, and there’s no other way to show faith than by taking the necessary action, that’s true obedience.

People have written all various things on the subject of belief and obedience, and its not my objective in this article to focus on that, it’s the process we go through from hearing to acting that’s my main concern here, everyday experiences with humans has made me realize that, before we heed anybodies advice on whatever issue we are facing, there must first be an element of trust, if I don’t trust you as a person I don’t care how much experience you have on that particular issue, I wont take your advice, the person always comes before the principle, the man before the message, and it’s the same thing in our relationship with God, most people haven’t gotten to the level where they can totally trust God, hence they find it difficult to take hold of His word to the point of absolute obedience, Ps 20:7 says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. The psalmist here says, the name that comes first into your thoughts when you are engaged in warfare or battle is the one in whom your trust is, and he says, as for Him, it’s the name of the Lord, which means, in God he trusts. Ps 21:7 reveals this truth, it says, The king (David) trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most high he shall not be moved. Emphasis Mine. No wonder Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived wrote in Prov 3:5, 6, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.

We cant overemphasize the effect of trusting in Gods faithfulness to come through for us on our ability to obey Him, how then do we get to trust Him, again I take a cue from experiences with fellow humans, before you reach a point where you can say you trust someone, you must really get to know the person, I hear someone say, wait a minute, I know God, I mean, I am born again and Spirit filled, in fact I have been born again for 25 years, but I still cant come to grasp with fully obeying Him, guess what? If you really knew Him, obeying Him wont be an issue, a lot of people have met Jesus but haven’t taken time out to really know Him, when you take time out to know Him in the very sense of the word, I mean when you really have experiential knowledge of Him, His instructions will be the very life blood of your life and destiny, that was the difference between Moses and the children of Israel, Ps 103:7 says, He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. His ways are higher than His acts, once you know His ways, its inevitable you’ll have a handle on His acts, but unfortunately most Christians consider His ways an absolute waste of time, they’ll rather have someone lay hands on them to receive their healing than take time out to get to study His word, meditate on it, plant that seed in their hearts until they see a harvest of healing, how sad. Ps 10:9a drives this point straight home, it says, And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; Absolute trust comes only from knowing Him personally not just depending on what the preacher or television evangelist says, because that person wont be with you all the time but Gods word and the Holy Spirit will, it make sense to find him out for yourself.

How then do we know Him, is there something we have to do in order to really say we have a good knowledge of this great God we serve? Yes there is and its called seeking after Him, for you to get to know Him you must seek Him, Jesus said in Mt 7:7, seek and ye shall find; this is one of the most instructive statements in the new testament, you must go seeking, go searching, you must take time to study the word, meditate on it, read any material that comes your way that points to knowing God more, that way you can be rest assured that you cant lose, once you know the one who has everything in His hands, your life and destiny is guaranteed, Ps 9:10 says, And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee. Because most people aren’t seeking Him, when God finds one person that’s sincere in His heart to really seek Him, He has no other option but to reveal and manifest Himself to that individual. Deut 4:29 says, Thou shall seek the Lord thy God, thou shall find Him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. No wonder David charged Solomon when He was about to die in 1Chr 28:9 saying, And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. Prov 8:17b says, And those that seek me early shall find me. Is 55:6 says, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Make up your mind today to take this little steps I have outlined here; seek Him, Know Him, Trust Him, and then obeying Him will become second nature to you, God bless you.

In a previous article I had hinted a little bit about the benefit of getting to see things the way God sees them and the making use of the help of the Holy Spirit to see into the realm of the supernatural, thereby bringing into existence things that were hitherto not visible, Apostle Peter was quoting prophet Joel in Acts 2:16-18 it says, But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and in my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. One of the advantages of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the ability to see visions and by Gods help capture yet unseen realities before any body else does, when we see the way God sees then our perspectives to issues will undergo a rapid transformation, we will then be sons of our father indeed.

One of my favorite examples in the bible concerning seeing the way God does in from the book of 2 Kings 3, it tells the story of the king of Israel and Judah along with the king of Edom going to battle against the king of Moab, they went out in the open field and for seven days couldn’t find water both for the entire army and their animals, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made a suggestion to go inquire from the Lord on the way out of this predicament, the three kings along with their entire armies came to Elisha the prophet of God, after Gods hand came on him, the words he uttered are found in verse 16-19, it says, And he said, thus saith the Lord, make this valley full of ditches: For thus saith the Lord, ye shall not see wind neither shall ye see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle and your beasts: And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord, He will deliver the Moabites also into your hands: And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city and shall fell every good tree and stop all wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. What an amazing insight, victory was won just because someone could see the way God saw, its remarkable how often we think our problems are the greatest things in the world and we act as if there’s no way out when we are faced with certain challenges, yes its true, there’s really no way out when we try to do things with our physical abilities, we must realize we are more than physical beings, there’s a spirit part to us, and that’s the part with which we communicate with God, these three kings were doomed, but for the word of God on the lips of someone whose perspective was totally different from every body else, someone who could reach into the unseen world and proffer a life saving solution, when you see things differently you’ll speak differently, Elisha said, “this is a light thing in the sight of God”, fantastic, in the sight of men (3 kings), it was a crises situation, major big deal, in fact one of them, the king of Israel said in vs. 10, Alas, the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. That was all he could see; death, destruction and chaos, no wonder he couldn’t speak otherwise.

I don’t care whatever your situation might be, no matter what the doctors, banker or lawyer might have said, as a child of God whenever you come across a trying situation, all you need do is get Gods perspective on that particular issue, you’ll be shocked that God has a thousand and one ways out of that difficult circumstance, what you thought was a major issue might just be a stepping stone unto something greater, in this passage, provision of water was just a stepping stone, the real issue was war with Moab, that’s why the prophet said, the deliverance of Moab into your hands is a done deal as well, he now proceeded to give them the strategy of victory over their enemies, I don’t know about you, I’d rather win my battles this way, with Gods divine insight and ability than struggle through life not being sure of victory. Christ purchased victory over every single power of the enemy on our behalf, but it’s our duty to believe and yield ourselves to the instructions of the Spirit.

David said in Ps 34:5, They looked unto Him and they were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. There’s so much insight contained in this little verse, setting your eyes on Him is a critical factor in getting His perspective, as humans, what we see on a consistent basis eventually enters our hearts and lives, setting our eyes on Him just means always looking into the perfect law of liberty which is His word, if that’s what you look at, guess what? You cant see defeat but victory, you cant see sickness but health, you cant see poverty but wealth, you cant see weakness but strength, what happens to you is that it says you get lightened, you’ll get illuminated, you’ll begin to see things the way He sees it, and sooner than later you’ll begin to get the kinds of results that He gets, instead of shame what you’ll get his honor, Ps 119:105 says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Gods word literarily shows us what to do in difficult situations, Ps 19:8 says, The statutes of the Lord is are right, rejoicing the heart, the command of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. Once the eyes of our understanding are enlightened like Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians 1, then we will be able to access all that God has in store for us, it’s a process we need to stay with until we see the desired results, once we see it then we can become it, God bless you.

The importance of words to the overall well being of the total man (spirit, soul and body) cannot be overemphasized, we have an understanding from scriptures (Heb 11:3) that everything we can see on the earth right now was created out of something that cant be seen and that’s words, the word of God to be precise, Almighty God even made it abundantly clear that as far as He is concerned He givers more honor, respect, credit or privilege to His words more than He does to His name, well, if you have an understanding of how wonderful His name is and the outstanding things people have accomplished by calling on His name, you’ll know that its no mean statement the honor reserved for His words.

To show how significant His word is, the scriptures in Jn 1:1,14a refers to the Son of God (Jesus) as the word of God, it says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God: And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. It was the spoken word that literarily entered in to the virgin girl called Mary that became the Lord Jesus Christ, the Greek word that’s translated as word often times in the new testament is the word “sperma” from which we get the English word sperm, which is the seed that fertilizes the egg in a woman before conception is possible, in other words, if you want any thing to become flesh, guess what? You’ve got to get the right seed and make sure you plant it in your heart and nourish it until you see a manifestation, no wonder He said in Jn 6:63, The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.

This article isn’t essentially about how you can get the word of God working in your life, I have other articles that deal with that subject, but the main thought I want to pass across here is that Gods word always birth three things in our hearts, faith, hope and expectation, and if what you hear, I don’t care from where, even if its from the number one authority in that field of endeavor, doesn’t get you excited to the point where you feel you can move mountains, then its not the truth; real truth from God will always make you feel bring it on, no matter the situation His word will come to pass in my life.

I have had a few troubling situations since I got turned on to God word a few months ago, and every single time its as if the facts were stacked against me, and there was no way out of that difficulty, but again every single time without exception I have always found succor in what Gods word says, its as if the evil one always comes a little too late, I have taken Gods word as my own reality, so whenever a depressing thought arises based on realities of the flesh I simply switch over into the realm of the spiritual, which is the realm where Gods word is final and declare the words that God has spoken over my life.

For example I had a financial need that was very urgent come up a while back and it seemed that for once I was going to lose my believe in the God that called me to do what I am doing right now, I was about to be ashamed and embarrassed, people were making insinuations about me being able to make good on my word, but the Spirit of God reminded me of a passage He had me meditate on a few months back in Ps 37:18,19, it says The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever: They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the day of famine they shall be satisfied. I was excited after reading it, it opened a new door to greater believe and hope in Gods ability in my life, for me that’s the best way to tackle negative information, not just speaking mere words from our head in to the air, but putting Gods word on our lips and before long we will start getting the same kind of results that He gets.

A few weeks ago I got a mail from someone close to me about a need that had to be met urgently, and this was when I had really gotten into the word thing, I suddenly found out that it was as if Gods word had made me immune to worry, anxiety and depression, I mean I was trying really hard to be concerned about this issue, but I just found out that, several months of meditating on the truths of Gods word has just hardened my heart towards any negative influence and had tuned me on to heavens frequency, I could stay calm even in the midst of trouble and all hell breaking loose, this was a revelation to me and I owe it all to the power of the Holy Spirit, He showed me 2 Kings 3:18 a few hours later and it really got me all excited, it says, And this is but a light thing (simple matter) in the sight of the Lord, He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. Emphasis mine. Powerful stuff, I had to take this as God speaking to me directly, I see no other way of interpreting this, it was a word in due season, whatever the situation might be, its little in Gods sight, just see like He sees and get an instruction from Him and you’ll be fine, I don’t know about you, may be I am weird or something, this are the kinds of things that just gets my adrenaline pumping, it shows me in very clear terms that God loves me so much, He speaks into my situations, and that’s how I solve issues that arise in my life.

Believe me brothers and sisters, it works, it really does, no matter the kind of news you’ve received that seemed to break you down and you feel you cant take it any more, God has a word for you that will birth faith, hope and expectation into your life, that’s why He gave us His word in the first place, He knows the enemy will bring certain circumstances to play in our lives, as long as we are on the earth we cant run away from this truth, wisdom simply tells us that instead of crying and uttering those statement we usually speak forth, why not put His words on your lips and see yourself rise and soar like an eagle even in the face of the most terrible storms, it will take you spending time with the word, meditating on it to the point where it births new thoughts in your spirit, it will also take time, but believe me its worth every single bit of it, the results will transform your life and that of those around you, God bless you.

I have often thought about what the real essence of being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ is, and the more I think about it and look at the lives of various men who have walked with God in the scriptures, the more I am convinced that we modern day Pentecostals have taken our focus away from the real thing and concentrated on fleeting and ephemeral things and Paul’s charge to the Corinthian church in 2 Cor 4:18 thus becomes of utmost importance, it says, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Paul isn’t saying the things that we can see are not important, no, what he’s saying is we cant live our lives the way the heathen do, for them if they cant see, taste, hear, smell and feel it then it doesn’t exist, and it makes no sense to them, but we as Christians live by a higher and better law, it’s the law of the kingdom, the same law that God used when He spoke this world in to being, its from this realm that the really important things take shape and find expression.

This article is borne out of a strong feeling that most people who claim to serve or worship God these days are very vain in their estimation of God, as far as they are concerned, if its God it has to be good and desirable and always positive, but in my study of scriptures I have found out that its not every time that palatable things are synonymous with service to God, don’t get me wrong here, I believe with all my heart that we are expected to enjoy the good life here on earth even before we cross over into eternity with the Lord, but I look around and I see Christians who cant even endure the slightest hardship, the adversary only has to harass them only a little before God loses them to other pursuits and I marvel and wonder what the apostles and saints who have gone ahead of us think when they see what we have turned the cause of the Kingdom into, 2 Tim 1:12 says, For the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against the day. Apostle Paul is saying here that, if suffering a few things is part of the deal, if I must go through these things so as to fulfill the call, I am willing, I am not in these just for the good, I understand that there will be times of hardship but its all part of the territory, these is something most people aren’t willing to accept, even Jesus said, “in this world you will suffer persecution”, why?, because we are not of the world.

In chapter 2 of the same book, and vs. 3, it says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ. Endurance, long suffering, patience and being able to take the pain is part of the attributes of a good Christian, and as we all know are fruits of the Spirit, vs. 10s says, Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, same concept he talked about earlier on, why would he keep repeating this same things by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? its because its important that we get it, Hebrews 11 is a popular chapter in the bible because it chronicles what mortal men achieved through faith in their God, but I see a sharp twist in the application of faith from vs. 35b, it says, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered in sheep skins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented: Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth; And these all having a good report through faith, received not the promise. It says they had a good report through faith, this isn’t the definition of faith I hear being preached these days, this sounds like something from a horror movie, you mean sometimes as far as God is concerned He looks at our afflictions and He sees the real meaning of faith, awesome.

I see a perfect application of the things we are discussing here in a lot of scriptural real life situations, the example of Job for one, where he said, “Even if He slays me in Him will I trust”, Esther on the other hand made a profound statement when she said, “If I perish I perish”, but the example that really caught my attention was that of the three Hebrew children in exile in the land of Babylon, their story is found in Dan 3, the whole chapter gives the background to the event and is very instructional but my
emphasis is on vs. 16-18, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter: If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He is able to deliver us out of thine hand, O king: But if not (If it means paying with our very lives), be it know unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods not worship the golden image which thou has set up. Emphasis mine. What they were saying in essence was, we believe in the ability of our God to deliver us from your hand, He is the one who delivered our fathers from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, He led our fathers through the wilderness for forty years, and they didn’t hunger or thirst, He was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, He chased out nations greater and mightier than they and set them up in their lands, if He did all these great things, then we have full assurance that He will also deliver us from this fire, this was a great speech of faith and trust in the God of the heaven and earth, God obviously had enough credit with these guys, but they didn’t end here, they went further to say, peradventure there is no hope of deliverance from Him, perhaps this once, may be He decides to forsake and abandon us, may be He’s rejected us because we have trespassed against Him one way or another and He will not save us, it has no bearing on our response to you O king, because bowing down will mean going against the law of God which says you shall serve only the Lord your God and He alone should you bow down to, hence bowing for a graven image is not an option, we will rather burn than bow. So for them it wasn’t all about being delivered by God, it was more about obeying Him against all odds, that’s the level God wants all His children to get, where we serve and follow Him not just because of what He’s done or can do, but because we were created for just one thing, to bring glory to Him, in whatever situation we find ourselves.

Where am I going with this line of thought, someone may ask, and why the title what if? My question is, what if God doesn’t come through for you in that situation will you still follow Him? What if you don’t get that job you have prayed and believed for and even given a testimony for as a proof of your faith, will you still serve Him? What if your wife doesn’t have a child after 5 years of marriage will He still be your God and will you still be His child? What if haven prayed for a loved one who is sick, the person gets worse and eventually dies, will you still believe that by His striped we are healed? What if you lose your job, your house, your spouse, your kids, your respect and even your reputation in the society will you still put your absolute trust in Him? What if you suffer for being a Christian and your very life is at stake will you still think He is the Almighty God? What if faith stops working and there is no hope of you ever getting an answered prayer and you have to get things done with your own effort and power, will living for Him still be an attraction to you? Finally, what if there was no assurance of whether or not there’s a heaven or hell and it doesn’t matter how you live your life here, once you are dead its over and done with, will there still be a desire in you to please Him?

Tough questions, I believe our response to this line of thought will prove a lot in our sincerity with our walk with Him and will help us in re-ordering our priorities as believers, the next time you think you aren’t exactly getting what you think you desire or deserve from God, before you say or do anything rash, remember WHAT IF?, God bless you.

One of the most audacious statements Jesus made, in my opinion, while He walked the earth is found in Mt 7:7,8, Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. What a bold statement, vs. 8 especially declares that everyone who asks, seeks or knocks will get their due, sorry, what does everyone mean? It means exactly that, everyone with the exception of no one, interesting, but wait a minute, I have heard a lot of followers of Christ complain of unanswered prayers, I have had times in my life as well when I felt I didn’t get answers to my asking, seeking and knocking, what's wrong here, we know God is not a man that he should lie, so what is the missing link here, this issue has gotten me a little puzzled down the years until the Holy Spirit spoke a word in to my hear and I have been meditating on it ever since, and this article is borne out of the discoveries I made in the place of praying in the Spirit and meditation.

The Holy Spirit said to me very clearly, “what you humans call answered prayers is nothing more than just confirming of the word”, I hadn’t thought about that at all before this time, He said “God never does anything without speaking it forth first, and He never does anything outside of His written word”, He showed me a few passage of the scripture in John where Jesus was telling his disciples about the relationship between Him and His father, Jn 14: 10, Beleivest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the father that dwelleth in me He doeth the work. Wait a second, Christ started with the word and ended it with work, in other words, without the word of God there will be no work of God, what we call signs and wonders if basically Gods word at work in our world, He took me back to the creation account in Genesis, what appeared on the earth was what God spoke forth, its so amazing how much of familiarity we have with Gods word and yet miss the most important issues in life, God never and I repeat never brings anything to pass without first haven spoken it ahead of time, even before His son came into the world, He had spoken at various times through His prophets about a coming Messiah who would take away the sin of the whole world, if Christ couldn’t come unless there was first a speaking, why then do we expect and pray for a miracle without first getting a word to back it up, that’s more like a farmer expecting a harvest without planting a seed, wouldn’t say he was stupid? So I guess it makes sense then to say, why don’t I find out what God has spoken over my life and what I need to do to walk in this spoken word before I start praying, if we embrace this attitude so much of the time we spend binding and loosing, bombarding the gates of heaven and hell with all manner of prayers will not be necessary.

John 15:7 also makes the same point, If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you, its not about whether or not God just chooses the prayers to answer like people making picks in a lottery dip, that’s the concept most Christians have and they just give up and say well, may be it wasn’t meant to be, why don’t you look at it this way, may be its time you let His word abide in you more and not what the newspapers or television have to say. He goes on in Jn 15:11 to says, These things have I spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy may be full. He’s saying nothing gives me more joy than for you to get answers to your prayers, and for your needs to be met, ten times out of ten, I rejoice when it happens and I want to see you rejoice as well, heavens joy knows no bounds when we receive the answers we desire.

Finding out His counsel is nothing more than figuring out what He has said, and then using that as a foundation for whatever we want to ask, even He himself said, According to the word of my mouth challenge ye me, 1 Jn 14, 15 says, And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him. What an insight, it says we have enough spiritual sense to find out what His will for us is, so we don’t just mumble words that make no meaning in His ears, hence we are full of confidence to the point where we don’t think about it any more, no doubting feeling comes upon us, we know it’s a done deal, what this means in essence is that as far as we are concerned Mt 7:8 is the reality of our lives, whenever we ask we receive, whenever we seek we find, whenever we knock we get opened doors, tremendous.

How then do we get to know His will for our lives, I wont go in depth into that because I already have an article that covers this topic in depth but one way to discover His specific will for you is to first find out what His general will is, and that’s what He gave us the bible for, to show us a picture of who we are in Him and the rights we have as citizens of His kingdom, if you are faithful to live your life the way the scriptures prescribe, you can be rest assured that He will show you His specific will for your life, I heard someone say once, “Don’t expect to get a rhema (specific spoken word) if you haven’t even obeyed the logos (written word)”, very true.

Everything that’s ours by right has been provided by grace and we have to understand that we didn’t do anything to deserve this things, that’s why its called grace anyway, its independent of us and any form of performance on our part, so when we find out what His will is all we need do is to believe for it the same way we believed for our salvation, it’s the same principles that apply, Eph 2:8 says, For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. You can substitute the word saved with anything you want in the kingdom, blessings, healing, provision, whatever it is, you have it by grace and its only faith that’s needed from you to deliver it to you, if you walk with God with these truths in mind, you will be on your way to fulfilling the proclamation of Christ in Mt 7:8, God bless you

In any endeavor in life, the success or failure depends to a large extent on a perfect understanding of the nature and personality of the various parties involved in the enterprise, as born again believers, we are in a relationship with the heavenly father, and its essential for us to know this God with whom we are dealing, He’s taken His time to give us His word which reveals Him unto us in ways in which we could otherwise not have known, but the sad thing is, most people just want to turn this God into someone they use for the fulfillment of their selfish gains, that is, they want his goodies without the added effort of getting to know Him personally, not knowing that His best is reserved for people who have taken time out to obey Christ’s charge that says, “Seek and ye shall find”.

Its natural as human beings that we tend to trust only people we know, we live in a day and age where there are all sorts of phonies which emphasize the frailty of human relationships, its difficult for people to take the words of strangers with a pinch of salt, I think we as Christians have carried this into our experiences with God, people read Gods word and discover the things He’s spoken over their lives, the get excited but before they get carried away, something in them tells them, ‘wait a minute, how are you sure this isn’t just one of those feel good stuff, you better slow down and don’t take this too seriously before you get your finger burnt’, this is a natural feeling, and people tend to yield to it mainly because they haven’t taken time out to really get to know God for themselves, it’s a whole new world all together when you know Him, when you do, you wont have a problem with fully trusting Him, and until you trust Him, you might not get the best out of your walk with Him, God is revealed to us through His name and word, but He says He honors His word more than His name, so we must go after His word with all of the strength we can muster.

One of my favorite verses in the bible is found in Dan 11:32b, it says, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. What a piece of information, conversely, they that do not know their God shall be weak and they shall be exploited, whatever you are experiencing right now, can be directly linked to how much of God you know, if you are experiencing worry, depression and anxiety, you have a need to know God as Jehovah Shalom, the one who is our peace, if you are experiencing sickness in your body and ill health, guess what? You have a need to know the Jehovah Rapha and that Christ himself took all your infirmities and diseases, you might quote a few scriptures and say you know I believe it says somewhere in the bible that ‘by His stripes I am healed’, but you haven’t taken time out to see, I mean really see Him take those diseases on the cross, or else you will be healed instantly.

I know a lot of people might be offended because it sounds like I am being some how critical and sounding a little hard, but its not my aim to make any body mad, the essence of this article and this whole ministry is to reveal truths in Gods word in ways that people can practically apply them to their lives and get desirable results, if you are not operating at the level of victory that’s promised all believers in the bible may be its time for you to take an inventory of your life and try to do things differently, it is possible to live a life where all your needs are met, its possible to be free of sickness and diseases, its possible to be filled with joy irrespective of what happens, it all depends on how much you decide to walk in the truth of Gods word that you have taken time out to know for yourself.

Ps 9:10 says, and they that know they name will put their trust in thee, for thou Lord, has not forsaken them that seek thee. This is exactly in line with what we are talking about here, its not about what happens on the outside, its all about what's on your inside, the trials of life happen to just about every single one of us, but you’ve got to have your house built on a solid ground, if not, when the storms of life come your house will crumble and you’ll have to shelter at your neighbors place, the reality is nobody builds in a storm.

Its amazing how many times the apostle Paul makes mention of the words ‘know’ or better still ‘know ye not’, its not just about knowing God, although that’s a good place to start, we have to know the things that are ours by virtue of our relationship with Him, the biggest weapon the evil one uses against Christians is their own ignorance, wrong knowledge will always produce wrong results, guaranteed, Gods word not only reveals God to us, it also shows us who we are in Him, 2Chor 3:18 says, But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. God word is like a mirror, it shows us a picture of the real us, and teaches us how to be the best God wants us to be, its up to us to get to know both the word of God and the God of the word, Job 19:25a says, I know that my redeemer liveth, it was the knowledge of who God was that sustained Job in his predicament, Ps 46:10a says, Be still and know that I am God, that’s a very useful advice, in this our age of the jet speed, and the faith is now movement, too many people get involved in too many things all in the name of activity, be still, be quiet, learn to be sober and seek for Gods way out of every situation, Ps 4:4 says, Stand in awe, and sin not, commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still, this generation definitely needs this advice.

When Jesus was giving his farewell charge to His disciples one of the things He promised was that He was going to give eternal life to as many as accept Him, Jn 17:3 says, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent, radical statement sir, Christ is saying, you want the abundant life, the very life of God? Then you’ve got to know Him in a way that even when all hell is breaking loose, your trust in Him is still unshaken, in 2 Tim 1:12b Paul the apostle says, For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. Trust real trust and full persuasion only comes from right knowledge of God and His ability to come through no matter what, I pray and hope that the things we have shared in this article will fire up in you the desire to get to know God more, God bless you.

I’ve often heard Christians speak out in disappointment at situations in their lives that seem somewhat unpleasant, things happening to them that they know they shouldn’t be experiencing based on their standings as Christians, situations like sickness or death of a loved one, poverty or the loss of a business, whatever it may be, deep down in their innermost being they know that God wants them to have better experiences than this, they even go to the extent of saying, “I know God can do it”, they don’t just have enough assurance that He will do it for them, most Christians believe in Gods omnipotent ability to do whatever He says He can do, but what they are missing is the fact that, because God said it doesn’t mean it will happen to you automatically, you have to believe for the things of God before they can happen to you, they don’t come on you like a seizure or a common cold, you don’t get healed or have your debt paid just because you attended a meeting or sat beside a great minister of God, you have to seek them with all your heart.

This is a concept that most Christians don’t even want to think about, they just think God will just come and get them out of the rut they are in with little or no effort on their part, but the truth is it just doesn’t happen like that, don’t get me wrong I am not saying God waits for us to perform before He moves in our situations, that’s not what I mean, what I am saying is that for you to access everything that’s already being purchased for you by Christ on the cross you have to respond positively by believing for those things, take the salvation experience as an example, Tit 2:11 says, For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men. This says grace has been shown unto all men, believer and unbeliever, black, white and brown, but how come not all men are saved, its simple, not all men have responded in faith to the grace that was shown unto them when Christ died on the cross, this principle holds true in every sphere of the Christian experience, God has played His part, He’s done all He needs to do, its left to each individual to reach out to God and access everything that’s already been purchased for them, I don’t care what it is you want in life, Christ has finished it in the spirit realm, all you need do is to believe and take necessary steps according to scriptures, everything in the kingdom runs on principles and its up to us to work this principles before we can enjoy the benefits, 2Pet 1:3 says, According as His divine power hath (past tense) given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath (past tense) called us unto glory and virtue. Emphasis mine. Again we’ve already been given all things (all means all), but we can only access them based on our working knowledge of who God is, it’s a done deal, all paid for and waiting to be accessed by faith.

Its not God who isn’t willing to show forth His mighty works in our lives, its we His people who haven’t believed His word enough to the point where we act on it even when it seems foolish in the sight of men, if we are bold enough to follow His lead, its only a matter of time before our profiting will appear to all men, a vivid example of this things we are talking about can be seen in the Israel experience in the wilderness and even in the land of promise, they had a word from God that he would take them in and bless them beyond their imaginations, this wasn’t just mere words, this was a promise He made to their fore fathers, and He had fulfilled every single word up until now, they had no reason to doubt His faithfulness, but what did they do? Ps 81:11-16 paraphrases their experience, But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would have none of me; So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust, and they walked in their own counsels; Oh that my people had harkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways; I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries; The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him, but their time should have endured forever; He should have fed them also with the finest of wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied them.
This says I really wanted to subdue their enemies, I wanted to give the them the finest of wheat and honey (endless provision), but they wouldn’t let me, they limited the holy one of Israel is the way Ps 78:41 puts it, most Christians don’t think like this, they just sit and hope that no matter what they do Gods will and purpose will come to pass automatically, and sadly it doesn’t happen.

Col 2:6 says, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. The same way you had to respond to the grace of salvation in faith before you received Him, that’s the same way you should relate or walk in Him concerning everything in your life, sow a seed of the word in your heart, confess with your mouth and believe that you have what you say, its that simple, keep believing and nothing will be impossible unto you, God bless you.

From my little experience of walking with God for a few years now and the many examples both in scriptures and our own contemporary days it seems to me that one of the things most common to all who will genuinely follow Gods leading is trials and hard times, Christianity itself was birthed on the altar of sacrifice and difficulty, people have given a lot for the cause of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes including their lives, but I see a trend in modern Christianity today one which only paints a picture of wealth and prosperity, its like a proclamation of “come and all your needs will be met instantly”, in my study of the scriptures, I find out that’s not the most significant effect of the gospel, while I agree that part of our inheritance as born again believers is the promise of a better life not just in heaven but here on earth, we will also have our own share of tough times, but the good news is it’s a battle that’s already been won on our behalf so we need not worry or fret about it the way unbelievers do, we can rest in the promises of God and watch Him come through for us, in fact Christ himself said in Jn 16:33, This things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace, in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. That’s about as plain as anybody can be, because we are not of the world there will be pressure from the worldly system and it will sometimes look as if there is no hope of victory, but we must hang on and believe that whatever He says is what will come to pass.

Paul the apostle was someone who experienced God in ways even the disciples that walked with Christ for 31/2 years didn’t, in his second letter to Timothy ch. 3 and verse 12, he says, yea all that will live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. He’s telling his protégé, don’t be deceived, once you make a decision to live a godly life, things will sometimes happen that you wont be able to explain and you will wish didn’t happen, but its part of the territory, the earlier you realize this the better, as far as this planet is concerned all good will be attacked, and it doesn’t mean that it should necessarily snuff life out of you, you can be a conqueror just the way the scriptures say you are, its your choice.

So how then one deal with these trying times when they come does, is there any advice in Gods word as to handling trials and temptations? Yes there is, quite a few if I may add, the first thing is to make up your mind that it doesn’t matter what happens God is in control, the devil hasn’t wrestled the control wheels out of His hands, not yet, we’ve got to take the advice in 1chor 10:13, There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but GOD IS FAITHFUL, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able bear it. Emphasis mine. The most significant phrase in that verse is, God is Faithful, once that’s grounded in our hearts it builds so much belief in us that whichever way it goes, God has your back.

I find a very good advice for handling difficult circumstances in one of Christ’s parable, which is highlighted in the first three gospels, it’s the parable of the sower which can be found in Mt 13, Mk 4 and Lk 8, the understanding of this parable is so key that He said “if you don’t understand this parable, how then will you understand every other parable”, in other words, if you don’t get this, you don’t have a chance in this kingdom, but our emphasis in this article is on the third kind of soil that Christ talked about, the stony ground, vs. 16 ,17 of Mk 4 says, And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time, afterward when affliction or persecution ariseth for the words sake, immediately they are offended. Also the word offended can be found in Lk7:23, And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Christ also used this word in Jn 16:1, this things have I spoken to you that you should not be offended, finally Paul also used this word in 2Chor 11:29, who is weak and I am not weak? Who is offended and I burn not?

The words offended in every single one of these passages literarily means, taken unawares and falter, caused to stumble, fall away, have his faith hurt, become displeased, indignant and resentful. And in each case its associated with affliction, trial or persecution, some form of painful experience which we all go through as Christians in our walk with God, these passages tells us that not being offended, not allowing our faith to be hurt is the single most important antidote against the onslaught of the enemy, I hear someone asking, How then can I do that?, how do I get to the point where no matter what happens to me I don’t get offended?, its easy, take Gods word for what it is exactly, the word of the Almighty, let His word be the anchor around which you tie your life and make up your mind that whatever it takes, you will stay through to His word, and then you’ll be on your way to going through tough times with a smile on your face because God is on your side, God bless you.

Jesus taught in the parable of the sower (Mk 4:3-20) of four kinds of ground on which the seed fell, they are; the way side, rocky ground, thorny ground, good ground, and in explaining the second type ground He said in verse 16,17, And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground, who when they heard the word immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time, afterward when affliction and persecution arises for the words sake immediately they are offended. Notice here that it says affliction and persecution arises for the words sake, that’s a very important phrase to consider, most Christians don’t have a healthy perspective of their trials, they think the enemy has it in for them and you hear them say things like, ‘Why is this happening to me or why is my own like this’, they refuse to understand that its not essentially about them, its just a fact of life that anytime you receive a seed from God, the adversary comes to attack that seed, even in the natural realm, every good farmer knows that planting the seed isn’t the end of the story you have to look after it and make sure the intruders don’t destroy the seed, and its all basically about you trusting Gods word to the point where you make it your own personal reality, and not just some ordinary words either written or spoken, this I personally believe is what fighting the good fight of faith is all about and I’ll spend the rest of this article trying to explain this.

Most people talk about them waiting on the Lord and what they really mean is that they have done their bit and met their part of the bargain and now the ball is in Gods court, He can decide whether or not He wants to fulfill His own part, if that’s the way you think things work, believe me you wont have a very good impression of God, because as far as you are concerned God isn’t consistent, He just picks prayers to answer like men pick tickets in a lottery, but in reality that’s not what the bible teaches, God has already blessed us with all earthly and heavenly blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, all he wants from us is to believe in His word and act in obedience to it, we aren’t doing things to make Him move, we are doing things in response to Him moving 2000 years ago when Christ died and delivered us from the grip of the enemy, all the realities of what Christ purchased for us are in the spirit realm, it takes faith in the word to bring them into physical manifestation, and its in this in between phase, where what you know is your reality hasn’t manifested in the physical that the fight of faith takes place and that’s where most Christians miss is, they get all excited about the truths of Gods word and they want it all to happen very fast, sometimes because of wrong doctrinal teachings and other times because of impatience, but either way when this things aren’t manifested as early as they expect, it says in Mark 4 that they get offended, in simple English that just means, they lose their belief, they throw their hands up and give up, they say ‘I have tried my best but this faith thing just doesn’t work’, simply put they have just lost the fight of faith, the enemy has succeeded in taking their eyes off the big picture, the word always works its us humans that fail to work it.

Heb 10:23 says, Let us hold fast the profession of out faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised. You see that, its not about whether or not God or your pastor lied, God never spoke a lie to any human being and you wont be the first, but there’s someone who the bible calls the father of all lies and that’s the enemy, he’s the one who wants to deceive us with lies that Gods word isn’t effective, even when he knows he himself came to being through he word, how naïve can we get and still be breathing? God’s word is the source of everything, and if only we hang in there with our faith long enough we will get our blessings. Verse 35-39 of the same text says, Cast not away therefore your confidence which has great recompense of reward; For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise; For yet a little while, He that shall come will come, and will not tarry; Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him; But we are not of them that draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Personally I believe its better not to trust in this God at all than to trust in Him half heartedly, that’s the greatest in justice anybody can do to Himself, why call Him your God when you cant have faith enough to believe Him all the way, we need to come to the point where, like Job said, even if He slays me in Him will I trust, that’s the kind of decision that unlocks the supernatural power of God.

The truth is most people that claim they put their trust in God actually have other options as back up plans, in case this faith thing fails, God is just one of the things they try out to see if it will work, they don’t really go deep into God like they should, so when there’s a little set back, they easily chicken out of battle, I believe anybody serious with God has to make a pledge to Himself that its either Gods way or no other way before they go into the battle, its what I call fixing your heart in my article titled set your heart, you must decide what to do before the rain storm comes beating on you, nobody builds his house during the storm, you had better be standing on solid ground or else you’ll be a casualty in this fight of faith, I pray and believe that Gods Spirit will reveal more to you than can be explained in this article, God bless you.