Trust in God

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5

Trusting God can be very easy in seasons of plenty but challenging during difficult times.When we face challenges or when things don’t go according to plan, our level of trust and confidence in God is put to the test. Little wonder the wise one needed to remind us that trust is essential if we want to live a fulfilling and meaningful life. Trusting in God means putting our faith in Him completely. It means acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers and that we need His help to navigate through life’s challenges. When we trust in God, we are surrendering control over our lives to Him, knowing that He will guide us towards what is best for us. He always knows what is best for us, God is our best driver of our destiny but as humans with human tendencies, sometimes we may want to exercise our control or free will to choose that which we believe is best for us. Letting go of our control over our lives can be quite challenging and difficult and that is when we ‘lean on our own understanding’.

But the wise one, warns against leaning on our own understanding, against relying solely on our own knowledge or experience instead of seeking wisdom from God. Often, when faced with difficult decisions or situations, it’s tempting to rely on our own intuition or logic rather than seeking guidance from above. Relying solely on ourselves can lead us astray. Our human understanding is limited and flawed; only God has perfect knowledge and wisdom. Therefore, if we truly want to make wise decisions and live a purposeful life, it’s essential that we seek His guidance above all else.

Trusting God should be with all our hearts. The heart represents not only our emotions but also our innermost desires and motivations. Trusting in God with all our hearts means committing ourselves fully to Him – not just intellectually but also emotionally. When we truly trust in God with all our hearts, there’s no room for doubt or fear. We know that He will always guide us towards what is best for us, even when it’s difficult or uncomfortable. This kind of trust requires vulnerability and surrender, but it also brings great rewards – peace, joy, and a sense of purpose.

Trusting in God is not just a one-time decision; it’s a daily choice. Each day presents new challenges and opportunities to either trust in God or rely on our own understanding. Therefore, we must make the conscious effort to choose trust every day. This means spending time with God through prayer and reading His Word. It means seeking wisdom from Him before making decisions instead of relying solely on our own understanding. It means choosing to see the world through His eyes rather than our own limited perspective.

Hence we ought to surrender control over our lives to God completely and seek His guidance above all else. Therefore let us make the daily choice to put our faith in Him completely so that we can experience the fullness of life He has planned for us.

Praise is Pleasant

Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God, for praise is pleasant and lovely. Psalm 147:1

How good is it really to praise God? If the psalmist said it is a pleasant thing to do, we may ask, pleasant for who? For the praised or the one that praises, that is God or man? Singing praises comes from a grateful heart, it comes out of joy and deep appreciation of gift or service received. So, that is what makes praise pleasant, because it naturally comes from a place of joy and happiness. And so Christians should be God’s praise singers at every opportunity because God indeed gladdens our heart, and has given us an eternal gift of his son. He not only gave us his son, but he blesses us daily. He prepares a table before us, in the presence of our enemies, and his goodness and mercies shall follow us for all the days of our lives. You see why the Psalmist could see praise as a pleasant adventure? Because he understood the goodness of God, because it is only right to praise the one who blesses, cares, nurtures and protects his people. Praise is indeed pleasant.

Praising our God is not only a beautiful act of worship, but also an expression of our love for Him. When we raise our voices in praise and gratitude, we are demonstrating our devotion to God and forming a deep bond with Him. We acknowledge that God loved us first and sacrificed himself for us, and in doing so, we affirm Him as our ultimate king and ruler, the source of all blessings in our lives. Praising God fills our hearts with joy and helps us to better understand His greatness and love. It is indeed a wonderful thing to praise our God and to show our love for Him through worship and song.

When we praise God, we are recognizing His sovereignty over all things, and expressing our trust and reliance on Him. It is a declaration of faith and an acknowledgement of His power and grace. Our praise acts as an offering of thanks for all that He has done for us, and for all the blessings He continues to bestow upon us. By praising Him, we are expressing our gratitude for His love, mercy, and provision. Moreover, praising God has a profound impact on our own lives as well. It lifts our spirits, renews our hope, and brings peace to our hearts. It also helps us to cultivate a more positive outlook and attitude, and strengthens our faith. When we praise God, we are aligning our hearts and minds with His will and purpose, and allowing His love and light to shine brighter in our lives. 

Praising God is a powerful act of worship, and an expression of our love and gratitude for Him. It strengthens our relationship with God, brings joy to our hearts, and transforms our lives. Let us praise the Lord always, and give thanks to Him for all He has done and continues to do in our lives.

God Has Kept All His Promises as Another Year Ends

The year 2022 is about to draw to a close and it is a time to take stock of our journey so far. One certainty about the year 2022 is that God has been faithful, he has kept to all his promises to his people. He remains unfettered about keeping future promises. The days will come and go, the years will come and go but what remains constant is God’s faithfulness. His promises to never leave nor forsake his children was fulfilled, his promises to make all things abound towards his generous children was fulfilled, his promise to provide for his children was fulfilled. All his promises for his people were fulfilled. It is important that we recognise this, irrespective of the challenges we may have gone through.

It may have been a difficult year for some people in certain respects; they may have been ups and downs. But in all of that the bible teaches us to be thankful. So, it is time to rejoice in the Lord given his mercies. If he was not merciful over the past year, it could have been worse for us. But God was merciful, he was faithful, he was just and he kept his promises. He held the world in place irrespective of the global inflationary manifestations. So, whatever the situation today, be thankful for seeing the last day of the year in anticipation of a great year.

We ought to also look into the new year with faith, knowing that the Lord who started his work in us is faithful to complete his work in us. We should look forward with faith expecting the best, we should look forward with hope to give in our best in service of our God. We should look forward to a closer walk with our maker. We should take practical steps to make that closer walk happen. We should be prepared to give our all for our maker. We should be willing to tell others about his faithfulness, about his grace, about his person. There are hopes and aspirations for the new year, and we will do well to place those hopes and aspirations at the feet of the cross and trust that in his time, he will bring them to pass according to his riches in glory.

So, as 2023 beckons, be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Happy New Year.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the fear of God elicits the desire to persuade others to obtain same knowledge. For it is borne out of the love of God. The kind of love that compels us through conviction to share with others that which we have freely received. The conviction is that of the dead of Christ for all. A substitutionary death in place of everyone who, as a result of the human condition stood condemned to death. But Christ became that substitute, that none should die again because he took that death upon himself. That was the ‘payment’ for sin.

When we know that we who were supposed to die as a consequence of our sinful nature no longer stand condemned, that we no longer bear the guilt and consequences, it melts our hearts to the point of gratitude and honour and praise to the one who took our place, the one who bore it all, the one who suffered shame that we may not have to do so. Everything bad about us became everything that he took upon himself to give us everything good about himself. He was made sin (our sins) so that we may become his righteousness. So that we may imbibe or appropriate his goodness unto ourselves.  Goodness is only found in him and that goodness he bestowed upon us when he reconciled us back to God by way of the cross. So that we no longer stand condemned but acquitted and not just acquitted but blessed with immeasurable blessings.

This is the kind of love and blessings that compels us to live not for ourselves but for him who died and was raised again 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. The question then becomes; what does he want from us? Or how do we live for him? Does it mean that we can no longer do what we please? Well, what he wants from us is the appreciation of his reconciliatory works. He wants us to have a full knowledge and understanding of the depth of love he has for us; it is this knowledge that brings about humility and submission to his dictates. Oh, so does it mean that he will now dictate for us how we live our lives. Yes… but his ways are simple, there are not difficult. In fact, it is to our advantage that he has asked us to live according to his dictates. Because, ordinarily we are selfish, we are arrogant, our heart is wicked and can contemplate all sorts of evil. But when we yield to him and follow his lead, we become transformed into his image, the image of the invisible God. We become a blessing not only to ourselves but to the world around us. It becomes easier to turn the other chick, it becomes easier to seek the good of other people, it becomes easier to live in peace with one another and to reconcile others to God.

That Your Faith Might Not Rest On Human Wisdom

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

1 Cor 2:4-5

We love persuasive speakers or orators. Don’t we all love to listen to the people who have their way with words, who can weave threads by the spoken word and make so much sense. Some of those with oratorial powers are motivational speakers. We may listen to them, may have our favourites from among the pool of the rich speakers out there today; speakers who have what it takes to cause people to make changes that can produce better results in life. Most of them possess human wisdom, which produces results. But mere persuasive words of human wisdom cannot go far enough.

Within the kingdom of God, we are not short of men who have their way with words and indeed the word of God. Now, while oratorial power is great and desirable for public speakers, it is important to reflect on the preaching of the gospel especially today. What greater example could we look at than the apostle Paul. Though not blessed with oratorial prowess, we see that his message was not about enticing words but more about hope and trust in Christ, more about having faith in God, more about inviting people to a relationship with God through Christ.

When he, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he made it clear that he did not use enticing or persuasive words to convince them to believe in God. He made it clear that it was not because of his oratorial prowess, although he wasn’t as great a speaker as he was a writer (2 Cor 11:6). He mentioned that he was not called to oratory or eloquence. He admitted that the reason for this was so that the cross of Christ may not be emptied of its power (1 Cor 1:17). We can deduce that this was deliberate, remember when he said that God’s power is made perfect in weakness? Certainly, this must have been one of the aspects where God’s power overshadowed him. His work of the ministry saw him raise Eutychus from the dead, cast out demons, shake off a viper and lived when onlookers expected him to die. The power of God was indeed highlighted and brought to the fore in these and many other circumstances, his writings has encouraged many believers over centuries now.

So, the gospel as shown by Paul is meant to showcase the power of God and faith is built on hearing the great things that God has done in the past and is promising to those who believe. Chief among these promises is the promise of eternal life. Our faith is meant to be anchored on the power of God not human wisdom. The power that is working in us daily to help us to conform to the image of the invisible son of God and rid ourselves of self-will and/or iniquity. The power that can convince others to come to Christ through the spreading of the word. The power that helps our weaknesses.

We can have faith in God’s power to deliver on his promises. In every aspect of our earthly life, we can have faith in the one true God. The one through whom we live, move, and have our being. The one who has called us his people even when we were not a people of his. So, this is where our faith should rest and not on human wisdom.

Jesus, Highest Heaven’s Completeness

Jesus, highest heaven’s completeness,

Name of music to the ear,

To the lips surpassing sweetness,

Wine the fainting heart to cheer.

Eating Thee, the soul may hunger,

Drinking, still athirst may be;

But for earthly food no longer,

Nor for any stream but Thee.

Jesus, all delight exceeding,

Only hope of heart distrest;

Weeping eyes and spirit mourning

Find in Thee a place of rest.

Stay, O Beauty uncreated,

Ever ancient, ever new;

Banish deeds of darkness hated,

With Thy sweetness all bedew.

Jesus, fairest blossom springing

From a maiden ever pure,

May our lips Thy praise be singing

While eternal years endure.

(BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, and ROBERT CAMPBELL)

The Poor in Spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. – Matt 5:3

What’s good about poverty? In the physical aspect of life, poverty is not great, but spiritually, Jesus desired that his followers be poor in spirit. But why? Perhaps, poverty works out humility in man, perhaps it is in the state of poverty and lack, that one can truly reflect on the verities of life. Perhaps in the embers of dearth lies the desire for growth. 

On the other hand, the splendors of riches and wealth far too often make people proud. And God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. There is such a strong reason why the Lord spoke of how hard or impossible it is for the rich to inherit the kingdom of heaven.  

Not that God does not want his children to be prosperous, far from it. He is the one that gives us power to make wealth. The apostle John desired above all things that God’s children should prosper and be in good health. A similar principle is evident when it comes to knowledge. We can only come to faith through the knowledge of God via faith of course. But the apostle Paul remarked that Knowledge puffs up, it very easily does, nevertheless, God wants us to acquire knowledge, most importantly the knowledge of God which produces faith, righteousness, joy, peace, and the like. To acquire knowledge or wealth, one must first recognize the need to do so and then pursue it.

So, let’s look again at that spiritual poverty in the same light. Poverty of the spirit produces humility; it helps one to recognize one’s need for the saviour. It brings about a strong yearning to be filled. If we believe that we are filled with the spirit and the word of God already, it may become difficult to yearn for more, not that it is impossible.

Jesus was very clear when he spoke about poverty of the spirit, showing it to be a desirable trait. We must all aim for it; we must do everything to recognise our spiritual poverty that should in turn produce a yearning to be filled by God. It should produce the humility that makes one surrender to the all-powerful and mighty hand of God. It is in this position of absolute surrender that ordinary men become one with God in spirit. It is what helps in the renewal of the mind; what helps us understand that we cannot achieve any remarkable thing by ourselves. It is what God truly desires, that is, all of Him and none of self.

Being poor in spirit produces a yearning that God longs to meet. God longs for us to yearn for him, to desire for him in a way that we totally forget about who we are but embrace who he wants us to be, one with God in spirit, body, and soul. For that to happen, we can only always pray that God himself will daily inspire us to yearn for him and to humble ourselves before him, to attain this lofty spiritual height.

God Legislated for our Weaknesses on the Cross

On the cross where Jesus died, every kind of emotion was evident. Negative emotions like, fear, shame, anger, apathy, guilt. Physical pain and agony were also obvious. Those who believed in Jesus Christ were fearful that the one in whom they had put their faith in was dying. The one who healed them of their infirmities, the one who rescued them from death, the one who gave them food when there were hungry and perhaps most importantly, the one who taught them the word of God hung seemingly helpless and defeated on the cross. Or so they thought? What could they do? If they had their way, such shame should not be meted upon the son of God. To some people on that day, hope in a better future and life with Christ among them, became hopelessness. For others, what they gained from knowing Christ and what they could potentially get by having him around was taken away on the cruel cross. The cross was indeed a place of seemingly shattered dreams. For the betrayer, who perhaps thought that Christ will evade arrest given all the power that he had, surely, they could never kill him…. but kill him they did. He could not live with himself for being the one to betray his master, saw defeat, hopelessness and helplessness and went ahead to hang himself.

Despite all the negative emotions that the was experienced by the different characters present on that day, there were positive emotions, although most of the positive emotions were to be experienced three days after, when the tomb could not keep the Christ.

To some others like the Jews, their nightmare was over, the one who wreaked havoc on their belief system was finally being taken away for good; they were joyous, content and fulfilled that they won, their belief system was going to be intact, or so they thought on that day.

From the saviour’s perspective, on the day of crucifixion, he exhaled and said that it is finished, yes, it was painful but, he had fulfilled his mission on earth by going to the cross. That was a huge positive on that day, he experienced the joy, satisfaction, contentment, delight in fulfilling the prophecies that were written about him and keeping to the word which he said earlier to his disciples, that the son of man must die as it was written by the prophets and that he will rise again on the third day.

Most of the positive emotions were experienced three days after the resurrection, joy that the death could not keep him down – alas, victory over death had been achieved. The entire human experience had been reshaped, history re-written; the world will never remain the same since that day. The enmity between the creator and the created, caused by sin had been put to rest. Those who where hitherto separated from God had been brought into harmony and union, one with God. Access to God just became easier, sin no longer had the power it had over humanity, it was now conquered once and for all. Grace was purchased in abundance. Abundant life, abundant grace, abundant blessings, goodness, and mercies all multiplied.

On that day, God through his son had legislated for human weakness because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins. Mercy triumphed over judgement as Christ became the sin offering – he essential was judged so that you and I may not be judged but receive mercy as a substitute. He indeed became the substitute for every sin that would ever be committed through the ages to follow, which is enormous.  He became sin itself, so that the weakness in humans, the natural propensity for sin might be overcome through ‘mere faith’ in him. Mere faith because, it is easier to believe for one’s remission of sin than to pay the price for sin, which no human can adequately pay. Sin is our weakness and God legislated for it on the cross and in place of it, provided strength that is not our own, so that we cannot boast in ourselves but reference the cross for such strength. So, when we are weak, we may remember to say that we are strong, when we are sick, we may remember to say that we are healed; when we are poor, we may be able to say that we are rich, because of what Christ did over 2000 years ago.

He Promised ALL Things

In 2 Pet 1:3, the apostle Peter spoke of the divine power of God having given us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness. The apostle Paul echoed a similar message in his writing to the Romans in chapter 8 verse 32. He said that if God did not spare his own Son but gave him up to die for us, that he will also through his son give us ALL things. Little wonder Paul himself proclaimed that he could do ALL things through Christ who strengthens him when he wrote to the Philippians.

The keyword throughout these statements is ALL. Not some, not many, not few but ALL things are promised. That is a precious promise of a never-failing God. One who would rather see the earth come to an end to avoid the unfulfillment of his word; and yes, he is that serious. He is the one that is reliable, capable and specialises in the impossible.

Despite ALL these promises, it can sometimes become difficult to appropriate the blessings to ourselves.  And that happens mostly because we do not possess the prerequisite for receiving the promise – faith.

One element within these promises that is important to note is that all these promises are to be experienced through the knowledge of the word of God. Because faith comes through the knowledge of God. When we build our faith to the point of taking God by his words even when our present physical experiences or circumstances do not align with the word of God, then we start our journey towards receiving the blessings that come with the promises.

The fact that God makes his promises with a very strong and certain language without mincing words or trying to give caveats is really interesting. When he says he has given us everything we need for life and godliness, do we believe it when our situations are not aligning or when we are not seeing physical evidence to support that assertion? What about when he talks about giving us everything? Does he really mean it? What does everything or ALL things really mean? What does it include? Is it just eternal life? What about material things?

You see, we can discuss all the what abouts or what-ifs. It won’t change the fact that those certain statements of promises were made. To experience them, we need to reflect on our lives and our ways to make sure that we are in tune with God, to ensure that we are obedient to his words and that we are seeking him with all our hearts. Because whoever seeks God with all their hearts will find him. Instead of asking the what abouts or what-ifs, we should be looking inward and surrendering ourselves to him, to allow him to use us, to allow him to direct and guide us through his words. When we do this, we will be well on our way to enjoying the blessings of the promises.

This is the will of God – Your Sanctification

Sometimes we find ourselves asking the question, what is God’s will? Perhaps as a result of frustration or total inability to decide at a given point. We sometimes wish that God will just tell us what to do in some form or another. It can be difficult, I can admit that I have seen myself in situations where I wonder, if I could only know what God’s will is, I will just dive in or move forward in one direction. Because we know that God wants the best for us, he knows all things. I sometimes wish I could tell what the result of taking one course of action could be. But unfortunately, we are limited in our knowledge and decisions also tend to be impaired in some ways as a result.

Good decisions often come as a result of adequate knowledge and the bible tells us that God’s divine power has given us everything we need for live and godliness THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE of Him who called us. Therefore, knowledge is like a light that brightens the room, it is indeed a decision-making tool. Most times, the more we know, the better our decisions would be. The more of God’s will we know, the better our decisions will be.

But it might not always be the case in every situation. As much as knowledge is profitable, it can also become detrimental. Yes, detrimental to faith. You see, faith is the substance of things not seen and evidence of things hoped for. And as much as we need knowledge to have faith, sometimes we tend to depend on ALL knowledge in order to make a decision when faith should be the tool to use and that is when knowledge becomes in itself, a bit of a disadvantage. Sometimes knowing too much limits our faith and knowing too little isn’t right either. Therefore, a good balance is to know just enough to function and succeed and also knowing enough to exercise faith especially in matters where we cannot fully comprehend.

Having said that, let’s point out the will of God – your sanctification. It is imperative that we know the will of God because it is in knowing that we may fully appreciate the life that God has called us to live. Sanctification is holiness, it is to function effectively to the glory of God. God’s general will for us is to sanctify us, to make known his will through us. So, he sanctifies us albeit through his word which is the truth (Jn 17:17).

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;  

– 1 Thess 4:3-5

Sanctification here alludes to purification of the body and mind from all sexual immorality. It involves keeping the body in a way as to honour God. It requires living a life that is different from the society. It is in doing so that God’s glory is manifest – in our sanctification. You know that sexual immorality is one of the very powerful tools that the enemy uses to distract and indeed imprison God’s children. Hence the reason God makes us aware of the need to purify ourselves.

May we receive his grace to purify ourselves in all things through his son.