REST IN GOD -PSALM 119:121-128 KEY VERSE: "Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes" (Psalm 119:124). Faron Young, a famous American singer and songwriter, who was married for over 32 years, plunged himself into alcoholism. This badly affected his life and he got separated from his wife. The court ordered him to pay her a lifetime alimony of $l,000 every month. After years of loneliness, heartache and pain coupled with prostate cancer, Young shot himself. That was where he got it wrong, forgetting to surrender his challenges to Christ. The text, the prayer of the Psalmist, exposes his frailty, weakness and helplessness. It was a heartfelt prayer from someone, who was not pretentious but was in pain and suffering. He cried out his mind to God to get involved in his situation. He knew God abhorred sin and with it, no one would have access to Him. Therefore, he maintained a righteous life. He cried for God’s grace and mercy, being sure that ...

REWARD OF FALSE PROPHECY -JEREMIAH 28:10-17 KEY VERSE: "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD" (Jeremiah 28:16). Even though afflictions come from the devil, God, sometimes, allows them as a form of chastisement against His people for their wrongdoing. This was exactly the situation of the Israelites, as the text depicted, when they involved themselves in sin. Jeremiah, by the Spirit of the Lord, wore a yoke, which symbolised the Jews and other neighbouring nations’ subjection to the king of Babylon. It was not that Nebuchadnezzar was righteous, but submission to him was a form of punishment, which could prevent the extreme evil that would otherwise befall them. Hananiah, a false prophet, who stood against Jeremiah’s prophecy and made the people believe a lie, took the yoke from off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. Jeremiah, as against conte...

APPRECIATING GOD -LEVITICUS 23:9-22 KEY VERSE: "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest" (Leviticus 23:10). "One of the main reasons that we lose our enthusiasm in life," Joel Osteen wrote, "is because we become ungrateful to God. We let what was once a miracle to become common to us. We get so accustomed to God’s goodness that it has become a routine." This is why the text today is very instructive, as it stresses the need to appreciate God’s goodness and provision. God commanded the Israelites to offer the bunch of their firstfruits of harvest. The Israelites could not have boasted that their agricultural produce was due to their efforts, as drought and other adverse circumstance could have affected the growth of their crops. So, to have a bountiful harvest must be an ac...

BE AN INTERCESSOR -AMOS 7:1-6 KEY VERSE: "And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small" (Amos 7:2). We are often consumed by our own needs and desires that we shut our eyes to the experiences of people around us. Yet, were we to pause and ponder over their situation, we would realise that compared to them, what we consider giant problems quickly pale into insignificance. We are thus, compelled by those dire circumstances to intervene on their behalf. Such is the responsibility every believer should assume, as intercessors. The Lord had twice shown Amos a vision of the impending judgment against Israel. He showed him two images here, one, of insects and two, of fire. These were pictures of ordinary things that were familiar to the Israelites and therefore, needed very little elaboration. The message should be plain enough to the general publ...

GUILTLESS? -PROVERBS 24:21-34 KEY VERSE: "Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips" (Proverbs 24:28). A story is told of a policeman who witnessed an accident while on duty. In that accident, a graduate was knocked down by a reckless driver and he died on the spot. The policeman, who was at the scene, told the driver to give him some money and move on. That was done and the policeman was said to have told people that the young man was knocked down by a hit-and-run driver. Some years after he had retired from service, his son who just returned from abroad where he studied was knocked down exactly at the point where his father covered up a crime years back. So, when the old man heard what happened, he confessed to those around him what he did. Nowadays, wickedness rules the world as some people go out of their way to say outright falsehood against their neighbour. People are paid to frame-up others in criminal cases, while some ma...

DON’T COLOUR IT! -JOB 33:1-13 KEY VERSE: "My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly" (Job 33:3). If people decide to be more careful with their words, they will get into fewer problems. There is no doubt that our homes and families will be more peaceful and there will be less strain in our relationships. The truth is that many problems arise from what we say. They fail to consider the consequences of what they say. Even those who say the things that appear to be the truth do not say it with the right motive. Elihu, in our text, gives us a principle that should guide the way we talk. He knew that it is possible for people to appear to be speaking the truth but not out of a sincere, upright heart. When truth is spoken for the purpose of ridiculing, then that is blackmail and sarcasm – just to mock. Are you careful about the way you speak? It is always helpful to put the right construction to our words and conversations. We...

ESCAPE GOD‘S FIRE -ISAIAH 30:27-33 KEY VERSE: "For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isaiah 30:33). There is the story of a frustrated individual in a neighborhood, who wanted to take his life by burning himself. On an appointed day, the poor fellow set a bonfire which he intended to jump into when the burning was at its peak. With the inferno on, he went to sit down under the shade of a tree nearby. As the fire was perceived to have got to its climax, the old man moved near with the plan of jumping into it to get burnt up at once. The nearer he went to the fire the more unbearable the heat was to him. For this reason, he retreated. He made several frantic efforts again but the scorching heat of the fire would not allow him to get near. The man later got to a conclusion that dying by fire would be a most p...

AMOS 5:16-27 KEY VERSE: "Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light" (Amos 5:18). The judgment of God upon sinners is imminent. It is going to be a day of catastrophe and calamity, gloom and misery, desolation and astonishment and indeed, a day of a lamentation and confusion. It is a day that no sinner would wish to pass through. This day of outpouring of God’s fury, indignation and wrath upon the world is referred to as the day of the Lord in the Scripture. The day of the Lord as depicted in the text will be the time when the Lord will make the day dark, dismal, and gloomy upon all impenitent sinners and backsliders. A sinner who escapes one calamity will be pursued and overtaken by another. The people of Israel copied the crimes and iniquities of their forefathers by going into idolatry. God frowns at hypocrisy as well as the pretence of piety. God could not be bribed with music or offerings. F...

BETWEEN GOD AND NEIGHBOURS -MARK 12:28-37 KEY VERSE: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30). Two aspects of Jesus’ personality are here introduced: His humanity and deity. He is both human and divine. In His incarnation, Jesus came to this world in human form in the lineage of David. That is why He is often referred to as the Son of David. However, because He is God, David himself referred to Him as Lord. Jesus, while answering the question of the scribes on which is the greatest commandment, said the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and with all your strength. We, as believers are commanded to love Jesus Christ our Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He deserves our love and reverence. We show our love to Him by obeying Him and giving our all, includi...

AVENGE NOT YOURSELF -PROVERBS 25:16-28 KEY VERSE: "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink" (Proverbs 25:21). The story is told about Jane, a persecuted but non-vindictive and non-retaliatory Christian young lady somewhere in Africa. She sometimes left her clothes on the washing line at the back of their residence. Whenever she went for fellowship or evangelism, her hostile neighbours would never help her pack them inside, perchance there was rain. They never saw anything good in Jane. They maligned, slandered and vilified her whenever she was not at home. It happened, however that one day, Jane was at home reading her Bible when rain started threatening and some of her neighbours left their clothes outside. When she looked outside through the window and saw the clothes, she quickly ran to help pack them inside. When they came back and saw what she had done for them, they were humiliated by shame because, they had ne...

BEFORE RETRIBUTION -JEREMIAH 21:1-14 KEY VERSE: "And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon..." (Jerem The maxim, to every action there is a reaction, is not true only in scientific experiments. It holds true in every facet of life and in all generations. If you live all your life in sin without repentance, be prepared to reap the wages. And if by God’s grace you live a life of righteousness, expect the reward: eternity with the Lord in heaven. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, could have saved himself and his subjects all the agonies they passed through, if he had heeded God’s earlier warnings. In today’s passage, we see the message of God to Zedekiah King of Judah. The entire nation had consistently and willfully sinned against the Lord. The King raised the bar of transgress...

SWEET SAVOUR TO THE LORD -NUMBERS 15:1-16 KEY VERSE: "And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock" (Numbers 15:3).. Many factors conjoin to make our food enjoyable. Food makers know so well the importance of aroma, mouth-feel and appearance when it comes to food consumption experience. The senses of taste and smell are inexplicably tied together and arc critical in food enjoyment and safety. Except for what we consume strictly for medical reasons, food has to pass the aroma and taste test to get our acceptance or approval. God is also interested in sweet aroma. It could have been the missing element in the rejected offering of Cain as opposed to that of Abel whose sacrifice was accepted by God. When Noah appreciatively offered to God after the deluge, "the LORD smelled a sweet savour". Fol...

A SECOND LOOK AT GREATNESS -MARK 10:35-45 KEY VERSE: "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister" (Mark 10:43). Whenever we hear the word "great" or "greatness", we often think of certain outstanding and revered people. Truly, history has a rich record of notable people in every field of human endeavour who have demonstrated rare leadership qualities, creative abilities, courage, sportsmanship and other skills. God, however, has a different way of looking at greatness. Greatness subsists in serving others and not waiting to be served by others or attaining a position where we think we can lord it over others. Worldly fame, honour and authority can be quite tantalizing, but they should not be our motive in life or ministry. The sons of Zebedee, James and John had requested privileged positions in Christ’s kingdom. They were willing to suffer for it, but Christ, hinting that they would eventually suff...

RIGHT WAY TO WORSHIP GOD -NUMBERS 15:22-29 KEY VERSE: "...All the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD..." (Numbers 15:24). God’s essential requirement for His children is that they remain holy in order to live to praise and honour Him. He therefore means to make a unique people, a holy race that "should shew forth the praises of him who hath called [us] out of darkness into his marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9). The children of God are also peculiar partakers of indescribable Heavenly blessings. Therefore, they are to walk with God in holiness, truth and clear conscience. One major way of walking worthy of the LORD is to offer sacrifices of praise for His benefit and also to stay away from sin. The text opens with an instruction which the Lord gave Moses concerning the children of Israel. He emphasised that this practice was to be a habitual worship of thanksgiving to the LORD for every first blessing,...

WITHOUT A RIVAL -EXODUS 20:1-17 KEY VERSE: "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:2). In the days of the ancient Near East empires, which was the period the children of Israel sojourned in the wilderness on their way to Canaan, it was the norm for a king to set forth a treaty that established his lordship over the people. This document took the form of laws the subjects must obey to appreciate the king’s guidance. The Ten Commandments God gave to Israel in the third month of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage was also the Lord’s unquestionable statement that He was their King and that Israel was His covenant people bound to Him by rules. They must offer Him complete devotion and loyalty in sheer gratitude for His mercies. That is why He began the laws with "I am the LORD, thy God" to make the proclamation that only His Word would hold sway if the people under Him would enjoy life to...

THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU -JEREMIAH 31:18-23 KEY VERSE: "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD" (Jeremiah 31:20). Present experiences, especially when they are not pleasant, tend to influence our character and conduct in a moment of time. We form the impression that all is lost and that help can no longer come to us. This pushes us into self-pity and sometimes we literally begin to weep for ourselves in the face of what we perceive as a hopeless situation. But, just when we least expect it, God steps in to help us. Israel, represented here by the tribe of Ephraim, had been taken into captivity. Their lives had been characterised by lamentation and bitter weeping, as they daily watched the destruction of their young ones. It was at such a time that God sent a message of comfort to them through prophet Jeremiah ...

LET THE CAPTIVES GO -DEUTERONOMY 15:12-23 KEY VERSE: "And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee" (Deuteronomy 15:12). Generally in life, there are two broad categories of captives: the lawful or willing captive (slaves/servants) and the forced or unwilling captive. Some servants give themselves over to their masters to serve them for a particular period of time on an agreed wage or salary as seen in the case of Jacob with Laban, his uncle. However, at other times, servants are bought as captives of war or from parents or guardians who cannot support them with the basic necessities of life, as a means of raising money for themselves. These are bond slaves who most often, will have to serve their masters till death or until when they are strong enough to pay for their freedom. In Israel at one time, God gave a commandment specifically about slaves/servants...

FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2017 GO UP HIGHER TEXT: LUKE 14:10 BIBLE TEXT: "But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher"� (Luke 14:10). A flock of sheep once sighted a ewe and her lambs on a podium enjoying a stack of hay. They rushed to the scene and made series of futile efforts to have a bite. They stood on their hind limbs, bleated and rammed at the podium all to no avail. Unknown to them, there was a staircase behind the podium that the ewe and her lambs carefully climbed to the top. Unfortunately, the hay was not visible from behind. So, even the sheep that made attempt through the stair quickly and impatiently dashed back. This is the way of some youths today but in actual fact, the way up is down. Our text, shows that the way up is down. All great preachers started by being broken in repentance to receive salvation while most multi -million dollar industries started as small and...

JUDGMENT ON THE ABOMINABLE -EZEKIEL 16:35-43 KEY VERSE: "And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy" (Ezekiel 16:38). A typical 21st century society is bedevilled by all forms of crime: financial, economic, sexual and social perversions, with all forms of atrocities perpetrated against mankind. A question that should readily navigate our minds should be, how would our society have looked like, if there were no laws? This was the case of the children of Israel at the time of Ezekiel. Though they had been given laws to follow, yet they committed all forms of crimes against God (idolatry being the chiefest). It was such a lawless society. Since there appeared to be no law enforcement agents, God took it upon Himself the role of the law enforcement Agent. Judgment was declared upon the abominable nation. This is a great lesson for all to learn. Though it appears that there is no immediate judg...

ERROR OF PERSISTENT DISOBEDIENCE -JUDGES 2:11-15 KEY VERSE: "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them..." (Judges 2:12). A man once spent 16 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. It was a miscarriage of justice! Although there are occasional miscarriages of justice in earthly courts, there will be none of such in the hearing of Heaven. When men appear before God to give account for their deeds, every transgression and disobedience will receive a just recompense of reward. For the Judge of all the earth will do right! When a man appears before Him, it will be either "Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you...", or "Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels". Israel had been special, occupying a privileged positi...