God Loves Me

John 1:12-13
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to be called sons of God - children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

This is one of my best Bible passages. For me this passage more than shows the grace of God offered for free. To have the whole world at your beck and call, being a child of the most high King, the Maker of the heaven and earth, simply through faith in Jesus is something that beats the best imagination of satan himself. 

First to think that God in His love will bring down His one and only son, who without sin heaped the sins of the whole world on Himself and then put them all to death by the shedding of His own blood is really a deep thing to consider. Too awesome to comprehend and too good not to appreciate.  

In recent times, the Lord has done so much to rebuild my marriage and restoring my husband's love to me. We've been having a very great time as husband and wife and I really do love to be loved by him. But this is just a shadow of the love of God for me. It is as though the Lord is trying to show me a bit of what his love is like with a vivid example through my husband.

But the love of my husband is just a vague example of the love God has for me and for many who truly are His sons and daughters through their faith in Jesus. God's love is far deeper and weightier than the love of my husband that has so swelled my heart. The Lord loves me enough to give His son to die for me, He loves me enough to forgive all of my sins, He loves me enough take away my cares, He love me enough to clear my diseases and sicknesses, He loves me enough to provide for all of my needs and wants, He loves me enough to protect me. And even the battles that I don't even know exist, He fights and wins them all for me. The Lord loves not just me, but He loves my husband and loves my children too. And then in the same manner, He loves my parents and siblings. And He loves YOU. All at a simple price of faith in Him, receiving and believing in His son. He has asked nothing else of me but just to receive and believe in Jesus. 

God does not love me alone like this, He loves all who just like me have received and believed in His son, obeying the His commands and requirements which also is made possible just through my receiving and believing in Jesus Christ. Is there anything more I can say to this than just to appreciate this God who has loved me so. I can't love God half as much as He loves me, I just pray daily that I will not fall out of His love for me. I need His love for my daily existence.  

Have You Learnt The Secret of Giving?

Exodus 34:20b (NIV)
No-one is to appear before me empty-handed.

Exodus 35:4-9, 21, 29 (NIV)
Moses said to the whole Israelites community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skin dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrance incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. 

And everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the sacred garments.

All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do. 

Exodus 36:3-7 (NIV)
They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work. 

I am not sure the people of God in our generation understand well enough the secret behind giving unto the Lord. When we go through the passages above we will notice some things that I will like to highlight. 1) The offering requested by the Lord was a freewill offering, it was not one of the compulsive prescribed offering under the law; 2) The offering was only made by those whose heart moved them to and who were willing, and so there was no cajoling of any kind. An instruction was made and people responded willingly. 3) The people gave continuously until they were eventually restrained from giving.
One question I will want us to ponder on in these passages is: “Why is it that the people never stopped giving even after all that was needed for the construction work had been adequately provided for until Moses restrained them from giving more?” I suppose these people knows more about the secret of giving that we need to discover.

Malachi 2:10
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

One of the secret of giving is found in the passage above. You can never give unto God without receiving back in multiple fold of what you have given. Some may argue that this passage only applies to tithing and not freewill offering as in the case in the book of Exodus, so we will take a look at another Bible passage.  

Proverbs 3:9-10
Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

The secret of giving lies in your ability to honour God with what you have. Giving to God is a tangible reflection of what you feel in your heart for God. The weight of your offering is directly proportion to who God is to you. The widow in the book of Luke 21:1-4 gave all she had to live on because that was how much God meant to her. If you say to love the Lord, then show it by what you have to give up in reflection of that love.
When you honour the Lord with your wealth, you are making an investment with God that must surely yield returns because God never owes. That is the secret the children of Israel in the book of Exodus knew that moved them to keep giving. They were making their investment in God that was sure to yield returns to them in multiple folds of what they had given.
Luke 6:38 says “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” This is the secret of giving, and when you give to the Lord this principle will surely not fail over your seed. You can never trade with the Lord and loose, the Lord will personally watch over your investment to ensure it yields returns to you in a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over manner.
When you are tired of living in lack, then learn to make your investment with God. The widow of Zarephath made such an investment and she and her household were well fed and taken care of all through the drought period. Don't wait till you have a big seed to sow, saw the little that you have. The widow in the book of Luke gave all she had to live on even though it was small and so did the widow of Zarephath. The children of Israel didn’t stop giving and they never lacked. Learn the secret of giving today, sow your seed of love in God today, when you cast your bread upon the waters, after many days it will return to you.

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The Presence of God

Exodus 33:10-11, 12-19 (NIV)
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshipped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 

Exodus 34:29
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.

There is something about the Presence of God that requires us giving it a major attention as Christians. A lot of times we get so familiar with God that we totally forget to seek His presence in our lives daily. One thing that caught my attention in the passages above is Moses attitude towards the Presence of God. True the Lord had directed him to continue on the journey and lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land, but that was just not enough for Moses. He understood that he needed God with him on that assignment.
When we read through the beginning of Exodus 33, from verses 1-9, we will see God giving an instruction to Moses to move on and that He the Lord will send an angel to go with them and He will destroy the occupants of the land that He swore to their fathers. When Moses was going to respond, he spoke as though the Lord had to mentioned to him who will go on the journey with him. The presence of the angels were good no doubt, but not good enough for Moses and definitely not good enough for me.
Moses in vs 16 said “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” That goes a long way to show us that the presence of God in our lives makes all the difference. It is the Presence of God in your life that shows the world that indeed the Lord is pleased with you. It is the Presence of God in your life that distinguishes you from others and makes you stand out in the crowd. Not the presence of angels but the Presence of God. I so dearly seek for the Presence of God in my life today and always.
When your way pleases the Lord, He fills you with His Presence. No matter what the devil holds up for you, it can’t stand or withhold the Presence of God that you carry. In Genesis 28:10-15, the Lord visited Jacob in the dream and in verse 15, promised that He the Lord will be with him and watch over him wherever he went. And so we see Jacob carrying with him the Presence of God everywhere he went. By the virtue of the Presence of God in his life, he was a very blessed man. He was so much of a blessed man that he became a blessing to others. His master Laban prospered so much just because of Jacob and the Presence of God in the life of Jacob.
Genesis 39:2 reads “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” Genesis 39:21 reads “The Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warder.” Joseph was one man that moved around with the Presence of God in his life. He was sold to slavery yet he carried in him the Presence of God, and his prospered. He prospered so much that he poured out prosperity to his Egyptian master. Again to the prison, Joseph still carried in him the Presence of God. Joseph was not limited by his circumstances and his situation did not hinder the fact that he carried the Presence of God in him. That Presence of God in his life was faithful enough to lead him to the palace.
 1 Samuel 16:18 reads, “One of the servants answered, ‘I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and he is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.’” This is how David was classified by one of the servants of Saul. The classification that I like the most is the one that reads “and the Lord is with him.” David was identified by the Presence of God in his life. He was distinguished and he stood out from the crowd by virtue of the Presence of God in his life. He stood bold to confront Goliath not because he had the ability or strength, but because he carried the Presence of God in him; thus he was able to make his boast in the strength of the Lord. No wonder Moses will say that “how will the people know that you are pleased with us unless you go with us, what else will distinguish us from all the people on the face of the earth?” Now David stood out by virtue of the Presence of God and nothing else. Can you see why God will say of David, “I have found a man after my heart.” God was so pleased with David that He filled him with His Presence.  
 Above all else, you need to seek the Presence of God in your life, that presence that guarantees peace, joy, blessings, success, pleasures forever more, victory in all life’s battles, healing and good health. There is no match for the Presence of God in the life of a child of God. That is what stands you out among all the other people. That is what shows the world that indeed the Lord is pleased with you.
When you have been given an assignment to do by God, please do not stay content with the angel going with, seek the Presence of God to see you through it. When you carry in you the Presence of God you radiate the glory of God in your life. And even though you don’t see it, all those around you will see and know that indeed you carry in you the Presence of God. I just seek your ever glowing Presence in my life daily my faithful Father and God.

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Gratitude to God

Genesis 6-8 and Genesis 19 are two Bible passages that shows us so well the importance of showing God gratitude. Our ability to say Thank You to God for mercies received and grace untold shows God our readiness to receive more grace from Him.
First I want us to consider the story of the man named Noah, whose story is found in Genesis 6-8. Because of the length of the passage in consideration, I will not be able to write it out, but will encourage that we all take a little time out to know a little more about Noah from this passage.
Genesis 6:9 tells us that Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time and so he found favour in the sight of God. His character as a man who feared God endeared him to the heart of God and so the Lord decided to spare Noah from the great destruction coming to earth and through him repopulated the earth.
But what I want us to focus on was Noah’s attitude or rather response to the grace of God on his live. The Bible records in Genesis 8:13-22 that immediately Noah got out of the ark, he got some clean animals, built an altar and sacrificed to God. The aroma of the sacrifice pleased the Lord to the point that God entered into a covenant with Noah, his household and the entire world. This covenant was a covenant of provision, increase, multiplication.
On another note, Genesis 19 tells us the story of how God spared Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. When the angels of the Lord arrived at Sodom, it was Lot who met them and took them into his home. He took care of them, shielded them from the attacks of the villagers and even offered his daughters for molestation in place of the visiting angels.
This act made the angels spare Lot from the impending destruction. Lot and his household were literarily hulled to safety by the angels when he hesitated to leave the city. Except for the wife of Lot who disobeyed and looked back at the city, Lot’s household left the city of Sodom safe and sound. But unlike Noah, Lot did not remember to show appreciate for what God did for him. Lot took the grace of God for his life for granted. He just went on with his life as though nothing spectacular had happened to him. No record in the Bible shows that Lot gave thanks to God after that incidence.
Other than the fact that Lot’s daughter got him drunk and had sex with him in turn thereby committing a detestable offence before God, nothing else was said about that man called Lot again. I just try to imagine if Lot had remembered to show gratitude to God for the kind deliverance shown to him and his family?
Many of us take the grace of God for our lives for granted. The Bible says “the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but time and chance happens to them all.” Your intellect really didn’t get you this far in life; Steve Jobs in all his achievements is dead and gone. It’s not your ability that has helped you; there are a lot of people with better ability and more hardworking than you, yet they are still wallowing in poverty. It is just the grace of God and nothing but the grace of God.
When you learn to appreciate God for the ASSUMED little things He is doing in your life, you show Him your readiness for greater and better things. Whatever you have, you have received from God. Even the breathe that you breath really does not belong to you and it is worth thanking God for. When you have mastered the act of appreciation, then like Noah you show God a man worthy to receive an everlasting covenant from Him.  

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The Ripple Effects of Your Actions.

It’s been a few days since my last post, about 5 days to be precise and I must say that I miss writing on my blog. But I had some network issues with my internet and was also held down preparing a daily devotional guide for my children, but I am really glad to be back. 

As the Lord will help me pen down today’s post, I want to call our attention to the ripple effects of our actions or in-actions on our children and our descendants after us. In one of my previous post I wrote about the covenant of God, and one truth of the covenant of God is that it does not start and end with the particular person whom the Lord actually made the covenant with. Their descendants and further generations after them, people they will never know will also benefit from that covenant. Deuteronomy 7:9 speaks of God as the faithful God Who keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generation of those who love Him and keep His commands. So we see God not just limiting His love to those who love Him alone, but also their children and children’s children after them.

David in Psalm 37:25 says “He was young  and now old, yet he has not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread.” What I want us to focus on in this post is the fact that whatever we do good or bad has an effect or impact on our children. The realization of this is sort of a wake up call for all parents. And the thought I want us to hold dear is this: “Is it really right to put the future of our children at risk due to what we are doing wrong and the things we are not doing right?”   

One fact about God that really calls for caution in the lives of we the Christians is what I found in the story of David and Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. David committed a sin by sending a man to an early grave and taking his wife for himself. He committed a grievous sin before the Lord for which we all know he should be punished. But in 2 Samuel 12:13, we see David realizing his mistakes, and immediately Nathan the prophet told him the Lord has taken away his sin and he was not going to die. But because by what he did he had caused the enemies of God to show utter contempt, the son born to him will die.

This son that was been punished for the sins of his father never knew anything about the sin. He was not even in existence when the sin took place yet he died for the sin of his father. And still in this judgement we cannot say God is unjust. If we continue to read through to 2 Samuel 13, we will see the children of David operating under the curse brought about by the sin of their father doing very wrong things that eventually led to their death. God didn’t punish David directly; David never stopped to be a man after God’s heart, but the punishment of his sins were borne by his children. The knowledge of this truth calls for parents to be on the alert with their lives and the things they do, your sins may seem to go unnoticed or unpunished yet your children will have to reap the punishment of a sin they didn’t commit. 

Numbers 14:18 reads, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and forth generation.”  When we know the God that is merciful, loving, forgiving, gracious and caring, we should also be mindful of the fact that this same loving God is the God that punishes the children for the sins of the father. This is exactly the God we see in the story of David in 2 Samuel 11-13. The God that punishes the children for the sins of the father. But the truth is that this has not made God unjust, it has not made Him unfair, unloving, ungracious, uncaring, or unmerciful. It has only called for caution on our own part to live right not just for our own sake, but also for the sake of the children He has given into our lives and that we love and care for.

You and I who are true children of God, born of God through our faith in Jesus Christ are also called the seed of Abraham, heirs to the promise of God to Abraham just because Abraham kept the laws, commands and requirements of God (Genesis 26:5). One thought I want us to bear at the back of our minds is that “What if Abraham didn’t not keep the requirements, commands, decrees and laws of God?” I am sure you will agree with me that their will be no promise for you and I to inherit and enjoy. Now, such is the case when you refuse or fail to keep the requirements, commands, decrees and laws of the Lord. You not only forfeit the benefit of a promise for your life, you leave your children and descendants after with no promise from God to inherit. 

We all know that in order to inherit and retain the promises of God for our lives we need to walk before the Lord and be blameless (Genesis 17:1) But our blameless walk also guarantees for our children a promise from God that will not go unfulfilled. 

Numbers 25:12  reads “Therefore tell him I am making a covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honour of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”  This is the promise of God to Phinehas the grandchild of Aaron for appeasing God on behalf of the Israelites and removing the accursed one from the camp of the Israelites. But the content of the covenant is what caught my attention. God did not just make a covenant of priesthood with Phinehas, He made an everlasting covenant with Phinehas and his descendants after him. Those he never will know will benefit from the actions of Phinehas that pleased God to the point of making a covenant with him. 

The Lord is still in the business of making covenants with men in our generation who have distinguished themselves in righteousness before Him. This attribute of God is not limited to Bible days. What are the things you are doing that pleases God? In what way have you been able to make a mark of excellence in your walk with the Lord that will move Him not just to enter a covenant with you but also with your descendants after you? Now is the time to start to build lasting treasures in heaven for your descendants to inherit. A covenant that guarantees God’s grace for your descendants as an everlasting covenant. 

Proverbs 13:22 says “A righteous man leaves and inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” If you have not been able to build mansions and buy luxurious cars or get impressive share certificates  as inheritance for your children’s children. Please ensure you leave a covenant of God for them to inherit. That is a better guarantee than all the worldly stuff I have just highlighted. The Lord will help us as we walk with Him.  

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Building a Peaceful Marriage (Stories That Teach)

The story that I am sharing in today's post is a true life story of about one of the many issues we face in our marital life. This story is one of the few stories shared on my webstite www.thewordthatsuits.com. It is a story that we need to learn from to help us build a masterpiece of a home in marriage. Please read, enjoy and learn from it.

The Issue:

For me marriage is a thing of misery more than the joy you have been describing it to be. I am married with children but happiness is a far fetched luxury for me. My major problem in marriage is my mother-in-law and even though I will not ascribe all the problems in my marriage to her, but will say she is the genesis of most of my woes. My husband is an only child since his brother was shot dead by unknown gunmen. And so my husband has become the heartbeat of his mother who is also a widow. We live in the same building with my mother-in-law for reasons I am yet to come to terms with. My husband had a good paying job, but just a few years back he lost his job and his mother was able to convince him not to bother looking for another job but rather join her in managing the family business and since then our financial life has been a reek as we now live off the crumbs that falls off my mother-in-law’s table. My relationship with my husband has now become so estranged; he now drinks a lot, engages in extra-marital affairs and just what his mother says is law in my home. I am just managing to hang on to the marriage, I am seriously contemplating a divorce. I have prayed, gone for deliverance session to no avail. What beats me in all these is that my mother-in-law has a church that she pastors and runs, so she also carries on the spiritual head of my husband’s life and invariably my home. I am lost, I am confused and drained, I don't even know what to make of my miserable life. The only hope I have resides in my children and I don't know how far that can carry me. To crown all of my problems, I do not have a job or a means to earn income, truly I am suffering.   

Response:

One truth that remains unchanged is that the Lord will not tempt you more than you can bear, and for every challenge that you face in life, with God there is always a means of escape. Let this truth remain at the focus of your life and knowing that even though tears may last for a night there is always joy in the morning. In this situation I believe the Lord will want to begin his renewal mission starting with you. From all that you have said, it appears you don't have any fault in the matter, but one question I need you to ask yourself deeply is: what is your relationship with God like? At this point you need to make a very important and acceptable sacrifice to the Lord requisite to the healing of your life and home, this sacrifice is first necessary in dealing with your life and then moves on to renew your  marriage. This sacrifice is found in Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I will bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifice of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.” The offering of this sacrifice as stated in Psalm 51 precede all that the Lord will do in your home and your life. It is true that you have prayed hard, but the Lord sees beyond our prayers and searches the deep things of our heart. The prayer of a sinner the Bible says is an abomination to God and so what you carry within you as you go on to pray matters a lot. If you abhor impurity in you, those your prayers, plenty and hard as they may seem have absolutely no effect. I know for sure you are hurting and your life feels like a misery, but you need to be broken before the Lord and let God wage war against your challenges. You need come before the Lord with a broken spirit and a contrite heart; you need to give God free access into your life to deal with every form of sin and every inclination towards sin in your life, including the sin of hatred. Sin hinders prayer and that you need to let go off in order to pray effectively. Indeed you have every reason humanly conceivable to be resentful towards your husband and his mother but that will not help you in this situation. The Bible says we live in the world, but we are not off the world, this is the time to display heavenly traits that shows you off as a child of God, and show LOVE and care towards your husband even in the midst of his hostility towards you. The Bible says if you only love those who love you, and you hate those who hate you, then you are not different from the tax collectors. The test you need to pass in order to be certified a child of God is to be able to love in the midst of hostility (Matthew 5:44-48). This might appear as a tough thing to do but the Lord will grant you the grace to live right according to His will.  In Matthew 6:9 the Lord Jesus taught us to pray asking the Lord to forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us and in verse 14 He said “for if we forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you.” Forgiving your husband plays a very important rule in the healing of your home as it plays a part in your sacrifice of brokenness before God required for effective prayers and also in your assignment as a suitable help in the deliverance of your husband’s life.  This is not a problem that the Lord cannot handle and pull you through it such that you will smile again. Despite all that you are going, you still need to submit to your husband, 1 Peter 3:1-2 reads “Wives be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives.” The Lord will cause your purity to shine forth like gold that draws your husband to the Lord and rekindle his love for you. Your husband has given in to some wrong advises and decisions which obviously has caused a sense of regret and inadequacy in him and he does not know how to handle it and so he has taken to the street, living life in a carefree manner. At this point, he wants to just drown his misery and the frustration he feels, he can only take it out on you as his wife. So you are both to help him recovery from his misery and still absorb the shock of his frustrations. Indeed as a woman you are built by God to accommodate it all. The shock you have to absorb should create in you a sense of urgency to need and want to help your husband  rather than create hatred and resentment for him. Your problem solving role starts with you connecting firmly with God with a broken and contrite heart, ask the Lord to help you live above sin and any inclination of sin capable of hindering your prayers. Pray to God for a life of righteousness and holiness and as God helps you to conquer and live above sin, you then start to step in for your husband and children. 1 Corinthians 7:14 says “the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the believing wife,” so you see that your righteousness plays a role in the sanctification of your husband. And so you understand why I said the healing starts with you. Gradually as you remain steadfast in the Lord with your effective prayers and right attitude in submission, purity and reverence to your husband, you will gradually start to see positive changes in him and your home will soon become a haven for your family. With you and your husband in good standing your mother-in-law will not pose a problem again. But with her also you need to show her respect and give her the honour due to her. God has instructed that we respect and honour our parents and that includes your parents-in-law. Romans 13:7 says “give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if you owe revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another for he who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law.” In the bid to fulfill the requirements of God, you need to love your mother-in-law, honour and respect her. If she is still hostile to you, then she has God to contend with. Romans 12:14 says “bless those who prosecute you; bless and do not curse.” Again Romans 12:17-19 says “do not repay evil with evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘it is mine to avenge; I will repay’ says the Lord.” The things you have learnt from these passages should be your guiding principle as you relate with your mother-in-law and I assure you they will yield positive results to the glory of God. As you serve God diligently I am positive the Lord will not leave out your financial problems; as He restores your home, He will surely restore your finances as He is the God that rewards those who diligently seek Him. Once you have firmly connected with God there are bound to be testimonies. I know you feel drained and well spent, but the journey to a beautiful home is just beginning. Like the story of Elijah in 1 kings 19:1-8, you have contended with your struggles enough, now is the time to eat the Lord’s food which is the word of God and get strength for the work ahead of you. Make your Bible your closest companion and you will find revelations from the word of God to run with to victory.  

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Where Is The Love?

Every time I read through the daily newspapers, 50% of the news for the day is characterized by one kind of disaster or the other. But of all the disasters that has been most prominent in the news lately is the rate at which human beings kill each other. There seem to be a major disregard for human life in recent times. The shedding of human blood aimlessly is really on the increase. One man gets angry with his brother and without any form of recourse he picks a gun and snuffs out the life of his fellow man. But what bothers me most in all these is how these present day cannibals find sleep and rest in their evil act. Where is the love of God in our present day generation?  

While discussing this subject with my husband, what he said to me was that "we are presently in the devil's world." We all know that we are in the end times now and though I would rather not preach salvation solely because we are in the end-times, but would rather preach salvation because death can come knocking at any point in time. If Jesus tarries much longer, death can't be kept waiting beyond the appointed time. 

With this said, there is the need to prepare, more need to prepare now than ever before. Quite a lot of people say that they have heard that Jesus is coming decades before now, and still He is yet to show up, but one fact that never fails to show up is death. Life-expectancy has dropped from being 70years and above to being in the rage of 40-60years and so the few living up to 80years and above are really in luck.

1 Corinthians 13:1-10, 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have a gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and suurender my body to the flames, but not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophecy in part, when when the perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 

And now these three remains: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Like I said earlier, it is time to prepare for eternity. More than ever before, the times are very evil. If  we don't as much anticipate the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to prepare in anticipation for death, the inevitable visitor who comes calling unannounced and uninvited. 

The most important thing to consider and possess in abundance as we prepare for eternity is that thing called Love. Now this is not the love that exist between a man and his wife, but the Love which is a characteristic of God and one important factor that shows forth that we are sons of God. That is the love Paul described above which never fails.

Paul tells us that prophecies can cease, tongues may be stilled and knowledge will pass away, but one thing that sure stands the test of time in this world and beyond is Love; the agape love of God. The love that is patient and kind, the love that does not envy or keeps record of wrong, the love that is not easily angered, the love that delights in truth, that is the Love that stands the test of time. This kind of love does not breed heart failure, this kind of love is not characterized by anxiety, with this kind of love, you eliminate worry. This is God's kind of love. When you possess this kind of love, then truly you are a child of God.

Matthew 5:43-48

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

No imperfection is eligible to enter into heaven. The kind of perfection that tells the world the son of Whom you are as a child of God is the perfection characterized by the Love described in the two passages above. If you are yet to possess this kind of love, then you are yet to be true sons of God and you are yet to be qualified for heaven at death. By this I do not stand to judge anyone, this is just the word of God.

Jesus said we should be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. That is the perfection that reigns in the Kingdom of God. The perfection of the love that keeps no record of wrongs and thus breeds no enemies. The perfection of the love that does not envy and so there is no unhealthy competition or rivalry. The perfection of the love that is not proud, not self-seeking and not boastful and so there is no unhealthy and unholy life ambitions. It is not rude, it is a kind of love that breeds respect for others and for authorities. It is not a kind of love that is easily angered, and so it is characterized by self-control and it is temperate. This is the kind of love that God wants us to have. 

Without this kind of love, eternity is heaven is not so sure. And so we can understand why Jesus will says that a lot of people will do many miracles in His name yet they will not make heaven. This is because they lack the love that qualifies them for a placement in the kingdom of God. Their life has been smeared by some form of imperfection that can only be corrected by the love that is described in the passages above. 

We all need to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate our walk and relationship with God. We need to search our very form of existence and place our lives in the light of the revelation of the word of God found in the two passages above. If I have to tell you the truth, I also need to do the same. As I put down this message, I do not speak to my readers alone, but I speak to myself. That the Lord helps me to follow the leading of His Spirit in my life and that His Spirit will work out in me the perfection of what is revealed to me in these passages above. 

I am just trying to imagine if the whole world will live by the standard of the love described in 1 Corinthian 13. Surely there will not be chaos at all on the face of the earth. Still I try to imagine what heaven will be like if all those who enter and remain there are those who have attained the level of perfection characterized by the love in the passages above. No matter your level of hard work in Christ, if you are yet lacking in the love described above, then you are assumed to have done nothing. And so in order not to labour in vain, it is of utmost importance that we work at what we do for God in the light of the Love of God described above. Your measure of approval is by the standard of the love described above.

This level of love is not attained in the flesh. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot measure up to the level of love that God desires and approves of in the passages above. This kind of love is only attainable in Christ. It is the truthful and diligent following of the leadership of Jesus through His Spirit that He gives us that can help us attain this level of love. When you walk in Christ and follow His leading without looking to the right or to the left, then you truly walk in Love. Love in the very true sense of it as in the Love of God can only be found in Jesus.

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