Dear Friends
It's been a while since I have written a spiritual article in this blog and it's great to be back. I have not been idle, just focusing on other area that God had been leading me on including finishing three books in the last year, with the fourth one nearly completed titled 'Living a fearless life.'
I just give God all the glory for His grace that has enabled and empower me to step into His plans for my life. So many awesome testimonies in the past year; I am looking forward to sharing this and more with you as I continue my spiritual growth in Christ Jesus.
You know it is so wonderful having Jesus as your lead partner in life. I am always in awe as I see things work together in my life and in the life of those around me. I keep wondering why it has taken me so long to give my life... but better late than never and all by His grace.
A testimony I would like to share with you today is that of my young brother in-law. Thanks by the way to all those who responded to the prayer request on face book. I saw the mercy of God in the life of this young boy who had massive fluid in his brain. The day I saw him in hospital, even I was thinking about how I would have stood my ground on my faith like his parent, he looked like one of those malnourished and starving children the International NGO's always used in their advert for funds. He could not eat so he was being force fed. He had lost so much weight his ribs and head were the most visible part of his body. The doctors said they could not operate on him because his blood count was too low (18) and they needed it to be at least 33; but with the fluid in his brain, he was having fever which kept depleting his blood count. It was a vicious cycle.
To cut the long story short, eventually his parent took him to a private clinic and Jehovah used a surgeon to operate on the boy, even with such a low blood count and no blood transfusion; the surgery was a success, he lost little blood and within the week the boy was a different person. I learnt the effect of ones faith in God, His words and total trust in Him. I know God has a plan to use that boy to further His Kingdom here on earth. Glory be to His name.
Now that God has given me the grace to continue on this spiritual blog, I am looking forward to sharing my journey with you as the Holy Spirit leads. I am doing a lot of travel at the moment but I hope to bring you lots of exciting things that God is working on me and in me as I continue my life's journey. So till next time, please keep me in your prayers as I go to Ethiopia in the coming week; that God will use me to impact lives there...
Shalom.
Remember, you are the salt of the earth.... and the light of the world.
Saturday 3 August 2013
The Heritage of the Servants of the Lord
By Adeola Akintoye
The Heritage of the Servants of the Lord (Isaiah 54:17). The Holy Spirit guided me a couple of days ago to the aspect of prayer. Not so much about how to pray rather how to focus our prayers. I was reading John Eldridge’s book on ‘Walking with God’, a section where he was talking about not quitting when we pray and we don’t immediately get the answer to our prayers. I immediately sensed an insight from God that it is not about quitting per se but the effectiveness of our prayers. In James 5:15 we were told that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
The first aspect of prayer is being righteous, without which our prayers would not be effective.
In James 4:3, we were told that we do not get answer to our prayers because we pray amiss. Yet when you read what Jesus said in John 16:24 that anything we ask for would be given us, it makes you wonder how come some prayers are not answered.
This morning, as I was woken up by the Holy Spirit to pray, I was led to Isaiah 53, which is one of the prophecies about Jesus Christ. It was a reminder for me on what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross and the assurances I have about my salvation, healing (all round not just physical), my justification and righteousness with God. I was also led to read the next chapter which also highlighted assurance of peace and victory. What really stump me is the sentence in the past verses ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD’, which made me remember what God was teaching me about prayer once again. We ask for things which are already ours rather than thanking God for them and claiming them by faith.
Heritage means inherit, what belongs to you already? Why should we ask for something that already belongs to us? It’s like saying I’m not really sure (doubt) and we know that doubt is an antidote of faith and it is a sin. We should claim our heritage without any ounce of doubt. What did Jesus Christ said about the mustard seed, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain to move and it will.
There are many insights on praying effective prayers, but I want to focus on one important aspect in this article. We must pray focused and direct prayers. I hear and I have also been a culprit myself, when we pray and ask Jesus to be with us. Does this mean Jesus is not with us and we need to ask Him to be with us? In Mathew 28:20, Jesus said… ‘And lo I will be with you always even to the end of the age’. This is assurance enough to thank God for His presence with us and affirm our faith that He is with us rather than asking Him to be with us when He already is.
Let’s focus on Isaiah 54 to illustrate some examples and starting from verse 10. God said, ‘for the mountains shall depart. And the hills be removed. But My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed’. God’s kindness will never depart from us, He has promised us peace. Jesus Christ said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid”.
In Isaiah 54 verse 13, God said all our children will be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of our children. In this current age, we surely need to appropriate this promise. Every day, we should claim this promise for our children, that God would teach our children, everywhere they are, whatever they are doing and in whatever peer pressure they find themselves. God said He will do it and His word is yea and amen
‘In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake’ (Isaiah 54: 14-15). Aren’t these wonderful assurances of victory over our enemies? God is our righteousness, not the works of our hand and no matter how much we try to obey God’s commandments. His righteousness is by grace which He is saying here we are established. God is saying oppression will be far from us, not our portion because we shall not fear. If you suffer from the Spirit of fear, you are giving in to the enemy. You need to take authority over the power of the enemy and claim this wonderful promise.
Terror shall not come near us because we are established in righteousness. Whoever assembles because of us shall fall. This is certain; claim it over the visible, invisible, current and future terrors.
As a child of God, the enemy will want to harm you directly or indirectly. He will use anyone and everyone around us. But God is saying whoever assembles against us shall fall. They gather for nothing and their gathering is their downfall. It is written and so shall it be. In verse 17 of the same chapter God said ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me.” This is as certain as day rises and night time comes. God is not man that should lie.
It is a dangerous thing to direct evil plans or judgement against a child of God. We must be wise as children of God on knowing and correctly applying the word of God over every aspect of our lives. The enemy tries (note he tries and he can’t succeed unless we let him) to fool us, manipulate our prayer focus because he knows that as children of God we have the power and the heritage of God’s promises over us. And that when we pray in accordance with the will of God, it is a done deal.
When you read the account of Jesus’ temptation in Luke chapter 4:1-13, do you know that Jesus did not pray and ask God to come and fight the enemy, douse him with Holy Ghost fire! He kept saying “It is written….” We can apply this principle to all aspect of our prayer life. There are promises in the Word of God that covers all aspect of our lives. Children of God, these are our heritage. We should appropriate them by faith, thanking God for them. This demonstrates our faith. Asking for something that is already ours shows uncertainty, and uncertainty brings doubt which is the enemy of our faith. Jesus said if you ask without doubting you will receive.
Above all, these would only work for you if you have already given your life to Jesus Christ and you are living a holy life under the direction of the Holy Spirit. If you have not done so, I ask that you reconsider. You are missing out on so many wonderful promises of a victorious, joyful and peaceful life in this world and the promise of eternity with Christ.
If you would like to give your life to Jesus, just repeat this prayer; ‘Father I come to you as a sinner, I confess I am a sinner, I believe that Your Son Jesus Christ came into the world and died for my sins. I ask that from this moment forward you come into my life and be my Lord and Saviour. Where you lead I will follow. Direct my paths from henceforth and help me to grow in you all the days of my life. Amen.
SHALOM. HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND
The Heritage of the Servants of the Lord (Isaiah 54:17). The Holy Spirit guided me a couple of days ago to the aspect of prayer. Not so much about how to pray rather how to focus our prayers. I was reading John Eldridge’s book on ‘Walking with God’, a section where he was talking about not quitting when we pray and we don’t immediately get the answer to our prayers. I immediately sensed an insight from God that it is not about quitting per se but the effectiveness of our prayers. In James 5:15 we were told that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
The first aspect of prayer is being righteous, without which our prayers would not be effective.
In James 4:3, we were told that we do not get answer to our prayers because we pray amiss. Yet when you read what Jesus said in John 16:24 that anything we ask for would be given us, it makes you wonder how come some prayers are not answered.
This morning, as I was woken up by the Holy Spirit to pray, I was led to Isaiah 53, which is one of the prophecies about Jesus Christ. It was a reminder for me on what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross and the assurances I have about my salvation, healing (all round not just physical), my justification and righteousness with God. I was also led to read the next chapter which also highlighted assurance of peace and victory. What really stump me is the sentence in the past verses ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD’, which made me remember what God was teaching me about prayer once again. We ask for things which are already ours rather than thanking God for them and claiming them by faith.
Heritage means inherit, what belongs to you already? Why should we ask for something that already belongs to us? It’s like saying I’m not really sure (doubt) and we know that doubt is an antidote of faith and it is a sin. We should claim our heritage without any ounce of doubt. What did Jesus Christ said about the mustard seed, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain to move and it will.
There are many insights on praying effective prayers, but I want to focus on one important aspect in this article. We must pray focused and direct prayers. I hear and I have also been a culprit myself, when we pray and ask Jesus to be with us. Does this mean Jesus is not with us and we need to ask Him to be with us? In Mathew 28:20, Jesus said… ‘And lo I will be with you always even to the end of the age’. This is assurance enough to thank God for His presence with us and affirm our faith that He is with us rather than asking Him to be with us when He already is.
Let’s focus on Isaiah 54 to illustrate some examples and starting from verse 10. God said, ‘for the mountains shall depart. And the hills be removed. But My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed’. God’s kindness will never depart from us, He has promised us peace. Jesus Christ said in John 14:27, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid”.
In Isaiah 54 verse 13, God said all our children will be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of our children. In this current age, we surely need to appropriate this promise. Every day, we should claim this promise for our children, that God would teach our children, everywhere they are, whatever they are doing and in whatever peer pressure they find themselves. God said He will do it and His word is yea and amen
‘In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake’ (Isaiah 54: 14-15). Aren’t these wonderful assurances of victory over our enemies? God is our righteousness, not the works of our hand and no matter how much we try to obey God’s commandments. His righteousness is by grace which He is saying here we are established. God is saying oppression will be far from us, not our portion because we shall not fear. If you suffer from the Spirit of fear, you are giving in to the enemy. You need to take authority over the power of the enemy and claim this wonderful promise.
Terror shall not come near us because we are established in righteousness. Whoever assembles because of us shall fall. This is certain; claim it over the visible, invisible, current and future terrors.
As a child of God, the enemy will want to harm you directly or indirectly. He will use anyone and everyone around us. But God is saying whoever assembles against us shall fall. They gather for nothing and their gathering is their downfall. It is written and so shall it be. In verse 17 of the same chapter God said ‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me.” This is as certain as day rises and night time comes. God is not man that should lie.
It is a dangerous thing to direct evil plans or judgement against a child of God. We must be wise as children of God on knowing and correctly applying the word of God over every aspect of our lives. The enemy tries (note he tries and he can’t succeed unless we let him) to fool us, manipulate our prayer focus because he knows that as children of God we have the power and the heritage of God’s promises over us. And that when we pray in accordance with the will of God, it is a done deal.
When you read the account of Jesus’ temptation in Luke chapter 4:1-13, do you know that Jesus did not pray and ask God to come and fight the enemy, douse him with Holy Ghost fire! He kept saying “It is written….” We can apply this principle to all aspect of our prayer life. There are promises in the Word of God that covers all aspect of our lives. Children of God, these are our heritage. We should appropriate them by faith, thanking God for them. This demonstrates our faith. Asking for something that is already ours shows uncertainty, and uncertainty brings doubt which is the enemy of our faith. Jesus said if you ask without doubting you will receive.
Above all, these would only work for you if you have already given your life to Jesus Christ and you are living a holy life under the direction of the Holy Spirit. If you have not done so, I ask that you reconsider. You are missing out on so many wonderful promises of a victorious, joyful and peaceful life in this world and the promise of eternity with Christ.
If you would like to give your life to Jesus, just repeat this prayer; ‘Father I come to you as a sinner, I confess I am a sinner, I believe that Your Son Jesus Christ came into the world and died for my sins. I ask that from this moment forward you come into my life and be my Lord and Saviour. Where you lead I will follow. Direct my paths from henceforth and help me to grow in you all the days of my life. Amen.
SHALOM. HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND
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