GROWING TOGETHER IN CHRIST

 ‘Follow me’ – Luke 5:27 In Luke’s gospel chapter nineteen, we are introduced to a short fellow by the name Zacchaeus. He was a well known wealthy, chief tax collector in town. As Jesus was passing through the streets of Jericho, Zacchaeus heard of him and desired to know who Jesus was. Luke 19:3 reads that, “He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.” The story of Zacchaeus is one we can easily relate to. Zacchaeus had a longing to know Jesus. Deep inside him, he must have had the desire to have a personal experience with Jesus. Like Zacchaeus, we all have a void deep in our spirit. That void can only be filled by the Spirit of God; hence the desire to worship. Zacchaeus had the desire to know Jesus; however, he had a ‘BUT’ in front of him that was stopping him. Like Zacchaeus we all want to know who Jesus is, we want to experience him, there’s a desire to learn from him, and walk according to his ways, BUT… What comes after the wo...

“ Do to others as you would have them do to you” –Luke 6:31 In the gospel of Luke Chapter 6, Jesus taught us to “ Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you ”, something which we would find difficult to do in the natural. It hurts when a person ill-treats you, when a friend betrays your trust, or when you are insulted or ridiculed. As Jesus was teaching this to his disciples, his main focus was for us to be more like our Father in heaven. The world has taught us to repay evil for evil, a tooth for a tooth, and tit-for-tat. But Jesus came with a higher principle: “ Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” We need to understand that the enemy likes to operate on the lower level. That’s why when your enemies fight you, they enjoy dragging you down, they keep on insulting you and drag your name through the mud, and they just want to keep you in the lower level. No wonder their permanent residence is called hell....

Psalms 119:16, “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.” It is normal to see parents promising their children good things. And when they hear of their parents’ promises they rejoice because of the confidence they have in their parents. God being our Father and we his children, He too has proclaimed wonderful promises to us. God has promised us a better future, eternal life, promise of prosperity, provision, peace, protection, and a promise of His presence.  Do you know God’s promises in your life? The promises of God in our lives are like treasures, and he who knows these promises rejoices in them because of the confidence they have in God the Father who is more capable of fulfilling them without fail.  Think about it, suppose you find a treasure of greater value in your land. Will you go ahead and ignore it and treat it as something of lesser value? No. If you find treasures in your land, you would take hold of it and rejoice; you would protect it because it...

After King Jehoshaphat had finished praying, the word of the Lord came to the king through Jahaziel saying: “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours but God’s” – 2 Chronicles 20:15. It’s amazing how God chose to reply to King Jehoshaphat’s prayers: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.” God knew that the kind of problem the King was facing at the time was too great for him overcome. Before God offered a solution to the problem at hand, the first thing He says is: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. Why would God begin His statement by saying, ‘Don’t be afraid or discourage’. He wanted the King to first overcome his fears in order to create room for faith. Isn’t that amazing? The first thing that God fights in our life is the spirit of fear before He provides the solutions that we seek from Him. The spirit of fear, doubt and unbelief are the things that prevent God from working greater things ...

Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you . – 2 Chronicles 20:12 In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, King Jehoshaphat received news that vast armies of the Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites had united to wage war against him. The news greatly troubled Jehoshaphat. He went before the Lord and enquired of God’s guidance. At the end of his prayers he says: “ Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” Just like king Jehoshaphat, are you in a situation where it feels like there are so many great things that are coming against you and you just don’t know what to do? You may have health issues to deal with, problem with your kids, problems in your finances, problems at work, trouble in your relationships or you got people desiring to put you down but you just don’t know what to do abou...

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. – Psalms 130:1-2 In Luke’s gospel, we read about a blind beggar who cried out for mercy to Jesus. His cry for mercy was heard by Jesus and he received the blessing of a miracle that he was seeking. In Luke 18:35, there’s a blind beggar who sat by the roadside begging for alms from passersby. To him that day was as ordinary as any other day. As Jesus was approaching Jericho, the blind beggar heard a crowd passing by, when he asked what was going on he was told: “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by”- Luke 18:37 When the blind beggar heard that Jesus was passing by, something must have sparked inside of him. It is like the thought of Jesus passing by re-ignited a fire inside of him that caused him to call out to Him saying: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” – Luke 18:38. Knowing that Jesus was in the area, it re-awakened his desires to see. The beggar had been blind all his life. ...

“You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.” – Deuteronomy 2:3 In Deuteronomy, we learn about the journey of the Israelites and their rebellion against God when they chose to attack the Amorites which was against God’s command. And because of this, the Amorites beat them down and chased them from Seir and they were left to wander around the hill country of Seir in the wilderness. The word of God came to Moses to instruct the people of Israel to turn north for they had wandered around the hill for far too long. You and I are not any different from the children of Israelites. We have disobeyed God and turned our hearts away from Him. Because of our disobedience to God, we are left to wander in the wilderness with no sense of direction. Because of our sins, our arrogance, and disobedience we are no longer headed to the place where God intended us to go. Our sins have made us to wander in this world for far too long. Just as God told the children of ...

"I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. Psalm 143:5" In life, challenges will always be there. And when challenges knock at your doorstep, the questions that arise are how do you fight your battles, to whom do you turn to, and from where do you draw your strength? In the Bible, David was no exception when it came to challenges of life. He writes, “The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.”- Psalm 143:3. David had his own problems to deal with. Saul tried to kill him several times and even after he became king of Israel he also faced various forms of opposition in his kingdom. Like David, we also face our own set of challenges. We have financial problems to deal with, health issues, and problems at work, depression, problems at home or in relationships. Dealing with life’s challenges may sometimes drain you both emotionally and physically. You may fe...

In the sixth chapter of 2 Kings, we read about the King of Aram and his armies with horses and chariots marching out towards Dothan to capture one man by the name Prophet Elisha. The Aramean armies went to Dothan and surrounded the city where Prophet Elisha was. Early in the morning, the servant of the Prophet went out and discovered that the armies had surrounded the city. In great fear he reported what he had seen to Elisha and he replied, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha then prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” – 2 Kings 6:16 Then the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.  Have challenges ever come so strong against you to the point where you feel like you are surrounded, defenseless, overwhelmed and overpowered? Yes, this is true because we see our opposition as something so difficult to conquer. Just like the servant of the Prophet, we ...

I lift up my eyes to the mountains- Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, The Maker of heaven and earth – Psalm 121:1-2 When you are hard pressed between a rock and a hard place, where do you look for help? When your spirit is crushed and you feel you can’t go on anymore, where do you draw your strength? We live in a world that is very unpredictable, there’s so much negativity that’s going on, and life continues to get harder and harder. For some of you, it may feel like you are falling and you don’t know where you are going to land. You have searched for help all around you but you haven’t found the kind of help that sets your soul at rest. However, there’s still one more place you’ve not looked and that’s up to Heavens. Jesus Christ continues to encourage us to “ first seek his kingdom and his righteousness”. He basically means that we ought to live on the vertical plane. When our life is set on the vertical plane it means that we are in oneness with God, a...

Follow Me  “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” – John 1:48 In the first chapter of John, we read about Jesus calling his disciples. When he had called Philip to follow him, Philip then went ahead and found Nathanael. Philip told Nathanael, “ We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” – John 1:45 Nathanael still unmoved by what Philip had told him, he asked, “ Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” – John 1:46. Philip seeing this he said, “Come and see.” The two went to see Jesus, and as Nathanael was approaching Jesus said, “ Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” This too confused Nathanael even further which made him ask, “How do you know me?” – John 1:48. And Jesus answered, “ Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” – John 1:48. The calling of Nathanael is still very significant in our present time...

GOD OF ABUNDANCE  ‘ You give them something to eat’ – Mark 6:37 Now, at this point the disciples had presented the problem to Jesus concerning the large crowd that was with them. Jesus answered, ‘ You give them something to eat’ – Mark 6:37 . He said this to test them, since He already had in mind what He was planning to do. To the disciples, this was something very impossible thing to do hence their reply, ‘ That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’– Mark 6:37. So many times we’ve found ourselves in the same situation that the disciples of Jesus were at the time. We know very well the dreams and desires that God has put in our hearts, but we only fail to believe because we find the task very impossible. Just like the disciples of Jesus, we begin to run down the numbers, we bring in the statistics, the data and compare it with what we have and in conclusion we say, “That’s impossible!” The mistake that p...

GOD ALWAYS HAS A BETTER PLAN As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’”- Matthew 14:15 Earlier in the scripture, Jesus and his disciples had just completed their missionary work for that day and decided to withdraw from the crowds to a solitary place in order to get some rest. When the crowds found out where Jesus and his disciples were heading on a boat, they ran ahead of them. When Jesus landed, he saw a large crowd waiting for him and he had compassion on them. The problem started when evening was fast approaching and the disciples went to Jesus with their genius plan. They said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’  Looking at what the disciples did is something that we can easily relate to our present time. How...