You are the Lord, let Your Name be glorified 2x, we give You glory and honour, You are the Lord, let Your Name be glorified. Heavenly Your Name is wonderful, Your Name excellent, Your Name is beautiful, we worship You Lord for You are Might, You got the whole world in Your hand. You got the whole world in Your hand 4x.

Father in heaven O God! We bow before Your Throne in worship of Who You are. Blessed be the Name of the Lord, Who can do all things. We thank You for another opportunity to serve You. Thank You for the gift of life, good health, provision and providence that can only be given by You. Thank You Jesus Thank You Lord.

Beloved, we should be grateful to our God in whose hand is our lives. He is the vine and we are the branches. Faithful is our God who slack not in His promises to us. Are you praising Him for the blessings of another day, another week through His power you are blessed.

Our topic today is asking a question we have to answer individually. Beloved, are under a cloud, or following the cloud? Looking at Your life personally, where are you identifying with topic?

I believe many of us are familiar with the topic before us, it was an instruction from God if they are to get to the promise land as ordained by God or miss out in His plan for them.

It is a demonstration of our obedience to the word of God. Are we willing to obey God and do His biddings or we want go our own way, which will only lead us depression and despair. Failing to follow God’s instruction in our lives have great consequence and we must not be trivialized it.

Be determined today to follow God’s instruction and you will excel in all your undertaking. Why am saying that, because when you obey and follow God, you are in His plans for you and the strength to pull through He will provide for you but if you are outside of His plans for you, you will see yourselves struggling to achieve.

Are you feeling depression or despair, my guess should be as good as yours, take time to reconnect back to your creator, in Him there is no fainting, no sorrowing, He is ever faithful and will always help you if you trust His Sovereignty over all He has made which includes you.

Be calm, God has not forgotten you, He can never do that if you are following and serving Him in truth and fear of the Lord.

Again, ask yourselves if you are where God wants you to be or you following Him as He is leading you or you are defining and making your choice? Let’s go into the teaching proper:

 Are You Under A Cloud, Or Following The Cloud?

You may recall that during the Jews’ migration across the desert God guided them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The cloud was the visible symbol of God’s presence.

When the cloud moved, it was the Jews’ responsibility to observe the movement and to respond accordingly. When the cloud settled down over the Tent, they also were to settle down. If however, they were inattentive, preoccupied or indifferent to the cloud’s movement, they could easily miss God’s direction and protection.

At the Lords command they encamped, and at the Lords command they set out. (Numbers 9:23)

Responding to the movement of the cloud is a beautiful illustration of our being prompted and led by the Holy Spirit.

Today, the Holy Spirit, like the cloud that guided the Jews, quietly, gently, and unpretentiously guides us… if we are spiritually attuned to His urging.

Depending upon our spiritual sensitivity, we can either be guided by the Spirit or we can grieve the Spirit:

  • All who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14)
  • And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

How easy it is for us to be under a cloud, so to speak… fogged in by spiritual dullness and insensitivity to the things of God, thereby missing His leading, convicting, and sustaining force.

So today, are you under a cloud of spiritual mediocrity, or are you following the cloud in response to God’s direction and purpose for your life?

 The consequences of negating God’s words can lead to the situation we have below. People who battling depression and despair alienate themselves from others. They live isolated lives full of self-doubt and totally lacking of confidence. No medicine can change the way you feel about yourself, I encourage you to see a doctor if you need to, but more importantly you should saturate yourself with the truth of God’s Word and began to renew your mind on who He says you are, because that will change the way you feel about yourself. Let’s keep going:

Depression And Despair

Those dark undercurrents of desperate emotions that drag us down into the murky shadows of hopelessness and despondency.

The bad news is that every follower of Christ seems to be subjected from time to time to this state of gloom… this so-called “Dark Night of the Soul:”

Job, while languishing near death cried out, “May the day of my birth perishI despise my lifemy days have no meaning.” (Job 3:3a; 7:16)

Elisha, after a great spiritual victory lamented, “I have had enough, Lordtake my life.” (1 Kings 19:5)

Paul, while suffering intense hardship in Asia, wrote, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death… ” (2 Corinthians 1:8, 9a).

Today, if you are in the midst of one of these “Dark Nights of the Soul,” consider and claim God’s promises from His Word. Keep in mind however, that with most promises there is a condition for us to fulfill:

Promise: “Even in darkness light dawns for the

[Condition:] upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.” (Psalm 112:4)

Promise: “I am the Light of the world.

[Condition:] Whoever follows Me

[Promise:] will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Condition: “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed:

[Promise:] then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” (Isaiah 58:10, 11)

Because DEPRESSION and DESPAIR are tools the Enemy often uses in his attacks against Christ’s followers, it is imperative that we fight back with God’s spiritual arsenal, which includes the Word of God. So claim His promises, fulfill the Word’s conditions, and then see Him win the victory on your behalf. (See Ephesians 6:10-20)

If you are under the season of this “patiently waiting” unto the Lord, you can get involved in something that can get your mind busy and your hands too to avoid you getting despair while God is perfecting all that concerns You.

Rest is a powerful tool to achieving a greater height, if a man like Elijah got exhausted to the extend He ask God to take his life but God knew what he need, refreshment and rest. So He smooth him to sleep while  heavenly meals were given Him, not once but twice and He went in that strength for 40days (1 Kings 18:4-9). He was exhausted without knowing and because he had worked himself to exhaustion he felt threatened a solitary woman named Jezebel. He beacam e afraid, depressed, discouraged, and suididal.

Beloved, what are you going through and you think that God cannot fix for you? You simply refused to obey Him, thinking that you are wise in your own eyes? Maybe, you need to think again? nothing in life looks ggod when we are exhausted.

The Lord said tp Elijah, “You worn out. You need a couple of hot meals and a good night rest.” We need to listen to that Word too.

Beloved. this week is declared blessed in the Name of our Lord  Jesus. Be willing to obey Him that is the only way You can make it through. Receive strength to be patient before God and see Him winning all your battles in Jesus Name.

Remain blessed in the Lord.

the nation newspaper 
today