September 20

 

Song

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give,

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

Beloved, this is my song this morning; exactly a year ago I was almost gone, not until on my sick bed I surrendered myself fuller to His service, I got healed and has been in sound health ever since (Jas 5:11). However, I was so burdened on how to make ends meets; it was a very traumatic moment in my life having been very active growing up. Looking back today, I am grateful to Him. He thought me to look up to Him alone and trust Him to bring my desire to past. He meets every need His own way through whom He chooses to bless and honour (Matt 4:4).

May be you are having same challenge in your life now, you are afraid of what will happen if you decide to serve Him, repent and follow Him; you are afraid that you will lose all your friends, your family support, your position in your place of work. As a matter of fact, friend and family will forsake you. Some will try to discourage you, others will think you are insane but you know what, if He sends you; He must back you up (Ps 7:9b).

Whatever is your fear, don’t forget He created you for His own glory and before you were born He knew what you will become (1 Cor 9:24). Don’t also forget He is a jealous God and cannot share you with anybody:

“God is jealous.” Nahum 1:2

Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did He choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did He buy you with His own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that He would not stop in heaven without you; He would sooner die than you should perish, and He cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and Himself.

He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon Him, He is glad, but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend—worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own, He is displeased, and will chasten us that He may bring us to Himself.

He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide in Him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with Him, this is grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in Him, and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the trials which He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon Himself.

Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that He will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our enemies.

Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!

I pray daily to God to help me be where he wants me to be irrespective of what is happening around me and am sure that should be your earnest desire to be useful to your creator come what may (Gal 2:20, 2 Cor 9:15, Ps 40:8).

The message is not only those for those that are called to higher calling as some may tag it, it is for every believer. Do your bits where you are, we mustn’t wait to experience His angry like Jonah before we respond to His call to service for He bid us to be separate from the world

“Be ye separate.” 2Corinthians 6:17

The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life. To him, “to live,” should be “Christ.” Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does, he should do all to God’s glory. You may lay up treasure; but lay it up in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves break not through nor steal.

You may strive to be rich; but be it your ambition to be “rich in faith,” and good works. You may have pleasure; but when you are merry, sing psalms and make melody in your hearts to the Lord. In your spirit, as well as in your aim, you should differ from the world. Waiting humbly before God, always conscious of His presence, delighting in communion with Him, and seeking to know His will, you will prove that you are of heavenly race.

And you should be separate from the world in your actions. If a thing be right, though you lose by it, it must be done; if it be wrong, though you would gain by it, you must scorn the sin for your Master’s sake. You must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Walk worthy of your high calling and dignity.

Remember, O Christian, that thou art a son of the King of kings. Therefore, keep thyself unspotted from the world. Soil not the fingers which are soon to sweep celestial strings; let not these eyes become the windows of lust which are soon to see the King in His beauty—let not those feet be defiled in miry places, which are soon to walk the golden streets—let not those hearts be filled with pride and bitterness which are ere long to be filled with heaven, and to overflow with ecstatic joy.

 

Then rise my soul! and soar away,

Above the thoughtless crowd;

Above the pleasures of the gay,

And splendours of the proud;

 

Up where eternal beauties bloom,

And pleasures all divine;

Where wealth, that never can consume,

And endless glories shine.

Hope someone is singing this song along with me. Beloved, whether you like it or not this place is not your abode, the only reason why you must be busy working is to occupy till He comes, so don’t be too carried away. The big question is, are you heaven bound?

Think about it, take your spiritual thermometer and conduct a routine checkup, what is the result like? Good, Poor, Not good enough, Danger? Run for your dear life before it is too late.

See you again next week by His grace.

 

Remain blessed in the Lord.

Evang Ifeoma Ohondu 

the sun newspaper today

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IFEOMA OHONDU is the founder of the MattersoftheHeart foundation, a platform where issues affecting our everyday life are discussed and where necessary proffer solution. She is part of the end time army, who will not break their rank to fulfill the urgent call of God upon her life by declaring His word to the helpless, the doubting, the comfortless and the dying world. The world will experience great restoration and healing in the Word of God through her ministration. She is a voice to emphasize key spiritual truth about Faith, Healing and Encouragement.