Father may You reign, (may You reign, may You reign) may You reign. Yesterday You reign, You regineth in my life, today come and reign and reign for ever more 2x.// Who is like unto Thee O! Lord, who is like unto Thee O Lord, among the gods, who is like Thee, You are glorious in Holiness, fearful in praising, doing wonders Alleluia.
Indeed Father, may You reign continual in my life all the days of my life in the Name of Jesus, Thank You for Your exceeding greatest over all that You have made, though You abide with us but You are still above all (God’s transcendental nature), we bow before the Throne to worship You. Father, Thank You for loving us, Lord, we Thank You.
Beloved, please join me to as we sign this song together, “I don’t know about You, Favour is my name, I don’t know about you, Favor is my name.” Beloved did you sing along me? Looks like I want to change my name to favour. Why do I want to do that? Because in God’s favour, there is life (Ps 30:5).
Is good for one to come alive, not just existing but living your life full of vitality and energy (strength) from above. Someone praise the Lord.
Is Friday and am so excited, are happy as well? The Lord is Mighty dear beloved. He is so Mighty that nothing, person can with stand His great appearing. So relax in His presence and see God manifest His power over your challenges. Will you let Him have His way?
I do hope you have full understanding of what am talking about? Beloved, if you settling for the will of God to be done in your life, you must also give up control. You must let Him be in-charge for things to be done properly and expediently too.
All these the Spirit of God will enable you if you are walking with theme of the month. You will learn at His feet, if you will allow the Holy Spirit to wear on this virtue of patience on you.
Beloveth there is so much in the Lord that any book can contain and any writer may write but if we humble ourselves before the Almighty God, He will help us because He made you and your very purpose here on earth He also know.
Today’s teaching, don’t forget x-ray the practical side of our teaching for the week or a particular lesson. We have a lesson to learn from characters we have in our message today. Please sit down, fasten your seat beat as the flight is taking off now:
Surviving Prosperity
When I met Jerry he was making preparation to become a missionary pilot. But a sad thing happened to him on the way to the mission field: He got rich.
And turned cool spiritually… married a non-Christian… disavowed the faith… and died a premature death.
Why is it so few believers endure the deadening effects of prosperity upon their soul? My guess is that for every ten who survive adversity you will find one who survives prosperity!
Is it any wonder Jesus made the poignant observation that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God“? (Matthew 19:24)
Let me suggest three reasons why prosperity and spirituality rarely go hand-in-hand:
(1) Because wealth often robs us of our sense of dependency upon God:
“When… your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God… You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.‘” (Deuteronomy 8:13, 14, 17)
(2) Because wealth often cools our spiritual fervor by giving us a false sense of well-being:
Of the wealthy Laodicean believers, Jesus observed, “You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!… You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.‘ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:15, 17)
(3) Because wealth usually gives us the option of easy living which is antithetical to Christ’s call to discipleship:
We can effortlessly identify with the musings of the wealthy farmer, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:19)
QUESTION: How are you surviving your prosperity? Is your heart as warmed today toward God as it was in the days when you had little of this world’s material goods and trusted God for your simplest needs?
If you cannot answer that question with an honest “yes,” then there is a pretty good chance that your soul has been seduced by prosperity.
Here comes more interesting lessons to grab from the next message, come let’s ride on:
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said… Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.” Daniel 3:16,18
The narrative of the manly courage and marvellous deliverance of the three holy children, or rather champions, is well calculated to excite in the minds of believers firmness and steadfastness in upholding the truth in the teeth of tyranny and in the very jaws of death.
Let young Christians especially learn from their example, both in matters of faith in religion, and matters of uprightness in business, never to sacrifice their consciences. Lose all rather than lose your integrity, and when all else is gone, still hold fast a clear conscience as the rarest jewel which can adorn the bosom of a mortal. Be not guided by the will-o’-the-wisp of policy, but by the pole-star of divine authority.
Follow the right at all hazards. When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honour to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle. See whether He will be your debtor! See if He doth not even in this life prove His word that “Godliness, with contentment, is great gain,” and that they who “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, shall have all these things added unto them.”
Should it happen that, in the providence of God, you are a loser by conscience, you shall find that if the Lord pays you not back in the silver of earthly prosperity, He will discharge His promise in the gold of spiritual joy. Remember that a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of that which he possesseth.
To wear a guileless spirit, to have a heart void of offence, to have the favour and smile of God, is greater riches than the mines of Ophir could yield, or the traffic of Tyre could win. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and inward contention therewith.” An ounce of heart’s-ease is worth a ton of gold.
Beloved, You have just read why I want to change my name to ‘Favour’. Is better to have the favour and smile of God than have the whole riches that the mines of ophir could possibly yield. Please the Lord.
In the first message, you read how the young man proposed in his heart to serve God but when riches came knocking at his door, he forsake his first love, went after wealth and cave in to idolatrous living and thus end his live sadly.
While the second message is all about standing tall for Jesus come rain; come sun. I mentioned earlier in the week that the problem of our age is that some bible teacher make it look like history stories other than the living Word of God, therefore, their listeners keep imagining in their heart how “I wish I can do the same”.
Yes, you can do just same and better. The three Hebrew boys stood tall for their God. You can also do the same today. Stop bending rules or corner, stop lying and quarreling. There is so much we can do if we hold on to the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus than our self-righteousness. When the wind or storms of life will come against it, you will come clashing down like a pack of cards.
But if you wait upon the Living God and be renewed, you will be amazed at the wonder you become. The Lord will prune and reposition you for good not like the Laodicean believers, though wealthy but wretched. Don’t run after riches rather rely on God and see all those others are dying for becomes yours with honour (Matt 6:32-34). Let us run after righteousness that is in Christ Jesus than standing on our own merit because we have none at all.
I believe this can help our Christian race if we fear the Lord, obey Him and worship Him in all that we do.
We also want to hear from you, beloved, do write back to us through our email address “mattersoftheheart[email protected]. if you are blessed by what God is using us to do. I beg to sign off here, see you next week by the special grace of God.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
