A People for His Name

“Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.” (Acts 15:14)

It is scarcely possible to overemphasize the centrality of the name of God, that is, the fame of God, in motivating the mission of the church. 

When Peter had his world turned upside down by the vision of unclean animals in Acts 10, and by the lesson from God that he should evangelize Gentiles as well as Jews, he came back to Jerusalem and told the apostles that it was all owing to God’s zeal for his name. We know this because James summed up Peter’s speech like this: “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name” (Acts 15:13–14).

It’s not surprising that Peter would say that God’s purpose was to gather a people for his name; because the Lord Jesus had stung Peter some years earlier with an unforgettable lesson. 

You recall that, after a rich young man turned away from Jesus and refused to follow him, Peter said to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you [unlike this rich fellow]. What then will we have?” (Matthew 19:27). Jesus responded with a mild rebuke, which in effect said that there is no ultimate sacrifice when you live for the name of the Son of Man. He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).

The truth is plain: God is pursuing with omnipotent delight a worldwide purpose of gathering a people for his name from every tribe and language and nation (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the fame of his name among the nations.

Therefore, when we bring our affections in line with his, and, for the sake of his name, renounce the quest for our own worldly fame and comforts, and join his global purpose, God’s omnipotent commitment to his name flies like a banner before us, and we cannot lose, even if we must walk through many tribulations (Acts 14:22; Romans 8:35–39).

What It Means to Love God

What It Means to Love God

O God, you are my God; 

earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)

Only God will satisfy a heart like David’s. And David was a man after God’s own heart. That’s the way we were created to be.

This is the essence of what it means to love God: to be satisfied in him. In him — not just his gifts, but God himself, as the glorious person that he is! 

Loving God will include obeying all his commands; it will include believing all his word; it will include thanking him for all his gifts. But all that is overflow. The essence of loving God is admiring and enjoying all he is. And it is this enjoyment of God that makes all of our other responses truly glorifying to him.

We all know this intuitively as well as from Scripture. Do we feel most honored by the love of those who serve us from the constraints of duty, or from the delights of fellowship? 

My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.

None of us has arrived at perfect satisfaction in God. I grieve often over the murmuring of my heart when I lose some earthly comfort or convenience. But I have tasted that the Lord is good. By God’s grace I now know the fountain of everlasting joy. 

And so I love to spend my days luring people into joy until they say with me, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

GOD’S GRACE ELIMINATES WORRY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY MAY 9, 2021.

SUBJECT: GOD’S GRACE ELIMINATES WORRY!

Memory verse: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8 vs 32.)

READ: Matthew 6 vs 31 - 33: 

6:31: Therefore do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 

6:32: For all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 

6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

INTIMATION:

Understanding the concept of God’s grace eliminates worry in the life of every believer. It helps us comprehend God’s love nature—His willingness to give us everything we need to live for Him. God created the world—you and I and everything therein—for His predetermined purposes. His love nature makes Him give grace (unmerited favor, blessing) to the humble; those who adhere to, trust in, and rely on Him, and not on their own ability, schemes and devises, or even on their own great wisdom, knowledge and faith to achieve His purposes. 

The grace to have anything only comes from God, and we can only receive what He pleases according to His purposes for us in this world. The Scripture says, “...A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3 vs 27). And He will not withhold anything that you need to live for Him according to His predetermined purposes for you.

God’s plan stands forever! All inconsistencies we experience in this life is due to our being outside the plan of God (Owner of the universe which He created for His purposes). God is in control of all things and every circumstances in this world. Such knowledge of Him eliminates worry, knowing that we are nothing and can do nothing outside of Him. 

All our needs are already known to God (Matthew 6 vs 32), hence His counsel to us not to worry. The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life. And you can have all you need by His grace when you delight in Him. It’s only in delighting in the Lord that the desires of your heart is granted to you (Psalm 37 vs 4). “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84 vs 11). 

To delight yourself in the Lord starts with humbling yourself under His mighty hand. When you humble yourself before God, you will never worry about anything, but rather ask the Lord for what you need and then wait on Him to provide it as He sees fit by His grace, knowing that His timing is always perfect. It means to be still and know that He is God, and that He knows what is best for you in every situation of life. It means to stop trying to make things happen yourself, but rather allow the Lord to show you what you need to do to co-operate with His plan and purpose for you.

Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life, and this is pride. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need and lay them at the feet of our Messiah, knowing that He gives grace to the humble (First Peter 5 vs 5). Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight of those struggles. And letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. 

The person who really understands the grace of God will not worry. Why? Because worry is a work of the flesh. It is trying to figure out what to do to save oneself rather than trusting in God for deliverance. The individual who is living in constant worry is not receiving the fullness of God's grace, because just as perfect love casts out fear (First John 4 vs 18), so God's grace expels all traces of worry and anxiety. Walk in the grace of the Lord and you will not fulfill the work of the flesh.

Many think that they are not qualified for God’s grace because of their wrongdoing. It is noteworthy that we display lack of knowledge of God when we think of everything we did wrong and figure that it automatically disqualifies us for any of God's blessings. And it is under this weight of lack of knowledge that we are destroyed (Hosea 4 vs 6). If God could bless only perfect people, then He could never bless anyone, because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3 vs 23.) Consequently, none of us supposedly deserves any good thing from the Lord. 

But this fact did not keep us from receiving His glorious salvation when we turn back to Him, why then should it keep us from receiving His manifold blessings? If He didn't spare or withhold [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things? (Romans 8 vs 32 AMP.) to enable us live for Him. Turn to Him, no matter your past, and He will the grace (unmerited favor) to live for Him.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is to walk in Your grace all the days of my life, eliminating worry, and trusting completely in You. Give me the grace to live everyday for You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

Pleased with His Precepts!

  Pleased with His Precepts

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:3–5) 

What is plain in these verses is that being born again — being born of God — turns the commandments of God from being burdensome to being our delight. How does that work?

How does being born of God make the commandments of God a delight rather than a burden? 

The apostle John says, “This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4). In other words, the way that being born of God overcomes the worldly burdensomeness of God’s commandments is by begetting faith. This is confirmed in 1 John 5:1, which says, literally, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” 

Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not cause ourselves to be born again by deciding to believe. God creates our willingness to believe by causing us to be born again. As Peter said in his first letter, God “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). Our living hope, or faith in future grace, is the work of God through new birth. 

So, when John says, “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world,” and then adds, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith” (1 John 5:4), I take him to mean that God enables us, by the new birth, to overcome the world — that is, to overcome our worldly disinclination to keep God’s commandments. The new birth does this by creating faith, which evidently includes a disposition to be pleased by God’s commandments, rather than put off by God’s commandments, so that they feel burdensome.

Therefore, it is faith that overcomes our inborn hostility to God and his will, and frees us to keep his commandments and to say with the psalmist, “I delight to do your will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8).

LIVING BY THE WORD OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY MAY 8, 2021.

SUBJECT: LIVING BY THE WORD OF GOD!

Memory verse: “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’" (Matthew 4 vs 4.)

READ: Deuteronomy 8 vs 1 - 3:

8:1: “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers.

8:2: And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

8:3: So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

INTIMATION: 

Living by the word of God is living the good and real life. The word comes in form of “Logos” and “Rhema.” Logos is the written word of God; the saying or statement by God the Father, and God the Son—Jesus Christ. It is a message from the Lord, delivered with His authority and made effective by His power. 

Rhema denotes that which is spoken, what is uttered in speech or writing. It’s the word of the Lord which is spoken in faith by the believer. The significance of rhema (as distinct from logos) is exemplified in the injunction to take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6 vs 17). Here the reference is not to the whole Bible as such, but to the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need. The prerequisite is the regular storing of Scriptures in one’s mind.

The will of God is embedded in His word, and strict obedience and commitment to the word of God is key to living the good and real life. And your commitment and trust (believe and faith) in God is expressed by your bold declaration of His word. The  Bold declaration of His word in faith engenders a life of total triumph; a good and real life in Him.

Many people think that a good life is based on satisfying their appetites. If they can earn enough money to dress, eat, have the pleasures of life, play in high style, acquire as much possessions as possible, they think they are living “the good life.” But such things do not satisfy our deepest longings—knowing your real purpose in life. In the end they leave us empty and dissatisfied. Real life comes from total commitment to God and living by every word that comes from Him. 

God, your Creator, created you for the purpose(s) known to Him alone. Just as a manufacturer manufactures a product with specific purpose(s) it should serve. The manufacturer attaches a manual for the use of the product. Any user of the product refers to the manual to ensure adequate and proper use. God has given us His manual—the Bible—for our proper and adequate service according to His purposes(s) for us. Anything outside His precepts, leads to a dead end in living “the good life” purposed for us:

“The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand: For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back” (Isaiah 14 vs 24 & 27).

Anything outside God’s purpose(s) is voided and cannot stand. Therefore, you cannot live a good and real life outside of His Will and purpose. Certainly not! In Ephesians 1 vs 11, the Scripture says, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” God is sovereign and in control of all things. He works all things in us according the counsel of His will.

How can we live by His word? (1) Recognize our need for it. (2) Agree that God alone can truly satisfy us. (3) Pray for God’s presence, wisdom, and direction as we read the Scriptures. (4) Savor the relationship you have with Him through Christ. (5) Practice what He teaches you.

Living the real life requires our obedience to God’s commandments. We obey God with our heart; by loving Him more than any relationship, activity, achievement, or possession, with our will; by committing ourselves completely to Him, with our mind; by seeking to know Him and His word, so His principles and values form the foundation of all we think and do, with our body; by recognizing that our strengths, talents, and sexuality are given to us by God to be used for pleasure and fulfillment according to His rules, not ours, with our finances; by deciding that all of the resources we have ultimately come from God, and that we are to be managers of them and not owners, and with our future; by deciding to make service to God and man the main purpose of our life’s work.

The Scripture says, “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him” (Job 23 vs 13 - 14). God has in His books all that are appointed for each and everyone of us, and performs them accordingly. Anything outside of those appointments leads to a life of struggles, and outside His will and purpose for you. That certainly is not a good and real life!

Prayer: Abba Father, show me the path of life appointed for me, and lead me by Your Spirit to walk in them that I may live a good life pleasing to You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Don’t Serve God!

 Don’t Serve God

“The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a “help wanted” sign. Neither is the call to Christian service. 

God is not looking for people to work for him. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). He’s the great worker. He’s the one with broad, burden-bearing shoulders. He’s the strong one. And he is looking for ways to show it. This is what differentiates God from the so-called gods of the world: he works for us. Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you [in other words this is his uniqueness], who acts for those who wait for him.”

What does God want from us? Not what we might expect. He rebukes Israel for bringing him so many sacrifices: “I will not accept a bull from your house. . . . For every beast of the forest is mine. . . . ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine’” (Psalm 50:9–10, 12).

But isn’t there something we can give to God that won’t belittle him to the status of beneficiary? 

Yes. Our anxieties. Our needs. Our cries for power to do his will.

It’s a command: “[Cast] all your anxieties on him” (1 Peter 5:7). God will gladly receive anything from us that shows our dependence and his all-sufficiency.

Christianity is fundamentally convalescence. Patients do not serve their physicians. They trust them for good prescriptions and therapy. The Sermon on the Mount is our Doctor’s therapeutic regimen, not our Employer’s job description.

Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. Their wage. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work for it. God is the workman in this affair. And what he gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service.

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S FAVOR!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY MAY 07, 2021.

SUBJECT: UNDERSTANDING GOD’S FAVOR!

Memory verse: “And having come in, the angel says to her, ‘Rejoice highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women." (Luke 1 vs 28.)

READ: First Samuel 2 vs 26; Luke vs 40 & 52:

First Samuel 2:26: And the child Samuel grew in stature, and in favor both with the Lord and men.

Luke 2:40: And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon Him.

2:52: And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

INTIMATION: 

Favor is described as kindness; approval, friendly regard from a superior. Favor is, objectively, the grace in a person. When the Favor is of God, it is known as divine or supernatural favor—the grace or power from God in a person that enables him act graciously or favorably. And grace is described as unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor; the power that comes from God through the Holy Spirit indwelling us to help a person overcome all life’s challenges, and to meet every of our needs. 

The word “grace” and the word “favor” are both translated from the same Greek word “charis.” So, the grace of God is the favor of God. And favor of God is the grace of God—that which causes things to happen in our life that need to happen through the channel of our faith. It is the power of the Holy Spirit we receive to change us and to change our circumstances. One of the twenty-five names of the Holy Spirit found in the Bible is "the Spirit of grace." It is by God's Spirit of grace that we find favor with God and with man.

To be favored is to be featured—you attract a special attention or presented prominently; the Lord shining His light upon you, all to His glory. Although that light is real, it is usually invisible to the human eyes. Most of the time people don't even know why they look upon you with favor. They don't know why they like you, accept you, trust you, approve of you, enjoy being around you, prefer you over others. They just do, because God shines His light of grace upon you and gives you favor. If we keep our attitude right; giving God the glory, instead of becoming haughty and proud, then He will continue to pour out His favor upon us and treat us like His favorite.

Being featured, in my considered opinion, is not pride when the favored or featured position comes from God, not from our own personal ambitions or our own selfish efforts to call attention to ourselves. In all honesty, I find it very delightful to be featured by God. I like to see God move on my behalf, and I think everyone feels the same way. I must admit that it is fun to watch God single out someone for special attention and preferential treatment, especially in the presence of others. 

For example, have you ever found yourself standing in a long queue and worried about when to take your turn? Have you ever prayed for God to help you get through quicker? In April, 2009, I and my whole family (seven of us) went for visas interview at American embassy in Lagos. That morning, before leaving the hotel, we asked God for favor. At the embassy, we were on the line for barely five minutes when one of the security officials of the embassy worked up to my last daughter and child, and asked her to come to the front with the rest of us that came with her. In less than twenty minutes we were in the interview hall. While standing before the white lady interviewing us, the lady had her whole attention on the children and after granting us visas on virgin passports for a family of seven, she advised the children to keep the visas to enable them go to America for further studies in feature. 

If this kind of thing happens to you, you have been receiving God's favor, perhaps without even being aware of it. Just think how much more it will happen when you know to ask for it. And all there is left for you to do is say, "Thank You Lord."

It is always enjoyable to have favor from God. It just seems that it doesn't happen as often as we would like. Part of the problem is us. There are so many things that God would love to do for us, but He cannot because we won't ask. One reason we won't ask is because we don't feel worthy. We don't have nearly as much fun with the Lord as we should. We should have more freedom and liberty, and less fear and legalism. The only time we will go to God and ask for special favor is when we are absolutely desperate, when we have gotten ourselves into a situation that we cannot possibly handle on our own.

The Lord wants to be personally involved in our lives. He wants to be involved with us in the gas station queue, He wants to be involved with us in the grocery store checkout line. He wants to be involved with us when we get caught in a traffic jam and can't move and so on. God is interested and wants to get involved in everything about us. God wants to give us supernatural favor because it provokes genuine praise and thanksgiving which is very delightful to God because it is the only thing He can't do for Himself.

Prayer: Abba Father, my utmost heart desire is that Your Spirit of grace rest upon me always, that I may continually obtain Your favor in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!