May He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice. - Psalm 20:3 REFERENCE Psalm 20:1-5 One of the Hebrew names of God is ‘Jehovah G’molah’ – the God of recompense and reward. He doesn’t forget like man does (Isaiah 49:15). He is the administrator of seed time, harvest and due season. He makes sure every seed sown bears an appropriate and befitting harvest. He does not only reward financially; He will also reward your decision to serve Him, just like He rewarded Daniel’s decision not to defile himself, and Moses’ decision to forsake the pleasures of...
For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement) -Acts 4:36b (NLT) REFERENCE Acts 4: 32-37; 9:26-28 & 11:22-26 How does it feel to get an award or to be rewarded for something you have done well? How does it feel to be recognized for every effort you put into doing the right thing? How will you feel if every day, everybody around you said good things to you? Today, we live in a world where everybody tends to be harsh; finances are hard, everybody seems so stressed up and they...
For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again! – I Kings 17:14 (NLT) REFERENCE I Kings 17: 8-16. Faith is the ability to take risks, based on God’s Word, being fully convinced that the outcome is positive, even when the facts don’t say so. It is taking a bet on God’s ability to make the impossible possible, the invisible visible, etc. Despite the fact that all that this widow had...
Which having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. – Proverbs 6:7-8 REFERENCE Proverbs 6:6-11 Ants are endowed with relentlessness, – the ability to keep going despite the odds. Ants do not have overseers and captains but they are self-starters, self-disciplined, self-motivated and they get done what needs to be done. One of the most damaging traits that subverts and impedes the progress of people is dependency on others; it is a major problem when you can’t do what needs to be done without supervision. We live...
Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, BUT he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. – Judges 11:1 REFERENCE Judges 11:1-11 Jephthah had a dysfunctional family. He was the son of a harlot which wasn’t his own doing, however, that put a ‘BUT’ in his life. His brothers rejected him and forced him out of his inheritance in their father’s house. Perhaps, angry and bitter, he set out to look for love, acceptance and significance. Jephthah left home and joined a gang of worthless men, who led a freebooting lifestyle. There,...
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ~ Psalm 23:1 REFERENCE Psalm 23:1-6 David, being a shepherd himself, understood what it meant to take care of sheep. He used the shepherd/sheep illustration to tell of God’s goodness to us in this Psalm. Important truths to note about this psalm: 1. God is concerned about your well being and wants to be Jehovah JIREH (Provider) to you. He does not want you to suffer any lack; He seeks your satisfaction. 2. God is a Good Shepherd who does not want you running around in life without achieving...
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, 'He told me all that I ever did.' - John 4:39 REFERENCE John 4:5-30,39 Today’s passage introduces us to a woman who may have been suffering from low self esteem, rejection, and shame. She has not had very good experiences in her relationships with the opposite sex. The fact that she went to the well in the hot oriental afternoon (when most people reclined in the shade of their homes), lends credence to the theory that she was avoiding...
But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 'Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.' - Acts 5:19-20 REFERENCE Acts 5:12-21 Sometimes, when we pray, expecting God to bring us out of a bad situation or a tight place, our motives for those prayers don’t particularly honor God, and we know God will not answer selfish prayers that do not bring glory to Him (James 4:3). The reason God brings us out of every imprisonment or a bad situation...
But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40:31 REFERENCE Isaiah 40:28-31 Most times, when we pray and see immediate results, we testify and glorify God. But when we have to wait for results, we become frazzled. Waiting can be perplexing and can get you to a place of discouragement. However, waiting is part of life, so we have to learn the art of it. The word ‘wait’ in our text is...
Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry. Nehemiah 4:7 REFERENCE Nehemiah 4:1-9 Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to help rebuild her waste places and to restore her former glory, at a time when the children of Israel had only returned from their captivity in Babylon. But the enemy (devil), using two human agents, fought tooth and nail to try and stop the work, because he is an enemy of progress who...