Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing…Ezra 1:1 REFERENCE Ezra 1:1-6 "That the word of The Lord might be fulfilled..." - It is remarkable to see here that God will control political events, and as a matter of fact, all of human events just to ensure that His Word (and prophetic declaration) in the mouths of His servants gets fulfilled. God declares in...

But the Philistines took him (Samson), and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Judges 16:21 REFERENCE Judges 16:4-31 Samson's name means the sun. The account of his life indeed reflects the rising and setting of the Sun. He began like the sun, rising from an obscure family, shinning in full strength as a hero, and on the last day of his life, as the sun set, it shot forth one strong ray as he pushed the pillars in the Philistine temple. After...

So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” Judges 16:6 REFERENCE Judges 16:1-17 Today, we see Samson, a man with a great purpose, great power and great passion, tethering on the edge of sin, fighting his greatest battle of all against temptation. It is said, “New levels, new devils;” the higher a man is in life, the more prone he is to falling. Hence, great men must exercise great care. “Pirates look for ‘loaded’ vessels,” same with the devil; his target victims are those loaded with...

Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” Judges 14:3 REFERENCE Judges 14:1-3 A passionate person is one who has intense feelings about something or a strong belief in something. Such a person can be described as being ‘full of enthusiasm.’ One thing I have noticed about passion is that it is universal – passionate people often display passion in more than one...

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. Judges 14:19 REFERENCE Judges 14:1-19 Samson was a man greatly anointed with the Spirit of might; he could do unimaginable things with his strength. In today’s account, he tore a lion apart with his bare hands, and he killed 30 men just to give their apparels to those who solved his riddle. At other instances, he caught 300 foxes in one day,...

For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:5 REFERENCE Judges 13:1-14 Wow! What outstanding announcement concerning a person’s destiny! Even before his birth, Samson’s purpose was revealed by God through His Angel to his parents; he was to be a Nazarite – ‘separated’ unto God. This meant that he was going to be uniquely different from those around him; he would stand out and be separate...

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:3 REFERENCE Matthew 18:1-5 Do you remember when you were a child? The hopes, the dreams, the innocence, and the living in a world of possibilities? You believed you could be anything and have anything; you were freely forgiving and easily trusting. Your father was your hero (or any adult that occupied that position) and you dreamed of days you would ‘spread your wings and fly.’ Unfortunately, however, many of us lost that glow and prospects...

Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.  I Corinthians 4:2 REFERENCE I Corinthians 4:2&7 A steward is someone employed to manage the property of another person. Every true believer must know that all He has belongs to God and he has only been given those things to manage. C.S. Lewis said in Meer Christianity, “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was...

For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed… Philippians 1:19-20 REFERENCE Philippians 1:19-20 Paul shows us the secret of his joy in prison as he wrote the book of Philippians with many exhortations to be joyful and thankful. That secret is seen in our text – He had an ‘earnest expectation.’ He knew things would turn around in his favor, that things won’t always be the same, and that what he was going...

…Until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ. Revelation 11:15 REFERENCE Revelation 11:15 In this series, we have seen that if Christians do not rise to the top of the seven mountains of influence in this world, we may never rise to the level where we will be able to solve socioeconomic problems on a global scale. Christians have largely abandoned six out of these seven mountains to the unbelievers while playing church in their buildings. Sadly, this has resulted in corruption, decadence, crime, wickedness, illiteracy, etc. God’s Kingdom is relevant to...