THE POWER OF CHOICE (1)

“...choose today whom you will serve... But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.”(Joshua 24:15 NLT)

One of the most beautiful gifts of God to us is the ability to make personal choices.  To be truly free as humans, must involve the power to choose what we like and what we don’t like. Through the power of choice, we become to a very large measure the architects of our destinies. Our power of choice is so extensive in its scope that we even have the power to choose or to reject God. Joshua challenged the people of Israel saying, “But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15 NLT). The people had the choice to serve God or the idol-gods of the ungodly people around them.  However, Joshua and his family had chosen to serve the God of their fathers –Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  At a time when the people of God were neck-deep into apostasy, Elijah called them together on Mount Carmel and challenged them to exercise their power of choice. “Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent” (1 Kings 18:21 NLT). As it was then so it seems to be now.  Several people in church are neither for God nor against Him. They are not wholeheartedly devoted to Him and to His church.  Are you likely to be in the category of those who are “hobbling between two opinions?”   

The choices you make define your character and your character reflect in your choices. When you choose to serve God, it will show in your attitudes, in your commitments and in your relationships. Choose God this day and walk with Him every day of this year.  Choosing God may not mean easy life, but it will always mean good life. It may not mean problem free life, but it will always mean grace-filled life. It may not mean temptation-proof life, but it will always mean victorious living.  Choice is an act of faith. Moses modelled how we can appropriate faith in choosing God. “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26 NKJV). When Moses realised that he indeed had a choice and did not have to be what he had been conditioned to be or bear the false identity he was brought up to bear, he invoked the power of choice and opted for God. In his case, choosing God meant forfeiting the privileges of being the heir-apparent to the throne of Egypt, but it did not matter to him. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. In other words, he placed greater value on Christ than on the economic, social and political benefits his former false identity guaranteed for him. Imagine for a moment that Moses had chosen to remain an Egyptian; his life’s trajectory would have been totally different. Through the power of choice, he became the architect of his destiny. He was able to make such great and wonderful choices because he looked forward to the reward of seeing God in heaven for all eternity. Choose heaven instead of hell! Making heaven must be the overarching purpose for all your choices. 

Life in this would demand that we make bold and clear choices like Moses and Joshua. We must choose God, cost what it may and stand by that choice every moment of our life. We must choose to serve God in fellowship with other believers as we wholeheartedly participate in the life and activities of the church. We must choose to encourage others to embrace Christ and serve Him with all their heart, mind, and strength. We must choose to honour God with our lives and substance so that our King will suffer no loss.  We must choose God instead Satan, life instead of death, and blessings instead of curses as we together pray with one accord –Thy Kingdom Come, oh God!

NAMING YOUR YEAR

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 1:19 KJV)

Naming is a common human phenomenon and a prominent part of biblical narrative. The naming ceremonies of newly born children are usually joyful and prayerful occasions.  In the creation story, God delegated the responsibility of naming all the animals to Adam. “And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.”  Some scholars believe that it was through the power conferred by God on Adam to name the animals in Eden that human beings gained dominion over them. The power of naming confers identity to what or who is named and sometimes describe their characters. Here are a few examples. After Jacob deceived Isaac to collect the blessing of the first born, Esau commented about Jacob, “And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and now look, he has taken away my blessing!”... (Genesis 27:36 NKJV). Abigail said of her husband, “...For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him!...” (1 Samuel 25:25 NKJV).  When Jacob was returning to the Promised Land from Laban, he wrestled with an Angel all night and demanded a blessing before he could let the Angel go. The Angelic blessing included the change of Jacob’s name.  “So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:27-28 NKJV). A name confers identity, describes character, and communicates destiny.

The Igbo has a proverb, which says that one is like the name he bears. Francis Bacon was credited to have popularised the saying, “... there is power in naming things.”  A popular Chinese proverbs holds that “the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” What cannot be identified by a name is deemed not to exist. Hence, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and commissioned him to go and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses asked for God’s name.  “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13 -14 NKJV).

Human beings do not only name things and people. We name ideas and projects.  Something becomes real the moment you give it a name.  A book takes a clearer shape in your mind the moment you give it a title because naming clarifies your thinking and concretises an idea.  It came to me this morning while in prayer that I should name my year.  Here then is a question for you: if God gives you, the right to name this year and that whatever name you give to it will translate into your actual experience, what would you call it? This is a serious business going by what we have just learnt about the power of names. The name you give the year should capture your greatest expectations of the year.  Here are some of the questions that will help you get a good name for your year. What do you want this year to bring to you?  What would give you the greatest joy and fulfilment if it happens in your life this year?  How would you like to be described by the end of this year? In choosing a name to give the year, look for a word or phrase that paints the clearest picture in your mind of what you desire.

How would you name 2015? The name you give to the year will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Remember that, “whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 1:19 KJV). Let the name you give to the year be meaningful to you and let it be the rallying point of your expectation this year. Prayerfully present it to God and make choices this year that have direct bearing to what you named the year.  I commend you to God’s care and leading this year in Jesus Name. 

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (7)

“And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth” (Revelations 14:2-3 NKJV).

The Christian life is always to be lived in view of God’s glory. Every pursuit in this present life must be with the glory of God in view. Getting one’s eyes off the glory of God heads one towards an avoidable perdition.  If you doubt this, ask Demas who loved the things of this present world more than Christ and thus forfeited the glory (2 Timothy 4:10).  Irrespective of whatever glory one gets out of this life, if the person misses out on actualising the fullness of God’s glory in eternity, the person’s loss is colossal. Central to our quest to experiencing the glory of God is worship.  Worship is an adoring relationship with God in deep appreciation of who He and for what He does. It is setting our attention on God and on heavenly realities more than on earthly ones. In worship, we celebrate and contemplate the excellencies of God. The immediate reward is a download of the peace of God that is beyond human understanding. The Prophet Isaiah said, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3 NLT).  Fixing our thoughts on God is the core component of pure worship. Whatever or whoever is primary in your thoughts is the thing or person you worship. You cannot ravish your thoughts on worldly things all week and quickly switch on the worship button on Sunday morning.  To worship God properly, He must be at the centre of our thoughts all the time. We must constantly pull our thoughts back to Him from time to time all through the day. Singing with all your might while your thought is on something else other than God is not worship.

True worship draws us close to the heart of God and positions us to commune with Him. There is hardly any other way to get quickly to the heart of God than to approach Him with pure worship.  The process of true worship would include, reflective bible reading, prayers and singing –either short choruses or hymns. The singing may be in a known language and sometimes in the Holy Spirit inspired supernatural language.  Paul declared, “...I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:14 NKJV). It is beautiful and very spiritually nourishing to sing and worship God in the spirit. Glory descends in a worship session when one receives a new song from the Lord.

A new song is not the latest song you just learnt. It does not originate from the human mind but from the Spirit of God.  Often, it is the song the Angels and heavenly beings are worshipping God with which the Holy Spirit decides to share with the worshipping believer or congregation. When you receive a new song, stay on it as long as the Holy Spirit stays on it.  The hundred and forty-four thousand saints redeemed from the twelve tribes of Israel sang such a new song to the Lord to celebrate their redemption.  “They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.”   This is a special song, which nobody else could learn except the one hundred and forty-four thousand.  Glory always comes with a coming of a new song from God. We must learn to stay long enough in worship until the glory comes. When we sense the glory has come, we must keep singing the new song until the Holy Spirit signals the satisfaction of our Father.

This quality of worship calls for creating special time for God inspite of our crowded program. God desires to bring us into special experience with His glory. Our Lord declared, “The same glory you gave me, I gave them...” (John 17:22 The Message). Worship is indispensable in every human attempt to cultivate and enjoy the glory of God –His weighty Presence in and around His Children.  May the Lord help you to press into this life-changing encounter in Jesus name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (6)

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelations 5:9-10 NKJV)

One key feature of worship in heaven is its spontaneity. Heavenly beings are God-watchers. They have their attention focused on Him and any action of His resonates in spontaneous praise and worship. Cultivating your spirit until it easily worships God in spontaneous songs is one good way of experiencing the glory of heaven. The word “spontaneous” is defined as “coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation, natural and unconstrained, unplanned.” Spontaneous worship results from supernatural impulse without effort or premeditation. As a matter of fact, spontaneous worship is the worshipper’s response to the stimulus of the Holy Spirit. Many of the songs, and to some extent, the hymns we sing came originally to the composers as a spontaneous praise and worship. 

Spontaneous worship happens when we observe what God is doing or has done and respond in joyful praise to what we observe.  For example, when God divided the sea for the children of Israel who were fleeing from Egypt to cross on dry land, and then collapsed the water to drown the Egyptian army, the children of Israel burst out in spontaneous praise.  “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!  The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” (Exodus 15:1 NKJV). They did not know this song before the incident of crossing the sea.  It was a spontaneous response to what God has just done to deliver them from the hand of their enemies. The works of God in our lives are likewise meant to elicit spontaneous songs of praise and worship from us.  This was one key way heavenly beings worshipped God. Most of the psalms of David were spontaneous songs sang unpremeditatedly to celebrate the present wonders of God in His life.

When the four living creatures and twenty-four elders observed the gallantry of the Eternal Lamb of God as He stepped forward to take the scroll from the Hand of the Father and to open its seven seals, having triumphed over the enemies of God, they burst into spontaneous song to worship the Lamb. “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelations 5:8-10 NKJV). This song was birthed at that moment to celebrate the gallantry of our Lord. Hence, the Bible said, “they sang a new song.”

God is doing so much in your life; but are you raising new songs to Him?  Every experience of blessing from God should be celebrated with a new song. New songs express our original and heartfelt appreciation to God for His present blessings in our lives. New songs declare new seasons of God’s favour in our lives and position us to live under the cloud of that favour. What great opportunities we have wasted in not celebrating God’s favours with new songs as the Spirit of God spurs us at any given moment! The beauty of new songs is that they are melodious to God even when they is not to human beings. Provided they are flowing from the Holy Spirit through your spirit to the heart of the Father, they are welcome in the court of heaven. “He has put a new song in my mouth...,” declares the Psalmist. (Psalm 40:3 NKJV). Sing God new songs every day as they come to you in your quiet moments as you soak in the glory of His Presence. Every day dawns with new opportunities to sing new songs to God. Let us make the most of those opportunities and His glory will ever enshroud us in Jesus name.    

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (5)

“The voice said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.’ And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it” (Revelation 4:1-2 NLT)

God want to take us on an excursion in the realm of the spirit.  When John heard the invitation from God to come up to heaven for deeper revelations, he accepted the invitation and instantly he was in the spirit. What does it mean to be in the spirit? Well am sure I know what the Bible means by that but we can attempt an explanation from other incidences in the Word of God. Paul spoke of similar experience in 2 Corinthians 12:1-3.

This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. ²I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. ³Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know ⁴that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.”

To “be in the spirit” could be to be brought into “visions and revelations from the Lord.”  The Lord may open His deep mysteries to a believer to enable the person see and experience His eternal goodness and wisdom. At such times, He grants one special privilege  to see those things which eyes have not seen or those things which no ear has heard of the things He prepared for those who love Him, but which the Holy Spirit has the prerogative to reveal to the believer as He will  (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). Our Lord had earlier promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will lead us into all truth and take from what belongs to Jesus and declare it unto us(John 16:12-15). Such encounters in visions and revelations can be a form of being in the spirit.

Again, to “be in the spirit” could mean and imply being “caught up into the third heaven.”  The third heaven is the physical home of God. It is the tabernacle of His glory and the place of His throne. It is the place where spirit of believers go to after death to be with their Father.  To be “caught up into the third heaven” could be to be taken out of one’s body. Sometimes we have dream experiences that looks like out of the body experiences. You may have seen yourself in a dream doing something while your body is fast asleep. When God summons one’s spirit out of his body into the third heaven, it is called out of the body experience. Paul said that “to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:8 NKJV). This must not be confused with astral travelling which people of the occult indulge in to the detriment of their souls. As astral travelling or soul projection is what one does through soulish power under the influence of satan. Being caught up in the spirit is what God does when He summons any of His children into His Presence when it pleases Him. The person involved did not have to plan for it. It happens unexpectedly as in the case of John.

It is also clear that “to be in the spirit” could be out-of-the-body or in-the-body experience. As we have explained in the out-of-the-body experience, only the human spirit is interacting with heaven. In the in-the-body experience, the fully conscious person is interacting with heaven.  It is more like the person becoming overshadowed with the glory of God in an awake experience, much like what happened on the mount of transfiguration with our Lord and the three apostles, Peter, James and John.

The unique feature of being in the spirit is the full activation of one’s spiritual senses.  John testified, “And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it.”  Therefore, to be in the spirit involves the activation of our spiritual senses so that we can see into the spirit realm and hear the voices of God and of His angels, and sometimes smell the heavenly aroma. John’s spiritual eyes were activated and he saw a throne and One who sat on the throne. This is the level of intimacy God is calling us into.  It will come when make quality time to be with God in prayer and reflective study of the Bible.  May the Holy Spirit inspire you to press in for such an intimacy with our Father in Jesus’ name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (4)

“Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this” (Revelation 4:1 NKJV)

God has so much to reveal to us than we are willing to receive. Sometimes we are too busy to give Him the attention He needs to initiate a revelatory process with us. Moses was totally consumed in his job of tending his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness until one day God was able to arrest his attention. “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 1:2 NKJV). Notice the sequence of events that brought Moses to a destiny-changing encounter with God. First, he looked and saw the burning bush, which aroused his curiosity and birthed a hunger to see more of what God is doing. He could have dismissed the whole incidence at that point like most of us often do.  He would have found the bush burning without being consumed a mere amusing spectacle with no spiritual or divine connotation.  Instead, he considered it a sign and wanted to know what the signification could be. Therefore, he did the second thing that is often critical in processing a revelation from God –he probed further.   “Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn” (Exodus 1:3 NKJV). He turned aside to study the phenomenon –why the bush does not burn even though the fire was raging. What Moses did that doesn’t come easily to us these days was that he set time aside to reflect deeper what God seem to be doing around him.  This seems to be all that God was waiting for.

God immediately took advantage of Moses’ attentiveness and began download revelations to him –“So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am. Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’ Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:4-6 NKJV).  Moses was certainly not prepared for this. God likes throwing surprises at us sometimes. Notice that Moses did something that triggered the flow of revelation and positioned him to hear God – “when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look.”  Moses turned away from his business and preoccupations and paid attention to what God was doing around him.  Moses must have thought to himself, my business is truly important to me and should command all my attention, but even more important is checking out on God to see what He had for me.

We see similar incidence in our text. John has been enjoying a series of visitations from God’s Angel who has been speaking to him about God’s assessment of the seven churches in Asia. These were by every means very powerful encounters   but there was more that God had in store for him. God had spoken to John on earth through the Angel, now He wants to bring him to heaven so he could experience deeper intimacy with his Father.  Friends, it does not matter what level of revelation God has given you now about His person and His program, there is always more for us. Notice the same revelatory process as we saw in the case of Moses.  “Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast.”  He looked! Searching always leads to revelation. Many of us are not receiving much from God because we hardly truly seek Him. John sought Him. As He looked for God, he saw a door standing open in heaven. That door does not close. It is always open for those who would seek God. As he gazed at the open door wondering what it meant, he heard a voice inviting him to the Throne Room in heaven. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” What privileges are ours as God’s children that we never enjoy because of ignorance and busyness?  John looked, his eyes were open to see an open door in heaven, and he heard a voice inviting him to step through those open doors to a life-changing, sin-blasting, and God-glorifying encounter with our Father. You are next in line for similar favour and blessing in Jesus’ name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (3)

“...And the glory of children is their father.” (Proverbs 17:6^b NKJV)

The awesome privilege of the fatherhood of God is the glory of the believer in Christ. God could not have loved us better than to adopt us as His children. When the apostle John caught the revelation of this truth he exclaimed with rapturous appreciation –“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!...” (1 John 3:1 NLT).  God is our Father! Our Lord Jesus came to this earth to reveal God as Father to the world of orphans and to restore those who would believe in Him to the family of God. The new birth experience is God’s way of bringing people to share in the glory of His fatherhood. “God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation” (Hebrews 2:10 NLT). God brings people into glory as Jesus brings them into their salvation. When a person believes in Jesus and trusts Him for his or her salvation, that person becomes a member of God’s family. John explains the process of becoming a child of God: “He came into the very world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him. He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him. But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God” (John 1:11-13 NLT). You lay claim to the fatherhood of God by believing in Christ and by accepting His finished work of our salvation at Calvary. 

The experience of glory comes with assurance of God’s fatherhood.  The deeper you become aware that God is your Father, the more of the glory you will experience.  The life of faith is one that is deeply rooted in the knowledge that God is our Father. This assurance of the fatherhood of God is what gives wings to our faith and enables us to approach God with confidence in prayers. Prayer is nothing more than a loving discussion between a child and a Father that loves unconditionally. Our Lord affirming said, “If a child asks his father for a loaf of bread, will he be given a stone instead? If he asks for fish, will he be given a poisonous snake? Of course not! And if you hard-hearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them?” (Matthew 7:9-11 Living Bible). Good fathers are happy to give good gifts to their children. I certainly derive my joy in giving good things to my children than they derive in receiving them.

God, who is our Father, is the most generous and kindest Person there can ever be. Knowing Him and relating to Him as Father is the crowning glory of our being. He said through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV). No human achievement, however lofty, is worthy enough to become the reason for our glory. Our only true reason for glory should be that we know God as Father –“exercising lovingkindenss, judgement and righteousness in the earth.”  God is not an angry God. Our successes or failures do not determine His mood. God has no tantrums to throw at people! He is a happy Father!  If you are unfortunate to have an earthly father who is abusive and ill tempered, then take solace in the factual reality that you have a Father in heaven who loves you and cares about you with boundless kindness.

God is our ever-present Father. He sticks with us irrespective of the prevailing conditions in our lives. He thinks good about us and has great plans for our future. He is too jealous of you to allow the enemy to prey on you. He fights your battles and defends your cause.  He says to you, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28 NKJV).  Will you not take advantage of this invitation and run into His warm embrace? He will lavish you with love.  Our dear heavenly Father, open our hearts today to receive your love, to know it and feel it as your children in Jesus’ Name.