Who is the King Uzziah in Your Life?

Text: Isaiah 6:1

It was when King Uzziah died that the glory of God was revealed to the Prophet Isaiah. While King Uzziah lived, the Prophet Isaiah was on his own. His ministry had no impact and he could not manifest.

Who is the King Uzziah in your life hindering the glory of God from manifesting? Your King Uzziah could be some powers who do not want you to go like Pharaoh who did not want to release the Jews. Your King Uzziah does not want you to possess your possessions. Your King Uzziah has forced you to come to a standstill.

You King Uzziah could be a cluttered mind hindering God from entering to have a place of rest. A cluttered mind is a confused mind, anxious, worried, depressed and discouraged. If your mind is far away from God buying and selling, how would God answer your prayers? How would His countenance shine upon you? (Psalm 80:14)

Before Elijah could call down fire from heaven, he repaired the broken altars of the Lord. Before the glory of God can manifest in our lives, we have to repair the broken altars of the Lord in our minds. Our minds have to be free from the control of the strangers buying and selling in it. Our minds are the factory of life where our thoughts for evil or for good are processed. Is your mind controlled by God or by the Devil?

Prayers:
Every King Uzziah in my life, hindering the glory of God from manifesting in me, come out and die in the name of Jesus
Every King Uzziah in my mind chasing God away from me, be uprooted and die in the name of Jesus

Ayodele Adegbulugbe
Lagos Nigeria
Phone:+2348035978352

Blaming an Enemy For Every Condition?

John 7:30 says, ' Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him because His time had not yet come.''

Some ministries are teaching and influencing their members to fear and blame an enemy somewhere for every negative condition in their lives. Their sermons are always focusing on enemies, witches and wizards, thereby creating fear in them and causing them to live in fear of everyone around them and even among themselves.

In some nations including Nigeria, messages about an enemy sells so fast and so well that great numbers attend deliverance services seeking to be delivered from an enemy behind their negative condition. Even when it is crystal clear that their condition is a result of their own wrong choices, they still blame an imaginary enemy somewhere for it.

We should realize from the Scriptures in John 7:30 that nothing an come our way if it is not God's timing for such challenges to occur. If the challenge is not part of God's plan and purpose for our lives, it will not occur. If God has purposed for us to go through a challenge, then no amount of prayers can change the plan. No amount of prayers would have averted Joseph's experiences in the hands of his brothers but he maintained his faith and relations with God who eventually lifted him up.

Jesus moved about with fear. Therefore, a christian believer should not be living in the fear of an enemy and be glorifying Satan. We ought to be more God conscious than being Satan or enemy conscious in our christian lives. If we carry about an enemy conscious mindset all the time, wars and battles may never cease in our lives. The Bible says that what a man thinks, he becomes.

At God's own time, what He has purposed for us will surely happen (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We should have the purpose to seek and serve God faithfully in whatever condition to please Him. The Bible says that when the ways of a man pleases God, his enemies will be at peace with him.

Are our hearts right in the sight of God? (Ats 8:21). Are the little foxes that spoil the vine ( Songs of Solomon 2:15) residing in our hearts to hinder the presence, the power and the glory of God in our lives? Are our hearts filled with bitterness, hatred, malice, unforgiveness etc which are ladders and doors through which the Devil penetrates our lives to do havoc? If we have these little foxes in our hearts, we need to first seek to be delivered from them before seeking to be delivered from the external enemies.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe

Lagos Nigeria

Phone: +2348035978352

LESSONS from the days of Noah and Lot - Luke 17:26-30 (2)

‘’And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.’’ (Luke 17:26-27)

‘’ likewise also in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.’’ (Luke 17:28-30).

Lesson 2   -   Rejecting the Ark of Salvation

God always warns men about an impending judgment and destruction for sin. Are we listening and heeding His calls to us for the salvation of our souls? He sent Prophet Jonah to warn the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh about the need to repent from their wicked ways or else they would perish in their sins. 

Repent or you perish in your sins is one of the messages of the Gospel (Luke 13:3). God warns men to repent because He is a merciful God who is not willing that men perish but that they come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He is merciful and more willing to exercise mercy than judgment (James 2:13).

In the days of Noah, God created an Ark for the salvation of men based on repentance. Unfortunately, only 8 persons entered into the Ark and were saved from destruction while the unbelieving multitudes that refused to repent perished in the 40 day floods due to their disobedience and unbelief in God’s Word.

The Ark of salvation that God has created to rescue men from eternal death in this Last Days is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus is the sacrifice for the sins of men. He is the one who died at Calvary, was buried but rose again from the dead and is living forever more (Revelations 1:8). Jesus’ resurrection conquered death and sin and is the assurance of eternal life to anyone who believes in Him.

As God warned in Noah’s days, He is warning and calling for all men to repent and be converted in this Last Day. He has set aside a day to judge this present world on account of sin and that day is the Day of Judgment also called the Day of Wrath or Day of Reckoning (Acts 17:30-31). 

Man born in sin is estranged from God and doomed to eternal separation if he dies in sin. He must be reconciled with God first before he can spend his eternity with God. The reconciliation is what salvation is all about i.e. sin and death must be conquered in the lives of men which Jesus Christ did for all men by His resurrection from the dead.

If men reject the salvation which God offers the world through Jesus Christ, there are several reasons as there were in the days of Noah and Lot. In the days of Noah and Lot, many doubted God’s calls for repentance and salvation. Therefore, one of the reasons is unbelief in God and what He says (His Word).

Unbelief was one major reason why the multitudes perished in the days of Noah and Lot. Many who perished in the days of Noah doubted the reality of the flood just as some today are denying the reality of Hellfire as an eternal place of punishment and torment for lost souls. Some even deny that God and Heaven are real.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:18-20 that the preaching of the Cross of Christ is foolishness to those that are perishing but to those that are saved, the message of the Cross is the power of God unto salvation.

The unbelief of men in the Word of God does not invalidate God and His Word (Romans 3:3-4). Salvation is personal and an individual decision as every man will render a personal account of his life before God on the Day of Judgment.

There are many false doctrines that are circulating, blinding the eyes of men from seeing the truth. ‘Rather than diligently seek for the truth that sets free, many are seeking and following after popular opinions instead of convictions and are being led astray by false doctrines.’’ (Warren Wiersbe).

The Bible writes in 1Timothy 4:1 that in the Last Days, many shall fall victim to seducing doctrines of demons that leads astray. Men are falling for other ‘gospels’ or ‘teachings’ that are contrary to the teachings of the Gospel of Christ.

Some deny the death, burial and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some deny that Jesus is the Son of God. Some do not accept that Jesus is God who came in the flesh. Some deny the existence of the Trinity. Some do not accept the reality of the Holy Spirit as one of the Trinity.  Some do not believe the virgin birth and the deity of Christ.

Some believe in the false doctrine of eternal security or ‘Once saved, forever saved’ and the doctrine of good works which is religion without salvation. Some do not believe the reality of Judgment saying that because God is Love, He cannot cast unrepentant sinners who died in sin into Hell. They seem to forget that the God of love and mercy is also the God of Judgment (Isaiah 30:18)

Some deny the existence of a Heaven and a Hell. Some believe in a place called Purgatory where they say they would go after physical death to be cleansed of their sins and from there would be transported to Heaven. Some do not accept that Jesus is the Saviour of the world and that He died for the sins of all men. Some do not believe that the Blood of Jesus cleanses one from sin.

False and strange teachings of demons are one reason why many doubt the Gospel of Christ and are rejecting the Jesus Ark of salvation as in the days of Noah and Lot. These false doctrines are a leaven that corrupts the whole in the lives of those who believe them. False doctrines are a reason why those who subscribe to them will not be allowed into the Ark unless the leaven is purged out of them.

Admission into the Ark of Salvation is by faith in Christ. To inherit eternal life in Christ which is the only solution to eternal death, one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him his Lord and Saviour.

One must confess Jesus with his mouth and believe in his heart that He was raised from the dead and is alive forever more. One must surrender his heart and life to Jesus Christ and allow Jesus to be the director and controller of his life going forward (Romans 10:9-10) (Revelations 3:20).

Ayodele Adegbulugbe
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria
Phone:+2348035978352

The Sin You Are Covering (Proverbs 28:13)

Proverbs 28:13 says, ' He that covers his sins shall not prosper but whoso confess and forsake them shall have mercy.''

David's sin in 2 Samuel 11 to 2 Samuel 12 was adultery which was punishable by death in Leviticus 20:10. In connection with sin, there is always an unforeseen element that the sinner does not take into consideration that would expose the sin he thought had been perfected, requiring another sin to cover it up.

David did not know that Uriah would not go to his house to sleep with his wife Bathsheba. He had thought to use Uriah's visit to conceal his adultery. A second sin is required to conceal an earlier sin. David conceived of another plan to get Uriah drunk supposing that in a state of drunkenness, he would go home to his wife. The plan failed again to cover up his sin with Bathsheba. Making a man drunk is sin.

David became desperate and the only option he considered to be available was to plot the murder of Uriah and to use a means to make it look legal. He used his nephew Joab, the Army Commander to organize how Uriah would be killed in battle.

David may have thought to satisfy his passion by having sex with Bathsheba but never considered that she would become pregnant. He did not have the intention to kill her husband and take her over but when she became pregnant, his involvement could not be concealed so he opted for murder.

His first sin was adultery (2 Samuel 11:4-5)
His second sin was deception to cover up the first sin (2 Samuel 11:6-11)
His third sin was making Uriah drunk (2 Samuel 11:12-13)
His fourth sin was plotting the murder of Uriah to cover up the first sin (2 Samuel 11:14-15)
His fifth sin was his hardness of heart (2 Samuel 11:22-27), thinking that the sin had been effectively buried but he did not reckon that God would react to it. He quickly married Bathsheba after her 7 days of mourning to conceal the pregnancy.
The sin which King David legalised, God called it by its proper name, MURDER!

Ayodele Adegbulugbe
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria
Phone:+2348035978352

The Power of Your Tongue

Text: Proverbs 18:21

'' Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.''

God called Gideon a mighty man of valour though he was fearful and was hiding from the Midianites ( Judges 6:1-16). He also called Abraham the father of many nations while he was barren and had no child. Who God says you are is what YOU ARE!

Do not use your circumstances to describe who you are. Do not all yourself a failure, a victim, debtor, sickler or a good for nothing. Do not use words which signify defeat to describe yourself. Rather call yourself a victor, champion, winner, highly favoured, blessed, great, unbeatable and unstoppable.

Do not accept what men call you. Call yourself what God calls you, not what the events of life calls you. Call yourself what God says you are and not what the events of life says that you are. Do not permit the devil to discourage you or to kill your faith in Christ. Tell the Devil that you are a new creature and there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ( Romans 8:1) (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God says that you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a peculiar people to show forth his praises, who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. God calls you a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9). Therefore live a holy life before God and let your life be a positive confession of the power of the Gospel that transforms lives (1 Peter 2:11-12).

Decide that the words that you will speak henceforth shall be faith filled words. Cancel every negative words that anyone has spoken against you in the past (Lamentations 3:37). Cancel any negative confessions that you made against yourself in the past. Open your mouth and confess loud, bless yourself and prophesy good things about yourself, family and ministry.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria
Phone:+2348035978352

From Affliction to Testimony

Texts: Luke 21:13; James 1:2-4

Affliction is a part of life. Everyone will experience some affliction in this life because every man will go through a wilderness in this life. It comes at different times and in different dimensions. However, one can convert his affliction to a testimony.

What is affliction?
Affliction means suffering, going through pains, state of lack and want, agonies, deprivations, oppresions, torments, torture, tribulation, persecutions, troubles etc.

Causes of Affliction:
1)Through personal sins where the Bible says that no sinner will go unpunished though forgiven. Therefore, chastisement from God for personal sins could be a source of affliction in the life of a man (Leviticus chapter 26).

2) Through inherited affliction where we may be suffering for the consequences of the sins of our forefathers. Lamentations 5:7 says that 'our forefathers have sinned and we bear their iniquity.' Also Numbers 14:18 says that God will visit the iniquity of a father on his children to the third and fourth generations.

However, we can reverse any inherited afflictions by crying to God for mercy to separate us from the consequences of the sins of our ancestors. James 2:13 says that mercy prevails over judgment and Deuteronomy 24:16 says that a child shall not be put to death for the sins of his father.

3) Decision to follow Christ can bring affliction. 2 Timothy 3:12 says that those who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer tribulation. Matthew 5:10-12 says that we should rejoice if we are persecuted for the sake of our stand for righteousness.

4) God may ordain an affliction in the life of a man to fulfil a divine purpose. For examples, the afflictions experienced by Job and Joseph were not caused by sinning. The Amalekite raid on David's camp at Ziklag was not due to sin. The man who was born blind in John Chapter 9 did not commit sin and neither did his parents commit sin to the effect that he was born blind.

Purpose of Affliction:
In every affliction, there is a purpose, lesson and a benefit. James 1:2-4 says that affliction in the life of a christian as a trial of faith works out patience and perfection. 1 Peter 5:8-10 says that God can use it to elevate, strengthen and establish us in the faith.

Tough times can create a better personality where some improve on themselves spiritually. During difficult times, people learn to become prayer and bible addicts. Some discover hidden talents and abilities.

Many great hymns, songs and books were written during periods of affliction. For example, Pilgrims Progress which was written about 400 years ago in the prison by John Bunyan, is the second best selling Christian book in the world after the Holy Bible. Also many of the epistles in the Bible were written by the Apostle Paul while he was in the prison.

Affliction is temporary. Psalm 34:19 says that God will deliver the righteous out of afflictions. Psalm 30:15 says that weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says that God will make a way out of every temptation.

How to come out of affliction
Do not murmur against God during periods of affliction. The Jews who murmured in the wilderness perished in it and did not reach the Promised Land of milk and honey.

Serve God with a whole heart like Caleb and Joshua did in the wilderness of affliction (Numbers 32:12).

Rejoice always in the Lord like Paul and Silas in detention who prayed and sang praises to God despite their pains in Acts 16:25 which caused God to deliver them through an earthquake. When Hannah left Shiloh, her countenance was no longer sad and she became a mother of several children. Habakkuk 3:17-19 encourages us to rejoice in the Lord in periods of lack and want.

Be holy and righteous in the Lord. Job and Joseph had the opportunity to commit sin against God but they did not do so. Eventually, Joseph left the prison for the palace while Job's latter days were more glorious than his beginning.

Cry unto God in prayers. Psalm 34:17 says that when the righteous cry, God will deliver him out of all his troubles. Jabez cried unto God and he became more honorable than his brethren. The cries of Mordecai reversed Haman's evil plot to destroy the Jews in Persia and Mordecai rose from gateman to a Prince in the land.

Encourage yourself in the Lord which David did when it appeared that all hope was lost in 1 Samuel chapter 30 when his camp was raided by the Amalekites. He pursued them and recovered all he lost.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria
Phone:+2348035978352

Obedience to God - the Key Factor! (2)

In the previous part is the story of how God anointed King Saul and empowered him for service. He was directed by God to carry out a task designed to fulfil a purpose. To carry out the task required total, complete and unconditional obedience without excuses or constrains. However, King Saul failed in his call through his failure to obey God totally.

God's command to King Saul was the total destruction of the Amalek nation including its king and livestock. Saul proceeded to Amalek where he was victorious over the Amalekites but he was not assessed by God according to his military victory. He was to be judged according to his total obedience to God's call. He failed by sparing the King of Amalek and the best of the livestock presumably for sacrifice to God.

We must be careful to obey God who will not assess or judge us according to the greatness of our accomplishments but by our total obedience to his commands. Human reasoning as in the case of King Saul often leads to failure. Human intentions opposed to God's will, no matter how worthy cannot replace godly humility and obedience.

Fear caused King Saul to disobey Samuel's instruction to wait for him at Gilgal to offer sacrifice to God. Before Prophet Samuel's arrival, the Philistines had gathered for war while the chicken heart Israelis deserted Saul. Out of fear, he proceeded to offer the sacrifice by himself without consulting God. Fear does not allow a Christian to become king over his circumstances.

Lessons:
Disobedience brings rejection. Though Saul claimed that he had obediently done what God commanded him, he had been partially obedient based on the elements of obedience in his action. True obedience must be complete and total. Regardless of his great military victory over the Amalekites, his partial obedience amounted to failure. True obedience does not shift blames which Saul did (1 Samuel 15: 21).

The response of Prophet Samuel in verse 22 reveals the priority of obedience to God. Religious sacrifices for which Saul spared the livestock of Amalek is no substitute to full obedience. Saul's disobedience therefore meant a rejection of God. God rejected him as King and as a result, he lost the inheritance which his descendants forever would have benefited. Obedience to God, total and complete is the most infallible evidence of sincere and supreme love to God.

Ayodele Adegbulugbe.
www.xtianrace.blogspot.com.ng.
Lagos Nigeria.
Phone+ 2348035978352.