RUN TO HIM! IF YOU ARE DOWN TRY TO GET UP, AND SPEAK FOR YOURSELF.

In This Year

And call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Ps 50:15. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. Ps 31:9

Usually when people fall into trouble, they many times try to hide it from others, especially when the calamity in their eyes is something to be ashamed of. Other times when they chose to open up and share their troubles with others, they are mocked and blamed for the situation they are in. Today we see Gods invitation to us to come to Him in our time of trouble. David often ran to the Lord when He was in trouble. Do you have a challenge that is keeping you awake all night? Are you very scared deep inside because of some situation you have found yourself? Maybe you even have fallen into a trap via a poor decision or wrong action. There is hope for you...run into the arms of the Lord. He will walk with you through it. It may hurt, it may strain you, but you will NOT be alone. Get into the place of prayer and receive needed help, (Heb 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.), stay focused on Him for " God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. You can get up! Get going!! “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; - Isaiah 51:1

We are children of Faith, formed from the Rock of Faith! There is the type of life we ought to live. Our command is to look at the Patriarch and Matriarch of Faith and plug into their blessing. What picture did the Bible paint of Abraham and Sarah? Were they down trodden, sickly, weak of mind and body? Were they impoverished and without hope? Were they captive to every satanic influence and attack? Did they go about seeking pity? No! Abraham had great economic wealth and influence. He was a warrior who did battle to rescue stubborn Lot. He believed God! Had children in old age! Paid a huge tithe to Melchizedek High priest of God and is probably one of the Most Respected Saints of old known for his integrity, dignity and honorable life. God did all that for him because Abraham dared to believe! DO YOU BELIEVE? Or would you rather stay in the bowels of weakness, grumbling, complaining, defeat, poverty, laziness, lack, shame and confusion? Never! Look to the rock from whence you were hewn...if Satan couldn't stop Jesus, the Rock of our salvation through his many schemes and tricks, then he cannot stop you. For if we are truly hewn from the same ROCK, then as He is so are we. Stop acting defeated! Get up and Get going!!

“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” - Jo

hn 9:20-21

A certain blind man encountered Jesus and received his sight. The Pharisees at the time had publicly made known that anyone who testified of Christ would be put out of the Synagogue and so his parents backed out of answering to a very obvious miracle. The onus now fell on the man to testify which he did at the risk of being excommunicated. Why was it easier for him to do what his parents could not? It was because he was the beneficiary of the grace and power of God. Perhaps the reason why people find it hard to talk about their Lord could be that what they have is an inherited or borrowed faith. A real experience with the Lord will leave you with a story to tell. With an undeniable transformation too awesome to be left locked in your heart you too will speak up damning all consequences. Consider 1 John 1:1 (That ...which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled...). Have you seen His Hand? Have you heard His sweet Voice? Were you convinced of Him as you touched Him? If you are fully persuaded of His work in your life you will also speak for yourself to everyone of His faithfulness. This is the secret of easy witnessing. Experience His power today through faith!

Proverbs 24:1-22, Psalm 59, Ecclesiastes 9, 

Jeremiah 30-31, John 4:15-26, James 5:13-20

NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD - LOOK TO GOD ALONE

Sometimes I get so befuddled that I don't know where to turn, cares of this life weigh me down with the troubles they concern.

I must always remind myself I have access to a higher power, I don't need to worry and fret. God is with me every hour, God is with me in the sunshine and when the dark shadows fall, I am his blood-bought child and upon him i can always call. He can solve all my problems, for him nothing is too hard. God always knows what I need He is never caught off guard. Yes! When I feel downhearted with some trifling worldly care I must take this burden to God and then I must leave it there. This words came from a word filled woman of God, expressing confidence in the Divine supremacy.

According to the book of Ruth 2: 10-12;- then she fell on her feet and bow herself to the ground and said unto him why have I found grace in thine eyes that thou should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, it hath fully been showed me all that thou hast
done unto thy mother in-law since the death of thy husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which thou knowest not here to for.The Lord recompense thee of thy work and a full reward be given thee of the Lord of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust.
Ruth's faithfulness to the covenant relationship she had with Naomi paved way for her. She diligently kept the tenets of the covenant. All  over the Bible there are teachings emphasizing different kinds of relationships and how each of us ought to comport and conduct ourselves in them. Whether it is between husband and wife or wife and husband, children to parents or parents to children, masters to servants etc. The bible categorically states God's expectation. This is important because whatsoever a man do, the same shall he receive, we are also charged in the scriptures not to do as unto men but as unto God that you might receive the eternal inheritance. Your heritage will come through the domestic relationships in your life (that is, the people you relate with in your everyday life. As wives, husbands, children, brethren, servants or masters every action or reaction from us triggers a reward from heaven. These rewards are either positive or negative depending on the choice we make.

Naomi did not have anything left to offer Ruth and she told her so. Yet Ruth followed her and  kept the tenets of their relationship. She was not searching for benefits. She was just keeping the unwritten dictates of covenant relationships. Ruth's eyes were solely on the Lord from whom alone her gain, profit or positive reward could come! In relationships, our eyes must be upon the Lord alone. No man can open the door God wants to open for you. Never look at the hands of any man for help. Carry out the obligation of the covenant you are in but always remember that God and  not man is your reward. God will reward you adequately. It all begins with how we handle our relationships. God honors us when we are faithful to covenants. No relationship is just casual and keeping their tenets is key to receiving what lies ahead of you. Ruth understand the covenant in relationship with Naomi stuck with her and God rewarded her. Looking to God for your reward as you play your own part in every relationship you find yourself will change your life and bring much fulfillment to your way.

THE POWER IN THE SIMPLE ACT OF PRAYER

When you constantly pray for open heavens, it allows the free flow of Angelic activities in your life. Either in a worship or prayer meeting when this activity is hindered or not present, the feeling of struggling and unease is unavoidable

. It almost feels like the peace needed for such activity is not present. Therefore, we must always pray for open heavens in every spiritual activity so as to have free flow of Angelic activity. When there is a free flow when praying in the spirit everything always feels easy. There are times when we go into prayer and it feels almost like a struggle as we pray in the spirit. Do not be discouraged; rather, stay in the place of prayer and the uneasiness will begin to lift off after a while. When you stay there for an hour, after sometime you get a release and a note of victory in your spirit, once you get that feeling, it means the heavens have been opened up and so your speaking in tongues begin to flow and the groaning of the spirit begin to come out to you.

This means you have gotten to the point where angels are able to minister to you, rearrange things within your environment and remove any form of temptation that is coming your way. You will begin to have thoughts and ideas as to what you ought to do in any given situation such as averting any danger on your way, and deliverance from evil. For instance, when Peter was in jail, it was the angel that visited him and brought him out of jail. When you have an unrestricted movement of angels in your life and you back it up with the confession of the word of God that activates such activity; it is practically impossible to be cut off guard. But a lot of Christians do not understand the concept of open heavens. We must have real respect and reverence for the act of prayer. Even Jesus, we are told in the Bible that in the days of His flesh, though, being the son of God, offered up prayer and supplications with cries and tears unto Him from death (Heb. 5 vs 7). To Jesus even though He was the son of God and could confess what we call new creation realities like ‘I am the son of God’ etc, He understood and had that reverential attitude towards prayer. He knew that if He did not offer up prayer unto God there will be no salvation from events around Him.

We have so many Christians walking about with what we call ‘a faulty confidence; which is a confidence in the written word of God without doing what they ought to do to make what they have seen within the scriptures manifest within their flesh. This means they are not doing anything to make sure there is no unrestricted movement of Angelic activities in their lives. Through the study of the scripture we have learnt that we can only find angels ministering where demonic power have been overcome. For instance, we find it in the life of Jesus, when He got into the wilderness He was tempted of Satan and when He overcame the third temptation the bible says angels came and ministered unto Him. We also have the story of Daniel; it was after he overcame the prince of Persia in  prayer that angels came through to minister to him. This Angelic activity goes on in a very high and heavy scale. But it can only occur after the individual have offered up prayers with sufficient tenacity, in a focused way to lift off the burden in order to create open heavens and angelic activities.

The good thing about it is if you are consistent with your prayer life you will have this experience of open heavens and angelic activity daily without any hindrance. But if you are relaxed with your prayer life and you only pray when you feel like it and not as a necessity you will lose all the grounds you have gained before in prayer. As a result anytime you go into prayer you will have to start all over to gain that ground again. But if you do it everyday consistently the duration of time it usually takes you will begin to reduce because of your everyday practice. If  you are consistent with your prayer life you will get to a point where it will take you just five minutes to penetrate and that is where the heavens are clearly opened up to you.

When you give yourself to prayer consistently the reality of scripture and spiritual things begin to dawn on you and make more meaning to you. Things begin to come more alive to you in the scriptures and in all you do. What you read in the scriptures get on your lips with the full assurance of faith and this is because you gave labored to enter into the rest of God by seizing from your own works. Henceforth, you will begin to see the manifestation of God in your life like never before and before anything happens you have seen it and you already know the outcome. That is the power that resides in having the heavens opened up to you and angels ministering to you daily, and this is the type of life style we should all strive for as believers.