WHEN CHALLENGES PERSIST

Challenges by nature  serve as a call to battle or contest. Challenges have the tendency to be ugly and painful, especially when they persist or refuse to cease. When challenges persistently become painful, it is possible to cause man to wonder or question if God remembers or sees them in those challenging situations. Are you facing a long enduring challenge that seems like it will never end? It is important to understand and know that God is not asleep and at appointed time deliverance shall come as you continue to remain focused on God for His intervention. Jesus already warned about challenges being undeniable in the life of man. However, the antidote for challenging time (tribulation) is peace for those who receive and believe in Him. John 16:33 buttressed, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” In this world, tribulation will come either man likes it or not. However, it is better to accept Jesus for the purpose of having peace during tribulation or man can make the choice of not having Jesus to engage tribulation without peace. In challenging situations, patiently waiting on God is the key and, how one chooses to wait determines the outcome of waiting. It is certain when we wait on God, God will not fail and the time of waiting cannot be wasted. The Word promised in Isaiah 64:4-5, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.”
When challenges persist and it seems like heaven is not attending, one needs to attend to the words of God as identified in Psalm 71:10-11. The psalmist must have been   facing challenges when he stated, “For my enemies speak against me; and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, saying, God has forsaken him; pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”(Psalm 71:10-11) The psalmist, after having mentioned his challenge went further to identify what he did while waiting on God for intervention.

First, the psalmist stated, “But I will hope continually…” (Psalm 71:14) Hope can be identified as the heartbeat of faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for. (Hebrews 11:1) As a believer waiting on God, one must know to hope continually. The life of a believer is like that of a race runner and it is clear that continuity is the rule of a race. To stop hoping is the evidence of faith-failure. Until heaven intervenes, hoping on God without complaint is a sure way to wait on God and not waste.
Secondly, it is mentioned, “And I will praise You yet more and more.” (Psalm 71:14) As challenges increase giving God all the attention through praising should never reduce but increase. God inhabits the praises of His people. Are you praising him enough instead positioning yourself as a vessel of pity? God will show up at an appointed time. Do not stop praising Him, but rather increase praising Him by setting praise worship time between you and your God.
Thirdly, “My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day, for I do not know their limits.” (Psalm 71:15) Our righteousness is in Christ Jesus, He is our salvation in God. To engage challenging times by talking more about God’s righteousness and salvation to others rather than constantly talking about one’s challenge is enough to get heaven’s attention for God’s intervention. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, were set to die in the furnace of fire because they refused to serve any other god beside the Almighty God. In spite of the threat they were facing, they did not stop talking about their salvation from God and responded to the threat from the king by saying “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.  If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.  But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”(Daniel 3:16-19) When we declare God in our talk, regardless of the challenge He will decorate us with divine intervention. The three friends of Daniel, regardless of their challenge, declared God through the words of their mouth and God showed up on their behalf. No man knows the limit of God’s deliverance power of saving His people but it is certain that He alone is the Almighty deliverer.
The psalmist identifies the fourth action to be engaged with when waiting in time of challenges stating, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God.” (Psalm 71:16) The word of God is the strength of God. Exodus 15:13 buttressed the truth that the word of God is the strength of God when it stated; “…You have guided them in Your strength.” Truly, God used nothing else to guide the Israelites to the Promised Land but by His word which is also His presence. Why not engage the word of God, the manual of life to navigate through persisting challenges? God is true to His word and He shall never fail. The word of God is the strength of our salvation. Rest in the word to resist your challenge; be strong and do not be discouraged, your challenge shall subside and His name shall be glorified in your life.

WORD IS REST-SOLUTION  

Our rest is in the promise of God. Your New Year’s resolution will not give you rest. Let your resolution be in the presence of God. The presence of God is in the word of God. The New Year will answer as a year of no lack because the word of God promised it and you make the choice to dwell in the word of promise. It is written, “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:4) If you will let (allow) patience you will know no lack. The word of God is saying; allow patience to disallow lack in every area of life. Allow patience by obeying God; by keeping His testimonies; pray and not loose heart.
Obedience: Obedience is the key to maintaining His presence in life. It was simple obedience that delivered Noah from the destruction of the wicked world. God commanded Noah to build an ark against flood in a region that hardly saw rainfall. Noah obeyed as commanded and when the destruction time came up he was delivered. The bible recorded, “so those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in.” (Genesis 7:16) Noah was shut inside God’s command, a place of his obedience. It was a place of his rest, a place of no lack.
Keeping His testimonies: The word declared in Psalm 119:2, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies who seek Him with the whole heart.” God blesses and add no sorrow. It is impossible to seek Him with the whole heart and not found Him. Those who seek Him shall end up in His Company and they shall know no lack.
Praying and not loose heart: Jesus used the Parable of the Persistent Widow to point out that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1-8) Engage prayer consistently and not allow doubt or fear. In your prayer do not loose heart but be restfully focused on God and you shall know no lack. Will you allow patience to have its place in you so that you lack nothing? Engage the word of God, the word of is true for man to use as the resting place.
All through their journey in the wilderness, the children of Israel were being led constantly by the presence of God. God’s presence gave them direction and leadership which always resulted in rest when they were obedient. All God did to lead them was send His word through Moses. Without doubt, the presence of God is the word of God. It is written: “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction”. (Psalm 107:20) The word of God delivers. Wherever deliverance reigns, rest abides resides. Your New Year’s rest-solution is in the word of God; not in your own word. John 1:1-2 talked about the Word that is more than able to keep man as a resting place, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Jesus is the Living word of God. John 1:14 also testifies, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The same word that was in the beginning exists throughout all generations and forever more.
Jesus alone is the rest solution for anyone who will accept and allow the word to have its place in his/her life. In one’s heart there is desire. Often time at the beginning of a New Year, man determines declarations of their heart’s desire (New Year’s resolutions) but fall short devoting to their declaration. In your determination allow prayer to prevail. Pray the word of God for patience to have its place. Ask God to direct your heart into the love of His name and into the patience of Christ Jesus. (2Thesalonians 3:5)
Clearly it remains to be true that hearing the word and having a receptive heart, not a hardened heart, gives rest to man. Hebrew 4:1-3 states, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it for we who have believed enter that rest…”
In the New Year, have restful desire. Devote to hearing His word day and night. Do not hardened your heart and He will never leave you nor forsake you. God is true to His word only if man will take to His word.

AT THE TIME OF HIS BIRTH

At the time of the Lord’s birth, there was no room at the inn for the Lord to be delivered.
At the time of His birth, people did not understand that Christ was about to be born into the world.
At the time of His birth, no hospital was alerted.
At the time of His birth, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
It is written, “So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6-7) Jesus, the King of kings, was born in a manger.
The Eternal Shepherd of all shepherds could have declared the inn to be open-up for His arrival while He was still in the womb. He came silently and was wrapped in swaddling clothes. The inn was filled up when Joseph and Mary got to the inn. The inn which matters to Him is our inn. It does not matter the kind of gift that occupies your inn waiting to be delivered. If you do not have a place for Him in your inn it becomes a meaning less gift. He spoke in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus came to have a place in our inn so that we can overcome and be granted a seat with Him on His throne. To deny Him access into our inn is the evidence of having been filled with self. Jesus is knocking at the door of your inn. Will you grant Him full access and engage the privileges of having Jesus in your inn?
When the knock came at the door of the inn, the imminent birth of the Lord was met with a lock-out. Many are filled with things that will deprive them of eternal happiness when the trumpet sounds. Some are filled with desires that will not bring salvation. The opportunity for the inn to become the most well-known inn in all of creation came knocking but it was too full to be used for the Lord’s birth. What are you filled with? It is about time for you to prepare your inn for His coming back. Send off lying, deception and manipulation which will keep Him from coming to your inn and create room for Him. He is coming back again so be ready for Him.
His coming as a gift from God is the reason for hope. His coming as a gift is the reason for joy. The gift of God to man is unconditional love. Jesus is a sacrificial gift which God sent so we do not miss eternal life. In return for His love, we are to love Him just as He loves us. The kind of love He wants from us is identified in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. A young lawyer approached Jesus asking what to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him what was written in the law and he responded, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) The lawyer prompted Jesus to tell the parable when he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) Jesus identified who his neighbor is in the parable. A certain man that fell in the hands of thieves lost everything to thieves and was left helplessly wounded. A priest and a Levite who were supposed to know better about compassion crossed over to other side of the wounded man but a certain Samaritan (a supposedly unbeliever) showed compassion where the religious leaders did not. Jesus answered the lawyer’s question of what needs to be done not to miss eternal life by asking the lawyer to go and do just as the Good Samaritan did.
The Good Samaritan is a measure of the gift we should be giving back to God who gave us the best gift in His begotten Son. A yearly glamorous celebration of the gift of God to us is far from enough as a measure of our giving back to God if loving our neighbor is out of place in how we live life.
1 John 4:7-11 admonishes us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
The picture of loving others is clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan: Loving our neighbor perfects loving God. Celebrate Jesus, the gift of God, by giving yourself to living life in having compassion for all your neighbors.

THE WORD IS COMPLETELY COMPLETE

The word of God is His law, the word is His instruction and it is His command. Those who allow their hearts to keep the word of God shall have length of days, long life and peace. Those who are able to keep the word of God are the ones who make God their confidence. Those who keep the word of God will know to do good when the chance to do good calls. Those who keep the Word of God do not stumble where others are stumbling. The word of God does not mark one or exempt man from afflictions but in the word there is an assured promise for deliverance out of all manner of affliction. (Proverbs 34:19) Above all, those who keep the word in their heart will know not to lean on their own understanding.
Life is a race that is set before us. Hebrew 12:1 buttressed, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” In the race of life, all we need to run and be able to possess what God has for us is by the word of His grace.
In the race of life, all we need is to be able to possess what God is having for us by the word of His grace. God spoke to Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8) Going by the word of God, it is evident that the only track in the race of life is the word of God. Jesus, the Living word of God buttressed in His speech, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6) Meditating on the word as directed by God will cause man to observe. Observing the word is investigating the word. Investigating can be described as searching out and examining the word in an attempt to learn the truth about what is hidden in the word that can make a difference in a man’s life. Without any iota of doubt, it is the word of God which you investigate that will navigate for you in the race of life.
Paul identified it in Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to the God and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among the sanctified.” The word of God is power and it is to a believer what gasoline is to a car. Without it any move that you make will not endure. John the Baptist’s birth was announced by the angel of the Lord who gave him the name John. In order to begin his ministry, John needed the word to move out of the wilderness of waiting.  Luke 3:2 recorded, “While Annas and Caiaphaas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” John waited in the wilderness until he received the word. When the word came to him, he went out into the entire region and began the purpose of his calling. Have you taken a step before you received the word? It is never too late for you to go back to where you have been waiting. Allow the word to come and get you to where He is taking you. Do you know for sure if He has called you? If He has called you, all you need is the word which will carry you to the next level in life. Be patient, the word is coming for you to take your rightful place in the business of God by His grace. It will not come rushing in so do not go out in a hurry. God has a set time; His word will come at the appointed season.
Without any doubt, by the efficacy of the word of God, the ones who have the word have found wisdom. As the Lord lives, the wise shall inherit glory and shame will not be their legacy. With the word of God, when we roam the word will lead us, when we sleep the word will keep us and when we are awake the word will speak with us. (Proverbs 6:22) Evidently, the word of God is completely complete and will see man through in the race of life.

FAITH CAPSULE: The word of God is power and it is to a believer what gasoline is to a car.

                                                      HIS WAY IS HIS PRESENCE

It is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3) The scriptural verse above clearly identifies that there is no need for a theologian’s interpretation to get the understanding that the Word of God is God.
Moses asked from God, “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” (Exodus 33:13) He wanted direction by asking for the way of God. God responded back to Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) Obviously, God’s response to Moses’ request for the way of God indicates that God’s presence is God’s way. The way of God is the word of God and the word of God is His presence. Every God-fearing man like Moses should know better not to make a move outside of His way (word).
Once, He revealed His way to King Saul through His Prophet Samuel. “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3) King Saul moved in response to the word of God. It is written, “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.” (1 Samuel 15:9) Saul moved in a way that seemed right to him; not according to the way of God. No matter how much the way seems right to you, if it is not the way of God, it is the way of man. Proverbs 14:12 warned, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Do not be wise in your own eyes to ever mistake your way for the way of God; regardless of how that way is pleasing to man. Heaven withdrew King Saul from retaining the royal crown as the King of the Israelites. People saw him to be king while God had already packed him up. He went the way which seemed right to him.
In God’s way, there is direction and grace to live to the fulfillment of divine assignment. His way is the revealer of His act. In His acts, there is power confirmation, deliverance and there is total victory. Psalm 103:7, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” It is absolutely impossible to follow the ways of the Lord and not arrive at a final destination. Likewise, one cannot see His acts and not tremble at the awesomeness of His power. The acts of God are the invention of His word and His word encased His way. The children of Israel were privileged to see His actions. They saw the move of God’s power so many times during their days in the wilderness. They saw the Red Sea open up for them to provide dry land as a passage. They saw how the firstborn of all the Egyptian masters died while their firstborns were safe. However, despite all that they witnessed, those Israelites who left Egypt and whose age was twenty and above never arrived at their expected end. The Israelites despised the word of God and they were destroyed. The word of God warns, “He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” (Proverbs 13:13) Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who did not despise the word of God. Both Caleb and Joshua did not fail to keep their faith in His acts which gave them direction. In the past days, weeks, months, and years, if you have seen the wonderwork of His hand, rest and be assure that you have seen His way. However, your title or position is not a license to foolishness Fools says there is no God by their action or by word of confession. Avoid foolishness! Fear Him and trust Him to lead you through in His way.
Moses, a giant in the hand of the Lord, could not get to the expected end because he failed to fully obey God. When he was commanded by God to speak to a rock for water provision he struck the rock twice. (Numbers 20:11-12) Moses saw the Land of Promise but could not set foot on the land. Are you paying attention to the Word of God? It has never changed and it will remain the same. The unchanging Changer will change your situation if you will engage His Word for a favorable lifting in the days, weeks, months and years ahead of you. Commit to the word of God and it will lead you in the way of God. Will you commit your way to His ways and trust in Him?

FAITH CAPSULE: The way of God is the word of God and the word of God is His presence.