“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today…” (Exodus 14:13)

Faith and Fear
It is written, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” (Psalm 32:8) Has He spoken before and not do it? How do you take His word? His word is not a letter but they are life. God cannot lie, what He says He will do is a done deal. He has been God before the beginning, to the time of beginning and He alone inhabits eternity. If any word of God has failed before, then there is a reason for doubt or fear. However, if every word of God remains consistent, then there should be no room for fear in our lives. He said in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” God is still God over all His work and He will never fail. By virtue of His testimony, He has not given us the spirit of fear except when we choose to create a place of fear in our life in the midst of challenging confrontations. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63) If you will believe and exercise faith, fear will fail. It is fear that sinks man in the storms of life, while faith raises man in the storms of life. 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Is there any reason for fear in any area of your life? Remember the words, “A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7) Take the word of God as life, confess and meditate it. With every positive confession, negativity will fail; pessimism will give up, and optimism will reign. It does not matter who you are or how long you have been in the Lord, when fear takes a place in you, faith will take a place outside of you. Fear is a way of telling God to back out for the liar to step in. God is a jealous God and He will never share His place with the enemy. Knowing and acknowledging the Lord’s guidance over you will cause you to always glide and ride with courage in the every path of life. God testified about Job when Satan showed up, “…Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?…” (Job 2:3) Clearly, Job feared God and God knew about it. With God’s testimony, Job should have had no reason to fear when he testified, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.” (Job 3:25)  After God allowed Satan some manipulation over the life of Job, the fear in Job’s life actually became a manifestation. Could it be that Job’s fear was the invitation for Satan? The fear that is entertained will terminate the faith that can transform in the journey of life. Whatever the situation is, fear and faith cannot abide in the same place.
 
Faith and Praise
Fear God, allow faith to raise you, and praise Him with understanding. In your praise, understand that He will raise you and you will overcome. Understand that the faith-generated praise is a vital spiritual weapon for winning impossible battles in the journey of life. Paul and Silas, in the prison of termination, stagnation, and destruction, prayed and sang praises to God. Acts 16:25-26, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” King David testified in his thanksgiving, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” (2 Samuel 22:4) This day, week, month or year, reject fear; call upon His Holy name just as David testified. In your calling, let Him know that He alone is worthy to be praised and you shall be saved from all your enemies. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. (Romans 10:17) When faith rises, fear will sink; when fear rises, faith will sink. Let your faith rise. Praise Him and fear will fail.         

The fear that is entertained will terminate the faith that can transform in the journey of life.
With every positive confession, negativity will fail; pessimism will give up, and optimism will reign.
‘Tunde

“Is not My word like a fire? Says the LORD, And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)

The word of God is power and it communicates power. The communicating power in the word of God is the vehicle for transformation for those that are able to receive and believe in the word of God. Jesus said, “… I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) As a temple of God, until you are built up by Him, you will not be able to contain what He purposed for your life to carry for His glory. Will you allow Him to build you up for His glory? Jesus made an emphatic statement that He will build His church and nothing shall prevail against it. Do not prevent yourself from being built but invest yourself in the word that will build you. Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” Jesus, the word of God is what will build you and give you life abundantly. How can the word build you? The word of God will have to enter into you for you to be built. Psalm 119:130, “The entrance of your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple” Before Jeremiah could become what the Lord wanted him to be, he was built up when the word sounded in his direction. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” The same word that identified and called Jeremiah out informed him what he was before he was born. The word also deposited in him the boldness that built him for God’s divine agenda for his life when He said to Jeremiah, “’Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,’ says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 1:8). Just like Jeremiah, Ezekiel also encountered the word. “And He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.’ 2 Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me.” (Ezekiel 2:1-2) Jesus is the master builder. The same word that brought forth creation is still the same word that is building up those who receive and believe in Him. The word of God is spirit and it gives life. John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” It is worth to remember that the same word that created everything is there to give more than we can imagine. It is one thing to know and memorize the word, it is another to know to memorize and meditate. Knowing the word and not knowing to memorize and meditate is empty; it generates no power. Meditation will cause you to observe and do what the word requires, and there’s simply no substitute for it. The word of God is power and the word can never deny itself nor fail, but man can fail to have the word work on their behalf. The work of God is in the word of God. The disciples once asked Jesus, “…What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28) Jesus responded, “…This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:29) The word of God cannot be compromised if you desire for the word to build you. Just as there is no substitute for food in order to grow physically, so there is no substitute for the word to grow spiritually. Jeremiah confirmed that the word is food when he testified, “Your words were found, and I ate them, And your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart…” (Jeremiah 15: 16) As a believer, how often do you feed on the word of God? Waiting for Sunday or once in a while reading the word will amount to nothing. What is it that you are giving your ear to? What you give your ear to is what will build you up because whatever you receive will become of you. “Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, For the LORD has spoken.” (Jeremiah 13:15) The Lord has spoken, as a believer, play your part and receive his word that will build you up for His kingdom glory. Job stated, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” (Job 41:5) Take the hearing of His word to be your greatest priority and you will have reasons in this world to testify that you have seen God move in His word.  

Knowing the word and not knowing to memorize and meditate is empty; it generates no power.
Tunde

“Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.”(Psalm 106:4)
 
At the time wickedness multiplied on the face of earth, destruction and termination of wickedness and the wicked one was inevitable before God.  As an example, during the days of Noah, when wickedness became increasingly unacceptable before God, Noah was the only one in his generation set aside for salvation. The Bible recorded, “…Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD”. Only Noah was identified for deliverance among all the people on the face of the earth. If it is settled in you that you alone are doing good before the Lord, do not be intimidated but be motivated in doing good. In the days of Noah, Noah found grace. Today Jesus, the grace of God, has already come and He is here for those that will receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. To receive and believe Him is like gaining entrance into the ark that delivered Noah from God’s judgment. Receiving and believing in Jesus will also deliver in the time of God’s judgment of the world. Indeed, Noah found grace, and salvation became his portion. Yet he needed God to remember him after the flood had passed in order to possess the land before him. It is written, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Genesis 8:1) As a believer, our Grace, the Lord Jesus, is already here and we also need to be remembered by our Lord God just as Noah was remembered. How then can we be remembered? To be remembered is to be consistent with the Word of God. Malachi 3:16 laid out the way to be remembered by God, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. ” (Malachi 3:16) Evidently, the fear of God is all that needs to be in place for anyone that wants to be delivered after the destruction of the wicked. Where there is fear of God, His testimonies will always be the center of conversation and meditation. Malachi 3:16 pointed out that God will listen; He will hear every meditation. God will not overlook or miss every demonstration of our fear for His name. Speaking about and meditating on God will cause God to have a book of remembrance opened on our behalf. Who on earth would not want to be remembered by God? God’s remembrance is God’s visitation. The Psalmist wanted to be remembered, and it is written in Psalm 106:4, “Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” When God remembered Noah in the ark of salvation, He sent His wind, and the water of destruction subsided and Noah entered into his land of deliverance. The children of Israel, having been in bondage for over four hundred years, entered their deliverance when God remembered them, “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:23-24) God remembered the children of Israel and God acknowledged them. With God’s acknowledgement, nothing could stop the Israelites from coming out of bondage; neither could they have been stopped from setting out for their journey to the Promised Land. For the children of Israel, God’s acknowledgement was their bondage terminated. As another example, Hannah, in the book of Samuel, never excused herself from going to Shiloh despite her bareness. Hannah kept on going and she did not yield herself to the mockery of bareness. God remembered her and visited her, “…Elkhanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.” God’s remembrance of Hannah delivered her from mockery into miracle. It is clear, without any doubt, God is a good God and there is no evil in all of His doing. He is God that adds beauty and brings forth multiplication. God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Is there any area that you want God to remember you in the coming days? Are you walking in His commands? God encourages us in Isaiah 43:26, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted” Call on God, put Him in remembrance concerning the work of His hand and He will remember you and visit you with salvation.   
 
God’s remembrance is God’s visitation.
God will not overlook or miss every demonstration of our fear for His name.
‘Tunde

  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” (Titus 2:11)

 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus is the grace of our Lord God for every man that chooses to believe and receive Him. John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12) Knowing about Him is different from knowing Him. Those that know Him know Him enough to receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. Have you received and believed in Him? It is possible to believe Him and not receive Him. Many saw and many heard about the work He did; they know about Him but they choose not to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. For example, “…Among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.”(John 12:42) Inability to confess Him is a demonstration of not having received Him. To confess Christ is living a life that demonstrates the confession that is made about Him. Confession without belief, or belief without confession, is incomplete. Jesus is the unconditional love of God, the grace of God that came to give life abundantly to those that care to receive and believe in Him. Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” Clearly, Jesus is the unconditional love of God and the grace that came for us. However, to enter into the unconditional love of God, there is a need for us to condition ourselves by taking the right position. Whenever there is inability to take the right position, there will be disability in entering the abundance of His grace. Right positioning will deliver unto us the fullness of His abundant grace as the year goes by. The position to be taken is to love and forgive. As a believer that worships the living God, we are to love and not hate. Many times in the pages of the Bible, the command to love is constantly and repeatedly emphasized. We are to love our neighbors and to know how to forgive, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18) Clearly, loving and forgiving cannot be separated; neither can the love for God be compromised. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” There is no any other way to enter into the fullness of His abundant grace without being fully conditioned in the position of loving and forgiving. Jesus taught His disciples how to pray when he stated, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12) Forgiving is the heart of His coming. He wanted us to know that without forgiving, salvation will be stagnated. How much we know, and how long we have known him will not count for us in taking the position that leads into His abundant grace He has made available for us. Living fully in the command of His word–loving and forgiving–is all that will count; it is the only avenue to entering our abundant grace. Jesus testifies to the grace available for us when He stated in John 10:10, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Are you going to take the required position of entering the abundance of His grace made available by the grace of the Lord God? When you do not take to the life that He came to give us, claiming or attempting the throne of grace could be elusive. Every command of God does have its promise and requirement for what it takes to attain the promise. The grace of God is more than sufficient. God is faithful and He wants us to have faith by receiving and believing in His grace. Now that the understanding of positioning is there, “…Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrew 4:16) Jesus is the grace of God for those that receive and believe. Meditate on 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” Jesus is the grace and the unconditional love of God that is worthy of all praise.  
        
Whenever there is inability to take the right position, there will be disability in entering the abundance of His grace.
There is no any other way to enter into the fullness of His abundant grace without being fully conditioned in the position of loving and forgiving.
‘Tunde

“The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his Master the Egyptian.” (Genesis 39:2)
 
 As the children of the Most High God, the place for His children is up in the high and not in the low. God called Moses after having kept himself and the children of Israel in the low, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…” (Exodus 33:1) Indeed God wants to bring all of His children up and not low where there is no motion but stagnation. However, getting up to the top in His calling is not child’s play. Moses, wanted to know the way of bringing the children of Israel up, and he called on 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)  Moses, by virtue of his asking, knew that knowing God is in knowing the way of God. God responded to Moses’ request, “And He said, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) The point here is clear: the way of God is God, the presence of God is His way, and in the presence of God there is rest. What could a man desire in the journey of life? In every area of life the presence of God is all that matters and it is power to those that knows to obey and follow His word because in His word is His presence. Throughout the pages of the Bible, so many giants in the hand of God did not make it except with the presence of God. Joseph, a young slave in Egypt in the house of Potiphar, prevailed because, “The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.” (Genesis 39:2) Success could not avoid the slave boy Joseph because the Lord was with him. It was evident to Potiphar to see that the Lord was with Joseph. The statement, “the Lord was with Joseph” is repeated two other times in the same chapter of Genesis 39. The Lord was with him because the enemies choose to be against him. As a believer, every time you are set to be elevated by God, the enemy will set to offset what the Lord wants to do in your life. In the case of Joseph, the enemy cannot be more powerful because the enemy’s choice to be against Joseph is what provoked the Lord to be for Joseph. The presence of the Lord was with Joseph and it was visible enough for all who were around him to see. Is the Lord with you in all that you are doing? Every time the phrase “The Lord was with Joseph” was mentioned, there was mercy, favor, prosperity, success and authority in place in the life of Joseph. When God is for you, no man can be against you except you being against yourself by walking outside of His Word. It is important for believers of the Word to know that the Word of God is forever true and He will not fail to perform His Word. God is the only one who turns around the evil intent of the enemy to come out for good. As a worshiper and obedient child of the Most High God who is faithful in walking the walk, you can be assured that all the wicked plans that have been set up against you for years, months or weeks, by your closest ones are what God will use to turn around your stagnation into motion. God is waiting and all that He did not allow will not be allowed in your life. When the Lord is with you, His presence will raise you up. Like Joseph, King David also enjoyed the presence of God that delivered him from King Saul. 1 Samuel 18:12, “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul.” The presence of God made a king to be in fear of the young David. Also in 1 Samuel 18:14, “…David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.” In deed and in truth, there is nothing more for a believer to desire than the presence of the Lord God Almighty. This was evident in the life of Moses, Joseph, and King David. The days, weeks, months, and years past have been with great challenges. As a believer who has been privileged by His grace to see the day you are in, it is worth to look back and give God all the glory for His presence that has brought you this far. Acknowledging and thanking God for the past, the present and the future is all that will provoke His hand to continue to drive your vessel up to where He wants to see it arrive.
 
No grave trouble will overtake the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil
(Proverbs12:21)
When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
(Proverbs 16:7)