Month: March 2020

“Why do you continue to allow evil to prevail?” Is a question that every believer asks at some point during their walk with God. Unfortunately, the author of wickedness has a legal right to be on the earth. According to the bible, he is not going to be removed until the return of Christ, and at that time judgement will take place. But if the Lord was to return today, how many of us would be ready to stand before Him? Click To Tweetif the Lord was to return today, how many of us would be ready to stand before Him? In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God can see every monstrous act that is taking place on every continent, in every country, in every home, in each individual heart, He is a witness to the iniquitous depravity of humanity. You have just read, “He is longsuffering towards us,” this sentence is a grave understatement of the torment that our Heavenly Father is enduring as He watches His creation languish. 

God is the creator of this world, and He could end it now with one word, but He wants to give all of mankind the opportunity to fully turn their hearts to Him first.

We live each day hoping for eternity, but we must daily examine ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to refine us, so that when we do meet the Lord, we are ready.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

 

Psalm 19:1 – “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.”

I have travelled to Africa, Europe, North America and South America, and as the plane propels through the atmosphere and transcends from one continent to another, there is one thing that catches my attention. The magnificence of the sky! The resplendent array of colours, blue, red, orange, yellow, purple pink and white. The sheer elegance of the way in which the sun rises and falls. The transformation from day to night, the rain, the snow, the wind. I often wonder, when admiring God’s workmanship, when the sky is awash with different hues splashed upon His canvas, “What motivated my Father to paint the sky in these colours today? There is no artist capable of replicating the wondrous beauty of God’s creation. Click To TweetThere is no artist capable of replicating the wondrous beauty of God’s creation. Yet according to Nahum 1:3 the sky is described as, “The dust of His feet.” 

In the eyes of man, the sky is often recounted as one of the most beautiful elements of creation, but God refers to it as “the dust of His feet.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 states – “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared to those who love Him.”  This scripture excites me, because it is telling me that there is something far greater for me to experience than the wonders of His earthly creation. Something that I have not seen with my natural eyes, one day, when my time on this earth is no more, I will enter into a glory that my mind will never be able to comprehend.

The word firmament according to the Oxford dictionary simply means, “the vault of heaven,” which is something that is located under – which is the sky. The order, precision, and meticulousness in which the earth stands speaks of an intelligence from another dimension. The glory of God is present everywhere we turn. The grass, trees, flowers,  the sea, rivers, and oceans, the complexity of the animal kingdom. Every blade of grass, every snowflake, and every drop of rain has its own D N A!

The sun in and of itself is a nuclear engine, it provides more energy in one second than mankind has composed since the inception of the universe. The spider web of a drag like silk spider is twice the strength of the material used to make bullet proof vests for SWAT teams, and five times the strength of steel. Due to its fascinating resilience and vitality, it is said that at the thickness of a pencil, the web of this spider could trap a jumbo jet!

The human eye has been described by Evolutionist Robert Jastrow as “a marvellous instrument resembling a telescope of the highest quality.” One of the most fascinating components of the eye is the retina. It is a layer positioned at the back of the eyeball that is thinner than a sheet of plastic wrap, but is capable of handling a ratio of 10 billion to 1 light wavelengths of 380 to 750 nano-meters!

God is the creator of the ends of this earth, mighty and awesome in power, Elohim, Ely Elyon, the Most High God, the Everlasting God, Jehovah Shammah. I stand in reverence at the work of His hands. I challenge you children of God, to stop what you are doing and look up at the sky, or on the ground beneath, and take in the splendour of his majesty, that has been displayed in all that He has created. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word

James 1:2-3 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”

Before my salvation, if someone had told me that I would be rejoicing during the worst period in my life, I would have dismissed the notion as “impossible.” In my finite mind, I believed that my life was over, and nobody could convince me otherwise. I was facing 15 years in prison, my lawyer was absolutely useless, I was held on a no bond hold, and my face was all over the news, portrayed as a killer who had destroyed a “perfect family.” Where was the joy in this?

What I could not see, was that God had the blueprint for my life, and that something glorious was going to come out of that which I, and everyone else thought was a tragedy! It was not until I had surrendered my life to Jesus did I begin to see light at the end of the tunnel.

The verse says, “Count it all joy.” Why should I be joyful amongst my abysmal circumstances? First, joy is a byproduct of your faith, according to Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.” So you can’t see with your natural eyes what God is doing in your situation, but you are hoping for it because the bible has promised you victory. If you have faith to believe that His word is going to be fulfilled, you are going to have joy in your heart, knowing that you will overcome regardless of your circumstances. Your joy during your trials, is an indication that your faith is high. Now, this does not mean you are going to be walking around with a grin on your face because you are suffering! Certainly not, there were days during my incarceration that I was fully depressed. But there was a quiet knowing in my spirit that victory was at hand.

Second, when you are joyful, praise emanates from your inner being, praise releases the power of God. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehosophat went into battle against his enemies, he sent a praise team ahead of the army. When they began to sing, the bible says, “The Lord set ambushes against the people of Amon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated”  (2 Chronicles 20:22). A joyful spirit during your trial accelerates your victory. Click To TweetA joyful spirit during your trial accelerates your victory, not because it causes God to work faster, but when your eyes are fixed on Him and not on your circumstances, you no longer focus on time. I was in prison for 5 years, but because I persevered with joy in my heart, it seemed a lot shorter.

Third, joy strengthens you, the above scripture says, “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” It is imperative that you are patient whilst waiting for God to work out your situation. Impatience will cause you to go ahead of the Lord, and lend Him a helping hand which often leads to disastrous consequences. When God promised Abraham a child, after waiting 13 years with no delivery, he listened to the voice of his wife, and impregnated their Egyptian bond servant Hagar, producing Ishmael. Abraham later had Issac, and the two sons became bitter rivals. 

Joy gives you the patience that you need to wait upon the Lord, and this is what is promised to those who follow this instruction, Isaiah 40:31, “And those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up on wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  

The bible tells us that we are going to experience tribulation, but when we go through the trials of life, we do so from a superior position, knowing that every battle that we are ever going to endure was first won on the cross at Calvary. Therefore, it only makes sense to go through your hardships with joy in your spirit, having full knowledge that there will always be glory waiting behind your mountain. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word. 

Habakkuk 3:3-4 “God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.”

Living in a world where evil reigns, one often asks the question, “Where is God?” Children are murdered, rape, hatred, senseless killings saturate the news daily, and the wicked continue to prosper. “Where is God?” Is a genuine, and valid question; however, it is not a new one. 

Habakkuk was a prophet sent by God to the nation of Israel, he was sent during a time of spiritual decline and moral upheaval. The society was much like it is today, its inhabitants had strayed so far away from God that evil, violence, injustice and distress were the norm. Habakkuk asked the same questions that believers of this day continue to ask. “Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgement proceeds.” (Habakkuk 1:3-4) 

The name Habakkuk means to “embrace” or “wrestle,” Habakkuk embraced the goodness of the Lord. At the same time, he wrestled with the apparent indifference of God towards the evil that was taking place in the world around him. The majority of Christians can relate to this dichotomy.

Habakkuk was a man of prayer, and throughout the book, we see that he took all of his concerns to the throne room. He went from questioning God, to trusting Him, he made the transition from anxiety to adoration. He simply made the choice to trust God, and focus on His awesomeness as opposed to worrying about how He was going to rectify the worlds problems, and this was his mindset in the above verses. 

Teman was located in southern Idumea, it was referred to as the land of the ‘sons of the east.’ When Habakkuk says, “God came from Teman, he is referring to God appearing out of the east. The sun rises from the east, He is eradicating the darkness, and inaugurating a new day, as the sun shines over the earth, God is shining over his people. Click To TweetGod is shining over his people.

The root verb for Paran means, ‘to glorify,’ indicating that God will glorify Himself in Israel. Habakkuk has come to a place in His relationship with the Lord, where he understands that there is a greater purpose behind the evil that he is surrounded by. He is now able to look into the realm of the spirit, and see what God sees,  and that is, that one day in the future, the earth will be full of praise for the Great and Mighty One. A time is coming when every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” We may not understand why we have to suffer in life, but God does. No one understood why I was found guilty of a crime that I did not commit, and sentenced to 12 years in prison; but there was a purpose behind it. Now that I have been delivered, I can see why I had to endure. I survived a seemingly insurmountable situation, because my hope and my trust was in the Lord. Like Habakkuk, I witnessed the hand of the wicked prevail against me, after spending months questioning God, I began to trust that the word He had given me would come to pass. Five years into a 12 year sentence, all charges were dismissed, previous sentence vacated, and here I am writing this devotional. Glory to God!

As God had a plan for the nation of Israel, He also has a plan for your life. You may be sick, in a rocky marriage, your children are rebellious, whatever trial that you are currently facing, the Lord has promised to perfect all that concerns you. So hold on, and lift your eyes up to the hills from where comes your help, deliverance is at hand.

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalms 46:10

Standing still while the wind of tribulation is blowing in your life sounds like an impossible task to the natural mind. However, when your trust and faith is in the Lord, He will quiet the tempestuous places in your mind and spirit as you wait for your deliverance. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehosophat was grossly outnumbered by his enemies, and about to go into battle, God said, “Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you.” Jehosophat was a man of faith, and that is what it takes to wait upon the Lord. 

It takes faith to watch your child self destruct at the same time as standing on Isaiah 54:13, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” It takes faith to believe that you are going to be successful but the only job that you can find barely pays minimum wage, and at the same time believe Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. Click To Tweet

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. It is when there appears to be no hope, that you are going to drown amidst the waves that will not cease from their tossing to and fro that faith wins its crown. Every man and women used by God throughout the bible experienced hardships that most of us today would not be able to endure. Joseph was sold into slavery by his envious brothers, accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison. Abraham had to wait 25 years for the deliverance of Issac, and then he was asked to kill him. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness herding sheep after being raised in the kings palace. Paul was stoned, whipped, shipwrecked, imprisoned and persecuted on every side. Each one of them remained faithful during their trials, and in the end they were elevated, re-positioned and catapulted into their destiny. Joseph became the King of Egypt’s right hand man, Abraham became the father of many nations, Moses led the children of Israel out of captivity, and Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament. 

Ephesians 2:20 says, “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” A foundation is a solid ground or base upon which a building rests. Before the building is built, the foundation must go through a series of tests to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand the weight of the building. God had preordained that He was going to build his church upon the foundation of the first prophets and apostles; therefore, He had to put them through a rigorous testing process to ensure that their faith was strong enough to do so. When they were going through what they were going through, they had no idea how God intended to use their lives. Gods perspective is eternal, He is strategic, He moves by methodology, and there is a purpose behind everything that He does. I am sure the saints of old are rejoicing in heaven having full knowledge of how imperative their roles were in Gods glorious plan. 

We can learn valuable lessons from what the former prophets did and did not do during their hardships. We will never understand why the Lord allows misfortune into our lives, but one thing we do know is that once we have overcome, we can use our testimony to assist someone else enduring the same or a similar trial. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves received.”  Gods methodology has not changed, He is doing the same in His children now, as He did in the Old and New Testament. 

As we overcome each hardship in life, and experience the delivering power of the Almighty, not only will our faith increase, but we will be able to understand the purpose behind the adversity we endured. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.