“LET’S BE HUMBLE”

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 

 

We all have an element of it in one form or the other, a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements or possessions, consciousness of one’s own dignity. Yet no one wants to accept but easily see it in others. We know the disease, but we don’t recognize the symptoms in our lives. And that’s why we need the insight of our spiritual Great Physician to reveal symptoms of pride and rescue us from it. Yet there is hope for every proud heart through Jesus Christ. Immanuel-God with us-condescended to live among us, die for us, and raise us to new life. He never owned a shred of sinful pride-no fear, entitlement, ingratitude, people-pleasing, prayerlessness, hypocrisy, or rebellion.
Jesus is God, equal yet emptied himself of all he deserved to save us from our pride. He who was entitled to the highest honor forfeited it for our redemption.
It’s because of Jesus’ humility that we can be forgiven of our pride. That’s both the sting and joy of the gospel. It deals with our pride by destroying it, reminding us that life is not about us, and that we deserve only the wrath of God for our sin. Jesus Christ also deals with our pride by taking the just punishment for it upon himself at the cross, that we might be renewed in the image of our Creator (Colossians 3:10) and made humble like our Savior.
It’s been said that the talent we have, is given from above so why the puffing up? The fame we derive from it is earthly bestowed, it has never lasted, it fades away, why allowing it to get to our heads? Being humble, kind, and calm is the “right thing to do.” But if that isn’t enough to convince you, consider this: humility, kindness, and calmness can actually help you get ahead in life. Jesus is our rescue from the eventual shame and disgrace of pride (Proverbs 11:2), let’s be humble.

“POWER OF PRAYER”

And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.
After the dark period described in the Old Testament book of Judges, Israel’s desperate situation began to turn around with the prayer of a woman named Hannah. “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly” She didn’t recite mental prayers as we often do; her heart went out to the Lord. Amid the backslidden and even corrupt religious establishment of that day, we see a desperate, simple woman stirred to pray a prayer that will usher in a new day in Israel’s history. In her prayer she promised God that if he gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord for as long as he lived. When she finished praying, she got something to eat, and her face was no longer downcast. It was as if she knew something was about to change. Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
Now, what was it that stirred Hannah to pray a prayer that changed the future of Israel?  Hannah chose not to live in denial. When  mocked, she could have said, “Who cares? I’m not into kids. It is the will of God kind of!” But she didn’t. She faced the truth (as painful as it was), saying, “I want a baby, I want a son, I want to be fruitful.”

Hannah did not only refused to deny her situation, neither did she accept it as ‘fait accompli’  she turned to God and her unique prayer became the channel that provoked God to turn the tide in Israel and bring much-needed blessing upon them.
The lesson is clear for us today. We must not silently accept our lack of fruitfulness and somehow justify it as God’s will for us. Let us honestly face our circumstances and then desperately prayed for God to change them.
What was in her prayer that God could not ignore?

No doubt Hannah’s prayer was powerful and effective, the kind James describes in his epistle (James 5:16), but I would say hers was both the heightened element of desperation coupled with deep faith in God. Hannah had no other place to turn. It was as if, in her great anguish and grief, she cried, “Make me fruitful, or I don’t want to go on.” She was at her end. “Give me a child or I will die!” God heard Hannah’s prayer, and her prayer became the pathway to divine intervention.Furthermore, God wanted her story told in detail in the Bible, so future generations would recognize that Israel’s turnaround started with a lonely, heartbroken woman who just wanted to bear fruit.
Desperate and soul-stirring prayers like hers result in answers. When God is sought in desperation, he responds. Even in hopeless situations. Just like Hannah, we have areas in our life where we desperately need to experience a breakthrough. Do you believe prayer can change your situation? What are you desperately seeking God for in your life?

“WHEN YOU FEEL SO POWERLESS “

“I will speak of the Lord, He is is my refuge and fortress, in Him I will trust.”
Many times it appears that the forces raging against us are so much more powerful than us. It is a time when  we come face-to-face with something we can’t fix and it like drowning may likely be the result. That is what happens when  we are under the weight of a daunting and overwhelming issues of life. There are three persons you should speak to, yourself, others or God. Self effort under this situation is doomed to be help for the arm of flesh will fail.  Turning to man may be an option but the Bible says “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans.” Pa 118:8. The only one to turn to is God. That explains why the psalmist says “I will speak to the Lord ………’
Speaking to the Lord means declaring the Word to the Lord in prayer. This was the approach of Jeremiah when the people of God were confronted by the most powerful empire of its time – Babylon. In this overwhelming difficult and powerless situation, Jeremiah turned to the Lord, speaking to the Lord by declaring the word, ‘….I am against you, O destroying mountain, …. I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain”   (Jer. 51:25); “I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and male goats.” (Jer. 51:40); Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon, for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north, declares the Lord. Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth” (48-49). Zechariah too in Zechariah 4:7 say “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: …”
Jeremiah’s message was this: God is all-powerful. ‘By his power he made earth. His wisdom gave shape to the world. He crafted the cosmos’. This all-powerful God is on your side: ‘I’m on your side, taking up your cause’. Therefore he says, ‘Don’t lose hope. Don’t ever give up’ (v.15, 36, 46). 
When you feel powerless and overwhelmed, fond out what God’s Word says about your situation, believe it and declare it. And because God’s Word cannot return to Him void (Isaiah 55:11), you will see what you believe and confess come to pass. The Babylonian empire, which seemed so powerful collapsed – like every other empire before or since, but God’s people not only survived, they continued to grow and flourish. Every ‘Babylonic siege over your life shall collapse and you will grow and flourish.
DO YOU FEEL SO POWERLESS, IS THE SITUATION BECOMING UNBEARABLE AND INEXPLICABLE, SPEAK THE WORD, YOU WILL SEE THE MOUNTAIN MOVING.

The Marah Tree

“Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet” (Exodus 15:23-25 NKJV).

 

The passage is a powerful example of God opening our eyes to His availability. Just after the Israelites had been delivered from Pharaoh’s army, they went into the desert where they had no water. God led them to the waters of Marah which was bitter and deadly and therefore not good for drinking. But why will the good God do that? I believe it is show them His sufficiency, availability and relevance in their lives no matter the situation or circumstance they may find themselves.

 

We may have been faced with “bitter waters” many times in our lives. Situations, problems, or tragedies will arise to challenge our walk with God. The Holy Spirit has come to provide the wisdom, counsel, or might we need to turn those waters of life from bitter to sweet! God told Moses to take the tree and put it into the water. Moses’ obedience brought a miracle, and the miracle brought a revelation: God did not want them to drink bitter waters. He wanted to reveal their hearts in order for their hearts be changed where needed. The experience revealed that while Moses was God centred, Israel was not and that God is a good God; and Israel needed to know that. If they would simply obey Him, He would care for them.

 

Unfortunately, even after the great miracles, Israel would not continue to walk with God. They refused to listen to His instructions. Psalm 81 opens us into God’s heart as He was reaching out to His nation. “But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels” (Ps. 81:11-12 NKJV). Israel would not heed the counsel of God and no wonder they wandered in the wilderness. The Psalms tells us what would been the resultant effects had Israel heeded the counsel of God. “Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you” (vv. 13-16).

 

Their experience could have been much different. If they had learned the lesson from the bitter waters of Marah, they would have seen how to reach out for counsel and wisdom from Jehovah God. Counsel came to them as it does to us. The tree at Marah represents the Branch: Jesus Christ. He will turn the bitter waters of our lives into sweet.

 

May the tests of life bend us towards Jesus, that we might open ourselves to Him at every  new depths, heeding His word and experiencing His healing. By the grace of God, may we make the journey and know His healing that we might live the Jesus life. Amen.

GOD’S SET OF PEOPLE

 

“Remember me, O Lord, with the favour You have toward Your people. Oh visit me with Your salvation.” (Psalms 106:4 NKJV)

 

The Bible says here that there is a set of people that God bears an unusual   favour, loves them with an everlasting love; which he has shown in the choice of them; shown in the gift of Jesus to them; in their regeneration, and eternal salvation. There is no doubt that nothing can be more desirable than an interest in this favour, in which is life, spiritual and eternal; is the strength, protection and security of believers, the source of their comfort, and the foundation of their joy. The beneficiary of the above is a special and peculiar people that God has chosen and brought them into covenant (1Pe 2:9). These are the people that are redeemed by the Son of God himself, who are called by grace, and brought to glory. They are peculiar and are God’s set of people.

 

But what does it mean to be the peculiar of God? The English word “peculiar” comes from the Latin word, “peculiaris,” which is derived from “peculium,” meaning ‘one’s own property’. In this context, the peculiar people are “God’s own property”, acquired, owned and preserved – people belonging to God and God alone. You are not your own any more. You were bought with a price. (1Co 6:20) to glorify  God not just with our hearts, but also with our bodies. Who are the peculiars of God? Obedient children, not after the lust of the flesh, called to be holy, conducting themselves in the fear of God (1Pe 1:14-17).

 

This is the set of people that God remembers. When God remembers us, He simply pays special attention to one and visits with salvation: salvation of our souls, salvation from the Red Sea of live, salvation from grievous affliction. When He remembers us, He delivers us from great distress. It may be temporary distress, or mental distress, or spiritual distress. He rescues us. He answers our prayers. He lifts us up from our circumstance. He brings us to the limelight when he remembers us.

A CALL TO FAITHFUL SERVICE
“I set treasurers over the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites; assisting them was Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, for they were counted faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.” Nehemiah 13:13

The high point of this passage is that all the men put in place regardless of their titles had one thing in common, the men were considered trustworthy(Nehemiah 13:13b). They were faithful men. Today faithfulness as a quality is very rare. All we do is pay lip service to it. It is disheartening to me at times to see how few people take seriously the responsibility to carry through faithfully what they have undertaken.
Faithfulness is a quality that God admires. Paul says of those who minister in the church: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). That is the primary thing God looks for: the ability to hang in with an assignment until you are through; the willingness to fulfil responsibility year after year, not needing to be praised or thanked or publicly encouraged in order to do so; to work unto the Lord; to show up on time and to not leave until the work is done.
To be considered faithful has no relationship with age or gender, it is not a function of how long you have been in the church. A faithful believer is a man with:
  • Humble Heart: someone whose ego is not on the line all the time, who must be praised and honoured and encouraged in order to get him to do anything at all; who gets disgruntled and turned off if she does not get recognised. I look for someone who understands that service is a privilege; that power is not conferred upon a person by an office but by serving people.
  • Right Attitude: Someone who sees her work as a ministry of service to the Lord Himself; he sees it as a privilege to serve and undertakes the it out of gratitude in his own life and heart, and no matter how tough it gets, will not quit. He possesses a teachable spirit who wants to learn all the time, always listening and tries to consult and reason out with others.
God is looking for these kind of people in 2017, to change the age in which they live. That is what we are called to do today. We are all included in this calling, not just the pastor or visible leaders. There is no single believer that has not been equipped by the Holy Spirit with a special ability to do something. in the service of the Lord. Do you make your gifting available in His service? If you have, are you faithful? Will you answer the call in 2017?. The body of Christ requires faithful men and women who are willing to carry this through to the end.

A CALL TO FAITHFUL SERVICE
 
Do you have questions regarding this week’s issue of “In His Presence”? Please contact me via the email address below.
pastor@rccggoldenarena.org
Ranti Orioke

HYPOCRISY

“HYPOCRISY “

 

 

 

At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. (Acts 5:10-11)

 

 

The story of Ananias and Sapphira points us to the danger of the sin of hypocrisy. It is amazing that what this couple did, attracted severest punishment in the early church. It was literally deadly for them. If this is what Holy Spirit always does with his church, there would have been the need today, for a mogul in every church. The sin of this couple was that they conspired together to deceive the apostles and the church. In other words, they were trying to impress everyone with a higher level of spirituality and commitment than they really had.

 

This kind of behavior has assumed unimaginable dimension in today’s church. People, including leaders assuming false appearance of virtue or goodness, with dissimulation of real character or inclinations.  Sheer dishonesty, lies, manipulation and questionable motives are the trend. We come to church with the mask of spirituality whereas, pretence, sham, hypocrisy, pretending to be something we are not. We are all guilty of trying to impress others with our commitment and devotion to Christ, even though we know in our heart that we are exaggerating.

 

Our lives are filled with pride, envy, hatred in homes, in the church and between brethren. For one’s spouse, for brethren. We come to church and put on a mask that says everything’s fine! Everything’s wonderful! When we are asked, how are things going. “Great, great! Fine!” “How’s everything at home?” “Oh, wonderful! We’re having a wonderful time!” The minute we say that and it’s not true, we die. Death sets in.

How do we deal with this problem within ourselves? We are all prone to the sin of hypocrisy and that’s the reason we should consciously pursue godly character.

Repent means to acknowledge that you have been doing it wrong and then turn from the sinful ways.  I urge you to allow God’s Word to confront your life. If you’re playing the religion game, quit now! Get real with the living God. Spend time each day with Him. Judge your sins and turn from them. Seek to grow in godly character. Our God desires truth in the innermost being (Ps 51:6).

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

“HYPOCRISY”

 

 Do you have questions regarding this week’s issue of “In His Presence” ? Please Contact me via the email address below.

 

pastor@rccggoldenarena.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are all guilty of trying to impress others with our commitment and devotion to Christ, even though we know in our heart that we are exaggerating.

 

 

 

Ranti Orioke

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