“GOD THE HELPER”

God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], A very present and well-proved help in trouble. (Psalms 46:1 AMP)
This psalm encourages us to hope and trust in God; in his power and providence, and his gracious presence with His own in the worst of times. David in Psalm 54:4a declares “Behold God is mine helper…..”, his only help when he was confronted with the arrays of Saul’s hit men and the betrayal of the Ziphites in divulging to Saul where he was hiding. He had known disappointments both from within and without and came to realization  that only God is the dependable Helper. There are three attributes of God’s  help:
It is sufficient and enough because it is divine. “The Lord is my helper.” When we are in need of friends to come to our aid, but often they cannot help us because their resources are inadequate. The Lord’s resources are never inadequate. His name is El-Shaddai (Genesis 17:1), which means that He is “the Enough God”.
The help of God because of His immotability, is always there to be accessed, so easily obtainable. The help can never be too early to become unnecessary or too late to be of no relevance again. Mary and Martha said, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21, 32) But was He late?, not at all; He is always here – Psalm 46:1.
The help of God is bespoke, proper and fitting to individual’s need and it is personally dispensed to each according to each needs.
Are we in danger from visible or invisible enemies? God is our refuge, to whom we may flee, and in whom we may be safe. We have work to do, a warfare to accomplish, and sufferings to endure?. God is our strength to bear us up under our burdens, and to fit us for all our services and sufferings. Are we oppressed with troubles and distresses? He is a help in trouble: yea a present and adequate help. He had manifested himself to be so in the course of His providence in time past, and He has engaged to be so in time to come, and will not fail to fulfil His engagement.

 

JESUS, THE LIVING HOPE.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3 RSV)”
   
Probably no apostle felt the death of Jesus more agonizingly than Peter. He had boasted that he would not leave him or forsake him, that he would stay true and fight for him even unto death. He meant so well, but he failed so miserably. When the moment came, a little girl’s question upset him, and melted all his bravado, and he denied his Lord. So to the appalling collapse of hope that all the apostles experienced in the death of Jesus, in Peter’s case was added the shame and disgrace of his own denial. It is no wonder that the last view we have of Peter in the Gospels is his going out into the dark of the night, weeping bitterly.
I am sure there may be some like that here this morning whose hopes have been crushed, whose dreams have been unfulfilled. Maybe just a few years ago you had glorious dreams of what you would like to be, and what you would like to do, and now they are all faded away, or collapsed about you. You meant to do well, but you ended up wrong, somehow. We can even have bad days that make us feel that way.
It is those kinds of moments and that kind of day that the resurrection of Jesus is designed to relieve and to help. We celebrate Easter and the great triumph of Christ over the grave but we often forget that Easter also stands for the presence of Christ with us to meet the pressures of life as they come to us day by day. I am sure Peter had that in mind when he wrote this text, for you to recall that after the resurrection of Jesus we are told in the Gospels that he appeared privately to Peter. Evidently the sensitive heart of Jesus understood how Peter felt in the hour of his monumental failure and collapse of faith, and he sought him out, and appeared to him, and doubtless restored him to some sense of personal worth again.
All we need do is align ourselves with all that Jesus represents, regardless of what it was with us before, our failings, Jesus lives in our hearts to forgive us, to sustain us, to encourage us, to strengthen us, to correct us. He guides us all the way through life to the end, and then does not leave us desolate, but takes us on through to that life beyond.

The Purposeful God

The Purposeful God
“Then Job replied to the LORD: I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:1-2).

There are many times in the life of man that God may appear silent and uncaring. That appears to be the case of Job otherwise why did He not intervene? But what the book of Job shows is that behind that appearance, God is always exactly what He is, a loving, caring and concerned God, deeply aware of our problems. He is concerned about us, carefully controlling everything that touches us, limiting the power of Satan and allowing certain expressions, according to His knowledge of how much we can bear (1 Cor.10:13). He is patient, forgiving, and ultimately responsible for all that happens.

In the beginning of this book, the reader’s attention is focused on three personalities: God, Satan, and Job. By the end of the book, Satan has completely disappeared. All you have left is God standing before Job, saying to him, All right, Job, I’m responsible. When Job begins to see what God is working out in His vast, cosmic purposes and what He is making possible by means of Job’s sufferings, he has no questions to ask whatsoever. The final view of God in this book is of a Being of incredible wisdom who puts things together far beyond human dreams and imaginations, who is working out incredible plans of delight and joy that He will give to us if we wait for His purposes to be fully resolved.

The Lord mentions a time when all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7) at the creation of the world, but other Scriptures tell us about a future time when the sons of God will be revealed (Romans 8:19), when all creation will shout in a greater glory than was ever hailed at the first creation in the new creation that God has brought into being by means of the sufferings and trials of this present scene. That explains why the Bible speaks in numerous passages about our light and momentary troubles that are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17). When that day breaks, the one thing for which we will be infinitely thankful is the fact that out of all the created universe, we were chosen to be the ones who bore the name of God in the hour of danger and affliction, problem and trial. There is no higher honor than that.

Give glory to the God.

THE PURPOSEFUL GOD
 
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

When You Pray

WHEN YOU PRAY
“But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6 NIV)
 
Over the years even in the church, prayer has not received the recognition that it deserves. Many people feel since God already knows about our needs, there isn’t any need to tell God about them. This could turn out to be a very costly mistake! While it’s true God knows about and is involved in every area of our life, it’s also true God will not intervene in man’s issue until He is given the legal right to. By praying, we give Him full control of a situation, we acknowledge His ability to bring about a change in that area of our or someone else’s life. 
Prayer is the key to improving our lives and our relationship with God. By praying, we offer whatever we’re thinking and feeling to the Lord. Whatever you bring, is the starting point. As you pray more regularly or more often, the usual experience is that you start being more truthful in prayer, your attitude becomes more confident, you start taking the time to listen, you start looking for the signs of divine response in your daily life, you start hungering to read the Scriptures, you start wanting to pray with others and you think less and less about yourself.
 
When we come in prayer we come as we are, sometimes scared, sometimes needy, sometimes empty, sometimes bored, sometimes furious, but we come. We come trusting that through prayer God can change us, and can change the things that happen in our life. We come trusting that God is with us and builds us up, that the Holy Spirit prays with us and for us.
Today, if you feel like a victim, you can pray to God, instead of allowing the circumstances of life to overwhelm you. You can begin to take charge of your life by asking God for the power to make changes. Or maybe you live with unchangeable circumstances that affects your life in a major way, you can pray. From finding a partner, to finding a job, from building a business, to building a life, pray, prayer changes things. In a success driven society that we find ourselves, where people of faith often struggle in pursuit of success, you can pray for God to bless your efforts with success
Paul to the church in Ephesus says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)  God is more than ready to hear our complaints, appeals, desires and frustrations if only we dare to pray. Nothing is too big or too small for the Lord not to take into consideration. Paul advises,
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

“WHEN YOU PRAY”
Do you have questions regarding this week’s issue of “In His Presence” ? Please Contact me via the email address below.
pastor@rccggoldenarena.org
Paul to the church in Ephesus says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)
Ranti Orioke

Hanging on to the character of God

HANGING ON TO THE CHARACTER OF GOD.
“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (Hebrews 6:13-15 NKJV)”
God appeared to Abraham and made him a promise: “Through your seed shall all people of the earth be blessed,” (Genesis 22:17-18). This promise was later confirmed by an oath, God swearing by himself that he would fulfill what he had said. The above passage says Abraham believed God’s promise and his oath.
For twenty five years this promise was not fulfilled, and to make the matter worse Abraham and Sarah his wife were growing older and had expired the time of life when it was possible to have children. Despite this, Abraham did not give up, he believed that God had told the truth about Himself, and that God must be true to his own character which he had expressed through both the promise and the oath. He saw nothing, yet he believed.
Abraham hung on to the character of God, believing and following God regardless of the situation and circumstance.  This is the secret of faith and upon this lies where we stand with Jesus. Either he is telling us the truth, and we can trust what this One who is like no one else who ever appeared in human history says to us, or we must reject him and repudiate him as a self-deceived impostor who attempted to foist some crude and foolish ideas upon the human race. That is where faith rests. From that ground everything must follow.

“HANGING ON TO THE CHARACTER OF GOD”
Do you have questions regarding this week’s issue of “In His Presence” ? Please Contact me via the email address below.
pastor@rccggoldenarena.org
Either he is telling us the truth, and we can trust what this One who is like no one else who ever appeared in human history says to us, or we must reject him and repudiate him as a self-deceived impostor
Ranti Orioke

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