Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Our children will turn out well




In the scripture above, God was speaking to the Israelites at the border of the Promised Land. The Israelites had been grumbling bitterly against God because they feared greatly for the fate of their children, after they had heard the reports of ten of the twelve leaders who had been sent to spy out the land. The ten men brought a back a bad report about the Promised Land, so their courage faltered. They did not believe that God will take them in and defeat their enemies, as He promised, so they chose to go back to Egypt.

Their excuse was that they were concerned for their children but the real reason was their insecurity, fear, lack of capacity for faith and trust in God. This lack of faith and their disobedience angered God, so God said that the complaining parents will not enter the Promised Land but the children, who they feared for, would.

Many people in our country are very much like those Israelites - compromising and breaking God’s laws and the country's laws in an attempt to create platforms for their kids to be successful. God is saying that breaking laws will never guarantee a future for children. Nobody has any control over the future of their children; we are only stewards and caretakers.

It's understandable when most Nigerian parents fear for their children's future because some of us watched our parents serve diligently, loyally, honestly and faithfully until retirement, only to be shabbily treated as a reward in spite of lofty promises of gratuity and pension by the government; while the ones who cut corners, on the other hand, live comfortably and seem to have secured better lives for their children. Turns out that they are the smarter ones, or so it seems. This has pushed some people to dabble into all sorts of fraud, bribery and corruption to get wealth. The spirit of God is saying all of these are houses made of straw. God doesn't need your help, He needs your faith. You cannot steal money to build a future, remember, 'unless the Lord builds a house, the builder builds in vain'.

We must not prepare our children for a future the same as our past, their future will be different. The Nigeria that our children will live in is going to be much better. Anybody who trains his child to cut corners is training that child for a Nigeria that no longer exists. Nigeria is changing at a fast pace, let's commit to preparing our children for the future and God will give us capacity.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Victory in Christ




1 Corinthians 15:57
Every battle ends with either a shout of victory or the wail of defeat. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead gave us something to shout victoriously about because it was a demonstration of victory over sin, death, and hell. 2 Corinthians 2:14 proclaims that God leads those who believe in Christ in a perpetual victory parade. In God’s camp, there is perpetual victory, joy and celebration. Jesus conquered satan, disarmed principalities and powers making an open show of them by triumphing over them on the cross.


We should celebrate this victory and show it off for the whole world to see. The Christian life is not designed for temporary victory. Regardless of the circumstances, Christians should not walk around wearing long faces because its our duty to enforce Christ’s victory, taking every opportunity to remind the devil that he has been defeated. The way we respond to situations ought to capture the attention of other people and turn them to serve God. God uses us to spread the knowledge of Him, like a sweet smelling perfume. It’s a parade! We walk by faith and not by sight therefore we should not be driven by our situation and circumstances or the dreary news that come from the media houses. Read the good news in the word of God instead. It reports that we are part of Christ’s victory parade! In Christ’s victory parade, His resurrection heralded victory over the forces of darkness. He freed the devil’s captives and gave gifts to man. These gifts include apostles (pioneers and ground breakers), prophets (dreamers and visionaries), evangelists (sales people), pastors (managers) and teachers (trainers and consultants), given for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.


When you become a part of God’s victory parade, He sends you as a gift to solve problems for your generation. But if you are a downcast and discouraged defeatist He can’t send you, therefore let your authority in Christ sink into the core of your being so that you can reign as royalty on earth. It’s either you are reigning or devil is reigning.
It’s our responsibility to resist the stimuli of sin, stand our ground to declare the truth of God’s word over our lives. We have the authority to do many of the things we are asking God to do.


We cannot be wretched children of a rich God or weak children of a mighty God, it’s entirely up to us. Also, we must present all we are as instruments of righteousness to God so that sin will not have dominion over us. We are part of Christ’s victory parade!.. Pastor Sam Adeyemi

Friday, January 15, 2010

The Power of the Christ Life




The greatest display of power in human history was performed by God when He raised Jesus from the dead. He did this to prove that He is alive, so, we can be at peace knowing that our God is not dead. God's paramount goal when He performs miracles is to prove that He's alive and that we can have this resurrection power work through us.

But how do we get this power to work in our lives? To access God's resurrection power, we must identify with the death of Jesus Christ. Paul, in Philippians 3: 3-11, recounts his life accomplishments and counts them to be nothing so that he might attain to the resurrection power in Christ. He disregarded his human ability and chose rather to depend on God's ability; he died to self to live for Christ and we should strive for same.

When we allow the Christ-life to flow through us, we develop the capacity to walk in love and rise above bitterness in relationships. We will no longer be controlled by our human nature but by Christ's, so we tend to respond to situations just as Jesus would. The essence of the resurrection power working through us is for us to be witnesses unto Christ and not for self. Our greatest quest this year and through life should be to know Jesus Christ and forget a personal relationship with Him.

We should make a commitment to be on assignment for God. (Acts 1: 8). God is raising new Davids. Like in 1 Samuel 16:13, He will bring nonentities out of obscurity and place His power on them to do His will. This year, we will experience and know Him beyond the Person the Pastors speak about. Hence, the problems we could not solve last year, we will resolve with ease because the power of the Christ life in us turns every problem into an opportunity for a miracle and a testimony! We will prosper in business without depending on the existing economic structures because God is building a new system. In the political arena, power is also changing locations.

This is a season of change, but until you put down your old life, you cannot take up the resurrection power. It is how much of Christ you allow to find expression through you that will determine how easy it will be for you to resolve the issues of your life. Our creed this year should be 'I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me'. Galatians 2: 20... Pastor Sam Adeyemi