¹⁰I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

How do we open our mouths? In prayer and in praise. In this context, it is talking about opening it in prayer. This is because there is suppose to be a response to the opening of the mouth. The limit of it is wide.  Our expectations must be high and very hign. A king once said, “Ask me… to half of my kingdom”. God is not limiting our asking to the limit of His kingdom. In a passage of the Bible, it says,

Jeremiah 33³Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

It called it mighty things that thou knowest not. The opening of the mouth must be beyond our knowledge. Something impossible.

The Psalmist made reference to what happened in the past. God delivered him from death. His goal and ambition was for God to keep his feet from falling. that will lead him to eternal rest with him. Yesterday was a testimony reference, today was full of hope for him and Eternity was assured.

Think of God. He created the network before creating us. There is no moment when we will ever be out of coverage. There is no moment when we can not “dial” our Father and express our plans, pains and gains to Him. We can connect to His network to be directed in real time since He has the map of the universe at His ccommand.

Three phases can be seeing in the life of many Bible characters

The second stages of these examples were full of suffering and sorrows. The most important transition is from stage 2 to 3. There were remarkable specific and distinct changes. It happened in a specific day. The first stages were generally filled with visions and dreams that do not make meaning when they happened.

1Sa 1:17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant [thee] thy petition that thou hast asked of him.

1Sa 1:18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

This was a story of Hannah and Eli. She had prayed with sorrowful heart and there seems to be a hard future ahead. She prayed util this point when Eli told here that “God of Israel will grant her petition”.

If Eli had a prayer answering ministry, God will always honour his words, we just need to proclaim it without fear of favour.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Open source, open liberty!

2Sa 12:8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if [that had been] too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

Apart from the usual interpretation of this verse to the justified disadvantage of David, we can see the openness of this verse. This verse can be seen as “Open Source Connection”. Jesus had not been manifested at this period of the age. Remember, it was Jesus that said, “that you may have it more abundantly”, “Whatsoever you asked in my name” etc.Here David was rebuked for not asking as much as he wanted. The message is “If that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee and such and such things”. The things here were not specific but “Open Source”.

Monday, May 12, 2008

This was a statement credited to Peter in a remote location why he was half asleep. Because he was half-asleep, his utterance revealed the state of his mind. This statement has a lot to reveal unto us. One, it revealed the mental and spiritual state of Peter. It also revealed the influence of Peters on others. There were other disciples with Peters that night. Peter did not seek the indulgence of others before he offered his service. Imagine the difficulties of making tent in the night on a mountain. They had no tools to make the tent with, yet he was ready to make the tent. He would have said in his mind, “others may not be convinced, I am ready”. Peter did not say, they were to make one tent to be shared by Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He rightly place Jesus in an exalted position. The order of making of the tent was one for Jesus then thereafter Moses and Elijah. You will remember the place of the law among the children of Israel. Several occasion, the people of Jesus time made reference to the importance of the law.

Peter did not say, they were making tents for themselves despite the inconveniences and the dangers of the night. They would have suggested a tent to shield them from the cold of the night and dangerous animals. Peter did not initiate a six floored tent. He absolutely surrendered all to Jesus. There are those today who are making their own tents not on the hill, not in the night. In the comfort of their affluence, they made not just one tent. They made three tents. One for me, one for me and one for my children. The Holy Spirit gently whispered, where is a place of my abode? They throw away the request. They were not in comparison to David who found it offensive to build a place for himself when the ark of covenant is not protected. A look at the worship places today is a revelation of our heart desires and ambition. In the late centuries, the best of buildings all over Europe are places of worship. No house in the whole of towns is as good as the worship places. A town called Auxerre in France have a population of 11 thousand. They have 4 main cathedrals that worth the value of the buildings in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. These cathedrals were made of stones. Time will fail me to tell of the great cathedrals of Sacred Coeur in Paris, the great worship places in Limoges, Luxembourg, Maastricht (NL), Metz, Strasbourg, Liege (BE), Brussels. How will I tell you of the value of the building Vatican?. Rome, Venice, Florence, Bratislava, Budapest attest to the fact of “and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias”.

What do we know of the building constructed by Solomon? Take a survey of the material used in the construction. Does the building of tabernacle in the Old Testament make a meaning to your weary soul? At the close of the ages, we must provide answer to why we left the tabernacle of the Lord in the rain. Peter also valued the presence of God. He said “.. it is good for us to be here.” I will not attempt to talk on this now.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Jesus was talking to a young man the need to keep the commandments of God. This chap said, he has been keeping the commandments from his youthful life. It is easier to learn to keep the commandment of God at the youthful age than to try to adapt at the latter years. 

The old pains of the past, the sins of the past, the experiences of the past are impediments to a renew commitments to serve God.

This is why it is imperative to restitute what has been done wrong. Zacheaus said, “I will restore four fold the wrongs of the past”. This is the only way to get behind us the old cargoes of sins. 

But a young man like this has some level of confidence. He felt by his own standard, he merit a place in the kingdom of /God.

Can we say like this young man that, as far as we are concerned we have a ready mind?

1Jo 3:20 ¶ For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 

Monday, September 17, 2007

This verse emphasized the important of understanding the preaching of the Kingdom. A lot of preachers today make noises that made no meaning to anybody. Their preaching are fondles because, the preaching were not meant to exalt Christ. The preaching that do not make Christ its centre will be “catcheth away”.

The other time, I heard a man called Joel Osteen. All I could remember of his preaching was Victoria his wife. The gate of heaven will not open to me because I knew the name of Victoria. Only Jesus, Jesus only.

There are other preachers that are confused. They do not preach Victoria but they preach money. The understanding of the technicality of money does not imply the understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven.

There are those that their preachings were not aimed at anything. If the scientists perform experiments without goals, our lives will be in misery. Look at the effort and the resources devoted to launching a satellite into orbit. Preacher’s messages are supposed to launch a weakling sinner beyond the orbit. They are supposed to be launched not just beyond the orbit but beyond the galaxies and the Milky Way. Oh, that message can not be an idle senseless message.

The messages must be directed to a course. They must not be described as unidentified flying object (UFO). Just flying aimlessly in the air.

Jer 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Any preaching short of this is a wasted moment, wasted effort, wasted attempt and wasted resources.

What use is a preaching if it is meant to be eaten by the birds of the air? What use is a man’s labour if it will not achieve an objective?

In this parable, only the seeds by the way side attract a peculiar attention. This is because, Jesus said “they did not understand the message”. The one by the rock, or by the thorns do not merit the same considerations as the one by the way side.

If they do not understand, whose fault is that? Of course when a man speaks with “dark sayings”, who will understand his message?

Lu 7:32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept.

But they needed to speak the language that meets the circumstances. Market place is not a place for dancing or mourning, it is a place of selling and buying. Church is not a place for selling and buying, it is the gate of heaven. If you speak a language that does not portray the essence of the gathering, they will not response to the message preaching. If the “gate to my Father’s house” is not in the discussion, it might be a message encouraging the throng to go through the windows.

Saturday, September 15, 2007