God’s Purpose Keeps Us Alive #ChristmasSeries

One of Man’s greatest fear is death. Many face this experience with dread. For this reason, the rich mount very tight security about themselves. The dying spends a fortune to turn back the hands of time. The poor who seem to be tired of living still celebrate when they escape death by inches. But is there a better way to preserve our lives?

Herod was fuming with fear and jealousy when he heard a new King has been born. I wonder what kind of Child intimidates the King if not that the affront originated from a realm beyond the visible! Herod ensured that all the Children within the age range of the threat were eliminated. But Jesus survived. He lived through the massacre. It is interesting to know that John fell within that age range too and His life was preserved.

I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that people who are within the purpose of God cannot be eliminated by death. Death can only reach us when God says we are done. Acts 13:36 "Now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.” Purpose preserves our lives and those of the people that God will have us inspire to fulfill destiny.

We see severally from the scriptures that God’s word is life!

• John 1: 4 In the Word, there is life and this life gives light to all. Anyone who walks in His light can be safe!
• Pros 3: 2 God’s word will increase the length of our days and the years of life, and our prosperity.
• Pros 4: 22 God’s word is life to those who find them and health to all their body.
• John 6: 63 The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life.

More ExamplesGod’s purpose is revealed to us by His word and His word comes by revelation. God can, therefore, reach us with dreams, visions, impressions, thoughts, signs and writings coming alive.

Jesus Stayed alive By Revelation:When God came in the form of man. He was as vulnerable as any of us would. But By revelation in a dream, Joseph was instructed to take Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2:13). The wise men, also by revelation in a dream, were instructed not to return to Herod so that Jesus would not be found (Matthew 2:12). This saved Jesus’ life and preserved the plan God had for the salvation of the world. God can keep your soul from death and destruction by revelation!

The Young Prophet:1 Kings 13: 11-26 This is rather a tragic example but helps to see how disastrous it could be to walk outside of the word/purpose that God has for us. The young prophet has explicit instructions with which his life could have been preserved, but he decided to go on his own just for a moment and death caught up with him.

God’s word has the capasity to prolong our lives!

A Personal Christmas #ChristmasSeries

The purpose and destiny of every man is to be conformed into the image of Christ. Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. This implies that all things ought to work together for this sole purpose. As a matter of fact, both verses of scripture are quoted in the same context. there is no doubt that that is what God wants for us.

All of Paul’s prayers and desires were that Christ will emerge from within the people. Gal 4:19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Paul pictures that Christlikeness is like conception. We carry it and bear it until we bring forth. This is an awesome illustration. This brings me to the crux of the matter today: A Personal Christmas. God desires that the Christmas story be replicated in each life!

We can go on and on from testament to testament; from book to book; from chapter to chapter; from verse to verse; from person to person and place to place and see that the sole purpose of life is conformity to the image of Christ. There is far more evidence in scripture that the purpose of life is Christlikeness than anything else we can come up with.

But God Left Us with a Way
If our sole purpose is conformity to the image of Christ, then we should have an example to follow. Thanks be to God that He left us with an example - Christmas! In this piece, I would try to make an attempt to enumerate the process of attaining Christlikeness by the pattern that God Himself gave to us.

The Visitation:
God initiates everything. We cannot claim that we found God, He is the one who sets out to bring us in. He Sent Jesus to reconcile the world to himself. God sent His angel, Gabriel, to deliver a message to Mary. It is interesting to note that the first step to Christlikeness is a revelation of the will of God. What I have said that Christlikeness is the goal is just a piece of information. When it becomes a revelation and dawns on each individual's heart, then the journey begins.

It is said that Mary had an attitude of devotion. We did not see any expression of doubt in her entire experience. Rather, she sought clarity and received God’s promise. We must put ourselves in such a state that fulfilling the purpose of God for our life is not just a revelation, but also a desire - a strong one at that.

Destiny Relationships:
The Story of Christmas is not complete without listing people like Joseph, Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth, John, the Wise Men, the Shepherds and so on. Destiny relationships are critical to fulfilling destiny. They create an enabling environment for the life of God to thrive. There are two lessons to hold on to here:

• We should look out for relationships God bring our way They are critical to our formation into the image of God 
• We should not let strife and lust take over our own relationships because the purpose is to bring out the Christ in the other. And Christ cannot come in the midst of strife.

The Prince of Peace #ChristmasSeries

Is 9:6 A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” “Prince of Peace.”

Who is a Prince?
The very first impression that we receive when we hear prince is that he has a father who is a King. And in no time, He would be king too. But do we ever think about these things as we see them in scriptures? God is never referred to as the King of Peace and so Jesus being the prince of Peace should raise questions in our hearts. Secondly, God is everlasting and so Jesus is not a prince Because He would take the father’s place anytime soon!

Before I go ahead, I would like to make reference to a portion of scripture with a similar expression.

1 Sam 18:30 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

Right here, the meaning of Price jumps right at us! Commander.

Prince in this context isn’t just speaking about a royal male child who is waiting for a national tragedy to become the new monarch. A prince is the Commander of the Army. This is perhaps the name of Jesus that introduces him as a warrior and the Lord of Host. He is the commander of the Armies of the Host of Heaven. He is the one Joshua saw and fell on His face! John 5:14. Christmas is not just a celebration of the birth of a sacrificial lamb. It is also the birth of the Lord of Hosts; a warrior.

And Peace?What exactly is our interpretation of Peace? Peace is not a compromise between the warring parties so that they reach a mutual agreement and give each other mutual respect. Peace is not sweeping issues under the carpet so that ‘peace will reign.’ Peace is not silence and deadness.

Peace is total subjugation of the enemy. Peace is the stronger taking total authority such that opposition dies forever. Peace is when issues are permanently resolved. Peace is life and excitement. Peace is a guard for our minds. Peace is completeness, soundness, sanity and safety. 

We do not need to come to a compromise with our personal weaknesses, we can overcome!

We do not need to accept defeat as human race, we can come through it all!

We do not need to cower from oppression as a nation, we can be victorious!

We do not need to submit to tyranny and corruption, we can experience peace indeed!

The Mighty God #ChristmasSeries

Is 9:6 A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” “Prince of Peace.”

This is perhaps the most daunting statement for people of every other religion. This is the struggle of every other school of thought that one personality can totally embody all power, authority, knowledge and also be everywhere. This is the singular distinction between Christianity and any other religion. And until we reach this point, we honestly have not begun our Christian walk. Jesus is not just a prophet or a Man of God. He is not just a good man. He is the Mighty God.

The Mighty God Came to UsWe have seen people start religion on the basis of mediation. That one person can stand between God and man and relay messages, blessing and instructions both ways. But God does not have to be too far away that we cannot reach Him. He does not have to be too high up that we cannot access Him. This is the reality of Christianity: God can be revealed. God can be known. And this is the reality of Christmas. Christianity is God coming to us so that He can take us to Himself!

One of the greatest lessons of Christmas is that God revealed Himself! Finally, man can experience God in new dimensions that no one has ever done in the times past. God is more than an idea to debate on. He walked the face of the earth once and left giant footprints for men to follow.

God Walked the EarthIt is important to understand that God walked the face of the earth. This redefines everything about humanity. God made man in His image and likeness and we need to know that it is a possibility that divinity and mortality can coexist. God made mention of severally through men, prophets and nature. However, the Gospel is not just in words but in the demonstration of the spirit and power. God decided to also demonstrate the possibility of this coexistence and that is what Christmas reveals.

Choose One, Loose the OtherFinally, it is good to know that divinity and mortality can coexist in one body. That is great news! We can enjoy Godliness in our lifetime. However, there is more to it. Adam demonstrates to us that mortality can totally make the divine life elude us. Jesus demonstrates that, when we let God’s life to be expressed through us, mortality will be obliterated.

The Everlasting Father II #ChristmasSeries

We are at a critical time in the sojourn of mankind where peace is very expensive. This is not a 21st-century development, however, it is reaching a new flavor and height that is impossible to ignore. The bitterness and hatred for those different from us has been man’s greatest companion for several years now. However, we are not condemned to this heartless and violent world forever. Christmas reminds us that there is a Prince of Peace whose reign will restore peace to the world.

There are a number of flash points for division among human beings: race, sex, government, beliefs and self. Racism seems to be the largest of all. However, when we decide to zoom into each race, we see that even ethnic groups within races are pained against one another. Could this mean that the problem is no longer with the races but something much deeper within? When we zoom into ethnic groups and consider members of the same family, we see the same hatred among brothers. This is the final blow that makes me think, our problem goes beyond race, but deep within the human nature.

This also applies to governments across the world. Individual families are having a tough time maintaining law and order within the home. Kids rebel against parents and parents vent their anger. If this happens within a small building we can imagine that at scale within the borders of the country. What hopes does Christmas bring?

Jesus: The Everlasting FatherThe everlasting father is not a sweet appellation for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a revelation of His purpose and intent to unite man under one single family and race. The Everlasting Father is the beginning of a new race that will heal up all the wounds caused by the friction between the races and bind all the broken hearts as a result of all the atrocities in the history of each family, race and nation. 

Eph 3:14-15 "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name."

It is indeed beautiful that a family can gather together and we experience different personalities. It is so beautiful. How much more when tribes gather together. NYSC is an awesome time not just because there is room for some adventure in a strange land, but because we also see beauty from every corner of the nation. The Olympics is another marvel. We see beauty from every nation gather in one city to celebrate. This is the kind of unity that the Everlasting Father brings: beauty from each individual, each tribe, each nation, each race, each continent.

The everlasting father unites the world under one single family, one singe race. This is yet another beauty that Christmas reminds us of!

The Everlasting Father #ChristmasSeries

If there is anything I’m sure of about the scriptures, it is that there is no word being used carelessly. God carefully chose many of the words used to describe his intentions. Names of people and places gave more insight to circumstances and between-the-lines perspective to all the things that happen. There is no one name without a hidden message in the scriptures. As a matter of fact, an interesting approach to Bible study is to go name by name.

Name’s aren’t just words that distinguish one person from the other. Especially in the scriptures, a name is a revelation of the nature and destiny. The names of God reveal to us who God is, they are not just words to fill up our worship.

One of such many names that hold a lot of message and power for us is the Everlasting Father. That was one of the only 4 names revealed my the most popular prophesy about the coming of Jesus. How come we walk past so quickly whenever we come across it? I honestly cannot remember any sermon particularly zooming in into the purpose and intent of God for this appellation.

Here are three lesson I can draw from the name Everlasting Father:

Jesus Begins a New Race
One of the very first people that God called father was Abraham. God called him father of many nations because He was about to start a brand new race of humanity from him on. Jesus is the Everlasting Father because by Him God will bring many sons to glory. Just as by one man sin came into the world, by one man also, righteousness will overcome the world.

Like Father Like Son
This race will bear God’s identity. Whoever is born of flesh is flesh. Whoever of born of Spirit is spirit. Jesus as the Everlasting Father means for us that we bear His identity. We have the same bloodline and shares His genes - His divine nature. We bear His name, we bear his nature and his blood flows through our veins. This is one remarkable thing that Christmas should remind us of.

Another Clue to Eternal Life
Boldly spelt out in this name is the intention of God for man to be immortal! If the first is an Everlasting Father, the rest would be immortal sons. It tells us that God’s purpose transcends time and when we begin to think that the totality of God’s purpose will be expressed and interpreted only in our mortal life, we surely have deviated from one of Christianity’s core beliefs.

The most popular scripture is “For God so love the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” John 3:16. In summary, I strongly believe that that passage talks about “Everyone born of the water and spirit; in the lineage of Christ will enjoy the same quality of life that Jesus has - Everlasting.”

This is another truth Christmas brings...

The Wonderful Counsellor II #ChristmasSeries

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Jeremiah 1:12 The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” 

Isaiah 55:10-11 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 

Mark 16:20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. 

Hebrews 2:4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

We can go on and on from the New and Old Testaments to see the ministry of the Wonderful Counsellor in action. God is not all about the talk alone. As a matter of fact, overtime He spoke something more happened. His type of Gospel is not the intellectual one that tickles our intelligence. The gospel causes a change wherever is is being preached. God’s counsel is always accompanied with a wonder.

Right from the beginning, we see that whenever God spoke, something happens. God said let there be light and there was light. God said let the waters be separated and so the firmaments were formed. He gathered the waters to form the sea and land all by His word. The sun, the moon and the stars came by the word of His mouth. All living things all came as a result of the wonder in His counsel.

So next time you get your prayer answered, don’t just jump up and run around. Stay around for the Lord to ask who touched me, and let him give you counsel for a much eternally relevant change. Next time you get an insight into the scriptures or a revelation jumps at you. Don’t rush out to share it. You might want to spend time to pray that the wonders in His counsel be also made manifest in your life.

It is my prayer that we experience and express the Wonderful Counsellor. That our faith will not be in words only but in power and the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus: The Wonderful Counsellor #ChrsitmasSeries

One of the most commonly used words in this Christmas season is also one of the most overlooked words. Sometimes we should not just jump past words when we find them in the scriptures. What on earth is Wonderful Counsellor? Is its one whose counsel so full of wisdom that it amazes the hearers? Or are His wonders are accompanied with such an advice that will put our life in shape. I think so. I think His counsel is so saturated with wonders that we see that really, no amount of logic and reasoning can bring us to such a realization. And the miracles He does? They are always embedded with a message! He is the Wonderful Counsellor.

Woman with the issue of blood Luke 8:43-48

After many years of spending so much on her health and visiting several doctors with no improvement. This woman finally summed up courage. She squeezed through the crowd and touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. She indeed got healed instantly and was about to leave. But Jesus wasn’t done with her yet. She had just received a wonder but she was yet to get a counsel. So Jesus had to find her out. Peter thought it would be insane to try to single out the person who touched Him out. But Jesus knew that a wonder without a counsel will not do her much good.

When Jesus found her, He said this words “My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.” I’m sure this was a bigger miracle for Her. Before then, she didn’t think she was a daughter. If she knew, she would have come looking for father rather than doctors. She got a new revelation of her identity. She understood her place in God’s family. All of these would have never happened if she met just the wonderful! But Jesus? He is not just wonderful. He is the Wonderful Counsellor. He has a message with every miracle.

Ten Lepers Cleansed Luke 17:11-19

This was one of the few occasions that Jesus gave counsel first. He asked the ten lepers to go show themselves to the priest. This was a wonderful message for many even today. Jesus did not come to overturn the scriptures, He came to fulfill them. On their way, they ended up with a miracle. All were cleansed. Jesus taught them to respect protocol even if they get healed! He taught them to still submit to the rules despite the fact that the same rules ostracized them for years?

Or should I talk about the Fig Tree Jesus made to wither. Jesus taught a remarkable lesson of about faith and against hypocrisy there. With faith, you can make all of your desires come to pass. We do not have to fake the life if we do not have the life, we make people expect from us what we do not have.

How About You?

Have you received a miracle from God and rushed out in excitement? Have you ever touched the hem of His garment and ran off that you didn’t even hear Jesus ask “Who touched me?” You should stay and ask for your the counsel that will make you a spring of living water thatcher than a vessel that keeps water. God’s counsel makes us live a life of being the miracle rather than always receiving the miracle. He is the Wonderful Counsellor.

And are you an intellectual Christian who is full of bible verses about everything that God can do but has never really had a feel? Are you the one who always has an answer but never an experience? Jesus is not just the Counsellor who fills you with intellectual knowledge. His words have the capacity to create and restore and do wonders. He wants us to be witnesses, not just puppets. He is the Wonderful Counsellor and that is yet another thing that Christmas reminds us of.

Christmas is About A King #ChristmasSeries

The very first Christmas was a remarkable encounter

I can imagine for years Israel worshiped like groping

They worshiped a God they did know very well

But for the very first time men could put a form to Him

And God? He was totally fine with it

The scriptures warned not to worship any other save the Living God

And never to have a graven image or a form to represent Him

This was because He has an image and it is Jesus

Jesus is the expression of the Father

The brightness of His glory

The express image of the living God

He is the visible God

And for the very first time God permitted worship to one that could be seen

God knew there would be a lot of opposition or reluctance

God made sure that the heavens were the first to burst out in worship

God revealed. Word become flesh. The earth can follow then follow.

It was a marvel in the heavens, even for the angels

That God could come to the earth and dwell

And yet His throne in heaven is not vacant

That God will share in His divinity

And yet not be depleted in anyway

They cried Glory to God in the Highest

And on earth, peace to men of goodwill

The Yoruba will call Him Ajade ma tan ni le.

The One who left home but yet still home

He came to the earth in His fullness

And yet He still governs Heaven in person

That is such a brand new expression of God

Even the angels who have never ever blinked

Have never ever seen Him like this

Years of prophesy and promises converged in one body

The seed that will bruise the serpent’s head

He was the foundation of the city that Abraham saw

The perfect replacement to preserve humanity

The One of whom who will reign forever on David’s throne

The babe whose cries unsettled the earthly kings

A child was born to a family but a son was given to humanity

He’ll be so full of wisdom and power

That His counsel will be full of wonders

And His wonders will overflow with counsel

He is the King, the Lord and Savior

The wise men knew this and brought gifts not toys

He is the Lord God of Hosts

The shepherd knew this and brought worship not a cuddle

What do you see? A Babe still? 

I hope this is enough reminder

That Christmas is about a King not a Baby

Herod knew that well enough and wanted to end it there

But what He didn’t know is the true expanse of His kingdom

I think the world knows that it’s about a King a new dispensation

They hope that the `Happy Holidays` will take away the `A Savior is born`

They really want to overshadow worship with songs about babies

But no worries, like Herod, the world really doesn’t know the expanse

The real Christmas isn’t one day, it is a new day

Those who walked in the darkness have seen the first ray of dawn

The light of the world, the Sun of Righteousness is rising

This season these rays are reaching many for the first time

Our hearts should be filled with worship for the King

All Things are Working Together #ChristmasSeries

What we call Christmas is a series of events that span over a period of about 2 years, if not more: the sighting of the star and commencement of the journey to seek out the star, the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the visitation of the shepherds, Herod's rage, arrival of the wise men and presentation of gifts. All these happened over years and yet it is clear that it is just for one purpose. How about events that span thousands of years?

It is also interesting to know that all of Scripture point to Jesus. From the word with which God created the heavens and the earth, to the man: the image and likeness of God, God already began to give us a glimpse of who He is. He began to tell of His sacrifice for our sin right after man fell. He slaughtered a lamb to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness. He didn’t just demonstrate, He declared too that the Seed of the woman will give the serpent the final blow.

We also see the appearance of Melchizedek, a Priest of God and a King of a place called Peace. With this Jesus was introduced as one though man, but also without a human ancestry. God walked the earth and He can do that again and again. He did that again in Jesus.

As we move on to the birth and travails of Isaac and how Abraham already determined to give him up because He trusted God will raise Him up, we see the resurrection being illustrated too. The serpent Moses hung on a rod, the intercession of Aaron between the dead and the living to stop the ravaging destruction, scriptures tell us of the constant intercession the Lord makes on our behalf. The many rules regarding atonement, Jubilee, passover, first-fruits. They all speak of Jesus.

We can go on and on. Have we mentioned Joseph who saved the entire world by going before them to prepare a place? We won’t have done justice if we do not mention Joshua, the one through whom God apportioned an inheritance to each tribe of Israel. And of cause David whose life God used as an illustration of the reign of the messiah. Every single event and person was a pointer to Christmas!

And the very obvious prophesies of Isaiah and Micah and the not so explicit ones of Jeremiah and Ezekiel all speak about Jesus. All of the law and prophets speak of Jesus.

How About Us?
There is an event that everything in our life seems to be pointing to. All things are working together for good for something. And this is not about becoming the CEO of the company of your dreams or owning enough wealth than we can possibly describe. As a matter of fact even professional, marital and financial success are part of the all things that should work together for that grand purpose God originally intended. The singular event that all our life experience is pointing to is the 'Formation of Christ in Us - a Personal Christmas.'

Man is a creature of purpose and God by everything leads him to His primary destiny: becoming the image and likeness of God. Just like every page in scripture speaks of Christ (not just his birth but also his reign and reception of the world) every event and decision in our life should point to the emergence and dominance of Christ in Us.

Christmas is not a Birthday, It’s a Brand New Day #ChristmasSeries

I have heard again and again that the 25th of December is not Jesus’ actual birthday. Sometimes I wonder why some people are just knowing this for a fact. I have known this for years and still chosen to celebrate Christmas. Some people even go further to set the date at sometimes in September. But when we realise that we are not celebrating a birthday, we would care less about the accurate day and cling to the core of the season. 

Christmas is not a birthday, it is a brand new day and we begin to rejoice when we awake to that reality. We do not all awake to a brand new day at the same time. We do not come upon this realization at the same time, but whenever we do, joy fills our heart for what the day brings. This is the same with Christmas. Christmas brings joy to the world, it brings joy to the heavens too. It brings peace to men of goodwill.

Christmas is the moment that the light dawns upon those who walk in darkness Is 9:2. It is the moment when the promise of restoration, redemption and reinstating man to the perfect will of God begins.

It is what we do not the circumstances

I do agree that this particular period Christmas is celebrated has a non-christian origin. some say it is idolatrous and others say it is purely a political strategy to pacify the majority. But whatever the case is, it has never been about what men did, it is about what we have chosen to do now.

Babylon was a place of captivity and the natural reaction would be to mourn and look forward to freedom. But God warned those who decided to sulk in this self-designed mourning to accept this new reality and live their lives (Jer 29:4-9).

The prison cell is not a place to rejoice and praise God. It is a place to curse god and die. It is a place where men loose hope. But for Paul and Silas, it wasn’t so. They worshiped from the depths of their hearts. What happened afterwards is not really a concern for today. My emphasis is even though the environment or circumstances are highly idolatrous or political, what we make of it is the most important.

Seed of the Woman #ChristmasSeries

Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

The first prophesy or declaration of a saviour was in Genesis 3:15. It is such a strange declaration because, it virtually goes against everything we know today about conception and delivery. It came at a time when child bearing was an alien experience for Adam and Eve: they had didn’t know what is meant to give birth.

Our idea of conception today is the union of man and woman and contributions of both bring about a brand new life. We cannot call that seed of the woman because the man played a part too. As a matter of fact, it is never a seed until it is fertile. Fertilisation happens after the union of man and woman. So a single gender cannot lay claim to the seed! But for the saviour, it was going to be another story entirely. Something man had never experienced.

Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

This means that only the woman would make a contribution. No one else, at least within the psychical realm would have a contribution to the birth of the saviour. This was such a crazy idea that it took a dream to convince Joseph that this was what God has been speaking about from the Genesis. There was no explanation Mary could give that could make sense to anyone. Not even to the man that loved her so much and was willing to marry her. It took God to speak to Joseph in private. God called him aside in a dream and spoke to him.

What if Joseph wasn’t familiar with the Prophesy?
I think it would have been disastrous if Joseph wasn’t aware of the prophesy of a virgin conception. What exactly has God spoken regarding our lives or about the people we love? When these thing happen, do we fall among the people who explain it away and say ‘coincidence?’ Or our faith in God is strengthened because we see Hid word come to pass before our eyes?

What does this man for us today?
All our lives we have known success that had man’s hand in it. We have got opportunities because other people got involved. We have become who we are because of interaction with friends, family and teachers. We have started businesses because someone asked us to. But until we can point to events that are a pure collaboration between the Holy Spirit and our souls, we cannot claim our own Christmas.

We arrive at our real identity when we are a product of nature and the breath of God. We have life changing encounters when there’s not a single human finger involved. We bring forth eternally relevant ventures when the only human involvements are pointers to the sacred chambers where our seeds are fertilised by God’s and men of like passion refuse to give us up because they see an obvious work of God in our lives.

5 Things That God Does With Dreams

Most of the passages we have looked at basically infers that God speaks through dreams. I find today’s passage particularly interesting because it doesn’t need us to do any inference. It tells us plainly that God speaks through dreams and even gives us reasons why He does.

"Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’? For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword." Job 33:13-18

The scriptures confront every school of thought that God is too big to speak to man. Many say if indeed there is an Almighty God, He would be infinite and have no basis to speak with finite Man. Some go ahead to say that even if He does, there is no way to capture that. But that is exactly the case. Man is God’s noblest creation. Man is a creation of love and so God will always descent to speak to him. God put Himself in man; He made man in his image and likeness, so we have some form of potential to hear Him.

1. He opens our ears: 

The fact that God speaks is still too marvellous a thought for many. So one way God decides to train our ears is with dreams. With dreams, we can hardly be distracted. We are already cut off from the world around and so would be easier to focus on the elements of our dreams. God opens our ears: the ears with which we perceive divine things. I have a dear friend who dreams about events in the Bible. This experience has opened the pathway for a firsthand experience and better understanding of the scriptures. Ps 16:7 “I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.”

2. He constantly gives us warnings:

For every product that is abused, we get some form of warning signs that we aren’t using them as we ought. A stabilizer will point to a red zone when exposed to dangerous voltage. Phones beep with low battery notification when running out of battery power. Softwares log errors when unexpected parameters are provided. Humans are God’s creatures with a warning mechanism: dreams. One of the many warnings I received in a dream is to read by books at a time when I spent more time doing ‘Church stuff.’ This for me meant God was also concerned about my life outside of ‘Church.

3. He keeps us from pride and self-given purpose:

God made man with a purpose in mind. However, because we are such sophisticated creatures, we can think and decide that our new life purpose is to do something entirely different. This is an aberration and even without judgement leads to self destruction. Just like warnings, God uses dreams to constantly save us from our self-given life purpose. Pro 14:12 “There is a way which seem right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

4. He keeps our soul from the pit:

This I think is one of the most important purposes of dreams. The ultimate result of all the dreams we are given is that we should not pass away with time. It is God’s desire that we migrate into eternity as His Image and likeness that we are. God’s ultimate goal for speaking to us is to once again like the beginning come alive. Without God’s words, we are like Adam without God’s breadth. His words quickens us and builds us into creatures that can live for eternity.

5. He keeps us from perishing by the sword:

As a condiment to the meal of benefits, God also preserves our lives from death by giving us dreams to guide our steps. I have heard of several men whom God spared with a dream.

Paying more attention to the dreams we receive means that we become more alert to hear from God even from other mediums. It also means we can life a life of purpose with constance guidance when we want to slip away. It means we can save ourselves from experimenting our self-given purposes and rather explore God’s predestinated path for which He already made a provision.

Dreams: A Defining Moment

Dreams are not just one way. We can engage God in a conversation. We can pray in the dream too! I am sure that some who always falls asleep at prayer time is excited, “at least I can continue praying in my sleep.” The point here is that, we can ask and receive via dreams too. We should always be alert. We are not primarily creatures of nature. We have more stake in the supernatural world. We can take a peek into Gods agenda for our lives in the dream and live them out here.

1 Kings 3:5-15 

In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, "... Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. 

And God said unto him, "Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days." 

And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

God came to solomon in a dream after He had offered a holocaust of sacrifice. Solomon is one man that made the word holocaust to be positive. God came to him in a dream and asked what He wants. That was a life defining moment for him.

We may have been forced to think that life defining moments are those where we sit for an examination or a job interview. Some have done the abominable because of desperation to get a certification or a job. But there are more defining moments in private than we have in public. Solomon in the dead of the night had an eternal choice to make.

I do believe the tales of people who have a dream about Jesus and wake up to a brand new life. It happened to Solomon. He woke up with such amazing wisdom than the night before He slept. We can have defining moments in a dream, but until be learn to take them seriously, we would never make the best of it.

Again, dreams aren’t always just a playback of our daily activities with certain customisations of things we would have done better. Dreams are a portal through which the supernatural world gains access to this world. We can come across information that will change us, our families and our nation.

Dreams: Assurance of Victory

Israel had fallen into the hands of Midian because they turned away from their living springs to the wells that cannot hold water. But God is ever faithful and to restore them again and again. Grace has been coming in trickles to everyone God encountered in the Old testament. God always made a way for them to come through every oppression. And when He does, He uses people. For the deliverance from the hands of the Midianites, God chose Gideon: the little man, from the little town in the little nation!

Gideon rose to power from the minority and he was confronted with a war. He had no formal training as a warrior, He did not command a lot of authority among the people, not even among his own people. But He was judge anyway. It was time for battle and they started recruiting. As they saw the numbers increase they began to shift their trust from God to the army. But God was not set to abandon them to the loss of focus that made them captives initially.

God can Save by a Few

When God was done, they had just 300 people against an army that was already annoyed that some riffraff was planing in insurgency to take over  power. God can decide to save by a few or many (1 Sam 14:6). We need more than large number of Christians to wrath the kind of deliverance our nation needs. We need men who are always focused on the end goal, who do not allow the thirst and hunger of the moment turn them into desperate people who momentarily loose focus of God's will. 

Dreams: Voice of Assurance

Sometimes we know what God will have us do but we are still handicapped by fear because we are unsure of the outcome. They needed more than training or motivation to charge into the will of God with excitement. They needed the assuring voice of God. And God answered. He gave one of them a dream. “I had a dream that a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the midst of the Midianites and overturned them.” What an encouragement!

There is nothing more exciting than going through life with the reassuring voice of God for victory. Number of people have been in line for national transformation and all they can hear is “If you can’t beat them join them.” God is speaking to the hears of many again today that “a loaf of early bread will tumble into the camp of the enemies and be overturned.” Don't leave any room to entertain compromise or failure. When God gets involved, He doesn't adapt to the condition. He takes over!

Two Witnesses

One of the most exciting things about that dream was that both the dream the interpretation came from different people none of which was Gideon. This was yet another sign that some dreams are not just our own thoughts, they are God's message to us. God can decide to speak through several people and He usually does. Because a matter is established with 2 or 3 witnesses. While God will give us dreams to conduct our lives according to His will, for more cooperate assignments, He would more likely distribute it among the people. 

Gideon's army was not just a group of people with great etiquette. They were a group of people who had access to receive encouragement from God. If we have not learnt to pay attention to our own dreams, how can we dream for Nigeria?

Not Just a Dream, A Prophesy to Pursue

And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Numbers 12:6-8

God spoke to prophets through dreams. This is interesting because the details of the messages often delivered as prophesy cannot possibly all have been disseminated by dreams. But it was, the scriptures say so. Dreams are an invitation to more, when we pay more attention we get more revelation and when we condition our hearts, we are able to discern God’s message between all the strange dream language.

We often think that we would wake up all of a sudden to hear God as clearly as we hear our friends talk. We have to learn to depart from the noise. Not just the noise on the outside, that is usually the easiest to deal with. The noise on the inside is even more tricky. When we learn to turn off the noise on the inside, we would see how often and clearly God has been speaking.

God has been speaking to His image and likeness in us all the while as though they were face to face, but because our senses are undeveloped, we think He’s been all quiet. The greatest good we can do to ourselves is to live in our true identity so that we can hear God speak to us as face to face when. Dreams are a good way to learn. We should definitely pay more attention, it is an easier and more assessable channel to hear God speak to us. Let us begin to put the pieces of our dreams together and we would see that we have a catalogue of prophesies.

He Gives the Dreams and The Interpretation

When we have a conversation and don't understand what message is being passed, the best thing to do is ask the person speaking to clarify. We don't go about seeking meaning elsewhere. It is in God’s nature to have us keep around him. We often are unable to add detail to our dreams and nudges because we seek meaning outside the giver of the dreams. Interpretation belongs to God, if we do not keep the lines through which the dreams came open, we keep the lines for interpretation and more closed.

All Can Dream, Only Few Gain

And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Gen 31:24

All Can Dream, Only Few Gain

Dreams are not the exclusives of Christians. Anyone and everyone can have a dream. By this I do not just mean dreams that replay our daily routine or fantasies but dreams that are clearly disjointed from our mental faculties and are clear messages to us from God.

We saw that God spoke to Abimelech in a dream. He was neither a Jew nor did He have a prior experience with the God of the Jews. God could and did reach Him in a dream. However, not for the sake of himself, but because it involved a friend of God. Here again we see Laban, the Syrian, being intercepted in his dreams not to touch God’s anointed. When God reaches strangers in the dream, He really does that for the sake of His own people or to make them His own people.

Man Can Still Hear His Native Language

This proves to me than humanity is more than a bunch of tissues and ideas. Humanity is a supernatural being with far more capabilities than we have discovered. One of such capabilities is an awareness of and the privilege to live a life and connect with a world beyond the physical. Our original identity is God’s image and likeness but sin made us fall away and loose those abilities. So, we still have a inborn supernatural instinct and can intercept traces of communication in the world where sin made man fall from.

We can still catch phrases and expressions from our supernatural dialect, but only those who are reconciled, restores and reinstated can read between the lines, Get God's passion and heart in all that is being said or revealed and consequently make the best of it.

God Leads

God will not leave us clueless at the points where we need to make major decisions in life. But we should not wait till the critical times to lean our ears towards him. Our normal life as Christians is a life that flows from the Vine - Jesus to us - the branches. It should not happen to us at any moment that we are clueless of what instructions are flowing from the vine.

Jacob had just left Laban. And from Laban’s personality he was either about to accuse him of robbery or cancel his agreements altogether. Laban could have asked him to start over, he did it several times before. However, God had another plan for Jacob and was not about to send him back. God warned Laban in the dream and He had to cooperate.

We don’t have to be Christians to have God inspired dreams. But we do have to know God and love Him to make the best of them.

Dreams: Demand for Justice and Wealth Creation

A lot of times we imagine and ask how our faith can positively impact our businesses or financial capacity. We can do nothing without prayer. However, prayer will condition our hearts to focus more on what God wants and what He will have us do. We should not pray with a post office mindset. Prayer is a conversation, we get the most of it when we listen and make the best of it when we obey. Dreams are one of the many ways to hear.

Jacob had fulfilled his time as he served Laban but He was not given his due reward. He served 7 years each for Leah and Rachael and 6 more years for his reward in cattle. However, His pay was cut or changed more than 10 times. When ever Laban notices that the weaker and fewer sheep are plain, he'd announce to Jacob that your reward if the plain. Whenever he sees that the plain sheep are increasing in number, He changes the terms again. Read more: Genesis 31.

I see many people are in this same shoes today. You have served the government for years but you get nothing commensurate for the years you have spent. These days, even your pension is what you have been able to contribute from your monthly salary. Many serve their bosses faithfully but do not get adequate reward. A lot of people feel cheated and used at work. Jacob found himself in the same shoes.

Jacob could have started a protest not to feed Laban's cattle until His complaints were attended to. He could decide to take the laws into his hands and obtain justice by any means. He can decide to transfer aggression to his innocent wives who were Laban's daughters. He could decide to murder 10 of the sheep everyday until his demands are met. However, force isn't always the answer. A boycott isn't always the way out. What did Jacob do? 

Violence and activism aren't the best options we have at our disposal to bring a revolution. We can pray and God can answer. A God-given idea is far more potent than any use of force.

He had a dream and everything changed for him. God showed him what to do. 

And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. Gen 31:10-12

God can give us business ideas in dreams. Or maybe he has been giving us and we just ignore them since we have not been taught that dreams are one of the many ways of God reaching and speaking to us.

Dreams: You and Him, None to Impress

All Access, No Restrictions

The first dream I see mentioned was not even exclusively for "the people of God." No one has the exclusivity of dreams. Abimelech was not a Jew and did not have prior experience with the Jewish God. However God still reached him with a dream. By dreams, I do not mean random series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. I mean the God initiated or divinely directed messages to us. 

We don’t have to be believers to dream. We don’t even have to be believers to have a message from God. Once our paths cross with the people of destiny, God can decide to interrupt our usual sleep with a message. When it is time for us to upgrade our mindset, God can send us a dream too.

Gen 20:6 "And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her."

Touch Not My Anointed
Abraham was God’s friend and God made a vow to protect him and all that was his. This is the same for us who are descendants of the seed of Abraham. It was the culture of Kings at the time to take any woman they desire and wife them. But for people who are Gods chosen we cannot just be instruments to provide pleasure or satisfy the carnal whims of men no matter how highly placed they may be. So, God decided to pay Abimelech a Visit.

Ps 105:13-15 "When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people; He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."

God always looks out for His own. Sometimes, He uses a dream to warn people to steer clear. For Abraham, God used a dream to tell Abimelech "touch not."

A Revelation of Possibilities

A dream could be a revelation of possibilities based on decisions. For Abimelech, God essentially told him that "If you continue to do according to what is in your heart: take another man's wife and not just any man's wife, my friends wife, you'd be a dead man!" God ensures we get the message as urgently as required. He probably would not have got the message if God told him "don't touch Sarah and you will live."

If you continue with what you are thinking, you will die. A similar scenario happened to Jonah and Nineveh: if they continued in sin they would be destroyed. Dreams could be a revelation of possibilities.

Motifs and Intentions also Matter
In the court of law where evidences are presented, intentions and motifs are not tenable. However, when the nature of man is concerned as well as spiritual things, motifs and intentions carry even more weight than our actions and decisions. And so we should take them seriously just as God takes them seriously. Abimelech had not taken Sarah, he was only thinking about it but it wasn't just going away. Abraham had to pray for Abimelech, mainly to recalibrate his motifs and intentions, which were the origin of a possible disastrous fate.

Gen 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

It is usually in the secrecy and privacy of our dreams where we cannot deny motifs and intentions that we are often confronted so that we spend our time to actually become right instead of just appearing right to people.

Dreams

Are they not an evidence a life beyond the seen

A portal where the world beyonds reach us

A path with which men reach the world beyond

A connection between the man within and the man we see

Dreams are a real world, the coiners of dreamland know better

We could take a trip from here, call it thoughts or memories

When can begin our trip from there, call it revelation

We can replay our our greatest moments or realise hidden truth

We usually don’t need to take anything along on our way

It is such a self sustaining world with it own life, time

We could create from nothing and own them for life

We can take all we own too and loose it all in there

When our dreams are results of our memories, we know

We just see them as usual and move on with life

How about the times when dreams are a mix of the familiar and strange

Our the nights that we are completely terrified of what we see

We smile over sweet dreams and hope they never end

But for those we do not understand, we are quick to discard

Dreams are a gift from the almighty one, a message

How come we do not pay attention when we receive?

Will He who gave the words, not give a voice?

Will He who gave the scenes not give it sense?

How is it that they no longer call out attention?

How is it that we leave out the honor of searching out?

There are moments when our dreams are memory playbacks

There are also moments when we are totally absent in our own dreams

Do we not think it is a call? A world beyond trying to gain our attention

Such times, our dreams do not just mean nothing

Have you ever prayed so hard and waited for an answer

But all the while you waited, you got nothing

Until you weak body gives way to sleep and your spirit comes alive

Then you hear clearly, and see vividly what you ask

Dreams are beautiful, if is a world without restrictions

You find something the more you keep going

You can walk deep into your dreams

Beyond the noise of your learnings and busyness

You can go deep beyond the reach of this realms noise

Only then can you meet with the Father by the streams

Take a moment, look into the waters at His reflection

Not until then will you find your true self

Not until then will you awake will passion to live

Not until then will you walk with esteem knowing who you are

Not until then will you know where to improve

Not until then will you know what to pursue

So much noise in this realm, vain repetitions

I don’t want to be a polished imitation

I don’t want to be a refined echo

I want to be a voice, I want to be the me in God

These are the dreams I desire

We are Nothing Like the Others

We are Nothing Like the Others

Man is nothing like every other creatures. When others were made, they came to being immediately. But when man was made, he laid on the floor lifeless. It took God’s breadth to bring him to life. This tells us a lot: the source of our life is not from nature. We draw life from something far greater from someone - God himself. This changes everything.

Fallen but with Traces of the Best

Arthur Pink once wrote that the fall of man was not that he tripped, fell and broke his little finger. He fell from His very essence. He swapped His life source, buried His identity and traded his survival. Man damped his spiritual senses and became totally bound to the natural senses. Remember, the Prodigal Son? He fell from being a son and started feeding on the meal of pigs. That is a very close description. Man fell from feeding on divine nature to depending on nature for survival.

Restoration is Here

I always like to draw the lines from the beginning so that we can appreciate what we have the more. This gives a clue to what restoration is exactly. If there was nothing amazing about the beginning, there would be no need for a restoration, a reconciliation or a redemption. Jesus came to begin another race, a race of the supernatural species. In this race there is a language, a culture, a norm. In this race healing is the children’s bread (Matt 15:16). In this race, God leads his people (Rom 4:18) they don’t live by guesses and analyses.

We Need to Re-Learn

After having spent a lifetime outside of our true identity, we know nothing of our capabilities. We haven’t experienced the limit of our abilities. The language of the spirit  sound strange to many ears, but that is because we have been away for so long. Now that we are being restored we need to learn about ourselves, our origin, our purpose. We need to reconnect to our source of life. We need to learn to speak, read and understand our original language.

I would like to extend an invitation to all. School of Prophesy, Healing and Dreams Interpretation is a platform where we learn to live in our perfect habitat as Children of God. We learn to walk in our full potential as the image and likeness of God.

Theme: "The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation"

Date: November 23rd - 27th, 2016.

• Wednesday (23rd) - Friday (25th), meeting holds from 5:30 - 8:30pm.
• Saturday (26th), afternoon session holds 12 - 3pm.
• Saturday evening, meeting holds 5pm - 8:00pm.
• Sunday (27th), the meeting holds between 9:00am - 11:30am

Venue: The M.A.N Building, beside Oja-Ota & opposite Total filling station. Idiroko road, Sango Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.

We implore you to pray, plan to attend and also invite someone. Register Here

When God Found A Resting Place

On the first day, God said ‘let there be light’

He separated the Light from Darkness and called it Day

It was good but wasn’t the ultimate, so He couldn’t rest

There was illumination and an exposure of the real status of things

But knowledge alone will not do us much good

On the second day, He parted the waters into the firmament and sea

It was good but wasn’t God’s ultimate, not his best so He couldn’t rest

We can be able to distinguish between the earthly and the heavenly

The eternal and the ephemeral but not be able to lay hold of it

We are not made to distinguish stuff, we are meant to be distinguished

On the third day, He parted the seas and caused dry land to form

He caused vegetation to grow on the land, fruit bearing trees likewise

It was good but wasn't God’s best, so He couldn’t rest

Everything was teeming with life, green and fresh

God was truly at work but He himself wasn’t in those

On the fourth day, He called forth the sun and the moon

He flagged off the commencement of times and seasons

Again, it wasn’t God’s best and He wasn’t about to stop there

God is not in the bright seasons neither is He absent in the dark seasons

God could not confine Himself into seasons, and so He couldn’t rest yet

On the fifth day, God caused the seas to teem with life

This looked great, life from nothing but it was life without Him

Oh how we feel really excited when we innovate and create

Our greatest joys come not from our most exciting works

But from the works that bear our identity and values

Just before the seventh day, God summoned all of himself

Now that all provision has been made, I want to see myself

I want a being that will look like me in every way

The exact looks mattered to him, precision mattered

So He took dust and molded it, every detail was essential

Why didn’t He just speak The Word as He had done for all others?

This wasn't just any creation, He had to formed man with own His hands

This was deliberate because He was about to give The Word a shape too

Always remember that God didn’t just supervise your creation

He made you with His hands, every detail of you

God wanted more than a look-alike, He wanted a do-alike too

He wanted someone who isn’t just a product of the Word

He wanted someone who could use the Word and be the Word

Someone who could bear the Sword of the Spirit until it cleaved

He wanted man to wield His dominion over all creation

And so when the form was done, He put himself into man

God saw these and he saw that it was very good

This was the first time that would happen

All other days ended good, but only the sixth day ended very good

So then, God could finally take a rest: He found a resting place - man

This is our true worth and not what we have or own

Our worth is not in the awesome seasons neither does it deplete in adversity

That God made us with His own hands and He are his image

This is our life’s purpose and not what we find ourselves doing

That God gave us His abilities, to shape the world with the Word

The Sixth Day

What we hear about mostly is the Sabbath, a day of rest and finished works. It is, by far, the most important day in the Jewish week. It is so important that the Jews had the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee: the Sabbaths of Sabbath. Today, we realize that there is far more importance to the Sabbath than just the seventh day, or the seventh year or the fiftieth year. Again, we see that Israel was a sign of something much bigger and larger. Israel was a physical prototype of a spiritual reality.

Before the seventh day, there is the sixth. While the Children of Israel were in the wilderness and cried to God for a means of sustenance, God commanded manna from Heaven. They were fed with manna every day of the week. However, on the seventh day, manna didn’t fall. God had it all planned out that there would be a double supply on the 6th day such that they could save up for the sabbath.

Ex 16:5 “On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 

Lev 25:21 “Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.”

This brings to mind the times when so much of doctrine didn’t matter. We just needed enough to keep us alive for the day. A to of people are self-acclaimed normal Christians who live for the day, they offer just enough prayers for the day; fast just enough for the day; study enough just for a sermon or give enough to feel better. But as we near the Sabbath, a days supply will no longer be sufficient. We need to double our effort.

This is not a piece that encourages that we achieve more by doing more. We are what we are only by the grace of God. We can only do more if we have been endowed with the strength and wisdom to. We do more because we are able to not because without it, we are damned, doomed and dead! The sixth day means we would need more doctrine than we needed for our daily life, we would need more sound doctrine to stand at such critical times.

We would need more prayer than a daily bread, we have to pray for the will of God to be done on earth as it is in the heavens. We would need to study to draw more than sermons but to meet with the Word himself. A nominal life cannot cut it anymore, we need a radical life, we need fanatics. From the day of John the baptist, the Kingdom of God began to Advance forcefully, it would require more than nominal people to advance with it.

Just before the day of the Lord, there was John the baptist who Advanced the Kingdom of God with passion. Just before the year of our Lord there was Simeon and Ann who had been praying for years to see the will of God be done. Just before the Sabbath, there is the sixth day where God gives more abundantly because He has given us a more abundant capacity to contain the unusual supply.