Category: Pastor’s Desk

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Life Application Pastor's Desk wisdom for living

Be all-out for God

From-the-pastors-desk
From-the-pastors-desk

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am glad to welcome you into the month of July 2020, the first month in the second half of this year. And I pray that God will so occupy your heart with joy in this last half of the year that you will forget whatever pains or losses you experienced in the first half of the year, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now I want to enjoin you, as we begin this second half of the year, to be all-out for God in everything. In other words, don’t take half measures in your worship of God or go half way in your devotion to Him. Instead, give yourself fully to Him in worship and in service. That is because that is the only way to enjoy Him in all His fullness and also have His approval.

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Pastor's Desk wisdom for living

Renew your strength in Him

from pastors desk
from pastors desk

Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour. I am delighted to welcome you to this new week, which is the transition week between the months of June and July of this year. And I pray that your heart will continually be strengthened to remain strong in doing the will of God, regardless of the circumstances in which you may find yourself in this life. Amen.

Evidently, these are difficult times for many all around the world. Yes, these are difficult times for many to take care of themselves, their families, or their affairs in righteousness and with the integrity of heart. And that is because of the increase in wickedness, deception, and apathy towards God among men. But should we be surprised or alarmed because of these things? No! And that is because the word of God already makes it very clear to us that the last days of men here on earth will be difficult days. His word already shows us that these days will be days in which all forms of evil will be on the increase, and all the laws and programmes that we have put in place to protect us or make life easy for us will not be able to keep things from falling apart. (Cf. Matt 24:12; 2Tim 3:1-5)

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Life Application Pastor's Desk Relationship (Married) Relationship (Singles)

A DAY OF GOD’S FAVOUR

It is very clear that we are in the last days. And these last days, according to the Scriptures, are very dangerous days. (Cf. 2Tim 3:1) They are days that are characterised by shortage of love and surplus of wickedness. They are days of overflowing with deception and abundance of corruption. (Cf. Matt 24:12, 2Tim 3:13)

Nevertheless, we can enjoy God’s overflowing favour in these terrible days. Indeed we need to enjoy His overflowing favour, if we must walk triumphantly in the face of all the evils and corruption of these days. And without His favour, all our efforts towards righteous and upright living can only end in frustration.

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Pastor's Desk Topical Studies

DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF

“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left…” (Isa 54:2-3NIV)

Do you know that the God we serve is a God of increase? He is a God who wants His people to grow, develop, multiply, expand and enlarge in every good thing. He demonstrated that by putting a blessing of increase on every living thing that He created in the beginning. And that blessing is still at work, even now. (Cf. Gen 1:20-28)

So whenever we see redundancy or stagnancy, we should not be quick to associate it with God. God is not interested in limiting anybody; for He created all of us for unlimited and unrestricted productiveness, except the proud. (Cf. James 4:6, 1Pet 5:5)

Now you ask, “Since God actually created all of us for unlimited and unrestricted increase, why am I not experiencing it?” The reasons for that are simple: it is either you are proud or you are limiting God by limiting yourself. You say, “Oh, no, I am not proud.” Well, I hope so. But if truly you are not proud, then, you must be limiting God. We all do that unconsciously, from time to time.  

Take a look at our opening scripture again: the Lord asks us to enlarge the place of our tents and to stretch our curtains wide. That is nothing but a call to expansion or enlargement. Now when do we talk about expansion? We usually talk about it when we are expecting more or when we start to have more than what our current location can hold—more people, more children, more facilities, more provisions and more of anything.

So when the Lord tells us to make room, He is simply saying, “Look, I want to fill you, but the place you have right now cannot hold what I am bringing. Therefore, begin to prepare for the increase that is coming. Begin to prepare for your promotion. Yes, begin to make ready for your uplifting. For you will surely spread out to the right and to the left.”

Now notice that, in that scripture, God also says, “Don’t hold back.” That means don’t limit yourself. See, as far as God is concerned, we are the ones who will define our own limitations in life. Remember that poor widow that went to Prophet Elisha for help: she was the one that determined how much of God’s blessings she received. (Cf. 2Kings 4:1-7) In the same vein, we are the ones who will determine the degree of increase we will experience at the hand of the Lord this month and for the remaining part of the year.

So I ask you, “What level of increase do you want to witness in your life this month? What exactly can you believe God for?” Now this is not something that you rush about; rather, it is something that you have to intelligently and patiently consider. And when you are done making your decision, then, you can begin that process of enlargement by: first, express your desires to God in prayers, and second, take steps in the direction of your prayers. (Phil 4:6, 2Thess 1:11)

Remember the woman with the issue of blood: she not only desired and decided to be well; she also pushed her way through the crowd to take her healing. May the Lord fulfil every good desire of yours and honour all your steps of faith in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

(Adapted from ‘House of Prayer’, Vol. 6, No. 8, April 2014)

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Pastor's Desk Topical Studies wisdom for living

He knows where you live

power
power

Beloved: grace and peace be yours forevermore from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Welcome to another week of the month of June 2020. And I pray that your heart will be strengthened to remain true to the Lord to the very end, irrespective of the circumstances of the place in which you find yourself, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

One of the things the Lord commended the church in Pergamum, one of His churches in the province of Asia of bible days, for was their loyalty to Him, even though they were living with Satan himself. Look at the way He puts this in His letter to them:

“I know where you live — where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city — where Satan lives.” (Rev 2:13NIV)

Now the first thing the Lord tells these brethren is that He knows where they are living. And His point is not that He knows the name of their city. Of course, He knows the name of their city, which is Pergamum. But the name of that city is not the issue; the issue really is what is going on in that city and the impact it is having on the everyday life of the people there.

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Life Application Pastor's Desk wisdom for living

How not to waste your life

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from pastors desk
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Life Application Pastor's Desk wisdom for living

Christ our wisdom

From-the-pastors-desk
From-the-pastors-desk

Beloved: grace, peace, and love be multiplied to you forever from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord.

I am delighted to welcome you to the second week of the month of June 2020. And my prayer is that God will cause His wisdom to continually and fully find expression in you, so that you may always excel in all good things, irrespective of the situations of the world, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Paul, speaking to us by the Spirit of God in a letter of his, says, “…God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages, in order that at the present time, by means of the church, the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world might learn of his wisdom in all its different forms.” (Eph 3:9-10GNT) Think about that. God, right now and not later, wants the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenly world to learn His manifold wisdom through the church. In other words, He wants to manifest His wisdom through you and me because of our faith in His Son Jesus Christ. What a marvellous thing!

See, we may have started out in life as ordinary, ignorant, and unimpressive people. And many indeed started out like that. But it really does not matter to God. As long as we are in Christ Jesus, our social, cultural, political, or academic background does not matter; what matters is a new creation. And since we are new creations in Christ, God’s intention is to teach the world and all the powers that are operating in it His wisdom through us. This is what He recreated us for. Therefore, the thoughts we think, the words we say, the decisions we make and the things we do ought to daily and always communicate the wisdom of God to men, angels, and demons alike.

Look, for example, at the apostles of old. Everywhere they went, they shocked rich, powerful, and influential people by their words and acts of wisdom, even though many of them were unschooled and ordinary men. And why were they able to function like that? It was because of their relationship with the Lord Jesus. He was the wisdom by which they were living, functioning, and handling life. (Cf. Acts 4:13; Acts 13:4-11; Acts 25&26)

In like manner, Jesus Christ is our wisdom too. The bible says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1Cor 1:30NIV) Because of who are we in Christ Jesus? It is because of God. He, not any man or woman, is the reason we are new creations in Christ Jesus today. And it is He who has made Jesus Christ our wisdom. So, as far as we are concerned, our own wisdom is a living person, not a mere sense of good judgment. Our wisdom is Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-3).

Now since our wisdom is a person, how do we see it manifest in us? Is it by daily confessing that He is our wisdom or how? While it is okay to confess and affirm that Jesus is our wisdom, His wisdom won’t find expression in us because of that. He is already our wisdom. Confessing Him, therefore, as our wisdom will not make Him any more our wisdom or make His wisdom find expression in us. What will make the wisdom that He represents find expression in us is our learning from Him so that we make His ways our ways and His thoughts our thoughts. The more we do this the more His wisdom finds expression in us. And the more His wisdom finds expression in us, the more God’s purpose of teaching men and the rulers and powers in the heavenly realms His wisdom through us is fulfilled.

The question, then, is, “Do we want this purpose of God to be fulfilled in us and through us?” I am asking if we want those of this world and all the angelic beings that be to learn through us that God’s ways are the only true ways to make sense out of life. If we do, then, we must take more seriously our devotion to learning from our Lord Jesus in order that we may know Him better, for the better we know Him the better the expression of His wisdom through us gets (Phil 3:10). And my prayer is that, as we go this week, you will realise that this is God’s expectation on your life and that you are in a position to fulfil it.

Do have a glorious week.

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