GO IN THE STRENGTH OF THE SENDER

GO IN THE STRENGTH OF THE SENDER 

        New Year is here again! It is no news that people keep making resolutions and expectations every New Year. But the question is: in what strength do they make these resolutions and expectations as they come into the year; is it in their own strength and confidence or in the strength of the Lord? 

        There is no doubt that 2023 was bedeviled with different challenges, but the Lord is sending us into 2024 in His strength. The world system and evil practices of men might have ravaged our land to a point that it seems visible to the blind, nevertheless, God desires to use us as vessels unto honour to turn things around. The present condition of our nation may seem as though nothing good would come out of it, however, God is looking for those who will go in His strength into 2024 to change things for good. This was the scenario of the Children Israel many years ago when they did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Midianites for seven years. They were been battered by the Midianites for seven good years. The economy of Israel was in an impoverished state at the time. For as long as the children of Israel could not cry to the Lord because of the Midianites, their situation remained unchanged. 

    Despite all the hardness and difficulties of our time, God is desirous of a people who have put their strength in Him (Psalm 84:5) to enable them keep going from strength to strength till they come into the fulfillment of His promises concerning their lives in this year 2024. The bible says that: “They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God” (Psalm 84:7, KJV). The confidence we have as children of God to run this year 2024 until we come into God’s promises for our lives is the fact that we are going in the strength of the Lord. Realistically, human strength is incapable to journey us towards victory this coming year. Traversing this New Year despite the hardship and challenges of the times can only be in a strength that is strengthened by the strength of the Lord. 

    In this piece, I would be explicating the subject of “Go in this thy strength” using the life of Gideon in the bible. This would encourage us of God’s possibilities of going into this year with God’s strength despite our seemingly lost confidence of the state of our nation. The bible says, “And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not sent thee?”(Judges 6:14) My attempt is to highlight the categories of people that God desires to send into 2024 to be an agent of change despite the state of affairs of our families, communities, churches and nation at large. 

    Those who must go in the strength of the Lord are they who are uncomfortable with their present state of life, and desire help from God wholeheartedly. 

    The bible says “and Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the Children of Isreal cried unto the LORD.” (Judges 6:6)

    If we must see a change in any area of our lives, the first person we must cry unto for change is God. If we must come to see revival sweep over Nigeria in 2024, we must first cry out to God with all sincerity over the present state of our land. If a man is comfortable with his present condition, he will never put in more strength and effort to clamour for the comfort that God offers. Anyone that is practically comfortable with sin will hardly see the need to cry for a changed life. Going into 2024 should not be with any form of comfort for Midianites activities. Your Midianite could be the secret sin that you do engage in day after day. Yours could be that lifestyle of cheating and exam malpractice. Yours could be that ungodly relationship. Yours could be that lifestyle of drunkenness, wild partying, sexual immorality, lies, falsehood and masturbation. The Lord expects you at this point to cry for help. He will never fail in sending deliverance to those who passionately and sincerely cry unto him.      

    Those who must go in the strength of the Lord are they who are salvaged from sin                      

    The bible says that: “And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD because of the Midianites, That the LORD sent a prophet unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of Bondage…” (Judges 6:7-8) 

    The lesson to draw out from here is the matter of gaining freedom from bondage. Every sinner is a prisoner of sin and under the bondage of the devil. Anyone who engages in sin either publicly or privately is in the prison of sin. The children of Israel were at a point comfortable in Egypt, but “…in process of time, that the King of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by the reason of bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.” (Exodus 2:23). Egypt is a symbol of bondage and suffering. For as long as a man is not salvaged from sin and bondage, he is not fit to be sent as an agent of change to this perverse, untoward, crooked and corrupt generation. It is an aberration from the truth to claim to be salvaged from sin and yet you love the things of this world with passion. It is an aberration to claim to be free from sin and yet you engage in falsehood. If you must go in this thy strength, you must have been salvaged by the sender (Jesus Christ). It is an aberration from the truth to claim to know Jesus and yet you don’t hate iniquity and love righteousness like Jesus did as stated in Hebrew 1:9. If you don’t have a clear testimony of your salvation, it is pointer that you have not been salvaged from the bondage of Egypt. God’s call to you is to ask Him for forgiveness now and He will come to your help. A contrite heart and a broken spirit, God does not overlook. God demands your response NOW so that you can join the train of those believers who would enter 2024 in God’s strength. 

    Those who must go in the strength of the Lord are they who are not fearful in anyway because of God’s presence with them. 

        The bible says: “and the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, They LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of Valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us…” (Judges 6:12-13). 

        God being with a man is a critical precursor to knowing if such a man can go in God’s strength or not. A man who doesn’t have a clear knowledge when he PRESSED-IN to the Kingdom may never be able to PRESS-ON toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus for his life. Gideon never knew he was a mighty man of valour even when he truly was. God with you does not exonerate/exempt you from suffering or challenges, but His Grace will give you the elasticity to withstand every challenge that will come your way in 2024. A wise man once said that “As a child of God, you must not be limited by fear, but go out in faith” In reality, God in you is the hope of glory. The hope of glory for you in 2024 is reliance on God’s presence with you. 

        Those who must go in the strength of the Lord are they who God chooses to use in Mercy as vessels of Change. 

        The bible says, “And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not sent thee?”(Judges 6:14) 

        God issued an instruction to Gideon for him to comply and not to complain. There was a clear-cut matching order for Gideon to go in his might into the camp of the Midianites. God is likewise sending us into 2024 as agents of change to save those who are held captive and bound by the devil in every facet of life. He is calling and sending us unto been answers to the perplexing questions of the time. He is sending us to go in His might and not in our strength. He who is sending us into this coming year says that “Be strong, courageous and firm; fear not nor be terror before them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you” (Deut. 31:6). As God desires to use us, our family background is never an excuse or hindrance. As God desires to use us in 2024, the present state of our economy should never be a hindrance. Let’s put our confidence in God and He will lead us to the end. Let us put our confidence in God and He will sustain us through life in the year 2024. 

    You cannot go in the strength of the sender if you have not encountered the sender 

        The sender in this context is God Almighty. I must emphasize at this point that no one can do exploit for God if he has no encounter of Him. You cannot PRESS ON in the year 2024 in Christ if you have not PRESS IN into the kingdom. By pressing in, I mean that God desires a clear-cut encounter with the sender. Divine encounter must precede divine strength and divine strength must precede divine sending. God will not send any man in whom He has not strengthened yet, He will never strengthen any man in whom He never encountered. 

    Apostle Paul who was formerly called Saul was encountered by God on his way to Damascus. Prophet Isaiah would say when he had his own encounter that “Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:7). Isaiah was a major prophet, who has been in the prophetic ministry for many years; however, he was unfit to be sent in God’s strength for a greater assignment until he was encountered by God. The bible says, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isaiah 6:8). God is calling on us to go into 2024 in His strength. What is that unclean thing in your life that will hinder you from responding to God’s voice and invitation? 

    Only those whose strength is in Christ can go from strength to strength in the year 2024.                 Strength is required if we must progressively walk our ways into Zion. The bible says that “They go from strength to strength, UNTIL EACH APPEARS before God in Zion” (Psalm 84:7, BSB). Zion is the God’s heavenly administration. It is where all things are possible. It is a place where deliverance and holiness is possible for those who can come. Though, we need to take our journey of strength in Christ, nevertheless, the destination is nothing short of Zion. God desires our individual appearance in Zion. The bible says that “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5, BSB). 

        Zion is the sides of the North where promotions come from. Zion is a city of the great king from whence the blood of sprinkling speaks better things than the blood of any wrong covenant contending with our possibilities in Christ. In all, let our strength not end half way into 2024, but let it carry us through the thick and thins of the year. The reason is because, “If we faint in the days of adversity, our strength is too small” (Proverbs 23:9). 

        God is calling on us to step into 2024 with great hope and expectations on the wings of His strength. By strength shall no man prevail, hence, if we must prevail in 2024, we must go in His strength. We must allow God’s strength overshadow our own human strength so that we can reach our destinations in God this NEW YEAR. 

GOD BLESSYOU

Written by 

Samson Okpanachi Daniel

 (WORD FEAST – The Living Transformer)

YOUR BIRTH, YOUR LIFE; THE STORY THAT MAKES BROKEN BONES HEAL

YOUR BIRTH, YOUR LIFE; THE STORY THAT MAKES BROKEN BONES HEAL Birth in its simple definition is the beginning of life while Life is the period between birth and death. Life is also the remainder or extent of one’s life. To start with, can a man be given birth and yet such a man does not know that he is born? Can a man be born and yet don’t have any trait to show that his father is truly his father? Can a man be given birth and yet don’t know the day of his birth? Can a man be born and yet live a life completely different from the person that gave birth to him? These questions are the burdens that gave birth to this presentation. The question is: What is your story? Whatever your story may be, can it change things positively and make broken bones heal? It is on this premise that I deem it fit using this platform to examine the four cardinal dimensions of birth and thereafter you and I should find a better fitting in the one that can actually make broken bones heal. They four areas of being born include: 1. Born by your Parent (Normal Birth) 2. Born again (Second Birth) 3. Born of the Water (Water Baptism Day) 4. Born of the Spirit (Holy Ghost Baptism Day). You will realize from the four above mentioned births that the birth given to us by our parents only relates to our physical life while the remaining three (3) relates to our spiritual life. This implies that your spiritual life which comes as a result of this spiritual birth must control and dominate your physical life which in itself carries the nature of sin. Therefore, we can say that physical birth begets physical life, while spiritual birth begets spiritual life. From the little journey so far in this presentation, you will bear with me that we have principally two (2) types of birth: 1. Your normal birth (physical birth or natural birth) and 2. Your spiritual birth (second birth or born again). Despite the fact that your physical birth and life comes first before the spiritual birth and life, the story of your physical birth does not carry great magnitude of change that must affect this perverse generation positively compared to your spiritual birth. Do you know why? Hear what this man says: I feel like cursing the day of my birth; let the day of my birth be erased, and the night I was conceived. Let that day be turned to darkness. Let it be lost even to God on high, and let no light shine on it. Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it. Let that night be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the year, never again to appear among the months. Let that night be childless. Let it have no joy. Let those who are experts at cursing – whose cursing could rouse Leviathan – curse that day. Let its morning stars remain dark. Let it hope for light, but in vain; may it never see the morning light. Curse that day for failing to shut my mother’s womb, for letting me be born to see all this trouble. “Why wasn’t I born dead? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? Why was I laid on my mother’s lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest. I would rest with the world’s kings and prime ministers, whose great buildings now lie in ruins. I would rest with princes, rich in gold, whose palaces were filled with silver. Why wasn’t I buried like a stillborn child, like a baby who never lives to see the light? To quickly conclude on this type of birth, I must say that the human birth embodies the human nature; natural evil desires; old man; self-life (Mr. Self) flesh life (Mr. Flesh). With this type of birth, life is full of falling and rising, limitations, troubles, religiousness, legalistic righteousness, lies, deceit, compromises, cheat, guilt, and secret sin. This type of birth is full of weakness and shortcomings that cannot allow one to worship his creator properly. By this first birth, we are corrupt, sharpen and born in sin. Therefore, we must be made new creatures if we must please God; this is because no man can please God by this first birth (normal birth) no matter how churchy or religious he or she is. Actually, to accomplish God’s purpose for your life and destiny whether in leadership or anywhere life will place you, the physical birth no matter the strength you exert cannot journey you far, you need the spiritual birth. Though, the human birth cannot cause us to work in victory, there is another type of birth which is the second birth. This second birth may seem abnormal to many, yet it is what can grant us the enabling capacity and license to worship our creator in spirit and in truth. Oh, dear friends, do you know that you are a tripartite being – spirit, soul and body. I.e., you are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a physical body. It is with your spirit that you worship and may contact God. Your soul includes the conscious and subconscious minds, the realm of emotions and the will. It gives you personality, self- awareness, rationality and natural feeling. While your body is a complex physical creation by which you relate to this world and to other people in the world. It is on the basis of you being a spirit being that the matter of the spiritual birth becomes crucial and expedient. The question we must unearth at this point is the question of what is Spiritual Birth. Spiritual Birth could mean second birth, second begetting, born again, born anew, born of God, born from above, spiritual rebirth, or regeneration of the human spirit, or new birth. It is the day you gave your life completely to Christ and yield your neck to the yoke of discipleship with Him. It is the day you say buy-buy to the old life of sin and now operate under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. It is the day the Holy Spirit gives birth to your own spirit; the rebirth of your human spirit. It is the plan of salvation that Jesus authored at Calvary. It is to experience the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Which means that: you must die to sin, to the law, to life, and even to die out to your own will. It is a moment to acknowledge that your life of sin was buried with Christ by baptism and that when He rose; you were raised into a new life. It is a change from a stony heart to a fleshy heart. It is an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes. It is to believe in your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead and to confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord. It is when you are inwardly changed from all sinfulness to all holiness. It is the termination of a person of old creation with all their deeds and the germination of them in the new creation with the divine life. It is a point where you develop new nature, new principles, new affections, new aims, new focus and new way of living. And lastly, it is a spiritual newness of life to a divine beginning. Dear friends, by the risen of this juxtapose between the First Birth (Physical Birth) and the Second Birth (Spiritual birth), the question is: have you experience this Spiritual Birth? Does your life practically depict this spiritual and Christian life? This is indeed the story that can heal broken wounds. It is this second birth that can give you the license to go out to declare the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas Season. What has been your story before now; is it the story of how you gain admission? Is it the story of how you convocated and graduated? Is it the story of how you secured a well-paid Job? Is it the story of how you got married? Is it the story of how you use your God given talent and gift to affect your generation? Is it the story of how you were baptized with water in your local Church when you don’t have any trace of Christ like life in you? Or yours could be how you followed patiently, deception-ly and schemingly a lady until you wooed her to successfully become your girlfriend? That is not good enough a story as to change things and make broken bones heal. It is your spiritual birth and your spiritual life that can stand as a testimony for you in order to declare the birth, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ this Christmas season. From all these, It is therefore an aberration (deviation from the truth) for you seated here to say you have this spiritual birth when you are still operating under lust, masturbation, sexual immorality, addiction to alcoholic drink and smoke, kissing and romances, fornication, boyfriend and girlfriend relation that has led you to several sinful habits and discussion, willful lies, deliberate sin, secret sin, exam malpractice, etc. To conclude this presentation, I want you to know that if you doubt whether you are born again, it then shows that you are not born again. On that note, you need a gift. That gift is Jesus. You need Him in your life if you must declare the story of your spiritual birth and that of Jesus’ birth this season. You don’t need to pay any money for this gift. You can be part of this great community (family of believers) in order for you to have a divine beginning in Christ Jesus. It is not by your human effort energy or strength, but …it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. It is not by your works of righteousness, but it is in partaking in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Oh oh, don’t misunderstand me, for we don’t have to literally die, be buried, and rise again. Jesus was our substitute and did this for us. All we must do is to accept what He did by spiritually dying (Repentance), symbolically being buried (Baptism), and spiritually rising again (Receive the Holy Ghost). To this end, dead friend, don’t waste today’s date in your life, for the story that will touch your world and heal broken bones is the story of your salvation-spiritual birth which will thereafter culminate unto you sharing the Good News story this Christmas season. Thanks and God bless.