We have them in hundreds if not thousands. They appear in different regale and uniforms, and we see them everywhere especially on Sundays. Our television and radio stations are filed with their messages. They also go by different titles, some are called Pastors, Evangelists, Prophets, Apostles others combine two or three names- Pastor Prophet or Apostle Evangelist and all sort. While I don’t mind the title they go by or the fact that there are many of them, I worry if they are actually doing what they are called to do.
Malachi 2:7 spells out at least some of their duties for us. Its reads ‘For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and the people should seek the law from his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of host’. This scripture presents four things we should look out for in them, namely:
1. Their lips should keep knowledge. This speaks of the content of their message. It should be complete, accurate and up-to-date. They are not to withhold knowledge but to preserve the integrity of knowledge. That means they have to be knowledgeable in whatever they say. It is not surprising that some of our earlier scientist and philosophers were Men of God. Examples include Isaac Newton, Gregior Mendel, John Wesley, John Peckham, Nicole Oresme etc. They were both knowledgeable in secular things as well as in the knowledge of God. The movie the chronicle of Narnia was from the book of a preacher by the name C.S Lewis and it is so amazing that he wrote the book decades ago (1949-1954). If you have seen the movie you will know it is a good presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in terms and pictures that the children on the street can relate to.
2. People should seek the law from their mouth. This speaks of character and charisma, in that we should see them practice the same things they preach to the extent that we go to them so that they can teach us what they practice and they should also say it well enough for us to be willing to go to hear them. The latter I know a few have mastered well as they speak so eloquently that we long to hear them but the latter cannot exist without the former.
3. For his is a messenger of the Lord of Host. The commission. A messenger is one that bears a message from his or her master and can only be heard on the ground that he or she has a message from the master. Not only that he has a message but he must have a current message from the Master. First Corinthians 14:30 say ‘if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent’. It means there must be a present truth or message they are trying to pass across to us from God.
Friends when we see our men and women of God, do we see people?
1. With a Commission from God
2. With Character
3. With Charisma
4. With a message of accurate Content
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
A BAD DEAL
I have always wondered what the issue was for Jesus just to turn stone to bread. I thought it was harmless, thoughtful of the devil and a helpful suggestion to a man that had been fasting. More so, what was in it for the devil? I didn’t just see it. Other than the fact that it was suggested by the devil who we all generally consider to be full of evil plans and can be up to no good, I didn’t see anything wrong with it, even so that Jesus at some point turned water into wine. Until I read Matthew 16:26 ‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’
This scripture implies that a deal is bad and should not be made if you have to give up your soul for anything, whatever it is. Then I understood that the temptation to turn stone to bread was not the end point for the devil but it was the beginning of a process to steal the soul of Jesus.
The process was going to be that Jesus would start agreeing to suggestions, advances and proposals made by the devil that looks harmless at first and seem helpful until the devil gets to the point where he will demand of Jesus to bow down to get the world. That is the goal!
This sound so real to us today, where we as Businessmen or Businesswomen, Employers, Employees, Job seekers, Students, Ministers of the Gospel, Politicians or Christians begin but yielding to seemingly harmless or helpful suggestions or proposals which will eventually be a bad deal. It will start as harmless, until we get to a point where we have to exchange our souls (our values, commitments, convictions and even covenant relationships) for the chance to rule or save the world. Two dangers we face at this point:
1. We would have made so many concessions before now to the devil’s suggestions that one more will not seem bad.
2. The world will be dangled right before us when the demand for our souls will be made and it will be difficult to resist.
Whatever the case, it is a bad deal that will not profit anyone because we would have given the most valuable possession anyone could ever have –our souls.
This scripture implies that a deal is bad and should not be made if you have to give up your soul for anything, whatever it is. Then I understood that the temptation to turn stone to bread was not the end point for the devil but it was the beginning of a process to steal the soul of Jesus.
The process was going to be that Jesus would start agreeing to suggestions, advances and proposals made by the devil that looks harmless at first and seem helpful until the devil gets to the point where he will demand of Jesus to bow down to get the world. That is the goal!
This sound so real to us today, where we as Businessmen or Businesswomen, Employers, Employees, Job seekers, Students, Ministers of the Gospel, Politicians or Christians begin but yielding to seemingly harmless or helpful suggestions or proposals which will eventually be a bad deal. It will start as harmless, until we get to a point where we have to exchange our souls (our values, commitments, convictions and even covenant relationships) for the chance to rule or save the world. Two dangers we face at this point:
1. We would have made so many concessions before now to the devil’s suggestions that one more will not seem bad.
2. The world will be dangled right before us when the demand for our souls will be made and it will be difficult to resist.
Whatever the case, it is a bad deal that will not profit anyone because we would have given the most valuable possession anyone could ever have –our souls.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
TO ALL FATHERS AND MOTHERS
I learnt a lot from my parents, some very valuable thing like good manners, the fear of God and the value of prayer, respect for the elderly, the wise use of money and much more. I also learnt some not so important things like how to knot a tie, how to tie my shoes, how to assess head gear, what colours to combine in dressing, how to cook and so on. These all add up to who I am today.
Those things I learnt in a way have helped me and made me a better person. At some point, they made me better than some of my contemporaries who did not have the same privileged I had. While I am so grateful to my parent, I still feel I could be better if I had learnt may be a little more. They may have attempted to teach me more but somehow I didn’t seem to get the message, either because they were not around enough, or they did not have the language to pass the message better enough, or I was just not smart enough to learn. Bye and large they have been my teacher and that worries me. It worries me that my children or the so many children in Nigeria or even around the world may not get to learn enough from their parents, and they (children) do have a lot to learn.
Fathers and mothers or potential fathers and mothers have so much they can teach their children but the virtue of their:
1- Experience in life
2- Exposure
3- Education
4- Encounters in life, with people, with God etc
Every man or woman as they attain to fatherhood or motherhood have learnt something(s) they can teach a child. For them to do this then they must:
A. Live long enough to be able to teach their children well
B. Live close enough
C. Have the financial means back up their words
D. Be relevant enough to be able to drive home the message
E. Be current enough to be able to speak the language their children understand
WOW, this is a lot but if we have been taught them we must also teach others. A good way of showing gratitude to our parents is to teach our children like our parents taught
Those things I learnt in a way have helped me and made me a better person. At some point, they made me better than some of my contemporaries who did not have the same privileged I had. While I am so grateful to my parent, I still feel I could be better if I had learnt may be a little more. They may have attempted to teach me more but somehow I didn’t seem to get the message, either because they were not around enough, or they did not have the language to pass the message better enough, or I was just not smart enough to learn. Bye and large they have been my teacher and that worries me. It worries me that my children or the so many children in Nigeria or even around the world may not get to learn enough from their parents, and they (children) do have a lot to learn.
Fathers and mothers or potential fathers and mothers have so much they can teach their children but the virtue of their:
1- Experience in life
2- Exposure
3- Education
4- Encounters in life, with people, with God etc
Every man or woman as they attain to fatherhood or motherhood have learnt something(s) they can teach a child. For them to do this then they must:
A. Live long enough to be able to teach their children well
B. Live close enough
C. Have the financial means back up their words
D. Be relevant enough to be able to drive home the message
E. Be current enough to be able to speak the language their children understand
WOW, this is a lot but if we have been taught them we must also teach others. A good way of showing gratitude to our parents is to teach our children like our parents taught
Friday, October 1, 2010
A Productive Employee (Part 2)
A Productive Employee (Part 2)
In the first part of this article, I said one way to be productive as an employee is to erase or block every negative comment(s) or thought(s) about ones boss or employee from your mind. It is a very good way of maintaining ones focus that is if the individual does have a focus.
In this second article, I intend to share another secret to productivity which is important for every employee. It is revealed in the same passage as the first article. Every employee who wants to be productive must not see or think failure but must see and think of increase and multiplication. In the passage, Matthew 25:25, the servant said ‘and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.’ (KJV). This servant, because he has a mindset that his boss was a wicked man, only thought of preserving what was given to him. He only made sure he still had what was committed to his care. That sounds like a lot of workers who only will do what they are told and do no more not less. No form of innovation or creativity is shown or demonstrated. Proverbs 22:13 says ‘the slothful man saith, there is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets’. It is a form of intellectual slothfulness or laziness to only want to remain in the familiar territory or to no want to do a little extra.
The master of the servant said in Matthew 25:27 ‘thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury’. That is to say you should have thought of a way at least to increase what I gave to you if not multiply just increase it a little bit. The point is as an employee you do not just think of failure (if I do this or that I might fail or might loss) but think of increase. Find a way to add a little more value to what you are doing or to what was committed to your care and after some time the little value added here and a little value added there will become more and before you know it you will have multiplied what you were given.
So think increase and multiplication, not failure.
In the first part of this article, I said one way to be productive as an employee is to erase or block every negative comment(s) or thought(s) about ones boss or employee from your mind. It is a very good way of maintaining ones focus that is if the individual does have a focus.
In this second article, I intend to share another secret to productivity which is important for every employee. It is revealed in the same passage as the first article. Every employee who wants to be productive must not see or think failure but must see and think of increase and multiplication. In the passage, Matthew 25:25, the servant said ‘and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.’ (KJV). This servant, because he has a mindset that his boss was a wicked man, only thought of preserving what was given to him. He only made sure he still had what was committed to his care. That sounds like a lot of workers who only will do what they are told and do no more not less. No form of innovation or creativity is shown or demonstrated. Proverbs 22:13 says ‘the slothful man saith, there is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets’. It is a form of intellectual slothfulness or laziness to only want to remain in the familiar territory or to no want to do a little extra.
The master of the servant said in Matthew 25:27 ‘thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury’. That is to say you should have thought of a way at least to increase what I gave to you if not multiply just increase it a little bit. The point is as an employee you do not just think of failure (if I do this or that I might fail or might loss) but think of increase. Find a way to add a little more value to what you are doing or to what was committed to your care and after some time the little value added here and a little value added there will become more and before you know it you will have multiplied what you were given.
So think increase and multiplication, not failure.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
A Productive Employee (Part 1)
The word ‘productive’ is one that every serious minded employer or superior officer is interested in. No man wants to give an assignment to someone who will only attempt the job, expending time and resources without getting the desired result. Hence it behooves every employee to give 100% productivity especially in this time and age when the jobs are not just there.
In a bid to be productive or to avoid being unproductive, an employee must put a number of things in place, one of which is to erase or block off every negative comment or thought about ones boss or employer. This truth is vividly expressed in the parable of Jesus in Matthew 25:24 and it reads “Then the man who had received the one talent came.’Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed”(NIV). He started his defense by saying what he thought of his employer- a hard man- and that informed his decision to just make sure the man gets exactly what he gave him.
To be truthful some of our employers or superior officers are hard men but it is not in our place to call them so and I have discovered that it is not also to our advantage that we think of them or treat them as such (except one is ready to quit the job), because once we allow that thought or impression to be created in our mind we start to act in that light. We should even be weary of office gossips in that can lead us down this road; else we will be tempted to hold back, which is being less productive in the discharge of our duties. When that happens:
1- We become an unfaithful employee
2- We may be shutting the door to future opportunities
3- Even God is not on our side
So how can one work without falling into this trap, even if the employer or the superior officer is a hard man. The following should help:
a- Do your work as unto the Lord
b- Do not just work to impress your boss
c- Do not just work for money
d- Do not emulate people around you who have fallen into that trap
e- Look unto God for you rewarder.
Let me give you a practical example, I gave an assignment to a consultant to do for my organization, to which he agreed and he was paid to do the job. In the course of time he came across someone who gave a negative comment about my employer, and because of what he (the consultant) heard, he lost interest and concentration and so he did not do the job as he ought to and did not complete the job in time, hence we cannot give him any other job (I am not say my employer is a saint); All because he heard a negative comment about my employer.
Therefore to be productive do you job like it’s your job
In a bid to be productive or to avoid being unproductive, an employee must put a number of things in place, one of which is to erase or block off every negative comment or thought about ones boss or employer. This truth is vividly expressed in the parable of Jesus in Matthew 25:24 and it reads “Then the man who had received the one talent came.’Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed”(NIV). He started his defense by saying what he thought of his employer- a hard man- and that informed his decision to just make sure the man gets exactly what he gave him.
To be truthful some of our employers or superior officers are hard men but it is not in our place to call them so and I have discovered that it is not also to our advantage that we think of them or treat them as such (except one is ready to quit the job), because once we allow that thought or impression to be created in our mind we start to act in that light. We should even be weary of office gossips in that can lead us down this road; else we will be tempted to hold back, which is being less productive in the discharge of our duties. When that happens:
1- We become an unfaithful employee
2- We may be shutting the door to future opportunities
3- Even God is not on our side
So how can one work without falling into this trap, even if the employer or the superior officer is a hard man. The following should help:
a- Do your work as unto the Lord
b- Do not just work to impress your boss
c- Do not just work for money
d- Do not emulate people around you who have fallen into that trap
e- Look unto God for you rewarder.
Let me give you a practical example, I gave an assignment to a consultant to do for my organization, to which he agreed and he was paid to do the job. In the course of time he came across someone who gave a negative comment about my employer, and because of what he (the consultant) heard, he lost interest and concentration and so he did not do the job as he ought to and did not complete the job in time, hence we cannot give him any other job (I am not say my employer is a saint); All because he heard a negative comment about my employer.
Therefore to be productive do you job like it’s your job
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
TABERNACLE IN THE WIILDERNESS
I have always wondered why God could not wait for the Israelites to get to the Promised Land before asking them to build a tabernacle of worship. I mean God was going to add to their burden by asking them to make a tabernacle- a bundle of objects they were going to carry along the way. But I have since seen three reasons why God asked them to build the tabernacle, namely:
1- The journey was more about worship than it was about getting to the Promised Land. It was clear from the outset that God was interested in their worship for two reasons namely:
a- The Call to Moses at the burning bush was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Mountain of God so that they may worship (Exo 3:12)
b- The ground on which the children of Israel were to be released by Pharaoh was that they may go into the wilderness to worship God (Exo 5:1-4)
It is therefore obvious to me and keen observers of the scriptures that as a child of God going to Canaan, that Canaan is not the utmost for God but that I get the concept of worship straight before I hit the Promised Land. So the number of day or years it take for me to get to the promised land is not what matters but how much of God I am able to get while on the way.
2- They have been in Egypt where they had seen so many gods and they were going to Canaan where so many other gods are worshipped, hence it became imperative that they met the one and the true God and got acquainted with Him before they went in.
3- It was not just about meeting God but that He be in their midst and that they carried his presence along for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them (Ps 44: 1-4)
Beloved, on your way to the Promised Land you need to get the concept of God and your worship of Him right for what you have seen in Egypt where you have been is not the true picture of God. The Promised Land is not going to be of much help to you either but if while you are in transit you treasure Him and you devotion to him, then you will get to the Promised Land with His help.
One way to know that you have gotten it right, is that your fellowship with God becomes more important to you than the Promised Land (that car, house, job, contract, child etc) that is, you are not bothered or worried about getting in or getting it but that you have God in you, with you and for you. The book of Hebrews 11: 39 said it more succinctly, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised”.
1- The journey was more about worship than it was about getting to the Promised Land. It was clear from the outset that God was interested in their worship for two reasons namely:
a- The Call to Moses at the burning bush was to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Mountain of God so that they may worship (Exo 3:12)
b- The ground on which the children of Israel were to be released by Pharaoh was that they may go into the wilderness to worship God (Exo 5:1-4)
It is therefore obvious to me and keen observers of the scriptures that as a child of God going to Canaan, that Canaan is not the utmost for God but that I get the concept of worship straight before I hit the Promised Land. So the number of day or years it take for me to get to the promised land is not what matters but how much of God I am able to get while on the way.
2- They have been in Egypt where they had seen so many gods and they were going to Canaan where so many other gods are worshipped, hence it became imperative that they met the one and the true God and got acquainted with Him before they went in.
3- It was not just about meeting God but that He be in their midst and that they carried his presence along for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them,
but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them (Ps 44: 1-4)
Beloved, on your way to the Promised Land you need to get the concept of God and your worship of Him right for what you have seen in Egypt where you have been is not the true picture of God. The Promised Land is not going to be of much help to you either but if while you are in transit you treasure Him and you devotion to him, then you will get to the Promised Land with His help.
One way to know that you have gotten it right, is that your fellowship with God becomes more important to you than the Promised Land (that car, house, job, contract, child etc) that is, you are not bothered or worried about getting in or getting it but that you have God in you, with you and for you. The book of Hebrews 11: 39 said it more succinctly, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised”.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Lesson I Just Learnt
Even receive him, that is, my own heart,whom I resolved to retain with myself, so that for you he might have ministered to me in the bonds of the gospel.Philemon 1:12-13 (MKJV)
Always act on the basis of relationship, not on the basis of your need. When you act on the basis of reletionship you give the needed respect and consideration others deserve and desire, but when you act on the basis of your need(s) you act selfishly. Needs change with time but relationships stay on.
Always act on the basis of relationship, not on the basis of your need. When you act on the basis of reletionship you give the needed respect and consideration others deserve and desire, but when you act on the basis of your need(s) you act selfishly. Needs change with time but relationships stay on.
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