Hope is an antidepressant

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00000mephibosheth2Samuel 9:8: And he bowed and said, What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I am?

Mephibosheth was lame on both legs and he belongs to the family of Saul, once a sworn enemy of David. I am sure that he tries hard to be out of the radar, because he doesn’t want the sin of his grandfather to be visited on him. However, the reverse was the case, out off the blues, David sent for him, not to harm him in any way but to shower favour on him (2Samuel 9).

Mephibosheth called himself a dead dog in the focus verse. That was how irrelevant and insignificant he thought he was. Another place in the bible were the image of a dog was used to illustrate a spiritual truth was in the book of Ecclesiastes. That verse which says that to him that is joined to the living there is hope and that a living dog is better than a dead lion (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6). It is better to be a dog that is joined to the living than to be lion that is dead, because the dog still has possibilities that are beyond the reach of the dead lion on this earth. For the dead lion, the end has come.

The story of Mephibosheth is the classic grass to grace story. David exercised his sovereignty in Israel to shower favour in him. He looked for an excuse to be a blessing to him.

Hannah was in a similar situation. She was barren and time was ticking. When God performed a miracle for her, giving her Samuel, she sang a song, where she acknowledged the power of God to change situation (1Samuel 2:1-10). The psalmist says that promotion does not come from the east, west or south but God is the judge, who lifts up one and demotes another (Psalm 75:6-7).

Paul wrote that hope does not make us ashamed because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hereafter (Romans 5:5-6). It means that when hope is in place, shame is displaced, because in all situations, we have the full assurance of the love of God and we are focused on that, no matter what.

And among the three things that Paul wrote to the Corinthians that are eternal in relevance are faith, hope and love (1Corintians 13:13). So hope is no small matter. Also in defining faith, the writer of the book of Hebrews said that faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1); the evidence of things not seen. Hope is the platform of faith. Lack of hope is the basis of being a yo-yo Christian. We walk with God by faith (2Corinthians 5:7), but hope is the ground on which you walk; it gives stability to your walk with God.

We need to realise its importance. In the book of Hebrews we realise that hope is an anchor for the soul, which enters into the very presence of God (Hebrews 6:17-20). An anchor is what gives a ship stability, so even when there are waves coming at it, it maintains its position. Hope is very important for spiritual (walk with God) and emotional (anchor for the soul) stability.

In biblical terms, hope is beyond wishful thinking. It is the impressing on the heart of an unseen reality, by God himself. It is unspoken expectation of possibilities that are beyond the boundaries of our imagination.

Paul wrote that eyes have not seen what God has prepared or those who loves him (1Corinthinas 2:9-10). But hope can apprehend them, because it reaches into the very presence of God. To reject hope is to reject God.

Paul wrote that we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God; that glory is beyond the limits of man, independent of his imagination, the full expression of the possibility that man has, based on God’s design. Hope is a powerful thing that makes you lit up with joy at all time. Without hope, there is depression. Elijah, when Jezebel declared that she was going to deal with him, had no hope of God coming to his rescue (1Kings 19:1-16). Then he wished he was dead.

When Jonah made the prophecy in the Nineveh that the city will be overrun in weeks, he said it with faith but there was no hope and love, but it is the three: faith, hope and love that fully captures the heart of God for the moment (1Corinthians 13:13). Jonah was only occupied with one third of God’s heart.

God said that the city will be ran over, within a frame of time; that is faith. That the people will respond in repentance and change their ways, averting the disaster is hope, love being the greatest of the three says that since God is love, he is more interested in showing compassion than, coming hard in judgment (once you meet his condition). Jonah entered depression, when the judgment he wanted and have declared on that city did not come to pass (Jonah 3-4).  He had overlooked hope, in his delivery of the message.

Hope is a form of rest in God. When Jesus died, he rested in hope of the resurrection; he said my flesh will rest in hope (Acts 2:25-32). Without hope there is agitation. Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel, a rest in what God has designed and appointed, knowing it is the best.

Hope is about what you are gazing on. It demands no action unlike faith, though it undergirds faith. Paul told the church in Rome that they ought to be rejoicing in hope (Romans 5:2), in what has been planned on their behalf by God, planned eternally for them. When it comes to hope, it’s about waiting based on divine assurance.

Hope defines how we react to the death of a Christian; Paul said that we should not sorrow as those who have no hope (1Thessalonians 4:13-18). We need to have the basic understanding of the relevance of the resurrection of Christ to us. That he rose means we will also rise up too to be forever with the Lord.  That is beyond a prayer point (prayer is directly linked with faith), it is a done deal in Christ. We are called to only rest on it.

The writer of Hebrews said that the law makes nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7:19). You cannot draw near to God without hope; hope is the realisation that the deficit in the account of your relationship with God has been covered by the blood of Jesus. You are not approaching God to prove anything; it is in reliance on the work of Jesus, and his signed-sealed-and-delivered perfect work of Christ. That is why penance is anti-truth; it denies hope through which we draw near to God. Hope has no work to do; it only gazes on the finished works of Jesus.

With faith you do something, but in hope you rest in the work of Christ, it keeps you going, looking unto Jesus keeps you going (Hebrews 12:1-4), keeps you motivated. Because you realise that God loves you more than you can ever know, you approach him wearing the righteousness of Jesus (2Corinthians 5:21), you have nothing to prove, no claim to make, but you lean on the steadfast love of the Lord that does not cease, and his mercy that never comes to an end (Lamentation 3:20-23).

Job said that there is hope for a tree when it is cut down that when it “experiences” water, it would sprout again (Job 14:7-9). Hope represents possibilities, and God exists in the realm of limitless possibilities, where eyes have not seen, not ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him. Possibility exists beyond the realms of the mental appraisals of man.

The bible says that we should be of good cheer (John 16:33). And there is something cheery about hope (I am not talking about wishful thinking); that even though you don’t know how, but you know God will come through for you, despite your mistakes and errors; because he is sovereign and loves you unendingly. And you rest in that hope.

Even though I said that hope waits it does not mean it is passive. It actively engages the word of God. it is not hope, the  spiritual quality described in the word of God for you to expect to have 70 virgins to marry in heaven, because it is opposite the truth of God.

David wrote: why are you depressed, oh my soul? As a solution he said to his soul: hope in God; “for I shall yet praise him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11). As far as he was concerned, hope is an antidepressant.

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Idleness breeds sin

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still20waters2Samuel 11:2: And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

The rest as they say is history. David looked, got hooked on another woman, and decided to get her husband hacked to death in a battle (by proxy), and then decided to permanently hook up with his wife (2Samuel 11:1-12:15). He stole the meat in the pot, and then cleaned his mouth as if nothing happened.

All these started when the king had some time to while away. A man who rises up from the bed at evening is truly idle. He was bored and adultery added some “excitement” to his life. That sin also had an element of risk to it; the risk of being found out. He has been in almost countless dangerous situations, where he had to think of a way to get himself out of trouble; now he decided to court trouble through adultery. The former is the legitimate trouble of fighting for the people of God- Israel, the latter is the one he caused for himself because of uncontrolled appetite, or misdirected appetite.

By not allowing himself to be engaged in what is profitable, he became engaged in sin, and got disengaged from God. Instead of embracing the excitement of the war front, he sought excitement in lying with a strange woman.

The statement, “an idle hand is the devil’s workshop” is true. To not be going anywhere makes you open to satanic agenda. You need to lay hold of God, for his will, for his way, for his demand on your time. Paul had a sense of urgency to life, he said, necessity is placed on me, woe is me if I preach not the gospel (1Corinthians 9:16).

But can you blame David? He probably believed that no matter what, God will not allow His army to be defeated. Was that not the confidence he expressed, standing before Goliath? Rather than, according to the words of Paul to Timothy, do warfare with the prophetic word (1Timothy 1:18-20), have the prophetic word spur him to action, he decided to idle away, in the false security that “since God said it, I believe it, I don’t need to do anything about it, I don’t need to stress myself going into war for it. What will be, will be!” Rather than put his energy to work, he allowed idleness to creep in.

In the first chapter of the book of Psalm, there are the scornful and the sinner, who were sitting and standing respectively (Psalm 1:1). The scornful are the observers, they are sitting. They make a career of fact-finding. They are going nowhere but they harass those who are. There are idle, so they have the time to be scornful, displeasing God.

There was a man whose farm brought forth plenty and decided that he will become idle henceforth (Luke 12:13-21). But God decided to ask him to submit his soul the night he said that, because if he will not be useful to anyone on the earth he can as well leave the earth, if he wasn’t actively contributing something on the football pitch, then he is ripe for substitution.

Not only idleness expressed in inactivity breed sins, but allowing our minds to lie fallow, idle, not engaged in the word of God, also breeds sins, since a psalmist wrote: your word have I hidden in my heart that I many sin against you (God) (Psalm 119:11).

There are several possible flaws that leadership can have that this story reveals.

  1. Because you can does not mean you should

From the parable that Nathan spoke to David to confront him with his sin, we see that what David did was pure wickedness. But maybe he was able to do it because he can get away with it. It will be right to conclude that David was definitely power-drunk.

And God punished him for abusing the power. He temporarily allowed someone else to take over from him as king, in the shape of Absalom his son, who slept with David’s concubines in the full glare of the people of Israel (2Samuel 16:21-22). With that God put David on the receiving end of his own insensitivity, because with his big foot, he squashed Uriah, and took his wife. He killed Uriah to save face but eventually, God was going to give him an open shame. God has a stricter standard for those he appointed (James 3:1).

As a leader the moral of the story for you is: don’t be power-drunk. God has both kindness and severity (Romans 11:22), and we should not lose sight of them, in whatever position that we are or how long we have been there.

Because someone is under you does not mean you should “urinate” on him, or treat him with disgust. They also have their right, the things that are theirs, under their own control. Don’t overstep your bound, to take of what is theirs to meet your need.  Don’t be predatory; don’t abuse other people’s trust. Stop playing the games of manipulation. Stop lying to cover up your mistake so as to maintain your image before the people.

  1. Because you have power, does not mean you should misuse it

Be careful how you use power. It should not be for yourself, to meet your own needs.  David had sexual needs, and that, coupled with idleness is a dangerous combination. Nevertheless, we should always put before our eyes that God has designed that our sexual needs should be met within the context of a monogamous marriage relationship with the opposite sex (Proverbs 5:15-23).

David did not realise that though he was king, he was not like any other king around. The kings of other nation may rule with impunity, because by the structure of things there, they are not accountable to anybody.  But David needed to realise that he is accountable to God and should not allow that awareness to leave him.

He was a king under God; he was a king on behalf of God. Though he had the anointing of God on him; that does not make everything he did to be right. In this case, he misapplied his will, allowing his emotion to take him to the wrong actions.

  1. The privileges that you have as a leader, is for you to carry out your responsibilities

That he is king means David could choose to go to war or not, but that privilege should not be abused. The privilege should not create a platform for wrong-doing. David abused his position with Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife), instead of being a protector of the whole realm, being the shepherd of the people of God by divine appointment.

David had the luxury of not going to war, as the king; he had the privilege of people doing things for him, on his behalf, as he commands them.

He had the power to command, and he used it to arrange for Uriah’s death. The privilege to command should not be abused, should not be used to crush others, it should be for the purpose of achieving his kingly responsibility of protecting the people under him, helping them on in every sense possible.

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The invincible hand of God’s help

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mosesandaaron2Samuel 10:12: Be strong, and let us be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God. And may Jehovah do that which seems good in His eyes.

Joab in the focus verse said that the though they (the army of Israel) had to do their best, they still need to depend on the invincible hand of God for help.

The Amalekites stood against the children of Israel when they were coming from Egypt. They were waylaid, and some died. Then God asked Moses to ask Joshua to assemble about a thousand men to deal with that threat (Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy 25:17-19).

But as a form of spiritual support, Moses had to go to a mountain and lift up the “rod of God” to heaven, with the help of Aaron and Hur. The hand of Moses stands for the hand of God, the invincible hand that ensured that victory comes the way of Israel in that battle; the rod stands for the authority of God, wading in on the side of Israel assuring their victory.

When the time came to conquer the land of Canaan, the expectation of having the invincible hand of God come into play was what made Joshua and Caleb (two of the twelve who went to spy out the land of promise) to stand firm in faith in God, while others who expressed no such faith, said words that produced fear, and a desire to run back, in the people (Numbers 13).

God was sorely disappointed in the 10 who brought a bad report and consumed them in his anger. Lack of trust in God is an affront to him; it is saying that he is less than he is. And to seek and expect his help is to have him real in our lives.

The bible say that without faith it is impossible to please because he who comes to God must know that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). You cannot seek him except you believe he is ready help.

David described him as a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). When Peter was imprisoned, the church rose up in prayer seeking the help of God, wanting him to extend his invisible hand to come and rescue Peter. (And he had done it before [Acts 5:18-20].) God’s “hand” entered into the prison, and through an angel, a mighty deliverance was wrought for Peter (Acts 12:1-19).

Isaiah prayed to God: oh that you would rend the heavens and come down that the mountain may flow at you presence (Isaiah 64:1).

When the cards are stacked against you, there is the mighty hand of God that can turn things around, he can shift players on your behalf and ensure that at the end of the game, at the end of the day, you come out victorious. Paul wrote that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20). Though the devil had been dealt with on the cross, it is the plan for God that that becomes our experiential reality, as we walk in his peace.

Israel experienced provision of food and water for the forty years they spent in the wilderness. Without fail, food comes down from heaven, even when God was angry with them for their numerous acts of distrust and disobedience, his faithfulness stood sure.

As mentioned earlier, the psalmist called God the very present help in times of trouble. He recognised that the invincible hand of God’s help is at work at several points in his life. The bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and are saved (Proverbs 18:10). That is who he is, our protector, our guard. He is the one who gives his angels charge over us, so that we will not hit our foot against a stone (Psalm 91:9-12). He thinks about you more than you can think about yourself.

He told the children of Israel that the plans he has for them are for good and not for evil to give them a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He has set a journey before you and he is not only going to be with you along the way, he will be in you also.

The  invincible hand that helps does not only work on the outside, taking care of stuffs,  causing us to be at the  right place at the right time, meeting the  right people, he also works on our inside. As it is written, God is at work in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

God said through Isaiah that He strengthens the weak, and for those who have no might he increases strength (Isaiah 40:28-31). That is by the invincible hand working on our inside to make us into what God wants us to be.

Peter who we see on the pages of the first four books of the bible is radically different from the one that we have in the book of Acts, it is the invincible hand of God that made the difference, and that is the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ said that if by the fingers of God he casts out devils then the kingdom of God has come near to the people (Luke 14:11-20, Matthew 12:28). Since he casts out the devils by the Holy Spirit, and the fingers is part of the hand, then it can be concluded that the Holy Spirit stands for the invincible hand of God.

When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, attempting to explain what being born of the spirit means, he said: the wind blows where it wants and you don’t know the direction but you see the effect; that is the Holy Spirit, the unseen influence on behalf of God (John 3:5-8).

He wants to influence you on the inside to choose the will of God always, to produce his fruit in you (Galatians 5:22-23), to move you on in the fulfillment of your divine destiny. There is no real greatness apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit.

He makes the voice of God real to us. Paul wrote that as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God (Romans 8:14), that is being guided by the invincible hand of God. The bible says that we will hear a voice behind us saying this is the way walk in it (Isaiah 30:21).

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Rest

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rest-af2Samuel 7:11:  And even from the time that I commanded judges to be over My people of Israel, so will I cause you to rest from all your enemies. Also Jehovah tells you that He will make you a house.

Rest is not only the will of God for you, you also have the mandate of getting others to experience rest, to show them the way to it. After you have come to Christ as the source of your rest; and someone prays: teach me your ways oh Lord and I will walk in your truth (Psalm 25:4, 86:11); you may be the answer, the appointed teacher, God’s answer to them.

Have you experienced liberation it may be in preparation for the manifestation of God through you in liberation for others? You have it, so that you can give it. The presence of God in your life is for you to be a channel for people to experience Him.

Paul had a revelation in the book of acts that a man from Macedonia said come and help us (Acts 16:9-10). He became the answer to their need. You are being packaged as a help to a generation. When you touch a life you touch a generation. Your seemingly innocuous life-impacting action reverberates for eternity.

You need to have a better valuation of yourself. Jesus told his fear-laden disciples that they will be his witnesses to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8), after only three and a half years of training.

Jesus asked the disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest. This is on the heels of his ministering to a woman at a well, leading to ministering to a whole town. The response was phenomenal to his ministry. He observed that the opportunities were there to impact lives but God needs to send labourers into his harvest. The labourers are those who have received the truth and are therefore able to give the same to others, according to their capacity.

You are in the house of God, and are meant to bring other in, point others to the door (John 10:7, 9), Jesus. Whatever God has placed in you, it is also for the benefit of others. You are a point man to reaching others just as Abraham was. The covenant of God with him captures his generations. His obedience to God has a timeless effect, just as yours will too.

The Holy Spirit that the apostles received was to make them witnesses (Acts 1:8), it wasn’t just for them to fulfill a religious obligation, it was to equip then with divine vision as they embark on changing the world, it was to aid then with divine tools of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, to establish the superiority of Christ where ever they go.

Unlimited grace is available for those who will push the envelope, move away from their comfort zones, to establish the kingdom wherever they are. What we need is a vision beyond ourselves, making the glory of God on our lives to affect people everywhere, so as to save some.

When the children of Israel were to conquer Canaan, certain tribes had been given inheritance, on the other side of Jordan, but the men of those tribes, who can go to war, were under strict instruction to not settle down in their inheritance until they have helped others to enter into there’s (Number 32:20-32).

It is your call also to help others come into their own rest, as you have come into yours.  It is time to look away from your own needs and focus on meeting the needs of others. Paul said concerning some people that they care only for themselves and not for the things of the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:19-21).

He added in another place: let no man look only to his own things but also to the things of others, citing Jesus as our example (Philippians 2:4). Jesus’ life was sown entirely for the purpose of producing new life in us, helping us in our relationship with God.

His manifestation is to destroy the works of the devil in our lives (1John 3:8); He is all about helping us. He saw the crowd as sheep without shepherd and he had compassion on them (Mark 6:34).

Eventually he said: come unto me all you that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30).  But after you have come unto him and experienced rest, you should call others into rest in him also. After Philip met Jesus, he called Nathaniel to come and experience the same thing (John 1:45-51).  The bible says: come taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

The whole of the bible is one big invitation to experience God.

David said that his destiny is to proclaim the name of the lord and declare his faithfulness (Psalm 71:11-24, 40:10, 89:1), to invite people to share in his experience of God.

Jesus met a Samaritan woman at the well. After she had an encounter of a lifetime with him, she went into the city and invited others to come and meet the One, the Christ (John 4:1-43).

Peter, when he was healing the lame-from-birth man at the beautiful gate of the temple, he said what I have, I give you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk (Act 3).

He helped him experience rest in Jesus in the area of his body. After the miracle of healing, the man was leaping and shouting because he could not contain his joy; he cannot believe what he was seeing about himself.

He didn’t wake up that morning thinking that he was going to walk today.  He wasn’t expecting that kind of change. He had probably mapped out a life for himself that includes being a perpetual beggar because of his disability. There was no end in sight for a normal life, like most people have; he had resigned to his fate, and has probably embraced his limitation. But he was shown that in Christ, no case is closed, no issue is untouchable, no disaster irreversible, nothing is impossible.

God does not panic because he knows the end from the beginning. Once we know that, it is our responsibility to bring others to the same realisation, that God have everything in his control, that all things work together for good to them that love God  and are the called this purpose (Romans 8:28).  We can rest on that.

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What has God said to you?

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Talking with God2Samuel 5:2: Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the LORD said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.

In the focus verse, the people of Israel came to David affirming that it was time for him to step into what God has told him earlier.

It is interesting that the God said those words to David (1Samuel 16:1-12), long before his trouble with Saul started, definitely when Samuel came to his father’s house to anoint him. When that trouble started, he spent years as a fugitive from his native land of Israel. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord came to pass in his life (Proverbs 9:21, Isaiah 14:24, 26-27, 46:10 ).

At a time it didn’t look like it, so much so that David once made a difficult decision of going to the land of the Philistine, expressing loyalty to a foreign king (1Samuel 27:1-7). He became committed to a king away from the throne he had been promised. But eventually the word of God was fulfilled. Hear what that has to do with you: no matter what, what God has said to you will be fulfilled.

God told Abraham that he was going to have a child through Sarah his aged wife (Hebrews 11:8-12, Romans 4:16-22). But that was impossible from the standpoint of mere mortals. But the word of God broke the barrier of age, and created the reality that word testifies to. The word of God has the capacity to create the corresponding reality in our life. God said that the word which has proceeded out of his mouth will not return to him void, but it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.

God said to Noah that he will no longer destroy the world with water and that word has stood for the last millennia (Genesis 9:8-17).  The word of God through Isaiah was that a virgin will become pregnant (Isaiah 7:14), against the law of nature, and that happened hundreds of years after in the virgin birth of Jesus; that was God invading the earth with himself, causing his presence to be felt to the ends of the earth.

God said that he will give the children of Israel the land of Canaan, though the people who received the original promise all died in the wilderness, the word of the Lord eventually come to pass. God once asked a rhetorical question: is there anything too hard for me (Jeremiah 32:27)?

Again after years in the Promised Land, due to the sin of the people, God promised to cause them to go into captivity, to take them from that land for seventy years. That was exactly what happened.

In Samaria, a severe famine ate up the land (2Kings 6:24-7:20); a woman actually ate up her child. It was that bad. But the word of God from Elisha said that within twenty four hours, things will change, the land will come into sudden plenty. Someone who suggested that maybe, God doesn’t know what he was saying, became doomed to die that day and did not partake of the plenty.

“How” was not important. That He said it means it is as good as done.

I am sure that many times David might have asked himself how the promise of God will come to pass. (Mary asked the same question, when she was confronted with the proposition of a lifetime, that she, as a virgin, will become pregnant [Luke 1:34-38])

How will the promise that he would rule Israel come to pass when he was being chased around in the wilderness? And he refused to help the process when he had opportunity to kill Saul the King. It was as if he was resigned to his fate. But the reality was that he was resigned into the hand of God, refusing to help himself to the “cookie”, before his time. He said to God, “my times are in your hand (Psalm 31).”

What the economy is saying may seem contrary to what God is saying, but no matter how long or the strength of the opposition, the power of God always backs his word. Whatever he said is as good as delivered.

God’s word to Gideon was that he is a mighty man of valour (Judges 6-7), but that contrasted with the way he saw himself, and his situation. He was hiding from the enemy, wondering where the mighty God that their fathers spoke about was in light of the evil that has come upon them. He was however God’s appointed to be a deliverer for Israel; he didn’t even see himself like that. It took a walk with God to get him to see himself as God does.

God called him mighty man of valour, and by the end of his life that was what he was, with a lot of encouragement from God along the way. God will do everything to get you there, as long as you cooperate with Him.

Gideon was destined to rescue Israel. The angel of God told him to go in his might and rescue Israel from their enemies. Before that he was focused on his inabilities and how the nations around are oppressing his nation. But he was called to do something about it, contrary to his native ability but acting on the word of God, he got extraordinary results.

He had divine mission to accomplish, but first he had to deal with the demon in his own father’s house, he had to win over the forces of darkness, represented by the arrangement for Baal worship, in his own house. He had to confront Baal, at the command of God. That immediately drew attention to him and what he stands for, which was devotion to no other God but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He needed to establish that identity before going forward to conquer. He needed to set himself apart for God’s use, set himself apart from the corrupt worship lifestyle of that generation.

What about you? Maybe God is waiting for you to establish an identity of standing for God, before you can push forward to advance in the purpose He has for you. You need to have your root go down before you bear fruits upwards (Isaiah 37:31).

God can tell you about where you should go. In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit told a group of prophets and teachers to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the work they are to do, which involves moving out of their present geographical territory and invading the world around with the gospel (Acts 13:1-6). It involved extensive travelling. Jesus Christ had the commission to only go to the towns and cities of Israel; that was his instruction from God (Matthew 15:24, Matthew 10:6).

An angel told Philip amidst the mighty revival that was taking place in Samaria to go to a place where he would meet an Ethiopian eunuch, who he preached to, baptised in water and became a disciple of Jesus, bringing the light of God to Africa (Acts 8:26-40). God told Abraham to go to the land of Canaan, to separate himself from his father’s house, and live in loneliness (Genesis 12:1-2). He obeyed God.

David after the death of Saul asked God where he should go (2Samuel 2:1). God told him to go to Hebron. There Judah came to anoint him as King.

What has God said to you? Believe, obey, and walk in it.

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The destiny of Jesus

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rain-widescreen-wallpaper-12Samuel 3:18: Now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.

Though Jesus was not mentioned in the above verse, the very thing that David was meant to do in the natural sense for the children of Israel are the things that Jesus should do for believers in a grander scale that encompasses the spiritual.

The bible says that for this purpose the son of man was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8). Jesus said that the devil came to steal, kill and destroy but he has come so that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). He counters the spirit of death with his Spirit of life (Romans 8:1-2).

As a type of Jesus, Moses was used by God to free Israel from bondage in Egypt. Are you bound to any bad habit; it is the destiny of Jesus to make that history in your life, to make you free from untoward habit; he stands for freedom. His destiny is to make us free from whatever the devil wants to put on us.

Jesus had the assignment of dealing with death, heart turmoil and sickness. Death was a function of our spirit (we were spiritually dead [Ephesians 2:1]); sin, our soul; while sickness is about our body. The cross represents the culmination of the work of Jesus on these three fronts.

As the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:1-2), he brings peace to us in our relationship with God (Romans 5:1), peace is our experience in our soul (John 14:27), and peace is the area of health in our body, because sickness is the body in turmoil.

The work of Jesus can also be captured in one word: restoration. This is to remake us and our experiences, in a way that it is not different from how it was originally. To restore painting, you need to have an accurate understanding or how it was. And who has a more accurate picture of how we were if not our creator?  Jesus is the creator (John 1:1-5) and he has the blueprint of how we should look like.

He became who we should be, walking on the earth for thirty something years. Dying at that age shows that ageing was not part of the plan of God for humanity. That reflects the truth that it was in the plan of God for us that we should be everlasting beings.

How?

If death was not part of the original arrangement, then we were supposed to have the no sign of ageing on us (I am speaking of a world were Adam did not fall). It is my thinking that definitely there was no sign of aging on Jesus at the time he hung on the cross.

Now Jesus is eternally aged thirty three, in his looks, in his everlasting human form. One can also project that when one dies, all signs of sickness, death and aging would disappear from the body in the after world, at least if you go to be with the Lord as a Christian. John wrote that we don’t know how we would be, but we know we will be like him (1John 3:1-3). For starters, he looks like a thirty-three year old.

However there is another thought: since God is defined as being the ancient of days with the hair on his head like pure wool (Daniel 7:9), maybe the plan was that age was meant to only show in the whitening of the hair?

Jesus said that after resurrection we shall be like the angels in heaven, angels don’t age (Matthew 22:30), they are not subject to earthly decay which is the direct result of the punishment of man; that dust he is and would return (Genesis 3:19). The process of “returning” is the ageing process.

It is the destiny of Jesus to make ageing history in the new world to come. He removed the limitation of death from man. Death is our enemy (1Corinthians 15:25-26), it limits and Jesus has come to remove the limits from us.

He was made poor so that we can become rich (2Corinthians 8:9). That is part of the limit-removing destiny of Jesus. Lack of money can be limiting. The bible says that a poor wise man is forgotten, the spread of his fame is limited (Ecclesiastes 9:14-15). Also we read that money answers all things (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Apart from being sustained with food and raiment, we are meant to extend our hands to the needy in physical terms.

The bible says that God is able to make all grace abound towards us, so that having all sufficiency in all things we may abound unto every good work (2Corinthians 9:8). And it is the grace of the Lord Jesus that is being referred to; that limit breaking grace.

Jesus wants to break the limit in our soul, in our mind. Paul said that, those who are spiritual have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:9-16). He also wrote that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of sound mind (1Timothy 1:6-8). For those in him, Jesus Christ represents for us wisdom (1Corinthians 1:30) and the breaking of our limits of the knowledge of God. He came to break the limit of what is possible with God.

Also there is the limit of our body, in sicknesses and diseases and Christ set out by bearing stripes on his back, to free us from them (1Peter 2:24). That is part of the mission of Christ, it should be proclaimed as such. Jesus said that in his name we would lay hands on the sick and they will recover (Mark 16:15-18).

It is his destiny, to not only help us deal with satanic agenda in our lives by to equip us to help others also. He told the disciples that he has given them the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions (Luke 10:19), representing the powers of the enemy; and to trample them underfoot. We are a major force of Christ on the earth; we are spiritual wrestlers against satanic forces; we are soldiers in the army of Jesus (2Timothy 2:1-4) fighting with truth, love and power.

Of the destiny of Jesus, Zacharias the father of John the Baptist said of Jesus that he will deliver us from our enemies that we may serve God without fear (Luke 1:67-79). The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus was manifested to deliver us who all our lives were subject to bondage to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-18).

By defeating death Jesus stands as the source of freedom, unending freedom. We were told that with one sacrifice he has saved forever those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14).

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Being of understanding heart

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rocky_mountain_toursObadiah 1:7: All the men of your covenant have dismissed you to the border; the men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and have overcome you. They are setting your bread as a snare under you; there is no understanding in them.

If there is anything we should seek to have, it is an understanding heart. And a basic feature of an understanding heart is that it seeks knowledge. One thing the foolish lacks is an understanding heart (Proverbs 18:2). He keeps hitting his foot on a same stone. Solomon wrote that the labour of fools wearies them because they lack know-how, and couldn’t care less (Ecclesiastes 10:15). There lack of know-how makes them foolish. But Jesus was marked with the spirit of understanding (Isaiah 11:1-3). The bible says that he shall be of quick understanding in the knowledge of the Lord.

His depth of spiritual understanding was shown when he had to answer many questions that were meant to floor him; he answered the tricky questions to the amazement of all (Mark 12:12-34). By the Spirit, the disciples of Jesus expressed amazing wisdom. Jesus told them that when they face persecution and they are to face a panel, they should not worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit will teach them in that hour what they should say (Luke 12:11-12).

Of Stephen, the first martyr recorded in the bible, it was written that the people could not withstand the wisdom of his word. He displayed amazing understanding of the dealings of God with the nation of Israel (Acts 7). There was such Spirit of wisdom in him.

As mentioned earlier, those who understand are perpetually seeking to know more. There is a hunger for knowledge in them.

Moses had an understanding heart. He asked that God will show him his ways (Exodus 33:13). A psalmist said that God should teach him his ways, so that he can walk in God’s truth (Psalm 86:11). God gave Solomon an understanding heart; with that he had an insatiable hunger for knowledge, so much that he concluded that in the reading of books there is no end (1Kings 3:9, 12, 4:29). All of these people expressed a heart of understanding, seeking for knowledge.

The bible says that it is a glory of God to conceal a matter; it is the honour of kings to search it out (Proverbs 25:2). Paul had a hunger to know Christ saying that I may know him and the power of his resurrection (Philippians 3:7-14).

His hunger for knowledge lasted till the later end of his life when he asked that Timothy bring him “the” parchment when coming to see him (2Timothy 4:13). He needed to be mentally engaged in the acquisition of knowledge, no matter the age. He could engage with the intellectual of Athens, even quoting their literature to them (Acts 17:15-34). The depth of the knowledge of Paul as displayed to kings, one of whom said to him that much learning has made him mad (Acts 26).

There are many things jostling for our attention but the man of understanding will engage himself with knowledge that will enhance his life, especially the spiritual life. He sees spiritual knowledge as his path for change.

Jesus told certain people that they if they continue in his word, it will lead them truth (John 8:31-32), which will in turn make them free indeed. The knowledge of the God’s truth can free us from sinful lifestyle. But the fool will run away from the truth that can set them free.

You can pray for understanding. James wrote that if anyone one lacks wisdom (and understanding leads to wisdom) he should ask God who gives generously (James 1:5). Solomon asked God for an understanding heart.

In Christ we can have access to a good understanding of God. Writing to the Corinthian church, Paul said that the things of the spirit are spiritual discerned and are foolishness to the carnally minded (1Corinthians 2:14-16). Therefore Paul prayed for the Ephesians that the eyes of their understanding be enlightened (Ephesians 1:15-18). You can also pray the same prayer for yourself, that the eyes of your heart be flooded with light.

Paul described the people who have not come to Christ as having their understanding darkened (Ephesians 4:17-18), therefore they do abominable things.  Paul said that we should be men in understanding (1Corinthians 14:20), we should be of very sound in understanding of the will, word and ways of God.

He said that we should not be fools but understand what the will of God is; not just know the will of God, but have full understanding of it. A psalmist asked that God will give him understanding according to his word (Psalm 119:34, 73, 125, 144, 169); he also prayed: open my eyes to behold wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18).

To understand the word, we should be humble enough to ask the Lord for understanding. Jesus Christ rejoiced that certain knowledge were hidden from the wise but revealed to babes (Luke 10:21). Babes are not self-opinionated; they are teachable, impressionable. That is what God wants to do- impress his knowledge, understanding and wisdom, on us. We are called to grow in knowledge (2Peter 3:18), to be matured in understanding, but still maintain in the teachability of a child.

Real understanding comes from God. Paul wrote that we should not allow anyone to hoodwink us by their worldly wisdom, since Jesus is his wisdom and power of God (1Corinthians 1:24), adding that we should see ourselves as being complete in the one who is the head of all principalities and powers (Colossians 2:6-17).

Of spiritual understanding, Paul said that God has shined the light of the understanding of Christ in our hearts (2Corinthians 4:6). The bottom line is that there is no true knowledge apart from Christ. He called himself the way the truth and the life, he is the light. He is the source of the true knowledge of God, all the words of the Old Testament are focused on him, revealing him, pointing to him, presenting to us the fact that we should focus on him for true knowledge.

After his resurrection and the disciples were doubting if truly his has risen, two of them were travelling to Emmaus, and disguised he explained to them from the pages of the scriptures things concerning himself, taking them through the pages of the old testament. If you don’t have the understanding of Christ, you have no understanding at all. He told the Pharisees that the scriptures testify of him (Luke 24:12-53).

The basis of true understanding is to consider that God was manifested in the flesh in Christ, and experienced indescribable pain to free us from damnation. The heart of understanding starts with understanding and taking the steps salvation, owning up to the foolishness of your ways, apart from God, the true source of true wisdom.

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