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Bitter Pill

If you don’t appreciate the truth, you would be told what you love to hear instead. Even where knowing the truth would save you a lot of trouble, it’s that which thrills you that those around you would probably be telling you.

And this is a deadly disposition!

A rich young man came to the Lord asking, “…what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Matthew 19:16.

The reply he got was, “…keep the commandments.” V. 17.

Pretending he wanted to know the truth, he probed further: “…what lack I yet?” V. 20.

“Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” V. 21.

The man couldn’t handle this truth, so, “…he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” V. 22.

Better still, great possession had him!

He left with the danger of eternal condemnation hanging on his neck!

Truth may be a bitter pill, but nothing makes your life better than loving and doing it.

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It Seem Right

Proverbs 14v12 (NIV)

“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death”

One of our greatest assets as human is the Will Power, that is, the ability to make decisions. God has given us the responsibility to make decisions and to make our choices as we journey here on earth; and not just that, but to also face the consequences of our decisions. He said to the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19, “…I have set before you life and death” and He proceeded by advising them to choose life. Meaning, He did not just give them options to choose from, He also advised them on the choice they should make and gave them the reason for that choice.

In life, we are daily faced with the need to make decisions (either big or small) and all of these decisions leave us with their consequences (good or bad). Life is full of choices and as human, we are prone to making mistakes and have the tendency of making a wrong decision.

You may have put all the necessary into consideration when making your decisions and still hit the wall/fail. In as much as God has given us will power, He still expects us to call on Him when making our decisions (Jeremiah 33:3).

It may seem right and not be right,

It may appear wonderful and not be wonderful,

It may look good and not be good!

Thus, take caution, exercise patience and utilize the priviledge you have to ask God and He will lead you the right way as He has promised, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” Psalms 32:8.

Remember, despite the fact that he has left us to decide, we still need to consult him to avoid the wrong end and the terrible consequences of a wrong decision.

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SetUp

It sounds atrocious, utterly heartless, if you mandate a student who wasn’t given any relevant textbooks or necessary materials, to pass a given examination. Or a business man deprived of capital, facilities or favorable conditions, and must still succeed.

However unfair it seems, the greatest favor that life might do to you is providing you with less competitive advantage and still requires you to excel.

The truth is that the strongest amongst us aren’t built by pleasure but pressure!

The Lord knew that the children of Israel would need to be strong if they must conquer the mighty and formidable nations occupying their promised land. And if He should just bring them out of Egypt unprepared for where He was taking them, it would be nothing but a disaster. So He instigated Pharaoh!

“…Pharaoh commanded…You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it…” Exodus 5:6-8.

Don’t diminish your goals, lower your performance or reduce your drive just because life hasn’t given or withdrawn from you the wherewithals.

Be strong and still go for the best the Lord has planned for you.

Don’t fall for the setup, instead, Step-up!

Author- Pastor Yomi Oyeniyi (Faith Among All Nations Ministry)

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Greener Pastures

Prospect, to a large degree, is often considered in connection with location. While seeking a greener pasture, you’d see many people, youth especially, trooping to the cities or finding a way of crossing to the west. The same reason accounts for business location. But it doesn’t always work out that way, sometimes your blessing might come from where you least expect.

When Jesus came to Bethsaida, they brought a blind man to Him, and pleaded that He would heal him.

Rather than healing him right there and then, He “…took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town…” Mark 8:23.

The man’s miracle was not in the city as they all supposed! It was outside of the city that his eyes were “…restored…” V. 25. Your blessing might not be coming from a particular place, person or thing as you expect. Therefore free your mind; don’t fix it.

Author – Pastor Yomi Oyeniyi (Faith Among All Nations Ministry)

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Connectivity

 

The stunts some have been able to perform, the exploits they have made, are so remarkable that you don’t just feel intimidated, but see their feats as something you might not be able to replicate.

However, nothing can be farther from the truth!

There’s virtually nothing anyone has accomplished that you and I can’t; not knowing what it takes is our main problem.

When Moses met with God, he himself was astounded by the things he began to do. One of them was his rod that turned serpent when the Lord asked him to throw it to the ground!

But when Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, the king of  Egypt, it wasn’t the rod of Moses that turned serpent this time; it was Aaron’s: “And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.” Exodus 7:10.

What Moses could do with his rod, Aaron also did with his!

Aaron was able to achieve this just by simply connecting: “And the LORD said to Aaron, Go.. to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.” Exodus 4:27.

There’s no limit to how much you can collect when you connect by the leading of the Spirit of God.

Author- Pastor Yomi Oyeniyi (Faith Among All Nations Ministry)

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Once Dead, Twice Cautious

 

If you have ever bounced back after a particular setback or crisis, and you don’t want to suffer a recurrent, you must be on guard, especially where your rebound has become the talk of the town and is drawing traffic to the kingdom.

While still basking in the euphoria of being raised from the dead, and people trooping from everywhere to catch a view: “Much people of the Jews…came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead.” John 12:9. At that same time, “…the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death.” (V. 10). Again!

They wanted the guy dead for the second time!

You don’t get carried away by the testimonies of God’s doing in your life that you let down the guards. That would be perilous! “Consultation” to rid you of “it” again could have been perfected.

And for your Lazarus not to die prematurely again, he must be twice cautious!

Author- Pastor Yomi Oyeniyi (Faith Among All Nations)

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Experience beget Confidence

Case Study 1 – David & Goliath (1 Samuel 17v 34-37)

Case Study2 – Joseph (Genesis 37v5-10, 40v8-22)

When unpleasant things happen to us, we tend to react so badly and get carried away that we lose grip of the lessons in them for us to learn. We put our maximum attention on the problem that we lose sight of the things we have to learn from it.

As Christians, there is no situation we face or pass through that God did not allow and for every situation God allows, there is always a lesson in it for us to learn. Amongst others, we gain experience from every situations/challenges we pass through in life and it is this experience that births confidence in the journey of life.

Using David as our first case study (1 Samuel 17v 34-37), it was the experience he had with the lion and the bear while tendering his father’s flock that gave him the confidence to face Goliath as he said “…the Lord that delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this philistine”. If he had not had those experiences, he probably might not have been able to face Goliath with such confidence.

Our second case study is Joseph (Genesis 37v5-10, 40v8-22); he had had experiences with dreams when he was with his family and interpretation of dreams while in the prison. His experience in interpreting the two prisoners’ dreams gave him the confidence that he could also interpret Pharaoh’s dreams in Genesis chapter 41.

Your past victories in life should give you the confidence needed to face any other challenge that comes your way. If God didn’t fail you before, He won’t fail you now. If He saw you through before, He will see you through again.

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The Awesome and Awful You

 

There are two things you might not have discovered about yourself, and until you do, the probability of either feeling frustrated and unfulfilled or becoming haughty and disdainful is inescapable.

To maintain a balance, you have to find out what your maximum potentials are, so you could rise to your peak. And the other is knowing the propensity for evil that is hidden within you, so you could learn to be modest however your achievements.

The Lord wanted Moses to realize the staggering things he was capable of doing when He asked him to throw the rod in his hand to the ground, and it became a serpent! (Exodus 4:2-3).

And in order to keep him levelheaded, the Lord also shocked him by showing him the bad hidden within him: “And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.” Exodus 4:6.

Leprosy? Right within Moses bosom?  Nothing could be more shocking!

The man never knew the extent of the strength and weakness he had within him up until that encounter.

Feeling unfulfilled? It only means you haven’t realized the magnitude of the strength lying within you!

And if it’s your achievements that has gotten into your head; it implies you haven’t understood the measure of your fallibility yet.

Author – Pst Yomi Oyeniyi ( Faith Among All Nations Ministry)

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Stop Dreaming

STOP DREAMING!

There is a common denominator you’d find with all the great people; they are not dreamers!

Keep dreaming and you will never accomplish anything worthwhile!

Great people are rather doers.

“…behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream…Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him…” Matthew 1:20, 24.

Joseph chose not to continue to dream but got up and did.

You have dreamt enough, it’s high time you got up and do something.

That’s the only reason Joseph is still relevant today.

To dream is cheap. Any Tom, Dick and Harry could do that. To do is what makes the difference.

Author: Pastor Yomi Oyeniyi (Faith Among All Nations Ministry)

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Your Spirit Versus Your Flesh

Ecclesiastes 12 v 7

As popularly said, a man is a tripartite being with a Spirit, a Soul and a Body.  For the purpose of this message, we will basically focus on the Spirit and the Flesh. According to the account of creation in the book Genesis (Genesis2v7), God formed man from the earth (dust) and breathe into it (releasing His Spirit into the moulded man), then man became a living being.

Taking our focus from Ecclesiastes 12v7, the Bible says, “the flesh will return to the earth where it came from, and the Spirit will return back to God who gave it”. From this scripture, it is of utmost importance to be sensitive to the roles these two play in determining where we spend our eternity. Many times, our flesh causes us to sin and do things that displease God but it is important to know that it is our spirit not our flesh that will be judged.

Many of us spend our time and resources investing on our flesh and yielding to its demands at the detriment of our spirit. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8). It is however important to state here that, it is the spirit that gives value to the flesh; thus, it will be unwise to let the flesh lead you astray.

Remember, at salvation, it is our spirit that God saved not our flesh (Adam’s example, it was his spirit that got disconnected from God when he sinned). The flesh has tendency to always misbehave and go against the will of God but do not forget that at the end of your journey on earth, the flesh will return to the earth, it is your spirit that will have to face the consequences of what your flesh has done.

Investing in our regenerated spirit and yielding to it, is the best way to escape eternal damnation. Our spirit should control our flesh and not vice versa. We therefore will do ourselves good to allow our spirit as empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead us in all affairs of life as it is our spirit that will give account of how we lived our lives.