HOW TO TURN THE PAST AROUND

    

    We all have a past. The past can be torrid or violent. It can represent desperate times. It can be filled with shame. Most people will look at the account of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) for comfort. Today I want to point you to another revelation or another direction. It is found in 1 Chronicles 4 and known as the Prayer of Jabez.

I know it sounds scandalous but hear me out on this. This prayer has had its misuses and misunderstandings despite its brevity. Let us first look at the individual. Jabez did not like his name. He was named by his mother, Because I bare him with sorrow (vs 9). Indeed his name became a pain point to him as well. It filled him with shame and guilt. How can a mother do this to her own child?

Even though Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, he could not tap into the blessings. He was held back by his name. His name was due to the past circumstances or events of his life. His mother made a memorial to her pain in his name. Often our antics or activities cause our family or parents pain. Jabez had to live with it.

Sometimes we are able to break free from our past but others keep reminding us of it. Our environment keeps us in the past. He was among his brethren who prospered around him yet he could not prosper. His name kept him in the pain or the mess that was created in the past. 

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. 1 Chronicles 4:10

To break from the shame we can only turn to Jesus. Jabez turned to God, that it may not grieve me!. There is fervour in the exclamation point in the prayer as well. He needed the blessing to counter the curse in his life. Sometimes it is the people who are closest to us who hold us in our past. They hold us in bondage to the past. It shows unforgiveness. 

The heart or posture of the man is genuine. He was honourable and still asked God, to keep him from evil. It proved that he was not self righteous. To enlarge his coast is not about property but about reach and influence. Who would believe or listen to a drug addict or a murderer? But for God working in your life, you can reach others with your story. 

Jabez had a story and by God's grace he received a manifestation of God in his life. He received a testimony. When Jabez asked to have the hand of God on his life he was committing his day and everything to God. 

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: Genesis 12:2

Jabez understood the covenant God had with the children of Israel. He reminded God of this covenant and believed God for it. Only God can completely turn your circumstances around. If Jabez were to walk out of the alignment of God's will then he would not have had the blessings. sometimes we have to check to make sure we are in alignment. In fact prayer has to be according to the will of God.

He must have felt lost, alone, betrayed and hopeless. Hearing his name called was a daily reminder of something he caused but had no control of. So many of us are born into generational curses. We have to live with the mistakes of others. His posture was not one of offence or unforgiveness. He chose to deal with changing the situation. He was not thinking of getting back at his mother or hunting down or hurting those who reminded him of his pain. 

I pray you are free from your past, your environment, guilt and shame. I pray you stay in covenant and alignment with The Holy Spirit and receive your blessings to turn around your story to a powerful testimony in Jesus name. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be. Guide me in these times so I can be used by you to help others in Jesus name I pray. Thank you Father.

 

Click here for my Youtube Channel

Click here to see incredible clothing for men

I AM A CHOSEN PEOPLE

    Many people resent or cannot accept that Israel has a special place in God's heart. Many Christians do not understand the relationship and come up with unscriptural explanations. One such is known as replacement theory. It is a diabolical concept that has snuck into our church and teaching.

Grafting Olive Trees article

The theory revolves around the Christian church replacing the Jews as God's people (you can read more on this)  However, Romans 11:17 clearly says we are adopted or grafted into the family:

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 

We are grafted into the main tree. John 15:1, I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. In the time of Jesus there were the Messianic Jews. They expected a Messiah and thought the Messiah would be a conquering king or a prophet of old returning. 

To become a Messianic Jew was simple. They had to believe not convert to Judaism. They did not even have to be circumcised as the Pharisees wanted. They simply professed belief in the Messiah who turned out to be Jesus. This was another phase of development as a Messianic Jew.

Eventually the Messianic Jews who were the precursors to Christianity died out and those who were grafted or adopted in, remained. But this was not through lineage but by faith. Soon I will write more on this. Needless to say, Christianity grew and the Messianic Jews were forgotten to some extent.

In a strict sense God is God and it is about God. If God says jump we jump. If He says don't do something we don't do it. If God says He will prove Himself by using Israel then who am I to argue? It will do us well to agree with Him. If God calls the Jews His people, we ought to call them His people too. We were adopted and are one with them.

We should not be jealous siblings because there is a lot that is required of anyone who is called His people. We should pray for Israel because all eyes will be on them and God's judgement will be on them first. Even Paul said this, to the Jew first.

In other words Israel is used as an example over time. We can trace an example over thousands of years to learn about our God. We cannot know Him in a few years, a lifetime or a hundred years. We can see more and understand more of Him over thousands of years and eternity.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. Hosea 4:6 

Then I said, "They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God." Jeremiah 5:4 

The issue is not that Israel is special, although the relationship with God, makes it special, but that God chose them. Those who are chosen are called by Him. The Jews are called to keep the laws. That is no easy task. However, we are all called. We see God's covenant operating and manifesting through them. Similarly we want to see the New Testament Covenant operate in our Christianity and Jesus manifest in us.

to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:14

We are called through grace. Acts 9:15-16 tells us Paul was a chosen vessel by Jesus to go to the Gentiles, kings, and Jews and that he would have to suffer for Him. We too. We were commanded or commissioned to go into the world and preach the gospel. 

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19-20

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2: 9-10 

I pray that you are called and chosen by the mighty hand of God. I pray you find your place in the kingdom of God and are grafted in, in Jesus name.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be. Guide me in these times so I can be used by you to help others in Jesus name I pray. Thank you Father.

 

Click here for my Youtube Channel

Click here to see incredible clothing for men

 

DON’T LOSE YOUR INHERITANCE

There is a proverb that a hungry man is an angry man. Not everyone can deal with hunger. I once got angry and irritated because I was hungry and tired. I was surprised at my own response. However, I have learnt to deal with it over the years. Hunger does make people behave strangely. 

Some people have medical problems like diabetes. I once saw a man walk straight into a glass door because he missed breakfast. Diabetes caused him to get confused. Thank God he was not hurt and received the medical attention he needed. Hunger can cause life changing experiences like losing an inheritance.

I have been meditating on the account of Jacob and Esau. Esau was a Hunter and he was good too. Isaac ate what he caught. On a particular day it would seem Esau was not successful. He did trust his brother and his brother took advantage of him. Esau was easy prey as he did not see the value in what he had. He took it all for granted.

Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”

And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”

So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:29-34

Firstly, Esau showed contempt for his birthright. He did not value the things of God. It is God who determines the firstborn and the system which has been continued and affirmed by God through covenant. God's covenant is with Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. It came to Jacob by default. It would have been a continued covenant with Esau. But Esau did not value it and practically slapped God in the face.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Romans 9:13

Esau valued the carnal, or things of the flesh. His appetite is not simply about food, it represents the desires of the flesh. He was controlled by it. As Christians we should not be like Esau. As heirs to the throne we as believers have an inheritance. We are blessed by faith through Abraham. Same faith gives us access to the inheritance as the promise of the Spirit.

That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:14

For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Galatians 3:18

The promise is the covenant. What is the covenant? The word comes from the word 'cut' in Hebrew. It is a binding agreement with a common goal and sealed in blood. In our case it is sealed in the perfect pure blood of Jesus. He was the sacrificial lamb 'cut' or killed. The Old Testament covenant involved the sacrifice of animals. 

The Old Testament covenants are similar to a marriage covenant as it involves the killing of an animal. This again prepares us for the New Testament as the bride of Christ is the church and Jesus is the bridegroom. 

There are five covenants in the Bible; the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9), the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15-17), the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:5), the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7:13), and the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15). 

In Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 103:17-18 we find that the covenant is about love, love for God and obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice 1 Samuel 15:22. The culmination of all things will be the marriage covenant Revelations 21:3;  

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

I pray you do not slap God in the face. I pray you make a covenant with God to ensure your place at the marriage feast in Jesus name. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be. Guide me in these times so I can be used by you to help others in Jesus name I pray. Thank you Father.

 

Click here for my Youtube Channel

Click here to see incredible clothing for men

A LANGUAGE OF MYSTERY

    

    1 Corinthians 14 is a well known scripture. It speaks mostly about the mysterious language spoken by the believers who have been baptised by The Spirit of God, commonly known as tongues. It is understood by many that the tongue is a personal language between a believer and God. It functions to give evidence of the baptism of The Holy Spirit hence, it is called the heavenly language. 

It is a gift given as was given on the Day of Pentecost Acts 2. Some people believe that the language is one's own language and that the believer hear's their own language. Some say the believer hears in their own language. Either way, without The Holy Spirit, it means nothing.

Tongues are a language that speak mysteries of the believer's heart and the mysteries of God. Verse 2 says, For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 

There are two other functions of the tongue; to intercede and to prophesy. This is where many people get distracted from what the text is saying. When there is prophecy there will be interpretation. When there is no prophecy then we are interceding, edifying and speaking mysteries unto revelation. Verse 3, The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

Let me back track a little from verse 1. If you truly knew The Holy Spirit you would know He is LOVE. It says, Earnestly pursue love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. Seek The Holy Spirit, run after Him, be excited to have and use the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.

The heavenly tongue is for the individual's edification. Recently I attended an event and the gathering spoke in tongues almost to the end. there are some churches that stifle The Holy Spirit by discouraging the tongues when they gather, but it is when we gather we are strengthened. The iron sharpens the iron. Before we can start anything we have to build ourselves and so the tongue should be encouraged at the very start since it is to edify and comfort.

Comfort is not a word to be overlooked. It is The Holy Spirit who is the Comforter. Therefore to give comfort, one has to be in alignment with Him. One has to put on comfort to be comforted. The best way to do this is to use your heavenly tongue. There is accuracy and insight in the tongue. With the world becoming more and more chaotic, we truly need the language of the spirit and The Holy Spirit.

I pray you are comforted by The Holy Spirit in Jesus name. 

Dear Heavenly Father,

I ask you to forgive my sins in knowledge or ignorance. Please forgive me. I accept Jesus as my Saviour. I ask that Jesus comes into my life as I live to be a witness for Him. Please change my life and make me into the person you want me to be. Guide me in these times so I can be used by you to help others in Jesus name I pray. Thank you Father.

 

Click here for my Youtube Channel

Click here to see incredible clothing for men