Do Not Fear; I Will Help You

"All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isa 41.11-13 (NIV)

Is there really anything that kills as the fear of the unknown or the fear of the future based on the uncertainty today. Jesus said this will be one of the features of the end time in Luke 21.26: "Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world ....."

But also there is really nothing as refreshing and motivating as to knowing the future ahead and as to receiving certainty of God.

Many are really concerned, for there are certain factors and circumstances that naturally mobilise against them featuring as opposition and barriers; and definite as areas of constant battle. So constant are such features that you have concluded on them as "my problems" meaning that though you do not enjoy these travails, you have come to establish an identity with them.

Your fear is addressed by God: the fear of shame and disgrace; the fear of being cast into oblivion and doom; and the fear of being destroyed is dealt with.

For every threat the factors posed against you, such design shall amount to the fate of the factors in your sphere of experience.

You shall look for them and not find them, for the Lord will take hold of your right hand to both guard and guide you; He is allaying your fears by saying "I will help you".

Can you see the reason now why you can zealously push towards that future you have been afraid of this year?

I see an overflowing barn of your harvest this year.

Engage the strength He has provided for you and press forward. The finishing line and the prize are both awaiting you.

follow @iatbolu on Twitter
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

Why Walk When You Can Fly?

There was once a king, who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained. Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch, since the day it had arrived. The king summoned healers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to a member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch. Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem." So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer." In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this miracle." The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?" With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch, where the bird was sitting."

follow @iatbolu on Twitter
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

When Things Settle Down - Bob Gass

"Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom." - Psalm 90:12NLT

He logged twelve-hour days, and sometimes weekends. Even when he wasn't working, he was thinking about work. His wife tried to slow him down. He knew they weren't as close as they once had been. He hadn't intended to drift away, it's just that she always seemed to want time, and that's the one thing he didn't have to give. He was vaguely aware that his kids were growing up and he was missing it. They complained about books he wasn't reading to them, games he wasn't playing with them and trips he wasn't taking with them. After a while they stopped complaining or expecting their lives might ever be different. 'I'll be more available when things settle down,' he thought. When he felt guilty he told himself, 'I'm doing it for them.' His wife asked him about going to church but he said, 'There'll be plenty of time for that sort of thing when things settle down.' His doctor told him he had elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol-but he told himself there'd be plenty of time for that when things settle down. Quietly, efficiently, irresistibly, his body was preparing to do him in. One morning his wife woke at 3 a.m. and he was not beside her. She went downstairs to drag him to bed and saw him sitting still in front of the computer, his head hanging low. She touched him but he didn't respond. When the paramedics got there they told her he had suffered a massive heart attack. Things had finally settled down!

Follow @iatbolu on Twitter

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

THE YEAR OF DISTINGUISHABLE BLESSING - Abraham Sam Aiyedogbon

You must be aware, like I am, that the concept of divine blessing has being so much bastardized and subjected to lots of theological controversies. There is a school of thought contending that there is too much emphasis on being blessed in the Church. Such people are displeased that the Church has become 'A sort of bless me club'. However, people with keen and balanced spiritual insight have discovered that what many seekers and promoters of 'blessings' are desperate pursuing are transient in nature and self centered in motive.

Although most people have some vague ideas about the benefit and effects of some divine blessings, they are yet to actually comprehend the nature and the purpose of God's outstanding covenant blessings. A proper understanding of this will make it clear to everyone that divine blessings are desirable and needful for everyone. It doesn't necessarily start with, neither is it limited to mere financial or material acquisition. These are just part of the side effect of divine covenant blessings. No one can actually survive without some aspects and elements of God's blessing.

A close examination of the biblical account of creation shows mankind as the crowning glory of that divine project. There is no other creature given the degree of attention by all members of the Godhead as the case was with man. The likeness in which Man was made transcends all other creatures. He was made in the very image and likeness of God. The intention was for man to rule and reign over everything created. One of the most inspiring Psalms captured the disposition of God concerning Man in a very profound way. (Read Psalm 8:3-6) It is instructive that though man was made in the very image of God, God still saw the need for him to be blessed in order to fulfill his divinely allotted destiny.

"…Then God blessed them, and God said to them; "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." This scriptural truth indicates that God recognized that man, in his very best state, can never really function as He is meant to function (in order to fulfill the divine purpose for his life) without the impartation of divine blessing. This being the case, it will be fool hardy for anyone, in our current maladjusted state, to imagine that we can by ourselves be what we are meant to be, and accomplish what we are created to accomplish, without a constant flow of God's blessing.

Divine blessings in this context can be defined as the miraculous empowerment to function and fulfill destiny. It is far beyond the perennial tokens granted by providence for the mere sustenance of biological life on earth. There are such blessings which God unconditionally gives to all of humanity. The Lord Jesus affirmed this when He instructed His disciples saying "….Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

On the other hand, there are exceptional and outstanding blessings from God that can make our lives distinguishable among billions of the earth inhabitants in a particular year. These were the types of blessings that marked the lives heroes of the faith like Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and Israel as a nation. The Bible reveals that "….Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him."

The exceptional blessing pronounced on the lives of both Joseph and the nation of Israel made them outstanding in the comity of nations. Part of the invocation says "Blessed of the Lord is his land, With the precious things of heaven…and the deep lying beneath….With the best things of the ancient mountains, With the precious things of the everlasting hills, With the precious things of the earth and its fullness…Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers."

This is the type of blessing which made Jabez nobler than all his brethren, although the beginning of his life, and his initial identity in the family were all rooted in sorrow and misfortune. The LORD's promise to me and to everyone connected with me in one way or the other, not only in this New Year, but for the rest of our lives is that we shall recognized among nations as the generation which has being exceptional blessed by God. This is for us a year of remarkable and outstanding blessings that will make us distinguishable among all people. I have received a divine command to specially bless God's people in a way that will make the blessing irreversible, and I cannot do otherwise! Thus says the LORD "…Blessed are those who bless us, and cursed are those who curse us." May this be your portion this year and forever in Jesus' name, Amen.

(Published in Thisday of Sunday Jan. 2, 2010)

Follow @iatbolu on Twitter
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

Lay up His Word in Your Heart in 2011

"Accept instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart." Job. 22.22

Make it part of your commitment to read through the Bible in 2011.

May He supply you with strength to press forward also in this manner.

God bless you.

IAT Boluwatise
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.