Thoughts of Our Fathers (TOF)

I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
—Psalm 34:4

Man has always been beset by worry, and the pressures of modern life have aggravated the problem. To men of all time Jesus said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow . . . but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33-34). Many of you are filled with a thousand anxieties. Bring them to Jesus Christ by faith. He will bring peace to your soul and your mind.

You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy.
—Psalm 16:11

When you consider joy, you may immediately think about one of those bubbly people you know who is “up” all of the time, and perhaps you are not like that. I’m not like that either. But for those of us who tend to be more serious, it is important that we also learn how to have fun, to cut loose, and lighten up a little.

What is joy and what is joy based on? Joy is defined as “a shout; a proclamation that can manifest in singing; a calm delight.” Your joy is not to be based on your circumstances. Happiness may be based on what is happening to you, but not joy. Joy—a fruit of the Spirit—is like a deep well on the inside of you. It is not the fruit of your circumstance. No matter what you are facing in life, you can have joy in the midst of it. Learn to abide in the midst of a calm delight.

Memorise: But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 2nd Corinthians 9:6
Read: Matthew 25:24-29 (KJV)

24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:



25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
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.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.





Bible in one year: Exodus 20:1-22:15, Psalms 117
MESSAGE
God ordained seedtime and harvest not just to mark time, but as a life principle. He also gave varying degrees of talents to every human being as a form of heavenly investment. Consequently, every legitimate human task, however menial it may seem, is of intrinsic worth and a potential means of glorifying God. Open Heaven Monday 5 December 2016:- Don’t bury your telent


God expects us to use our God given talents and abilities profitably. I once told my children that if they understand the natural farming process with the scriptural principles on sowing and reaping, entering into their harvest will be a work-over, because they will know what to sow, how to sow it and how to water the seed sown in order to have their desired harvest. In essence, they will know how to profitably use their talents for the progress of God’s kingdom. When the Holy Ghost Service congregation grew beyond what I could handle all by myself, I chose seven elders to assist me. I gave each of them a neck tie I had used during previous ministrations, and asked them to wear them as mantle from me. Each time they wore them while ministering, there were records of miracles, signs and wonders. But then, I also observed that I began to harvest neckties from close associates and friends who travelled to South Africa, London or America. I became curious about the fact that whenever anyone brought me a gift, it was a neck tie. So I asked God why. The Lord said; “Son, if you sow ties, you will reap ties.” Then I realised that I was receiving the harvest of the ties I gave out. So I began to sow shoes to pastors who shared the same shoe size with me. After giving out several of them, some of which were my best, I waited the first and second months but no shoe gift came from anywhere. Worried over the delay, I asked God why the harvest was yet to come and He taught me another lesson. He said; “Son, if you plant maize, you can harvest it within three months, but if you plant yam, you will have to wait a little longer.


Shoe are more valuable than ties; the greater the quality of the seed you have sown, the longer you will have to wait for its harvest. Since you have planted shoes, you will have to wait a little longer, but the moment the harvest begins, it will not stop.”


When the harvest came, I got shoes of different sizes, colours and levels of sophistication. Have you sown a seed? Your harvest will come. [Open Heavens Devotional 2016] If you have sown quality seeds, give it time to mature, if you are impatient with your seed, you cannot obtain its full potentials. On the other hand, sow quality seeds; sow only what you want to reap. It is wrong to expect a harvest from where you have not sown. Have you sown towards your desired harvest?

READ: Psalm 78:40-58

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psalm 103:2

Some years ago, some missionaries I had sent to the mission field began complaining about various things. They would call one another and gossip to each other about how they were not being treated fairly. Different little issues became mountains of fodder for discussion. After a while, the spirit of discontentment, murmuring and grumbling was rife amongst this team of missionaries.

I remember a meeting I had with them. They all seemed to be different from what I had known. I wondered what kind of ungrateful and forgetful people these were! These young men had forgotten how I had helped them to come into ministry. They had forgotten how I had flown them into international cities and set them up to start churches.

As I sat at the meeting, I realized that my young missionaries had forgotten too many things too soon. They had become grumpy , disgruntled and discontented with the ministry and me. It was as though another spirit had taken over their lives. I held on for as long as I could and then I dismissed them from the mission field and from full-time ministry.

It was a painful and difficult decision but there was no way out. These were beloved sons of mine and I knew that what I was doing would change their lives drastically. Suddenly , these soldiers were not a part of what I was doing and I would march on without them. Forgetting had cost them too much. May you not forget what the Lord has done in your life!

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Ephesians 4:28

It always amazes me when I preach about prosperity and someone comes up to me and says, "I don't need much prosperity. I'm a simple person with a simple life. So I just ask God for enough to meet my needs."

They think that's humility, but it's not. It's selfishness! They don't realize it, but they're actually saying, "All I care about is meeting my own needs. I have no ambition to help meet anyone else's."

They could ask God for a million dollars, take out just enough to meet their needs, and give the rest away. But that doesn't even occur to them because when it comes to money, they've been brainwashed by a world that says if you have it, you've got to keep it.

That philosophy has hindered the ministry of Jesus Christ on the earth today. It has caused preachers to set aside their calling and get secular jobs just to survive. It's handicapped churches and stunted the growth of ministries that could have reached thousands more for the Lord.

It takes money to preach the gospel. Jesus Himself knew that, and contrary to what some people think, His ministry was not a poor one. He had so much money coming in and going out through His ministry that He had to appoint a treasurer. His name was Judas.

But Jesus didn't store up that money for Himself. He gave it to meet the needs of those around Him. He had such a reputation for giving that on the night of that last Passover when Judas left so abruptly, the disciples assumed that Jesus had sent him out to give to the poor.

Can you imagine how much and how often Jesus must have given to the poor for the disciples to make that assumption?

Jesus never built a worldly empire for Himself. But that doesn't mean He was poor. It means He was the greatest giver who ever walked the face of this earth, and it's time we started following in His footsteps.

Don't turn down the wealth God wants to give you just because you don't "need" it. Dare to accept it, then pass it along to those who do. Stop working for a living and start working for a "giving." Discover for yourself what riches were really meant to do.


Scripture Reading:

Luke 12:15-31

PROPHETIC DECLARATIONS FOR THIS WEEK!!!

You’ve known the way all along.

It’s time to listen to ourselves.

There it is--our inner voice--trying to get our attention again.

Our gut instincts warned us about this job but we’ve been stuck grinding anyway.

Our inner voice sent up the red flags about him, but we kept trying to make it work regardless.

Our internal compass always knows the way, but too often the routine of life lulls us back into complacency. Fear of making the wrong decision threatens us with emotional paralysis.


Yet, we know the right answers and need to start trusting ourselves.

In fact, researchers at Northwestern University found that our gut instincts are usually right. Their work found that our intuition plays a vital role in finding solutions to conflicts that arise in our lives. The feelings are there for a reason--they found that first reactions are usually based on important memories and signals coming from our brains.

At our next crossroads, let us learn to listen to our internal compass as it guides us in the direction of truth. What others say and what others believe is right for us is just that: their opinions. While we can appreciate feedback and guidance, we are the ones that must live with our choices.

It remains true that knowing ourselves is just the beginning of all wisdom.

I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.
—Psalm 130:5

Waiting! It’s a big part of our everyday lives, and most of us don’t particularly enjoy it…or have time for it. Especially busy people who usually have way more to do in a day than they can possibly accomplish! But I can tell you from experience that our attitude about waiting can make all the difference in the world.

Like the Israelites who spent forty years making an eleven-day trip, I was stuck in a modern-day wilderness of my own. I had many wrong attitudes that contributed to the prevention of my progress, but one of the major roadblocks for me was an impatient attitude that made me want to scream: “Please don’t make me wait for anything. I deserve everything immediately!” I had a long and interesting journey before I learned that waiting is part of our walk with God. We will wait—that is a given—but it is how we wait that determines how difficult the wait will be.

When you arrive for an appointment with your doctor or dentist, you have to wait your turn. The first thing the receptionist tells you is, “Please have a seat while you’re waiting.” Being seated indicates that a person is resting, and that’s exactly what we should do, both in the doctor’s office and in the wilderness experiences of our lives. While we’re waiting for God to do the things that we asked for Him to do, we should rest in Him.

Another attitude that prevented me from making progress was “I will do it my way or not at all.” This stubborn attitude is one that many people have to deal with. If it is not dealt with, the Promised-Land living becomes a blurry image and never a reality—something we see off in the future but never experience.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. When we are serious about making some changes in our attitudes and allow the Holy Spirit to help us, we can take a shortcut through the wilderness instead of going the long way around!

Trust in Him: Having a good attitude in a trying situation is at least 90 percent of the battle. There will always be trials in life, but as we trust God and continue to do what He is showing us to do, we will always come out victorious.

Memorise: Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Revelation 4:11
Read: 1st Peter 2:9-11 (KJV)

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;

10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;




Bible in one year: Exodus 12:43-14:31, Psalms 114
MESSAGE
Bible records shows that God is not passive about His creation; He is dynamically involved in everything that happens in the universe. His interest and involvement can be seen in the history of Israel and in the ministry of Jesus Christ. In the present age, God’s activities and operations can be seen in the lives of believers and the Church. Open Heaven Friday 2 December 2016:- For His own pleasure. The Bible projected this in Colossians 1:16;


“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”


Revelation 4:11 further states that all things were created for God’s pleasure. In Moses’ story, God divinely chose the burning bush, after looking through all the available bushes around, He found pleasure in that particular one and decided to use it, just as He decided to locate the Redemption Camp on its present site. If I had been given the privilege to determine the location of our camp ground, it would never have been in its present location. I would have preferred a location much closer to Lagos. For those believers who obtained their spouses from God, if asked to make that choice personally, they most likely would have chosen someone else and would have missed God’s divine direction. Has the Lord chosen for you on any matter? Appreciate Him for His choice and go with that choice. [Open Heavens Devotional 2016]


God is very much in the business of directing human affairs, and your choice in any matter can never produce a better result than His. God’s choice may not look like the best when human reasoning is applied. Whenever God chooses somebody for an assignment, it does not necessarily mean the fellow is the most qualified. In fact, usually, God chooses the least qualified so that flesh will not rob Him of His glory. However, when it pleases God to choose someone for a purpose, several activities begin to follow in quick succession, just as the choice of the burning bush culminated in the death of many Egyptians and the release of the children of Israel from slavery. Because the Lord has chosen you to be an heir to His heritage, He will cause all things to work in your favour to the fulfilment of your destiny in Jesus’ name.

Romans 4:7–8

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Some people think that if they were more “right” with God, then He would hear their prayers. For example, they sometimes believe that if they had not quarreled with their wives or had those bad thoughts earlier in the day, then God would answer their prayers.

God is not like that. He wants you to know beyond any doubt that you can always come to His throne of grace with boldness and have every confidence that you will receive His mercy and grace. (Hebrews 4:16) You see, because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross, you are already right with God. You don’t need to do anything to make yourself more right with God.

In fact, by faith in Jesus, you have received the righteousness of God Himself! (2 Corinthians 5:21) And no matter how many mistakes you make, you will never lose that righteousness because in the first place, God gave it to you apart from your works. (Romans 4:5–6) In other words, God did not impute righteousness to you because you were good, but because you believed in Jesus.

Because of what Jesus has done for you at the cross, all your sins—past, present and future—are forgiven. God will by no means ever remember your sins or count them against you! (Hebrews 8:12, 10:17)

My friend, because Jesus has been punished for your sins, today, God is not counting your sins against you. This means that your sins won’t stop Him from hearing and responding to your prayers. So you can always run into His presence knowing that you can boldly stand in and enjoy His presence and His love.

When you know this truth, it is going to set you free in your relationship with God. You can talk to Him without fear or any sense of condemnation. You can practice His presence and trust that He always hears you. Should something happen at home or at work, you don’t always have to call for your church leaders—you pray and God hears you!

Beloved, you are righteous in Christ and God hears your prayers—all because of Jesus!