All posts by Tunde Soniregun

MARCH 2014 ISSUE

Monthly Newsletter

A WAITING EXPERIENCE

Waiting on God is timeless. It can take longer than expected or shorter than expected when we are waiting to hear from God. The waiting that takes “Mr. A” a short time before getting an answer can take “Mr. B” a longer time to get his answer from God. One thing is certain, where there is waiting before God, none can wait and become wasted. God never fails because time is in His hand and He can answer at the first hour or at the eleventh hour. God is God and no one controls the timing of God.

King David, once at a time of waiting for God’s salvation, testified his experience by stating, “Save me, O God! for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.” (Psalm 69:1-3)

King David encountered a grave challenge that stretches from being in deep mire where he could not stand to deep waters where the floods overflow him. In the face of his challenge, however, he waited on God. For him, there was no sign of any answer coming forth for his deliverance but yet he had no back-up plan but to wait. Indeed, faith does not have a back-up plan but to wait without ceasing.

King David, in his waiting, kept on praying when he stated, “But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink…” (Psalm 69:13-14) Prayer and expectation is the anchor of waiting and David demonstrated it. In time of waiting on God where there is no expectation for getting an answer from God, when the answer comes from God one might not recognize the answer for the purpose of waiting. Waiting demands persistence and expectation for manifestation.

When waiting longer period becomes painful, praising and giving thanks should be the antidote.  King David testifies, “But I am poor and sorrowful; let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” (Psalm 69:29-30) David did not stop expecting despite his challenge but he rather kept on praising and magnifying God with thanksgiving.

God is good and He will never allow our waiting to become wasted in His sight without acting on our behalf. It is written in Isaiah 64:4, “For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, who acts for the one who waits for Him.” The Word of God is true to deliver. In your waiting, rejoice. Be upright remembering all that He has done in the past and know that He is more than able to do more abundantly. King David presented a case of what it takes to wait when challenge persists and it seems God is no more there to deliver.

Paul and Silas, after having suffered being beaten with rods and stripes laid on them, they were thrown into inner prison and had their feet fastened up. They were in a challenge with no way out and pain was in place but praise prevailed for them. The Bible records, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” (Acts 16:25-26)  Praising God in the prison of life will provoke heaven to raise the prison door for your escape. Resist your challenge; persist on your expectation; hope continually by praising and magnifying Him with thanksgiving.

FAITH CAPSULE:
When waiting longer period becomes painful, praising and giving thanks should be the antidote.

VICTORY IS NOW

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Agents that do not represent God in your life are to be permanently terminated.

1 Kings 18

On Mount Carmel, Elijah (an agent for God) engaged four hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal (agents of King Ahab) in a power demonstration. In that encounter, Elijah asked the false prophets to call for their god to show with power. The god of the false prophets was a no show despite long hours of calling. When all attempts to call on Baal was exhausted, Elijah placed a call on God of gods, the only God that answers by fire. Without any delay, God answered Elijah and a consuming fire fell. By virtue of God’s showing, Ahab and his entourage saw the move of God in power demonstration. It is written, “Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”’ (1 Kings 18:39) Just like the people on Mount Carmel saw the move of God and declared, The Lord is God, have you seen enough of the move of God in your life to begin to declare the Lord is God?

It was clarified between the God of Elijah and the prophets of Baal that the God of Elijah is the Lord God, and there is none to worship but Him. It was victory on the Lord God’s side as a result; Elijah declared an open war against the prophets of Baal. 1 Kings 18:40, “And Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!’ So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.” Where are you? Where is your location on the ground of God? Have you accepted Him as your only God, the Lord of lords, the eternal Creator, the One that was, that Is and that will always be? If you will begin to sing it out from the depth of your heart with the expectation for Him to manifest, then you are in tune with heaven and your own Mount Carmel victory.

Now is the time to take a stand and ask God today that all agents of confusion, delay, hindrances should be seized on your behalf just as Baal prophets were seized. Pray that today, they shall not escape the hand that will seize them, ask for them to be brought down just as the Baal prophets were brought down at the Brook of Kishon. Those agents that do not represent God in your life need to be permanently and eternally terminated so they will have no life to work against you anymore. Do not spare them, go ahead with your weapon (the word of God), invade them, raid them, disable them, unmake them; do not spare them. Pray a standing prayer, allow God work on your behalf and victory is certain in Jesus name, amen.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace of strength on your prayer altar.

ONLY TRUST IN GOD

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Not placing trust in Him is the evidence of not knowing Him indeed and in truth.

Daniel 3

Trust is to rely and have confidence in the truth and reliability of God. It means to have hope. Who do you trust? Do you trust God or chariots? Trust in God is easier said than done. However, it is only those who know the name of God (not those who know about His name) will always put their trust Him. The Psalmist states it better, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” (Psalm 9:10) Inability of not placing trust in Him is the evidence of not knowing Him indeed and in truth. One that does not fear Him cannot possibly trust Him and without trust in Him there be no hope in place. It is how much one knows about God that will determine one’s level of trust in God.

In the face of fiery fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego refused to serve or worship king Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image. They three brothers trusted God and were determined to stand their ground for God. King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them about who would deliver them. They were so sure of their God by their response stating, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.” (Daniel 3:16) The three brothers knew that there is no matter under heaven or above heaven that is too powerful for God not to resolve.

What is demanding the compromise of your trust?
Just like that of three brothers, is there any matter threatening to you? You can be rest assured that you have no need to answer to your matter’s question but to trust in God. The three brothers trusted God and responded to the King, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17) Indeed deliverance answered for the three brothers and king Nebuchadnezzar responded to the three brother’s deliverance in Daniel 3:28, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” Your trust in God will frustrate the hand and moves of the enemy in your life. Your trust in God will promote you and prostrate your adversary to the glory of God.

Prayer for today: Ask God to endue you with the grace which causes man to stand in trust regardless of confronting matter.

ASK GOD FOR A CLEAN HEART

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Man needs to engage prayer to have a clean heart.

Psalm 19, Daniel 1

It is important that man should give heart to a procedure that will remove all which represents wickedness. Procedure to remove and clean the heart is in prayer. The Psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) Determination to have clean heart will fail but prayer will prevail. Peter determined not to deny Jesus but failed. It was Jesus’ prayer for Peter that prevailed for Peter’s eventual restoration from denying Jesus. Man needs to engage prayer to help in having a clean heart.
The thinking which man carries in the heart is what will determine man’s exploit on the face of the earth. The book of Proverb 23:7 buttress “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you but his heart is not with you.’” It is clear that man should keep heart with diligence to avoid any form of negativity. With prayer, Man should also know and understand to keep heart with diligence otherwise wickedness will reap through the heart of man.

Daniel kept his heart with diligence by purposing positives to the glory of God.  Daniel 1:8 records, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Daniel’s operated a purposed heart and it marked him out for great exploit to the glory of God. Daniel’s heart made the difference that matters in all of his life.

Pride which is the root of all wickedness needs to be flushed out of man’s heart. It is our heart that God wants to meet before He commits great exploit into man’s hand. 2Chronicles16:9 testify, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” What the eyes of God are looking for throughout the earth is not what our eyes or any eye can see. God’s eyes look for heart that is loyal to Him. For heart to become loyal it must be clean from all junks of life and be kept with all diligence. It is written, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
As you desire a clean heart, keep to heart the word of Proverbs 20:9 which states, Who can say, “I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”?. Desire and pray for a clean heart and God will deposit what it takes to have a clean heart.

Prayer for today: Let it be known in your prayer before God, how you desire a clean heart.

PRIDE CLOUDS

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Can you see in the mirror of the word?

2 Kings 5

Leprosy takes a position of cloudiness over the testimony of Naaman while pride represents crowd as the agent of hindrance in his life. It is written, “Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.” (2 Kings 5:1) With all the honors in the life of Naaman there was a “but” which clouded all of his colorful accolades in life. Think of it, what is it that is reducing you from answering fully to what God has called you to be? The hindrance which clouded Naaman is the same that is clouding so many today especially among believers. The hindrance in Naaman’s life was none other than pride.

When Naaman approached Elisha for his healing the cloud in his life stood between him and the word of the prophet. The bible recorded, “Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” (2 Kings 5:10) Naaman was given word of healing which states “wash and clean” The power to get healed was not in the Jordan but in the word of the prophet that was released into Naaman’s life. The clouding hindrance in Naaman denied his listening ability. The word of the prophet provoked the clouding agent in Naaman to manifest. It is written, “But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’  Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:11-12).

Is pride a hidden identity that is clouding your destiny?
The pride in Naaman’s life manifested when:
He became furious (extreme anger)
He walked away from his ground of healing.
The spirit of “I” set in.
Rage caused him  to act with fury.
Does any of the above sound like you?When pride in Naaman’s life subsided, obedience to the word of prophet led him to be washed from the leprosy in his life.

Can you see in the mirror of the word? When you look into mirror of the word do you see yourself or you only see others? Until you begin to see yourself in the mirror of the word of God the word of God will not become your frame.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to hear and receive the healing word when it sounds in your direction.