All posts by Tunde Soniregun

CRY OUT

February 3, 2014DevotionsTunde Soniregun

FAITH CAPSULE: It could be that it is time to cry out for His divine intervention.

2 Chronicles 18: 28-34, Mark 10:46-52

When Ahab the King of Israel invited Jehoshaphat the King of Judah to join forces with him against Ramoth Gilead, he refused to listen to the warning of true prophesy of Micaiah not to go to war but listened to the prophesy of his chosen four hundred prophets. When it was time to go war, Ahab the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “…I will disguise myself and go into battle; but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle.” (2 Chronicles 18:29) Despite true prophesy not to go into the battle, he decided to go by way of disguising himself. In life there is no way to violate the truth of God. King Ahab went on as planned but the battle turned out against his plan. King Jehoshaphat did not disguise but depended on God. As the battle intensified Jehoshaphat was surrounded. The bible recorded, “…when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “It is the king of Israel!” Therefore they surrounded him to attack; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God diverted them from him.” (2Chronicles 18:31) Ahab made the choice to disguise yet he was destroyed in the hand of his enemy. There is no way unto salvation in any area of life but to call on the savior. Who are you crying out to? Regardless of the nature of our challenge, we only need to know and cry out to God.

Does your situation sound like that of a stranded one? It could be that it is time for you to call on Jesus for His divine intervention. During the days of Bartimaeus, Jesus was moving from one location to another location and Bartimaeus was in the right location to encounter Jesus when he cried out loud for mercy. It could be that it is time for you to identify and accept that your challenge needs a loud cry. When you cry, ignore the multitude that surround you and cry out loud to Jesus for divine intervention. When you cry, call Him like you know Him not like you know about Him. Bartimaeus demonstrated that he did not just know about Jesus when he called out as one that knew all about Him. The ignorance of the crowd that followed Jesus limited there understanding and they attempted to stop Bartimaeus from calling. Bartimaeus knew Jesus’ identity that was not common and he cried out and called, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Do you know Him enough to call Him to a standstill and have Him attend to you? In the calling of Bartimaeus, “…Jesus stood still and commanded Him to be called” (Mark 10:49) The Blind man received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. (Mark 11:52) Jehoshaphat did not disguise but cried out loud and was saved.

Prayer for today: Ask God to open your understand and know to live right for His glory.

BE STEADFAST

February 2, 2014DevotionsTunde Soniregun

FAITH CAPSULE: Be steadfast not to contradict the journey to advance.

Genesis 19:12-26, Daniel 1

It is time to advance in the calling of the Lord. In the process of making advance in the Lord’s calling upon your life, trust God for a clean heart and a steadfast spirit. In addition to a clean heart and steadfast spirit, maintain focus and let the past be in the past by ignoring the multitude in your life. Maintaining focus is crucial to making advance in the calling of the Lord. Focus will keep man from distraction. A failure to maintain focus will pass man to distraction. Distraction comes along with sudden and untimely death for its victims.

Daniel, young in captivity maintained focus when he purposed in his heart not to defile God. It happened that the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them. It sounds good for a young captive to accept provision of the king. To Daniel it was considered as anti-focus when he made the choice to maintain focus. It is written, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8) Daniel kept himself to become a vessel for God and he made advancement everywhere he turned to. Daniel engaged his journey in captivity with a purposeful heart. He allowed God to reign in his life when he refused to defile his body (the temple of God). Daniel was steadfast not to contradict his journey to advance.

Lot’s wife could not let the past be in the past she disregarded the command of God which states, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.” (Genesis 19:17) Lot’s wife did the opposite when she looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis19:26) Whatever Lot’s wife was looking for in her past represents a multitude (unnecessary baggage). The multitude in her life caused her to become a pillar of salt and not escape as ordained for her by God. There is no one that goes forward by looking back. This also testifies that we cannot set sight on the past and be able to see what is ahead. The case of Lot’s wife is that of a shifted focus. Lot must have been steadfast looking forward to where the Lord was taking him and his family. Daniel could not allow any distraction because he was focus. It is time to advance in your calling and allow God’s name to be glorified over your life.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace to be steadfastly focused in every area of your calling.

ENTERTAIN NO FEAR

February 1, 2014DevotionsTunde Soniregun

FAITH CAPSULE: Fear and faith does not complement each other.

Job1, 2:1-10

The word of God described Job, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” (Job 1:1-3) Job had it all. Above all, he was indeed a man of God. He was straight with God but he was not sure of his children’s walk with God. As a result of him not sure about his children’s walks with God, he sanctifies them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all making and making a statement, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” (Job 1:4-5)

After Satan was allowed by God to attack Job, he lost his properties, he lost all his children and his health was attacked. By virtue of all his adversities, he deplores his birth by cursing the day of his birth. On top of it all, Job gave a testimony, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” (Job 3:25-26) What could have been the fear of Job which eventually came upon him? Was it the fear of not having destruction of properties? Could it have been the fear of not to have all his children die all together? The bottom line of it is that, Job was nursing fear and what he feared eventually found him.

Fear is not of God; fear is the initiation of the Satan. Whenever fear rises in the life of man faith will sink. Fear and faith does not complement each other. What could have happened to Job to be exercising great fear? Not knowing the extent of God’s protective covering over the affairs of our life or over the areas of our concern will possibly expose us to fear and not faith. Clearly, God is not pleased without faith. Unfortunately, Satan knew the extent of God’s covering over Job when he mentioned that God has made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side. (Job 1:10). When God makes you to be impenetrable but you make yourself penetrable the Satan will have no choice to attempt dressing you up. Psalmist states, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) It is important to know that God is mindful of us, He visits us, and He crowns us with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5) Know who you are and disallow the forces which cause great fear in man.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace not to make your faith fail.

FEBRUARY 2014 LETTER

February 1, 2014Monthly NewsletterTunde Soniregun

ENTERTAIN NO FEAR

The word of God describes Job, “…blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.” (Job 1:1-3) Job had it all. Above all, he was indeed a man of God. He was straight with God but he was not sure of his children’s walk with God. As a result of him not being sure about his children’s walk with God, he would sanctify them and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all making a statement, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” (Job 1:4-5)

After Satan was allowed by God to attack Job, he lost his properties, he lost all his children and his health was attacked. By virtue of all his adversities, he deplored his birth by cursing the day of his birth. On top of it all, Job gave a testimony, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.” (Job 3:25-26) What could have been the fear of Job which eventually came upon him? Was it the fear of not having destruction of properties? Could it have been the fear of not having all his children die together? The bottom line of it is that Job was nursing fear and what he feared eventually found him.

Fear is not of God; fear is the initiation of Satan. Whenever fear rises in the life of man, faith will sink. Fear and faith does not complement each other. What could have happened to Job to be exercising great fear? Not knowing the extent of God’s protective covering over the affairs of our life or over the areas of our concern will possibly expose us to fear and not faith. Clearly God is not pleased without faith. Unfortunately Satan knew the extent of God’s covering over Job when he mentioned that God had made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side. (Job 1:10) When God makes you to be impenetrable but you make yourself penetrable, Satan will have no choice but to attempt dressing you up. The Psalmist states, “A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49:20) It is extremely important to know that God is mindful of us. He visits us and He crowns us with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:4-5)

Know who you are and disallow compelling forces which cause great fear in man.
Whenever the compelling force in your life is positively in line with the word of God, the end result will be nothing but a positive and blessed result. However, when a compelling force in your life is negative and not in line with the word of God, you are set for a negative and complicating result. Constantly keep it mind that the most active and most frequent compelling forces that often complicates the life of man is that of fear. The story of King Saul depicts exactly what it is to allow a negative compelling force, such as fear, to have a place in our life. King Saul was the first king of the children of Israel. He was a king anointed by God for God’s people. He had God on his side along with Samuel in place for him as God’s mouthpiece. What else could a man need but to fully rest and trust on God? Despite King Saul’s position, he could not function effectively without fear.

At a time of war with the prominent enemy of the children of Israel, he allowed fear to take over as a compelling force that led him to his complicating decision. King Saul was commanded by Samuel to wait for seven days until Samuel arrived to offer the burnt offering before his battle with the Philistines. “Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, ’Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.’ And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came…” (1 Samuel 13:8-10) Saul made the wrong move because he could not travail in waiting. Samuel came as promised the same day but not at Saul’s timing. When Samuel asked why King Saul took such a decision, Saul’s response was that, “…when I saw that the people were scattered from me…” (1 Samuel 13:11) Who are you looking up to? Do you look up to God or the people and situations around you? Saul went further in his testimony and stated, “…I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” Saul succumbed to fear when his people scattered and was compelled to make an unlawful sacrifice. Samuel made it clear that he violated God’s command. Violating God can lead to termination from God. Samuel made it known to Saul, “…the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever but now your kingdom shall not continue…” (1 Samuel 13:13-14) When fear compels, complication prevails. As the year goes on, keep focus on God and you shall not be in place for fear but faith.

FAITH CAPSULE
Fear and faith does not complement each other.

CONFIDE IN HIM

January 31, 2014DevotionsTunde Soniregun

FAITH CAPSULE: The condition not to be afraid is encased in holding on in confidence.

Exodus 14

It is written, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:25-26) It is easy to confess our hope and trust in the Lord but when trouble or sudden terror comes like a wave, our faith becomes tested. The condition not to be afraid is encased in holding on in confidence. A confidence that God has never fail; a confidence that He is a mighty warrior; a confidence that there is nothing impossible for God to do and a confidence that God alone is a winner. However, the more we hear and hear about how different troubles and sudden terrors were overcome by the presence of the Lord, our faith supposedly will rise. The hearing and the hearing of His testimonies is the source of our faith. (Romans 10:17)

Without faith God is not pleased. (Hebrews 11:6) Pleasing God is declaring that He is a living God. What is it that you are afraid of? The Israelites saw great miracles which brought them out of the bondage of over four hundred years but yet fear over took them at a point of their great deliverance. The word testifies, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14: 10-12) As stated in the word, the source of their fear was, “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them…” At every moment in the journey of life, we cannot afford to shift focus from God. The moment the Israelites lifted their eyes and behold (look at, watch, view, observe) their confidence became punctured and negative confession enraptured them.

Moses spoke live into them stating, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14) Condition to regain confidence is to stand still and see victory in place even when victory is yet in place. Always remember that you serve a winning God who never fails.

Prayer for today: Ask for the grace of boldness and character to make you a winner.