All posts by Tunde Soniregun

ENTERTAIN NO FEAR

Devotions

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

Monthly Newsletter

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

Devotions

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.

EXPECTATION BRINGS MANIFESTATION

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: It is not time to give up on your expectation from God.

Luke 11:1-13, 18:1-8

Are you thinking of giving up your expectation? Giving up expectation is not the solution for manifestation but the evidence of lack of faith. The more reason why giving up is not a solution is because there is no other one to look up to but the One and Almighty God. He declared in Isaiah 45:22, “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” In every area of need the expectation to receive from God demands for one to be persistent.

Jesus gave a parable of a widow that was asking a wicked judge for justice against her adversary. The widow, knowing that the judge was not going to give her what she wanted remained persistent in her asking. The wicked judge eventually responded to answer the widow’s request. Jesus pointed out to us in this parable that if a wicked judge could have mercy and responding to persistent demand, our God will not look away from our calling on him. The key message in the parable as stated by Jesus is, “…always ought to pray and not lose heart.” (Luke 18:1) To be thinking of giving up in the area of expectation is the evidence of punctured faith.

In another story by Jesus, it is clear that being persistent is rooted in understanding that in expectation there is manifestation. Jesus narrated a story, “And He said to them, ’Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:5-8) The story of Jesus depicts to us the importance and the need to be persistent and not give up on looking up to God. Psalm 145:15 states that, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season.” Looking up and not giving up from looking up is persistence.
It is not time to give up on your expectation from God. Isaiah 64:4 buttress “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.” Hope and trust God in all areas of your expectation. Do not give up.

Prayer for today: Ask God for the grace to remain persistent in every area of your expectation from Him.

STAND YOUR GROUND

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: When God delivers you from your past, let the past be past.

Numbers 32:8-15

While the children of Israel were in bondage of over four hundred years, they reacted in pain and hard life by lifting up their voice in crying to the Lord. As a result of their crying, the goodness and mercy of God was stirred when God responded, “And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.” God did not plan to have them stranded in the wilderness when He delivered them out of over four hundred years of bondage. God’s plan was to lead them out of bondage through the hand of Moses to a better land — a land flowing with milk and honey. God brought them out, but they would not leave Egypt behind. The word testifies, “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.”(Psalm 106:6-7) With great wonder God brought them out of bondage. The children of Israel saw all the wondrous act of God that granted their deliverance. Evidently, the children of Israel lack understand of God’s wonders and failed to remember but rebelled.

Are you paying attention to all the wonders of God or worrying about what you see? Lack of understanding causes failure to remember. They would not follow God fully; they failed to let go of the life they lived in Egypt. When God delivers you from your past, let the past be past. As a result of their lack of understanding, it is written, “Surely, none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.”(Numbers 32:11-12)  It is possible for you to be in a rightful mind when you are among thousands of people who are not. Though a multitude may stand in wrongful agreement, and you are the only one in dissent, know that you are not alone in righteousness.  Know Him in whom you believe. Stand on His word for direction and do not compromise your faith. Ignore the dictates of your heart and you will not be surprised that you are the only one standing on His ground.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to take a rightful stand when the situation demands it.