All posts by Tunde Soniregun

Worship God Without Limitation

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Belief is in learning and living by the Word of God.

Genesis 49

If you do not love the Lord, you cannot serve Him and if you cannot serve Him, you cannot love Him. Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Do you love God? Are you serving God? Serving God is loving God; loving God is serving Him. The standard that is required by our jealous God is to serve and love Him with our all and all. God sees our heart and He does know our limitation; if you are blessed with the strength and ability to stand in your time of worship and you chose to take a seat in your worship, no man can judge you, but remember that He is a jealous God. In every area of worshipping Him, give it all to Him and He will acknowledge your worship. The Bible points out in Hebrews 11:21, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”  Jacob, in his dying days did not cease in his love and praise for God with all his strength. He did not let his age slow down his worship of the almighty God. So many come to worship with full strength in them but they cannot do better than to give half strength. Where do you stand? Jacob was at a dying age yet he found a means to lift himself up before the Lord. You are not of old age and you have not found a way to lift yourself up before God in your worship. What is it that is holding your able body back? Young and vibrant men and women who are far from dying age come and sit in the presence of God worshiping without reason for not standing. Will you begin to cultivate a habit of taking a full stand in your worship to God? The details of Jacob’s last account of leaning on his staff to worship can be connected in Genesis 49:33, “And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” With this account, it can be concluded that after all the worshipping and blessing, Jacob went to sleep in the Lord. Knowing there is no limitation in worshiping God is for our learning. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Belief is in learning and living by the Word of God.

Prayer for today: I ask for the grace to give all unto You in every of my worship O Lord.

Fear The Word Of God

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: A failure to ward off temptation is to welcome sin.

Genesis 2, 3

To be satisfied is defined as, to put an end to (a desire, want, need, etc.) by sufficient or ample provision. As a believer in the word of God, can you tell if satisfaction is a missing point in your daily walk of life? Another word for satisfaction is contentment. The Bible made us to realize that, “…godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1Timothy 6:6) It is not possible to be godly without having the fear of God. A godly person must be a God fearing one. Without the fear of God we are vulnerable to walking into the forever open door to temptations. A failure to ward off temptation is to welcome sin. Proverb 13:21 made it clear that “…evil pursues sinners.” Right in the Garden of Eden, where every need was available for man not to become victim to temptation, Eve could not escape the route of sin when she let her door open to the evil one. Eve sinned when she lied by adding to the word of God. God gave His command to man, “…Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”(Genesis 2:16-17) When the evil one approached Eve about eating from every tree, Eve responded, “…we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”(Genesis 3:2-3) God did not say “nor shall you touch it” it was Eve that added to the word of God. Adding to what God did not say is telling a lie and all that it does is give liberty to be pursued by the evil one. Could it be that Eve did not know the word of God enough so as to fear God and not to add to His word? With God, there are no excuses for our sins but only repentance or face judgment from God. Indeed and in truth, to know the Word of God is to fear God. Proverbs 19:23 said it all, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil.” Taking the Word of God seriously shows that we take God seriously and it will be the only way to shut the door on evil. Once a man violates God’s command, man will be positioned to be violated by the world. Fear the Word of God and live life in satisfaction.

Prayer for today: Lord I ask that You put Your fear in my heart that I will not depart from You.

Give God All The Glory

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: Captivity is not a ground that is fun to be for any one that is enjoying and living in the blessings of freedom with God.

Jeremiah 48:1-20

God was speaking against Moab in the book of Jeremiah 48:7, “For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures, you also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity.” (Chemosh: The chief deity of Moab.) It was a greatjudgment against Moab and it is worthy of our attention and sincere meditation so that it will enable us to observe where we are placing our trust. The judgment against Chemosh should be a strong warning for all that believes and also to unbelievers that God should be constantly and consistently acknowledged with thanks and praise for all that He enables us to do on a regular basis. Failure to acknowledge Him demonstrates that we trust and rely on our own self-effort as strength. It is clear that the people of Moab could have resolved to self-sufficiency whereby looking to their work and treasure as a measure of self-effort. A dangerous way to captivity is to assume self-effort as strength and source of blessing. God alone is our source. God wants to be glorified and exalted for every blessing that comes our way. He is a jealous God and He will not take it well with any soul who chooses not to acknowledge Him for His goodness and mercy. God spoke in Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight, says the LORD.” How clear and loud can we possibly hear this from the Lord God that He wants to be glorified by us? Have you been counting on self-effort as your source? It is time that you count your blessings; name them one by one and let God take all the entire honor and glory. Captivity is not a ground that is fun to be for any one that is enjoying and living in the blessings of freedom with God. The Moabites might not be around to tell us what is was like to end up in captivity after having been in control of treasures, but what the bible tells us is enough to learn and live to the glory of God. Do not give away all that He has blessed you with. Turn around and give Him all the glory and honor that belongs to Him; not to your efforts. Go and glorify Him in Jesus name.

Prayer for today: Lift up your hands in thanks giving and praise to the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.

June 2010 Issue

Monthly Newsletter

        “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)  

Psalm 9:2, “I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to your name, O most High.” Psalm 16:11, “In Your presence is fullness of joy…” Proverbs 8:30, “…I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” All of the above quotations testifies to the truth, without joy no man is accessible to God. The Apostle Paul articulates this perfectly when he states, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) The Apostle Paul’s call for joy was expressed with clarity, emphasis and with a shout!
MEETING WITH GOD
Children of God must go before the Lord with joy, when they meet with God. By this virtue, coming before God is celebrating in joy. Let it be clear that the evil one never shy away from where there is joy. His agenda is to convert joy to sadness. However, our calling is to maintain our joy regardless of challenges. Remember Job? Job 1:6-7, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” (Job 1:6-7) Satan’s interruption was and is always with bad intention. He is empowered to go to and fro looking for one to devour. He was able to secure his wish against Job. He initiated pain for Job where the sons of God are gathering in His presence. It is written in Job 1:11-12, “But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”” Can you imaginehow in the place of celebration, joy is being tampered with? The wicked one, at his coming out of the place of joy and celebration delivered every form of affliction on Job. In between and through it all, Job did not complain nor did he condemn God. Job cried to God and he eventually received more blessings after his time of testing, than when he first started to enjoy the blessings of God.
REMEMBER TO MAINTAIN JOY
The children of Israel came out of the bondage of over four hundred years. They were able to witness the awesome power in the hand of God that brought them out. In the course of their journey, the hand of God did not withdraw upon their life as they witnessed the hand of God, through Moses, dividing the Red Sea while giving them passage on a dry land in between divided sea. They celebrated a great deal in the presence of God while Moses and Miriam the prophetess (sister of Moses) led them in songs of joy and praise. The echoes of celebration must have been hanging in the air and around them when they travelled three days. While they became thirsty, the water they came across was bitter. With thirst, their story changed, “And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet…” (Exodus 15:24-25) The children of Israel soon forgot what the Lord had done for them when he parted the red sea. The point here is if Job did not forget all the goodness of God, but remained in the thought and memory of God’s goodness; we too should not be quick to forget too soon as did the Children of Israel. Job cried unto God as did Moses, but neither of them complained. Job’s wife attempted to sway Job into sinning with his lips, “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10) Always remember that in midst of every Godly celebration, Satan wants to gain attention. Fail to attend to Satan and he will flee. Do not forget too soon, cry unto Him and prayer will turn bitterness into sweetness.

FAITH CAPSULE:
Let it be clear that the evil one never shy away from where there is joy.
Always remember that in midst of every Godly celebration, Satan wants to gain attention.
Tunde

Race Needs His Grace

Devotions

FAITH CAPSULE: The journey life is not about how the weather will affect you, But how you weather through.

2 Timothy 4

The journey of life is like a race that requires determination and divine intervention to get to the finish line. The race of life is not about how fast you get to the end, but how you run the entire race. Ecclesiastes 9:11 puts it better, “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor the bread to the wise, nor the riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” The race of life is not about how often you fall, but how you are able to get back on the track whenever you fall. The race of life is not about how the weather affects you on the race track, but it is about how you weather through. All of us are in the race today but not many are running the race, some might still be at the start line, some may be slowing down watching others go by or some may simply not want to put up the fight to complete the race. Whatever it maybe not all in the race will cross the finish line to claim the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” How are you running the race? Keeping track of how you are running will keep you focus from going off track in the race of life. Many are running, but they are running off the track. 1 Corinthians 9:25, “And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” This race that we are running requires endurance; not energy. Neither does it require strength but rather the Spirit of God. Continuity is the rule of the race while a purposeful heart is the official of the race. An advice about running the race is written in Hebrew 12:1, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” The race is an everyday warfare that needs a constant engagement. As you run, are you taking time out to check if you are on track in the race of life? It is a serious matter because the Apostle Paul made us to see clearly that it is a war when he said in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finish the race, I have kept the faith.” What will tell of you about how you running the race when it is the time to cross over the line for prize?

Prayer for today: Ask for grace to run the race right.