All posts by Tunde Soniregun

February 2009 Issue

February 1, 2009Monthly NewsletterTunde Soniregun

“Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.”(Psalm 106:4)

At the time wickedness multiplied on the face of earth, destruction and termination of wickedness and the wicked one was inevitable before God. As an example, during the days of Noah, when wickedness became increasingly unacceptable before God, Noah was the only one in his generation set aside for salvation. The Bible recorded, “…Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD”. Only Noah was identified for deliverance among all the people on the face of the earth. If it is settled in you that you alone are doing good before the Lord, do not be intimidated but be motivated in doing good. In the days of Noah, Noah found grace. Today Jesus, the grace of God, has already come and He is here for those that will receive and believe Him as their Lord and Savior. To receive and believe Him is like gaining entrance into the ark that delivered Noah from God’s judgment. Receiving and believing in Jesus will also deliver in the time of God’s judgment of the world. Indeed, Noah found grace, and salvation became his portion. Yet he needed God to remember him after the flood had passed in order to possess the land before him. It is written, “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.” (Genesis 8:1) As a believer, our Grace, the Lord Jesus, is already here and we also need to be remembered by our Lord God just as Noah was remembered. How then can we be remembered? To be remembered is to be consistent with the Word of God. Malachi 3:16 laid out the way to be remembered by God, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. ” (Malachi 3:16) Evidently, the fear of God is all that needs to be in place for anyone that wants to be delivered after the destruction of the wicked. Where there is fear of God, His testimonies will always be the center of conversation and meditation. Malachi 3:16 pointed out that God will listen; He will hear every meditation. God will not overlook or miss every demonstration of our fear for His name. Speaking about and meditating on God will cause God to have a book of remembrance opened on our behalf. Who on earth would not want to be remembered by God? God’s remembrance is God’s visitation. The Psalmist wanted to be remembered, and it is written in Psalm 106:4, “Remember me, O LORD, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation.” When God remembered Noah in the ark of salvation, He sent His wind, and the water of destruction subsided and Noah entered into his land of deliverance. The children of Israel, having been in bondage for over four hundred years, entered their deliverance when God remembered them, “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Exodus 2:23-24) God remembered the children of Israel and God acknowledged them. With God’s acknowledgement, nothing could stop the Israelites from coming out of bondage; neither could they have been stopped from setting out for their journey to the Promised Land. For the children of Israel, God’s acknowledgement was their bondage terminated. As another example, Hannah, in the book of Samuel, never excused herself from going to Shiloh despite her bareness. Hannah kept on going and she did not yield herself to the mockery of bareness. God remembered her and visited her, “…Elkhanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.” God’s remembrance of Hannah delivered her from mockery into miracle. It is clear, without any doubt, God is a good God and there is no evil in all of His doing. He is God that adds beauty and brings forth multiplication. God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Is there any area that you want God to remember you in the coming days? Are you walking in His commands? God encourages us in Isaiah 43:26, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted” Call on God, put Him in remembrance concerning the work of His hand and He will remember you and visit you with salvation.

God’s remembrance is God’s visitation.
God will not overlook or miss every demonstration of our fear for His name.
‘Tunde

Eat And Drink Him

January 30, 2009DevotionsTunde Soniregun

EAT AND DRINK HIM
John 6:22-59

Jesus made a statement, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:48) Evidently, we are what we eat and what we eat becomes us. What are you eating and drinking in these challenging days? In other words what are you feeding on? As an acclaimed believer, are you feeding yourself enough of Jesus? Jesus is the bread of life. He said in John 6:57, “… So he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” He alone is the bread of life and feeding on Him is the only way of having His word abiding in you. The evidence of believing is the word abiding in you. John 5:38, “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.” Many went after Jesus just to eat and be filled. Today, many are still going after Him just to be filled. After a number of miracles and the feeding of the five thousand, many went after Him just to look for more bread to eat. Jesus, knowing the reason for their coming, responded to them and said, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:26-27) They are going around because of the world they want to have in the name of the Word. Jesus’ reality is not about worldly gain,but about the Word of God gaining entrance in us. His message for you today is, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:53-57) Loaves will only fill you and get digested but the bread of life will abide in you forever. Change your appetite, get into Jesus’ reality and begin to seek, eat and drink of life that is in Jesus. Once you taste the bread of life, there will be no turning back but you will always want more.

Prayer for today: Eternal King of glory, I ask that you feed me with the bread of heaven till I want no more.

Know Yourself

January 29, 2009DevotionsTunde Soniregun

KNOW YOURSELF
Exodus 4

Do you know yourself in the Lord? Knowing yourself in the Lord is to know what the Lord has deposited in you. Knowing yourself will play it all in how far you will get in the calling He has placed in your life. When you do not know yourself in the Lord you will not know how to go forward in His assignment for your life. Above all, knowing yourself is to know what He has put in your hand. Do you know what is in your hand? At the time God was about to raise a giant among the giants that glorified His name, excuse was the agent of disruption. Moses was a giant among many giants that the Lord God used for His name to be glorified. In the calling of Moses, every attempt of God to get him on assignment was met by number of reasonable excuses. Moses did not know what the Lord had for him and neither does he realized what the Lord had deposited in His hand for the great assignment. When the calling of God sounds in a man’s direction, there can never be any excuse that is reasonable enough to avoid the calling of God. Also, God will not call you for assignment without empowering you. God wanted to introduce Moses to Moses so that Moses could know what was in his hand, “So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” 3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),” (Exodus 4:2-4) A rod of God in hand is power of God in hand. Moses could not have been able to carry the assignment if the Lord did not show to him what He had deposited in him. If you have been called, know this day that He has put a fitting rod in your hand for the assignment. Among all the disciples that walked with Jesus while He was on the face of earth, none contributed to the assignment of the Kingdom of God like the apostle Paul. Apostle Paul did not walk with Jesus on the face of earth but he knew himself in the Lord more than any of the disciples. Paul testified, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10) Know yourself and take off into the direction of your calling.

Prayer for today: My Lord and my God, open my understanding let me know myself in you so that your name will be glorified in the calling of my life.

Confidence

January 28, 2009DevotionsTunde Soniregun

CONFIDENCE
Matthew 14:22-33

Fear in the face of trouble or fear in the face of sudden terror is the demonstration of no confidence in the Lord. Proverbs 3:25-26, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” 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. 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. Jesus made His disciples get into a journey where there faith was tested. It was not accidental but a passage through incident that was to qualify them as ones that have seen it all, being in it all and experienced it all so that they could be our model. He sent them on a journey at a late hour to a point of no return, “…Now when evening came, He was alone there, 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. ” (Matthew 14:23-26) Jesus’ disciples were not only afraid of the condition they were into but they were also afraid of what they saw. The waves that were tossing their boat and the misrepresentation of Jesus as Ghost generated enough fear for them to cry out in fear. The disciples have seen different miracles, they have walked with the Lord enough to know better that whenever or wherever He sends them, He would not leave them nor forsake them. Jesus, the One that sent the disciples in the boat across to the other side before Him did not forsake them despite the lost of confidence of the disciples. Has He called you and all that you are dealing with are challenges upon challenges and waves after waves? The word of God came for Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jeremiah 1:5) The same word is speaking to every man today. He that formed us knows our steps and He is able to guide and direct in our entire journey. It is worthy to know and be encouraged that, Jesus will not forsake us. He did not forsake the disciples because at their cry unto Him, “… immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:27) Our God is still in the business of hearing the cry of His children and He will hear us.

Prayer for today: Ask God to enable you to operate in the spirit of power, love and sound mind.

Patiently Waiting

January 27, 2009DevotionsTunde Soniregun

PATIENTLY WAITING
Psalm 39, 40

Psalm 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. ” To be God-less is to be evil-full. Inside of any mind that says there is no God there will be no seeking of God and God is not always in their thoughts. As an acclaimed believer that frequently sleeps before Him, is there any situation that has made you a reproach of the foolish? Prayer is the weapon to every situation. However, if there is any situation that has made you a reproach of the foolish, pray the prayer of King David as stated in Psalm 39:8, “Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.” Ask God to hear your prayer and give ear to your cry. Once, King David shared how he was brought out of the state of mockery, a place where he was made to become a reproach of the foolish. Psalm 40:1-2, “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.” King David claimed to have waited patiently before he overcame. Waiting will fail when it is not in patience. A waiting that lacks patience is a wasting of time. A waiting without expectation in getting the attention of God is also a waste of time. Is there any area where you are waiting on God in expectation? Are you waiting patiently or you are wasting away? Wait on God patiently and He will attend to you. King David made us recognize that God inclined (to lower or bend head as to give a nod) to him in his waiting. God heard King David’s cry. King David’s waiting delivered him from the horrible pit which represented a situation or condition where there was no way out for him. He also came out of the miry clay that represented a slippery ground; a ground that took away his ability of maintaining firmness in his stand. King David’s waiting yielded positively. He came out of being a reproach of the foolish and gained his footing on the rock to stay. Conscious copy king David and you will be coupled with breakthrough. Also, when you get your breakthrough remember to praise Him with a new song. Trust Him, wait on Him and He will not ignore you but ignite you with blessings.

Prayer for today: Deliver me O Lord my God from all of my transgressions and let me not become a reproach of the foolish.