Journey

Gen.19:12-26,1Sam.2:6-9

Everydayis a journey. In each day there is heaven designed plan and map for guidanceand direction. Ignoring and disobeying God will set back each day and itbecomes incomplete in a way that is not God ordained. Simply obeying God willalways get one to a promise land of each day. Gen.19:17, so it came topass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ÒEscape for your life!Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains,lest you be destroyed.Ó LotÕs wifehad a road map on her day of escape to a promise land. In her journey that day,disobedience robbed her of her promised land. She looked back and her journeywas terminated. ÊAre you finding it difficult to obey GodÕs direction for yourlife? Ask Him for the grace to follow and keep focus on where He is taking you.Your determination will fail you. Determination failed Peter when he determinednot to deny Jesus. Peter denied Jesus three times. 1Sam.2:9 also made it clearthat Òby strength shall no man prevailÓ ask God for the grace of strength asyou engage in the journey to your promise land. Gen.19:26 LotÕs wife looked back behind him andshe became a pillar of salt. ÊÊÊÊ

Itis settled

Isaaccontinued in the journey of life. There was a famine in the land and Godappeared to Isaac and said: Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you (Gen.26:2).He obeyed God and remained in the land of Gerar. In his obedience, there werechallenges that could push him to find a way out of GodÕs direction for his life.In his staying in the land, attempt was made by King Abimelech to take IsaacÕswife (Rebekah) but failure was the result for the King. Well, a very importantsource of life was always a point of denial for Isaac. Number of times hisservant lost discovered well to the opposition. In his obedient there wasconfrontation; there was denial; but Isaac kept his focus on the command ofGod. In the middle of all, God did not forsake him. Gen.26:24 and theLord appeared to him the same night and said, ÒI am the God of your fatherAbraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply yourdescendants for My servants AbrahamÕs sake.Ó Are you facing challengesin obeying God? That is an indication that you are in right direction. Whenthere are no challenges and your journey of obedience is smooth and not bumpy,you are mostly likely heading in the wrong direction. Keep up your faith, aslong as you are convinced that you are in obedience to the word of God, it issettled. ÊÊÊ

Identification

Matt.13:24-30

Are you awheat or tare? Can you identify yourself? Jesus said it in Matt.13:30 letboth grow together until the harvest, and at the harvest I will say to thereapers, first gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,but gather the wheat into my barn. If you are doing well, keep up withwhat you are doing; if you are doing evil keep up with what you are doing becausenone is hidden under the heaven and there is an account for all doings. Yourgrowth while you continue to do evil or pretending to be good is not anindication of escape. There is an appointed time in GodÕs entire plan. There isa set time when your evil will declare you. Yes, you have not seen anydifference in the life of one that is committed to doing good and one that ispretending to be doing good. Yes, you can see some with evil doing gettingbetter than ones that are doing well. Jesus said let them grow together, notseparately. The time for separation is not now. Identify how you are growing, askGod to deliver you from pretending to be doing. God cannot be deceived He seesyou from inside to outside.Ê It is never too late to identify how you aregrowing.

TRUE PRAISE

Truepraise comes from man’s spirit or heart and is expressed through his lips, apraise from a man’s heart to God’s heart.

Truepraise penetrates deeply in the realm of the Spirit and pleases God

Truepraise is appreciating God for His person

Truepraise accompany with musical instrument is to draw people into a state ofreverence, praise and worship to God in their spirits

Truepraise draws men closer to God

Truepraise glorifies God not man

Truepraise is motivated and spirit led, ought to be spontaneous.

Truepraise releases the power of God

Truepraise brings us into the presence of God

Truepraise releases your faith to God

Truepraise is not mechanical

Truepraise is not routine singing

Truepraise is not mouthing words

Truepraise is not keeping time to the music with our hands

Truepraise is not staying on beat

Truepraise is not going through the motions of praising God , when the heart is farfrom God

Truepraise is not performance

Truepraise is not drawing our attention to music or man

Truepraise is not reciting nice words with a catchy beats

Truepraise is not music that appeals to our emotions

Truepraise is not superficial excitements

Truepraise is not singing certain song in a certain way

Truepraise is not from the head

Aboveall God is Spirit and those who worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and inTruth.

Payattention

Rm.15:4,1Cor.10:11, Heb.11:21

Listen tothis, Rm.15:4 say for whatever things were written before were writtenfor our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scripturesmight have hope. If that is the case, there is a need for a devotedattention to every single word in the Scriptures. For example, Heb.11:21 mentionedthat by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, andworshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. At a dying age hedemonstrated an act of endurance that was powered by faith. The old man worshipedGod leaning on the top of his staff. Today, you walk into some ground ofworship and there is no energy in young and able body to stand through praiseworship. It meant so much for Jacob, to hallow the LORD God of creation bystanding to worship God when he was dying. How do you worship Him? Do youworship God with all your strength, with all you soul, with all your heart? ÊTheScriptures is written for our learning. Is there anything that you have learnedin this one verse? Be patient, listen, and pay attention to every word of God. TheLORD God will attend to your entire journey. ÊÊÊ