GIVE IT ALL
Genesis 22:1-19

Commitment is nothing but having nothing to hold on to when His calling sounds in your direction. Throughout the pages of the Bible, every man who answered to the calling of God and were able to give it all were the ones with great exploits for the glory of God. Abraham was called by God, “…Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2) Abraham had been receiving and obeying God’s command, but the one for the request of Isaac was like no other one. After waiting for so many years to have Isaac, God requested for Isaac to be sacrificed. The provocation of God’s hand in Abraham’s response was not only in Abraham’s obedience but also in his immediate and non-questioning response to God’s request. The Bible records that “…Abraham rose early in the morning…” (Genesis 22:3) He responded and gathered all that it would take to sacrifice his only son. What a way of saying to God: “Here I am! I am committed to all of Yours”. Elisha, when he was founded by the word and sent by God through Elijah, answered but had to settle with his past and present before he could go all the way in committing himself. In Elisha’s response to his calling, “…He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you. ‘ And he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?’”(1Kings 19:20) In his doing away with his past and present, he “took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.”(1 Kings 19:21) Elisha terminated all by getting rid of his entire animal. He went further deeper by using his equipment as a boiler because it is mentioned here “he boiled their flesh using the oxen equipment.” This is a demonstration of commitment that calls for no turning back. All through the New Testament, there were instances where the called have to give up all and follow the Lord. Jesus addressed the call of discipleship when He stated in Mark 8:34, “When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” It takes all to be committed in answering to Him. Have you been considering if you are fully following Him? Think of it; if there is any thing that is taking you away in serving Him, you are yet to do away with the past and present that are prominent in your life. Give it all and He will see you through it all by His grace.

SETTLE FOR BEST
Numbers 32

 When focus is centered on blessings at hand then there will be a lost of focus on the One who blesses. To lose focus on the One who blesses will deny a man from getting the fullness of his blessings. God promised to get the children of Israel to an land that flows with milk and honey, but some of the tribes choose to settle for a land that only flowed with milk and no honey. Numbers 32:1, “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock.” It is clear that any land that is good for livestock will be a land where milk flows. This is what the children of Ruben and the children of Gad saw and they decided to settle themselves where God did not settle them to be. Is there any way that you have been settling yourself on a ground where God did not call for you to settle? Have you been accepting below what God has put in place for you? There is nothing like operating on the fullness of the word of God. Regardless of how glittering the situation might be, the Lord will always have the best for His children in all of His direction. The moment the land was defeated, convenience of having their livestock remain in the land of livestock robbed off the fullness of blessing that was awaiting them across the border. The children of Reuben and Gad went to Moses, Eleazer the Priest and to the leaders of the congregation to state their course about the land that was good for livestock. “Therefore they said, ‘If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.’” (Numbers 32:5) Do you know where God is taking you? If there has been any revelation from God for your life, take it and run with it and in your running do not slow down; do not wait or you will waste. Can a creature know better than the Creator? God is always has the best and you should always settle for God’s best and not your best. The children of Reuben and the children of Gad made up their mind to settle for less when they came up to Moses with all the reasons and excuses for them to be left behind and not cross over just has God had promised. It is a lack of trust and confidence to think that there is a better plan than what the Lord has for us. The whole situation of the children of Reuben and Gad comes down as lack of trust in getting a better land across the river. Isaiah 57:13, “…But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land and shall inherit My holy mountain.” Trust in the Lord and you will not settle for less.

MERCYFULL GOD  
Luke 15:11-32

Despite our inconsistency, God in His goodness and mercy continues to be consistent in mercy and goodness to all of His children. He is a merciful God and very rich in glory by Christ Jesus. God has never run out of mercy. His children, however, make the choice of running out of His mercy. Where are you in the Lord? Can you sincerely assess where you are by simply putting down on a paper where and what you have been doing? Just like the prodigal son, many are taking the blessings of God and running to their own way of life. Many have been blessed in ways that cannot be explained because it was the move of God’s hand of favor, yet they have turned away from Him by forgetting the root of their blessing. Does that sound like you? Luke 15:11-13, “Then He said: ‘A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.’” Have you been blessed by God and consciously or unconsciously taken yourself far away from the place of worshiping God? The prodigal son, blessed by the father’s wealth, decided to move to a far country. It does not matter how far you have gone from God or how far you have been going from Him all that you do will catch up with you. Luke 15:14-15, “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” All the inherited blessings of the prodigal son were now gone. He was reduced where God had no plan for Him to be reduced. He was shattered when he should have been gathering before the Lord. When there is a failure not to get back to Him, it will become a wasted life. The move of the prodigal son made him to live just like the animal that he was caring for. The prodigal son was no longer himself because blessings had taken him far from God. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘how many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!’” (Luke 15:17) God will cause you to come back to yourself just like the prodigal son. The Master, Jesus, decided and came thousands of years ago to give us more abundantly so why take away from Him redundantly? The prodigal son, having come to himself, settled in his heart and stated his repentance. He went back to his father, “…But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and he had compassion…” (Luke 15:20) God is waiting on your return; maintain a focus on the One who blesses and not the blessing.

WHY
Exodus 13:17-22

The why in the life of a believer often lead to the way of getting to the center of divine assignment or the Promised Land. Sometimes the why avenue is the only way out of situations that are not accommodating in the life of a believer. Why you are in what you are could be the way the Lord has chosen for you get to where He is taking you. Throughout the pages of the Bible, many giants in the hand of God such as Moses, Joseph, Daniel and many others went through different avenues of why me. During the coming out the bondage of over four hundred years, the children of Israel went straight into their why avenue when they were lead into the way of wilderness instead of the way that would have been shorter for them. Exodus 13:17-18, “Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.” With God as the center of your life, you never know where and how He is going to take you through. Why go through the way of wilderness; the way that does not look promising? Why? Why when others are going through without any challenges? The way of the wilderness was the Lord’s leading way for the children of Israel. Nothing operates under heaven that passes through without first being picked up by the heavenly radar of God. He is the only God that is God; He alone sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” God was speaking to Jeremiah and what He says to one speaks to all. The One who made you is in control of all and there is no place to hide or turn to without Him knowing. The same God yesterday, today and tomorrow also stated in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Does this sound like He is also talking to you in your “why avenue?” God is not a partial God and His Word will not elude you if you do not exclude yourself from calling on Him. With this knowing, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:12) God will not fail in listening to you except you fail in calling and asking from Him. Your own why is your way out to the top of every mountain of hindrance. In Jesus Name your testimony is today.

TRUTH IS THREATENING
2 Chronicles 18

The truth is threatening, and it will always face opposition and rejection, especially for those that do not want to receive it. The truth is the way out to be triumphant. It is the way to overcome. It is the way that cannot be stopped, and it leads to every avenue of great exploitation. King Ahab of Israel was set for a war against Ramoth Gilead, and he needed the help of King Jehoshaphat. The first truth about King Ahab’s case was that he was redirected by King Jehoshaphat to go, and inquire for the word of God. In every confronting situation it is worthy to pray before planning. To plan without praying will not prevail. But praying before planning is the way of prevailing. Are you someone that always put plans up before sending prayer up? King Ahab responded to King Jehoshaphat’s advice, “Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?” So they said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the king’s hand.” (2 Chronicles 18:5) The response of four hundred men was not pleasing to Jehoshaphat; he needed the full assurance from God before making his move. When Jehoshaphat requested for anyone that could inquire more from God, King Ahab responded in 2 Chronicles 18:7, “…There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla, “And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say such things!” King Ahab was looking for people that would say what he likes to hear. In most cases, the kind of people that you have chosen to surround you, will only tell you what you want to hear. Micah was sent for as requested by King Jehoshaphat, “Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, “Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Therefore please let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement.” (2 Chronicles 18:12) Ahab’s messenger attempted to silence Micaiah by encouraging Micaiah to speak encouragement to Ahab’s hearing, but Micah did not digress from what he had inquired from the Lord, “Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’” (2 Chronicles 18:16) King Ahab turned a deaf ear to Micah’s advice of not going to war and went to war. Ahab went to the war and he did not return from the war while Jehoshaphat came back safely. Standing on the true word of God will give a result that stands out like that of having to hear the truth from one out of four hundred. As much as the truth can be threatening, do not despise the truth in every area of life.