THE WORD FIRE
Psalm 33        

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.” (Psalm 33:6-7) The word of God is right and righteousness is the word of God. Looking around and seeing all things He created is evidence of the fact that the word of God is right and also true. His Word is living and alive. God has not changed and He will not change, but He alone is the unchanging Changer; the only One who can reverse the irreversible. Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth.” The word of God is true and right and we are hold on to the truth. No weapon formed against those who hold on to the truth in the word of God shall get hurt neither shall the word fail them. The word of God is fire and it cannot be played with neither should it be disregarded. God declared in Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”” Indeed, His word is like fire, but how you have received it is how it will work for you. He has put all in place to work for us but because of how we have replaced it or how we are replacing His word, the power in it cannot be activated. It is like a man carrying a loaded handgun and running away from an enemy with no weapon but only carrying noise making. How have you received the word of God? The word worked for Jeremiah after he allowed the word to burn in him. “Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.10 For I heard many mocking: ’Fear on every side!’ ’Report,’ they say, ‘and we will report it!’ All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, ’Perhaps he can be induced; Then we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.’ 11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 20:9-11) The above passage documents how the word worked as a fire for Jeremiah in a challenging situation. The same word is working the same power today. With the fire nature of the word of God burning and alive inside a believer, all that takes a stand against such believer will stumble. The Word of God is God and God is His Word. This confirms the word of Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.” Pray that the fire nature of His word will burn off all that does not represent Him in your life.

PLEASANT LIFE
Hebrews 11

When we please Him, we are bound to have a pleasant life. We are set for great exploits and we shall be operating Heaven on earth. How then do we please Him? Pleasing God is phasing out fear in every walk of life and not limiting God in every phase of life journey. Where fear operates, God is minimized and sinking is the evidence. With fear, God is denied His glory and the devil becomes elevated. Fear can operate loudly or silently; it can be regarded as the dangerous enemy of faith. By ignoring fear and holding on to faith, Abel did not fail and never doubted when he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Despite the fact of not knowing what harvest will later produce, he did not reduce in giving to God sacrificially. Noah decided not to give into fear when he received the instructions of deliverance. Noah acted by building an ark where it hardly rains in preparation against flood that was to overtake the world. Noah could have chosen to give in to doubt and not respond. Doubt cannot be separated from fear because doubt and fear are the part and parcel of each other. To exercise doubt is a demonstration of a silent fear. Hebrews 11:8-9, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” The Bible declares that it was by faith and not by fear when Abraham obeyed God. The choice is either you move by faith or you are moved by fear and there is no neutrality or middle ground. Have you been stunk by lack of mobility in any area of life? As an acclaimed believer, it is time to let faith rise in you and have fear sink. Until then, your vehicle motion will remain stagnant. How do we please God? Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” You have come to God by His grace, but do you believe that He is the center of your life? To believe Him is to be living the word and that is behaving the word of God. To be living or behaving Him is in seeking Him from inside to outside and God will not fail in honoring His word. Seek Him diligently and He will evidently see you. Pleasing Him will make Him to always be with you. Think of it, He was with Abraham, Noah, Enoch and every other faith giant in the Bible. Above all, Jesus said, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29) Keep your eyes on Him and not on the fear-generating situations that you are temporarily in. The end result will testify that He was and He will always be with you.

NEGATIVE POSITION  
2 Samuel 17

Have mercy o Lord; deliver me from any form of disaster that is set against me. Have mercy in anyway that I have mistaken. Let all who are set to bring me down not have its way in Jesus name. Redirect my steps from every form of disaster into deliverance. O Lord let every good advice that has been released in my direction be activated for your name to be glorified. Also, the good advice that is on the way for me, O Lord let it have its way in my life. To miss a good advice is to be messed up and it can lead to permanent termination. Ahithophel, the Gilonite, was King David’s counselor before Absalom sent for him as a counselor. (2 Samuel 15:12) Ahithophel was described as one whose advice and counsel was like that of the ones who inquired from the oracle of God. 2 Samuel 16:23, “Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.” This is a testimony that the man Ahithophel was operating a great gift of giving a precise and accurate advice as if it were coming directly from God. It was Ahithophel whom Absalom called on for advice at the peak of his rebellious attempt to knock his father David off the throne. As God will have it, Absalom refused to take to Ahithophel advice but called on Hushai the Archite. Absalom did not hesitate to disregard the advice of Ahithophel and took on Hushai because it is recorded in 2 Samuel 17:14, “So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel. For the LORD had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.’” All things are open to God and nothing is closed that He does not have access to. He alone is God and forever He will be God. The Lord purposed to defeat the good advice that came in the direction of Absalom through Ahithophel. Absalom was moved to take onto an advice that was set for his destruction instead of the one that would have granted him the kind of result that he wanted. Absalom missed it because he was not directly in line with what God wanted for him and as a result, there was no good advice that could have bailed Absalom out of the way that seemed right to him. Are you in the way that seems right to you? Proverb 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.”  It is worthy to look up to God and ask Him in prayer: Lord whatever I have done or that I am doing that will place me directly in a negative position to Your plans and purpose, have mercy and let me not be found in any position of negativity in Jesus name.

PASSING BY
Luke 10:29-37
 
As an acclaimed born-again Christ-like believer, is there anything besides going and coming to and from different fellowships, quoting the Word of God, and singing the songs as they are recorded in hymn books that you can account for as a Christ-like believer? Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, lived His entire journey on the face of earth as an example for us to learn and to emulate as a believing believer; not as unbelieving-believer. In His entire passing by, there was visitation onto every one that encountered Him. Jesus never passed by without looking and touching the lives of all who were on His way when passing by. Jesus, through His passing by, healed sickness and diseases; lame gained motion; paralysis gave way; sinners received salvation by His witnessing and blind received their sight. John 9:1-2, “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” In His passing by, He was able to reverse the irreversible. In your passing by, what have you done as a Christ-like believer? In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus pointed out to us the possibility of passing by on the other side. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a priest and a Levite, which are in the category of Christ-like, were presented and can be likened to represent Christ-like believers. They were in position to present Christ in their way of living life, but they failed while a sinner like citizen of a sinful nation could not pass by without being compassionate. Luke 10:30-33, “…A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” How often have you been passing by on the other side? Have you ever thought of a fall on the side where you are passing? The Christ that we claim to be like is the Compassionate One who will not passed to the other side without touching the current side. There is no excuse that counts; neither is there any excuse that is excuse-able before the Almighty God. It is worth it to call on God and ask Him for the grace of being compassionate enough not to pass to the other side without taking care of the current side. We can only deceive ourselves because God cannot be deceived. Let us run this race with a mark that glorifies our Lord and Savior. Look around! There is always a waiting list in our passing by.
 

DWELLING OR ENTERING
Jeremiah 7:1-11

To be going and coming out of the church building cannot be regarded as dwelling or abiding under the shadow of the Almighty God. You can choose to make your church building your place of residence, but still it will not count as dwelling or abiding in the shadow of God. So many are entering, but very few are actually dwelling in His presence. Thousands enter into places of worship on Sundays, but only few dwell in His presence on Sunday to Sunday. This is not a new thing because just as the Bible says, “…there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Entering and not dwelling has been mentioned in the Old Testament and it is still happening today. Jeremiah 7:1-3, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2 ‘Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!’’ 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.’” The word came from the Lord through Jeremiah to the people that worship God and not to those who did not go near the places of worship. The message was for those who are always entering the place of worship in the name of coming to worship God. God pointed out that they were only entering; they, however, were not dwelling. Until they began to enter and dwell, they were missing it and it would not carry them anywhere. It was also pointed out in this message that dwelling requires amendment of lifestyles (ways) and dealings with all that is around every individual who wants to dwell. God sees all that goes back and forth in the life of every acclaimed believer and He alone, not any man or pastor, can determine if individuals who are entering are qualified to that of a dweller or a deceiver. How can you account for your Sundays of going and coming to the place of worship? If your going is only on Sundays and you have no other separate day during the week to go and spend time with the One and only One who made Heaven and Earth, it becomes dangerous and that danger might be an issue of religion or convenience; not commitment. The Psalmist recorded in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” In any of your relationship with Him, go and begin to seek for the way to be dwelling instead of only entering. The secret place of the Lord is no longer secret to any of His children who care to hear from Him daily in the pages of the Bible where His words unfold deliverance, breakthrough and preservation. The secret of God is in the word of God.