IT WILL BE LONG TIME

“It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.” Jeremiah 29:28b NIV

THE PROMISE.

Most of us have read Jeremiah chapter 29 only up to verse 11, which reads “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster plans to give you a future filled with hope.” This words lifts up the hope of each soul that hears or read them and they should for they are the true words of the Almighty GOD who is “not man that HE can tell lies”. God’s words are always faithful and true, His promises He keeps.

BEYOND THE PROMISE.

Yes “Heaven and Earth shall pass away and God’s Word shall remain” God never repents from what He declares or promise. But beyond the promise there is one most important thing that we overlook when considering the plans God has for us. We fail to understand that God’s plans and promises for our lives come to pass at His own time not ours. It does not mean right after you reads Jeremiah 29:11 is then that God starts acting on the plans He has for your life.

Before you came across the promise God was already in action/motion considering His plans for your life, the promise is there to enable you to wait in faith on God.  

REASON FOR  WAITING.

There is always a waiting period to everything great that is to come. For great things God bring on a perfect setting so as to allow their greatness to be evident. Great men and women of faith had to wait for God’s promises to be manifested upon their lives.

• Abraham waited twenty-five years before his wife Sarah gave birth to their first child.
• Joseph slogged through thirteen years of betrayal, false imprisonment, and abandonment before assuming the leadership of Egypt.
• Moses spent forty years tending sheep before God called him as a deliverer of His people.
• David spent fourteen years before the throne of Israel would be his.
• Jesus Christ waited 30 years before His ministry began and an additional 3 years to take the sins of the world away.

The reason for the waiting is that God might be able to work all things in place, not only to better prepare us for what He has planned for us but also to prepare our surrounding to be fitting for what God has planned for us. That is when things seems to be falling apart someone out of the unexpected maybe there to offer a helping hand bring order and meaning to whatever we may be facing.

OTHER PEOPLE’S PROMISES MAY HAVE TO COME TO PASS FIRST TO MAKE WAY FOR YOURS.

As already mentioned part of the waiting includes that others around you might prosper before you do for their prosperity might turn to be one step up the ladder towards your prosperity. This might go to explain the reason why we have the commandment “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s [ownership]” Exodus 20:17. For wanting what other people have been blessed with stop you from receiving that which God wants to bless you with.

God said to the Israelites captives at Babylon “And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” [Jeremiah 29:7 Kjv] God will never place you at a place or in a situation that will benefit you nothing He always has a plan for every direction He leads you to take.

• Moses had to wait 40 years for God’s plans for his life to be in motion and what was happening all that time behind the scenes? The Israelites where growing in number as Moses waited Jacob’s inheritance was being prospered in number.

• Jesus waited 30 years for His ministry to take motion. At the same time behind the scenes John the Baptize’s ministry was being prospered and through the prosperity of John’s ministry came Christ’s prosperity in receiving the Holy Spirit of God.

Yes we will have to pray for other people and bless them so that we too can be blessed.

YOU WILL HAVE TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD IN LIFE AS YOU WAIT.

Waiting unto God’s promises for your life does not mean you have to stop living. This means as you wait for God to lead you to the fulfillment of His plans for your life you still put your faith and trust onto God for other basic areas of your life. You will still have to believe God for perfect health, financial security, and relationship success, physical and spiritual success etc.

As the Israelites waited in captivity at the foreign land of the Babylonians God said to them ‘do not wait while wasting away’ No “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce.  Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!” Jeremiah 29:5-6 NLT.

HOW TO WAIT.

One may ask “how or in which way will I have to wait unto God while making sure that my wait does not delay God from acting upon my life”. Well we can find the answer to that question from the words of the Prophet Habakkuk in which he says “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the LORD says and how he will answer my complaint.” Habakkuk 2:1 NLT

• A WATCHTOWER is a tower on a high place built high enough to afford a person to be able to see for some distance.

That mean you are able to foresee things unseen by common eye, by using your faith-eye you’re able to gaze into the world of the things that are not as though they were and you begin praising God for them.

As you climb up your watchtower or gaze with your faith-eye into the realm of the unseen there you will find your guard post place of safety from unseen invading outsiders. Other bible translations use the word ramparts instead of guard post.

• A RAMPART is a defensive wall of a castle or walled city, having a broad top with a walkway.

There is only one defensive wall that a child of God can trust his/her life upon and that is the Holy Word of God being the Holy Bible. The Psalmist David gave praises to God for His saving Word by saying “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105 Kjv. This truth apply to each and every child of God whose trust lay on the Almighty God alone, for God’s Word will teach you how to a pleaser of God and those who bring pleasure to God He blesses!

Yes “it will be a long time” Jeremiah 29:28 but all of God’s promises shall come to pass. Wait upon the LORD and He will get you where you want to be in no time.

REPEAT THIS WORDS UNTIL YOU RECEIVE FROM GOD THAT WHICH HE PROMISE YOU WILL RECEIVE:

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

And there are no grapes on the vines;

Even though the olive crop fails,

And the fields lie empty and barren;

Even though the flocks die in the fields,

And the cattle barns are empty,

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

The Sovereign LORD is my strength!

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

Able to tread upon the heights.”

HABAKKUK 3:17-19

THE HIDDEN VOICE!!!

“After he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They won't follow a stranger. Instead, they will run away from a stranger because they don't recognize his voice." John 10:4-5 Gw[Good’s Word]

In the beginning when there was just Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden the two were only familiar to each other’s voices and lastly to that of God. Adam knew only to respond to the voices of either Eve or God and when things stayed like that and all was well in paradise.

But then came the devil someone’s who other than God knew the human being well, our strength and weakness the devil knows them both and he also knows how to use both of them against us. 

The devil has been in the game of tempting people from when the world began and with that much years of experience there is no doubt that he is good at it, one other thing he is equally good at is his knowledge of the scriptures. I believe today he can read the bible from genesis to Revelation with his eyes closed.

My point is that knowing that his voice is more of a stranger to the people of the Lord; he comes to God’s people not using his own voice or words. He did this with Eve and passed, again he tried doing it with Jesus only this time to fail miserably.

But the devil is of patience he doesn’t get discouraged so easily! He couldn’t get the shepherd so now he is coming for the sheep. He hides his devouring voice in many things today most of them material things, desire for success, promise of riches and more of the worldly perishable things.

He has realized that the sheep do not really know the voice of its shepherd being the Word of God or maybe they do they just not believe in it fully. Yes when things are going their way they believe the Word for that time, but when things all turn down south the Word is forsaken!

Truly we should stop applying the Word of God the other way round, the Bible says “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 NIV  But we today want worldly riches before we can seek the heavenly riches and the devil is using that to his advantage!

That is why as much as we want to acquire worldly things but neglecting heavenly thing we just fail in both, for your spiritual level your relationship with God and you position in the kingdom of God is what determines your worldly position and relationship with the world! 

As long as our relationship with God is suffering, we too will suffer here in the world and our suffering will bring joy to the devil, who comes to steal and devour! Jesus is saying "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10 Esv which i strongly believe its more than reason enough for us to abide more deeply and strongly to Him!

STAYING STEADFAST IN THE LORD!!

“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken away. Praise the name of the Lord!” Job 1:21 (NLT)

A lot of us if not all can find it easy to praise God when things are going well in our lives, when all that we desire to have is in our midst we call God by many different names. When our health, success, finance, family affairs, etc. are in good terms we find it easy to call God faithful.

But can a lot of us be able to stay steadfast in the Lord when things are not that on our side and say, like Job whom even all that he had was stripped off him and he was left naked and in poor health but still could in the midst of all this affliction call God faithful?

I doubt many turn to acknowledge God in the midst of their season of prosperity as long as the season does not change God is still God in their life, but as soon as things start to go downhill priorities changes.

It doesn’t have to  be like that we need to know to praise God even if there is no food on the table, even when our health are not at their best He must still remain Jehovah El-shaddai in our live. There is a difference between praise and worship and before you can praise God you must come to worship Him first.

Praise is saying “Thank you God  that I have bread on the table for me to eat today!”, Praise is saying “Thank you God that my health is intact!”, Praise is saying “Thank you Lord that there  is peace and harmony in my family!” Praise is saying “Thank you God that all is well in my life!”

But true worship which is very hard for many of us to partake in is saying “Thank you God for this day even if I do not have any bread on the table!” True Worship is saying “Thank you God for today even if I am sick at body and my health is not intact!” True Worship is saying “I thank you God even if things are in a season of lack in my life for I know my season of abundance will come at your own time and not mine!”

Today if you believe in the Word of God and in His promise that “He will never leave you nor forsake you” you need to start showing it by praising Him even if your days seem dark.

In true fact they are no dark you just going through a season of Sabbath, which means is a season of rest which God just want you for Himself away from the busy toils of the world.

 This season that seem like a season of lack of worldly things is a season in which you must be heaping in abundances those of the spiritual for it is when we are separated from the worldly reaches that we can heap the Heavenly things!

 Today thank God for what He has given you a precious day to joy in His presence in as you begin to do that you season of abundance will be knocking in the door as a sign of God’s reward for your faithfulness!

Stay steadfast in the Lord Today keep the faith and never allow it to be shaken by circumstance for God is better than our problems more than we can begin to imagine!

FINE NEW CLOTHES!!!

“’Take off his filthy clothes.’  And turning to Jeshua He said ‘See I have taken away your sins and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” Zechariah 3:4

What the Lord has done for us by sacrificing His only begotten son on the cross is reason enough that we should not let the thoughts of our past keep us from enjoying today!

 It has cost God a lot to earn for us freedom and He want us to be thankful and live life as He intend for us to live it live without guilt of the past for God has already forgiven that.

Yes what we used to be or maybe still struggling with has left a lot to be desired in our hearts.

The maybe a hole of guilt in our hearts which is still showing and it can only be filled by only two thing, believing and accepting that God has cleansed us clean and forgiven us of our sins.

When Jesus Christ shouted “it is finished” on the cross He realized His Holy Spirit of righteousness to fill the empty places in our hearts that sin had put in there.

We were dirty and filthy in our transgressions but not anymore for the Holy Spirit of God has “taken off those filthy clothes” and “clothed us with new clean and spotless clothes of righteousness.

We ought to stop walking like wounded horses, for the Lord has healed all that was broken within us! And He did not heal us so we can still live a life of guilt He healed us so we can be free so that His Holy name call be glorified in the joy that He has given us.

God has not given up on us that why He gave Jesus Christ to the world to show that He still has a plan for us.

 Jesus Christ said “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:15-16.

We should concentrate less on how our past used to look like and concentrate more on seeing to it that our good deeds of righteousness “shines out for all to see, so that everyone will praise our heavenly Father”

JUDGE NOT...

“Do not Judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others.” Matthew 7:1 (NLT)

Brothers and sisters who told us please that we can judge others, that we can look at a person from the outside and decide who they are and what they going to be in life or what they are destined to? Who said we could look at people from the outside and decide whether they should be in our church or not?

I was shocked today when I heard that there are other Christian who goes around judging people and telling them they are destined to go to hell. I mean who are we to judge whether a person is worthy of God’s Kingdom or not, for the most part we know that all of us are not worthy but it is only by grace that we are even saved today.

Jesus tells us that we should “judge not and we wouldn’t be judged” and that “the same amount of judgment we held against someone we are going to be judged to that measure”.

Yes getting born again offered us authority over many things in life, but judging others or ourselves for that matter was and still is not one of them.

When Jesus sent the disciples into the cities of Israel to spread the good news He gave them authority over a lot of things but not authority to judge anyone.

 Jesus said to them “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!” Matthew 10:8

Never did He say go and judge the people and call those you think of as worthy. He sent the disciple to people with a need, people with a problem.

Before we can judge a person according to what they do let us all keep in mind that “all people have a problem, but they themselves are not the problem” cast out the problem to come out of the person not the person out of God’s family!

Jesus said go “heal the sick”, when we judge others, how then can we heal their sickness while our comment are the ones bringing sickness and guilt upon people’s lives?

Jesus said go “raise the dead”, when we judge people how I we going to raise them from death while we are the one speaking words of death upon them?

Jesus also said go “cast out demons” if we judge people and call them demons how are we going to cast out the demons in them?

Jesus said “Whatever you do to My people you do to Me” so when we curse God’s people whom were created in His image by saying they are going to Hell or are destined to Hell, we are in turn cursing the Lord.

Have you been misjudged and rejected don’t worry for Jesus said “Anyone who receives you, receives Me [Jesus]” Matthew 10:40 (NLT). Which then means anyone who rejects you rejects our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us judge not and concentrate only on doing what we have been given authority of and we shall be rewarded by our Father in Heaven according to our faithfulness to what He commanded we should do! “Do to others whatever you would like them do to you” [Matthew 7:12]

PRAYER…

O God please help us by the power of your Holy Spirit to not be fooled by the false judgment of ourselves that we go around casting judgment upon you children whom you created in your very image. Amen