By Brother Godwin
Beloved,
Scripture Reading: And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you (Exodus 10:24).
Last week we saw how the enemy tries to negotiate our divinity away by making every effort to keep us at the fringes of our commitment to God. Go serve God he says, but do not go very far. Interestingly, this is a direct opposite of what God said in his word. Jeremiah 29:13 says, you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart. The word also says that God will show himself strong in the life of those whose heart are perfect toward him (2 Chronicles 16:9). These are people who go far with him. Didn’t God say that he would spue out those who are neither warm nor cold out of his mouth (Revelation3:15-16)? So get immersed in God. That is how to get the best in God.
Pharaoh had another argument in order to contain the blessings of the people of God. This was what he said: Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed (Exodus 10:24). Flocks and herds represent their riches; the blessings of the Lord upon their life. The enemy wants us to think that the good of life does not belong to us. “You can be holy but don’t talk about wealth”. “Don’t talk about a healthy living”. So people sing such songs as “take the whole world and give me Jesus”. No, that is wrong singing. If God is your father, doesn’t a good father take care of his children? What reflection does it have on God that his children would be begging food? Friend it is not God. It is the enemy that convinces people that holiness is incompatible with riches. Lack or poverty does not make you more Christian than your neighbor that is rich. In fact it mocks the authenticity of the God you claim to serve (Psalms 37:18-19). Check the scripture. People that served God well were people of means. You know what? It is the love of wealth much more than love for God that is a sin. When wealth becomes a god, so that you live for it instead of for God, you are into idolatry. You will agree with me that the person that has 1000 Euro can be as idolatrous towards money as the person that has billions of Euros. Don’t allow the enemy to negotiate the blessings God has given you away.
“Go serve God but leave the blessings behind”. This is a ploy of the enemy. God’s blessings include good health. The same death of Jesus Christ that saved you from your sin also saved you from sickness and lack. Salvation is much more than cleansing from sins. First let’s see what the problem was. Jeremiah 5:25 says “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you”. Now see the available solution: Isaiah 53:6 says All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Put together, the iniquity that withheld good from us has been taken away. Every good thing has been provided. Don’t listen to the negotiator. The most holy God is the richest personality. The most holy God is not sick. So why should you and I lack? Why should you and I be ill? God’s plan is that those that serve him will not just be satisfy with the good things of life, also he plan to keep them healthy (Proverbs 13:17). See what he said And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil (Exodus 23:25-26). This is the true reflection of God.
Friend, we need to stand strong and take that which God has already given us. Joshua was frustrated with the children of Israel and asked them, how long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you (Joshua 18:3)? These are all included: Signs and wonders shall follow those of us that believe (Mark 16:17-18). We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). God’s divine power has given to us all things that pattern unto life and godliness (2 Peters 1:3-4). Stop the enemy from negotiating away your covenant rights.
I will end this write up by quoting what the Spirit of God said through a man of God in August 2010: “Our ignorance or laziness to appropriate that which belongs to us does not invalidate the promises of God. It just means we did not take due diligence to do what we are supposed to do” (Pastor Olumide, 2010). How ture this is!Stop standing on the fringes. Go take that which belongs to you. Find them from the scriptures and forcefully take them by faith.
