RHEMA From Heaven

Isaiah 55:11 says
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it”.
The troubles of the world has put everyone in search of something that works or brings solutions.

Nonetheless, experience and history has also proved that man’s methods and solutions has not been without limitation.These can be seen in health service delivery, managing economies and the like.

But one truth still remains, although not appreciated by Christians who claim that “modernism” and “civilisation” has rendered void the “old sacred law”, the word of God-which is living and active as the solution to the problems of this world.

Despite the fact that, human logic and philosophy has failed humanity, it is not so with God’s word. No matter what you think, God’s word will always work. It produces results whenever it is rightly engaged.
It is like a hammer that breaks rocks into pieces and like fire that consumes. God’s word has the power to produce whatever it talks about.

When medical science fails, there is healing in the Word, and it endures forever. When the economy fails, there is prosperity in the Word.

In fact, all that you need for life and godliness is in the Word.
Psalm 107:20 says He sent his word and healed them, Joshua 1:8 says the word prospers and brings good success, Romans 10:17 says God’s word gives faith. *Learn to go for the word*.

Search the word daily. Know what God has said in his word about your life. Get hold of it and let it be your walk and talk.
Don’t let it depart from your mouth, meditate on it till you are full of it. This is how to reign in life. Don’t rest your faith on human philosophy or man’s methods.

Read: Acts 20:32 “And now I commend you to God [placing you in His protective, loving care] and [I commend you] to the word of His grace [the counsel and promises of His unmerited favor]. His grace is able to build you up and to give you the [rightful] inheritance among all those who are sanctified [that is, among those who are set apart for God’s purpose-all believers].”

Study: Hebrews 11:3

Matthew 24:14 says “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”.
The gospel is and still remains God’s now word to the world. It is the only message that prepares and makes anyone ready for the return of the Lord.

The gospel is the good news that God became flesh to save humanity from the power and consequences of sin. It is simply the mesage of why Christ came to the world, his death, his resurrection, his ascension and his return. The Bible says the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation. See Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”.

Thus, whatever you hear preached and taught must not fall short of this. The gospel must project Christ, make you detest sin, and inspire hope for a better life in Christ.

You see, the gospel when believed in brings salvation, transformation and restoration.
The Bible says “he that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Yours is to accept it, believe it and live it.

Read: Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”.

Study: Romans 10:8-13

Philippians 2:13 says “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”.
Every Christian has the power to do and to follow the will of God. Not only that, you also have what it takes to do what pleases the Lord. The amplified version puts the opening text more clearly, “For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure”.

The word says “God is effectively working in you”. This is why you can’t fail in life. There is a divine energy and power that is at work in you to fulfil your purpose. Many claim Christianity is burdensome. Some too claim doing the will of God is difficult but that’s not actually the case.

You will only have difficulties and feel stressed out when you try to do it all by your strength. The struggles surfaces when you want to please the Lord all by yourself. You can enjoy to the fullest this “new life” and “God-life” when you are not the boss of your own life but God. Let God be in charge and move with him.

You see, God will not demand something of you that you can’t do. So if God expects you to please him and always do His will, he will give you what it takes to get that done. See what the word teaches “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”.

In other places, it says “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.”. You have everything you need to live for the Lord.

Don’t get carried away by people who claim that it is not possible to do the will of God or it is a burdensome thing to be a Christian.

Set your heart and eyes on the Lord and you will enjoy your “New” life.

Read: 2 Peter 1:3 “For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

Study: Romans 12:2

“Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mathew 26:41). Whether you will walk in the will of God or give in to the misdirection of the devil through temptation has more to do with your prayer life.
When He (Christ) was in his darkest moment, to submit to the will of God and die for humanity or decline to that, he prayed to put himself in sync with God’s will. Mathew 26:42 “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
This made him overcome the temptation of not yielding to the flesh to avoid dying for the salvation of man.

It makes a great difference when you pray. Your life becomes a force to be reckoned with. In as much as your prayer does not change God, prayer brings a heavenly and an angelic influence into your life. You must know that, you can’t do much for God if you can’t remain in constant fellowship with him. Keeping watch to pray involves anticipating situations that will hinder you from doing what the Lord requires of you and asking for his guidance and grace for each day.

The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected the world for him, have been men who spent so much time with God. Mr. Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement spent two hours daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning and prayed till God’s grace put him on top to execute his divine assignment. One Christian leader also said, “If I fail to spend hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets to work his ills against my purpose”.

You must come to the point of seeing prayer as an avenue that blesses you with inner strength to pursue God’s agenda amidst temptations and challenges.

Remember that, giving up on prayer in the midst of challenges and temptations is like turning off the engines of a car in the middle of a journey.
Be a man or woman of prayer! Pray and never allow your life to be taken over by happenstance.

Read: 1Peter 4:7 “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”

Study: Mathew 26:36-45

“Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart” (2 Chronicles 25:1-2).

Your heart plays a significant role in what you do and what you don’t do. The state or condition of your heart can make void or useless a good act. As a Christian, God wants your heart and your act to be in agreement. Anything short of this will make you an insincere person or a pretender.

God is interested in both your good actions and your good heart. You see, the real you is your heart or your spirit. Thus, acting in the flesh by doing good things to and for people but still have ill thoughts and feelings towards them in your heart will render your works useless before God.

The Bible says that, as a man thinks in his heart so is he. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee” (Proverbs 27:3). Don’t say one thing with your mouth and hold another in your heart.

You see, although you can win the approval of men from doing “heartless” things or doing things without the backings of your heart, that won’t pass the test of God. God always looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7 says “But the Lord told him, “Samuel, don’t think Eliab is the one just because he’s tall and handsome. He isn’t the one I’ve chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”

Let God’s word dominate your heart and allow the promptings of the spirit to inspire your heart, this is how to put your heart in a perfect state. When your heart is guarded against every evil, you will act or do things wholeheartedly without any seed of deception or hypocrisy.

Read: Proverbs 17:3 “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart”

Study: Luke 6:45

Living long on the earth to fulfill God’s purpose for your life is never automatic. Because in as much as God has made provision for every Christian to live well and long to do his biddings, you can hinder this blessing of longevity.

When it comes to longevity the word tells the provision that God has made for his own. Psalm 91:16 says “with long life (length of days) I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.” God is not interested in you dying young without fulfilling your days. When it comes to existing on this earth, God wants us to go in good old age having served our purpose.

Genesis 25:8 says “Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people”. 1 Chronicles 29:26-28 also tells of how David lived out his life and purpose to the fullest. It says “David son of Jesse was king over all Israel. He ruled over Israel forty years—seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king.”

The bible teaches that the number of our days shall be a seventy years and if strength avails it shall be eighty years. Psalm 90:10 says “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away”. Meaning that, we must not operate below the minimum.

Nonetheless, for you to enjoy long life you have a part to play. 1 peter 3:10-11 says “For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it”. Therefore for you to make God’s provision of long life possible, you must keep your tongue from speaking evil, you must not be treacherous or speak the truth, and you must turn away from evil and do good. So just like all the other promises of God, if you don’t live up to standard to allow the promises of God to stand, you will never benefit.

Read: Psalm 91:16 says “With long life (length of days) I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation”.
Study: Psalm 118:17

“Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you” (Hebrews 13:17)
The message Bible also puts it like this “Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?”

You see, when it comes to relating with pastoral leaders or your pastors in Church, much is expected from the believer in order to make the relationship fruitful.
The above text reveals four important things that believers must do in relating with pastors. But our focus will be on one point in this teaching.

First, you are to obey your pastor. This means that, you must comply or be willing to comply with an order, request or an instruction that will be given to build you up in the faith and to also make your journey to heaven sure. Your obedience must be prompt, and must come from a willing heart. Obeying something later or delayed obedience is equally disobedience.
The Bible shows a perfect example of obedience in the call of Andrew and Peter by Jesus. “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” *At once they left their nets and followed him*” (Mathew 4:18-20).

The obedience of Andrew and his brother Simon was prompt, immediate, fast or swift. This is the kind of obedience God wants you to exhibit when dealing with the pastors He has given you.

The call of these two brothers was a call to work for God, yours may or may not be like this. The area of obedience that God will require of you through the pastor may be to do your quiet time, have a personal prayer time, go on evangelism on some specific days, be regular and punctual in church services, submit reports on work done, visit or follow up on some new members, or to stop engaging in some lifestyles that is inconsistent with the word of God.
In short, you have as many things to obey as the number of sermons your pastor might have preached from the word of God to you.

Finally, not obeying your pastor is a disregard, disrespect and rebellion against God and His wisdom since all that your pastor will require you to obey is nothing but the word of God and things that will expand the work of God.
Read: Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you”

Study: Jeremiah 3:15

“Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you” (Hebrews 13:17)

Although having or knowing your pastor is good. The relationship with the pastor does not guarantee success in your spiritual growth and walk with the Lord until you learn to submit to them.
Submitting to a pastor means that you recognize their God- given authority over you. Thus anytime you submit to the pastor you don’t fight or resist the leadership of your pastor. The leadership in this sense is not only referring to the pastor but also the leadership constituted by the pastor. You see, you can’t claim to be submissive to a pastor when you break the ranks and file of the structure of governance he sets in place.

The Bible gives an account of how certain men, Korah, Dathan and Abiram formed a coalition to resist the leadership of Moses when he was shepherding or leading them into the promise land. Numbers 16:3 says “They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” Their protest brought God’s intervention against them as the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with them, together with their possessions. The Bible says “They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community”.

Don’t for once resist or rebel against your pastor or join a faction that has an agenda to undermine the leadership of your pastor. Be wise and never share in the sins of such.

Read: Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your [spiritual] leaders and submit to them [recognizing their authority over you], for they are keeping watch over your souls and continually guarding your spiritual welfare as those who will give an account [of their stewardship of you]. Let them do this with joy and not with grief and groans, for this would be of no benefit to you”

Study: Number 16:1-35

For we walk by faith, not by sight. ( 2 Corinthians 5:7). As Christians, our walk with the father is a walk of faith. Anything short of this will not bring God’s promises into manifestation. Not walking in faith will also not allow you do exploits in life.

When it comes to living by faith, the emphasis in God’s word is straight and clear.
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38). For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17)

The believer is mandated to live by faith and not to be governed by his senses when walking with God. You see, those who live by their senses – what they see, feel, taste and hear in the natural realm are limited. Such people conclude that defeat, failure, sin and sickness are dead ends. They see these enemies of man’s progress as unsurmountable. But this is not true when we engage our faith. The epistle of John says that “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” (1John 5:4).

Walking by faith makes you an everyday winner. You conquer and remain an overcomer every now and then. Always know that sickness, academic failure, sin and any satanic agenda can be destroyed – GLORY to God! Anchor yourself on God’s word. Believe it, talk it, and live it.
Don’t live in fear, or be held bound by anything that’s not God’s will for your life. Let lose your faith and you will reign on earth.

Read: Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony”.

Romans 4:16-21

Our call as Christians is also a call to pursue the interest of others and not only our interest. Until you are able to pursue the interest of others, you are not yet perfected in love. Because anytime you walk in love, you are able to put the needs and interest of others before yours.

Philippians 2:3-4 says “Don’t act out of selfish ambition or be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves. Don’t be concerned only about your own interests, but also be concerned about the interests of others”.

You see, acting out of selfish ambition or interest is a big “NO” for the Christian. Others must also count in your quest to making it in life or becoming successful. Don’t bring people down or hurt people because of your desire to succeed. Don’t use any human being as a means to an end.
The Message Bible puts Philippians 2:3-4 as “Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand”.

Remember that, self-interest or selfishness is the nature of the devil. Because all he thought of during his service to the Lord in heaven was himself. See the account of Lucifer’s self-interest. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-14).

Always know that, if you can’t stand for the interest of others or even help others to make it, your pursuit in life is self –driven. Be a blessing to the world and not a pain or a trouble.

Read: 1 Corinthians 10:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Study: Hebrews 10:24