RHEMA From Heaven

To fear God is to have great respect or reverence for God. It involves treating everything that is of God “sacred”. When you live with the fear of God in your heart, you hold in high esteem everything that is of God. 

Walking in and with the fear of God must be your hallmark as a Christian. Nothing must make you compromise on that. Anyone who claims to be a Christian and does not have a deep respect or reverence for the things of God is going nowhere.

The early Church did well because they walked in the fear of God. Acts 9:31: “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”

You see, when we walk in the fear of God in this generation, God’s power will certainly manifest in our Churches. We must be eager not to exist the “realm of fearing God”. As Christians we must treat the things of God with respect. We must not run into hasty generalization to condemn all men of God. But accept that it is God who has appointed these servants. (Ephesians 4:11).

The fear of God must be revealed in how we take spiritual meetings or Church service. We must not be a people who die hard to show up for social events but never treat Christian services as such.

Finally, walking in the fear of God, must be seen in our purity. We must not abuse the physical bodies that God has given to us with immorality and lascivious activities forgetting that it is on God’s house. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

Fearing God is not an alternative to the Christian. It is a must.

Read: Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”.

Prayer: Father, I pray that the reverence I have for you will be consistent and never unwavering. In Jesus name, Amen!

Any Christian who wants to make progress in this life must learn to pray well. Most people pray to be seen praying, without any purpose. Such prayers never accomplish much. Matthew 6:5 says “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward”.

To pray well, you must not take prayer casual. You must engage in it with some spiritual insight. 

For you to pray well, you must first and foremost know and understand the situation you are faced with and the kind of prayer to make. You see, if you just pray for “praying sake” you will not get many results from it. You may end up with unbelief and in frustration.

Thus, to pray well so that you can have results, study, and understand God’s word about prayer. You see, it is possible to have hundred percent answers to your prayers. But you must first engage God’s Word to help you pray and pray effectively. 

Knowledge or insight of the subject of prayer will teach you when to make declarations in your prayers based on the authority we have as believers. You will also know when to humble yourself and make requests for God’s intervention. When it comes to prayer, God is ever ready to hear you, but you must know how to go about it first. 

Be determined to make your prayers avail much in the realms of the spirit by learning how to pray.

Read: Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints”.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that as I will lift up my voice to pray from today, I won’t pray amiss, in Jesus’ name. Amen!

God deals with man based on the condition of his heart. Therefore, if your heart is not right towards God it doesn’t matter how you appear before people or what you do, you will not win His approval. 

Your heart as a Christian refers to the real you and not the biological heart that pumps blood to the other parts of the body. Your heart is your spirit. Men can hardly see its state, but God does. 

As a Christian you must guard your heart to make its thoughts and intents align with God’s word. This is how to maintain a perfect or a genuine heart before God. If you fail to guard your heart against evil, you will not get God’s approval and you will also miss a lot of things in life. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life”.

The moment you feed on facts or any information that contradicts the truth of God’s word, you are breaking down the walls of security of your spirit. This is when the devil can make an in – road into your life. Also, Jesus once said, “If you don’t doubt with your heart, you will have whatever you say”. So,your heart matters! It becomes the foundation for your success or failure. Thus, the well it is kept the better.

You see, it is your duty to keep or guard your heart. This you must do with “great effort”. Since your heart or spirit is of God, you guard it by feeding regularly on spiritual truths from the word of God. John 6:63 reads “God’s word is life and spirit”. 

Be eager to always maintain a perfect HEART. Never allow bitterness, pride, envy, and anything to corrupt the state of your heart.

Read: Mark 7:21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders”

Prayer: Heavenly father, give me the grace to guard my heart from the things that brings corruption. May your word dominate my heart and let all bitterness, pride, malice, and anger be far from me, in Jesus Name. Amen

Romans 12:11 says, “Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord”.

One version of the Bible puts it this way, “Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically”.

Laziness is one attitude or lifestyle that hinders you from being successful in life. It will cost you a lot of opportunities and breakthroughs. You must be diligent and hardworking in all matters to be significant in life.

No lazy person can have success in life because laziness makes you do nothing. Any time you give in to laziness you always try to avoid “work”. Sometimes laziness makes you do “little” even though you can do more in life. So anytime laziness becomes your bedfellow you will hardly succeed in life.

Know that, God wants to bless the works of your hand. So you have to put in great effort to whatever you are doing in life. You must put in an effort to serve God well; you must put in an effort towards your education and career. That’s just to say, attach some seriousness and urgency to life.

The truth is, you can’t put all your efforts into “sleep” and “unproductive activities” and still have a glorious future. You must be up and doing in life before you can make it. Constantly engage yourself in productive things. Know when to work and when to rest or relax.

Most of the time, it is work or “labour” that brings favour. You can’t be moving from one end of your bed to the other and expect favour to fall on you. No! It never happens that way.

Understand that there is no incentive for being lazy. Rather laziness will make you a slave. Get up and work at something. Always put your efforts into productive things.

Read: Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute”.

Prayer: Father, I pray for the grace to be serious in all that I do. I cancel any element of laziness that wants to dominate or influence my life, In Jesus name. Amen!

As Christians, God has also called us to shine. That’s how our influence and impact can be felt.

Being a Christian must make your life an example. Thus you must shine in life.

The prophecy of Isaiah sounds this clarion call better. See Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising”.

This mandate raises Christianity beyond going to Church, reading the Bible and attending prayer meetings. This is not to say that Church Service, word study and prayer meetings are irrelevant. Rather they are ways by which God equips the believer to make him a burning and a shining light in the world.

Know that God wants you to be a positive influence in the world. Don’t just exist. The power of God in you must affect the lives of other people. It is this power the world is waiting for you to manifest. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19). You must manifest in order to take away poverty. You must manifest to cast out demons and evil spirits. You must manifest to demonstrate God’s power and glory. You must manifest to lead others to the Lord.

Don’t sit and fold your arms for evil to prevail. As light, you must dominate your world.

Read: Matthew 5:13-16 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.

Prayer: Father, I pray that wherever I find myself I will be an influence, give me the grace to shine.

The pressure of people in our lives is something we will live with forever. Whether you like it or not, you will be influenced by people to do one thing or the other in life. Some of these pressures will come from friends, family, teachers, mentors, and people we relate with in life. Whereas some pressures are good, some too are evil and out of place to follow.

As a Christian, it is important to weigh any pressure people mount on you before yielding. This will make you stand your grounds anytime you are faced with the pressure to do something evil or away from the will of God. 

Our opening text tells how the Israelites that left Egypt at one point gathered unto Aaron and requested that he makes an idol or a god for them. But this demand was against God’s word they received earlier. See Exodus 20:1-3, “And God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me”.

The pressure directed to Aaron comes to all of us. Sometimes people will use situations and happenings in life to pressure you to do something wrong or sinful. But you must learn to be assertive and decline to such demands.  

Don’t let someone force you to steal, lie, marry people outside the will of God, enter ungodly alliances, fornicate, pretend, or become a rebellious person. It is better you lose your connection with such folks than to lose God’s approval on your life. 

No matter the happenings in life, remain faithful to God. Don’t allow yourself to be pressured into something or act in a way which you will later regret.

Be on the alert as you journey on in life and never let anyone pressure you to do evil.

Read: Hebrews 6:12 “that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Prayer: Lord, I pray for the grace to stand against any negative pressure people put on me.

The heart plays an important role in the human body. This is why medical doctors admonish people to take their cardiovascular health serious by limiting the intake of some foods and to also exercise regularly. Just as the biological heart is worth guarding, the same can be said of the “spiritual heart” which is your spirit. 

You see, although most people have mastered the art of mounting guard on their physical life they can’t be assured of success if their spirit which is the most important is left out. The Bible says all the issues of life, comes from the heart. This is what makes the heart a precious thing to keep, or guard with great effort. 

Note that whether fear or faith, love or hatred, lust, or pride, it all flows out of the heart.  Matthew 15:19 says “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies”. 

Thus, keeping your heart means that, you must do everything possible to make your heart remain in a perfect state or condition. Also mounting guard on your heart means that you don’t allow your heart to go astray or wander in wrong stuffs. You see, you must learn to guard your heart against all improper affections. Left to itself, the heart of man will wander in carnal things.  

Never forget that the state of your heart determines your integrity. The intention of your actions will always correspond to the dispositions that prevail within the heart. On whatever side the weight of inclination hangs, it will draw the practice after it. Independent of all actions, it is the state of the heart itself which forms our character in the sight of God. 

Take note of this truth: “you are known before the Lord by your heart and not only by your act”.

To effectively keep your heart in the right things, consistently study and meditate on God’s word since it is the only way to mount guard over your heart and never allow ideas and opinions which are inconsistent with the word of God into your heart. In fact, ignore them as they come.

Read: Psalm 17:3 “Thou has proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress”.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that with all wisdom and hard work I will keep my heart in the ways of the lord, In Jesus mighty name. Amen!

It is rewarding to work for the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Every Christian has been called to work for God. It is a general call for all Christians. You don’t need any spectacular encounter with an angel before you can work for God. All you need is a teaching that will equip you to function and be faithful on your part.

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul admonished Timothy, his beloved son in the Lord to work for God and commit the same mandate to faithful men. “ And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

It is important to know that your pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle, and evangelist equips you so that you can do the work of God. The Bible says they perfect or equip the believers to work for God. Ephesians 4:12 says “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.

You have a primary call to reach out to the unsaved world. Jesus said, “Go and preach to every creature”. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature”. This is the work of God you must do now. Don’t be a pew warmer in church. Do everything possible to do God’s work.

Just like any other work, give your time, energy and engage all your skills to work for the Lord. It is rewarding than any other work.

Read: John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work”.

Prayer: Lord, I pray for grace to work for you so long as I live. I declare that by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit I work for your kingdom. In Jesus name, Amen!

Life is a journey. You have to start from one point and end at another. This is why God is not only interested in you starting something, He is also concerned about how you make it to the end.

It is very important to note that, reaching to the end of every assignment you have started is a priority of God. You don’t have to start and stop midway.

You must not be a Christian today and give up the faith in years to come and you must not start the work of ministry and stop along the way. Despite the challenges that may surface you must work towards reaching the end. Your advancing or moving on in your assignment despite all the difficulties that you may encounter is perseverance.

Perseverance means to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty. That is also to say that you have to persist, continue, and never give up in life.

Keep your gaze on the Lord and keep on moving forward. The author of the book of Hebrews says, “…And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…”. You see, you have to run with perseverance. That is to run with the mindset of not giving up.

David, the great psalmist was a man of perseverance. He wrought wonders and did awesome things because of this “not giving up” spirit. He never saw any challenge as unsurmountable. Even in the valley and shadows of death he said “I will not fear any evil”. When attacked by satanic armies he said “by my God I will run through this troop and by my God I will scale over every wall”.

Child of God, you can do same. Never throw yourself out of the journey. Never draw back in your walk with God. Keep alive all the purposes and plans that God has revealed to you.

Your perseverance will bring you a reward.

Read: 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that your preservation is with me, my family and all that concerns me till I exit this earth, in Jesus mighty name. Amen!

Apostle Paul in his days admonished his son Timothy to stay away from all those who held self-gain in high esteem at the expense of godliness (1 Timothy 6:5).

You see, inasmuch as there is nothing wrong with having money or being wealthy, it is wrong to follow such pursuits against your own godliness. In other words, if you make riches and wealth get you into ungodliness then all is not well.

It is an undeniable fact that many people in the pursuit of financial prosperity have thrown away every virtue that God’s word prescribes. This is nothing more than going into extremities with the “want of money”. Laying aside godly values and virtues in the pursuit of wealth will not profit in the end. 

1 Timothy 6:10 says “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. 

You see, many people have erred from the faith because they placed a lot of premia on self-gratification and material things. Unnecessary pursuit of material gain at the expense of your Christian values will get you into becoming worldly.

You don’t have to prioritize your personal gains at the expense of godliness. The bible in Matthew 6:33 says that “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”. 

In your quest to be wealthy, you must not use evil schemes and methods. You see, the problem is not about the prosperity or the “cash” you want to get. God is interested in how you want to make wealth. 

Love for money will wane your faith, make you unrighteous and make the love you have for God wax cold. Think about this and make the decision to embrace godliness and never sacrifice your Christian values because of money, cash or material gains.

Read: 1 Timothy 6:5-8, “Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

Prayer: Father, I pray that I will be content with every blessingyou bring my way. In Jesus mighty name, Amen!