Seasons

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; (1Chronicles 12: 32a)

I was teaching on the two sources of wealth according to the Bible when God brought this topic of seasons and times on my heart very strongly. It might actually be the distinction between what God does and what the enemy does, as well as the corresponding results.

Did you know that two people can do the same thing in exactly the same way with the same resources yet one becomes exceedingly successful and the other a complete failure?

Yet the difference may only have been in the timing; the season they ventured.

God determines seasons. He alone determines the seasons. It is important to note that not only is He in charge of the seasons, He knows exactly how they will turn out because He is the one working them out. He therefore knows every detail of the tomorrow we have not seen and can guide us into that tomorrow to succeed beyond expectation if we are walking in His revelation.

A disconnect with a season could very easily result in disconnecting with God’s purpose for my life. An erroneous reading of the season I am in in could result in a wasteful life.

God wants us to move in His seasons. He leads us to enjoy the fruitfulness of His seasons. Remember that in Psalm 1 someone who loves God and walks according to His word bears fruit in his season and not every time? That is how God operates.

There are times we become frustrated when we do not see fruit from what we are doing, yet we are doing it the way we have always done and brought much fruit. We may blame ourselves and look for reasons we are not bearing fruit. I know there was a time I invented sins to repent as I could not explain the dryness of the season I was in. Yet what I didn’t know then was that it was just a season, a dry one.

I have wasted resources when I invested in a season that had passed without my knowledge. I remember buying an expensive accordion when my season in music was ending, simply because I was not aware that my involvement with music, singing, composing, could ever end. I ended up giving the same to someone who could not appreciate its value.

Remember when Moses died? The first thing God told Joshua was the obvious, Moses is dead.

In other words, that season is over.

It meant that Joshua was now on new territory. Not only was he the leader, but his leadership was to be completely different from Moses’. Whereas Moses heard from God directly, Joshua had to rely on the priests, Urim and Thummim. Manna would soon stop showing up. He would soon start conquering the lands God had promised and later divide them among the tribes. He was in a season of greater responsibility requiring greater obedience and sensitivity to God’s voice.

In our verse, we see the tribe mentioned knowing the season they were in. And what was it? Saul has been rejected. They therefore realized that his season was over. But they saw even farther. There was an anointed king in David. Rather than whining about the rejection of their king, they moved with the new season and joined David, the king in God’s season.

Obedience is key to our walking in God’s season. People who sought to walk in obedience to God’s revelation always experienced victory. Reading about David makes this truth stick out prominently. No wonder he was said to be fighting God’s battles! He made sure that he sought to know what God wanted him to do, even in repeat situations which to most of us would be too obvious to seek any orders.

Do you realize that Moses was disqualified from Canaan because he followed earlier instructions for a similar challenge? That the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord does not only speak of ministry but in everything that man does, including eating and drinking, and what and where he eats and drinks. That is why Paul said that whatever we do should glorify God; and we know that only obedience does it and presumption is the opposite.

God gives us the power to make wealth because He is the source of everything as the creator. He is therefore able to guide us into situations where He has gathered that wealth for our taking if we are walking with Him.

And that is the difference between God-given wealth and the devil’s wealth.

In Matthew 4 we see the devil tempting Jesus with wealth. He shows Him the wealth and gives Him the conditions for accessing that wealth. The devil turns our focus on wealth because then he can be able to give us some of it as we worship him. And worshipping him does not necessarily mean songs and temples and shrines. Greed is a very high level of worship. And that is why he must show us the riches. We have no capacity of envying something we can’t see. This is why the media is so portent as an instrument of the evil one as it can make us see things we can never normally envision.

In Matthew 6 we see God’s way of giving wealth. In verse 33 we are told to SEEK FIRST His kingdom and righteousness, then these things will be added to us. Here we pursue God and all He stands for. It means forgetting these things (wealth). Then God, the source of all things will make those things to follow you.

And this is where seasons play out. Pursuing God will make you to be in sync with the seasons He has ordered. He then orders everything to fall in place for you. He can call resources from all over to the one who pleases Him. Remember Christ twice calling fish from where they had hidden the whole night? Remember Him calling a coin into a particular fish so that tax could be paid?

But it is the fruit of following God. And it creates a greater hunger to follow God.

What happens when all of us choose to walk in God’s seasons? We become like a well-tuned orchestra. We have hundreds of instruments, from the very loud like cymbals and trumpets, to the softest like oboes and recorders, making a music that resounds from afar.

Yet how do they do it? Each instrumentalist has a music sheet for his part which is different from any other. Then they have one conductor who knows the complete composition.

Our music sheet is the Bible, the whole of it. It gives us the complete instruction concerning our part in the whole. The conductor is the Holy Spirit who guides us to play our part in the orchestra of life as He knows when I should slow down, go softer, or even resound without negatively impacting the performance of the whole.

The devil focuses us on what we are looking for. Then he can detract our vision on the seasons because we look away from the season maker. The career, the money, the car, the A, the spouse, will so engross us that we will forget that we are in an orchestra and start to play our little instrument independent of others. Not only will we make a mess of the band, we will also become very pitiful in our very small world. No wonder we still see people who have made it immersing their lives in drugs and even committing suicide.

God, on the other side, asks us to look at Him and follow Him. Seek to know Him and follow where He leads us. Then He will make all these things FOLLOW us. We will just realize that we have them as we were focused on following the owner of seasons. Incidentally, the bulk of them are priceless; they cannot be bought with money. Health, peace, favor, harmony etc. are some of those things that follow the one who focuses on his music sheet and the conductor. The music flows out of me in the context of the whole orchestra (created order) and also means that I am at peace with not only the composer (creator) and His music but also with the other members of the orchestra. The audience will also appreciate the harmony you are producing because you do not care to shine outside the band.

Someone can appear as kingdom minded as the other until you look beyond appearances. Their actions show that they are solo instrumentalists in the music of life.

Let me take the most obvious case, business. Many people wonder what Jesus meant when He said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich man to get into heaven. Or that one cannot serve God and mammon.

I had a dream where we were travelling with a friend I made in the journey. His wife sat at the back holding these super thin TVs of today. As the bus started moving, a thief snatched the TV from her hands with a timing that never seeks to amaze as they will have disappeared before the bus stops and anyone can get out of the vehicle.

The husband calmed her, even telling her never to tell that to anybody.

As we went on, a hawker came selling vegetables at throwaway prices, and coming from an agricultural area I know there are times there is such a flood of perishable harvest that farmers will leave whatever they do not sell in the market for whoever wants. That is what I thought. I bought one cabbage and a pack of onions.

As we talked, I thought to look beyond the surface of my cabbage. After the first layer, there was nothing but rottenness. I then decided to do the same with the onions and it was the same.

Then my friend commented. ‘Is there any difference between the thief who snatched the TV from this one?’

There is no difference. Both took advantage of a moving bus to steal, only that one thinks he has used his brain more. They are both pursuing money as the devil trains instead of allowing it to be added to them as the follow God.

God is not against profit. He only wants us to play by His rules, righteousness and holiness, which will make gain or profit take a back seat in our trading, though we will many times make more profit than those pursuing it as the end product. And this is where seasons come in. Again allow me to give you situations that happen all the time. And I will remind you the verse that says the wealth of the wicked is kept in reserve for the righteous. Mind you wicked does not necessarily mean the robber or harlot or any other openly wicked according to society. Wicked just means one who does not play by God’s rules, many times one whose main goal is the pursuit of wealth. They are not playing in God’s orchestra but are making their own. This means he is not aware of God’s seasons.

Let us say he gets a car at an incredibly low price. After he buys it he realizes that it was being dumped on him. He decides to repair it and spends a fortune doing it, until he gets fed up after he sees no end to those repairs.

He then decides to look for a gullible person to dump it on. Incidentally he deceives him that it is in very good mechanical shape, something he knows is false from his experience. And this fool falls for his lies and buys it at the irresistible price he was offered without even bargaining.

But the season has changed. The fool later comes to thank the shrewd seller for the car he had disposed as it had never given him any problems since he bought it.

He bought a car and repaired it and then gave it to one who pleased God, thinking that he was defrauding him.

Or someone buys a dairy cow at a premium and it decides to be barren. Year in year out he pursues every angle for a solution that never comes.

Being a shrewd businessman he decides to dump it on a hapless farmer by convincing him that he is selling so that he can take his child to university, even cheating him that it is expecting and he couldn’t have sold it were not for the crisis.

But the season had changed and the barrenness has ended. The new fool actually buys an expectant cow at a throwaway price, a thing that the shrewd could not understand. This is because God releases those secrets to those who are walking according to His standards, and especially revelation.

From observation you will realize that the most successful businesspeople are those who do not go by the rules. They take many idiotic risks that will succeed beyond belief. Others are very gullible and entrust their decisions to enemies who pretend to be friends showing them where to throw away their moneys, only for the toxic counsel to backfire.

I repeat that God owns the seasons. The main reason some things succeed while others fail might be for the simple reason that one was on the right side of the season while the other was on the wrong side.

That is why the Bible says that the race is not for the swift or the battle for the strong. God and His seasons determine them. That is the reason being on God’s team will always ensure success whatever we do, only that it is not success gauged by temporal standards. But it is sure success, success that everybody can see even in the temporal realm due to the eternal element in it.

Isaac was told not to do the logical thing in a drought (going to Egypt). He plants and harvests a hundred fold. The widow of Sarepath sacrifices the only food to feed the prophet and has enough food for years. Gehazi refuses to let all that free money to go and harvests leprosy. Remember Elisha reminded him about seasons?

The Lord’s Prayer deals with seasons. It is a prayer that heaven’s seasons operate on earth. Your name be hallowed on earth as it is being done in heaven. Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Your will be done on earth as it is being done in heaven.

We pray that because we pursue it and not simply to say that we prayed.

And it is the reason the Christian life is very simple. We just look at heaven and copy what we see. Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father doing. And there is nothing wholesale in that.

Remember the beggar at the gate beautiful. Do you realize that Jesus may have passed him there a many times as He went to the temple during His ministry years, and even those early years? Yet why did He not heal him then? It was not the season for it. And heaven’s seasons go with God’s purpose. He was healed when he was so that five thousand people could accept Christ after clearly seeing what He can do.

Several times we see the term, ‘fullness of time’ in the Bible to denote those times where the season was ripe.

I will mention some demonic breakthroughs some mistake for God’s.

The first is gambling. Do you realize that if God wanted His people to get gambling money they would win all of it? Why? God knows everything. God knows which team will win which match or league ten years to come. He knows the combination that will win any jackpot of any lottery all over the world.

Suppose He uses the lottery to provide. Won’t His people win all jackpots? Won’t prophets win all those predictions?

You see, God determines the outcome of every lot cast. That is what the Bible says. That is the clearest evidence that gambling is not of God. If He were involved, His people could have been the automatic winners of the fool’s games.

The other reason gambling, even sport betting can’t be of God is the greed it promotes. Not only greed, but also idleness and laziness as people are waiting for the big break. Plus the waste before that break can be accessed, if ever. People are betting away their investments, their college fees, rent money, food money, etc. I have seen young men taking their expensive phones to Shylocks to get betting money. Many have committed suicide when they lost their fees in betting and can’t face their parents. Others have done the same as they gambled their salaries and are unable to pay their rents for months, among many other things.

The blessing of the Lord gives wealth, and adds no sorrow. Does gambling do that?  And I will not even mention the end game for the winners of those jackpots.

But pastors are scared of preaching this from their pulpits because many of their members are into it. And they of course won’t mind if the jackpot is brought to their churches. Remember sometimes ago I posted about pastors applauding a brewer taking their members (worship leaders) for training in secularism and its music and the winners take home a lot of money. And they do not even realize the contradiction between worship and drunkenness a brewer stands for.

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. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 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. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. (1Timothy 6: 6 – 11)

The other is the planting of the seed to get returns from God. In other words we give so that God repays at higher interest. The simple description of what we do, and pastors preach is trading with God.

That we can never out-give God is not in question. That our giving opens doors for God to minister to us is also not debatable.

But from the Bible, we give in response to God as opposed to forcing a response from God. We can never manipulate Him by our giving. Even the thought itself is blasphemous.

Only obedience will open the door for God to respond to my giving.

What I mean is that only a giving that is prompted by my obedience to His revelation moves Him, and not even in the way we think.

Look at the Bible. A few times we read that people were restrained from giving because what they had given was much more than was required. And they were not giving to receive. They were giving because they had experienced God. They were simply responding to their experience of God.

You see, what we know about God is more powerful a driver than what we can receive from Him. Remember Job confessing, ‘though He slay me, yet will I trust Him’? That is the kind of relationship that should drive our giving. It is worship and not business that drives our giving.

Reaping from giving using business terms is clearly demonic, even when it is given in church. Reaping from the same shows that we are receiving from the one who shows us the gift as a bait to cause us to do what will drive us from God, especially if he can convince us that it is God doing it.

Ananias gave most and died. I wonder what those who preach about giving explain that, that someone gives God over 90% and God kills him. A widow gives the smallest coins and is said to have given more than the ones who had given a lot of money.

New Testament giving is giving in obedience to God’s leading, not giving 10% or even 50%. It is being in tune with God enough to know not only what to give but also where to give. It is not a giving directed by the pastor or any other spiritual leader but by God through His word and Holy Spirit. And we know that the Holy Spirit will never trade with us.

Our worship is incomplete if we do not give. But it is not our giving that defines our worship. Our obedience is what defines our worship. And that obedience leaves nothing behind, even giving.

The toxic element of this doctrine as preached is that it minimizes sin. We can comfortably cover our sins if we only gave. We can cover disobedience or rebellion by giving something good. Reminds me of the indulgences Martin Luther fought and the fact that the modern church is rushing there at breakneck speed through this doctrine of giving that does not address other aspects of obedience.

That offends God. And God fights it with His seasons. He gives leanness as He says in His word.

Is God the one guiding your seasons or are you in charge of your destiny and just need Him to add power to what you have purposed? Do you worship God through your giving or do you seek to manipulate God through it?

You see, even acceptable giving is because it is given in season and not necessarily generously. And I know it will be clearer to you when you jog your memory a bit.

What is your most memorable moment of generosity? Was it when you received the most expensive gift or when the gift met your most pressing need?

You are very hungry and some distance from a place you can get food. You are so weak from the hunger and so far from home that you must eat to get strength to walk home. You pray that God sorts you out.

Then out of nowhere a friend you have not seen for long appears and is so excited to see you. He does not have much money so he takes you to a cheap roadside kiosk and buys food so that you may have time to talk.

Or you are being evicted because you have not paid rent for some time, and the rent is not even much. Just when the landlord is about to start throwing your things out you receive a text message that you have received some money. You stop him and ask for a few minutes to go and withdraw his rent.

Maybe you have travelled and lost everything you had. You are stranded in a strange land. You do not know what to do as even the language is foreign. Then out of nowhere someone seems to understand your dilemma and offers to host you and help you recover your documents.

It is the timeliness of the gift (season) that has a greater impact than the size of the gift. And that is the greatest difference between God’s gift and the devil’s bribe. And it will also help us know who guides our giving.

Giving in season is itself not dramatic for the giver however earthmoving it may be to the recipient. Even when it is sacrificial, it is so because of the obedience element as it is done in response to God’s promptings.

It does not make the recipient indebted to the giver because the giver responded to God. Many times he was not even aware of the crisis in the recipient’s life that he resolved as he just responded to God. He does not even expect any gratitude. There are times I have been supported with clear orders not to offer any gratitude and offer it to God instead. That is what giving in obedience, which is giving in season does. And I also feel very uncomfortable when I am thanked after giving in response to God’s promptings because I am very sure it does not proceed from me. You do not even feel exploited if someone you have so helped insults you because God and not them was the focus of your ministry.

If someone must appreciate your giving or assistance, if they must tell others how generous you are and the kind of pit you rescued them from, examine your heart. It is very possible you are giving by the devil’s rule book concerning giving. He is the one who focuses us on the gift.

I hope this message gets through to each one of us so that we will start walking in God’s seasons for each of us as opposed to being guided by people to fulfill their cravings, however holy they might be. That we will listen to know what God will have us do in whatever situation He places us.

We must read the Bible and stop the laziness of entrusting the study of the same to others, however spiritual or mature they may be. We must listen to God’s voice for ourselves instead of leaving that part to experts, however accurately they seem to be hearing. This is because it is impossible for them to hear my instruction and theirs at the same time.

You are responsible for your spirituality. You are answerable to God for hearing His voice or not. You can never defer it to anyone else.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10: 27)

Are you Christ’s sheep? Do you hear His voice?

Bound by a Profession

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us. (Ezra 8: 21 – 23)

Have you ever wondered why you said certain things? Have you ever regretted confessing certain things when you are challenged to do them?

Folk tales are full of such instances. But they are many times used to explain the ingenuity of the hero of the story.

Have you ever touted your bravery to cover your cowardice? What happens when a situation arises when you must lead other cowards through a situation you are scared to death to encounter? Or when you confess to have enough money to impress and a situation arises when ‘your’ money is the only solution to be found?

Yet is in the faith dimension this plays out perfectly. And this because it is in the dimension where we are required to step in the water to find out whether it will drown us or we will walk over it.

Ezra was a priest raised in captivity. According to 7: 10 he had studied God’s word and was not only proficient in its study but also in its observation. He was also an able teacher of that same word. He stood out amongst the Jews for his commitment to God’s revealed word. Among his contemporaries were Daniel and his three friends, Mordecai and Esther, Nehemiah and Ezekiel thugh apart from Nehemiah we do not know whether he related with the others.

It is clear from this passage that his faith was observed even by the heathen. He was therefore respected for the faith he held and proclaimed. It had even elevated his status in the kingdom as we get from reading the book.

When the heathen king is confronted by the heavenly King to bring back the Jews and rebuild the temple, Ezra was the automatic choice to lead the religious aspect, directing all the people and resources his way. He even bound the whole kingdom to support Ezra and his team with whatever he may require.

So we see Ezra with a large team of religious leaders. He also has the flocks that had been given to commence the sacrifices once the temple was completed. He also had a lot of gold and silver and the vessels that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem when it fell.

In short he had a lot of treasure, a rough estimate could be around half a billion dollars today. And everybody knew that he had all that treasure as there was a proclamation from a king to that effect.

Incidentally, there were robbers those days. It is also possible that opposing kingdoms could have plotted to acquire all that treasure for their kingdom.

The journey itself was long, probably taking months to complete as these were not soldiers who were prepared for such treks. And I suppose the road itself was predictable and visible, though the great company would have made it so anyway.

The easiest option would have been for Ezra to ask for an army to escort them. And the king would have no problems giving such an army as he was also aware not only of the kind of treasure being ferried, but also the dangers it was prone to attract.

But Ezra had a problem. And his problem was to do with the faith he professed. He was concerned with how those heathens will think about the God they were sure Ezra worshipped.

Mark this, that Ezra was more concerned with his witness than his safety. How will these people conclude about the God Ezra so ably taught about?

He therefore decided to bring God into the picture. Again note that the God he professed could be removed from his daily experience as they were in captivity, being ruled over by the heathen. Reminds me of Gideon asking whether the God their fathers spoke about even existed due to their experience.

Ezra had not seen a burning bush, or even killed a lion and bear. The only thing he knew about God is what he read in His word. I doubt that there were any testimonies to boost his faith at this time.

He simply decided to test God from what he had read and taught from His word. Remember Shadrach and his friends confessing that even if God would not save them? I think that is where Ezra was.

We have consistently and confidently confessed God’s power for those who obey Him. We will hold Him to His word. We will not dilute His word with logic and sense. They therefore chose to give God room to prove Himself.

But they did not stop there. They decided to seek His face concerning it. That is why they fasted before starting their journey.

And they discovered that the God of the Bible has never changed. He is the same as He ever was before creation. His power is the same as it is recorded in the Bible, His book, His revelation of Himself.

Have you ever been in such a situation? What did you do?

I remember once I was called to minister when I was so sick that I had not been able to eat for four days. I could not even swallow water as it came out immediately I swallowed it.

That was how I left Nairobi for Kampala because I knew God wanted me there.

When I arrived, I was offered breakfast but declined because I knew I would vomit it all. I just went to sleep.

Then I thought of my situation. Not only was I very weak but my stomach may be collapsing on itself. I had to do something or I could die like some people I had heard about.

The solution I thought was to ask those who had invited me to slowly goad the stomach to open up by juices or porridge.

Then I thought. Did I come all the way from Nairobi to be ministered to or to minister? I there and then decided that the stomach will open before I am required to minister. I went to the tap (faucet) and drank as much water as my stomach could take and of course vomited all of it. Then I went to sleep.

Due to the weakness of my body, I started shivering with cold, but eventually slept.

I woke up at lunch time totally healed, and had no problems for the two weeks I ministered.

Have you ever confessed God’s provision yet faced a situation where the person you have been preaching that to has some money you feel like borrowing? Or confessed that promotion comes from God yet feel so much pressure to plead with the boss who knows about that proclamation to promote you? Maybe about favor yet feel the urge to take a goat to someone in a position of influence?

I see Christians in politics trashing their confessions as they look for those elusive votes. I see pastors shrewdly preach about giving when they feel they are not receiving adequate remuneration from their churches. I see Christians in business and sales using exaggeration to close those deals.

Do we want to bring God to fight for us? We must be ashamed of using worldly methods to operate. Like Ezra we will even reject freely offered service for the sake of our proclamation.

We are not talking about open sin or compromise. Please note that Ezra was entitled to receive that armed guard from the king. He decided not to ask for it because of the God he had been proclaiming.

How ready are you to hold God to your profession?

When we Push the Promise

And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field: And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: (1Kings 11: 28 – 31)

I remember several years ago when some young men wanted to stone me for ‘pouring scorn’ on their god (it is normally called blasphemy).

What was the reason? A school had to be closed because they were rioting as a teacher had touched their holy book with his leg!

As happens in schools, there was a search for stolen books led by the teachers. It so happened that one student had the holy book in his locker with the other books. As they were being piled on top of each other, the pile lost balance and was falling. The teacher instinctively reached out with his leg to stop them from falling badly. And that is how he touched the holy book. Then the riot ensued.

I was thus talking with those young men who were sent home when the school was closed.

Do you have to fight for your god? Can he not hold his own when assaulted? How crippled is he that you must fight on his behalf?

The only reason they could not stone me was because they were unable to logically explain their actions at school, or even show how stoning me was an act of faith.

You see, God is able to fight for His honor. He is able to defend His word. In fact Jeremiah 1: 12 says that He watches His word to ensure that it is fulfilled. This means that whatever He says is certain and He does not need any assistance from our side to fulfill it.

We fail when we purport to protect God’s honor. We err tremendously when we seek to perpetuate His workings. And we become abominable when we seek to assist Him to keep His promises.

Jeroboam was not interested in the kingdom when God found him. He was not given the kingdom due to his burning ambition.

He was just found being faithful in the assignments the king gave him.

The kingdom did not therefore proceed from him, but from the Lord. It is the Lord who came looking for him. Like Saul before him he really was just interested in being faithful in the little things he was entrusted with. Then God gave him the promise of a kingdom.

God even protects him when the anointing makes him an enemy of the kingdom (as there cannot be two kings in a kingdom). He is even called from Egypt when the time comes.

Yet what happens when he starts ruling?

And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. (1Kings 12: 26 – 28)

He simply forgets who gave him the kingdom, and offends Him very gravely. He in effect creates other gods to protect His kingdom.

And due to that he not only loses the kingdom; he loses EVERYTHING. God cleared his name from Israel by killing all his posterity, even making sure that not even a grave holds their remains.

That is what happens when we try to push what God has promised to us. This is what happens when we try to push the commission God has given to us in our own strength.

Do you know why some people fight in churches, even taking crude weapons with them to the holy place?

Many times it is because they received a commission and pursued it with all their hearts, even resources. Then all of a sudden an upstart comes in with ‘new revelations’ that seem to reorganize everything they have built over the years in total disregard of the blood and sweat they poured to build the ministry or church. They feel duty bound to protect their turf. Sadly they are not even ashamed to say that they are fighting God’s battles.

And I am not talking about doctrine here as we are called to contend for the faith.

Like Jeroboam they are threatened that their structure will be taken over and their effort wasted.

What they forget is the source of that ministry was not them but the Lord. And He did not give us just to touch so that we will need our effort to hold.

But we need to realize that this is a natural reaction. On the same vein I want to state that the only antidote to it is a clear knowledge and fellowship with God, the source and giver of this promise. He is the only security we have against this tendency to fight for our promise.

A case in hand is David when he had been overthrown by his son. When the priests wanted to join him with the ark of God, see what he says.

And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. (2Samuel 15: 25, 26)

That was the reason he could not kill Saul, though Saul sought to kill him.

Remember when Israel prayed for a king and Samuel was grieved? God told him that the real issue there was not that they were rejecting Samuel (though that is what they were saying) but God, who had made Samuel prophet and judge.

There was a time a ministry I had invested so much to build was killed by people who ought to have known better because they had power to do it. It was very painful, not only for me and all the wasted effort but also the people it was impacting, even transforming.

I thought to start a similar ministry but God stopped me. He told me that I had done what He had brought me to do. He also told me that they called me because He wanted me in Nairobi. What they did with the ministry they had called me to do was none of my business, pain notwithstanding.

You see, ministry is never ours, however much we are involved in, however much we have invested in. We are committed to God. We give our all to God. And we do not give to get some interest of sorts. We give because it is to God we are giving.

I will give Barnabas as an example. He sold his land and gave all the proceeds to the church. Then he went to minister, laboring with his hands to support the ministry God had called him to. He did not pursue any entitlement, either as a Levite, or someone who had sold all he had for Christ.

But we can never attain to that unless we really know the character of God as we read and study His word and then walking in fellowship with Him as we meditate on that word and pray for guidance concerning what He has for us to do.

We will never be secure in the promises God gave to us outside a vibrant relationship with God. We can never please God unless we are clear with what God is saying. And we can never enjoy God’s peace when we are guessing His presence and will.

All this revolves around God’s word.

It is a known fact that the lack of knowledge of God’s word is what makes the false prophet thrive. It is what feeds the fake pastor and minister. And it is what makes us celebrate preachers who are feeding us on garbage all in the name of motivational preaching. And of course it is the fodder for cults and other religions.

And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. (Deuteronomy 17: 18 – 20)

That is how important God’s word is to anyone with His commission. Lack of it is the reason Solomon deserted God. It was the same reason Jeroboam sought security outside God and His revelation. And it is the reason false prophets thrived in Israel and even Judah in those times the word was neglected.

Did David ever encounter false prophets? Look at even other kings who were committed to God’s word and you will see the same. No false prophet will dare prophesy when they realize God’s word is known and obeyed. And it is not only during Bible times.

I have been approached by ‘prophets’ with earthshaking prophecies. Yet they will chicken out almost immediately when they realize that I am not excited by their prophecies, even before I start asking for clarification on those prophecies. Cultists will come to ‘evangelize’ me and later plead with me to let them go as I take them to the Bible they have never encountered in their indoctrination.

A pastor or preacher who does not consume huge chunks of the word on a consistent basis, even daily, has no business pretending to preach that word. In fact he should be so immersed in the word that it is that word that will blurt out when he knocks a stone as he walks.

I believe it is the height of folly for a singer to even imagine they are singing Gospel when they have not infused their spirits, even systems, with the word of God. I believe a normal Christian singer should be reading at least five chapters of the Bible daily, and not only selected portions, to qualify to sing any spiritual song, leave alone lead others in worship.

It is impossible to counter the devil’s wiles when he uses scripture like he used on Christ if I only know selected portions to explain ‘our’ doctrine. You see the devil knows the Bible well. His only problem is that he has chosen to walk in disobedience. We copy him when we choose the portions we will read and apply and even teach.

Remember Job’s three friends? Do you realize that they were for the most part quoting scripture in their comfort? Why were they then called wicked and even required to repent by God? They knew portions of scripture but even worse they were not in fellowship with the source of those scriptures.

I have not even talked about prayer and other disciplines because they have their foundation in the Bible. You must know the Bible to be able to know God’s will, and the more you know the easier it will be for you to know it.

It must also be consistent. That is what Joshua 1: 8 says. Otherwise we will be like Solomon. God appeared to him twice but that was not enough to guard him from idolatry as he neglected a consistent intake of God’s word. Or we could become like Jeroboam, the fact that the promise took long to fulfillment was not enough insurance against idolatry.

That is why pastors start so well and end up so shamefully. They simply stop reading the Bible to hear from God and start reading it to prepare a sermon or seminar. That explains why singers start so well, sound doctrine and all, yet start dressing like whores and even singing in very shady, even wicked environments. Their devotion and scripture intake give them very rich songs. Then popularity opens doors to spiritual complacency, like it did to Jeroboam.

And like I always say, this might explain why these prominent ministers will find themselves in hell (Matthew 7: 21 – 23). They started valuing the word but ended up looking for security elsewhere, probably performance, or a salary, or a family.

Yet God will only use His word to judge.

Is it not therefore of ultimate importance that we know that word and love it and be committed to it?