Obedience, the Conclusion of Everything

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

I want us to examine our faith with the view of establishing the essentials of the same.

Have you ever wondered what is the only thing that will take a believer to heaven?

Has it ever occurred to you that the many things and activities we get involved with in the name of ministry and church have no capacity at all of leading us heavenward?

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Have you ever wondered why obedience is never taught in church circles? That only a mention here and there is adequate to fulfil righteousness?

We teach discipleship and prophecy and eschatology and all those other logys.

We teach giving and fellowship and sacrifice for the church.

We teach deep doctrines of this or the other subject. We teach counselling and psychology and family therapy to ensure our relationships are perfect.

We teach Greek and Hebrew to help believers understand the Bible in depth.

We have age relevant ministries to reach out to people where they are.

We even have strategies to reach the outcasts and rejects appropriately.

But has it ever occurred to you that there is literally no school of obedience in all this mix?

Have you like me realised that there is literally nowhere in church circles where obedience is emphasised?

I know someone will shout about grace and the fact that Christ paid it all.

If it is as simple as that, why then will there be people in hell?

Salvation is a choice we make. It is a decision we make to agree with God’s diagnosis of our condition.

Agreeing that I am sick does not automatically make me well. I must be willing and ready to take the medication for my condition.

Remember John the Baptist saying this?

Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (Matthew 3:8)

Though repentance is good, it is not the complete package. It is the start of a journey; the journey John the Baptist was painting here.

Leaving everything at repentance and reception of grace falls way short of God’s requirement.

Otherwise explain some consistently appearing verses in the scriptures.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 22, 23)

Where had grace disappeared to?

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. (Matthew 25: 11, 12)

Had anything happened to grace between their invitation with the five other virgins and this time He tells them that He did not know them?

What I am saying is that grace is a door we go through and not the destination.

It is impossible to get into that path without grace. Meaning that it is impossible to get to the destination without grace. It is impossible to keep on that path without grace as well.

But on the other hand, we are required to walk the road if we were to get to the destination that door opens us to.

I have written very widely about Saul and Balaam as indicators that grace is not the end game of our faith.

You see the two tearfully repented, repeatedly, yet were unable to access grace (call it forgiveness) because they were not willing to walk the road repentance indicated. Esau is also looked at alike.

And we see the same with Judas for those who will argue about me dwelling on the Old Testament.

Obedience is the only qualification for a walk with God.

And by obedience I am not talking about a set of rules set by whoever and from wherever.

I am talking about a walk with God where I am constantly pursuing the knowledge of His will so that I can walk in it.

But let me get to definitions first.

What do I mean by obedience?

My most basic definition of obedience is the moment by moment walk in the revelation God releases to me.

This in a way ties with my last post about hearing God’s voice.

I am unable to walk in obedience if I am disconnected with that moment-by-moment guidance.

What about the commandments? I know someone is shouting.

The commandments are the framework, the foundation on which that obedience is built.

I can’t talk about walking with God if my passions are not under control.

For example, I know ministers who are very good liars. Good because they would rather lie than offend. They would rather lie that leave their parishioner with terrible dreams truth may open them to.

There are prophets whose greed is on another level. There are pastors and bishops whose pride and entitlement crushes everything and everybody who stands in their way.

There are evangelists and apostles who must sample any new sister who joins their team.

Incidentally, they continue being ‘used’ of God, some of them tremendously.

These are the characters being addressed by my most quoted verses, Matthew 7: 22, 23.

Their ministry overshot the commandments. Their powerful revelations nullified the basics.

You therefore cannot speak about obedience outside the commandments.

However, obedience makes the commandments almost invisible since their observance is automatic.

You see, I cannot receive a higher order before I have effectively and conclusively fulfilled a lower one.  I cannot be given a promotion before I have excelled in my present position.

At no time do we read about Samuel dealing with commandments or temptations. We do not see him in the nitty gritties of his faith

We only know him as someone who walked with God and followed His voice faithfully.

But we are able to clearly see his relationship with the commandments when he was getting out of the scene because he challenged the whole nation to stand in judgment of him for any breach of the same. And none could.

I hope you are getting at what I am saying.

Obedience does not speak about commandments because it surpasses them.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20)

This means that looking at the observance of the commandments is way off the mark of obedience.

We look at the observance of the commandments because we are not really seeking to walk in obedience.

We can almost say that a pursuit of obedience means that we have outgrown the observance of the commandments, more like what happens in our studies.

No one pursuing further studies ever remembers counting one to ten or reciting the alphabet. Nor is he asked whether he can write his name.

They have become part of his makeup so that he will do them without thinking.

... touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:6)

This means that in dealing with obedience we are not dealing with the observance of the commandments, not because we are overlooking them, but because we have observed them to the point that we do not even notice it.

I therefore cannot be talking about obedience when I am dealing with exaggeration in my preaching. Or when I have issues with relationships with women and girls surrounding me or the moneys passing through my hands.

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5: 3, 4)

I hope you can grasp what I am saying.

Simply that obedience is the product of walking with God. We can comfortably say that obedience is the actual walking with God. It is the fellowship someone has with the divine.

That is why it is beyond rules. Because rules do not enrich relationships.

But it directly implies intimate knowledge of what the divine wants us to be because we have consistently sought to know what He is like through the already existing revelation (the Bible)

As an example, if a king should visit you or you are invited to visit his palace, it is essential that you intricately know protocols and etiquette required for such visit because a breach could be catastrophic for that relationship.

But once you are in fellowship, you will be able to talk about anything without restraint.

Yet that does not minimise those protocols and etiquette. It just surpasses them.

It means that you are rightly and justly in the presence of the king.

What I am trying to emphasise is that obedience is not about commandments, though that is because it has flown higher than their requirements.

Talking about fellowship and obedience, it is important to say that fellowship indicates a uniting of hearts. Or simply hearts that are growing into a likeness.

Anybody can tell you that people in love not only start behaving alike, they also start looking alike.

That is what communion with God creates, hearts that start beating in synch with His.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

You may realise that Saul tried to do God’s will and was rejected whereas David sought to do God’s will and was accepted.

In fact, David was called someone in pursuit of God’s heart. And his life demonstrated that.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)

One main disconnect between God’s heart and ours is in our relationship with the vulnerable.

That is the point at which most disconnect from His heart in obedience.

Yet from this verse it seems to be the whole purpose of His anointing, meaning that His assignment was pivoted on that.

I suspect that prophet was sent to hell because he decided to take his prophecies to more fruitful fields, the exorcist decided that the poor did not have adequate returns for his ministry and the miracle worker thought the vulnerable were below his radar in Matthew 7: 22, 23.

And we see the same thing in Matthew 25 when Christ is separating us like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Where do the vulnerable rate in your heart?

Obedience means that my heart slowly becomes like God’s, my thoughts slowly starting becoming like God’s and my character slowly becomes like God’s.

Saul was finally rejected because he refused to carry God’s anger (heart) against the Amalekites, choosing instead to use the spoil to give God a sacrifice.

Phinehas was commended for rescuing Israel because he employed God’s wrath (heart) on blatant sin in Numbers 25.

It simply means that the more aligned and alike my heart is to God’s, the more able am I to do God’s will.

Conversely, it means that the more obedient I am growing to be, the more my heart starts becoming like God’s.

To some I think this sounds confusing, way higher than the clouds.

I will therefore seek to bring it down to a way we can easily grasp it.

What is God’s will? Where is God’s will? How can we access God’s will.

I have talked about the fact that obedience does not deal with commandments because it is beyond them.

But there are those who do not even know those commands.

I will therefore get us to the basics of our faith since someone does not just start walking and talking.

Most birds do not just fly. They will need a runway, however short.

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:2)

It is only the person who started his journey in the faith right who can be able to grow to clearly understand God’s will.

It is only the person who is immersed in the word of God who will be able to graduate into the person who has God’s heart. It is only the person who is sold out to God’s word who is able to walk according to God’s will.

You see, no revelation surpasses the one already written. No word nullifies the word already spoken.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 17 – 19)

Knowing what is written is therefore pivotal to knowing the intricacies of God’s will. Walking according to what is written will shape us not only to behave as God has prescribed, but to also become as He has intended.

Incidentally, that is what sets David apart.

You also remember that the same thing happened when Josiah discovered God’s word and aligned himself with it?

Allow me to summarise, though as usual I do not intend to close this post for the purposes of you digging deeper in the topic for greater enrichment.

Ther are two building blocks to the kind of obedience that pleases God.

The first is a complete and unwavering commitment to God’s word.

You must know who He is before seeking to know what He wills.

You can’t be obedient if you are casual with God’s word.

And this goes beyond knowledge.

That is why I am talking about being immersed into the scriptures so that they then shape everything you are, not only do.

The second is a reverential relationship with God guided by the same word.

I must at the personal level seek to know Him beyond what I read in the scriptures, again guided by the same word.

I must develop habits that will align me with His word ‘effortlessly’.

My prayer and relationships must be guided by His revelation, among all other aspects of my life.

We can call this a sold-out life, meaning a life completely sold out to God and His agenda.

I hope I have challenged someone to aim higher in their relationship with God.

Presumptive Blasphemy

And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Numbers 12:2)

I feel compelled to share this warning because I have over the years encountered or even been rebuked for saying that God has led me or told me something, a thing I know has been consistent with believers who have fellowshipped with God over the years.

Why must God only speak to you? Why does He not also speak to us?

God cannot speak to you. God cannot tell you what you are claiming.

These are some of the responses when someone shares something God has shared with them.

That does not mean that there are no imposters and pretenders, even experts who can create a hearing experience out of the world.

But like I always say, fake means that there is something real that is being counterfeited.

The fact that you have had an encounter with a false prophet does not trash prophecy. It in fact confirms it.

The fact that someone gave you a word presumably from God that did not materialise does not mean that God does not give such words. It just means he gave a word out of himself and not from God.

What am I saying?

Your experience, however loud it shouts, is not the standard when it comes to God’s communication with His people. Only God’s word is.

Another statement I have said over the years is that God does not have prefects.

What I mean is that God does not use intermediaries or supervisors to speak to His people.

But I think it is in order for me to lay some groundwork for this message.

God just does not speak.

How many have you read in the scriptures this statement, ‘let him who has ears hear ...’?

God speaks to ears of those who are attentive, not to just any ears.

And in hearing, the Bible simply means someone who is ready to do what they have heard God say.

but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2b)

I have said elsewhere that that trembling has nothing to do with fear. It is an anticipation to do what one hears. It is a rearing to launch head on to what that word says as a horse is known to jump into battle. It is the anticipation of an athlete before the starting gun goes off.

Why are you not able to hear from God?

The most basic reason could be a simple logical rebellion. You want to have all the blocks aligned so that you are sure of the victory when you obey. You want a certainty that God’s order does not give, meaning that you will wait forever before all the chips can be arranged to your satisfaction. You want what God tells you to be logical so that you do not embarrass yourself when explaining it to your circles, family or friends.

The ‘fools’ who hear from God (pretend is the word you use) are stupid enough to take God at His word even when they receive the smallest hint of a command.

Or what do you think Noah looked like building the ark when it had never rained?

What do you thing of David when he chose to confront Goliath with a stick and pebbles?

What about Isaiah when he walked naked for three years?

They didn’t hear because they had better ears. They simply heard because they were willing and ready to do what His word wanted.

It is not that you do not have ears to hear God speak. It is not that those others have more sensitive ears.

The obedience quotient is the determinant of who hears and who doesn’t.

But let me get us to the message.

Only God determines who He will speak to according to His standards.

This means that for you to question who to or why God speaks, you are actually questioning God and not the person He speaks to. And this because He will never consult you before speaking to anybody and anything He has created.

Otherwise explain the logic of an ass speaking to Balaam since we know asses do not speak?

Standing in judgment over people because they have claimed to hear from God is questioning the validity of God speaking.

Like 1 Corinthians 15 argues, doubting our future resurrection is actually pouring scorn on our faith.

Doubting that God speaks to people is not much different.

It goes farther to argue that God not only does not speak, He has never had any capacity to speak. Because, if He cannot speak today, He really could not have spoken in the past since He never changes.

No wonder the same people have issues with God’s revelation through His word because they are doubting the fundamentals of the faith – that God does speak. No wonder they have problems interpreting the scriptures, only taking the logical route as the valid one.

And that limits God to some sort of idol created after our likeness, a god we can easily explain and completely understand.

But that is not the truth, as even they know.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55: 8, 9)

The truth is that just as God spoke to Moses, He can speak to you; but only if you are aligned to His will.

He does not speak because you feel He must speak. He does not speak because you crave His voice.

The truth is that Moses was not even looking to hear that voice when he first heard it. Samuel did not even know about God speaking when God sought him out.

But their hearts were tuned to that voice. And that is why they heard when nobody else could.

That is the problem Miriam had with Moses, their baby, a baby she literally saved from pharaoh’s sword.

How does God speak to our baby and leave us out of the loop? How did He bypass us to speak to the baby?

That reasoning is what is guiding these rebels.

I need to also state that for the most part, they do not oppose God speaking from a point of ignorance since most of them have had a prior experience with that voice.

They walked in the revelation, swam in the abundance obedience provided and even thrived in the release their obedience availed.

They are like king Saul.

Remember people wondered whether he was from a prophetic family when he responded to his call?

But he rebelled. And God trashed him.

David’s presence was therefore the loudest rebuke to him because it showed him, not only how far he had fallen, but especially how far he could have gone had he not rebelled.

He did not seek to kill David because he posed any threat to him. He did not seek to kill him because of his disloyalty or even ambition.

He sought to get rid of David because he was the clearest evidence that he was fallen and rejected.

Incidentally it was the same reason he at one time sought to kill his heir, Jonathan. Because this young man knew where God was taking Israel.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Hebrews 6: 4 – 6)

That is what is guiding this movement trashing God’s voice.

Theirs is a doctrine built on rebellion being theologically entrenched on the mainstream to prevent the pursuit of obedience.

Think about it like this.

Why should someone be so aggressive against someone else hearing God’s voice and guidance.

If I have not heard God’s voice, I am simply ignorant about it and cannot take any sides concerning it.

Let me give an illustration.

Someone comes to a group and describes the exhilarating taste of mushrooms.

Anybody who has never tasted mushrooms will only be an observer in the discussion since they have no experience about the same.

Someone who has never tasted mushrooms bringing opinions on the topic would be treated as a fool, and rightly so.

That is why it is so sad to hear people argue so vehemently against God speaking yet confessing that they have never heard Him.

Incidentally, the same people argue against the miraculous in the Christian life.

How do you argue against a miracle with someone who has encountered it? On what basis do you even attempt to do so?

If God does not speak to you, it is safest for you to keep quiet and allow the ones who can hear, however deluded you may think they are, share their experiences with God’s voice and guidance.

Otherwise, you are opening yourself to judgment from God who speaks to His people.

And the Bible plainly says that God will speak to His people, and that since the Old Testament.

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)

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

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

And these are a few among very many verses pointing to the fact that God seeks to speak to and guide his people to His will at all times.

God does not expect us to gamble with His guidance. He expects us to walk in it.

To argue against it is arguing against the revelation that is His word.

The Sadducees exemplify that.

They argued and fought against the supernatural because they could not wrap their minds around it.

They simply had no place for a God beyond their understanding.

No wonder there is no single record of even one of them getting saved in the scriptures.

Isn’t this what this rebellious gang is like?

I am therefore writing this to let them know that God is not happy with their dramatics and well-oiled doctrines of rebellion.

I will repeat. If God does not speak to you, please allow Him to speak to whoever He wills.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. (Matthew 23: 13, 15)

God will not consult you when He chooses to speak to anybody He has created.

It is therefore blasphemy for you to decide that only you have the standard the He uses to speak by deciding that simply because He does not speak to you, He cannot speak to anybody else.

You will be judged.

When Prayer becomes Sweet

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

Allow me to say at the outright that I am writing this, not as the warning the verse seems to say, but as an encouragement to pray aright.

This is because we have been inundated with the teaching that prayer is simply a request transaction, for the most part.

Most believers therefore think of prayer only in terms of requesting this or the other.

That is why even fasting becomes vain for most part; because people will only fast because of one crisis or the other, one great need or the other.

But requests are the lowest rung on the ladder called prayer.

Everybody will proudly confess that prayer is communication with God.

But very few really care to examine what that communication entails. Very few care to examine what communication even is.

You see, communication is different from announcing. Communication is different from broadcasting.

Those two are one way disposal of information.

Communication is a two-way exchange of information at the very basic level.

And that basic level does not come anywhere close to what prayer is. Because prayer is communion at its root.

Communion is the whole purpose of prayer.

We see that even when we look at the heathen faiths.

Priests were people who were able to speak and hear from the divine, whichever divine they worshiped.

They went with a sacrifice and plea and came back with an answer and a word.

That we neglect that simple aspect at a time when God has released His Spirit to make communion even sweeter speaks very badly of our practice of faith.

As I have said, requests are the lowest run of prayer. We may call it the introductory aspect of prayer, probably the place where mortal man can approach the divine.

And it is not sin to have requests and pleas.

But it is very sad if that is where one stops because there is so much more for us in prayer,

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (Matthew 7:7)

Asking is the starting point, not the destination.

But stopping there makes us leeches, sad to say.

The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. (Proverbs 30:15a)

These are not my words. But they represent what many people associate with prayer.

We must therefore get beyond that to something better.

At the next verse is seeking, taking some responsibility in prayer.

I know I have a post on prayer, especially on Matthew 7:7 and so will not dwell on that.

The highest point in prayer is the knocking.

Why do we knock?

We knock because we are interested in the person behind that door.

Incidentally, we do not knock with an agenda.

We knock for the purpose of fellowship, communion.

I have also written about the mercy seat, also leaning toward that point.

At that point, we are not interested with what the person behind the door has and can do for us.

We are interested in Him.

We wat to spend time with Him on His terms.

We want to fellowship with Him, again on His terms.

As we were asking, we got to know about His capability to provide.

As we were seeking, we got to know about His wisdom and trustworthiness in guidance

In growing through those aspects, we have gotten to know Him and love Him and completely trust Him.

We have also realised that He seeks to allow us to know Him even more and has even made an invitation on the same.

That is why we are knocking that door.

We want to have fellowship, communion with Him.

That communion does not stop Him being a provider or guide.

It is the pinnacle of those qualities He has.

It makes Him even more because it makes Him a friend since a friend who provides will do a better job of provision than anybody else just as eating at a loving home is better than eating at the best restaurant alone.

Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife. (Proverbs 17:1)

Now imagine a party with the ultimate fellowship!

That is where growth in prayer takes us.

This means that if you are content just to be taking your requests to God, you are losing so much because you are at the lowest rungs.

That is why you can’t see much because it is only at higher rungs that you can see the stretch of even that provision you are seeking.

A few examples are in order.

Remember Moses and his double forty days without eating or drinking anything?

Did he lose weight? Did he come famished? Did he come crying for food or water?

He came glowing with the glory of that communion.

Remember he many times did not require to pray to know what God wanted?

That communion had so united him with God and His agenda that he more or less knew how God would react to situations like when he told Aaron to run out because the plague had already started.

From observation we know that people who are always together in communion start behaving and even looking alike.

Isn’t that what God is looking for in us as we commune with Him in prayer?

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:9)

That is what communion in prayer produces, likeness.

No wonder Moses started glowing after his communion with ultimate glory.

It is therefore evident that if prayer is not transformational in terms of producing a likeness to God in attributes, it has not become the prayer God is expecting from us.

I always argue against the common mantra that prayer changes things because my experience in prayer has always changed me before it changes things.

The prayer that changes things before changing me is more or less like witchcraft, though even in witchcraft the practitioner is also transformed into the wickedness the practice commands.

That is why Jesus asked us to look for the fruit when assessing whoever is calling himself His servant.

How much like God are they? How holy are they? How do they relate with sin and sinners?

On the part of sin and sinners we see God loving sinners yet completely opposed to sin, whoever is practicing it.

He draws sinners to Himself, yet fights righteous hypocrites until they had to kill Him.

That is what communion in prayer will produce in us, a likeness with His nature.

But there is something important we must get to know.

That progression is not automatic.

Someone can be in the asking position all their lives while another is able to get into that communion a few weeks after their conversion.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

How hungry one is for that communion will determine how easily they are able to access it

Samuel could hear God’s voice in his childhood whereas Eli couldn’t though he was in his nineties.

David could hear it when facing the giant that the army was running away from.

Another important aspect we must handle is the reality that that communion must be maintained for it to thrive.

Sin will always break it. Meaning that for us to maintain the communion we must have a relationship with sin that God has.

Remember that even David who had maintained that communion for long had to seek the restoration of the same?

When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psalm 32: 3 – 5)

God seeks that communion.

How responsive are we to that desire of His?

Fear, Idolatry’s Gateway

For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, (2Kings 17:7)

This word fear stood out in my Bible reading.

And it was so stark that I stopped and went into the study mode to understand the force at which God had opened it up for me.

What does fear evoke?

How does terrorism operate?

We will most times submit to what we fear.

We know the common maxim, if you can’t beat them, join them.

Fear leads one to submit to the object of that fear.

Many bullies are cowards who use the bullying to cover for their feelings of inferiority. That is their response to fear.

That is why it is very difficult to speak sense to them; unless you are willing to deal with their insecurities.

Allow me therefore to get back to our topic.

Israel was unwilling to completely wipe out the Canaanites, probably because they thought it was too demanding or dangerous. But in time they thought that they had been unable to deal with them as God had ordered.

And why were they to be destroyed?

It was their worship and what it produced.

It is very possible that they thought that they had been unable to wipe them out because they had the protection of those gods.

As a result, they thought those gods were powerful, probably too powerful for their God.

Surely gods able to stop the God who dried the Red Sea and the Jordan must be very powerful. This is what they may have thought.

That then led them to slowly by slowly, not only refuse to deal with their enemies as they had been commanded, but to even express hostility to them. Because they feared those gods.

As days went by, the few people who had the experience of the God of Israel died, leaving generations who had only heard of His dealings with His people.

But those gods were ever present, showing off at any and every opportunity.

Testimonies slowly became folk tales and the scriptures, even when they were read, became stories.

Or you do not remember Gideon’s questions to the angel who had been sent to him?

Eventually, those gods became more real than their ‘fictitious and absent’ deity.

Do you remember the response of his community to his destruction of those idolatrous shrines to build God an altar?

Are you getting me thus far?

My main point is that nobody just jumps into idolatry. They are groomed into it.

Look at witchcraft.

From my upbringing and culture, I trashed witchcraft because I knew it did not exist.

It is when I started to read the Bible that I realised its reality before I had ever had any encounter with it.

That education introduced me to witchcraft positively because I knew that the God I serve is incomparable to it in any way. I therefore do not fear witchcraft though I know and have even seen (probably heard) of its potency.

Now take this person who is a cultural Christian (if that is an acceptable term) who sees someone eating grass because he stole something and the owner took him to a witch.

He will not look at witchcraft with my eyes at all.

It will arouse intense dread in him because he has had no real relationship with God and so has never encountered or even seen God in action.

Do you think he will go to a prayer meeting when something of his gets lost? Do you think he will go to church when someone threatens him with witchcraft?

His default settings will easily lean towards the power he can see as opposed to the one he has only heard about.

That is what happened to Israel.

You see, the devil is the master of advertisement and publicity.

He loves to show off at all times because he knows that is the only way he is able to access followers.

But God never shows off though He is omnipotent.

That is why Jesus was always fighting with the people around Him.

They wanted Him to display His power. He used His power to minister to His people, even telling them never to report the same.

But allow me to set this right.

At the back of that fear is disobedience and/ or rebellion.

Nobody fears who is walking aright with God.

And I will use the Bible to demonstrate it.

Saul has sinned and been rejected. And you can see fear in him from that point.

But Jonathan, his son, is rightly connected to God.

At the time Israel is more or less hiding from the Philistines we see him visiting them

And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. (1Samuel 14:6)

He does not doubt God’s power because he has a right relationship with Him.

And he is able to deal them a very hard blow, even turning the battle on its head.

The other person is Caleb.

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30)

He confidently votes against the unanimous decision of his colleagues and community, even when they want to stone him for that daring.

And we have the young David when he faced Goliath.

What I am saying is that at the back of that fear there must be sin. Fear is introduced by someone doing what God has forbidden or refusing to do what He has ordered or said.

What this means is that when one is walking with God, ultimate power will be backing him.

I will give a story I was told that might speak for probably the success of most missions’ endeavours.

Missionaries approached a tribe and were received well by the elders.

But the elders had no interest at all with the religion they were introducing because they had their own.

However, as we know of Africans, their hospitality is on another level.

It means that though they were opposed to the new religion, they could not reject their offer or refuse their request to spread it.

They therefore came out with an ingenious solution when the missionaries requested for a piece of land to set up their mission station, giving them the most dangerous place, a place where devils were said to roam at will, a place no sane person except the greatest wizards would dare visit or even pass through. Their decision guided by the reality that the demons will hound them out in no time from their domain.

interestingly, the missionaries thrived in that place.

The result was that even the elders were converted to Christianity, reasoning that a God who could protect those fools was way stronger than the one they served. And the mission still thrives, to date.

That is what happened to Daniel and his three young friends in captivity.

I am writing this to let us know that this message is not negative. It only becomes negative when we depart from the straight and narrow.

Fear is therefore an indicator that all is not well in our relationship with God.

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2Timothy 1:7)

Yet that fear is all pervading.

I have been to places where people dare not eat even their relatives’ cooking because they fear being bewitched or poisoned, which is more or less the same thing.

Yet they still profess faith in God, the same God who promises that we will eat poison and it will not harm us.

Yet in those same communities you will find radicals (called fools) who will trash all that fear and thrive in their faith.

As I was writing this I heard of an incident where I stay.

Some people were going to work when they encountered a huge snake.

When they picked stones to kill it raised its head and looked at them before speaking, declaring its owner.

They fled like lunatics.

I have heard of hippos walking through crowds harmlessly, people saying that probably its owner overslept and forgot to order it back to the river or dam.

But this is the place God has sent me to.

The reality of witchcraft has no capacity to dull or weaken the assignment God brought me here to perform. Because it might be the reason God brought me here.

I am therefore not afraid or even threatened by it.

There are spiritual battles I am fighting that I know require my opponents to visit those places to seek power to deal with me. There are even times God wakes me to pray and I can sense some spiritual activity in the atmosphere.

But I know nothing can touch me when God has covered me.

But the dynamic of sin will alter that reality immediately since I cannot count on God’s protection when I am not walking with Him. It will change if I for one reason or the other look for a plan B on God’s orders.

That is what happened to Saul.

And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. (1Samuel 28: 9, 10)

Before his sin, he ruthlessly sought to clear witchcraft out of Israel. After his sin, he earnestly promised protection to a witch in desperation to hear from God.

What I am saying in this post is that we will veer into idolatry and in many other sins and perversions when we lower our obedience quotient, not by deciding to be so.

It is a journey whose first step is disobedience that leads to sin that, if not repented of, will lead to rebellion.

Then, idolatry, witchcraft, homosexuality, and any other abomination will be almost automatic because of our fear of facing the God we know we have offended.

The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Proverbs 28:1)

Are we together?

Or do you think there is another reason for the fear that plagues believers? 

Elementals

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

We love and fear the truth in this verse in equal measure. But I think there is more of fear than love. And that because the reality inherent in the same is scary, to say the least.

But have we ever sought to understand our Lord’s statement? Have we sought to internalise the message it contains? Have we sought to interrogate its implications on our daily lives?

What is God’s kingdom? What is God’s righteousness?

Therein lies the purpose and focus of this verse.

Understanding them is what will open us to the release it promises.

What is a kingdom?

It is an entity that has a king at its head.

OHMS (On His Majesty’s Service) describes the relationships the subjects have with their king.

In short, everybody and everything exists for the purposes and pleasure of the king in his realm.

Allow me, however, to share a common story to get us into the right ‘spirit’

There was this happily married couple, married for many years.

On their silver jubilee, as befits the occasion, the husband decides to serve his wife, besides other celebratory accessories.

But the wife, on seeing what was being served burst out into tears.

I can’t imagine all the spite you have allowed me to suffer all these years. Why do you remind me this on this great day? The wife screamed.

To say the husband was surprised would be an understatement.

What have I done? And what is this indignity I have subjected you to for twenty-five years?

The cause was very simple.

All the time, the husband used to butter the crust of the bread for his wife.

Where the husband came from, the crust was the best part of the bread and everybody fought for it.

On the wife’s side, however, the same crust was the worst, being treated like reject.

Whereas the husband thought he was giving his wife the best, even surrendering that best for the enjoyment of his wife, the wife thought that he was demeaning her by serving her the reject.

Incidentally, many marriages fail for such simple things

Allow me to flip this like Paul used to do and say that this is about the church and Christ, or about the relationship of a believer to God.

You see, we all love God. Or do we?

But do we care to know what kind of service we can give Him? Do we even care to know how He expects us to live? Do we know what acceptable service is like?

You see, just as in marriage your best effort might be construed to be the worst insult, it could just be that what you are offering God could be abominable to Him.

Saul was condemned and rejected for two things.

He sought to intreat God with a sacrifice when the priest delayed.

And second, he saved the best animals to give to God as a sacrifice.

Of course, his final act was fuelled by a desperation to hear God’s take on things, eventually seeking a familiar spirit to do so.

Is there anything wrong with offering a sacrifice before going to war?

Is there anything wrong with giving God the best?

Is there anything wrong with being desperate for God’s voice?

Of course not.

The only problem with those good things was that they went against God’s revelation.

They therefore became acts of rebellion.

We will many times hear arguments around someone’s heart being in the right place.

But the reality is that it does not matter where the heart is.

You simply cannot please someone on your terms. You cannot offer them pleasure on your terms.

And that is what Saul sought to do, something we do all the time.

And in marriage that is disastrous because a continual persistence on the same becomes irritation.

Allow me to give another story to illustrate this.

A rich man had a huge tree on his compound. And the same tree shed very many leaves on a daily basis.

He employed a worker whose duty was to ensure that there were no leaves under the tree.

After working that job for some time, this guy became ingenious and dealt with that menace conclusively. He cut the tree down.

When his boss came back, he was beaming, expecting a great reward for his forward thinking move.

Do you think he was rewarded?

Of course not. And it was simply because he had presumed his boss, serving him very creatively, but on his terms.

Again, we do that all the time in our marriages and faith, thinking that we will be applauded for our inventiveness.

We think that God really needs us, the same way many in marriage think that their partner would be unable to live without them.

Did God create man to complete Himself? Of course not.

Did God create Eve to complete Adam? Of course not

He actually took something out of Adam to create Eve

The word God used for the woman was helpmeet, a suitable helper.

Not an assistant, not a supervisor, not a vision bearer; just a suitable helper.

By the time Eve was brought, Adam had already named the animals and received his orders concerning how he would exercise dominion over creation.

And this still concerns the kingdom.

Do you realise that almost all of Christ’s parables and lessons were about kings and kingdoms?

It means that the issue of God’s kingdom ranked very highly in His scheme of things.

Even the Gospel is called the Gospel of the kingdom.

Allow me to look at some of those parables.

Remember the parable of the talents?

I do not know whether you realise that the wicked servant was more prudent and watchful over his lord’s resources.

You see, putting money to work opens you to the probability of losing it since even farming is no sure investment as I remember I lost all my money due to the El Nino floods of ’97. Businesses fail all the time.

This character feared to suffer loss if he put the king’s money to use, especially since he did not know when the king would be back.

The only problem was that he forgot the order he had been given, occupy till I come.

He was not told to ensure that the gift multiplied or even increased. He was only ordered to put it into use.

The profit and loss dynamic of that occupy was not his responsibility.

That is why the ones who occupied were rewarded irrespective of how much they produced.

He was punished for refusing to obey the king’s order.

I am sure he would not have been punished had he put the money to use and experienced loss.

Let us examine another parable to glean a few other things about God’s kingdom.

Remember the parable of the steward who was being sacked for impropriety?

Does it not surprise you that his cunning was commended by his lord?

This guides us to another aspect of the kingdom.

His boss commended him, not because he reduced the debts owed to the king but because he exhibited the ethos of his kingdom.

A king does not trade for the purposes of profit since everything and everyone in his kingdom belongs to him.

Apart from expanding his kingdom, nothing else excites a king than satisfied subjects.

And as believers we fail in this big time because we forget that simple truth.

Ministers fail because they look at their occupation or even calling as jobs to earn a living or run a spiritual enterprise. That is why pastors are nowadays called CEOs of churches.

That is why churches and ministries are closed for the simple reason that they have become ‘insolvent’.

A pastor who is unable to grow his congregation is called a failure since he does not have adequate return on investment.

We forget that Jeremiah ministered for over forty years and had nothing to show for it.

I will develop this farther in future posts.

I realise I am constrained in some way since my children are home from school and so I am not able to sufficiently build on this in time.

Incidentally, that is the parental dynamic that we should be prudent about since we are accountable to God for how we run it.

 

 

Hopeless Hopes

We are still on the message of God becoming quiet.

Incidentally, He did not go silent only on king Saul.

The Bible is replete with example and another of the same happening.

Hezekiah and Asa are other examples.

Today, however, I want us to look at instances where God appears to break that rule.

Who was Ahab?

The Bible records him as the most wicked king Israel ever had.

Yet we see God pursuing him again and again.

But that was not favouritism.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. (1Kings 21: 27 – 29)

God knew that Ahab’s heart had a soft spot for His message, a spot that his continued wickedness had almost extinguished.

That is why He pursued him.

Another person is also known as the most wicked king Judah had, the king whose wickedness had ensured that Judah goes to captivity. He was the king whose sin made God to tell Jeremiah not to pray for his people because Manasseh had sealed their case.

And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. (2Chronicles 33: 12, 13)

Again, we see the same thing.

This hopeless character had some flicker of hope, a flicker that God in His awesomeness could not overlook.

Whereas God completely stopped from interacting with Saul and these other kings after their sin, these despicable sinners seemed always to have God’s eye on them.

Why is that so? I know many are wondering.

It boils on a simple truth. The difference between sin and rebellion.

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:26)

It boils down to the state of our hearts.

Sin might be intentional and blatant. Rebellion is defiance.

Though they may appear similar, to God they are as difference as that between light and darkness.

You may remember that it was the reason that all adults who left Egypt died in the wilderness so that they do not enter the promised land.

And it was the same reason some characters were swallowed by the earth, among many other occurrences in the scriptures.

Knowing God’s will and choosing NOT to do it is what rebellion is all about.

Not knowing God’s will makes God appear lenient on us. However, choosing NOT to know God’s will may be worse than actual rebellion because it is seeking to forestall revelation.

It is akin to throwing away a map so that you can truly say that you got lost because you did not know the way.

I hope I am not making things more complicated.

It is important, however, to bring out the distinction between Hezekiah, Asa, Saul, and Manasseh and Ahab.

One side had clear orders that they disobeyed while the other was born in an environment of rebellion. One chose to do wrong while the other simply grew the sin they were part of.

In short, we can say that one knew the right and chose to disobey while the other only had sin to work with.

That is why they responded in ways that pleased God though the judgment due to their actions was not removed since as we know God must judge sin.

At the surface it appears as if God is unfair since He pursues the most wicked even as He completely refuses to speak to someone who appears to have a relationship with Him.

Spiting revelation, however, is most abominable to God because it seeks to slight Him. It seeks to demean Him to just a friend or, like we say in out language, our agemate.

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25)

That is why God must reveal His will even to the most wicked. That is why He must extend His love to the most despicable.

Because many times they will very easily respond very positively to His invitation.

Remember Jesus and His relationships in His earthly ministry? Who was the most responsive to His message?

It was the Ahabs and Manassehs of those days. It was the harlots and tax collectors. It was the Samaritans and the Romans.

Even as the religious right was always fighting Him.

The ones without the light ran towards the light that Christ possessed even as the ones who seemed to have the light scorned Him.

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. (John 9:41)

Someone who has been exposed to the light bears greater responsibility for their response for it than the one without that exposure.

Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment. (James 3:1 WEB)

Allow me to bring another shocking verse for our consideration.

Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. (Matthew 21:31b)

What am I trying to get across?

We are accountable for the light we have accessed.

A misuse of that light will make God go silent on us even as He continues reaching out to the ones we have trashed in our self righteousness; the drug addicts, the tramps, the murderers and the characters Christ mentioned in that verse.

Or have we forgotten that we still have harlots and publicans amongst us?

Incidentally, my definition of a publican is that corrupt and self-seeking public servant; that representative who diverts public funds to his preferred projects, that public spokesperson who only speaks for issues beneficial to him and his circles, that leader who amasses public wealth to feather his retirement nest, that judicial officer who winks at a case involving his friend or supporter.

At the top of that pyramid of publicans you will of course find the ‘Gospel minister’ who will only go to minister where there is commensurate ‘returns’ and who will only pray and bless where his appreciation is guaranteed.

I am writing this as a gospel minister who has been at it for four decades and so know what I am saying.

However, the gospel minister does not strictly fit in the category of publicans but in the silent God team. I write this because most people place them there.

Allow me to stop here since I feel this message has the capacity to extend for a very long time.

But I trust that the message has sunk.

But in closing let me say that we will know where we are as we read and study the scriptures reverently.