Category: October 2017

Matthew 8:3

Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Most of us are familiar with the healing of the leper in Matthew 8. It is a beautiful account of God’s willingness to touch and heal the sick, no matter how unclean they may be. Whenever we doubt God’s willingness to heal us, we should listen to the words of Jesus again: “I am willing; be cleansed.” He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Since the Bible is clear about God’s willingness to heal, why do we still have problems with our health? Why do we still experience symptoms in our bodies? I believe that the answer is found in what Jesus told the leper to do next. He told him to go and show himself to the priest. (Matthew 8:4) This was the law then for lepers who were healed. (Leviticus 14:2-3) And he was to hear the priest pronounce the word “clean” over him. (Leviticus 14:7)

You see, as believers, when we received Jesus, His blood cleansed us from sin as well as sickness. (Isaiah 53:4-5) But we keep hearing people pronounce sin, sickness, poverty and death over us. We keep hearing people tell us that we are unclean, undeserving, poor, weak, and that it is only natural that we grow old and sickly, and die.

God is waiting for a priesthood that will rise up and pronounce His people clean! Who are the priests today? You and I! In fact, we have more authority to pronounce good things than the Levitical priests of the Old Testament. They were just priests. But we are king-priests by the blood of Jesus! (Revelation 1:5-6) Where the word of the king is, there is power. (Ecclesiastes 8:4) And by the word of a priest, every controversy and every assault shall be settled. (Deuteronomy 21:5)

God has cleansed you, so pronounce yourself clean! Right now, put your hand on your heart and pronounce good things over yourself. Say, “I pronounce myself clean, righteous, healed, whole and abundantly supplied by the blood of Jesus!” By your word as a king-priest, every assault against you shall be settled!

John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you… Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The night before Jesus died, He gave His peace to His disciples – “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you…” This peace was not just for His disciples, but also for us today. The moment you believe in Jesus Christ, He who is the Prince of Peace comes to live inside you. And when the Prince of Peace resides in you, every blessing that you will ever need pertaining to your soundness and wholeness is already inside you.

So you might wonder why you still see problems in health, finances, family and relationships. The answer is a troubled heart. That is why after Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you,” He said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” A troubled and fearful heart works like fingers that clamp down hard on a water hose. The supply of water is flowing from the tap, but little or nothing is coming out at the other end of the hose. God’s ever-present supply of blessings toward you is like the water flowing freely from the tap. But you don’t see the blessings when you allow your heart to be gripped by worry or fear.

So when fearful, anxious thoughts come, remind yourself of Jesus’ words: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Even when things appear to get worse, say, “Lord, I refuse to worry about this. In the midst of all this, I see the finished work of Christ. He said, ‘It is finished!'”

No one can “let not” for you. Your family and friends cannot “let not” for you. Only you can “let not your heart be troubled”. So guard your heart from being troubled. You don’t have to guard your career, reputation, children or even health. When you guard your heart, God will guard everything else for you!

Ephesians 5:7

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

God wants us to walk as wise men and women, and not as fools. (Ephesians 5:15) Now, He will not tell us to walk in wisdom without showing us how. That is why His Word goes on to say, “Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

So what is the will of God? The next two verses tell us how to identify it: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord”. (Ephesians 5:18-19)

As you allow yourself to be filled with the Spirit by lifting songs of praise to the Lord, singing or speaking (God knows some of us can’t sing!) psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and making melody in your heart to the Lord, God promises that you will know what His will is for your situation. You will then have the wisdom to decide wisely what to do next.

So lift up songs of praise to the Lord, whether times are good or bad. For when you fill your mouth with praises to God, He will lead you and guide you in all the affairs of your life. Even if you are stuck with a problem, He will show you the way to go or make a way out for you. Either way, you will get the wisdom and help that you need!

1 Thessalonians 4:16

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

All over the world, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah usually occurs in the month of September, this feast is celebrated with the blowing of trumpets – the shofar or ram’s horn. That is why it is also called the Feast of Trumpets.

The Jews observe seven feasts: The Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. The first four have been fulfilled literally by Jesus. He was the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7), the bread of life (John 6:35) and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20) And when Pentecost had fully come after His ascension, He sent us the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:1-4)

So the next feast that we are waiting for Jesus to fulfill literally is the Feast of Trumpets. Why is this feast significant to us? Because when Jesus fulfills it, it means that we are going up to meet Him in the clouds! I am talking about the rapture of the church. When the trumpet sounds, “in the twinkling of an eye”, we who are alive will be changed. We will put on new bodies that will be like Jesus’! Those who are dead in Christ will rise and also receive new bodies. They will go up first followed by us who are alive, and we will all meet the Lord in the air. (1 Corinthians 15:51-55)

This means that there is a possibility that you might not see death! The Bible says, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) It is one thing to happen to be alive, but quite another to remain alive.

I believe that there is a generation of Christians who know the resurrection power of the Lord. They know how to walk in their inheritance and put off sickness and death until the coming of the Lord. May you be counted as one of them as you take the Lord Jesus and His finished work as your victory over sickness and death.

Genesis 12:7

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him

I don’t know why anyone would be satisfied with just knowing that they are made righteous by faith. Wouldn’t they want to know the One who made them righteous? Wouldn’t they want to have an intimate relationship with their Savior?

Abraham was such a man. He was righteous by faith, but he also had a close walk with God and was blessed by God in all things. (Genesis 24:1) His nephew Lot, on the other hand, although righteous also (2 Peter 2:7-8), had no heart for God. He ended up losing a lot when Sodom, the city he lived in, was destroyed along with Gomorrah. He was saved by the skin of his teeth! Do you want to be a Christian like Lot, righteous but always finding yourself in trouble, or do you want to be a righteous-and-blessed Christian like Abraham?

Wherever Abraham went he would build an altar to the Lord. And in between altars, he grew very rich! (Genesis 13:2) There is no biblical record, however, of Lot ever building an altar to the Lord. What is an “altar” in today’s context? It is a place where you know that you have a close relationship with God. As you are driving down the road and the spirit hits you to pray about something, that is an alter. Another alter would be when you go into your room in order to pray, that is an alter. When you read your Bible and respond to a verse with a praise, thank you or prayer, that is also an alter.

Let’s not live the Christian life like Lot, saved by the skin of our teeth. Let’s have a relationship with God, one full of “altars” that remind us of His love, goodness and faithfulness. Let’s walk closely with God as Abraham did, and be richly blessed in every area of our lives!