The Hallmarks of True Prophecy

Messengers work at the pleasure of their bosses. Their bosses don’t work at their pleasure. A prophet of God is God’s messenger. The devil also has his messengers, but they don’t want to be known as such. They want to be known as God’s messengers. So how can you tell them apart? In The Bible, true prophets waited for God to give them utterances before they spoke. In Numbers 23:3 we read “Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you.” Notice that Balaam could only wait for God. However, today,  some persons summon up the ‘prophet’ spirit at will, there is no “perhaps” with them. There is a subtle difference here. God’s spirit will summon a true prophet while pretenders summon up the spirit that moves them at will. Also, true prophecy is projected at the future because only God knows the future “Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times”-Matthew 26:34. This is different from these characters who mesmerize the undiscerning by telling them about their pasts which any familiar spirit can do. Again, true prophecy is specific and gives clarity. On the other hand, the enemy’s counterfeit is obscure and makes you suspicious of those closest to you. Finally, from Elijah, Elisha, Daniel and to John the Revelator, true prophets don’t demand for monetary favors for their prophecy. Not so with these fellows. Whether directly or indirectly, they find a way to demand money for their services. Him that has ears let him hear!

God Has Not Disqualified You

Too many people let their background keep them from being all they can be in the Kingdom of God. The fact that you have a bad past means nothing to God because faith is always future focused. Proof? Well, the first known person to enter paradise was the thief at Jesus’ side. And two of the most accomplished evangelists in The Bible were prostitutes up to the day they won souls.  In Joshua 2:1 we read that the spies “entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there”. It was this Rahab that God used to save them and she eventually became an ancestor of Jesus. In John 4, Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman who had been married to five husbands and was living with the sixth man who was not her husband. After speaking with Him she believed and in verse 29 she said told her towns people “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”. And in verse 39 we read that “many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did”. Let these people inspire you and don’t let your background disqualify you from God’s work when God has not disqualified you.

Are you a Friend of God?

Remember the song, ‘I am a friend of God? Have you sang it? Are you a friend of God? Were you telling the truth when you sand that song? Prove it. Don’t be passive in the presence of evil. Permit evil to vex your soul to the point where you want to do something about it if even it is just prayer. Consider what The Bible says about Lot “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: “(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:”-2 Peter 2:7-9. There are many of us seeking deliverance from situations, but such deliverance has not been forthcoming. Why? Is it possible that unlike Lot, we see evil around us and instead of it vexing us we just ignore it. Do you mind your business when people profane the name of God and His worthy Son by whom we are saved in your presence? Do you mind your business when you see injustice taking place against somebody that is powerless to help himself knowing that God is a lover of justice? Do you tell the lost about Jesus and the salvation He offers?  Then why should you be surprised when God minds His own business when you are in the same situation?

Where do Thoughts Come From?

1 John 4:1 says “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God”. Most thoughts are visitors to your mind. They don’t always originate from your mind. What we see, hear, smell, taste and feel can ignite thoughts. Also, there are unseen spiritual beings that subliminally plant thoughts in our minds hoping that we will accept those thoughts as our own. Finally, God’s Holy Spirit, and angels also suggest thoughts to our mind. In short, the thoughts that visit our minds can be good or evil. Now, in real life, when unwanted visitors come to your home, you can refuse to entertain them and their visit will be shortened and they will go. However, when desired and welcome visitors come to your house, you can prolong their stay by entertaining them. So, which thoughts should we entertain and which should we shun? “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things”-Philippians 4:8.

Wisdom is the Principal Thing

Once, a man died and left a will giving all his property to his slave but gave his only son the option of taking only one property. He wrote that the son was to choose the property he wished to inherit on his burial following which the slave would get everything else. On his burial day the whole village gathered and asked the son to choose upon which the son chose the slave as his property. The elders applauded him for a good choice because once you own a slave, all his property becomes yours! This is a parable. The man who died is Jesus the Son of God. The will He left behind is The Holy Bible. The slave is wisdom. And you are the son to whom He gave the option of choosing only one thing. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding”-Proverbs 4:7. Remember that Solomon chose wisdom and God said to him “So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for–both wealth and honor–so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings”. When you get wisdom, you get all that the earth has to offer.

Food for Thought!

If you have ever doubted the power of divine music, consider that the only incidence of deliverance from demonic possession in the entire Old Testament was when divine music was being played. In 1 Samuel 16:23 we read “and it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him”. Divine music caused Saul to be delivered from an evil spirit. Now think about it. If Divine music drives away an evil spirit, what does worldly music do? Food for thought!

A Study on Letter 29 of The Screwtape Letters

We see that demons use your personality to tailor temptations to suit you. The beginning of the letter had the man being tempted to either cowardice which may comes with the side temptation of  hatred or courage which has the risk of pride.

Notes from Studying the Book of Proverbs Ch 3

In verses 1-2 we learn that if we hide God’s laws in our hearts being not forgetful hearers, His Word will prolong our lives. These 2 verses corroborate Ecclesiastes 7:12 which says “For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it”.

Verses 3-4 exhorts us to make love and faithfulness our life pattern. Love simply means treating others as we would like to be treated. It is important at this juncture to emphasize that it is not necessary to like people before you love them. Love everybody, including those you don’t like. Faithfulness means that we do not renege on the things we have agreed on verbally, in writing or as implied by behavior. This makes us God’s children because Numbers 23:19 makes us understand that faithfulness is a cardinal quality of God. He does not go back on His Word. Faithfulness does not depend on the other party’s behavior. God was/is faithful to the children of Israel and us even when we are not faithful to Him.

Verse 5 says we should trust in God and lean not on our own understanding. To understand this let us all read John 20:29 “Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. Thomas did not trust Jesus who is The Son of God. He wanted confirmation before he believed. But God wants us to take His Words in The Bible at face value and believe without waiting for a dream, a prophet to confirm it or some other sign. An angel or a dream is not greater than God’s revealed Word in The Bible.

Verse 6 says if we acknowledge God He will direct our paths. Jesus demonstrated this verse. Before He took important decisions, He would isolate Himself and pray to God for direction. His Father was His power source. Luke 6:12-14 says “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles”. What this means is that we cannot act on impulse. Impulses are often from the enemy  or the flesh which is why they mostly contradict Godly principles.

Verses 7-8 admonishes us not to be wise in our own eyes. The highest that human beings can attain to without God is cleverness. This is manipulative and creates strife. This is the reason why manipulators always love crisis, because that is when they are able to do their best work. Without a connection to God’s principles we cannot attain wisdom.

Verse 9 says we should honour God with the First fruits of our substance. This is clear and unambiguous. If you are not making contributions to The Kingdom of God (church, missions, evangelism) as a First Line charge on your income you are not obeying this principle. Matthew 6:33 says we should seek first The Kingdom. Those who seek it second or third are placing something else before God.

Verse 10 tells of the reward of obeying verse 9.

Verses 11-12 teaches us that God uses discipline to help us grow better the way a gardener uses shears to prune bushy branches from a tree so it may grow better.

Verses 13:18 extol the virtues of wisdom assuring us that it will bring peace, prosperity and long life.

Verses 19-20 reveal, albeit secretly, the identity of wisdom when it says “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;. by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew”.  Since we are told that God used wisdom in creating earth and dividing the waters, the question becomes, how did God create the earth and divide the waters?

Genesis 1:1-2 says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. God created the earth and divided the waters using His Spirit. From this we understand that God’s Holy Spirit is the Dispenser of Wisdom.  And we see this in Numbers 27:18 when God told Moses “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take you Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him”. God chose Joshua as the successor to Moses because Joshua was wise and the reason Joshua was wise is because he had The Spirit of God.

Verses 21-26 describes the protective power of wisdom. How it preserves those who seek it from the fate that befalls the wicked.

Verses 27-28 deals with the love aspect of wisdom. We know that God is love and He permits His sun and rain to shine and fall on the just and unjust. So these verses admonish us to act like God and never refuse to do any good required of us by our neighbour when it is within the power of our hands to do so.

Verses 29-31 admonishes us not to falsely accuse people out of jealousy of plot against them. This warning is directed to the righteous because we may have such temptations when we see the unrighteous prospering.

Verses 32-35 teaches us that God has a curse on the house of the wicked. This means that some people may suffer the consequences of a curse because of where they dwell. If we dwell in a cursed place, we are not cursed but we may see the consequences of curses around us. From this we learn that we should be sensitive in making decisions as to where we dwell.

Notes from Studying the Book of Proverbs Ch 3

In verses 1-2 we learn that if we hide God’s laws in our hearts being not forgetful hearers, His Word will prolong our lives. These 2 verses corroborate Ecclesiastes 7:12 which says “For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it”.

Verses 3-4 exhorts us to make love and faithfulness our life pattern. Love simply means treating others as we would like to be treated. It is important at this juncture to emphasize that it is not necessary to like people before you love them. Love everybody, including those you don’t like. Faithfulness means that we do not renege on the things we have agreed on verbally, in writing or as implied by behavior. This makes us God’s children because Numbers 23:19 makes us understand that faithfulness is a cardinal quality of God. He does not go back on His Word. Faithfulness does not depend on the other party’s behavior. God was/is faithful to the children of Israel and us even when we are not faithful to Him.

Verse 5 says we should trust in God and lean not on our own understanding. To understand this let us all read John 20:29 “Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”. Thomas did not trust Jesus who is The Son of God. He wanted confirmation before he believed. But God wants us to take His Words in The Bible at face value and believe without waiting for a dream, a prophet to confirm it or some other sign. An angel or a dream is not greater than God’s revealed Word in The Bible.

Verse 6 says if we acknowledge God He will direct our paths. Jesus demonstrated this verse. Before He took important decisions, He would isolate Himself and pray to God for direction. His Father was His power source. Luke 6:12-14 says “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles”. What this means is that we cannot act on impulse. Impulses are often from the enemy  or the flesh which is why they mostly contradict Godly principles.

Verses 7-8 admonishes us not to be wise in our own eyes. The highest that human beings can attain to without God is cleverness. This is manipulative and creates strife. This is the reason why manipulators always love crisis, because that is when they are able to do their best work. Without a connection to God’s principles we cannot attain wisdom.

Verse 9 says we should honour God with the First fruits of our substance. This is clear and unambiguous. If you are not making contributions to The Kingdom of God (church, missions, evangelism) as a First Line charge on your income you are not obeying this principle. Matthew 6:33 says we should seek first The Kingdom. Those who seek it second or third are placing something else before God.

Verse 10 tells of the reward of obeying verse 9.

Verses 11-12 teaches us that God uses discipline to help us grow better the way a gardener uses shears to prune bushy branches from a tree so it may grow better.

Verses 13:18 extol the virtues of wisdom assuring us that it will bring peace, prosperity and long life.

Verses 19-20 reveal, albeit secretly, the identity of wisdom when it says “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place;. by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew”.  Since we are told that God used wisdom in creating earth and dividing the waters, the question becomes, how did God create the earth and divide the waters?

Genesis 1:1-2 says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”. God created the earth and divided the waters using His Spirit. From this we understand that God’s Holy Spirit is the Dispenser of Wisdom.  And we see this in Numbers 27:18 when God told Moses “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take you Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him”. God chose Joshua as the successor to Moses because Joshua was wise and the reason Joshua was wise is because he had The Spirit of God.

Verses 21-26 describes the protective power of wisdom. How it preserves those who seek it from the fate that befalls the wicked.

Verses 27-28 deals with the love aspect of wisdom. We know that God is love and He permits His sun and rain to shine and fall on the just and unjust. So these verses admonish us to act like God and never refuse to do any good required of us by our neighbour when it is within the power of our hands to do so.

Verses 29-31 admonishes us not to falsely accuse people out of jealousy of plot against them. This warning is directed to the righteous because we may have such temptations when we see the unrighteous prospering.

Verses 32-35 teaches us that God has a curse on the house of the wicked. This means that some people may suffer the consequences of a curse because of where they dwell. If we dwell in a cursed place, we are not cursed but we may see the consequences of curses around us. From this we learn that we should be sensitive in making decisions as to where we dwell.

Notes from Studying the Book of Proverbs Ch 2

From verse 1 of Chapter 2 we learn that God gives commandments not suggestions. As such, if we treat His commandments like suggestions we are communicating to Him that we despise His Wisdom.

From verse 2 we understand that we have to “apply our heart” meaning that we must invest intellectual effort to ponder on God’s Word rather than read it casually like a novel or newspaper.

Verses 3-5 say we will only find wisdom when we dig for it like “hidden treasure”. Thus, we have to go deeper in our study of The Word meaning that we can not rely on just one translation. We need several translations so that we can sharpen each nugget of gold by rubbing it with another translation.

In verse 7 Solomon teaches that God is a shield to His people. This is very instructive because we see that God protects us from harm like a shield protects from a sword. Notice that God’s Wisdom is not a sword that we use to attack people. Wisdom is a defence mechanism. Just as Ecceksiastes 7:12 says “For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it”.

Verse 10 says “wisdom will enter your heart”. From this we realize that wisdom is not something we can grasp with our heads like an academic subject. It has more to do with discernment as such it bypasses the head and goes straight to the heart leading to situations where you just “know” even though you can’t explain how you know.

Verse 11 says “discretion” is part of wisdom. We ought to be discrete, careful with our confidences and thoughtful about our decisions.

Verse 12 to 19 teaches that wisdom will protect us from wicked people who aren’t straight no from an adulterous woman who has departed from the husband of her youth. The hidden message here is that wisdom will help us make business decisions and marital and relationship choices.

The last three verse assures us that if we continue in wisdom we will dwell in the land but if not we will be torn from it. These verses are telling us that with wisdom, our old age will be better than our youth. But with wickedness, our old age will be years of sorrow over the mistakes of our youth.