Temptations come to everyone; believers and unbelievers. However, God expects every child of His to triumph over every temptation. The believer’s victory to overcoming troubles, sin, temptations and the likes remains faith in the faithfulness of Jehovah to save, deliver and restore. Realizing that evil does not emanate from God, and that God wants us to triumph always reinforces in us a winning attitude and mindset in any situation. Shalom!
You have a dog, cat, talking pigeon etc for a pet or you’re considering getting one soon?
That’s fine, God considered giving animals to man as companion from the beginning. Yes, I was as surprised as you are right now, as it popped out of my Bible đ
Genesis 2:18 reads
“And the Lord God said, ‘It isn’t good for a man to be alone; I will make a Companion for him, a helper suited to his needs’. So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever he called them, that was their name”.
So Adam showed his creativity in churning out beautiful names for all the animals. Doesn’t the Lion really look lionish? đ I bet you responded in the positive. Just a thought here though, which happened first?….did Adam just throw different names at different animals and they looked the part, or did their looks suggest a name to Adam? đ I want to believe both, but more importantly, the animals answered the name Adam gave them (Selah). That’s what the Bible tells us.
But notice that God was watching out carefully for what Adam would name each of the animals. God wanted to see which of the animals Adam considered a companion or a help meet, which was God’s particular interest at the time.
None qualified!
So God shook His head. ‘Oh no, this didn’t work, but let me try again’. This time, God chose to use a part of the man to make him a companion.
Look at Adam’s reaction;
“This is it! Adam exclaimed. She is part of my own bone and flesh! her name is ‘woman’ because she was taken out of a man”. Genesis 2:23
God’s job was done! Eve was acceptable to Adam as companion đ
Isn’t it still awesome how man has remained in the business of identifying his companion himself? God ceded that right over to man (Selah). You gotta find your companion yourself young man. And being the Father that God is, He is always available to guide you. Amen.
My grandma had a cat for many years, she shared almost all her meals and drinks with it, especially fish. One awful day, Bossy, which is what she called her cat, left home and has still not returned. My grandma passed on about 4 years ago at almost 100 years. From my little Maths, Bossy must have disappeared from home in my grandma’s 70’s. Grandma later found a companion in a human male of her age group. That was sweet to watch.
I read of people willing over millions and millions of monies to pets. My take on that? Such people most likely lived a pitiable solitary purposeless life with a myopic view. What happened to all the homeless and hungry people all over the world? Money in the wrong hands!
Do have all the pets you like recognizing that God actually created them to stay around you. But recognize that they never sufficed as companions for Adam and I doubt they’ll do for you.
Get a companion today đ
The title, ‘Forever Haven’ suggests some kind of resort or vacation site that fundamentally provides an unending, ever-enduring safety net for its inhabitants.
Sounds absolutely alluring, calming and peaceful, if you ask me, considering the present global security situation.
The ‘Global Village’ status of the world has never been given more credence than now! Many thanks to the faithfulness of media houses towards dutifully disseminating a sense of looming global danger with all urgency! From reports of painful untimely deaths, resulting from bombing and explosion of an oil well in Southern Nigeria, to the news of a bomb blast in Paris, or the murder of a law enforcement agent in DallasâŠ. More than ever before there is a heightened feeling of tension and uncertainty. So, a ‘Forever Haven’ totally sounds soothing and comforting.
But let me quickly ask, does any such attraction or resting place really exist? Can any President assure citizens of safety and protection from current or pending world dangers?
I took another look at my Bible, and found a Haven created by God Himself! Jerusalem was a haven; a place of safety and refuge. Good for retreat, harbor and security. The city was situated on Mount Zion and carefully surrounded by mountains.
Sounds to me, like a tedious, wearisome and laborious project! Who built Jerusalem on Mount Zion, amidst rocks and mountains?
Apart from my childhood knowledge about how Godâs six (6) days of dedicated labor gave birth to the World and all we see in it, my little personal Bible Study reveals that Jerusalem was neither built nor named by the Hebrews.
Dating back to the early bronze age, there was a Canaanite town called Salem, first mentioned in Genesis 14:18, where Abraham met with Melchizedek and offered bread and wine. Melchizedek was King of Salem!
Jeru-Salem is first seen in the Bible in Joshua 10:1. Israel conquered its inhabitants but sadly abandoned it for the Jebusites. Thus necessitating a fight from David and his army to conquer the Jebusites many years later before gaining ownership of the City that would become the capital of Israel.
The Hebrews may have retained the name Jerusalem because of its strikingly deep Hebrew meaning.
Jerusalem is actually a conjugation of two root words; Yara and Shalem and together translates Possession of Peace or Foundation of Peace. Salem or Shalem means complete, full, made ready, quiet, whole, peaceable, perfect. Yara means dual (Jerusalem sits on 2 hills). Yara also means; to cast, to point out, to teach, direct, instruct. So Jerusalem speaks of a ready-made place of peace, security and wholeness where one is pointed to, instructed or taught.
For many days the following scripture kept playing through my mind;
âAs the mountains surround Jerusalem, so The Lord surrounds His people. From this time forth and foreverâ Psalm 125:2
When we backtrack a bit to verse 1 of same Bible portion, we get a broader picture;
âThose who trust in The Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides foreverâ.
And Joel 3:17 tells us;
âSo you shall know that I am The Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her againâ.
Of course there are many other references to Jerusalem in the Bible that are absolutely exciting, but Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!, the above scriptures tells us that God situated Jerusalem on His Holy unmovable Mount Zion, surrounded by mountains.
Obviously Jerusalem exists as a place, a tangible landmark structure! Wouldnât it be awesome if Jehovah sends forth Angel Michael to blow the trumpet to gather all His children to Jerusalem? Away from all the deafening and unpalatable ill news of misfortunes, mishaps and deaths?  Iâll personally like that đ
But as we see in Psalm 125:2, Jerusalem is correlated to âThe Lordâs peopleâ. As the mountains surround Jerusalem,âŠ.so The Lord surrounds His people!
I am yet to see any daughter or son of Zion moving around and surrounded by physical mountains though (Selah).
So, where exactly is this place of peace and instruction?
These are my thoughts (and I speak not by revelation knowledge)âŠ
The only place of instruction and safety for the Body of Christ that I know of is in the Word of God (Selah).
Staying in the Word gives instruction and brings wisdom that guides from harm.
Proverbs 1:33 reads;
âFor The Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up stores up sound wisdom for the upright, He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of His saintsâ.
And Psalm 91:1-2 reassures that;
âHe who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almightyâ. I will say of The Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trustâ.
Every moment spent studying Godâs word reinforces our trust in Him and boosts our faith and daily assures us of Godâs ability and willingness to keep safe and secure whatever we entrust to His care.
Yes! The Lord surrounds us as the mountains surround Jerusalem when we make ourselves Jerusalem; a place of instruction and peace by staying in His word. And yes! We can enjoy this benefit of safety, security and peace forever, for as long as we stay in His word and are uncompromising in our dealings. We can then be assured of His Presence and His Power, always and Forever!
A Forever Haven is possible only in The Word, and can be enjoyed by all who has received Christ as Lord and personal Savior.
You can make that decision today. You may want to read a few of my blog posts on how to receive Christ; ‘Could it Have Been a Surrogate Birth? or ‘Dead Man Walking!’.
Love Always.
Except otherwise stated, all Bible quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).
âI need to write Lord! Itâs chasing a month since the last publication on the blog. My subscribers have begun to ask questions; âGrace, we havenât read from you in a whileâ. My usual honest explanation of; Iâve been super-bee-busy has been nothing but disappointing to them, their facial expressions betray their niceties of âI understand dearâ. I have picked up my notepad more than once, with the utmost urgency, wanting to help their despair, but the words wonât flow! I know thereâs so much Youâd want me to communicate to the audience You have graciously given me, but the words wonât just flow’
How did I get to this point?
Do our busy schedules drive Him away from us? I dare say; not necessarilyâŠ
Genesis 3:8
âAnd they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the gardenâ
How does one know the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden, even while hidden among trees and grasses? My immediate assertion is; this was a familiar walk. Adam and Eve recognized the Lord walking by, because theyâve heard it more than once before! Also note that the trees could not hide Adam and his wife from the Lordâs presence. This to me suggests, a presence that permeates barriers, walls and boundaries; certainly, not a physical presence! Permit me to call it; âthe omnipresent presenceâ.
But why would the presence of a holy God, who abhors sin and everything evil, be felt by the now sin-laden Adam and Eve? Why did he Still come down this particular day after Adam and Eve willingly introduced sin to earth against the Lordâs stern warning in Genesis 2:16-17?
âAnd the Lord God commanded the man, saying, âof every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely dieâ (And die they did! You may wish to see my previous publication; âDead Man Walkingâ, available @: http://www.graceobomanu.com/blogsite/dead-man-walking/ ).
I have more than once taught that the Good Lord came down in the cool of the day to commune or fellowship with Adam and Eve. But does the scripture really tell us that?…….
We are told that Adam and Eve heard Him walking in the Garden in the cool of the day! Thatâs when they heard Him!!! Could He have been in the Garden all alongâŠ..all day but they couldnât hear Him? Was The Lord always in the Garden?
This is my believe;âŠ.. that the Omnipresent One has the intrinsic ability to be everywhere at every time!
So I assert once again, that the walls or trees of the Garden did not constitute a barrier to His presence in the Garden! His presence was all over the Garden all day, all time but Adam and his wife could only hear Him in the cool of the day!
Let me tell you what happened in the Garden in the cool of the dayâŠ..
There was calm and quiet. There was no rattling of cutlasses, tractors, etc from Adamâs gardening activities. And because Adam and Eve had heard Him once at about this particular time, they expected to hear Him around this time every day.
To answer our opening question therefore; our busy schedules do not keep Him away from us, rather, they stop us from plugging into His frequencyâŠ..the Cool-of-the-day frequency.
The cool of the day is not necessarily in the evening or in the night. No! It is that period (and can be any and every time), we set aside physical, mental, emotional and all sorts of distractions and simply focus on Him (His word, glory, greatness, goodness etc).
I have heard teachings on the role of fasting (waiting on The Lord), to properly situate or locate us in The Lord presence, ensuring an undivided attention on Him. While I agree with this, I must quickly add that a fast without a conscious decision to focus on, and tune into âthe cool of the day frequencyâ seems to me like a physical exercise with little or no spiritual gain. You do not need to fast to hear Him!! But the right fasting sure does help put at bay noise and distractions thereby sharpening our hearing of Him.
So if the songs won’t come; tune in
If the sermon seems too unclear; plug in
It is only in the âcool of the day frequencyâ that we can hear Him and therefore operate in the spiritual gifting(s) He has bestowed on us.
My Love AlwaysâŠâŠ.
Except otherwise stated, all bible quotations are from the New King James Version.
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As a young pretty lady, I am a strong advocate for âLooking goodâ at all times. I believe that The Lord God sculpted the female body with careful precision and accuracy with the intent to communicate attraction to her male counterpart.
Following the fall of man in the Garden of Eden which is a result of 1. Adamâs disobedience, 2. Eveâs negative influence and 3. the Serpentâs dangerously crafty and twisted desire for power and authority, man lost tenancy of the Garden of Eden to the point that God physically guarded Eden with a Cherubim and installed a security system around the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:23-24).
The penalty for sin was spiritual death, along with which came an immediate realization of the physical body, loss of close fellowship with the Father and ceding of authority to Satan. Manâs awareness of his nudity prompted him to quickly grab fig leaves for a covering (Genesis 3: 7).
But God didnât think fig leaves would do the job of clothing man, keeping him warm, covering his nakedness and maintaining some dignity. So instead of fig leaves, God made Tunics of Skin and clothed man before driving him out of Eden (Selah). However, recent global fashion leanings and tendencies, still seem to reveal manâs preference for fig leaves over tunics of skin. Music stars are at the brink of performing absolutely nude at big shows and events, leading young, vulnerable and pliable youthful minds to do same.
While this represents another display of the subtleness and schemes of Satan at derailing young people using whatâs often considered modern and trendy music as bait, Christians must awaken to the fact that such unholy and worldly dress culture is fast becoming acceptable in the Body of Christ and is often been excused for weather conditions, traditions and fashion trends. No gainsaying, this is not Godâs plan.
The Bible gives precedence to inner beauty over outward one. You can look beautiful fully covered up. You donât need to bare at all to achieve that! Your body as a Christian remains the Temple of The Holy One of Israel. He resides in you! Whatever you wonât do at your church alter or temple, hesitate to do same to your body (Selah).
As parents, we must start with imbibing good, decent dress cultures in our children, thatâs a good point to begin, trusting in the scripture that promises us that the children will not depart from our good teachings in adulthood. The following dialogue between a parent and their daughter is so true and offers good food for thoughtâŠ.
Mummy: Iâm sorry Sophie, but that dress is rather too short. You canât go out with me dressed in that!
Sophie: But Mum, the weather is hot, and Daizy wore a similar dress to Piano Class the other dayâŠ.
Mummy: Well love, you have a choice to stay back at home or change to a more decent dressing. Who says you canât wear leggings under a short dress?
5 years laterâŠ..
Sophie: Mummy, your dress is too short! Itâs gonna jump up if you bend.
Daddy: Sophie, whatâs your concern? The dress seems fine.
Sophie: Mummy please bend forward
(Mummy compliesâŠ.)
Sophie: You see, people can see your thighs and panties when you bend, thatâs whatâs wrong.
As it is commonly said; dress the way you want to be approached.
In addition I say; dress to reflect the glory of your Heavenly Father rather than glorify Satan!
Stay Blessed & Love Always
Grace Obomanu.
12 disciples, thousands and thousands of followers, but only 1 rock!
Every time I read the accounts of the apostles of how Jesus chose His disciples, one thing always stands out; âŠâŠ.The Masterâs selection of Peter as âthe rockâ.
Why did Jesus choose Peter as head over the other apostles? Why not John, Matthew, and the rest of the disciples? What characteristics qualified Peter for his leadership role?
Lukeâs account (Luke Chapter 5) of how professional fishermen were outwitted by a seemingly ordinary Teacher/ Preacher remains one of my favorite portions of the Bible. But a very interesting and not-to-be- missed moral of that story is Peterâs acknowledgment of the supremacy of Jesus! As a professional Fisherman, Peter immediately recognized that only a miraculous intervention would have given them a net-breaking catch of fish after all their failed attempts.
âWhen Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesusâ knees, saying; âdepart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!â Luke 5:8
Peterâs reaction reveals a deep reverence for God and his teachable nature.
But Peter did not only deny Jesus 1, 2, 3 times post crucifixion (Matthew 26:69-74), he disowned and abandoned Jesus, embraced his fishing profession once more, pulling the other disciples along with him! (John 21:1-3).
God does not always judge us by our actions, I believe that sometimes He looks at the heart and motive.
Peter could only weep bitterly following the crow from the rooster, a reminder of Jesusâ prediction of his denial, because not only was Peter sincerely sorry for his actions, but most importantly Peter recognized heâd sinned against Christ.  Reminds me of David and his adultery withBeth- Sheba, and Godâs unwavering choice of David as a man after His heartâŠ.Itâs the same reason Joseph would not sleep with Potipharâs wife nor Daniel bow to an unknown god!
I mean Jesus already saw through Peter as a courageous, passionate, yet vulnerable fellow with great leadership potentials. His vulnerable nature was a gap in personality that could only be filled by the fear of The Lord which is the only sure guarantee to doing what is fair, just and right at all times and in all circumstance.
Peter had the fear of The Lord and that enabled him see sin as evil against God.
Jesus probably chose Peter to shepherd his sheep from the first time He set eyes on him or even before his birth! Jesus had invested so much grooming Peter for several months that He was not about to give him up so fast. The Masterâs plan was simply to make a Fisher of souls out of a Fisherman! Peter didnât yet catch itâŠ.So The Lord came to Peter again post resurrection, caught him in the act; fishing for fish instead of souls (John 21:7-14).
Now I imagine The Lord saying to me; âGrace, do you love me more than your profession, wealth, food, etc?â just as He prodded into Peter! Wow!! That was just disarming.
Jesus was saying to Peter, I chose you as shepherd over my sheep, donât let this sheep scatter, keep them together.
It was only at that point that Peter finally understood his mission to lead the other disciples even though his follow up question to Jesus reveals his utter surprise and shock. Why would The Lord choose him over John (the disciple he loved so much)? This suggests a possibility that while The Lord was waiting on Peter to pick up the mantle of leadership and roll, Peter was waiting for John to lead!
However, on the day of Pentecost, Peter was a different man! Halleluyah!
He was charismatic and a total display of passion, conviction, and connection to/for God. He spoke with poise, optimism, conviction, mixed with a Christ-like compassion that exuded warmth and love!! I love the Peter of the Pentecost and thereafter!!
The word of God had been buried in Peter all along (probably why he had such deep reverence for God), and it was spilling out of his mouth, nostrils, ears and every part of his being. I can only describe the Peter of the Pentecost as a man âtotally possessed and consumed by the Spirit of Godâ. He did not speak with the gifting of flesh or from knowledge gained through education.
So, just like David, Peter hid Godâs word deeply in his heart and he knew it.
My question to you today, would you describe yourself as a man after Godâs heart? Do you qualify as such? Do you think imbibing and developing some or all of Peterâs attributes could inch you forward towards gaining that mark?
Itâs your decision and itâs your choiceâŠ.
To do what is fair, right and just is only borne out of a deep reverence for God. Selah!
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