The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is capable of activating every dormancy, strengthening every weakness and rousing every deadness. That same Spirit is capable of being a continuous supply of life.
Praise God!
One of the days I look forward to with excitement is my birthday. And guess what I do every year on my birthday? … nothing! ?
My expectations and the greatest source of my excitement for every 18th February is that friends and family would send goodwill messages and I truly love reading them.
Two years ago, I had an overwhelming experience of people sending beautiful birthday messages. Naive me, I thought it was because I’d just started ‘Talk with Grace Obomanu’ and my influence had grown, nope, I was wrong. Facebook like other social media platforms, creates an avenue for everyone to feel special on their birthday. Good job!
The next year, 2017, wasn’t any different. The calls and messages start trickling in from midnight like people are on some night watch. Amazing!
Thought you heard me say I looked forward to this day? Yep! but not in the dimension the social media platforms bring it.
So for 2018, I was proactive. As friends started at least a month before February 18 reminding me of my upcoming birthday, I seized same opportunity to beg them that I wanted it quiet. No long loving note from my author husband, no pictures on my wall thanking God for adding another year to my age. Just wanted calmness all around and it came that way….mostly.
What changed, you ask? deep concerns…
1. The thought of sending out personalized responses to every message like I’d love to was scary.
2. Spending the entire day on my phone answering calls or typing responses to lovely messages from friends and family……..absolutely distressing love! ?.
Will you send me a birthday message next year? ☺. I hope so. Looking forward to reading and responding to all of them.
In spite of all my worries and concerns, there were a few special messages I looked forward to and prayed they’d come. So it was not an entirely boring day as you may be thinking, nope I had expectations. Just not the usual thing.
I’d prayed for a specific number of persons to call, text or message (without being reminded or coerced) stating tangible ways I’d impacted their lives ?.
It was a very quiet day for me, …this could go any way, I thought. Would be shocked, disappointed and sad at the end of the day or would I be overjoyed? Should I have set any targets at all? What if the feedback I expected didn’t come? Have I set myself up for a big surprise?
As the hours passed, I had my phone in one hand and a jotter and pen in the other. One, two, three, ..seven….ten…., the numbers kept going up and didn’t stop until my target was reached. Wow!
Praise God.
I was thankful. This was a most fulfilling birthday experience. And you know the most exciting part? These messages that added up to my target actually came from people who I’d gone out of my way to show love at one point or the other through an act or gesture.
You know what I am going to do next year? Set a higher target. And that means I must increase my investment into others in the next 10 months.
I sign off most of my articles and sometimes text messages, with ‘love always’ and I really mean that. It’s ‘love always’ because you do not need a reason to love, otherwise it won’t be agape anymore.
“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”.
Luke 6:27 NKJV.
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth”.
I John 3:18 NKJV.
Love is not just words.
Love is not hidden.
Love is not just thoughts
Love is what you do.
Welcome back to the concluding part of this blog post. I apologize for the delay in delivering this last part-my PC has been acting up!
In parts 1-4, we learnt that God sends us opportunities to increase us;
1. When we serve selflessly
2. When we receive and act on an unusual instruction.
3. When we give to the poor.
4. When we give an unusual freewill offering.
5. Divine connections and relationships can also be God’s way of increasing us.
We’d also said that usually, success is defined by wealth, power or prestige gotten through hardwork and dedication.
So with ‘divine opportunities’ we are saying God is the one sending these opportunities to us. Does that mean that we have no role to play? Does God send divine opportunities to everyone? Yes, He sends to everyone that serves Him in truth and in Spirit. And that has nothing to do with just building a tent in a church and living there. Has nothing to do with just going to church every day of the week.
The Bible tells us that God knows those that are truly His, does whose hearts are upright towards Him, because He searches not just the actions of men, but their intent.
1 John 2:5 reads;
‘But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him’. Amplified.
There are traits and virtues that people who truly reverence God exhibit. These are the virtues that attracts divine opportunities for increase. All the characters (people) we have mentioned as examples in the course of this blog post series exhibited most of these virtues and if we must receive divine opportunities for increase from God, we too must imbibe and exhibit these attributes.
The virtues for Divine Increase include;
1. Fear of the Lord
2. Excellence
3. Integrity
4. Fairness and Justice
5. Love
6. Dedication and commitment to a divine cause.
7. Hardwork.
8. Humility
At any point in time, mediocrity, greed, pride, gluttony, strife, laziness, insincerity, are killers of growth.
Sometimes colleagues, friends or relations want to discourage us from working in integrity as double standards is fast becoming the norm fearfully even among Christians.
Proverbs 6:16 says;
‘These six things the Lord hates; Indeed, seven are repulsive to Him: A proud look [the attitude that makes one overestimate oneself and discount others], a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that creates wicked plans, Feet that run swiftly to evil, A false witness who breathes out lies [even half-truths], And one who spreads discord (rumors) among brothers.”
AMPLIFIED.
So whose words are we going to obey? The world’s or God’s?
Of all the virtues we’ve listed above, probably the most critical and central is the fear of The Lord. Because when we have deep reverence for God, we’ll work in integrity, love, fairness, humility, with excellence and selflessly.
These traits will always attract divine opportunities to us .
Help us dear Lord.
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We are confident that God hears us when we pray. However, God can say ‘no’ to requests that are outside of His will and purpose for our lives. Every time God gives a ‘no’ answer, its for our good. God ensured that we have all grace for all that pertains to life and godliness.
As a Christian, I don’t believe in coincidences. My steps are ordered by the Lord. I therefore believe that God sends people my way to bless me (in different ramifications) or for me to bless. And every opportunity to express our love and gratitude to God can translate into an opportunity for increase.
‘Healing is the children’s bread. Healing is available always. Healing is accessible always. Healing should be a daily experience for the Jews {and everyone born of God through Jesus Christ}.
With 3 children, a distracted husband and a recent job loss, Rita has had more than a fair share of life’s troubles for her young age. The recent demise of her bosom friend and confidant, who has been a great source of support through her challenges, almost plunged her into depression.
We are thankful at ‘Talk with Grace Obomanu’-(https://web.facebook.com/graceobomanu.org/) that Rita {original name withheld}, reached out for help. Our first focus was to help Rita take control of her life and her life experiences by reconnecting back to her Creator. Helping her develop, nourish and enjoy an intimate and loving relationship with God was crucial to ensuring she regains and secures her self-confidence by being assured of God’s everlasting and never-changing love.
Rita would need to spend more time talking and listening to God and less time complaining or worrying about her present predicament.
A few weeks later Rita had questions, interesting questions; “how do you hear God?”, “how do you know what God is saying?”, “how do you know what God wants you to do at any time?”.
Now, God connects with His children in different ways and every Child of God would need to develop their spiritual ears to hear Him and understand how He speaks to them. True, we have the Word of God which constantly speaks the mind of God to us, but remember times when you just want to hear God speak to you, you pick up your Bible, open it and what you’re reading doesn’t add up? That happens! The same true, timeless Word of God seeming not to speak directly at such times.
In this very long blogpost, (sorry), we’ll explore (in no particular order) some of the ways God speaks to us and how we can know what He is saying.
So how do we know God’s ‘still small voice’?
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 tells us that because we have the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of God, we can KNOW and UNDERSTAND the thoughts of God!
“For what person knows the thoughts and motives of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So also no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the {Holy} Spirit who is from God, so that we may know and understand the {wonderful} things freely given to us by God.” Amplified Version
And we see a beautiful and sweet way of HEARING and KNOWING what God would have us do in John 10:4-5;
“……he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger but flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” NKJV
Ofcourse we can hear Jesus Christ speak to us real time, but John 10:4-5 is telling us of a sensitivity to hearing God that emanates from an existing bond or relationship. It says; …….‘MY SHEEP’. A Sheep and Shepherd relationship is developed from repeated exposures and interactions which ultimately sublimes into mutual understanding and leading up to a point where communication can take place without words.
I remember one time my children went visiting with a relation. The relations were amazed at my children’ commitment to abstaining from some TV programmes because ‘Mummy doesn’t allow us to watch this or that’ channel. So, even in my absence, and without any direct words at that time, the children knew certain TV programmes were a no-no.
Another way God speaks to us by His Spirit is when we pray in other tongues. Now, because this article is not about speaking in tongues, let’s avoid doing an exposition on that. Just to quickly point out 1 Corinthians 14:2;
“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.”
Obviously, there’s something about this scripture that is not very clear (at least to me), because at Pentecost, the people around understood the tongues and God has also given the gift of interpretation of tongues to some.
But our focus is in the second part of that scripture; “they utter mysteries by the Spirit”.
So when we speak in tongues, we are speaking to God, speaking the mysteries of God by His Spirit. But you know the most exciting part of speaking in tongues for me? When I get the interpretation of the mysteries I have spoken about. And they do come. You just keep at it. Listen and be sensitive. The interpretation of your tongues will flow out of your own lips. 🙂 You’ll know the mind of God and you’ll know what direction to go.
2. God Speaks to us through His Word (The Bible).
2 Timothy 3:16 tell us;
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for DOCTRINE, for REPROOF, for CORRECTION, for INSTRUCTION in righteousness.” NKJV.
And in Joshua 1:8 also tells us;
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE in it DAY and NIGHT, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For THEN, you will make your way PROSPEROUS and you will have GOOD SUCCESS.” NKJV
We can look at God speaking to us through His Word in two ways;
a. Generally:
Like we see in 2 Timothy 3:16 and Joshua 1:8 above, the Bible is expected to play a holistic role in building up a Believer. There’s instruction in it, there’s direction it, and we should build our whole life around the Word of God. Our Prospering and experience of Good Success is tied to it! ‘DAY and NIGHT’ as seen in Joshua 1:8 suggests that meditating on God’s Word should be a Lifestyle.
b. Specifically:
God can also give specific answers to life’s questions and troubles through His Word. And I mean you picking up your Bible, opening it and right there staring at you is the answer you’ve been looking for.
In all, as the Psalmist’s says in Psalm 119:105;
“Your word is a LAMP to my FEET and a LIGHT to my PATH” NKJV.
God’s Word guides our Steps and Directs our Course. It is the Compass we must all come to rely on as Believers in Christ Jesus. Amen.
3. God Speaks to us through People
Let me start this part by sounding a note of caution. Yes, God can speak to us through people but we must be careful what we expose our minds to and what we accept as God speaking.
I always remind myself that Jesus Christ referred to Peter as ‘Satan’ at some point. Peter didn’t physically transform into Satan, but his words and actions were not in sync with God’s Spirit. Peter was being manipulated by Satan. And was Peter a very close associate of Jesus Christ? YES!
Not too long ago, I was really ill, weak and sometimes feeling like life was just leaving my body. One of such times, a very close relative sat by me and asked; ‘Grace, what’s the worse that can really happen in this your condition? Death? Then what? Even if you die, life goes on. Death is not such a bad thing and it comes around everyone you know!’
This was definitely not God speaking. And I rejected it.
Now, the first group of People that God can speak to us through are;
a. Under-shepherds:
And this can include ‘Pastors’, ‘Prophets’, and all the titles we meet in todays’ Christianity.
A Believer who truly knows his/her God will need to believe Jeremiah 3:15;
“And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will FEED you with knowledge and Understanding.” NKJV
The shepherds God give to us are there to FEED us with KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING of God. It is this knowledge and understanding that guides our decisions and choices.
Your Under-shepherd may on rare occasions instruct you on what path to take if led by God, they can deliver a specific word from God directly to you, but ultimately, it is your prerogative to make your decisions and choices.
It is therefore no brainer then to say that to gain the RIGHT knowledge and UNDERSTANDING of the Word of God and your Identity in Christ Jesus, a Believer must be constantly exposed to and influenced by the RIGHT Under-shepherd. That’s why I sometimes don’t understand ‘Churches’ were all they do is demon chasing, devil-binding and casting, enemy-stumping, miracles, signs and shouts! No! you need to be rightly located to be rightly fed and illuminated.
Everyone born of God is a Spirit, leaves in a body and has a soul. Your spirit thrives on the word of God. You thrive on the word of God.
1 Peter 2:2 tells us;
“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…” NKJV.
By the way, ‘Signs and Miracles’ are supposed to be a way of life for the Believer. Signs and Wonders ‘followed’ Christ. Stop chasing them around. Chase the Word of God. Selah!
b. Through ‘any other’ person
Any other person here can include brethren, an angel, a stranger, etc. Sometimes we’re blessed and inspired by a ‘stranger, someone we’ve never met before. Sometimes in the course of a discourse, we can get confirmation of a thought God dropped in our heart and which we may have been musing over.
These are not always coincidences. God may just have directed our path.
4. God can speak to us Directly.
As a young enthusiastic Christian, I’d often find my way to Church, somewhere in Lagos, Nigeria, at odd times- times when nobody was expected for fellowship or service. I’d pray, study my Bible and walk away. I had a strong hunger to know God.
One day, I asked God that I wanted to see Him. So, I scheduled an appointment to meet with Him at a particular time and location in the Church. On the set day and time, I was seated, waiting and expectant. Waiting for God to appear…. I didn’t see Him! But I had an experience of a lifetime that I still do not understand till date..
As I waited, there was suddenly a heavy presence in the room. There was a BIG presence in the room. It was so strong it seemed my heart and head would burst. Nobody told me to RUN out of the Church. I have never asked to see God again.
But I can categorically tell you that I have many times ‘heard’ God call my name. Yes! heard Him with my physical ears. Sometimes, He calls me from my sleep and I wake up to a situation that needs my urgent attention. How did I know it was God? The same way a baby recognizes the voice of a mother/father, and the same way we recognize the voice of close relatives and associates. Exposure and Practice…..
So God can speak to us in many and different ways and He chooses which way to speak to us. No one way is inferior or superior to the other. We just need to grow in our understanding of how God speaks to us as individuals.
Most importantly, we must operate by the Spirit of God, be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit at all times, and to test every spirit as admonished in 1 John 4:1;
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” NKJV.
Thank you so much for staying with me to the end of this article.
Once again, I apologize that this has been one long blogpost.
Stay Blessed.
To learn more about our healing benefits in Christ Jesus, follow this link to my book, “When The Doctor Says No” available online at https://www.amazon.com/When-Doctor-Says-No-Word/dp/1704859166/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7
The Book is available in two formats; kindle and paperback. It is also available for order online from all amazon market places, meaning that the Amazon shop in your neighborhood should be able to supply you.
A lifestyle and disposition to continuously give to others presents us the givers with divine opportunities for personal increase and growth
Welcome back!
In “Divine opportunities for Increase: blogpost1” I’d said we would look at Christian Virtues that help make divine opportunities come our way. I apologize that we will not be doing that today. Instead, we’ll go through and complete the ways God brings divine increase our way first.
In part 1, we looked at SERVICE, as a springboard to success and increase. The kind of service that is self-less, outstanding and done in the fear of the Lord.
The opportunities for Increase that God sends us can also be through;
2. Receiving and Acting on an Unusual instruction from God.
Unusual instructions here refers to uncommon, remarkable, extraordinary, significant instructions. A different or strange instruction that attracts attention.
When God gives you an instruction to sacrifice your long-awaited precious only son and you summon up the courage to obey, be prepared to receive a ram for sacrifice and also get ready to become the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4-5, Genesis 22).
When God sends His prophet to you, a poor wretched Widow, with no human support system and tells you to release your last piece of bread, meant for you and your son, to this prophet, who is a fully grown able-bodied man, and you look beyond this prophet’s seeming callousness to obey and act as directed, then get ready for the jar of flour that will not be used up and the jug of oil that will not run dry until the famine is over (1 Kings 17).
When God speaks to you to relocate to another land, where you know no one at all, where you have no contacts at all, when you have made no reservations or preparations for a place to sleep or stay even for the first night, and you act in faith, get ready for a bumper harvest.
When God tells you to give a huge offering, amounting to most or all of your annual income and you muster the courage to act as directed, you have just taken advantage of an opportunity for divine increase. Your increase will come! (this is good prosperity gospel).
Unusual instructions that will bring divine increase are often difficult instructions. They don’t usually add up mathematically. They are not logical. They may not make sense. But they test your trust and faith in God and are pregnant with your next level of increase.
Again, do you know how GOD speaks to you? Can you hear Him when He speaks to you?
The unusual instruction that will bring you divine increase should come to you from God directly, through His Word or through His prophet.
Are you looking to make a big leap in your finances, career, ministry etc. God may just send you an unusual instruction.
Seize your opportunity for divine increase. Don’t let it slip ?
Medicine is a professional discipline having different specialties. To rise to the status of a Specialist in medicine you must undergo some professional exams plus minus a residency training. This is the usual career path in medical practice.
As a young doctor I started asking questions about administration and management in Health. This is not a common pathway for doctors to rise to the top. But as far as I could see, clinical practice wasn’t my thing. Yes! I prayed, prayed and followed my heart, glad I did.
Generally, success is defined by power, wealth or prestige. People reckon you as successful if you have made good enough profit to be considered wealthy, if you occupy a position of power or if you have earned or become conferred with a prestigious role.
Often there is a lot of emphasis on hard-work, sharpening skills, grooming talents more than on chasing one’s passion, especially if such passion has not been known to bring prestige, power or profit.
In this blogpost series, we’ll be exploring ‘ways of increase with God’. And we’ll be answering some key questions as we go along; ‘should a Christian rely solely on God’s grace and not work hard?.’ ‘Is the message of prosperity as popularly preached in some Christian circles unrealistic?’ We’ll also look at essential Christian virtues for sustained divine increase, as well as enumerate killers of increase/growth in a Christian’s life.
The first way of divine increase with God to consider is;
Service is a springboard to success and greatness. Service simply means doing something for others voluntarily or for a fee.
Eight years ago, I was randomly selected by the Commissioner of Health in my State to work in a committee with top shots in the healthcare sector at the time. Then I was appointed the welfare officer. Being the youngest member of the committee (in every sense) the greatest challenge I faced servng in that role was insisting that members earned their stipends. I acquired enemies that tried to hunt me many years later ?. But that’s not all that happened, many months on, one of the older ladies in the group, picked me to work with her as part of the management team in a newly established health board, a role that brought me to limelight in that area of healthcare delivery in the State. Years later, she said she chose me because of my dedication, hardwork and commitment as welfare officer in that committee we worked together at the time.
God deals with His children in different ways. As a Christian, God may endue you with strength and wisdom to serve and He provides opportunities for you to climb the next rung of the ladder by putting your gifting to use through serving.
The kind of service that would pull from your strength and gifting and bring divine increase will have to be selfless, conscientious, plus or minus an immediate or obvious personal gain. This can be service to humanity; done out of the fear of the Lord, or service done to God as an act of gratitude or show of love.
Our example of selfless service from the Bible is Joseph. As a mature man at 30 years, Joseph began serving in the court of Pharaoh the King of Egypt. The story of Joseph the son of Jacob spans over many chapters of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. We’ll look at a few;
“Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and travelled throughout Egypt.” Genesis 41:46. NIV
“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Portiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Genesis 39:2-5. NIV
If you are reading this blogpost and you are currently serving an ‘Egyptian master’ I urge you to stay where God has planted you because therein lies your increase. Or at least spend good time in prayer asking God’s direction before jumping out. God does not make mistakes. You may just be on a divine mission just like Joseph. Your service could be God’s opportunity to you to spring to the top for His divine purpose.
Interestingly, another person we see in the Bible that had great resilience for service is Jacob, Joseph’s father. Jacob served to get the love of his life, Rachel.
“So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.” Genesis 29: 20. NIV
Indeed, service can buy you prestige, power, profit as well as take care of your passion 🙂
In the next part of this blogpost series, we’ll look at key virtues for divine increase, some of which Joseph possessed.
Stay with me.
