Question: Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted?
Find out more….

Question: Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted?
Find out more….

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;

1. Service

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.

I have been truly blessed writing and meditating on this blogpost series. It is absolutely exciting to be reassured of God’s faithfulness, His mercy and His Integrity to keep His promises. The peace Jesus Christ already won for me is further cemented by the knowledge of these 3 truths about God….attributes that are inherent and intrinsic to God and that will never change. Halleluyah!

We have looked at;

1. The Lord our God is Faithful, meaning that He is dependable, reliable and trustworthy.

2. The Lord our God is Merciful, meaning that He does compassionate, gracious and forgiving.  In fact, Jehovah is RICH in mercy which is an offshoot of His Goodness. The Lord is GOOD always and His mercy is everlasting and brand new every morning.

And today we end this series looking at the third attribute of Jehovah we need to know as His children..;

3. Know that The Lord Your God is a Covenant-Keeper.  

Scripture reference has been:

 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7: 9  NKJV. 

Covenant is an agreement, contract, treaty, pact or deal. A covenant brings about a relationship of commitment between 2 people.

From the Bible we see that God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, David and Moses (1 Chronicles 16:16, Psalms 78:37). He also confirmed the Oath He made Isaac to Jacob (1 Chronicles 16:17).

Jehovah takes His covenant seriously. Yeah, that is something to know. He valued His covenant to Abraham, David, Jacob, etc and He stayed committed to it. God remembers His covenant.

“I have made a covenant with my Chosen, I have sworn to My servant David.”  Psalm 89:3

“then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land.”  Leviticus 26:42

Someone may be asking; ‘when did I sign any agreement with God and what are my entitlements’? Yes, we did enter into an agreement with God the day we gave our lives to Jesus Christ.

“Gather My saints together to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Psalms 50:5

Through His sacrifice, Christ traded His Righteousness for our sins at Calvary. He received stripes on His body to purchase our Healing. He was chastised for our Peace. He willed All the powers God gave Him over to us post resurrection to enable us do exploits. He made us More-than-Conquerors and we have Victory at all times and in every situation by Faith.

Knowing these attributes and being confident of them is a great anchor of faith for Believers in Christ Jesus.   God WATCHES over all His promises made to us and He is committed to performing EVERY SINGLE one of them.

So what is that problem staring you in the face? What is that situation? Turn it anyway you like, analyse it anyway that makes natural sense. Yes, tell me how big it is. Tell me how terrible it looks.

But please allow me also tell you that Jehovah has done everything in one single sacrifice to ensure every mountain in your life becomes a plain.

Confidently and Assuredly I say to you, God’s faithfulness, mercy and integrity guarantees you a great package. Trust Him!