Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:3, Lamentations 2:22-23
When the Bible says God is faithful, then God is faithful because the Bible is the only Book that does not lie. It is God’s voice in motion. The book of 2Thes 3:3 says “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” [KJV] What greater assurance shall one have if the Scriptures say that God will establish you because He is faithful. In the contemporary world, when you learn a trade and your boss promises to establish you after 3 years, he may disappoint you. But when God promises to establish you after having read through His word and believed and accepted it, then you are assured that God will establish you. The scriptures tell us that God’s word will not return to Him void until it has established that which it was sent forth.
In the above text, God promised not only to establish us but to protect us from the evil one. This is why we are bold enough to confront the devil and his agents because we are rest assured that God is faithful. The faithfulness of God establishes and protects us. If God does not protect a place, the protectors are keeping watch over the place in vain. We must recognize that God is ever faithful because if it was left to the devil, we would have been taken away. Beloved, if God should mark iniquity and unrighteousness, we would have been killed. Some persons say that they do not have testimonies because they have not seen God’s faithfulness at work. Nonetheless, when we recognize and appreciate His faithfulness, then we would have reasons to testify. A sister shared with me that she always commuted through a particular route at 5:00am every morning to work, but another person followed that same route and was robbed. Everything on that other person was taken away. I had to explain to her that it was God’s faithfulness that had kept her through that dangerous path.
Today’s church does not recognize the faithfulness of God and until we begin to acknowledge His faithfulness, we may not reap the benefits of such. The more we see God’s faithfulness, the more faithful He becomes. The entire Book of Psalms 136 was devoted to the faithfulness of God. We see how God took the Israelites through the wilderness for 40 years confronting nations that were bigger and stronger than them, because He is faithful. Beloved, as you go through life, God is faithful. If God is not faithful, you too would have been gone and buried with your colleagues that died while you were a student or in your business/workplace. There were things you did that others did and died, but God is faithful
Prayer: Thank God for His faithfulness over your life.
The songwriter wrote: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness Oh Lord, Great is thy faithfulness!” Brethren, the faithfulness that God offered you yesterday is not the same today, it is a new one. The word “steadfast love” means the continual love of God for you. If God loves you so much that He is so faithful to an unfaithful you, then you need to pay Him back by acknowledging His faithfulness. You know that there are days that you chose not to pray. On some days, the Lord woke you up to pray but you slept back, and He still protected you.
When you cross into a new day, there is a new love from God towards you and this love never expires. There is a new mercy every day and His mercies never expire. The songwriter said: GREAT is thy faithfulness because if it was little we would have used it up by now. Some people have done so much wrong to God such that they should have exhausted His faithfulness, however God has remained steadfast in renewing His faithfulness to us as a covenant every morning. There are more than 7 billion people upon the face of the earth but only those that has come to this knowledge can find His faithfulness. Hebrew 13:8 tells us that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. In other words, Christ remains the same in his love and faithfulness towards us. He does not shift grounds despite that some of us have shifted grounds in our salvation more than 15 times. It took God’s love to keep coming back for you each time. It takes his love to be patient with you. It takes his love to overlook your wrongs. The Scriptures says that blessed is the man in whom the Lord will not input unrighteousness; in other words, the man on whom the Lord chooses not to put the tag of sinner upon him. The faithfulness of God is sure over his house and his faithfulness is sure over his sons and daughters.
The word “faithfulness” means to maintain trust and loyalty regardless of circumstances. We do not deserve God’s trust and loyalty, but He chose to be our guarantor. It takes faithfulness to do that. We must learn and practice God’s act of faithfulness to us, if God can be so kind to us, we need to be kind to others. A faithful life will produce great results.
There are five [5] characteristics of the faithfulness of God:
I – Loyalty: You must develop loyalty to the church of God, loyalty to the leaders that God has given to you and loyalty to God. If God can be loyal to us, we must be loyal back to him. Loyalty is not voiced, it is a lifestyle. A loyal person will seek the good of the church of God, the people of God and others. Such person will not be political. The problem of today’s church is the presence of believers who are disloyal. Loyalty is a sign of God’s faithfulness. You need to be loyal to your boss at your workplace, your biological parents, spouse, pastors and nation no matter the circumstances. Loyalty entails ‘trustworthiness.’ Can men trust you? Can God trust you? Trust comes with test and so if you have not been tested, do not claim that you can be trusted. You must be trusted in the areas of money, sex, etc. Some people are born again now because there are only a few thousands in their bank accounts but we can know whether they can maintain their salvation when they are credited with the sum of N500million. In many families, the spouses do not trust each other because they have not built trust over the years. We must be steadfast in love. We must love continually and not allow hatred to grow inside of us
II – Patience: We need patience in dealing with fellow humans because we are not all on the same pace. We do not have the same level of intelligence, understanding or wisdom and so we must learn to be patient with people to avoid unnecessary fights and chaos to maintain peace and harmony.
III – Commitment: Beloved, how committed are you to God, and can men trust you enough to commit things into your hands? If God commits an assignment into your hands, can you do it well? If man commits an assignment into your hands, can you excel at it? At workplace, the problem of many people is poor commitment to work. Even in the House of Revival, some persons belong to groups but they don’t participate or show up for meetings. God wants to trust you but your commitment to God matters. Brethren, if you have committed your life to God, then you should commit yourself to his service. Afterwards, you can commit to your work or business and let people see the hard work you are putting in. Unfortunately, the problem of today’s generation is that they lack commitment. If you think it is untrue, wait until you are an employer of labour then you will discover that many people are just interested in receiving salaries without genuine interest in the progress of the organization. The demonic slogan is “small work, big money.” Many young people want to receive big money with small work. However, no successful person made big money with small work. Check the billionaires in the world, they do not sleep or eat the way you do.
Prayer: [i] Lord, let your faithfulness ever increase in my life in the name of Jesus
[ii] Look at your life and identify one or two testimonies, then begin to thank God for His faithfulness in your life
2nd Message: LOVING OTHERS LIKE CHRIST
Text: Romans 5:8, Mark 12:31
The above scriptures explain to us that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. He didn’t wait for us to be saved before he displayed His love for us. If you are here and you hate somebody in your heart and have vowed never to forgive him/her until Jesus comes; the truth is that If Jesus comes and finds that hatred in you, He will not wait to listen to your side of the story. Hatred will take you to hell fire and therefore we must begin to love people as Jesus loves them. Remember that Christ showed his love and died for us while we were yet offenders [sinners]. In Mark 12:31, Jesus was teaching the people on the 2 summaries of the Laws of Moses of which the second is “Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself, there is none other commandment greater than these.” The word “neighbour” as used in that passage does not necessarily refer to the person living next door to you. It simply means anyone outside of yourself. Thus, a neighbour could be a brother, sister, father, mother, aunt, co-worker, school mate, etc. So, you are to love your neighbour as yourself and not loving your neighbour more than yourself. John 15:13 began to describe the height of love wherein it says that greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his own life for his friend. That was Jesus speaking. Beloved, how much laying down can you do for others? Somebody has done something to vex you so much, but can you lay that anger down for the sake of love? Not because of apology but the sake of love. People have done things to hurt you and make you embittered, but can you let it go for the sake of love? I have discovered that one healing medicine that God has given unto us as believers is true love. Thus, when God says love, even if those people do not love you back or have been hateful towards you, He is telling you to love because of the love He has for you. He knows that hatred will hurt you, pain will dry you up, bitterness will crush you and that is why He is telling you to love.
Brethren, do you know that major diseases on earth can be linked to lack of forgiveness? Examples include: hypertension, high blood pressure and even cancer. All these can be traceable to bitterness, pain and lack of forgiveness. Some people develop so much hatred and bitterness over situations or others that they begin to emaciate and grow lean while those they hate are looking fresh. Many people have died suddenly, and those who angered them and led to their death are still alive. We are in a season where you must love and come to the realization that on earth people will offend you and war against you. Nonetheless, one of the greatest weapon to have victory given to us by God is the weapon of LOVE.
Love cannot fail. 1 Cor13 describes what love is. Prophecy may cease, but love cannot fail. Even if you have hope, it is not as strong as love. Having faith and all the fruits of the Spirit without love will fail. Love does not fail. Every gift operates around Love; where there is no love, you cannot see the maximum impact of such gift. Love is the premise upon which everything works. All the miracles performed by Jesus came from a place of Love. The Bible records that Jesus had compassion on the people. Jesus multiplied food because of the compassion He had for the people. Note that if there was enough food for the people then there would have been no need for the miraculous. Love brought about the prayer for expansion and increase when there was no alternative. It is not showmanship. In fact, any gift manifested by a man that is not based on love but showmanship, is of the devil because God is Love. The woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus, but Jesus did not request for the man to be brought in order to tarnish his image knowing that the woman would not have been in that act alone. Likewise, He neither condemned the woman nor her accusers who were also sinners. The lesson learnt herein is that no matter how you seek to correct somebody, love must still be the basis of your correction. If you beat up a child for wrongdoing when such child does not understand his wrong or know that he has erred, then such child will see you as a wicked person. This is the same way some people are harbouring so much hatred towards others based on hearsay which they have not confirmed.
Love must flow from your heart to others, because it is a source of healing for you. We must love people the way Christ loved the people. The disciples came to him to command fire to consume the soldiers that came to arrest him, but Jesus rebuked them saying that He had not come to destroy the people but to save them. The gospel we carry about today is the gospel of love and not destruction. If your life must be patterned after Christ, then there are people you will forgive and let go. If you do not forgive them, then you are also in bondage and at risk of hell because you do not know when the Lord will call you or when the rapture will take place. Note that you cannot continue to hold people in your heart because the truth remains that men are wicked and you will continue to experience this wickedness of men as long as you are in their midst. I have a pastor friend whose senior pastor in their church was transferred to another branch due to a pulpit rotation that year and a new senior pastor was brought to them. The new pastor called a meeting and asked everyone to introduce themselves. As soon the youth pastor stood up to introduce himself, another pastor took his photograph and sent to the former senior pastor telling him that the youth pastor said demeaning things about him. This was untrue. The former senior pastor returned and everyone went to welcome him but as soon as he saw the youth pastor he walked him out of the office angrily. This youth pastor was wondering what his offense was and came to tell me and I advised him to go into fasting and prayer which he did and the liar went back to the senior pastor to confess. Note that this senior pastor was praying for people and others even while he harboured anger in him, whereas the Scriptures admonish us to resolve any issue with our brethren before bringing our gifts before the altar to pray. Herein lies the mystery behind giving tithes and offerings without yielding results. The reason being that while your tithes and offerings can open doors for you, hatred and bitterness can close the doors. Beloved, the realm of the spirit is too dicey and life is too short to be carrying hatred in your heart.
God is love and when we say we have God in us, it means his love is spread inside of us. Love is a sign of our complete obedience. We do not love people because we want to love them, we love them because God commands us to love them
Love is a sign of power and anointing. It is love that determines the level of anointing and power that you carry. Every genuine man of God you see that is highly anointed has love deep in his heart. If you do not carry love in your heart, you cannot carry power and anointing. I saw a pastor who went to pray somewhere and collected 52 phones from people, they sowed it as seeds to him. That is a criminal who may have a shop in computer village. If not, how can you ask people to drop their phones in church after praying for them. For those of you that like dropping phones as prophetic action, if you do not grow in the word of God, they won’t collect only your phones they will also collect your shoes and hats.
Love is the character of God. The Book of 1Cor 13:1-13 shows us that love is the nature of God.
Who are those that we should love?
- Love those that are unlovable – Some people have very terrible characters and seem to be unlovable. A lady was about to get married and she came to me. Her fiance’s mother said he would never marry her even though they loved each other. The woman promised to get a wife for her son, and so the lady told me that the woman was a witch and she needed prayer points to destroy her. Then the Lord spoke to me that the mother is not a witch and I should ask the lady “when last did you call the mother?” Her response was “call her ke, call that wicked woman?” Apparently, she has never called her future mother-in-law or sent her a gift. It was only her fiancé that was telling his mum about the lady. Her fiancé is the first born of the family and the only son. I then advised her that she did not need prayers, but she should start calling her mother-in-law every week and send her gifts from time to time. She did that and after 3 months, mama called her son to ask her when they were getting married. Love changed the narrative and they are married today with 3 kids. Mama’s fear was that if her only son and most successful child should marry a woman that did not love her, she will take her son away and no one would take care of her. Mama was not a witch, in fact, it is not every old woman that is a witch. Witches of today are well packaged on suits and work in corporate institutions.
- Love those that hate you – This does not mean you should eat from the same plate with your haters. It simply means that you should have good mind towards them but be wise. If they wish you death, wish them life so far as it is on the physical level. If it is spiritual, then go into prayers. In the spirit realm, you are permitted to fight any enemy and kill them but love them in the physical. In fact, love is a weapon in our hands because we are heaping hot coals upon them when we begin to show them love.
- Love unbelievers – The fact that someone is not a Christian does not mean that you should not love them. If you do not love them, how do you now preach to them? If you don’t pray for an unbeliever, how will he/she be saved? Some believers do not greet their Muslim neighbours or do business with them. But, it is a part of Christian love to show love to unbelievers. Don’t push people way, love them because even Christ loved us even while we were sinners.
- Love those that spread false information about you – In this social media age, there are people who go about spreading false information about people, but you must love them because how many of such people do you intend to hate? This is especially if you have plans to be great, bloggers are waiting for you and so you must prepare to love.
- Love those that fight you – Some people may rise to fight you, but love them.
- Love the brethren – i.e. love your fellow believers. Don’t always stand with the enemy against the church of God. If you are a Christian, be a Christian and support the people of God. No matter what happens, the devil will always fight the church. Even if something happens in the church, do not join the children of the devil to mock the church. We are not perfect people in the church, the church is like a hospital and not everybody is well in a hospital. Some doctors even suffer from heart problems and still treat patients. Even in families, issues are resolved internally and not exposed to the world. Likewise, the church is filled with diverse people. Thus, do not join the world to fight the church, let all church issues be resolved in the church.
- Love your family
THE IMPORTANCE OF LOVE
When you love –
- You build unity and justice
- You strengthen the body of Christ
- You save the unbelievers
- It will kill the plans and plot of devil because disunity is the biggest plan of the devil against the church
- Love is a catalyst and can attract many blessings to people
- Love promotes godliness
Prayer: Lord, show me your love and help me to show your love to others in the name of Jesus