CARRIERS OF BLESSINGS
Memorise: Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:5
Read: Genesis 21:1-6, 21 And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
Bible in one year: Numbers 23:12-25:18, 2nd Corinthians 12
MESSAGE
When adults and parents are stained with sin or have become preoccupied with the affairs of life, God may speak to them through their children. This was exactly what happened to Eli (1st Samuel 3:1-10). One reason why children are such powerful weapons in God’s hands in their innocence. Because they are not yet accustomed to sin, when they pray, God answers their prayers. Several years ago, when my children were still very young, anytime I needed something from God so desperately, I asked them to pray for me, and I got answers.
Sin separates us from God, so that it becomes difficult for Him to hear us when we call upon Him (Isaiah 59:1-2). Sin can stop the prayers of the elderly, but children on the other hand are innocent. You will notice that when it is time to praise God, they do so without any inhibition. When they dance before God, they are not self-conscious like the adults. They do not care who is looking at them. They dance for God anyhow, and God is glorified. Therefore, when they cry to God, their angels take their prayers right before God and the answer comes back speedily. Because of this, Psalm 127:5 says the man who has his quiver full of children is happy, blessed, fortunate and to be envied. If you do not have any child yet, the Lord will remember you this season. If you have one or two but you want more, the Lord will answer you speedily.
Moreover, children are carriers of blessings, and they can bring an end to an era of sorrow. Whenever they go, they take blessings along with them. For instance, when Isaac was born, the sorrow in the hearts of his parents was terminated. Also, after Samuel was born, the mouths of mockers who had made life miserable for his mother were shut (1st Samuel 2:1-10). Children can permanently shut the mouth of mockers! Has the absence of children in your home brought you sorrow? That sorrow shall be taken away this season! Have tongues been mocking you all along? The Lord will shock your mockers and silence them permanently this season. Give your life to Christ if you have not already done so, and submit yourself to God. Take time and pleasure in doing the things that make Him happy. Give Him quality praise, thanks and worship always, and He will surprise you.
Prayer Point
Father, by the Blood of Jesus, frustrates every plan of the enemy to initiate our children into satanic cults and associations.
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2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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When you look in a mirror, what do you see? Of course, you see yourself. But God does not want you to see yourself in the natural. You may be sick, weak, broke and depressed, yet God wants you to see yourself the way He sees you—healed, strong, favored and whole because Christ is in you. (Colossians 1:27)
God wants you to behold as in a mirror the glory of His Son who is in you by His Spirit. As you do this, His Word says that you are being transformed from glory to glory—sick to healed, loser to winner!
The world may say to you, “It can’t be that easy. You can’t be transformed just by beholding the glory of Jesus. No, you must do something about you. If you don’t put in effort, nothing will happen. If you don’t start making changes, nothing will change.”
But the world will never understand that as you are beholding the glory of the Lord, who is the successful one in you, you are being transformed from a failure to a success. And this is not accomplished by any effort of yours to get ahead in life, but by the Spirit of the Lord! (Zechariah 4:6)
As you behold the glory of the Lord who is the healthy one in your sick body, you are transformed from sickness to health. And this is not accomplished by any effort of yours to keep fit and eat well, but by the Spirit of the Lord!
My friend, what can be easier than beholding the beauty of the Son? So stop focusing on yourself and your efforts. Look away from these things and begin to behold the glory of Jesus who is in you right now, and you will begin to behold the miracles that you need!
Thought For The Day
As you behold the glory of Jesus who is in you by His Spirit, you are being transformed from sick to healed, loser to winner!
HOW TO ACCESS YOUR PART
Today: 2015-10-17
Pant for God to access your part in God.
You cannot become a part of God until you pant for Him.
David’s panting heart for God was what upgraded his status from just been a king to a priest and a prophet.
You can use your panting for God to enhance your part from God
Matt 5:6
Phil 3:10
It is those who long for God that will go long in accessing His treasures.
Your yearning for God is what determines your earnings from God.
It is as men desires more of God that deserves more from God
Scripture teaches us that Christians should honor or respect all men (1 Peter 2:17). Every human being bears the image of God, and so, of course, we are called on to respect and honor that. And of course, Scripture also teaches us to love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18), and Jesus in his famous story makes the point that our neighbor is whatever person God has placed right in front of us (Luke 10:29–37). So all Christians are to love everyone, and all Christians should honor everyone. That is the baseline.
But when we come down to the particular relationship of husbands to wives, and wives to husbands, Scripture gives us an important, additional emphasis. Husbands are told specifically to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). Wives are told specifically to respect their husbands as the church does Christ (Ephesians 5:33).
There are three things that we can take away from this. The lessons are notlimited to three, but we should make a point of grasping at least these three things.
1. We Are Called to Love and Respect
First, the commands are directed to our respective and relative weaknesses. We are told to do things that we might not do unless we were told. For example, children are told to obey their parents because it is easy for children not to do so (Ephesians 6:1). In the same way, husbands are told to love their wives because it is easy for husbands not to do so. Wives are told to honor their husbands because it is easy for wives not to do so. We are called to do things that might not occur to us. If we were all doing these things naturally, why bring it up?
Women are better at loving than men are. Men do well at respecting. C.S. Lewis once observed that women think of love as taking trouble for others — which is much closer to a scripturalagape love than what men naturally do. Men tend to think of love as not giving trouble to others.
So men must be called to sacrifice for their wives, to take trouble for them, as Christ gave himself for the church. Women must be urged to respect their husbands. A woman can naturally love a man she does not honor or respect very much, and this is something that Paul would identify as a trouble. How many times have we heard a terrible story about a girl returning to her abusive boyfriend because she “loves him,” even though he treats her like dirt? But if we asked her if she respects him, she would reply, “Are you kidding?Him?” And men must be called to give themselves away for their wives. This is what a wedding means.
2. Men Run on Respect, Women on Love
Second, the command reveals something about the needs of the recipient. In other words, if the Bible said that shepherds should feed the sheep, a reasonable inference would be that sheep need food. When husbands are told to love their wives, we can infer from this that wives need to be loved. When wives are told to respect their husbands, we can infer from this that husbands need to be respected. Think of it as two kinds of car that run on different kinds of fuel — diesel and regular, say. Men run on respect, and wives run on love.
In saying this, remember that we are talking about emphasis. On a basic level, everyone needs to be loved and everyone needs to be respected. But when Scripture singles out husbands and wives living together, the men are told to love and the women are told to respect. Flip this around, and you see that men should remember that their wives need to be loved, and their wives should remember that their husbands need to be respected.
Remembering this keeps us from giving what we would like to be getting. George Bernard Shaw once observed that we should not do unto others as we would have them do unto us — their tastes may not be the same as ours. I once knew a husband who got his wife a nice shotgun for Christmas. She was a shrewd Christian woman, and so the following Christmas, she got him a nice string of pearls. And as she told my wife, “they were very nice pearls.”
Often when a marriage is in a tough spot, both spouses tend to give what they feel they need — love and respect, respectively. Wives reach out to their husbands with love, when respect is what would really help. Husbands can back away, thinking of this as a form of respect, “giving space,” when what they need to do is close in with love.
3. Both Are Powerful to Produce Change
But third — here is where it gets glorious — love and respect are bothpotent. The Bible teaches that this kind of love is efficacious. This kind of respect is powerful. This sort of love bestows loveliness. This kind of respect bestows respectability.
Husbands cannot duplicate the love of Christ, which efficaciously made his bride lovely. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But while we cannot duplicate this kind of love, husbands are told to imitate it. And in imitating it, we see some of the comparable effects. A woman who is loved by her husband is a woman who will grow in loveliness. He washes her with the water of the word (Ephesians 5:26). The entire passage assumes that this kind of love bestows loveliness. And the same kind of potency can be found in a godly woman’s respect. Peter tells us that reverent and chaste behavior can break down a man’s disobedient spirit (1 Peter 3:1–2).
So then, men and women should love and respect each other. They should do so with all their hearts. But when they are concentrating on their marriages, the men should lean into love. The women should lean into respect. The results can be astonishing.
