My wife and I are blessed with a wonderful and beautiful 4-year old. But there are times I refuse to do things for her that I feel she should be able to do herself. Being a child, she likes to push the boundary and ask for help when I know she should not. Even when she genuinely thinks she cannot do something and tells me so, I tell her, “never say I can’t.” Usually, she finds out she could, after reluctantly trying.
Most of us run to God our Father for every thing having been equipped with the wherewithal to make things happen in our lives and in the world. Two interesting episodes happened in the scriptures. The children of Israel were faced with the Red Sea just after coming out of Egypt and Moses went to God on their behalf. God responded by saying, “Why are you crying to me? Tell the people to move forward.” Into the Red Sea? Yes. “By now, you should know that the Red Sea is not big enough to stand before your God, shouldn’t you? You have also been given a rod (representing God”s word) with which to do signs and wonders, so what is your problem?” – paraphrased. The other episode was when the disciples came to Jesus with the problem of feeding five thousand people in a desert place. Jesus said to them, “give ye them to eat!” Effectively, he expected them to feed the people, just the way He went on to do!
Obviously, God expects us to operate in His class. He is looking for people like Elijah who decreed no rain nationwide, “except by my word.” Elijah did not even say “Thus saith the Lord…” yet most of us wait for God to heal us when he already has! We pray for demons to stop terrorizing our communities when our very presence should terrorize them since they are under our feet. We pray for financial breakthrough when we carry the very blessing of Abraham and through us the world is meant to be blessed rather than us depending on the world for daily bread.
The message in church has been about system breakers and I so love it. However, God is not the system breaker, we are. We will forever remain under the dominion of the systems of this world if we are waiting for God to break the systems that keep us bound. He simply won’t. Like a good Father, He would not do for us what He has equipped us for. We have been more than equipped by the finished work of Christ to dominate any system in the world and if we don’t learn to do it ourselves, God will not do it for us. How do we do it? Start small. Address headache first, without having to call on God. If you miss it, do it again since practice makes perfect. Then go on to bigger issues.
–Tolu
The Bible says that one can put a thousand to flight, but two could put ten thousand to flight. Notice that together they can accomplish more than when they work alone. There is a law called synergy. This law states that when the joint actions of agents are brought together they increase each other’s effectivenes
The Greek word that Jesus used which is translated “agree” comes from the word “symphonize”. If you have ever been to a symphony, then you can appreciate the importance of agreement. At the beginning of the symphony, the orchestra warms up. This is when everyone plays on their own without considering others. The noise is atrocious. But when the conductor lifts the baton, the racket stops and all eyes are on him. Then with a gentle wave of the baton the orchestra plays such heavenly music.
I believe the greatest threat to the kingdom of darkness is the power of unity. There is nothing the devil fears more than Christians who are united. This means that his number one tactic is to bring disunity in the Church. If he can succeed, then the Church is crippled. Jesus spoke about the power of agreement in Matthew 18:19: “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” Don’t put any limitation on this scripture. Jesus says what He means. We can receive anything if we agree about it in prayer.
One day this week someone gave me an article to read from one of our local newspapers regarding kindness. It actually talked about the importance of kindness in our society and what is gained from being kind. After reading this article I begin to realize that even those who are in the world have a great understanding of this biblical principal, or maybe I should say this Jesus principal.