Exo. 23v20-23: “Behold l send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which l have prepared. 21: Beware of him and obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. 22: But if thou shall indeed obey his voice and do all that l speak, l will be an enemy unto thy enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. 23: For my angel shall go before thee, and bring thee unto the Amorities, and the Hittites, and the Peruzzites, and the Cananites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites and l will cut them off. ”
God demands obedience in all His walk with man. Whosoever or whatever you are, as long as you are walking with God, not minding your social status, God wants you to obey Him. Obedience to God, entails that you run away from sin, and obey every instruction from him. Every disobedience to any God’s instruction comes with terrible consequences. Remember,God appointed Saul, the King of Israel, but as soon as he disobeyed God, he was dethroned.
ISam.15: 22-23,26 says: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offering and sacrifice, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.23: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity, because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 26: And Samuel said unto Saul, l will not return with thee, for thou hath rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.”
The above verses describe how King Saul was rejected because of the sin of disobedience. In what ways are you disobeying God? You have ample opportunity to make amends now, if God can dethrone King Saul, what about you? You cannot be disobeying God and at the same time expect blessing from him. So, be careful not to draw the wrath of God upon yourselves.
The blessing of God comes upon a man that obeys him and keeps his commandments. Abraham is good case study here. Gen.12v 1-3 says: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that l will show thee. 2: And l will make thee a great nation and l will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. 4: So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him…”
Abraham’s obedience is a perfect example of what God expects each of us to do. Pure obedience and righteousness is what Abraham exhibited here. God told him to move and he moved without knowing where he was going, but because he believed that God Who called him is able to fulfill what he has promised, he obeyed without looking back. Abraham’s obedience is what God expects us to emulate.
In our lead scripture above, God in his mercy and magnanimity counselled Israelites to make sure that they obey the angel, he sent to them, cautioning them not to provoke him. In other words, God is by that instruction telling us to obey him in all things. The Israelites of the Bible is a replica of people of the world. Rebellion, stubbornness and recalcitrance are the stock-in-trade of the people of this world. Man is so stubborn that he is always challenging God, his creator. Today, so many people act in disobedience to the instruction of God. Many nations are advocating same sex marriage, some men turn themselves into females, God saw all this wickedness and regretted creating man, Gen 6v5-6 says: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6: And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.”
See the way God is regretting for creating man because of his disobedience, if not for the mercy of God, he would have wiped out the whole human race because the whole world is full of wickedness. The Psalmist says: “If God is to mark iniquity, who shall stand?”
Remember, our topic today says: “Do These And Be Blessed.” What are those things that God is expecting you to do so that you can receive his blessings?
Firstly, receive Jesus Christ into your life, as your Lord and saviour. Jesus is the only way, the truth and life; no man comes to the father except through him. Through the blood he shed on the Cross of Calvary, we have redemption. For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. After salvation, the next thing is sanctification, which is the same as inner purity, Matt 5v8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” You need to cleanse your heart from pollution and contamination of this world. At this stage, your heart should be filled with the meditation of the word of God, for the book of Thessalonians says: “This is the will of God, even your sanctification…”
After Sanctification, the next on the line is Holy Ghost baptism, Acts 1v8 says: “And you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” The Holy Ghost is the personality that empowers you to do the things of God. Without the Holy Ghost, there is no power. Note, it was when the Holy Ghost came upon the apostles that they were empowered and spoke the word of God with boldness. The boldness and power cannot come without the Holy Ghost. So, every child of God needs the Holy Ghost. However, the Holy Ghost cannot come upon a dirty or polluted heart, which is why you must sanctify your heart.
After Holy Ghost baptism, the next you should ask for is the fruit of the spirit, according to Gal. 5:22, then you will begin to preach the gospel, according to Mk 16v15-17. These are the things you will do to attract God’s blessings and also, to make Him fight your battle.
Moreover, remember you must make prayer part and parcel of your life because Luke 18v1 says: “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” 1Thesa 5v17 says: “Pray without ceasing;” so, prayer is necessary for everything in this life, especially as we cannot see God.
The only way to communicate with Him is through prayer. Pray ceaselessly, through prayer, you conquer your world and free yourself, family, career and everything concerning you from the hands of the enemy and the wicked ones. As you do these things, God will continue to bless you.
As I end this message, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, according to Eccl. 12v13-14, which says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14: For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”
Testimony Of The Lord’s Doing
‘After 42 Years, God Gave Me A Wonderful Husband’
Psalm 126v1-2 says: “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing….”
God, who has power to do all things, intervened in the case of Sister Evelyn Ofielu, who hails from Enugu State. She waitedfor long to have a husband. While waiting, friends, colleagues in her office and, even, family members began tomock her.Today, God has remembered her, turned around her captivity and her mouth is filled with laughter and praises to the Lord.
Sharing her testimony, our sister said she came into The Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries in 2006 and has since remained a steadfast member.
She disclosed: “My testimony occurred last year when our General Overseer came to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, for a one-day crusade. In that crusade, he prayed and the second word of knowledge he mentioned, was my case.
General Overseer said: “There is a sister here, everyone has forgotten about you in the issue of marriage in your office, compound, church and your family, but God of Chosen, who doeth what no man can do will remove that spirit from you and bring that man He prepared for you and you will rejoice in Jesus’ name.”
G.O. prayedand l fell under anointing and saw a giant spirit with the inscription ‘hindrance’ written all over its body, jump out of me and waved agood bye forever to me.
General Overseer added: “Sister today is July 2, tomorrow, Monday will be July 3; Tuesday is 4th July, by 1.00pm, the man will appear.”
Sister Ofielu divulged that she was in the school,as a primary school teacher,when on that fateful Tuesday, at about 11.45a.m., her phone rang. She said, she ignored the call because she was busy with school activities.Later, according to her, the number called again and shepicked it; behold, it was the voice of a young man.
She noted: “The man introduced himself and it happened that he is a brother l know in my former church. We missed contact when l left the church forthe Lord’s Chosen. The man said he collected my number from his elder brother whom l met about two years ago at Abakpa-Nike in Enugu State. The man revealed that the urge to call me became stronger in him three days ago. Brethren, that was the day our General Overseer made that prayer.
“The man said he would not want to waste my time and asked: ‘if I would l marry him? Just like that I said to myself. So, I demanded he give me three weeks to pray over his request. When I went into prayers, I got several confirmations that he is a God-sent and l gave my consent. Today, we are married. P-r-a-i-s-e, the Lord!”
According to Sister Ofielu, the young man is a pilot and works with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Thanking God for the great miracle, our sister said: “God gave me a wonderful husband after 42 years. I am older than he is. Truly, God of Chosen is so great, He has removed the reproach and fought the battle for me. May His name be glorified in Jesus’name. I pray to God for the protection of our General Overseer and also, for God to back him up in all he does. I as well prayfor him to fulfill God’s mandate and take all of us to heaven in Jesus’ name…Amen!”
