Exhortation September 2009The Power Of The Spoken WordLuke 1 39-5639 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”46And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house. (NKJV). " There is power in the ppoken word. Depending on what the word is, it can give life, it can change life, it can also quench, dampen or destroy it. One simple word of greeting from Mary to Elizabeth, has blessed her and registered a witness in her that God is in the building. She probably said Shalom. What do greetings do? What is the purpose? I come from the famous Igbo tribe of Nigeria, where greetings and salutations play a big role in the socio-cultural relations of the people. Where greetings and salutations play a big role as to one’s success or failure in that community.
1. To great people and to show respect. This is the most important function of greetings and salutations in my community. The younger always initiates and greets the older. Wives, the same, they intiate and greet their husbands. This, of course, is in a community where age grade and coming-of-age ceremonies are regularly being performed, so that everyone knows who’s older and who their elders are. 2. To bless them and to wish them well.As has already been stated, there’s power in the spoken word. That’s why the people take seriously who greeted them or who didn’t. What did they mean by not greeting them? Are they not wishing them well? Are they wishing them some ill-fortune? Also when a younger person greets an elder and the elder responds with a greeting (a blessing, so to speak) in return, the younger person is happy because he or she has received a blessing, an approval from an elder or an older person. Mary greeted Elisabeth. You can read it again and perhaps receive more interpretations than I have been able to put on it. But as you read my friend, my questions for you are: What do you think of salutations and greetings? What do they mean to you? What do people hear when you speak? Do they hear love or hate, jealousy or envy?Do they hear words of encouragement or words of discouragement? As has been said earlier, words are powerful, either way. Words can bring a lifting up and blessings, words also can bring curses, a pulling down or a downfall. So be careful from today when you speak; be a blessing rather than a curse. Verse 46: Mary lifts up the Lord Jesus as she goes into a time of praise worship.Verse 47: Mary acknowledges the Lord Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.Verse 48: She says “Lord, it’s because of your grace – not withstanding my poor and low status.”Verse 49: Not by Mary’s power, not by her might but by the grace of God.Verses 50-52: This is a standard thing about God: His ways are not our ways and we cannot fully understand Him, but one thing is certain; “His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” Verse 53: The Lord Yeshua, the creator of heaven and earth, loves the poor, and cares for the poor. Verse 54: Jesus coming, is God being merciful to the world – especially Israel, whom he had made covenant, pacts, and agreements with in the past.Jesus has come to show God’s mercy to the world. Have you received his mercy? He came to His own…but as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become children of God. (John 1:12) Only one word from God can touch and change your life beyond measure. Let us pray. Lord, speak your word of love and comfort to your people today, including the person reading this book, but most especially the poor and the needy and people of low estate, like Mary. Exhortation August 2009Enquiring Of The Lord Or Seeking The Face Of GodBy Rev Vincent Onwukanjo
Individual Enquiry: She also learnt that there are times when you need to do your individual communication, conversation, discussion and dialogue with God. So she enquired of the Lord. The Lord answered her. May He answer you today, in Yeshua’s the Messiah’s name. Amen. Corporate Enquiry:
The prayer was a corporate prayer. An individual was selected by God. It was left for the individual, either to go it alone or seek for help. Even when you have sought the face of the Lord, got your answer and you’re convinced what the Lord wants you to do; you can still ask for help, you can still get help, you can still ask for support and partnership. No man is an island.
So don’t give up before you get your break through and eventual victory. It was good back then for people to enquire, seek the face of God and we know it is more pertinent for us, this day and age to seek the face of God. Things may get hard and rough, stick to what the Lord has said.
JULY 2009I'm Not A Bastard, I 'm A Child of GodBy Rev Vincent Onwukanjo Praise the Lord! I 'm really pleased to have you back again this month, to enjoy this month's exhortation on our website. I hope you’ve been enjoying the presence of the Lord as you browse through this website.
We would practice on them the new adjectives we had learned in school that week. Some of the adjectives we did not even know what they meant. Even now I still don’t know what some of them mean. You call them one, they call you one back. If they run out, they make up new ones. Then they'll call you shokolokobangosho. Then you know, they’ve run out of new ones. You can call your opponent whatever you like, they'll still be peace until you say – You Bastard!
Friends! As you are reading this, someone’s been calling you a bastard, unless you know, exactly who you are, and reject his insinuations straight away. Who’s been calling you a bastard? The devil has. You have to reject it. Repeat after me: "I’m not a bastard, I ‘m a child of God." AMEN. Let us read from (Heb 12 4-11) 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. 5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. 6 For the Lord disciplines those he loves,and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” 7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? 10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Everything we do with God has its own reward or punishment. It is down to us, we make the choices. Your first birth on the earth, you had no choice over it. Your second birth, yes, you do have a choice. You had your first through your earthly father, now your second,through your heavenly father. Verse 7 says: was there ever a child who was not punished, chestised,disciplined, corrected by its father?
Are you a bastard or a child of God? Someone is working hard to make you believe you are a bastard. You've got to reject that title, in the name Yeshua, the Christ. Some people, when they hear of God, all they perceive is fear, respect, punishment, hell fire, kill-joy, spoil-sport, making them not to enjoy themselves. That’s all they know about God, but God says in Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope, an expected end."
Think about when you were growing up: (b) Think of that auntie or uncle who instilled some discipline into you, when they said jump you jumped. Everything they did, they said was for your own good. You still remember some of them and laugh or cry. (c) Even as grown-up mature adults, remember your teachers, lecturers or tutors. They had authority over us. They gave orders, we obeyed, for the sake of peace and eventual benefit - our certificates and our degrees. God is far greater than these. What about our bosses at work; they have authority over us. They say jump, we jump 10 feet higher"Pull yourself together and finish your work or else you’ll be fired; they say." We sweat, we quake and tremble at the sound of their voice or footsteps. They have authority over us and can pull the string from under our livelihood. Well, God is far greater than they. Yet, all God has been doing is screaming and shouting to get your attention, to make you his own child, so that you cease from being an illegitimate child and become a child of the living God. (You can read verse 9 again) Holiness is, obedience to God. Contrast that with sin, which is disobedience to God. The enemy will say - "Do as you please without Him. Take care of no No 1. No one can do it for you. This God-business is for weaklings. I am too busy to be wasting my time on God and religion. I haven’t got that time to waste." That’s right! You are right! You haven’t got the time you are wasting. It belongs to God the father of life. It is in his hands to give life or take it away. You can call it punishment or correction or whatever you like: God wants to control your life to lead you to do the things that will be well with your soul and with your spirit - to give you eternal life. God wants you to dedicate your life to him. Verse 11 clearly shows that the benefit will definitely out-weigh the hardship. The benefit is eternal, the hardship is temporal. Here are some Scriptures to chew over:
Dedicate, separate and give over your life to God today and he will give it back to you for ever. Why dedication? Some people regard Christianity as a life sentence. Well, thank God for that– the best place to begin your life sentence is in heaven, any other place will be death-row, worse than with hard labour. Would you like to give your life to God today, to look after it from now on. Would you like to make yourself special to God. The apple of his eye or would you let yourself continue to be treated as a nobody, a bradifool a nonentity, a conconbility or worst still; why let the devil treat you like a bastard when you could be a legitimate child of God. Come, we will pray for you and reintroduce you to your Father, come and rededicate yourself, cause you’re not a bastard you should be a child of God. PRAISE GOD! AMEN!
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