When they woke up, all of them trimmed their lamps, but sadly, the lamps of five of them were gone out!
You see, there comes a time when activities without priority on God’s presence will fail. There comes a time where energy and service bravado will fail! When the oil in the lamp goes out, it is the oil in your vessel that will save you!
When you are serving God passionately with your time, energy, and resources but are still embroiled in habitual sexual sins and other transgressions, you are just being foolish! Ouch! That hurts! But it is the truth! It is the truth that will make you free. I am not here to tell you what you want to read or what appeals to your ears, but to declare the undiluted word of God!
When you are seen as a spiritual person and others are even looking up to you yet you know you are empty when it comes to a personal relationship with God, you are being foolish! Ouch!
If you are a pastor that only read your Bible to preach, that is oil in the lamp and nothing more than foolishness! Ouch! You don’t read Bible to preach alone, you study it to live!
If you are a lady in the protocol or ushering in church, always prompt and active, and you don’t know what it means to practice the presence of God, neither do you read your Bible regularly, you are not being wise! Ouch!
If you are the most active in church and yet you live with a boyfriend or girlfriend, that is utter foolishness.
Mat 25:12 KJV But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
When they wanted the door opened to them, Jesus simply said he doesn’t know them! Is it possible that one can think He knows God and God does not know that person? Yes, I think it is possible.
Let us all get back to getting oil in our vessels regularly. That is how you won’t make mistake in your relationship.
That is how you will know the right person.
That is how not to miss your “bridegroom” That is how not to miss your spouse. That is how the ‘virgin’ in you will not miss it! The time when you are supposed to be ready and meet your ‘bridegroom,’ or your ‘spouse to be’ is not the time to go look for extra oil! It should have been in your vessel all the while!
Mat 25:10 KJV And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
When you’ve still not learnt how to prioritize your time, and you still don’t value God’s presence, you are still caught up with deceit and sexual sins, the implication is that you are not yet ready and the door of marriage can be shut! It is only those that are ready that will go with him into the marriage! The reason why there is a delay for some people when it comes to marriage is simply lack of oil in the vessel. It can literarily shut the door of marriage!
Oil in the vessel! That is how to keep your relationship.
Make up your mind this morning to be wise!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY Lord, I receive the wisdom to rule in the affairs of this world.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will give you wisdom to stay in His presence
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Mat 25:5 KJV While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Cut off your association with any person, place, or thing that is influencing you negatively.
This is a continuationof yesterday’s article where we talked about practical ways to show respect to your spouse in marriage
Here are practical ways to do this.
1. Know that your spouse is so very special before God. He/ she is costly and bought with the precious blood of Jesus. Jesus would have come to die for your spouse.
2. Do not yell at your spouse. You may be angry but never yell.
3. Allow freedom of expression. It is okay to be different; that is why you married in the first place. Men and women are meant to be different.
4. Let your spouse feel safe, secure and trusted by building mutual respect.
5. When you have opposing opinions which will happen most times, you listen. Your listening shows respect.
6. Respect that your spouse is worth listening to. He/ she has something vital to bring to the table.
7. Allow healthy space when it is needed, it shows respect. Let your spouse be by him/herself, have her own friends, her own things et cetera
8. Do not control one another. Your relationship is unhealthy when there is the slightest control. God asked us to love, not control. Jesus never controlled the church.
9. Both spouses should admit once they are wrong and sincerely seek for forgiveness. Swallow your pride and admit you are wrong and apologize.
10. Never treat one another shabbily, in private or public. Show appreciation for every little thing your spouse does. Don’t take each other for granted.
What other ways can you show respect to your spouse?
I will be expecting your replies in the comment box.
God bless our marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am submitted to my spouse.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, teach me how to submit to my own spouse.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Ephesians 5:21(KJV) Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
There will always be issues in relationships and marriage. There will always be challenges. There will always be something to sort, discuss, solve or resolve. When two people live together, this is expected.
It is for this reason that communication becomes important in any relationship and marriage. Once communication becomes defective, there will be assumptions. An assumption is the lowest form of knowledge, so naturally there will be wrong conclusions. The wisdom then is to keep on talking and never keep malice with your spouse, fiancée or friends.
There will be problems to SOLVE. It simply means to find the solution to a problem or question. For example, attitudinal tendencies can become problems. There can be attitudes that have been picked up while your spouse is growing up. These can form into habits that can become lifestyles.
Once there is a negative attitude, then you simply have a negative lifestyle. What do you do with such? You are to confront and solve, not deny or pretend that they are not there.
There will be quarrels to RESOLVE. To resolve means to reach a conclusion after a discussion or deliberation. If two people live together and both of them are thinking, there will be disagreements. But as Kenneth Hagin said, you can disagree to agree! Resolve every disagreement. Remember you are to complement each other not compete.
There will be wrong mindsets to DISSOLVE. There will be wrong relationships to dissolve. For example, you cannot be getting counsel on how to run your home from someone who has no home! He could cancel your destiny in an attempt to counsel you!
Take decisions. Solve the problems, resolve the quarrels, and dissolve the relationships that can ruin you.
If you are single and courting, and you are constantly involved in sexual affairs, it is time to dissolve such because the laws of cause and effect will soon take their course. You cannot outrightly disobey God and expect his protection, favour, and blessings.
May God grant you understanding.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am not confused. I have the mind of Christ. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Lord, strengthen me in my inner man to do the impossible this year.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Job 12:13 MSG “True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for.
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Solve, Resolve and Dissolve
There are myths every single should disbelief. Let me show you some.
1. The reason I am not married is because I am not beautiful
You see, beauty is in the beholder’s eyes. When you truly meet your spouse, you will be beautiful to him however you look.
Why do you think you are ugly? It is probably because some people told you that. Well, that is their opinion. However you look, somebody will soon see you and tell you you are beautiful.
I always say humourously that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You will be fearful (ugly) to some and you will be wonderful (beautiful) to others.
Psa 139:14 KJV I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
2. God is punishing me because of my past mistakes.
God never consults your past to determine your future. Let’s take a look at the scripture.
Heb 10:17 KJV And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
God will not only forgive you, He will forget about it. He would erase it out of His records. And listen to me, what God has forgiven and forgotten, don’t let the devil who is the accuser of brethren hold you on it.
Here is what Message translation says:
Heb 10:17 MSG He concludes, I’ll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
What God has concluded on, don’t allow the devil to add another paragraph. Where God has put a full stop, don’t allow anybody to change it to a comma.
3. A woman can never successfully submit to her husband
Submission to one’s husband is not a negotiation, it is an instruction from God. When you submit to your husband, you will bring yourself into a season of unprecedented favour, an unleashing of creativity and flowing in the fullness of God’s blessings over your life. Why? Because you are obeying God, even when it is not easy.
1Pe 3:1-2 AMP (1) IN LIKE manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives, (2) When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him–to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband].
4. There is certainly a curse working against me.
Curses are real. But the liberation from curses is even more real! The devil is wicked, but God is loving.
Through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been redeemed from curses of the law. We have been made free. No devil should be allowed to lord it over you again!
Gal 3:13-14 MSG Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing–just the way Abraham received it.
I will conclude on these myths tomorrow. Don’t miss it.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am free from myths and wrong beliefs.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will deliver you from known and unknown myths
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Rom 5:5, KJV)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Challenge every myth you know about marriage.
Jer 33:1-3 KJV (1) Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, (2) Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; (3) Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
This is what I love about the God’s word. The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah… Here, it is like saying a human being walks up to you…but actually, God’s word is more tangible than a human. The word of God is life…it is alive and it is the source of every life. It is that same word that became flesh and dwelt among us!
You see, the word of the Lord will always come and that is the beginning of good things in your life and the end of unpalatable experiences. The word of the Lord….let it come unto you daily before you leave your room, before you step out into your daily endeavor, it is the secret of life! Before you see the dawn of the day, and step out into the early morning sunshine, let the word of God light your soul in its blazing Shekinah glory!
And you see, the word of the Lord was not just coming unto Jeremiah…the scripture says it came unto him the second time…. God is a God of the second chance, and the third chance and the fourth chance and until you get it! He will come to you again and again because of His loving kindness and mercy…to you out there reading this…don’t back out on God, for He will lovingly embrace you when you respond to His word. You are not too far-gone; don’t allow the devil to deceive you. God will embrace the vilest of sinners that come unto Him and wash them clean as white as snow!
I then I love this… “…while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison. The word of God is not location-limited or circumstance-hindered. It does not discriminate and it does not play politics! It is not partial or biased. There is no distance in the realm of the spirit. That word came unto Jeremiah while he was still locked up.
Do you feel locked up and confused in a relationship? Do you feel barred and busted? The word of the Lord is what will free you. For you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
In that situation that looks very bleak, what you need to get you out is the word of God. In those situations, the last thing your flesh wants to do is to read or study God’s word. Your flesh wants to panic, cry, gossip, rant, complain and play the blame-game. It wants to get depressed and have some pity-party.
But you see, in such situations, you cannot allow your body to dictate to you. You must put your body under by diving into God’s word to hear what He will say unto you.
You see, whatever you are facing right now, whatever imbroglio you find yourself, whatever relationship issue or marriage pressure that faces you, one thing guaranteed to sort you out is to know God’s word. And that word will come unto wherever you are. Joseph was in the prison until the word of God tried him. That word will dissolve every puzzle and unravel every enigma.
You are confused as to the choice of who to marry? Get back into God’s word for in Him is life and the life is the light of men! The life gives you energy to go the way that the light will show you.
Verse 3 says
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Message translation says:
Jer 33:3 MSG ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’
You see, there are things about your life, relationship and marriage you can never figure out on your own. You don’t often see beyond your nose. Your sight is often terminated by the horizon.
There are deceivers. A handsome man is not always a God loving man. A rich man is not always a nice man. A wicked man can be mercifully cruel! A beautiful woman can be a strange woman. The bible talks about a beautiful face on an empty head! How do you figure out some of these things?
The first thing is that the word of God must come unto you. The second thing is that you learn to call unto Him and He will answer you! The question is will it be that easy? Just call Him and then the next thing is that He will answer? This is the way I want you to see it. When you call a stranger, you’re introduce yourself first. When you call a friend, he already has your number and sometimes, you don’t even greet him or her before you say what you want to say. The scripture above is obviously one of a friendship, a relationship with God.
Call unto me, and I will answer… It didn’t say, “Call unto me, and introduce yourself and then I will consult my angel to find out who you are…”
It’s just like “Call unto me, and I will answer! Why? The background is that the word of the Lord already came unto you. There is already a relationship! It is on that premise that you call unto Him and He will answer you!
I pray for you this morning that even as you read this, the word of the Lord will come unto you to lift you out every miry clay and set you foot upon the mountain. You will overcome that challenge by the word of God.
You are not condemned because of that mistake; the word of God will come unto you and make you a new specie! You will not be cut off in the midst of your days. The very thing you need to know this day, God’s word will bring it unto you! Stop crying, wipe the tears off and get into God’s word! CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I am a lover of God’s word. I have what it takes to know and live the word.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will help you to know the Word
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 KJV)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Study a book on how to know God’s plan for your life
