The Theme of the month of July is rest by still waters as spoken by God through His Prophet and I perceive in my spirit that God is saying to someone her today I will give you rest, I will make you lie down in green pastures and lead you beside still and restful waters.
There are many definitions of rest but for the message The Lord has for us today the definition of Rest is the absence of labour (the presence of the favour of God in a man’s life) stands out.
The Book of Eccl. 9:11 (Amp. Version) says ‘I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, neither is bread to the wise nor riches to men of intelligence and understanding nor favour to men of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. The new living translation says (I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skilful are not necessarily wealthy and those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time’.
The presence of God and His favour upon your life can grant you the grace to achieve what someone else can’t achieve in 20 years by their strength, skill and knowledge.
It can make you to overtake and out run your enemy like Elijah did in the Book of 1 Kings 18: 41-46, when he outran King Ahab that was riding on horses to the gates of Jezreel on foot because the hand of The Lord was on Him.
My prayer for you is that you will out run your enemies and The Lord God Almighty will grant you rest on all sides in Jesus name.
Our earlier reading from the Book of Eccl. 9:11 said winning the race in life is decided by time and chance, by being in the right place at the right time. The Bible says many are called but few are chosen.
My prayer for us is that we will always be in the right place at the right time, on the day that The Lord will be passing by may we be found at our duty post in Jesus name.
Brethren in 1 Sam 16 David was at the back side of the wilderness tending to the sheep/flock of his family, when Prophet Samuel was sent to his father’s house by Jehovah to anoint a king over Israel. Brethren his Father and Brothers forgot him but heaven remembered him. When Prophet Samuel realised this he said to Jesse and his 7 sons send for him for we will not sit down until he comes and Brethren the Bible recorded that David was anointed King over Israeli in the presence of his Father and Brothers.
May The Lord God Almighty remember you on the day of your honour in Jesus name.
May heaven stand still for you until you are honoured in Jesus name.
In the Book of Luke 5: 1-11, Peter was a seasoned fisherman, he had the skills, he had the qualities of a good fisherman, the best time for fishermen to catch fishes is at night and the Bible made us to understand that he and his men had toiled all night and had taken nothing, remember the Book of Eccl. 9:11 said ‘nor favour is to men of skill, that means that because you have the skills does not necessarily mean you have the favour to excel, favour can only be accorded a man by God. Peter had the skill but he did not have Jesus (The Good Shepherd) the Shepherd that leads His sheep by still restful waters and by green pastures.
The Bible says in Prov. 3:6 ‘Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and He will direct your paths’. The Bible makes us to understand in Luke. 5:2 that there were 2 ships standing by the lake and Our Lord Jesus choose to enter the one that belonged to Simon Peter and He not only entered but He asked him to thrust out a little from the land, so He would teach the people that pressed on Him to hear the word of God.
Remember the Bible said Peter had toiled all night and caught nothing, he must have been disappointed, tired and dreading what his wife was going to say to him when he arrived home with nothing to eat and sell at the market to earn a living.
He would have got angry when he saw The Lord (whom was a total stranger to him at that time) sat in his ship and said to him get out of my ship, I am tired and I am going home to rest, so I can come out again tonight, have you nothing better to do. But Peter did not do any of the above, he rather choose to obey the Lord and when the teaching was over he must have thought that the Lord Jesus would have released him to go home, but no, He said let down your nets for a draught, Peter first gave his excuses, and then he said ‘Nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net and when he had done this, ‘they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake and they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them, and they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink’.
When you do God’s business, He will definitely take care of your business. When God blesses you like He blessed Abraham, He does not stop there, He makes you to become a blessing to others.
When God grants a man rest, people around him will also enjoy rest. Rest is the absence of war. The Bible says and God granted King Solomon rest round about. Solomon was the only king recorded in the Bible that never fought any war, he did not enjoy the rest of God alone but the whole of Israel enjoyed the rest of God because Solomon was reigning over them and because God granted him rest on all sides.
May The Lord God Almighty grant you rest round about on all sides in Jesus name.
When you allow the Lord Jesus to be your Shepherd, you will never lack anything good that comes from Him, He will always refresh and restore your soul. He will lead you in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. Whatever it is that we do as children of God, My prayer is that we will always say to our Lord and Saviour ‘At Thy Word Lord’. ‘Just say the word and I will obey’. May that be our song all the days of lives in Jesus name.
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