Today is a great day to give thanks and praises to God who has kept and sustained our families in the last 347 days or so.
God has saved us from death, death, pain, anguish, sorrow, lack, woes, illness, etc. To Him be all the glory.
Psalm 124
A Song of degrees of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
These are not ordinary men. Men that swallow other men, men that can cause waters and stream to overwhelm the soul of others. Men that grind people with their teeth.
Sometimes it looks like our soul have been caught in their snare, each time, a Power comes and break the snare, and we always escape. Glory be to the name of the Lord!
Matthew 7:24-25
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
In this year, many rains have fallen on us as a Church and family units. Floods had come, and winds had blew and beaten upon our houses. Thank God our homes and Church is still standing. To God be all the glory.
Our hope and anchor is in our Foundation – the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God for the structure of our home that men see. It is not of our making. It is the underlying support we enjoy from God.
I Cor. 3:11 tells us that must not lay any other foundation, except Christ which we have.
My advice for us will therefore be to check our family and Church structures again. This is because the foundation of the Lord stands sure (2 Tim. 2:19).
2 Timothy 2:19
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
We need to be able to affirm that we are still on the Rock. Does your home still belong to Christ? Does our Church still reflect Christ from when we started?
We need to do a routine maintenance check of our structure (MOT). Is our house slanting? Has it got a crack? Does it need new paint? New roofing? New locks? New doors? Or new windows?
What is your home deficient in? Do your part to repair and ask God to aid you with grace.
James, the brother of Jesus wrote in James 2:14-17 that faith in God without actions on part will be useless alone.
James 2:14-17
14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
What are the necessary actions you will need to take for your family in the coming year? Let’s do our part and may God help us all.
Prayer
Make my home more solid in the coming year than this year.
Make Your Church more solid in the coming year than this present year.
Father, Let Your glory upon my home and Your Church be more greater in the coming year than any other year before now.
Father, let the decisions we make in the coming year strengthen our home and Your church the more.
– Message preached by Pastor Samuel Obafaiye in December 2012