CONSEQUENCES OF DOUBTING GOD’S WORD

In the previous chapter, we began to look at the qualities of the word of God and we already established that the word of God has integrity. We defined integrity as moral excellence and truthfulness. We also saw from the word of God that the bible is replete with the demonstration of God’s moral excellence and truthfulness. Let us look at this example of people who called God a liar in Num.14 and the consequences they had to face for doing so.

In Num.13, Moses sent the 12 elders of the 12 tribes of Israel to go and spy out the land of Canaan which they were supposed to possess as their inheritance. After 40 days of roaming the land, they came back with various reports which the bible classifies into two namely; Evil report and good report. Unfortunately, the majority of them came back with the evil report. What was the evil report?

All of them agreed that the land was pleasant, rich and a very good place – a land flowing with milk and honey. They also agreed that the land had a lot to offer them but there was a major point of disagreement between the two groups. One group and unfortunately, the majority said there were giants in the land and in their own eyes, they were like grasshoppers before the giants and for that reason, they were not going to be able to take the land. Meanwhile God had earlier promised to give them the land and ordered them to go and take possession of it.

Let me disclose one secret in life to you here; there are no tree lands anywhere. You will have to contend for to take delivery of any promise God has given to you. These people ought to have known better because they had to fight a good fight of faith to be able to come out of Egypt in the first place. All through their journeys in the wilderness, they had to believe God for food and water and in all of these, God was faithful. Yet they still (by their claims of impossibility) insulted God by calling Him (to whom nothing was impossible) a liar when they insisted (in contradiction to God’s word) that they would not be able to possess the land.

On the other hand, two of the twelve elders namely Joshua and Caleb agreed that they would be able to take the land by the grace of God. However, the people did not listen to them as they were already corrupted by the majority opinion. They even thought of stoning Joshua and Caleb for expressing confidence in God’s word to them. As far as God was concerned, that was the height of it. God immediately responded to their unbelief by passing a judgment against them as shown in Num.14:10-13:

“… And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.”

Moses immediately interceded for the people who expressed unbelief in God’s word and God replied in Num.14:20-39 with this verdict:

      And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:

But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.

Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it…

How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.

I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.”

Look at what happened to these peoples in Numbers. They with his evil report

said they would not be able to take the land because there were giants there. Their feeling of inferiority was born out of a spirit of unbelief that they allowed to control them but Joshua and Caleb stood out. The Bible says concerning them, that they had “another spirit”. Apostle Paul discloses in 2Cor.4:13 that this “another spirit” is the Spirit of faith. The spirit of faith was reflected in their utterance when they began to declare that with divine intervention, they would be able to take the land. They insisted that God who had brought them to where they were was able to take them beyond there and give that land to them; that the land was theirs and that they were going to take the land in spite of the giants.

God came down in anger and all the ten of them that brought the evil report died that same day. And when the others who expressed unbelief through their evil report (in their presumption) decided to go to battle against their enemies even though Moses warned them against it, they were defeated. Those of them who survived the war ran back to tell the story.

Let me quickly say here that God’s word may not sound loud and intimidating when He says something but the word of God is the truth. It has integrity. If God is telling you to repent for instance, you better do so for your own good. God wants you saved because He loves and wants you, not because He needs you. If you do not go to heaven, God will not miss you. Heaven is real and so is hell. God promises those who will receive His salvation package in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ an abode with me after their demise from earth. That word must come to pass because God cannot lie. He also reserved eternal damnation for all who would not believe Him and receive the Lord Jesus Christ; first in hell after they die physically and eventually in the lake of fire and brimstone forever after His white throne judgment where he would judge the all the living and dead sinners from Adam to the last child to be born before that day.

But beyond going to heaven, right now on earth your life is wasting if you are not saved. Because until you come into contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, you make him your personal saviour and Lord, you cannot begin to run the course heaven has charted for you. You will only be running Satan’s program and Satan hates you with a passion.

From our text scripture, we learn the following truths about the consequences of not believing God’s word:

1.     You will not be able to walk in faith. The result is that you will not experience divine distinction. Joshua and Caleb were distinguished by God when He tagged them with another spirit which we saw to be the spirit of faith in 1Cor.4:13.

2.     Lack of faith in God’s word can reduce a person’s lifespan. Those ten spies were not supposed to die that day but their lives were cut short with a plague as a judgment from God for disbelieving Him and spreading an evil report as a result.

3.     Lack of faith in God’s word can result in bringing a curse on those associated with us. For example, all the people who associated with the ten spies in their unbelief came under God’s judgment that day and some died the same year from the plague, others died from the presumptuous war they tried to fight with their enemies against the counsel of Moses and the rest of them died in the course of wandering the land within the forty years curse of delay.

4.     Lack of faith in God’s word can result in a needless delayed destiny. The children of Israel did a journey they were supposed to be completing for another forty years.

5.     Lack of faith in God’s word, can result in lack of protection. When the children of Israel in their presumption attempted to take Canaan in our story here, they were defeated because God did not go with them.

6.     Lack of faith in God’s word can result in the fulfillment of a negative prophecy in the life of the person without faith. God told them that they would know what it meant for him not to keep his word to them because of their unbelief.

7.     Lack of faith in God will reflect in negative declarations from our mouths. In verse 28 of our text, God said he will cause what such people say to His hearing to come to pass. This should teach us that whatever we do not want to see happen in our lives should not find expression through our mouths.

This piece is culled from Pastor Alero Nanna's new book - "Exploring the word of His Power" to purchase your copy of the book, please contact flourishinggirl@gmail.com or call +233 271823700 or +234 8033459152.

Perhaps you are not born again yet and you will like to but you do not know how, you can get born again by saying the prayer below out loud to God and the Holy Spirit will take you up from there. After praying please contact us with the above email address or phone number to let us know so that we can send you an e copy of our "Belivers' Guide To Growth" to help you in your Christian adventure.

Remain on top.

UNDERSTANDING AND CONTROLLING YOUR RESOURCES

God’s pattern for your life includes specifications for the spiritual, physical and material resources that are necessary for you to live a fulfilling and productive life. Until you learn what resources God has arranged for you to enjoy and what benefits He planned for you to receive from each resource, your potential will be stunted and your performance will be less than it could be.

Types of resources: There are basically two types of resources you must understand and control if you must succeed and they are the TANGIBLE AND THE INTANGIBLE resources. The intangible resources are those resources we cannot see physically but we are very conscious of their existence. The tangible resources are those we can see like plants, animal, water, sunlight, etc. in our environment. Some examples of intangible resources are time, the resources of the soul, spiritual resources etc. Time is what you need to convert the tangible resources around you to wealth. You can also use time to convert intangible resources into beneficial relationships and add value to your life and that of others. For instance, you have to give time to cultivate a friendship; to build love with another to create the wealth of joy and support that being in love brings about. You need time to build anything you want to build; a business, a mega fortune, a house, a home, anything at all. This explains why the more time you give to doing a particular thing, the more you excel at it. Kenneth Hagan told the story of two brothers who were Pastors and how one of them had a potential for being more successful than the other because of his more outgoing disposition. But he spent his time going around and cracking jokes while his less outgoing brother was always studying and praying. Of course the one who spent more time in the word and prayer was more successful even though by his quiet disposition, he did not seem to stand a chance at success like his brother.

Time is either spent or invested. The time you put in getting to know God and serve His cause on earth for instance, is the best time of your life because that is time invested that would bring you huge dividends on this and the other side of eternity. In Mat.19:28-29, in answer to Peter’s question to the Lord on what they stood to gain for leaving everything to follow Him. The Lord said:

“Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”  

In Mark’s account of this same incidence, Jesus also said, we shall be persecuted on this side. So persecution for the cause of Christ is an indication that someone is envious of your success in releasing your God given ability where they have failed. So don’t let them stop you. Keep at it. It is part of your heritage for investing the time of your life. If you are not persecuted, it could just be an indication that you are running on the same course as the devil who is the abysmal failure causing as many as he could to fail like him.

When Daniel wanted to solve the problem of Nebuchadnezzar who needed to be reminded of his dream and have it interpreted, he requested for time. In Daniel 2:16-19, we read:

“Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation.

Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:

That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.”

When time was given to Daniel, what did he do with it? He did not try to escape from Babylon so that he would not be killed with the rest of the magicians and wise men, he called his friends of like minds and they had a prayer meeting with God and the bible says that the matter was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So the next day, he walked up to Nebuchadnezzar armed with his dream and interpretation and solved the puzzle of the king bringing glory to God and honor to himself and salvation to all the wise men and magicians in Babylon who would have been killed had Daniel not provided this solution.

This kind of thinking as you can see, knocks off every lie that money is the first thing you need to be great or to be wealthy. Note here that Daniel came into Babylon bound in chains as a slave, but by investing his time with God, he emerged a leader and none of us can ever describe Daniel as a poor man.

Another good example is Joseph. He entered Egypt in chains as a slave, prospered as a slave and thirteen years later, became the number two man in Egypt because he invested his time with God.

Two Pastors can live in the same house; one would invest his time praying and studying the word and applying himself to what he is learning and the other can spend his time entertaining himself with television, radio, worldly magazines and living carnally. The result is that in time, their difference will be made clear, because when it comes time for both of them to deliver on their assignment as pastors; they would not command equal attention. The one who invested his time will deliver on his assignment and the other who wasted his time on entertainment will resort to gimmicks and lose value and relevance. In fact, the one who invested his time will emerge a servant of God and Isa.65:13-14 best describes their destiny thus:

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:

Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.”

Dear reader, I dont know how you came about reading this post; one thing I do know however is that God orchestrated the events that brought this about because He loves you deeply and does not want you to live a wasted life. You may even has been a Christian for many years without fruit to show. I believe you were enriched by this message and that from this moment you will make the changes neccessary to bring about the fruitfulness you have always desired in your Christian life.

On the other hand, you may not even be born again yet. Then it is quite understandable why even if you have seen some measure of success, all of them are not weighty enough to withstand the test of time not to talk of Eternity. This is the reason why you always feel unfulfilled in spite of your success. I have good news for you, that can change now.

Another person reading this may have been managing failure since forever, I also have good news for you. You can become a resounding success begining today.

It all starts with a commitment that will result in the activation of your God given abilities resulting in the fulfilment of your divine purpose which will in turn make you a joy and an eternal excellency. That commitment is simple, say they following prayer out loud to God and mean it with all your heart. The Holy Spirit will take it up from there and you will be born again.

THE SINNER’S PRAYER

Father in Heaven,

I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your word says in John 6:37 that you will not cast me out when I come to you. So I thank you that you will take me in.

You also said in Romans 10:9-10 that if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that you raised him from the dead, I shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that you raised him from the dead for my justification and I confess him now as my saviour and Lord.

I believe that I have now become your righteousness in Christ whom you made to be sin for me on Calvary’s Cross.

Thank you father that I am saved from this day in Jesus’s name!

                                                                 please write to me

If you just said this prayer, congratulations! You are now born again. As a new creation however, you need to constantly feed on the sincere milk of the word to enable you grow spiritually so that you can mature to the point of bearing fruits. Please write to me at flourishinggirl@gmail.com requesting for your free e-copy of "Believers Guide to Growth". This will really help you in your Christian life. God bless you!!!  

WELCOME TO APRIL: OUR MONTH OF DIVINE FAVOUR

 Texts: Ps.102:13:

 “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.”

Ps.5:12:  

“For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

Welcome to the month of April. This month has been prophetically declared our Month of Divine Favour. The bible says except the Lord builds a house, they labour in vain who try to build on their own. No matter how good you are at what you do, if God does not grant you favour in that thing, you will remain hidden and never be able to gain recognition for it. So after all said and done in life, it is the Lord that makes the difference for us.

In Ecclesiastes 9:11, we read:

“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

From this text of scripture, we gather that all who are under the sun are those living on earth where the influence of the sun is felt everywhere. Interestingly also, we are told that the race is not to the swift. This is rather paradoxical because by our natural calculation, the swiftest runner wins the race! In spiritual arithmetic on the other hand, that is not the case. Do not forget however, that spiritual arithmetic is superior to our natural calculation. Even when you are at the back of a queue for greatness, God can and will cause you to jump the queue and be brought ahead of all the others on queue when the time to favour you comes. Of course, it would not be illegal because only God has the yardstick for measuring legality. If He says you are leaving the back of the queue, who can tell you to stay there?

Beloved, you have been divinely inspired to log on and read this because God has been trying to tell you that by His favour on you, you are leaving the back of the queue to be a main player in the field of greatness on the earth.

Another interesting thing we read in Ecclesiastes 9:11 is that favour is not necessarily given to men of skill, but people have to be located at the right place and the right time to receive favour. This month of April, God will locate you at the right place and the right time so that all that pertain to your greatness will be delivered to you. The good news I have for you is that NOW is your right time – CONGRATULATIONS!!!

It is with the above in mind that this month, we shall be looking at How to cultivate the shield of favour. But first you must understand that if you have not made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, God is not obligated to favour you. Our text in Ps.5:12 says God will bless the righteous and surround him with favour as with a shield. When you add that scripture to 2Cor.5:21 which says God made the Lord to be sin for us (even though the Lord never sinned) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him; you will appreciate that only those who are in Christ can be righteous. That automatically positions you for the blessing and favour of God that will release you into your greatness.

If you are not yet born again and you want to be blessed, you can be born again from this moment by saying the sinner’s prayer below and meaning it with all your heart. Ensure that you read it out loud to God and you will enter into your season of undeniable favour in Jesus’ name!

THE SINNER’S PRAYER

Father in Heaven,

I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your word says in John 6:37 that you will not cast me out when I come to you. So I thank you that you will take me in.

You also said in Romans 10:9-10 that if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that you raised him from the dead, I shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he was raised from the dead for my justification and I confess him now as my saviour and Lord.

I believe that I have now become your righteousness in Christ whom you made to be sin for me on Calvary’s Cross.

Thank you father that I am saved from this day in Jesus’s name!

 Once again, I welcome you to our month of DIVINE FAVOUR. For more information, please visit our website @ http://www.kingdomheirsministries.org/ and check out our blog at  www.jointheirsfamily.blogspot.com and follow me or on twitter @ alero_nanna or on face book by liking Healing and Restoration Time With Pastor Alero Nanna and also liking Kingdom Joint Heirs Family Churches. GBY!