“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 the them all.”
Beloved family, I welcome you to this glorious Month
of August which the Lord has graciously tagged for us: Our Month of Divine Opportunities!
For us to fully take advantage of the importance of this month, let us first
unpack the meaning of divine opportunities. To help us do this, I like to take
the words apart first and define each of them separately before bringing them
together.
First, Divine means that which is of God. Opportunities
on the other hand; are the plural of opportunity which the Farlex English
dictionary defines as: 1. “Fit or convenient time or situation; a time or place
permitting or favourable for the execution of a purpose; a suitable combination
of conditions; suitable occasion; chance. 2. Convenience of situation; fitness.
3. Importunity; eagerness etc.
From our definitions here, we can gather that divine
opportunities are possibilities due to a favourable combination of
circumstances put together by God or ordained by God even if he did not put
them together by Himself. These circumstances are used together by God for the
good of His lovers. A look at the book of Romans in chapter 8:28 would show
that all things work together for the good of certain people. Who are these
people?
All things work together for the good of people who
love God and who are called according to His purpose. If you really love God
and are in His purpose for your life, all things are ordained by God to work
for your good.
Another word I would like to highlight in our
definition above is the word importunity. The Lord used this word in His
parable of the persistent friend in Luke chapter 11:5-13 when He was teaching
on the importance of persistence in prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the truth that God gives good gifts and not evil gifts to those who ask from
Him. This word can also be inferred in the parable of “The Unjust Judge” in Luke
18:1-8 where the Lord was teaching about persistence in praying night and day.
Whereas the parable of the persistent friend teaches about the importance of
the midnight prayer, the parable of the unjust judge teaches about the
importance of praying always without ceasing. We learn from this parable that
if we can be described as God’s elect, one of the evidence is in our
persistence in prayer even if the resultant answers to our prayers; seem to be
delayed or denied. In fact God said in this place that He would answer us
speedily even though he exercises His patience as He usually does.
Another truth that is clarified by these parables is
that we do not get our prayers answered just because we are God’s friends but
because of our persistence or importunity as the case may be.
When we refer back to our text scripture in
Ecclesiastes 9:11 above, it becomes very clear that the word chance has taken a
whole world of new meaning. Chance in association with time that happens to all
that make some people get the best out of life; is not just what happens on its
own, it can be made to happen through our persistent prayer. Therefore, even
though the race is not to the swift, nor battle to the strong, neither yet
bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to
men of skill; there is a caliber of people to whom God ensures that everything
will work for their good even when good things are not happening for others.
Who are these people?
The unique people:
As the world draws
closer to its end, prophetically, many things will be befalling the world and
its people that would make things so difficult for man that they would be
seeking solution at all cost. At the same time, a people would be raised by God
as solution providers to the general need of mankind and these people would be
holy to God and separate from the world in their ways. These are the people
described by Joel in Joel chapter 2 as a great people. In the book of Isaiah
chapter 60 these people are described as those who will arise and shine as darkness
covers the world and gross darkness covers the people of the world. They are
described by the Lord in Matthew 5:13-16 as the light and the salt of the
earth. Finally, Apostle Peter describes them in 1Pet.2:9 as a chosen generation;
a royal priesthood; a holy nation designed by God to demonstrate the praises of
His who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. These people
are the solution providers to the world and its people. They are a people
raised by God to answer the confusing questions in the hearts of people about
the times and seasons that have befallen the people of the earth and making it
more and more difficult for people to live better lives by the day. A word that
best describes these people is the Church of Jesus Christ. They are not just a
gathering of people in a physical structure but a gathering of people by the
Spirit of God ordained for a time like this to meet the need of mankind and its
environment just like Joseph was raised by God to solve the problem of world hunger
crisis in his time. In the same way, Daniel was raised by God to dissolve
doubts; interpret dreams and clarify hard sentences by the Spirit of God upon
His life during his lifetime.
These people are:
1.
The Church of
Jesus Christ/The Church of God. Acts 20:28; 1Cor.1:2; 10:32 and Gal.1:13.
2.
The bride of
Christ – Rm.7:4; Rev.21:9.
3.
The blood bought
of the Lord Jesus Christ- Rev.1:5-6 and Acts 20:28.
4.
The blood washed
saints of God separated from the world in all of their ways. Rev.1:5-6 and
1Pet.2:9
5.
The body of
Christ – 1Cor.12:27
6.
A strong people
against whom the fiery trials of the times have no power like the fiery flames
of Nebuchadnezzar had no power over Daniel’s three friends: Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3. See
also Joel 2:1-8.
If you belong to
this group, God is calling us to draw closer to Him so that He could reveal
things to us to enable us stand in our place in these end times to provide the
much needed solution to the world. What is our place? Our place is the place of
priesthood and royalty. We are called to be priests and kings unto our God and
to reign with Christ Jesus on the earth. See Rev.1:6; 5:9-10 and Rm.5:17. God
has fulfilled His part of this deal by sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us
and through us provide solution to the world’s problems and bring about the
salvation of as many as will receive Jesus Christ so that more people can be
drawn out of the decay of the world and into the saving knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. [Jn.16:7-13; Acts 2:1-4; Rm.8:26; Jude 1:20-24 and 1Cor.12:1-11].
However, many people pray without results, but many more; even though they pray
and get brief spells of results; do not have sustained results.
To this end, this
month, we shall be doing a study I want to tag: Praying in the perfect will of God. By the grace of God, this month
we shall be looking in-depth into this great tool of God for mankind to
determine the value of his destiny. In Genesis, we see the story of Abraham’s
servant using this means to get a wife for Isaac speedily with the help of God
in Gen.24:1-51. Also, in Acts 9:3-6 we see Saul who later became Apostle Paul finding
his divine purpose simply by asking the Lord what He would have Him to do.
Also, we later got to know that the means by which He got His prayers answered
was praying always. This is why he told the Church at Thessalonica to pray
without ceasing in 1Thess.5:17 and of himself; he said in 1Cor.14:18: “... I speak in tongues more than ye all.”
Someone is reading
this that is asking without himself or herself without certainty whether they
can truly qualify for the people described above as the Church even though they
desire to be so described. I have good news for you if you are that person. You
can become certain of this at once by saying the following prayer out loud in
faith and you will become born again:
Heavenly Father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you
raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus
Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of
Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this
father in Jesus’ name! Amen.
Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you
grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on
twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.
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