Welcome to January, 2013; our year of divine visitation

As though that was not enough, God has graciously declared to us that this month of January for us shall be our month of Rejoicing. He gave me this text in John 15:11: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." From this text of scripture, we gather that the more we receive rhema from heaven, the more joyful we will be. If we place this text side by side with Isaiah 12:3 which says therefore, with joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation, we would see a close correlation between being joyful and receiving insights from God. Nothing decorates like having insights from heaven. Knowledge revealed to us, releases light and the light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. This is why joy is the strength of the believer. This was expressly stated in the book of Nehemiah 8:10 where the people were encouraged to rejoice because the joy of the Lord is their strength.
For the New Testament believer, Apostle Peter said, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ produces unspeakable joy full of glory in us. As I write, my heart is bubbling with so much joy I cannot explain, but I know that the source is the truths I am gleaning from the word of God by the help of the Holy Spirit who is also responsible for the oil of gladness which believers receive.
When we pray, the release of joy from our inner man is proof of answers to prayer or victory in spiritual warfare.
Like we have earlier seen, joy is released in our inner man when we receive the spoken word of the Lord. To this end, this month, we shall be positioning ourselves to hear the Lord on every issue of life to enable us bask in His joy so that when others shall say that there is a casting down, we shall sing a different song that there is a lifting up. We will therefore give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Please watch out for our ministered word on our blog posts at www.blogpost/kingdomjointheirsfamily.com.
You may have been plagued by sorrow for so long that you are even afraid to rejoice. I have good news for you. This year, God is going to address every long standing issue in your life and fill your heart with joy as He visits you this month. However, you problems may just be traceable to the fact that you have not yet established a living relationship with God because you are not yet born again. What a time to make this decision. Resolve to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life today at the beginning of this New Year and let all your sorrows pass away with last year. As surely as last year will never come again, your past sorrows are buried in the red sea of the wrath of God never to arise again. To activate this truth in your life, you can say the sinner’s prayer as below: Heavenly father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. I repent of my sin and receive the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross for my salvation. I believe He died for me and on the third day, you raised Him from the dead for my salvation. From today, I receive Him as the Saviour and Lord of my Life.
Thank you father for forgiving me and writing my name in the book of life with the blood of Jesus. I pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ from this day forever in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!!! If you just said this prayer, congratulations! You are now born again. Please let me know by emailing flourishinggirl@gmail.com and I will send you an e copy of our "Believers’ Guide to Growth" to enable you take off on this glorious adventure of the new creation. You can also log on to my blog on www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com or follow me on face book at www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl for more resource materials to enrich your Christian life. God bless you!!!

Welcome to the year 2013

You are welcome to the year 2013 OUR YEAR OF DIVINE VISITATION
As I sought the Lord concerning this year last year, He told me that 2013 to us shall be a year of divine visitation in the manner which He visited Sarah in Gen.21:1-3. That text of scripture reads as follows: "And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac." He also said He will visit us in the manner He visited the children of Israel in Egypt after 400 years of servitude under their cruel master. In Exodus 3:7-9, the Lord said to Moses: "… I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them". He also talked about visiting us in the manner He visited Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke chapter 1 when they received the miracle of a son in their old age who turned out to be the forerunner of the Lord. Concerning this couple, the Bible says in Luke 1:5-17 "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." There is one common thread that runs through all these bible testimonies and that is the fact that these cases were all long standing issues that only God could handle.
In this year 2013, God will be attending to long standing issues in your life; whether you are aware of them or not. God destroyed barrenness in the lives of Sarah and Elizabeth respectively in fulfillment of a promise of visitation He made the year before and blessed them with the fruit of the womb. If you are believing God for this kind of miracle, you can start rejoicing now because your days of mourning are over. God is going to judge every enemy of your fertility and work a creative miracle in your life in Jesus’ name.
Your case may not be one of barrenness of the body; it could be unproductivity reflecting in fruitless endeavors just like the children of Israel who were working so hard to build for their slave masters for nothing. When God visited them, God gave them favour enough to spoil their captors and when the captors sought to
get them back into slavery, God judged them with a death sentence that was immediately issued in the red sea. This will be your story in Jesus’ name.
God will visit you this year and turn your sorrows to joy and your tears to laughter like He did for Sarah and Elizabeth and the children of Israel in Jesus’ name.
All the wicked that have risen up against you without your cooperation, shall also be visited by the Lord in His vengeance. So rejoice and prepare for your personal divine visitation.
In light of our divine visitation, our main emphasis this year shall be our spiritual growth so that we can be prepared and understand and flow with God when He visits us. Welcome to January, 2013; our year of divine visitation As though that was not enough, God has graciously declared to us that this month of January for us shall be our month of Rejoicing. He gave me this text in John 15:11: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." From this text of scripture, we gather that the more we receive rhema from heaven, the more joyful we will be. If we place this text side by side with Isaiah 12:3 which says therefore, with joy shall ye draw water from the wells of salvation, we would see a close correlation between being joyful and receiving insights from God. Nothing decorates like having insights from heaven. Knowledge revealed to us, releases light and the light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. This is why joy is the strength of the believer. This was expressly stated in the book of Nehemiah 8:10 where the people were encouraged to rejoice because the joy of the Lord is their strength.
For the New Testament believer, Apostle Peter said, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ produces unspeakable joy full of glory in us. As I write, my heart is bubbling with so much joy I cannot explain, but I know that the source is the truths I am gleaning from the word of God by the help of the Holy Spirit who is also responsible for the oil of gladness which believers receive.
When we pray, the release of joy from our inner man is proof of answers to prayer or victory in spiritual warfare.
Like we have earlier seen, joy is released in our inner man when we receive the spoken word of the Lord. To this end, this month, we shall be positioning ourselves to hear the Lord on every issue of life to enable us bask in His joy so that when others shall say that there is a casting down, we shall sing a different song that there is a lifting up. We will therefore give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Please watch out for our ministered word on our blog posts at www.blogpost/kingdomjointheirsfamily.com.
You may have been plagued by sorrow for so long that you are even afraid to rejoice. I have good news for you. This year, God is going to address every long standing issue in your life and fill your heart with joy as He visits you this month. However, you problems may just be traceable to the fact that you have not yet established a living relationship with God because you are not yet born again. What a time to make this decision. Resolve to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life today at the beginning of this New Year and let all your sorrows pass away with last year. As surely as last year will never come again, your past sorrows are buried in the red sea of the wrath of God never to arise again. To activate this truth in your life, you can say the sinner’s prayer as below: Heavenly father,
Have mercy on me a sinner. I repent of my sin and receive the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross for my salvation. I believe He died for me and on the third day, you raised Him from the dead for my salvation. From today, I receive Him as the Saviour and Lord of my Life.
Thank you father for forgiving me and writing my name in the book of life with the blood of Jesus. I pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ from this day forever in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!!! If you just said this prayer, congratulations! You are now born again. Please let me know by emailing flourishinggirl@gmail.com and I will send you an e copy of our "Believers’ Guide to Growth" to enable you take off on this glorious adventure of the new creation. You can also log on to my blog on www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com or follow me on face book at www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl for more resource materials to enrich your Christian life. God bless you!!!

An Excerpt from my new book Honour your Father and Your Mother that...

Introduction

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Ex.20:12.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”  -

Eph.6:1-3

             

Just two days ago as I write, I had to be in Abuja, Nigeria for a few days and met a sister who was one of my classmates in the University. We had not seen each other for close to a decade now. While trying to catch up on the time apart, she told me a story that illustrates the hazard of disregarding this principle of scripture we are going to be looking at. I feel led of God to share this story as so many people around the world can identify with it one way or the other.

She said about nine months ago as I write, she visited one of her aunts who was sick. She was so shocked to see the way she was being ill-treated by her sons that it set her thinking about this commandment to honor our parents. From her story, the aunt in question had three sons and they all neglected her in her old age when she was sick. The eldest with whom she was staying was very abusive to her. It was so bad that this old woman began to behave like a sub human. Eventually, her womb fell out of her body before she died.  Less than six months later, her first son who maltreated her the most died after a brief illness without ever having married or having any child of his own.  This young man’s life was cut short and he died without being desired!

As we take a look at this much neglected instruction from the word of God, my intention is to help you see the importance of this instruction and the urgent need to adhere to it. Please understand that an instruction does not rank at par with an advice or admonition. It is a commandment and when commandments are violated, they carry consequences; in this case, grave consequence you do not want to meddle with.

On the other hand, adhering to instructions pave the way for your flights in life. The bible says in Proverbs 6:23 that reproof of instruction are the way of life. The text reads:

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:”

The way of life is the way of God and in Isa.55:9, the Lord spoke through the prophet that His ways are higher than our ways. Thus if we must operate by the higher ways of God, we must do so by adhering to His instructions one of which is to honor our parents.   

I pray with all my heart that this book will enrich your life in Jesus’ name!

Flourishinggirl

Chapter 1

Who are Your Father and Mother?

The English Dictionary defines a father as a male parent, a man who exercises parental care over other persons; paternal protector or provider; a person who has originated or established something.  In the same Dictionary, a mother is defined as a female parent; one’s female parent; a mother-in-law, step mother or adoptive mother. The reference for this can be found in www.dictionary.com/mobile.

Still talking about who parents are, Gen.4:1 tells us:

“And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.”  

The word translated ‘knew’ in this text bears the same meaning as to have intercourse or sex with. When we match this with Gen.1:27-28, God made male and female and blessed them with procreative ability which includes fruitfulness of the body with the ability to have children after their kind. This ability; like we have seen in Gen.4:1 above is activated by sex.  For our purpose, let me quickly say here that whereas the bible permits sex only within the confines of marriage, sex outside marriage does not negate the law of reproduction. This explains why not every one born into this world comes in through a proper marriage relationship. Although becoming pregnant outside wedlock could be termed a mistake, the products of such unions are not mistakes as they are bona fide human beings for whom Christ also shed His blood! The bottom line is that if a child can be born, it means God has a purpose for them. Even children who are products of rape are also loved by God because they did not ask to be born; the process of reproduction was forcefully activated and the result turned out to be their birth. As long as a child can be born, there must be parents for them. Those who actually engaged in the act leading to procreation are biological parents to that child notwithstanding their relationship with each other.

In light of the foregoing, we can list the following people as fathers and mother:

1.     The biological parents of children whether in a proper marriage or not.

2.     The foster parents of children through formal or informal adoption. Formal adoption takes place when a couple who could not procreate decides to adopt a child as regulated by the laws governing adoption in their locality. Another case of formal adoption is when a couple with enough biological children decides to adopt other children to add to their children. An individual may also decide to adopt a child without being married for the love of children and raising one of their own even though they are not married.  Informal adoption on the other hand takes place when the parenting of a child devolves on a near or distant relative or friend of the parents of a bereaved child or children.

3.     The parents-in-law of spouses to a marriage respectively. In other words, a wife’s parents become the husband’s father and mother and a husband’s parents become the wife’s father and mother.

4.     Spiritual parents in the case of someone who leads you to Christ or cares for you spiritually nurturing you to adulthood in the faith to enable you find your feet and become a spiritual parent to others also.

5.     In the case of your work, someone who mentored you in your trade or profession.

Chapter 2

The Commandment

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” Ex.20:12.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”  -

Eph.6:1-3

The commandment to honour our father and mother entails that we treat them with love and respect.  In addition, the word translated “honour” in this text is the same word translated honour in Proverbs 3:9 which read:

     

“Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:”

In this text of scripture, honor communicates the responsibility of children to not only love and respect their parents, but to honor their parents with their substance or money. In other words, just as parents were financially responsible for their children when the children were incapable of being responsible for themselves, the children are expected to do the same for their parents. In addition to this, they are to give of their substance to their parents as a mark of honor even when the parents do not need their substance.  We all know that God does not need our substances, yet we give to Him. So any time we give of our substance to God, it is not because God is in need but as a mark of honor to Him in obedience to His word.

For several years, I thought my father did not need my money because I felt he had money, but I was wrong. It was a proper understanding of this scripture that corrected my thinking.

When I was in the University, I knew several cases of people who were ashamed of their parents because of a warped way of thinking. They were living false lives and wanted to be seen as rich men’s kids when they were not. They covered up their inadequacies with a lot of promiscuity to enable them generate the revenue required to live up to their make believe ‘status’.

There was actually a case of a lady whose father came to visit her and she claimed he was their gardener! This is the height of dishonor. If you truly honor your parents, you will be proud of them and enjoy the love they shower on you.

Like we have seen earlier, honor entails that you treat your parents with love and respect. This is also reflected in the way we talk to them. When you see some children talk to their parents sometimes, you wonder who the parent is! The height of it is when a child raises his or her hand to hit the parent in a brawl!  Some children are so arrogant that their parents are afraid to correct them. Sadly, some children abuse the culture that seeks to protect them from abusive parents by calling the Police for every flimsy excuse including making much ado about the parent’s effort to bring them to order from their unruly behavior.

Before speaking back to your parents or speaking ill of them in your heart or when they are not there, remember Proverbs 20:20 which says:

      “Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.”

This explains the reason for many empty vessels roaming the streets today. No light and consequently no substance to offer to their generation and posterity. The result is that because they cannot give what they do not have, this attitude is passed down to posterity and the result is that another generation of worthless children is created and the world just keeps getting worse. The sad thing about this whole thing is that even some Christians are found in this situation and you wonder if there is any hope for the world if those who are supposed to be the light of the world have refused to shine their light.

Your Parents Need Not Meet Any Condition for You to Honor Them

A look at the commandment again would reveal to us that no conditions are attached to the order for the parents to fulfill before you honour them. The only thing a person needs do to receive this kind of honor is to procreate. Once one is a parent, it is required of the children to honor the parents.

This truth makes void every counsel of ‘ministers’ that the children should not honor a mother or a father for being a witch or promiscuous or whatever. The truth is that no child has a right to judge the parent. The divine instruction (not exhortation and not advice) is to honor your father and mother.  That is what we must do.

In fact if you are afraid of a parent because he or she is a witch/wizard or an occultist, then your Christianity is questionable because the bible says greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. If the greater one is really in you, then you should not be intimidated by any demonic power.

The bible says in Matthew 10:1 that Jesus has given us power over unclean spirits to cast them out. Also, in Luke 10:19, we are given authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing is permitted to hurt us. The beauty of casting out evil spirits is that you can do it from any distance because there is no distance in the realm of the spirit. I recall once praying for someone who was being plagued by a spirit of insanity at home and the hand of God went to touch him in the hospital and he regained consciousness. In the same way, you can cast out any devil manipulating any of your parents and set them free wherever they are.  This is how you show your love to them. Kenneth Hagin in one of his books told of casting out three evil spirits from his son-in-law who was some distance from where he was because they were in two different states in America. 

A Commandment with an Incentive

A look at this commandment also discloses a very interesting fact that it is a commandment with an incentive attached. These incentives are long life and prosperity [“…and it will be well with thee”].  I once heard Mike Murdock say that he does not pray for long life; he simply honors his parents. This is living wisely. You will do well to do likewise.  More will be said on this in a later chapter.

 

Obey your Parents in the Lord

There are parents in the Lord we must obey. Anyone who nurtures you spiritually is your parent in the Lord. When they give you spiritual instructions, you are to obey for your own good. I always tell my assistants that every time they follow what I teach them, they are not doing me a favour; they are helping themselves because they would be the ones to reap the benefits of their doings. For instance many of us never knew how to preach until we submitted to the tutelage of others God graciously set over us to feed us spiritually. As we followed their instructions over the years, our lives have improved to the point that we can also mentor others. So you are the one who will actually benefit from your obedience and not your parents in the Lord!

The nature of The Holy Spirit

A person’s nature is his inherent character or basic constitution. To discover the nature of the Holy Spirit is to discover the nature of God because he is God just as much as the father and the Son. To this end, we must refer to His word. God wants us to know him in experience. He wants us know how he thinks and acts and how to relate with him. God wants us to know him because our lives depend on it. In Jer.29:11-13 He said through the prophet:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” 

Also, in Jer.33:3. He promises:

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

He even went the extra mile to send Jesus Christ His only begotten son to reconcile us back to Him so we can be reconnected to Him who is the source of our lives and live and be sustained with His life again.

1.     He is spirit. The first appearance of God we see in the bible is the Spirit of God. This is in Gen.1:2 where we are told:

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

In Jn.4:23-24 also, the Lord Jesus Christ said:

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

I like the way the living bible puts it:

“It is not where we worship that counts, but how we worship, is our worship spiritual and real? Do we have the Holy Spirit’s help? God is Spirit and we must have his help to worship him as we should. The father wants this kind of worship from us.”

2.     He is love: In 1Jn.4:7-8, we read:

“Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God; he that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love.”

This scripture text reveals two things to us namely: first; God’s love nature and second; His expectation of us as His children.

In Ex.34:4-7, God speaks of himself to Moses in answer to his prayer to reveal Himself to him thus:

“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation”.

From here, we gather that: First, God is merciful and as such does not punish us as we deserve. Second, God is gracious and therefore benevolent, giving to people things they do not deserve. His mercy is also reflected in the length of time it takes him to reward righteousness as against the length of time it takes Him to punish iniquity. In Ez.18, he even went further in His mercy to specify that the righteousness of a son would protect him from the consequences of the iniquity of his father. He deliberately allows mercy to prevail over judgment. Third, He is longsuffering; this means that He has the ability to be very patient and to endure without complaining. This is part of the description of love Apostle Paul gives to us in 1Cor.13:4-8. In Isaiah 53:7, we are told in the prophecy of what God the Son would undergo for our sin:

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

Fourth, He is abundant in goodness and truth. [see Jn.13:34-35 and 1Jn.3:9.]

3.     He cannot lie: This is reflected in the eternal nature of his word. In fact, when the Lord was to define truth in Jn.17:17, he said God’s word is truth and in Mt.24:35, the Lord said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” In fact Apostle Paul revealed a very sublime truth in his letter to Titus when he called him the God who cannot lie in Titus 1:1-3. It reads:

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;”

As a result of His truthfulness, His word cannot fail. This is why you can stake your eternal destiny on the word of God and be safe. In Isaiah 55:8-11, this truth is brought out clearly thus:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

We are also told in Numbers 23:19 that God is not man that He should lie. Finally, Heb.6:18 also make us understand that it is impossible for God to lie. This explains why in 1Kings 18; at the context organized by Elijah between Him and false gods, He was the only one who could answer by fire.

4.     He is faithful: You can count on Him to always be there for you. In Gen.3:15; in spite of man’s sin, God promised that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent and at the fullness of time, He sent Jesus Christ His only begotten son to saved us from our sin. In Deuteronomy 7:9, we are told:

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”

Even in our trials, He remains faithful to see us through and help us out. In 1Cor.10:13, we are told:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

 In the introduction of this book I told my experience of how The Holy Spirit faithfully wakes me up at 3:20 am every day and how on one occasion when I thought He did not keep to time I felt so bad until I realized He did and concluded that God is matchlessly faithful.

5.     He is omnipotent: This means that the Holy Spirit is all powerful and has all ability. In Genesis 18:14, when Sarah laughed in disbelief at God’s promise to give her a son at the age of ninety, God asked Abraham if anything was too hard for the Lord, then affirmed that He would surely visit them the next year and in Genesis 21:1-2, we read:

“and the Lord visited Sarah as he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to Him.”

In Luke 1:37, we are told that with God, nothing shall be impossible.

Also, Jeremiah says concerning Him in Jeremiah 32:17:

“Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”.

This explains why He could call things which are not as though they were. Isaiah the prophet brought this out clearly when by divine inspiration, he said in Isaiah 45:1-14:

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.

Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

 Hannah, the mother of Samuel describes Him in 1Sam.2:1-10 thus:

“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.

There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

6.     He is Almighty: God’s ability is reflected in His miracle to Abraham. In Gen.17:1 He revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty God. Again, in the red sea when he caused His people to walk on dry land and finished their enemies in Exodus 14, he proved himself as being almighty. When He raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he was also proving himself as the almighty God. No one else has ever been raised from the dead never to die again. In Romans 8:11, Apostle Paul refers to Him as the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Also, His almightiness is displayed in causing two people to scale over death namely; Enoch and Elijah and very soon, He is going to show his almightiness and omnipotence again when He causes multitudes of people to disappear from this world at once without tasting physical death. This is the phenomenon that is popularly called the rapture of the Church.

7.     He has features like a man: He has eyes that see, ears that hear, mouth that speaks, hands that can lift up. [See Jn.8:12; Ps.94:7-13; 135:15-18.]

8.     He is all knowing. This is why He is described as omniscient, Ps.139:1-6 tells us:

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it”.

In Heb.4:13, we are told: 

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

9.     He does not change: In Mal.3:6; He said of Himself; “… I am the Lord, I change not…”

Also, in Numbers 23:19, we are told:

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

To repent is to turn around; to change. The Holy Spirit is God and not man and is therefore perfect and does not need to turn around or change.  

10.                     He cannot faint or be tired: In Isaiah 40:28-31, we are told:

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

This is what gives the Lord the audacity in Matthew 11:28-30 to throw a blank cheque invitation to all who are weary and burdened to come to Him and that they shall find rest for their souls. Psalm 121 also makes us understand that God neither sleeps nor slumbers.

11.                     He is the Eternal self-existing one: He has no beginning and no ending. [Gen.1:1; Col.1:16-17] Jn.5:26 says: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself”. In Daniel 4:34-35, after humiliating Nebuchadnezzar to teach him a lesson in pride, here is his testimony about God:

“And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

12.                     He is creative: In fact, this is the first of his nature revealed to us in the word of God. Gen.1:1 says: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Also, col.1:16-17 says: “for by him were all things created visible or invisible whether they be thrones and dominions, all things were created by Him and for him”. The strength of His creativity, vests in the integrity of his word. The bible says in Ps.33:6, 9: “by the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of it by the breath of his mouth… for he spake, and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast.” In fact in John 1:3, we are made to understand that all things were created by the word of God and that without him is nothing made that was made.

13.                     He is Holy: In Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah had a vision where God was revealed to him in His holiness. The word translated holy here is the Hebrew word “qadosh” and it means sacred. In a similar encounter by John in Rev.4:8, the Greek word “hagios” meaning sacred was used. The definition of both words boil down to describing God as physically pure, morally blameless and consecrated. It can also be defined as God’s sacred personality. Holy also means to be set apart; to be distinguished. Holiness therefore, is the quality or state of being set apart, exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness. This definition of holiness applies only to God. Indeed, this is who God is and that is why He has the ability to influence people to become pure no matter what their states were when He found them.  He is not like any other. In 1Sam.2:2 Holy is used to mean exalted, worthy of complete devotion and one perfect in goodness and righteousness.  In exodus 34, He describes himself as being abundant in goodness. His goodness has been greatly expressed in Calvary.

14.                     He loves righteousness and hates wickedness: [Ps.45:6-7; Heb.1:8-12]. This is why he could not and can never be dethroned as God. His throne is established on righteousness. He is the only one who is incapable of breaching His word.

15.                     He is omnipresent: This means that He is equally present everywhere at the same time. Psalm 139:7-12 reads:

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

This nature of God is what gives us the confidence to pray anywhere knowing he hears us. In fact, He heard Jonah when He prayed from the belly of the whale and caused the whale to vomit him on a sea shore without hurting him.  Apostle Paul describes this nature if God this way in Eph.1:22-23

“fills all in all” and in Acts17:27-28, he says:

      “he is not far from us all. For in him we live and move and have our being”.

Also, in Jer.23:23-24, we read:

“Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”

This does not mean God is in everything because God condemns idolatry in very strong terms.