ISA.43:7 “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my
glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
JOHN 17:4 “I have glorified thee on
the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
Just yesterday, the last month of the first half of our year
of Divine Visitation, came to its conclusion and I must say that that period
ended for us as a ministry on a good note. We could not help praising God with
reckless abandon at the Celebration service yesterday because He has been good
to us and each word of the month He has given us this year has been confirmed
with signs following. To God be the
glory; this month of July which is our third anniversary month has been
declared by the Lord to us as our month of overwhelming praise. Halleluiah!!!
The word overwhelming means very great, very strong, complete,
total etc. Praise on the other hand means the expression of respect, gratitude and
honor to God. Another word for praise is to glorify which means to praise and
worship God. Hence the word glory is used in our text scriptures. Thus it is
our month of very great, strong or complete expression of respect, gratitude
and honor to God.
In Psalm 100:3, we are made to understand that God is the one
who made us and not us ourselves. The text says:
“Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that
hath made us, and not we ourselves; we
are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
The next question we ask as soon as we realize that God made
us is why did He make us? The answer to this question is supplied by our first
text scripture above which says that God formed us for His glory. Let me
quickly clarify to some skeptics who would say that this text of scripture refers
to the Jews that Galatians 4:28 makes us understand that we who have believed
in Jesus Christ like Isaac (the son of Abraham) was, are heirs of the promise. That
text says:
“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.”
In addition, Galatians 3:27-29 tells us:
“For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise.”
Furthermore,
in his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul by the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit wrote in Ephesians 2:19 that we are no longer strangers or foreigners
but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. For a better
understanding of this text, let us see Ephesians 2:11-20:
“Wherefore
remember, that ye being in time
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in
the world:
But now in
Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ.
For he is
our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us;
Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
And that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby:
And came
and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now
therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the
saints, and of the household of God;
And are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief corner stone;”
Having established that we are made
to glorify God, let us see how this can be done because that is the whole
essence of what we are going to be focusing on this month of overwhelming
praise. Jesus tells us in our second text scripture above in John 17:4 that we
glorify God by finishing the work He gave us to do! This immediately places a
responsibility on us each of us to find out what each of us was born to
accomplish because if we do not know why God made us as individuals, we cannot fulfill
this word to bring Him overwhelming praise.
So contrary to what many think that
praise is restricted to the fruit of our lips, we can see now that praise is an
entire life style. Even though God has called this our month of overwhelming
praise, God expects overwhelming praise to be our lifestyle forever!
In light of the above, this month as
a ministry, even though we already know why we exist as a corporate body and are
running in it, for more effectiveness, each person will be encouraged to know
why they exist as an individual. To this end, we are going to be looking at a
series on “Destiny and Purpose”. I believe God that as this month winds to an
end, if there is anyone of us not standing in their purpose and running
the course of their God ordained
destinies, all the necessary adjustments will be made to enable us bring the
Lord overwhelming praise indeed.
If you are reading this and are not
yet born again, you may not find yourself fitting in with what we are saying
because you are not yet a part of the commonwealth of Israel. But I have good
news for you, you can belong right away by saying the following prayer and the
Holy Spirit will come into you and fulfill the promise of the new birth
experience for you. God bless you!!!
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 us know by emailing flourishinggirl@gmail.com
and we 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 our blog at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com
or follow us on face book at www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl. You will access more resource materials to
enrich your Christian life. God bless you!!!
