REFLEXIONS

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” ( Proverbs 14:12 ) The wisdom of this passage is clear for all to see. The road you think is the shortcut to your success in life may just turn out to be a highway to disastrous consequences. You owe yourselves a duty to understand what the will of the Lord is for you in every situation! Life is full of cross-roads, and each cross-road challenges us to make a potentially life-changing choice regarding the road to follow. The road you eventually follow should be the one which, after careful examination, lines up with God’s guidance and direction as revealed in the word of God and by the Holy Spirit. Jesus also identified two kinds of ways. One accessed by a wide gate; it is a broad road that leads to destruction. And the other is small gate; a narrow road that leads to life! ( Matt 7:13-14 ) God’s ways are higher than our ways. Choose wisely everyday!

“ Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. ” ( Proverbs 12:25 ) The feeling of anxiety is an incapacitating feeling that arises for various reasons and to varying degrees. It could be the result of a natural concern one has over the wellbeing of a loved one and could range to fear and trembling. Whether arising from a loving concern for a family member or from a dread of some kind of disaster, the effect of anxiety is the same. It weighs down the heart and interferes with one’s ability to function effectively. Anxiety depresses its victim and causes them to act irrationally. An anxious person cannot live a life of faith because, as Jesus said, the cares of this world stifles the word of God ( Mark 4:19 ).  “…but a good word makes him glad.” This is the cure for anxiety – “ a good word” from God applied to the heart by faith makes the heart glad, and a glad heart is good medicine ( Prov 17:22 ). God’s word is good and fit to make glad the heart th

“ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ” ( Psalm 23:5 ) In this passage we are once again reminded that the man or woman who has taken the LORD to be his or her shepherd will walk under God’s provision and His constant care. Some interesting and uplifting thoughts are stirred up by this passage. First, God has pronounced a blessing upon those who have made Him the shepherd of their lives with such blessings as can only be described as a banquet. God has laid out a table for you and upon it there is everything that you need – your healing is there, along with blessings for your marriage, finances, success, breakthroughs and more. Whatever the need may be, the Lord has adequately made provisions for. Second thing we notice, and this is so significant, is that God has not made a secrete of the blessings He bestows on His sheep. The bible teaches that, God who sees your faithfulness in secrete will bless you openly e

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." ( Psalm 23:4 , ESV) One of the things a good shepherd does is keep his flock out of harm’s way. In trusting Jehovah as his shepherd, to guide him and lead him, David tells us here that he is not afraid of taking the next step in life even if that step takes him through a path that is overcast with a gloomy and bleak shadow like a death shadow. Walking with the Lord means following His leading day and night and yielding to His guidance. He blesses those who are faithful in so doing with His protective presence so that they can confidently say:  “I will not be afraid for you are close by my side”. The shepherd’s rod is a short club which the shepherd carries with him for the purpose of fighting off wild animals, thus symbolic of God’s protective presence. The shepherd’s staff is a long stick with a hook-shaped head used for pu

  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” ( Psalm 23:1 ) The 23rd psalm is one of the most beautiful, insightful and endearing portion of scriptures.  And here in the very first verse of the psalm starts with such a sublime statement that literally leaps at you, wraps around your heart lifting it up reassuringly. As a young man, David was a shepherd before being anointed king of Israel. So when he says the Lord is “my Shepherd”, he speaks from experience and from the viewpoint of the sheep. David knows all too well how vulnerable a sheep is without a shepherd. And he knows the tender care that a good and faithful shepherd gives his flock. As Jesus said, " I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep " ( John 10:11 ). From the passage we learn two important covenant realities: first, that the Lord is the believer’s shepherd, i.e., Jehovah-Rohi in Hebrew; and second, that the Lord is the believer’s provider, or Jehovah-Jireh. But what

" I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" ( Psalms 130:5 ) In the mad rush that is fast becoming the norm for work and life in today's world, the idea of “waiting” for anything is gradually attaining the status of “the unacceptable”. This presents believers with a new sort of temptation – the temptation to “leave God behind”.  But to do that will amount to a failure to understand the nature our relationship with the Most High. In our relationship with God, He leads and we are called to follow. It is with this in mind that the psalmist declares: “ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits , and in His word I hope ” ! Though the world increasingly extols impatience as a virtue, yet God insists we have need of patience to wait for what we hope for. Impatience is contrary to the fruit of the Spirit that should be manifest in the believer's life ( Gal 5:22 ). In seeking spiritual outcomes, that is, the kind of result that comes from God, we must learn how t

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it .” Psalms 81:10 This passage speaks eloquently also and with relevance to us, who have been called out of darkness and into God's marvellous light, about our relationship with our redeemer. The LORD our God is not out-dated and He is certainly not incapable. He is timeless and still all powerful; as gracious today, merciful, loving, and just as He ever was. The Lord our God who delivered Israel from Egypt is the same God who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. He is the same yesterday, today and forever; a jealous God who demands the loyalty of His people and will not share His glory. Furthermore, we are reminded that the Lord is our sufficiency: “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” ! These words conjure up the image of a nest full young hungry birds with their mouths open wide waiting expectantly for their parents to stuff them full with food. T

"The LORD is my inheritance and my cup. You are the one who determines my destiny . Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me . Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful. " Psa 16:5-6 What could be better than having the Lord as your inheritance? David chose the LORD as his inheritance, and had no regrets. When you choose the Lord as your portion, as David did, the boundary lines will fall for you in pleasant places and give you “something beautiful.” Some people will have you believe that every truth is relative and that there are no absolutes in life. This kind of thinking only produces what the Bible refers to as one being “tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine” (Eph 4:14) and  project thoughts and imaginations which are “contrary to the knowledge of God” . Be bold and declare God as your inheritance. He has decreed your destiny in Christ; He has marked out beautiful places for you where the devil cannot exercise any authority over you. The Fathe

"You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter." ( Psalm 74:17 ) God has set clear & definite boundaries both in the physical & spiritual realms. He defines light and darkness, the seasons, and right and wrong. In the beginning, all creation functioned within His fixed boundaries, and He pronounced them all “very good”. But this was before man exercised his free will to operate outside the limit. Yet God’s boundaries have not changed neither has His will for us to function within them. It is no surprise then that we have words like violation, trespass, thief and the like. These words only have meaning because we have a real sense of boundaries. The word of God defines for us the limits that God has set for our lives, and sin is a violation of those boundaries. When we come to God through Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life ( John 14:6 ), we enter a new covenant relationship in which we agree to live our lives and walk

“Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1) The Psalmist here expresses an emotion that most of us are all too familiar with – the anguish that help may come too late! When we don't see any sign of divine intervention at the time we expect it, it sometimes feels God is indifferent to our problem: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?” The real question is has God stayed far off and hidden himself from us or is it that our unbelief has kept us far from Him? What we feel about God’s timing remains exactly that: a feeling. And if we fail respond correctly, that feeling will interfere with our faith. We will get offended with God. Child of God, your heavenly Father will not abandon you or delay His help. He who promised to answer when we call will never be late to answer you. And the Lord who works all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11) will always be on time! Martha and her sister Mary thought that Jesus'