POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 6).

DECEMBER 28^th
TEXT: Luke 2:25-33King James Version (KJV)

²⁵ And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

²⁶ And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

²⁷ And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

²⁸ Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

²⁹ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

³⁰ For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

³¹ Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

³² A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

³³ And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

 

In the midst of the move of God not too many persons are sensitive enough to sense the move of the Spirit. Too many get carried away by the things and the people they are familiar with and for some others, they get encumbered with activities and then fail to position themselves in the place where they will encounter the glory of God for their lives.  But one which almost everyone of us are guilty of is the attitude we manifest after the event is over. We tend to limit the move of God to the time the event is holding. While it is true that during the event there is a great release of heavenly graces and glory, it does not come to an end on the last day of the event. The truth is that such divine visitations are meant to start something that is meant to continue for a long time. This is because the Lord is not just interested in showing up to do some miracles here and there, He intend to dwell in our midst. This is what we read of in the book of Acts. After the release of the Holy Spirit, the real work began as the apostles went everywhere manifesting the glory of God in power.

 In our passage for today, just when there seem to be no more visitation by angels as recorded around the time of the birth of Jesus, the Lord moved upon his servant Simeon who has been waiting in the temple for the manifestation of the salvation of Israel. If you will position yourself in an intimate relationship with God, the Lord will usher you from one encounter after another even after the event is long over. Position yourself for a visitation and you will be amazed the glory that will follow your life.

POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 5).

 DECEMBER 26^th

TEXT: Luke 1:18-20King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

¹⁹ And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 

 ²⁰ And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

 

Whenever the Lord is set to do a new thing in the midst of his people, it is not uncommon for different persons to begin to encounter God in various ways. Often, this is done in such a way that there are enough evidences and confirmations to attest to the fact that this is out of the ordinary. In our test for today, we read about the visitation of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. This particular visitation was actually in preparation for the greatest visitation on earth, as the God of the universe was about to begin his messianic mission. 

The birth of John became necessary because one has to go ahead to prepare the way for the Messiah. In like manner, some people have been ordained by God to play the role of preparing the way like John and except they are rightly positioned, they may end up living a frustrated life and may also constitute some hindrance to divine agenda.

Do you know the plan of heaven for your life? Are you well positioned for your encounter with divinity to fulfill your role with humanity? Do something about your life and destiny today.

POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 4)

DECEMBER 25^th  
TEXT: Luke 1:26-29King James Version (KJV)

²⁶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

²⁷ To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

²⁸ And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

²⁹ And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

 

As we celebrate Christmas, we also recognize that this is one season with unusual divine visitation and it all has to do with divine positioning. There is no way Mary would have been suitable as heaven’s choice if she has not been strategically positioned for this divine visitation and blessing. It is true that there were several virgins in her time but from the words of her mouth you can tell she was a woman after God with all her heart. The way she spoke the scriptures tells you what she had on the inside. What do you have on the inside? Have you carefully positioned yourself for an encounter with your God? 

Do all you can this day to be rightly positioned for a divine visitation this season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

 

 

 

POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 3).

DECEMBER 24^TH.
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 13:1-5King James Version (KJV)

 13 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

² And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:

³ And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

⁴ And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

⁵ So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

 

The closing part of verse 3 of our text says “that they may gather themselves unto us:” This statement reveals trouble waiting to happen. When it come to the issue of worship with the Almighty God, it is dangerous to come before Him uninvited. This is the truth of the matter. He had said that they that worship must worship the Father in spirit and in truth and none of us is able to worship God in spirit and in truth except the Father stirs us up to do so (see Philippians 2:12-13).  When they gathered themselves by the wonderful opinion of David and the approval of the leaders, they went in their strength, and we know the tragic end of this worship.

 It is not enough to plan a worship event, we must take time out to wait on the Lord to get divine direction on how He wants us to come before Him. Too many individuals and organizations are fame and popularity driven and in the process they want to do everything possible “gather people unto themselves.” This people will do whatever they can to bring or should I say lure people to their meeting. It is not always that the crowd in a meeting is a sign of the success of that meeting. Again, when we put together an event, it is not to gather people unto ourselves but unto the Lord and it must be according to His requirement. Whenever we are careful to gather unto the Lord by His leading and instructions, we position ourselves for a glorious encounter with the Lord. This season, please do all you can to be positioned for a life transforming encounter with the Lord. Shalom!

POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 2)

DECEMBER 23^RD.   
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 13:1-5King James Version (KJV)

 13 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

² And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:

³ And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

⁴ And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

⁵ So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

 

Very often we observe that people go through a lot of trouble to put together an event and then wonder why nothing extraordinary happens, but the truth is that most of the time our plans are devoid of divine inspiration. Like we can observe in our text today, in the planning of this significant worship ceremony God was completely sidetracked. There was not one mention of a call to pray or even a look at the scripture for them to know what the will of the Lord is. Many of the time when we embark on an assignment or project, we just go ahead depending on our “wonderful idea,” it is only when things are not working out the way we have expected that we see the need for divine guidance.

 

² And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God…”  When you read this statement, you may think that it implies that David sought for divine guidance but if you look at it carefully in the order of priority, it is obvious that there is a big problem there. Here, the number one in his order of priority was the people, “If it seem good unto you,”. If you want to see the glory of the Lord in everything you do, then make Him your number one priority. Don’t spend time consulting with men and then turn to God to endorse it. God will never play the second fiddle role, for He is always he first before any other.

 

Another look at that statement will reveal to you that it implies that “If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God” point to the erroneous mistake we make by assuming that the opinion of men reflects the will of God. Don’t assume that because an individual occupies a significant position in life, then when they speak they have heard from God.  Don’t assume or ask them about what they think, instead ask them to tell you what the Lord is saying about the issue (even at that, you still need to be sensitive to be sure it is the Lord). The voice of the people is not always the voice of God.

 

 

POSITIONED FOR A DIVINE ENCOUNTER (PART 1)

 

DECEMBER 22^ND. 

TEXT: 1 Chronicles 13:1-5King James Version (KJV)

13 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader.

² And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren every where, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us:

³ And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.

⁴ And all the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
⁵ So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.

 

The Christmas season is one glorious season of divine visitation. A brief study of the various gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke will reveal to you that it has always been a season of supernatural activities, for there were more encounter with the angels of God, like no other time recorded in the entire Bible.
But one thing that is common in all the cases recorded is the fact that all the individuals who encountered the angels of the Lord had one form of preparation or the other that they made themselves which gave them some advantage over others.
This brings us to our topic for today. It is true that God is sovereign and He does whatever he pleases, yet he is bound only by his word. It is true that he can use anyone he pleases but it has to be someone who will fulfill his word and fitting for His purpose.
This is one reason each one of us must do all we can to position ourselves in every way we can to become a likely candidate for that supernatural encounter with God.
What you do and how you go about it is of great essence, it often will help determine the dimensions of glory opened unto you.

In our text for today, we saw that David had a good idea to bring in the ark of God into the city but those who know the story remember very well that this great idea ended in a tragedy. The cause is not far-fetched/. From verse one, we read that David inquired from the leaders and in verse two he even went on to get approval from them by saying “if it seem good to you…”

There is no way we can be positioned to encounter God by seeking the approval of man. Anyone who truly desires an encounter must learn to go to God and to God him only.

If you will do that which is required of you this season, you will encounter God. Position yourself for some encounter with God.

THE TURN OF TIMES AND SEASONS. (PART 9).

DECEMBER 21^ST.
TEXT: 1 Chronicles 12:38-39King James Version (KJV)

³⁸ All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

³⁹ And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking: for their brethren had prepared for them.

Whenever God desires to do something new on earth He often will begin to move in the midst of his people seeking for a willing and appropriate vessel hungry to do His will. When He finds a man fitting for His purpose, he will begin to speak to His heart to be sure that this individual understands the assignment to which He has called him, by defining clearly the scope of the job.
Once the individual is ready to embark on this assignment, He will begin to inspire the hearts of men with similar passion and hunger to locate the one He has called. This is often when people with the requisite gift, dispositions and some dimension of understanding begin to locate this man with the vision. But until they seat under the leadership of this individual committed with this assignment, they may not be able to fully grasp the vision. God does this for a purpose so that the leader can clearly take the lead.
No matter the depth of knowledge and understanding any other person under him possesses, they cannot understand the vision more than the leader. If anyone claim to have a better understanding than the leader, then they are either becoming insolent/rebellious or they have a different vision that can cause division as they continually try to implement their own idea over the instructions of the leader.

This is the reason God made sure that those who went to David where of a perfect and sincere heart, and He made sure that they all came with one mind.

Every one of us identify with one vision or the other, but the only issue is that not all of us do so with a perfect and sincere heart. Are you of one mind with others to make that vision succeed? Think about this.