Author: james chasez

A Thirst and Hunger for God (27/11/2019)

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Psalms 42:1-2 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?”- NIV

Thirst and hunger are psychological signals by the body for water and food. These nourish the body and enable it function and live as expected. When one no longer feels thirsty and hungry, it is a dangerous signal. It indicates the body is diseased. The Psalmist used an analogy of the manner in which the deer pants as it runs around from one point to another looking for water, to show how he longed for God. At that time, anything else can wait until the deer gets water, many times against serious risks from predators which strategically position themselves to attack.

Our souls should long for God similarly. When, in our walk with God, we are driven by a thirst and hunger to know and live for Him, our every activity, energy, time and other resources will be channeled towards finding and being with God. Prayer, fellowship, fasting, serving and surrender to God, being means of communion with God, will naturally come. No one will push another. At the same time, things that affect one’s relationship with God will not be allowed. When such a thirst and hunger after God dies out, there is cause to worry about your spiritual health. You are dying!

What is the state of your relationship with God? Do you still long for deep communion with Him? Is He still the desire of your heart, or have other things taken His place in your heart? A continuous thirst and hunger after God are key signs of a healthy relationship with God. Watch out when you are losing interest for the things of God and easily miss them without much regrets. If this has happened, He can still restore you to the point of declaring; “… O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”( Psalms 63:1).

Psalms 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Shalom children of God.

May God Answer you! Prayerful Meditation (26/11/2019)

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Psalms 20.1-9 “… May the LORD answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests.

Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!”

The word of the Lord!

Shalom children of God.

Integrity: Paying the Ultimate Price (25/11/2019)

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Daniel 3.16-18 “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

A very powerful king, Nebuchadnezzar, of a powerful kingdom, Babylon, had set up a huge image of gold and required everyone in his kingdom, regardless of status, to worship it. This was a decree, failure of which, the punishment was being burnt in a furnace. The officials and all the kings subjects worshipped, whether they liked it or not. But to the three Hebrew men, this order contravened their worship of God alone and no other. It was against their cherished beliefs and values. Their response was a flat NO.

On learning about these men who defied the absolute monarch in the king, Nebuchadnezzar summoned and gave them another chance, and he got the answer in our opening scripture. Their values and underlying principles in worship and service of God alone were so solid to them there was even no room to reconsider the kings command, however powerful he was. They were willing pay the ultimate price with their lives to stand for their God. Whether God rescued them from the king’s fury and a furnace fire heated seven times more than usual, wasn’t the issue anymore. They chose to remain true to their convictions whatever the outcome.

Many compromise their values, and sale their birth rights for fear of threatened outcomes, lose of opportuities, things or even life. May God help us to stand for Him, in integrity of heart, regardless of outcomes. May you be so convinced of what you stand for in God that nothing will shake it off you. With such, God will find a channel to manifest His glory as He did through the three Hebrew men when king Nebuchadnezzar decreed the worship of their God. And God will surely rise up to defend them for His name’s sake.

Psalms 15:1,4 “LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?… he who keeps his oath even when it hurts”
Revelation 2:10 “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer… Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Shalom children of God

My peace I give you – Jesus

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (KJV)

What is your picture and definition of true peace? To many, it’s the absence of turmoil, war, a state of perfect health, provision without lack and nothing troubling you. So it’s about a favorable external environment. But we know that in this corrupted sin laden world, such a perfect ideal environment is rarely existent. We have things all around us literally everyday, that seek to drive our joy and peace away, create fear and uncertainty in our hearts.

To God, peace (shalowm in Hebrew), among other definitions, is a quiet tranquil state in your heart and mind which results from trust in God. It is not dependent on a perfect external environment before you are at peace. It comes from inside out. The disciples were worried and troubled because their Master was going. They didn’t know how they would survive without Him in a hostile surrounding. Jesus even told them they would have trouble in the world and would suffer persecution. But He gave them His peace to sustain them.

Jesus said He gave His peace, not as the world gives. This means despite an unfavourable external environment, when everything you need to make you peaceful and happy are not in place, you can still be peaceful. He gives a kind of peace that transcends human understanding to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). When you should be crying, troubled and worried because of what is happening or may happen around you, you instead rest and trust Him. That defeats human logic. You have come to learn that what you cannot handle, He will help you. What you can do, you do as He enables you. That is His peace, His shalowm. It is a life of rest in God. We surely need this peace in this troublesome world. Good news is, He gives it to all.

Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – NIV

Peace be with you children of God. Shalom

At Your Lowest Moments

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

 

Psalms 42:10-11 “My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?” Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” – NIV

 

Life operates in waves. One time you are up, everything is fine and you are succeeding. Another time you are down and everything seems to fail or work against you. Sometimes it feels as if God has forsaken you and no longer hears your prayers nor thinks about you. To the Psalmist, God appeared to have forsaken him as his enemies taunted him, asking where his God was. And that’s a tough question to answer in uncertain life situations. This made him feel discouraged and downcast in his soul. He was disturbed.

 

Some have been taught that once in Christ, a blissful trouble free life is our portion. In one sense, this is true because we can enjoy life in Christ despite the challenges. But when the storms hit, and everything seems to fall apart, it’s no indicator that we have lost our standing with God. We get discouraged and disturbed. But that is not the end. It’s a stage in life’s journey. You can rise up again and stand on the mountain top. The Psalmist gave a way out during such low moments; put your hope in God. In the valleys and dark moments,  He is still the same loving faithful and mighty God He has always been in the mountain top.

 

It’s in those valleys of life that Satan seeks to quickly sow seeds of frustrations, hopelessness, doubt and suggests quitting. Whatever the case, don’t give up. Keep your faith high. Those ups and downs of life are normal and they are allowed to make us stronger and mature.  It will be well and you will be up again, this time a better person. Jesus Himself went through those low and very tough moments in His life, but overcame. We too shall.

 

Matthew 26:37-38 “He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Psalms 23.4 “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.”

 

Shalom children of God.  It will be well.

Not With Us But For Us (21/11/2019)

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 9:49-50 “John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he isn’t in our group.” But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him! Anyone who is not against you is for you.” – NLT

In an era of so many religious groupings and denominations, the level of suspicion and skepticism among faithfuls only keeps rising. This is both right and wrong. Right because of so many false ministers whom we are cautioned to test and watch against. Not everyone who comes in the name of the Lord is from God. Wrong because not everyone is false. They may not be part of us, use the same name with us, or do things our way, and yet posses a kindred spirit with us.

John and the other disciples had been made to believe that as long as someone was not in their group, moving with them, doing things with them, even if he did anything similar, they wouldn’t trust him. In their zeal to ‘guard’ their faith and Master, they stopped a zealous disciple casting out demons in Jesus name bit was not in their group. Jesus without hesitation, told them not to stop anyone on the basis of not being among them.

How often we fall victims of this! We don’t even want to listen as long as a person is not one of us. Such tendencies tend towards cultism. True, some are false wrong elements. Some worship differently but genuinely. Our role is to test the spirits behind their operation. If from God and bring Him glory, don’t lock them out. Extend a hand of fellowship to them. Not everyone who is not in our group is against us.

Shalom children of God.

Are You Washed in that Blood ? (20/11/2019)

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Hebrews 9:22 “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” – NIV

What can wash away my sins
Nothing but the blood of Jesus…

So goes the hymn. In the old covenant, and in some traditions to date, blood of animals was used to wash sins committed in various ways. Not only would people be purified with it, the utensils used in the temple service were as well cleansed with blood. Because people sin everyday, it meant that animals were killed and their blood was regularly sprinkled. Once every year, the high priest would make atonement for all the people’s sins by entering the most holy place in the temple.

Under the new covenant that Jesus brought, He offered Himself as the sacrificial Lamb of God. He shed His blood so as to atone for our sins once and for all. We no longer need to kill animals and sprinkle their blood to take away our sins. Jesus did that for the whole world. All we now do is to come to Him by faith, acknowledging and repenting of sin and His ever fresh blood washes it away. This offer is open to all humanity. Whoever will come to Him, receives forgiveness and life already fully paid for when Jesus died on the cross. One doesn’t need to continue in sin and death any more unless by choice.

Whatever else we do, to do away with sin and escape its grip without coming to the Lamb of God, is futile. Some wish it away, try good works, excuse and justify themselves, trivialize or cover up sin. All this won’t help. Only Jesus, by His blood, sets free from sin. Come, confess and be cleansed by the precious blood of the Lord and be free from the guilt of sin, both now and on the day you stand before the just Judge of the universe.

Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Jesus

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Shalom children of God.

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Speech is a wonderful gift God gave man to build relations and make life better. Words can tremendously encourage or discourage, uplift or destroy, cause things to happen or fail to happen, excite or dumpen. They are a reflection of what is in the heart. They show the real character of the person. So change the heart and the speech will change. Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Pretend and hide as one may try, what fills the heart will somehow come out. Our aim should be to bring out what benefits others and make things better.

Paul is reiterating the same principle in the scripture above. Everyone speaks in line with their heart values. The Christian, belonging to God’s kingdom, is expected to consciously speak inline with the values of that kingdom. Anyone listening to Him expects a language commensurate with his faith. Unwholesome talk which does not encourage, uplift or minister life, is not part his language. Paul said, “Do not let…” implying a sense of awareness and choice of what or what not to say. In Ephesians 5:4, he mentions utterances that should not be part of a Christian’s vocabulary because they are out of place; “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

Some pay very little attention to what they say or how they say it. It’s wisdom to carefully weigh what you are about to say because it could do more harm than good, and you may live to regret it. It’s then better to keep quiet than speak at all. The wise man Solomon, said even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent (Proverbs 17:28). Mind what you say!

Matthew 12:34-35 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”

Shalom children of God.

God’s Power Serves His Purposes

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Luke 9:54-56 “And when his disciples James and John saw [this], they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save [them]. And they went to another village.” KJV

They were on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus sent some of His disciples ahead to prepare the way. On getting there, the Samaritans didn’t welcome them. James and John, aware how prophet Elijah by God’s power had called down fire to consume the sacrifices, knowing and having witnessed Jesus’ power to do all kinds of miracles, then asked if Jesus could authorize them to call fire to destroy these rebellious Samaritans. Jesus turned and rebuked them for such a thought, reminding them that their manner of spirit was NOT to destroy but to save lives.

True Jesus had, and still has the ultimate power and authority to do anything. He had also given it to His disciples. But it was not, and never will be for use in any other manner other than to save lives, do His will (which is never evil) and glorify Him. The disciples wanted to use it for revenge, to pinish these bad guys. In the believer in Christ resides the power of God that comes with the Holy Spirit in us (Acts 1:8). Jesus commissioned the church to go to the whole world and make disciples. He entrusted His power and authority with the church so as to carry on His works on earth the same way He did (Matt 28:18-20).

It’s important that we understand the purpose and right use of this power and authority, otherwise it will be abused. It’s never meant to promote and boost our names or ministries, and make some appear more powerful than others. It is given for us to be His effective witnesses, save souls and glorify God and do His good pleasure. God does not display His power just to show how great He is. He doesn’t need to.

May every gospel minister watch out against this temptation to use this power for self centred reasons. Some wrongfully think they can ask God to do anything they wish. The Sovereign God is NOT our servant, but we are His servants. I believe one reason we don’t see much of the release of God’s power is because people are not well prepared to use in the right way. God then withholds it since it may cause more harm than good as it would have happened in that Samaritan village.

Shalom children of God. Have fruitful week

Weldone Good and Faithful Servant

By Pastor Aggrey Soyekwo

Matthew 25.21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!'”

How we conduct our business in this life will determine how we shall be recieved on the other side of eternity. To illustrate this, and to emphasize that we shall all account to God at the end, Jesus gave a parable of the talents. Each person was given talents according to their abilities; five, two and one. They were expected to trade in them and to give an account. The ones with five and two multiplied theirs and were congratulated by their master. The one who had one hid it, and gave it back as it was first given to him. In anger, his master rebuked him for laziness and cast him away into outer darkness and torment.

We are all gifted in different ways by God. The talents, special abilities, privileges and other blessings He gave us are meant to be utilized to benefit others and for His glory. These talents and gifts are part of our everyday life and are reflected in how we relate with others, the decisions we make and our general conduct of life wherever we are. One day, the Owner Who gave them to us will require of us an accountability how we used them in this world. Are you consciously faithful to Him in the way you live? Will He give you with a ‘weldone good and faithful servant’ reception, or will He say, ‘depart from me you lazy wicked servant’? Watch how you live!

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'”

Shalom children of God.