An Open Letter To Nollywood

To the industry I love dearly,

Now more than ever, I believe Nollywood is on the precipice of greatness, the eyes of the world are facing you and you have a great opportunity to speak, to be seen and to be heard. For far longer than I have been an active member of this valued industry, many before me have dreamt of the day that the reach and influence of Nollywood would go far and wide, I know there is so much to be proud of.

In the same breath I am aware that with such great influence comes a weighty responsibility that cannot be ignored. Amongst the many lessons of 2022, I have learned this, it is harder to speak truth to power when you seek the help that power can offer. So, in this moment, I lay down my personal aspirations and hopes, for what I believe is the greater good not just of the industry but, the many people it influences.

As Nigerians, we have not always been set the best example, not by our elders, not by our leaders - political or otherwise, not even by our peers. In the midst of that for a long time we managed to maintain hope and a sense of moral integrity. Two things I believe are waning under the pressure of present circumstances and the every day realities of most Nigerians. I believe it is your responsibility to restore hope and a moral core to the masses, I believe it is a responsibility that has been neglected for quick financial gain, I believe it is a responsibility that can be ignored no longer, because our nation is at hand.

We cannot follow the footsteps of Hollywood, we cannot lose our moral centre and continue to glorify sexual depravity, corruption, hate and many more. I am so proud of the global success of Nigerians in industries such as music and fashion, but I fear it has come at the great expense of many souls. Music that glorifies drug use, yahoo yahoo and objectifies women, a fashion industry that sexualises everyone and promotes gender ambiguity. We have sold our souls to the highest bidder and my cry is that Nollywood does not follow suit.

It is easy to read this and believe I am acting morally superior, I am not. I am not without my many failings and faults, some of which I am sure are still in my future. It is also easy to read this and think of me in my office as a pastor, but I am not speaking only as a Christian, but as a Nigerian. I am writing this to Christians, Muslims and Atheists alike. I do not believe these values are religious, I was not taught these values merely within the context of my home, but within the context of my nation. I believe at the very core, as Nigerians, we are good, selfless, kind and compassionate.

For far too long, the narrative on Nigeria and Nigerians has been 419, corrupt and inept leaders, police brutality, ‘Emi Lokan’ and Yoruba demons etc. While the eyes of the world turn to Nollywood, your duty is not to feed the narrative, but to change the narrative. The stories we tell matter. It has brought me great joy in recent weeks to watch shows such as ‘Far From Home’, unfortunately productions like this are few and far between, instead we see more films glorifying ‘the bad guy’, glamorising corruption and galvanising division.

Up until now, we have let the western world take advantage of our unpreparedness in the face of unrest, pain and desperation, to paint doubt in our own identities and values. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but Nollywood, you are primed, poised and positioned to show that success does not have to come at the expense of our souls and to set the framework for the rebuilding of our nation.

Yours sincerely,

Adeolu Adefarasin

The Change Agent

Discovering Your True Identity

'for their minds have been blinded by the god of this age, leaving them in unbelief. Their blindness keeps them from seeing the dayspring light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the divine image of God.' 2 Corinthians 4:4

So much is going on in the world, in both our personal and corporate lives. There is no doubt that even as you read this you have many things fighting for focus and attention in your lives. That even now you are dealing with external pressures, whether they are mental, emotional or otherwise.

These things while they matter and are essential are often the distractions that deny us the freedom to walk boldly and confidently in who we truly are. The devil will do everything in his strength to blind you too your true power, authority and capacity, he is always trying to convince you you’re less than you are. Sadly he has many, knowing and unknowing, accomplices. Sometimes we are one of them.

The enemy will use your past actions and even your present ones to have you disqualify yourself from your rich treasures and callings. He will send circumstances against you and whisper lies. He has used the media as a tool for manipulation.

Now more than ever we have to fight harder to wrestle through the weeds and lies to see the truth. The devil loves to play mind games to have you shrink and settle.

SETTLE NO MORE!

You are so much greater than you know. God made you from Himself. You had God qualities in you, you many not feel like it, but you are. No one can take away from you, have the confidence to live as you are.

'Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. '

Genesis 1:26-27

God I pray now for Your child that they come upon the boldness to be who You have made them, to trust it, to believe it and to live it, in Your precious name,

Legal Isn’t The Standard

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

For the past few days this scripture has been on my mind. “All things are lawful”, how are all things lawful? We know there are a lot of things God would rather we don’t do, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t cheat and many more. So are all things really lawful?

I think the first thing we must do to understand this is to look at the purpose of the law and why we are dead to the law.

In Romans 5 it says law came so that sin might abound. So the purpose of law was the revelation of sin. There are two schools of thoughts about this. The first being, before the law men were sinning but didn’t know because there was no law. The second being, focusing on the law makes you more likely to commit sin. I focus more on the latter because the word abound means great quantities, so sin must have increased because of the law.

So, Adam brings sin into the world, the law proliferates sin and Jesus, the second Adam, brings redemption from sin. All things are lawful because when you were under the law, you were judged by the standards of the law, which we cannot keep in our own strength and sin will abound.

“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

By the same standard you judge, you are judged. If you judge others by the law you will be judged according to the law. But there’s a better option, there is the standard of righteousness.

“But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When Paul says all things are lawful but not all things are helpful, he is referring to a life under the grace of God that we receive by faith in Christ. The reprieve of the law is not the permitting of sin, but the death of it. Christ changes the standard of living. If when you focus on the law, sin abounds, the when you focus on the righteousness of Christ, grace abounds to help you overcome sin.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I love this scripture, Christ is the end of law. Life under the law is the constant attempt to earn your righteousness by your actions and not to receive righteousness by Christ and let that be the source of our actions.

When you live under grace you may make mistakes, but God isn’t condemning you, it’s not illegal, but recognise that those mistakes aren’t helpful, so don’t take it as a free pass to make them. The law is dead but our choices aren’t about legality anymore their based on our faith and love for Christ.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Feeling of More

This is probably not a feeling unique to me, or probably even unique to our generation, but there is a deep feeling of urgency, so I’m going to jump in the deep end.

Many generations have come and gone. Many generations have achieved great things in history, things that have shifted the way we think, things that have greatly impacted the Kingdom. Those same generations that have done great good have also failed in many ways. I say this not to be critical, because, Jesus aside, there is no man, nation or generation without it’s fatal flaws.

That said, setting our eyes on today, there is a desperate urgency and need for our generation to stand up, and to stand up in a BIG way. Our thought patterns have to change, this desire to be individually great has to be put aside and we need to learn to walk as one, because the mountains in front of us, they require alignment. Real alignment, not the perception of.

“They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭2:7-8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We can no longer just call ourselves God’s army, we must be it and our allegiance must be to God and not self. The world is corrupting the minds of our generation, the generation behind us and the generation after that, and as God’s children, aware of who we are, it is on us to cry out.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

‭‭II Chronicles‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As one body, we have to fight against the deep roots of corruption in our culture, begin to instil good values and mindsets in the coming generations or we’ll never see our nation change. We have to teach true love to overcome the ever growing numbers of people fighting depression, young children hanging their worth on what others think of them, being driven to self harm, fighting suicidal thoughts and many attempting suicide. As one body, we must come against this love of mammon, that has caused many to engage in blood covenants with other gods, to sell their soul for gold that they can’t take with them, we have let it into our culture now we must stamp it out. As one body we must stand firmly against the spirit of the LGBTQ movement that has forced itself into every influential medium, and presented itself as an option to all, twisting scripture to present itself as acceptable to God and representing the truth of the Word as hate.

The battle is not ours, but the Lords, but He requires us to come in one voice and one body in alignment with His heart and to not continue in silence or fear. The things we are fighting with today will only magnify themselves in the generation to come if we don’t stand up to them now.

There is more God requires of us and we need not sit back, or stay in our corners, the vision must be big, because the mountains aren’t small.

Pit Stop Prayer

The problem with religion is it takes the power and the function of everything. And prayer is no different. Religion cripples the Christian walk and erodes faith because it doesn’t breed results and then we take it out on the credibility of God.

If you pray because religion says you should pray you will never see what prayer yields. You will misuse what you don’t understand and prayer is being misused. I will say now so no one fills attacked that I only write because I too am guilty.

We tend to use prayer, not to realign with God’s will, but as a pit stop to where we always wanted to go, thinking that because we “prayed” we would now have God’s stamp of approval to do what we want. So. What happens is we pray, maybe we even wait a little to hear God, birds chirp silence, and then we lean on our own wisdom, and assume because we prayed, our wisdom is suddenly God’s wisdom, then we run with it, with our 2 dimensional wisdom, and when we fall flat on our face we say, “but God I sought Your face, You failed me?”

The reality is this, we do not have the capacity to think with the same width and breadth that God does. God is 3 dimensional, He see’s things we can’t even imagine and when we use prayer as a pit stop and not a place we abide, we will only see with our understanding. We will see war as a sword and shield matter and not as a sing and dance around the walls matter.

God wants us to persevere in prayer live there, learn patience there, wait on His voice.

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

‭‭James‬ ‭4:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Prayer is not for your pleasure but for His will to manifest. It only works if your striving for His will not your way.

The Culture of The Kingdom

Often when we think of the cultures that exist in the Kingdom, we are in awed by them but do we often think of them as cultures that need to be evidenced in our lives. As I was kind of thinking through the different things I do, this scripture popped in my head;

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

‭‭I Corinthians‬ ‭6:19-20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is something that has to reverberate in every area of our lives. We have to remember that every facet of our lives must exude the nature of God, because we are His. As I looked at all the different areas of my life, I had to ask the question, and I implore you to do the same, do all the aspects of your life still align with the culture of the Kingdom.

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We are implored to live a life worthy of the call of God that is upon it. Even if the works are good, are the manners of how you go about it good? Are they pleasing God? Would someone by knowing you better innately know God better?

“with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:2-3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The culture of the Kingdom is always seeking the good of the body over self, it cries out for humility, for patience, for love and it cries out for oneness, unity, that our agenda always be the agenda of God and not our own. Has that been the standard you hold yourself to?

The Evil That Is Unbelief

Often when we think of faith, if we lack it, we just think it’s something to be worked on, something we have to get better at, but I don’t think we ever really think of it as evil doing. The more I think about it, the more I search the word on it, the clearer it becomes that God calls our unbelief evil.

““How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.”

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭14:27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When the Israelites were in the Wilderness they made a habit of complaining against God. This was all the more frustrating because God was consistently coming through for thenIsraelites, He had freed them from the Egyptians, parted the Red Sea and provided them with manna, yet when it came to entering the promise land they doubted, complained and questioned God, and for this God called them and evil congregation.

“Then the LORD said to Moses: “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?”

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭14:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is a strong link in scripture between faith and obedience and our faith evidenced by our obedience. Yet again on scripture we see God link these two thins as evil doing, when He speaks to Jeremiah.

“And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭18:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God makes it clear that if we walk in disbelief and do not trust and obey Him, He will relent from doing that which He said He will do. Our faith is integral to God. He did the same thing in the wilderness when He caused the entire generation of Israelites or did not believe Him to die before He took them into the promise land.

Our belief in God is so important to Him and it can hinder us from walking in what He has for us. I pray that we all have our faith strengthened and wander not into such evil doing.

The Way

For the past few days, whenever I sit down to read the bible the word way or path, have been standing out to me, like it has a lightbulb on it. And it appears in so many scriptures, so what do we need to know about the way?

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The first thing that comes to mind when I say the way, for me at least is the above scripture. Funnily enough however it’s not one of the scriptures I have been reading that brought, way or path to my attention. But all things in this faith come back to Christ, and I think that is a good place to start when understanding what God is highlighting through the word way, is Christ. Christ is the pathway to the Father

“And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn;”

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭2:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Here in 1 Kings 2:3, David is beseeching his son Solomon to follow the ways of God, in this case His statutes or His Word, for they lead to prosperity. We know that the Word and Christ are one in the same. And I feel God is crying out to us to follow Him and Him alone, to set our eyes on Him. I pray that as you read this God will illuminate His way to you and make clear for you the way that you should go. There is a way, free of destruction for you and it is Christ, live in Him.

“Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭27:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What Do You See?

“By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Vision is so integral to faith. I’m not talking about what we see in the physical but what we see in our minds eye. Children are often referred to as sponges, because they soak in information, everything they see, everything they hear, their mind retains this information and it begins to shape and mould the way they think and act. Though we say this often about children, it is really no different for adults. What you let in, shapes what your minds eye sees and the bible tells us that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” So what you see internally, shapes who you are and the results you get.

Hebrews 11:3 above, draws attention to the relation between how faith works and the story of creation. So as I read the creation story, God drew my attention to four essential components of faith.

• First God spoke it and it was.

“Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

• After God spoke it, He saw it.

“And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

• God didn’t stop visualising till good became very good.

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

• After God saw it, He built it.

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When an architect is preparing for a new building, the builders don’t start until the architect has perfected the vision. First you must be able to see it, before you can build it. And God didn’t stop at good, He perfected the image before He began to build it. Though He created all things in Genesis 1, we see with man and with all animals and with the plants and herbs that He manifested them in Genesis 2. So with faith, you must first begin to see a thing before you can walk in it. That means letting God’s word in more than the worlds doubts. But finally we must see that it is not in building a thing that it becomes real, but it is in God speaking it. The bible is clear, once God spoke a thing, it was. For this reason we must learn to get clear vision of what God’s Word says and then walk in it.

“When there is no clear prophetic vision, people quickly wander astray. But when you follow the revelation of the word, heaven’s bliss fills your soul.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29:18‬ ‭TPT‬‬

It May Be For Tomorrow

“Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I write this now from a place of spiritual rebuke. With this blog consistency has not been my trademark. At times I feel discouraged, not sure where this is going or who it’s reaching and most importantly if it is having impact, so invariably I end up slowing down and not always writing down what God has revealed.

As I sat down today to settle into quiet time, listening to worship, I kept thinking of Habakkuk 2:2 , I wanted to shake it off, “what can I get from there that I haven’t already?” It’s a popular, well known scripture, I wanted something “new”, but I couldn’t shake it off. So I opened my bible to Habakkuk 2 and as I read it,the first thing that came to mind was to blog, I felt God saying, “it’s important that you write it all down, there are people who need what I reveal to you, it may not be for their today, it may be for their tomorrow, but they need it.”

It goes further than that, further than the relevance of this blog, to what it is you’re believing God for, what it is God has spoken over your life and today you may look around and your circumstances may look nothing that the word over your life and sometimes it’s very discouraging, and God says “today’s trial is for tomorrow’s fruit.” God has sewn and spoken into your tomorrow, it may not feel like it’s panning out, but what you write today is for an appointed time, it’s for tomorrow.

Habakkuk is probably the most quoted scripture when it comes to writing down what you hear from God, but God gave similar instructions to Isaiah and Jeremiah. There is something essential and powerful in writing it down.

“Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭30:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Writing it down is how we give glory to God. It bares witness to the fact that before it happened God said it. It serves as a reminder in the season of waiting that there is a plan, writing it down will encourage your faith and others. And never forget just cause it hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen, it’s waiting for you in your tomorrow.

Loose Grip

It’s been a long time since I’ve written, since February 2020, life has changed, the world has changed, how we do “faith” has changed, but God hasn’t changed. As I think about how quickly things changed and how much things changed over the past year I think about how sensitive we must be to changing tides.

As believers we have to learn to adapt to change and, more than that, see change before it happens. To never let ourselves get stuck in something, to never let comfort stunt our growth. One of the greatest flaws we see in the Pharisees is their unwillingness to deal with change. The Pharisees held on so tightly to the image they had of the Messiah that they let their picture keep them from Christ when He came. The truth is, God will get you like that. The moment you get comfortable in what you know He will confound your wisdom.

“But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I have this picture in my mind of a man standing with firm feet and loose knees. I believe as Christians that has to become our posture. Yes we must stand firm on the word of God, but we must beware of getting so fixated on a word in season we let it become religion and miss when God has moved. Our knees must remain loose, ready to move when the Spirit moves.

We often forget that Gods reveals in part and so when we hear from God on a matter we try to apply it to all moments and all seasons, God’s word for your today may not be His word for your tomorrow, we must always go back.

it is important to hold on to all our possessions with a loose grip lest our possessions become our God. It becomes about not valuing anything so much it holds your focus or becomes your priority.

“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19:21-22‬ ‭ESV‬‬

A rich young man once came to Jesus seeking to find what it’ll take to enter the kingdom of heaven, he had followed all the religious protocols to enter heaven but when Jesus challenged him to let go of all his worldly possessions and follow Him, he was unwilling and unready, he valued his riches too much to let go.

Jesus must be unequivocally the number one in your life. There must be no dispute over His place in your life, Christ must come first, even before the things He gave you.

““If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14:26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The key to this is an intimate relationship with the Father, so you can speak to Him and know what He requires of you and when what He requires has changed. The reason the rich man was held on so tightly to his possessions was because he approached Christ with an old covenant mindset when Christ was inviting him into a new covenant.

I highlight that this is not just the approach we must take with our worldly possessions but also with what God says to us. We must always check what He is saying for the present moment. I am sure we all know the story of Joseph well. Joseph went through the painful route of slavery to garner favour for the nation `israel when the famine came. Egypt became a safe refuge for the Israelites. At this time Egypt was a blessing to the Israelites.

“When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭105:16-17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

That, however, was for a season, what was at the time of Joseph, a blessing would become a place of oppression.

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭1:8-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There came a time where the Israelites needed to get out of Israel and when God sent Moses at first the rejected him, then when they got into the unfamiliar territory of the wilderness they wanted to get back to Egypt. Comfort and too firm a grip can have you lusting for the thing that is killing you.

My prayer as I write this, is that we would, in this constantly changing world, keep are eyes fixed on the God who doesn’t change and who has the wisdom to carry us through every moment and every trial. That we would always look to the Father for guidance and never result to leaning on our own understanding. That we would never hold on too tight to our way of thinking that we miss out o. What is ahead of us all.

Amen.

Another Generation

I am incredibly fascinated by the story of Solomon. He isn’t the first person, a he’s certainly not the last person to get blessed and then let his blessings get to his head and wild out, but my goodness does his life tell a story,

I recently watched something and at the heart of it’s message was this, a man urging this next generation to learn from the mistakes he’d made, yes we’d make our own, but please let us learn from the experience of those before us so we don’t have to go through unnecessary pain.

David was a man after God’s heart, he lived a life in honour of God, was humble, but like all men, David made his mistakes, in fact Solomon was a byproduct of one of David’s mistakes. No wonder then David brought up Solomon to be so aware of his mortality and to always recognise that all he had could only come from God.

In fact while announces to all the leaders of the 12 tribes that Solomon would be king, David emphasised Solomon’s inexperience;

“Furthermore King David said to all the assembly: “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is  young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the Lord God.”

1 Chronicles 29:1

In fact, as a son, following in the footsteps of his father I can only imagine how embarrassing it may feel to stand next to your father, while he tells a room full of people that, ‘you’ll lead, but you’re not ready for the task you’re about to undertake.’ David however, was sowing a seed, he was building a mentality in Solomon of total dependence on God. I believe that it is because of how his father trained him that when God appeared to Solomon and offered him anything he wanted, he had the humility to ask for wisdom. You only ask for wisdom, if you’re wise enough to know you lack it. I used to be very fascinated by philosophy and one of my favourite quotes growing up was the Socrates Paradox;

“All I know is that I know nothing.”

That was Solomon’s mentality coming into kingship, because David was intent that Solomon learn from his mistakes. But don’t worry Solomon would make his own mistakes, because he let the hype get to his head. I mean, read the book of Ecclesiastes, he thought so highly of himself.

“I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.”

Ecclesiastes 2:4-9

Solomon started to see himself as the architect of his success. And slowly he begun to turn his face from God and to the pleasures of the world. There is good reason to why the bible says you can’t serve two masters, either you love one or hate the other. You can’t face two directions at once. First it was a small compromise but eventually what happens is Solomon is just creating the appearance of following God but he really had his back to Him and was following other gods.

“So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.”

1 Kings 11:9-11

Solomon let himself get distracted and he stopped following God earnestly. He had to learn from experience what his father urged him to learn from him. And after all his pride and arrogance, after all his feeding of his flesh, this was Solomon’s takeaway;

“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,

For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;

And this was my reward from all my labor.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done

And on the labor in which I had toiled;

And indeed all was  vanity and grasping for the wind.

There  was no profit under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

The things of this world they all amount to nothing, “All is vanity.” You can have it all, all the worlds riches but it it doesn’t all glorify God it is nothing.. To summarise Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, ‘You could amass all the riches and it will be inherited by the one who comes after you and who knows if it would be a fool.” I mean that’s how David must have felt, he toiled to provide all Solomon would need to build the temple, both in resources and in mentality and he squandered it all.

The overall lesson from Solomon is this, “do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) God sees the heart, so don’t let your acts of righteousness be religious, because it doesn’t fool Him and lastly, satisfying the flesh only leads to destruction.

“Do not be overly righteous,

Nor be overly wise:

Why should you destroy yourself?

Do not be overly wicked,

Nor be foolish:

Why should you die before your time?”

Ecclesiastes 7:16-17

Deep Faith

“Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.””

- Mark 16:16-18

The bible says that the evidence of those who believe are the casting out of demons, the healing of the sick, that you will drink poison and not be harmed.

Are we therefore truly living in faith if we are not seeing these signs evidenced in our lives and our walks with God? if there is so much more how do we deepen our faith to see it manifest?

“Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

- Philippians 2:12-13

We also see that the we are to work out our own salvation with fear and with trembling, if that is the case what is the work we are called to do, how do we work out our salvation, because the bible has told us salvation is for those who believe.

“They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.””

- John 6:28-29

When those they surrounded Jesus and asked what works it is they must do to work the work of God, He told they they simply had to believe. The problem because we claim that we believe but we don’t see it evidenced in our lives then how do we grow are faith, how do we deepen the level of our belief. A lot of us are operating from a head knowledge faith, that believe in God more conceptually than we believe that God will work those things in our lives. We believe He can more than we believe He will. while we are still operation from a faith that is only head strong and not revelatory we cannot move in the authority that faith allows us.

What then will deepen our belief?

“They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?”

- John 6:30

““I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

- John 6:35

When Jesus told them to believe, they asked Him what He would do so they could believe in Him and this completely contradicts what faith is. SO many of us are in that place, waiting for signs so that we can believe, when Jesus clearly said that signs evidence of your belief not how belief is earned.

Jesus, is the bread of life and say whoever comes to Him shall never hunger. The bread of God is His word, because in Deuteronomy God showed that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We can no longer be on and off with time in the Word, we must live and breathe it, it is only the living Word of God that can activate a faith that is followed by signs. It goes on to say that those who believe shall not thirst, faith comes from feeding on the Word and faith activates the Spirit of God, who is the manifestos of the works of God. It is the Spirit of God who works in yo both to will and to do, but God is not by force you must let Him in through the act of your belief.

Sons of Issachar

We spend a lot of time praying about having discernment like the sons of Issachar but what does it actually mean? This is only mentioned once in the Bible so how do we come in to this kind of discernment?

“From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.”

- 1 Chronicles 12:32

This has become a very strong and consistent prayer point, but one thing that stands out to me is this kind of discernment goes beyond prayer. It is important when reading the Bible to not just take scriptures in isolation, but to understand the circumstances under which the scripture is used. Far too often we take scriptures in isolation and miss out on full understanding of it.

We are in a season where we are so hungry for change, were people have grown frustrated with circumstances, with leadership and with lack. People are hungry for more and this is no different from what was going on in scripture, people throughout Israel were ready for change and they stood up in unison around David to turn over the ‘kingdom of Saul to him.’ We see that Davis is surrounded by men of work from multiple tribes, the best soldiers the best of everything. The sons of Issachar represent the best tacticians, it is one thing to have great warriors but great warriors with poor direction becomes null and void. The Bible says they understood the times and seasons, it isn’t simply another prayer point, it would have taken a lifestyle of intentionality.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.”

- Joshua 1:8

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

- John 14:26

The same way the Bible tells us to meditate on the Word day and night, to feed ourselves with scripture, and in the process of doing that the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance as needed is the same way the sons of Issachar would have had to invest time in understand the culture, understanding the time, they were trained tacticians with spiritual wisdom. So we spend time crying out for the discernment of the sons of Issachar but what are we doing to position ourselves for the Holy Spirit to pour out that wisdom. We must understand how knowledge of the world we are in is necessary to spiritually impact it. Though we are not of the world we are in it and it takes and understanding of it to know how we will tactically change it for the Kingdom of heaven.

Exert from Life Application Study Bible:

1 Chronicles 12:32 - “The 200 leaders from the tribe of Issachar “understood the signs of the times.” As a result, their knowledge and judgment provided needed help in making decisions for the nation. For leaders in the church today, it is equally necessary to know what is happening in society in order to plan the best courses of action. Knowledge of current events, trends, and needs helps us understand people’s thoughts and attitudes. This gives us information to help us make wise decisions for the church and show people that God’s message is relevant to their lives.”

All Glory

There’s this thing that started happening recently in schools, specifically in the west. Where kids get trophies for participation. And there are two schools of thoughts with this. One, those who believe it is the best way for some kids to not feel less than and fully support it and secondly those who believe it devalues the hard work of those who win.

One thing I’m learning is, this if kind of what God does with us, trophy for participation. He blesses those who He sees fit to bless, it is not a matter of earning your blessings. Truth is, if it was, we’d all for short.

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

- Romans 3:23

we, like Job, need to learn that this walk with God does not work on a reward basis. Blessings are not a reward for goodness and your circumstance is not punishment for bad behaviour. we fall into the trap of pride or vanity when we think that way, when in reality, “it’s not all about you!”

“And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

- Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

When all we are seeking is reward for our behaviour our focus has become self, but the essence of this relationship with God is to be Christ centred.

“And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

- Luke 9:23

We must learn truly how to take our eyes of ourselves, to not let our joy be determined by our circumstance, to think that we are the protagonist in the story. Your joy will always be determined by your circumstance if you are your focus. The truth is, we are in this all for Christ and when He is your focus and nothing else you will attract heaven because you’re not seeking the prizes and the rewards.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

- Matthew 6:33

The focus must always be on God, on Him getting the glory, on His Kingdom being served, the more we do that the more we will find alignment and find joy and happiness that outweighs our circumstances.

“I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.”

- Psalm 34:1-2

All the glory must go to God at all times and taking a heart posture that does not focus on self but on adoring God, your joy will overflow.

Complete Surrender

The idea of completely surrendering to God is something I think a lot of us desire. But do we truly take into consideration the full picture of what surrender is when we decide to surrender all?

There are some parts of surrender that are just impossible to fathom if we are honest. Because the things of God are foolishness to man. So we get in on the action, and when the Word tells you that what God has for you is more than you could ask or imagine, we still go ahead and imagine and we paint this picture of what it should look like and no matter how many times we are warned that it doesn’t come without its battles and it’s attacks, no matter how many times we are told we are stretched through discomfort, we picture it as easy, we picture blessings without trials, we picture things happening so fast and we fail to prepare for the wait.

Nevertheless this fantasy we paint of relationship with God will someday lead to ultimate frustration and dissatisfaction. All of a sudden we begin to believe that God isn’t one who keeps His word, and this is how the devil creeps in to the side door you left open. Because no one dares to say when they feel that way about God, so you build up some resent against God, His apparent shortcomings and tell no one about it, and now you are held in a place of isolation. You run from God and from your support system of fellow believers.

We also live in an age of instant gratification, so we put God on a timeline of when and how He has to come through for you.

“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.”

- Jeremiah 29:11

It is important to note that Jeremiah 29:11 says “though to give you an expected end.” We try to put God under a time pressure, or quit and say He failed us, when His plans are focused on your end, not your middle, He is the alpha and OMEGA, the beginning and the END. We have to learn patience and trust, that if God is who we confess He is then what are we stressing about. This of course is easier said than done.

One of the major factors in us drifting from our commitment to surrender completely to God is not being able to let go of our own definition of what God’s will is for us. so often we talk about the things of God but are really chasing earthly gain. Often even if that is what God wants for you, He can’t give it to you until you let go of it. because the greatest blessings can also be the greatest curses if your priorities are out of alignment. if your focus is more on your earthly desires than God then those desires will derail you.

The worse thing that can happen to any of us is to get so lost in the image of success we think we’ve made it and we must be good with God and we have lost all perspective of His Kingdom.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

- Matthew 6:24

You cannot serve both man and mammon, it doesn’t mean you can’t have wealth, you just have to be sure that your wealth is serving God with you and you’re not serving it. We have to get to a place of I want You and only You God and if there is anything You want me to let go of i’ll let go of it in an instant because You are the goal. If you have two master you will at some point have to choose between them and realise that is reality you only have one master. A rich man came to Jesus wanting to know how to guarantee entrance in to Heaven, he genuinely desired to make it to heaven, but when it came time to choose between heaven and his worldly gain you finally saw what he prioritised.

“Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

- Matthew 19:21-22

It is such a hard thing and truly on God can give you the capacity to surrender completely to Him, but complete surrender is what it takes to fulfil the purpose of God, are you ready to give it all up for Him?

Cut Your Coat

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?”

- James 4:11-12

The world has a very strong draw, to make you lower your standards and live according to the worlds standards and not according to the standards of heaven. I remember when people used to ask me if I was a ‘bad boy’ because a lot of pastors kids often are, I’d always say I never was and I was always a good boy. When my relationship with God grew, i started to realise that that assessment of myself was based on the worlds standards of good and not on God’s.

I say this to say, we have somehow found ways to justify being judgemental or ‘an eye for an eye’. We know the bible says, vengeance is for the Lord, we know it says judgement is of the Lord, we know it says if somebody slaps you, show them the other cheek. But we’ve let the world lower our standards.

I am constantly in awe of David. David learnt to be patient, have self control and to humble himself. From a young age, it was prophesied over him, that he would become king and he was anointed there and then, yet he remained humble in all his endeavours, did as God directed him and treated Saul with honour.

Saul has a grown uncontrollably jealous of David and is intent on killing him and stil knowing this, given the opportunity to get his own vengeance against Saul, he doesn’t. Instead he cuts the corner of Saul’s robe.

“Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe.And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”

- 1 Samuel 24:4-6

David understood the importance of not taking things into his own hands, or seeking vengeance leaning on God. Even with the fact he didn’t get vengeance his heart was wrecked with guilt for cutting Saul’s robe\, because such was David’s heart. It spoke to not also needing to prove a point, not needing so say ‘I could’ve hurt you, but i’m so good i didn’t.’ Doing the right thing is for the world to know you did it but to trust God see’s. Jesus on many occasions would heal someone and tell them to go and tell no one. It wasn’t about bragging rights, all belongs to the Lord.

What will you do when presented to the opportunity to harm those who have harmed you, show love or vengeance.

““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectorsdo so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

- Matthew 5:43-48

Love even those who hate you, even bad people love those who love them, what sets you apart, love everyone and live that love.

Simply Believe

One of the biggest struggles we often face as humans is the sheer volume of pressure we put on ourselves. The human race prides itself on independence, it is considered one of the greatest shows of maturity, the capacity to get things done without help. Well as followers of Christ that mindset presents a major dilemma.

We are not meant to do this life all by ourselves, we are followers so we are meant to be led by and depend on God. We expect we are meant to have all the answers, be able to solve all the problems for ourselves. It builds anxiety, you start to foresee issues that haven’t yet arisen.

The reality of it is, when this mentality of needing to control everything sets in it speaks to a lack of trust in the one you have supposedly handed the reigns over to.

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

- James 1:2-4 NLT

Why is it that the testing of your faith produces patience? Because patience is the evidence of faith. It takes patience to watch things go crazy but still let God be God. The reality so often is we ran to God cause we knew we weren’t able to do it by ourselves, yet when we watch things fall apart we think ‘well i have to do something’, and we snatch the wheel from God and try to control our destiny.

One of the must fundamental things in this walk in God is, it all comes down to believing Him. We over complicate our relationship with God, put pressure on ourselves to have the hard fies when on multiple occasions God highlights this all comes by believing.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

- John 3:16 NKJV

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”

- Ephesians 2:8 NKJV

“And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.””

- Luke 17:19 NKJV

“And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.””

- Mark 5:34 NKJV

These are few of MANY examples of what believing in God will do. Everything else springs out of belief in Him. We spend so much time trying to work on all the symptoms when the root cause is what is your faith level. Let us work out our unbelief. From there will come hearing and obedience, vision and direction.

it takes prayer and supplication, intentional decision to trust Him and act on it when everything around and even in you is telling you not to. Once you fix your faith everything flows from that because God by His very nature acts on behalf of those on wait on Him, who are patient in faith in Him.

“For since the beginning of the world

Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,

Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,

Who acts for the one who waits for Him.”

- Isaiah 64:4 NKJV

Sold Out

What does it mean to be sold out for God? What does it look like? How do you we move from being sold out in our minds to being sold out in reality, because that seems to me like the trickiest part. The idea of giving everything up for God is an attractive one. If you really love Him and believe what He has for you is better than anything you could possible bring to fruition for yourself, then of course I’d want to be sold out for Him. I want what is absolutely the best for me, I want to live a life better than anything my pretty in depth imagination could even so much as conjure up.

But if that is true, why do I find myself some what struggling with putting that desire into action. The complicated thing is God is capable of that which you can’t even imagine, and if you can’t imagine it’s pretty hard to bank on it. We have a tendency to want to control things in our lives and leaning completely on God is relinquishing all control.

People often complain about backseat drivers. But a failure to lean completely on God is the biggest example of backseat driving. You have decided to put Jesus at the helm, but at every point you a whipping out google maps to tell Him the best route to take, or complaining that your late so can He put His foot on the gas.

The most anxious backseat driving is when your location is a surprise only the drivers knows, like when God told Abraham to leave his father and his mother and go to a land He will show him. Abraham was on a journey with no location set out on the map and that is where so many of us are, we feel like we are following blindly,, but that is the premise of trust. Even when you’re not sure, because you trust your driver, you follow.

This walk with God requires becoming sold out. The bible constantly reminds us that Spirit and the flesh can not co-exist, the flesh hates everything the Spirit loves and vice-versa, so you will inevitably be called to a place where you have to choose one.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

- Matthew 6:24

The word mammon comes from the greek word mammōnas which really means worldly possessions. And Jesus is really saying that there is no such thing as joint first place. Something always means more the questions is it that thing, Me or is it your earthly riches. Because one day something will happen and you’ll need to choose between Me or mammon and which one will you choose.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

- Galatians 1:10

Through this life God will be testing the posture of your heart to see if you are choosing to do what pleases man or do what please Him (1 Thessalonians 2:4). To be sold out for God is to trust Him outright, the problem is so often we only come running to God when we have exhausted all other options. When nothing else worked so we ran to Him out of desperation. God doesn’t want that to be the reason, He wants us to come to a place where we seek Him first. Where we don’t lean on our own strength or riches at every stage and only come to Him when out riches fail us. Because the problem with that is what sometimes looks like our riches coming through for us is really hurting us but we dont see it.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”

- Revelation 3:15-17

You say to yourself you are rich but don’t realise you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, God needs us to see that leaning on your own wealth will only end in death, The wages of sin is death.

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”

- 1 Timothy 6:17

The Bible warns us not to lean on our own understanding, not to depend on what we see and know because the ways of man are not the ways of God.

“There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.”

- Proverbs 14:12

People say the road to hell is paved in good intentions. The truth is it is what thing to be good it is another to be God led. And God led is our goal. What is good to a man is not the same as God. In order to walk with God our standards have to change. We cannot pick areas by which we commit to God and keep other areas to our own choosing.

“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

- James 4:4

“(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name isJealous, is a jealous God)”

- Exodus 34:14

I wouldn’t ask you if you are truly sold out for God, because if we take a long hard look we’d know the answer is most probably no, not completely, at least it is for me. Every day we need to kill more of our flesh so we can get closer and closer to truly being sold out for God, and growing in the full stature of Christ, which is really the goal.

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ”

- Ephesians 4:11-15

Breath Of Life

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

John 4:13-14 NKJV

Through the Samaritan woman at the well Jesus put out an invite that we might have the opportunity, if we believe in Him, to drink from His constant flow of living water. Jesus poured out His wisdom, that the supply of this earth can only quench your thirst for a moment, but with Him comes true satisfaction. He describes the effects of this living water as, a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. His water is always active. Where the woman believes Jesus is talking about ordinary water, Jesus is in fact talking about pouring out His Spirit,

As humans we are dependant on food and drink as so God uses these images to depict His value. Where the woman looks for water, God says I have the kind of water that will bring you eternal life and never run dry.

In the same way, God withholds bread from the Israelites in the wilderness and provides them with manna that they, nor their fathers, have never seen and says;

“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV

God is saying this, you need two things to sustain you in life, My Word and My Spirit, and both I offer to you freely.

There is so much depth to be searched out in understanding this pouring out of the Spirit of God. It cannot be undermined, a consistent relationship with the Spirit of God is a necessity,

Jesus says in John 4;

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:23-24 NKJV

If God desires for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth, we must be full of the spirit. We must be continuously drinking of the Spirit of God.

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:11

Yes, God made us perfectly in His image, but until He breathed the breath of life in us that, spirit was lifeless. The same word translated breath in Hebrew is the same as the word translated spirit, rûach. God breathed in Adam is Spirit, His Spirit that gives eternal life.

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”

Genesis 2:7 NKJV

Man sinned and fell short of the glory of God, and so God sent another Adam, Jesus. Who would give us the opportunity to partake and an everlasting outpouring of the breath of life.

“And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

1 Corinthians 15:45 NKJV

God is never not pouring out His Spirit, never not breathing out His life, and all who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ is invited to continually drink, be filled with the spirit, that we have the means by which to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

We must understand that the Spirit of God is like breath, like wind. When we get into the presence of the Spirit of God, of His breath, there is power there. In the beginning the bible says;

“The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Genesis 1;2 NKJV

That is the wind of God, God present in atmosphere and every time God spoke a word the wind responded and brought His Word to life. From the beginning of time, the breath of life has been working, active, moving. When man fell God brought His Son, the redeemer that we might partake continuously of the breath of God, of an everlasting flow of life.

We must always partake of the Word and the Wind of God. God is never not speaking, are you listening? His wind is always bringing life to His Word, are you breathing Him in?