Category Archives: Acknowledge God
Regard Him
Ex.20:7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”
How you use someone’s name largely is an indication of what the person is to you. You and I must be watchful because the enemy consistently tries to make God’s people commonize His Name.
Accept & Adore
Ex.20:5 “You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods… 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me …” [with emphasis]
The truth is that attempting to shape a person to suit your fantasy can be very offensive. Attempting to reshape God to suit your fantasy is offensive to Him. Read the rest of this entry
Loves Sake
Ex.20:5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods…” [with emphasis]
If you do not understand the Ten Commandments, you will think it is just a tyrannical statement. But the reality is that it is the greatest love letter of all time. Read the rest of this entry
Heart Check
Ps.100:3 “Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn’t make him. We’re his people, his well-tended sheep. 4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!” Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.”
Augustine of Hippo says, “Idolatry is worshiping what should be used or using what should be worshipped.” Attempting to use The One to be worshipped is the second dimension of idolatry. It is natural for us human beings to want to leverage on the influence in our networks to get ahead, get out of trouble, or to get an advantage. For instance, you are bidding for a contract in an organization where the CEO was your childhood friend. What a lot of people will do is place a call to the CEO and leverage on that relationship. We tend to leverage on the influence of powerful people Read the rest of this entry
Created Things
Prov.6:6 “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! 7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, 8 they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.”
Just as today’s Scripture reference suggests, we must take a lesson from the created things. For instance, eagles ruffle their nests and push their eaglets out of the nest – fly or fall! Read the rest of this entry
Incomparable
Isa.46:9 “Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. 10 Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”
As human beings, it is natural for us to create an image of someone we have not seen but our imaginations are faulty. People have created pictures of Jesus that they carry on their bracelets. It is idolatry – and it is wrong. Some people are carrying pictures of Mary or pictures of angels that look like midgets, because they want to associate with divinity and so they can feel connected to God. As much as those things make people feel good on the temporary, it robs God of His glory. Read the rest of this entry
Worship
Ex.20:4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…” [with emphasis]
The second commandment is, “You shall not make idols”, and it is The Battle with Worship. Over the next couple of days, we will be looking closely at the second commandment- our struggle with worship. Read the rest of this entry
Enjoyment
Ps.63:4 “I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5 You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. 6 I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.”
People that actively engage in sports –soccer for instance can attest to the fact that a little rain or a lot of rain, does not affect your passion or the game as the case may be. People that play soccer are familiar with the term “Rain-ball”. Read the rest of this entry
Love Truly
Rom.8:31 “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”
A kidnapper says, “You are mine” on the basis of power. A lover says, “You are mine” on the basis of affection. You may submit to raw power but you will never love raw power. When a servant hears, “You are mine”, do you know it creates a different set of emotions than when a child hears, “You are mine?” What goes through the servant’s mind when he hears, “You are mine” is probably, ‘one day I will get my freedom and I too will become a master.’ But the child will also say to the father or mother, “You are my daddy or Mummy!” The emotions and the responses are always different based on the relationship. Read the rest of this entry
Reciprocal
Ex.20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. 3 “You must not have any other god but me.”
When a kidnapper says to someone ‘you are mine’, the person feels resentment, feels trapped and all the person wants is to escape. Unfortunately, that is how a lot of people are relating with God and with The Law [The Ten Commandments]. We relate with God like we relate with a kidnapper because that is what we have been taught. Interestingly, even with the people who are peddling grace at the expense of truth, if you really listen to their message, they are like prisoners because they see it as entrapment. However, people who are married can relate to what I am about to say next (and for those who are yet to be married, you are going to know this feeling very soon, in Jesus Name): When the bride is taken to the altar, the summary of what happens there is the groom saying, ‘I want you to be mine!’ And the brides response being, ‘I do! in other words means, I want you to be mine too!’ Read the rest of this entry
