KING SOLOMON MISSED A POINT

Have you ever asked “Why did God create me?”
God created us for fellowship and to show forth His glory, He created us for His pleasure. But do you know, the wisest king on earth seemed to miss a very important point related to this? Wow! I hear someone saying “Who are you to say that about the King Solomon?” I’m sorry, but he did miss a point. Let’s look at it together.

2Chronicles 6:2- “But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling forever".

This is where King Solomon missed the point.  Though dwelling in a physical temple wasn’t God’s ultimate plan, God was willing to show forth occasionally in these physical tabernacles; But then Solomon added “forever” in his dedication prayer. This showed that even if he had great wisdom, he was still a man and was limited in knowledge of God’s grand plan.

God’s ultimate plan was to dwell in man, but in 2Chronicles 6:18, King Solomon even doubted this- “but will God in very deed dwell with men on earth?” YES! God not only wanted to dwell with men, but in men, and He has achieved that today. Hallelujah! He dwells in me. “Christ in me, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:21).

Note that in 2Chronicles 7:1. God responded positively to Solomon’s prayer, with fire from heaven and glory filling the house.

God responded despite the fact that He knew He was not going to dwell there “forever” (John 4:21-24).

God did not hush Solomon at that statement, but accepted him and favoured him. That didn’t mean that God would now dwell in a physical temple at Jerusalem built by King Solomon, forever.

Likewise when we see the errors made by some patriarchs, we should not just take them as God’s will because he did not react negatively to them. God has a perfect will and it is stated clearly in scriptures. Study the scriptures, renew your mind and you will know what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).

See God’s response when he talked to Solomon after the prayer in 2Chronicles 7:12- “And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard they prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice”.

God chose it for a house of sacrifice, not even for dwelling. He chose it anyway, but then “forever” was totally out of it. The place God desires to dwell in forever, is in YOU. Don't close the door of your heart. Let Jesus in.

Ikpa Onwuka.

THE VALLEY OF DECISION

Many of us have been in situations where we needed to make one decision or the other; decisions capable of changing our lives forever, but we came through, we were able to choose rightly. There is one decision many still need to make, which is a matter of life and death…

Joel 3:12-15 “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about”.

There is a call to ‘come up’. Come up from where? It definitely will be a lower place, a place of gloom and doom, a place without light. There is also a command to those who are already up to reap from this lower place, and bring as many as possible up out of this lower place. This lower place is full of wickedness, great wickedness. “…Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision”. I call this lower place the “Valley of Decision”.

Inhabitants of this valley are in utter darkness, they have their eyes covered with a veil of darkness (2Cor.4:4). Inhabitants of this valley must make a smart and quick decision to come out because the day of the Lord is near in the Valley of Decision. This is a valley of sin and iniquity; it is a place where immorality and wickedness prevails. Satan reigns there.

Don’t remain there, don’t remain in the Valley of Decision; decide quick and come to Christ today, He shall give you light. God doesn’t want to destroy anyone, He has been and is still waiting for as many as are still in this valley of decision to make up their minds and decide to be on the Lord’s side (2Peter 3:9).

Do you know anyone in the Valley of Decision?  Or are you in the Valley of Decision? Come up unto the Higher Grounds. Come out of Babylon (Isaiah 52:11) and be separate. The Lord still calls us into the Ark of Salvation. Let us respond positively before it’s too late. 

The clock is ticking and we are at the eleventh hour, no, we are at the extra time.

Ikpa Onwuka.

ASKING GOD WHY

Is it bad to ask God questions when things go wrong? You know some folks have seen it as a sign of ingratitude, they say ‘give God the benefit of doubt’. But the truth is if we don’t know why a thing happened, we are bound to suffer afflictions from that occurrence again and again until we have asked God ‘why’, the right way. Yes, I said, the right way.

When inquiring from God about certain issues or occurrence, we shouldn’t do it complaining, because God does not like that. We should ask to learn, in openness of heart. Just like the disciples asked Jesus why the three could not cast out the devil, they learnt something new that day. I have a feeling there would have been no answer if they came that day complaining, but a rebuke to stop complaining. Imagine if they came to Jesus accusing him of giving them power that failed to work?

This is what most of us do when things go wrong, we either fail to inquire of the Lord as to why it happened, or we go to him complaining and pouring out accusations.

In Joshua 7:7-9 after the people of Ai had smitten about thirty six of the Israelites; Joshua asked God why it happened. In verses 10-13, God answered him. If Joshua did not ask, he would not have known where they went wrong.

Believe me, life will be much more beautiful if we inquire the right way and demand to know why certain things happen. God hears and answers us.
Don’t keep quiet, ask why!

Ikpa Onwuka

21st CENTURY LIES

MY DAUGHTER SAVED ME.

Watch for yourself and be inspired. Please ensure to leave a comment, like and share.

I believe in a Sexually Pure generation.

Ikpa Onwuka.

SPEND TIME WITH JESUS; YOUR GRACE TO DISCERN WILL INCREASE

Studying the gospel according to Matthew, I traced carefully and with the help of the Holy Spirit the pattern of discernment of the disciples of Jesus Christ. It increased gradually and steadily as they continued closely with Jesus. Let us see together what I discovered:
In Matthew 13, Jesus taught in parables about the seed and the sower. In verse 10 His disciples asked why He taught in parables and He answered “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (11). Those who would know and discern the mysteries of heaven are not those who visit Jesus once in a while, but those who dwell with Him, day and night. Any visitor will have the parables, but if they can come up higher and dwell with Him, they will get the explanation.
Later in verse 18, He began to explain the parable to His disciples because even they themselves could not yet discern what it meant.
In verse 24 Jesus gave another parable about good seed and tares. After the multitude left in verse 36, His disciples then came to Him and demanded the explanation. Notice in verse 10 they just asked why He spoke in parables, but in verse 24 they now desire to know the meanings of those teachings.
Let us continue…
In chapter 15 verse 11, Jesus made a statement “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man”. We notice in verse 15 that Peter came and asked for the meaning, but Jesus expected that by now they should have begun to discern certain spiritual realities by themselves. They had spent good time with Him; He was soon to be crucified. He expected that their grace to discern should have increased. From this, I feel they woke up and became more sensitive. Jesus however explained it in verses 17 through 20.
In chapter 16 verse 6, Jesus made another statement “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees”. The disciples again did not understand initially, but made attempt to. They reasoned that it would be because they did not carry bread. Jesus quickly intervened and challenged their wrong interpretation, and immediately in verse 12 they picked up the meaning without Jesus interpreting.
Then again in verse 13, Jesus asked a very sensitive question and the disciples were trying to answer but not with their grace to discern. However, Peter was seriously searching His spirit and was able to discern. In verse 16, he answered correctly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Spend time with Christ and you will be able to discern correctly, it’s a gradual process and you grow in that grace…
God bless you.

Ikpa Onwuka

THE HOLY GHOST, A SUPREME BOOSTER

Acts 1:8- "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth".
Have you ever been  chased by an angry dog or a robber armed with harmful objects? You would realize your speed was different from those times when you just felt like running at will. The extra speed is courtesy of adrenaline, a hormone secreted in us during emergency situations. It kind of enables us go the extra mile in our response to the situation at hand. It boosts us for tasks seemingly bigger than us.
In the same way we must understand that the Holy Ghost empowers us for tasks that are impossible by our own strength. He is a divine booster. He gives us courage, extra wisdom and insight into challenging situations. He causes the miraculous to happen within and around us. In our to text, we see that the Holy Ghost comes with power. The power is to fulfill the great commission; to go out and be witnesses.
Many people, even supposed Christians today find it difficult to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, if you can feel the effectiveness of adrenaline even without seeing it physically, then you should know the Holy Spirit is true and empowers us to do greater things than our physical strength can accomplish.

Ikpa Onwuka.