Monday, December 24, 2007

Thanksgiving – The Key To Abundance (Christmas Edition)

Thanksgiving

Jesus, in introducing the fundamental principle of the kingdom of God, which is the law of sowing and reaping, punctuated his parable with a profound statement.

‘It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but unto them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath’.

Why was abundance released to one while the other lived in lack? He had a secret! Even though they both appeared the same on the outside at one point in their lives, on the inside, the first had a consciousness of ‘having’ he approached his future with a consciousness of what he had received in the past from God with a heart of gratitude; thus, opening up his channel to God and clearing it of all the debris of unbelief, bitterness, anger and resentment and the supply therefore increasing unto an overflow.

The other believed he had not, he looked on the outside and saw a lot of things yet undone and spent all his time living in the consciousness of what he lacked and so he blocked his line of supply, by so doing all he did have was eventually taken away from him, he moved into a place of continual loss and decline thereby self-destroying his future though not deliberately but ignorantly;

The law is no respecter of persons. It is only naïve to mean well and not to find out how to be and then do well. It takes more than good intentions to put you over in life; it takes wisdom, skill and capacity building. This parable tells us both parties actually had the same at one point in their lives, the first only acknowledged what was given and lived in the consciousness of possessing it, while the other lived as though he had never received anything.

The purpose of Christ can only grow out of its seed form in us if He meets with faith in our hearts. If we allow a mindset of lack, affliction and weakness from ‘rightly’ analysing our circumstances from a logical and intellectual point of view, we would only attract the wrong spiritual forces into our space and environment; we would continue to struggle against a tide that seems to want to take all we have.

If we then engage in one of the most negative spiritual activities which many are ignorant of, that is, speaking thoughtless words out of the emotional pain that we feel, it would flood our experiences with judgment. A consciousness of being afflicted and oppressed reflected in murmuring, complaining etc only leads to further decline in our experiences.

The book of Proverbs says: ’All the days of the afflicted are evil but he that hath a merry heart hath a continual feast’ Isaac asked Esau to give him the venison he loved before he blessed him. What was the principle behind that?

Getting the right emotions and inner attitude before words are spoken, this speaks volumes; if our words would register powerfully our hearts must be stirred right before our future can be shaped with our words.

Stir it up by rejoicing in the experience of the past blessings and in the light of the future, giving thanks to God, being filled with the consciousness of His goodness regardless of what your environment is saying to you and the ability to shaped your future would be given to you.

From the Desk of Pastor Poju

Get a plan of action.

Four things are essential towards evolving a right plan of action.

1. The principle of the seed faith. This is the point at which you plant your faith in God as a seed in the earth. The earth always brings forth that which is sown into it. It has this powerful law built within its system at creation. You can plant your faith like a seed that in turn would guarantee the release of God's ability working out on your behalf, the events that would lead to the realisation of your goal.

God gets involved with your project at the point at which you plant your seed. Many people wonder why God doesn't appear concerned about their needs, bills, dreams or expectations. God doesn't appear to be at the centre of their lives, He appears not to 'know' them and unable to make contact with them at the point of their needs.

They have ample 'evidence' in their personal experiences and all around them that testifies to this fact, for example the sufferings of humanity in various locations of the earth. There is the principle of the seed faith without which no one can really understand God's approach to things. Jesus at the beginning of His ministry quickly called the attention of the Jews to this law.

He said 'were there not many widows in Israel in the days of famine, when Elijah was sent by God only to the widow at Zerapath'. How come it was only to the widow at Zerapath God appeared concerned? Jesus asked them to think deeply about that. The fact that God saw many single mothers in Israel dying with their children and He could only send Elijah to one, the widow at Zerapath.

He desired to help all but could only reach one. He loved all but could only reach one. Thousands died while God watched and waited. What made the widow at Zerapath different? She understood the law of the seed faith before she lost it all. She understood that God loves us all but can only bless those that obey His laws. She took out of her need to help someone else in need, thereby releasing God to move on her behalf.

She understood that God could only make contact with her at the point of her need when she decided to help someone else in need with the little she had. Instead of complaining about her situation she planted a seed of faith in God's ability and faithfulness by helping him to get the need of someone else met. God would always respond to seeds sown and not to needs known. Job understood the power of the seed faith in relation to accessing a right plan of action from God.

He said in chap. 29 "Oh for the years gone by when God took care of me, when his candle shined upon my head (flow of ideas) when he lighted the way before me (a plan of action) and I walked safely through darkness, yes in my early years when the friendship of God was felt in my home, when my projects prospered and even the rock poured out streams of olive oil to me.

Those were the days when the young saw me and stepped aside and even the aged rose and stood up in respect at my coming.... because I delivered the poor in their need and the fatherless who had no one to help them. I helped those who were ready to perish and they blessed me and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy..."

From the Desk of Pastor Poju

The Insights For Living Vision

The Mission of Insights for Living is to teach Christians who they are in Christ Jesus, and how to live a victorious life in their covenant rights and privileges.

The fulfilment of that mission takes place when those believers become rooted and grounded enough in God’s word to reach out and teach others these same principles.We are called to lead people, primarily born-again believers, to the place where they operate proficiently in biblical principles of faith, love, healing, prosperity; redemption and righteousness, and to the place where they can share those principles with others.

We are called to assist believers in becoming rooted, grounded and established in the word of God by teaching them to give God’s word first place in their lives. (Colossians 1:23; Psalm112).We are called to reveal mysteries, victorious revelations of God’s word, that have been hidden from ages (Colossians 1:25-28).

We are called to build an army of mature believers bringing them from milk to meat, from religion to reality.

We are called to train them to become skilful in the word of righteousness, to stand firm in the spiritual warfare against the kingdom of darkness(Hebrews 5:12-14; Ephesians 6:10-28).We are called to proclaim, “Jesus is lord” from the top of the world to the bottom and all the way around.

Poju Oyemade