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LYDIA

  CHARACTERISTICS: A Gentile adherent of Judaism, she was a successful businesswoman who sold a type of cloth prized for its purple color. As head of her household, she may have been either widowed or single. So strong was her faith that her entire household followed her example and was baptized. She extended hospitality to Paul and his companions, even after their imprisonment. Her Sorrow: To see Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into prison for the sake of the gospel she had embraced. Her Joy:  That God’s Spirit directed Paul and his companions to Macedonia, enabling her and others at Philippi to hear the gospel for the first time. STORY IN BRIEF: Lydia, a business woman who made her living by selling clothes, lived in Philippi, Macedonia. She was a gentile but Judaism-addict. Paul had a vision where a man pleaded that he came to Macedonia with the gospel. So he headed there. After sharing the good news with the Philippines along the coast, Lydia and her household believed an...

DEBORAH

  MEANING OF NAME :  Honey Bee CHARACTER :  Deborah was not just a political leader, but was also one who trusted in the faithfulness of Her God, resulting in their victory over foreign oppressors. HER REGRET :  Herpeople's faith had grown weak after deviating from their God. HER JOY :  Through her courageous and faithful leadership, God, again handed them victory over their opposers. STORY IN BRIEF :  Following the reign of Joshua and Rahab, was DEBORAH - the prophetess. Deborah was not dispirited like her fellow Israelites but rather remained loyal and strong in God.   Israelites, would practise idolatory after conquering the gateway to Caanan ( Jericho). Thus, they became timid and discouraged in the face of the uprising Canaanites led by their king, Sisera. But Deborah would keep her trust in the God that brought them this far. She joined Barak and his thousands of men in an attack at the Canaanites. And God was faithful - He granted them Victory a...

KEEP THE FIRE !

  ” The fire must never go out,…” Leviticus 6:12 God’s kingdom as recorded from Genesis to Revelation, is fire-dominated. Moses, first, encountered Him in a burning bush; Elijah got swallowed up by horse-like chariots; his servant, Elisha, wasn’t left out when he witnessed similar chariots of angels surrounding him later, and the list is endless. So Paul, The Apostle, simply concludes that God ( in whom we live ) is a consuming fire – Hebrews 12:29. The fire of God is that zeal, passion or heated and burning urge contained in our spirits for The Lord. It originates from God, yet He charges us to keep it from going off, as revealed from our theme scripture above. This piece will, therefore, not be complete without unveiling a few ways of sustaining God’s holy fire. THE WORD ” Is not my word like fire…?” Jeremiah 23:29. Then, the Prophet affirms, “… His word is in my heart like fire…” Jeremiah 20:9. So you can imagine what the Word offers our Spirit as we commune with it. They’re woo...

MIRIAM - HER LIFE STORY !

  NAME MEANING : Bitterness. HER FEAT:  She played a key role in helping preserving Moses whom God used later to deliver the Israelites from Egypt. HER REGRET  : Miriam,with all her help in preserving the life of her brother, could not enter the promised land as she for her arrogance and insurbordination. HER STORY IN BRIEF : Miriam was the only daughter among Moses and Aeron. She would comport herself when her mum, Jechrobet, hid the baby Moses from Pharaoh and his executioning team for three months. When Moses was finally taken to the river Nile and hidden in a basket by her mum, Miriam would stay a little longer than her mum did, keeping her eyes on the basket to see if anyone would reach out for it. Fourty years later, God faithfully preserved Moses and brought the Israelites - including Miriam and Aeron, out of Egypt by him - Moses. After they successfully crossed the red sea, Miriam led in the celebration of that feat. But Miriam and Aeron later stood again...

THE GREATEST WEAPON !

 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds…. “

2 Corinthians 10:4 KJV

As christians, we are not improverished of ammunitions with which to withstand the enemy and his wiles. Yet these weapons are variably effective. There is, therefore, the need to look into the nature of each of them and reasonably determine the most productive.

According to Paul, in the preceding scripture, our arms are not physical; prayer, praise/worship, faith, obedience and Light, are all rather abstract though results-yielding. Now, which of these does satan fear most? Let us find out from the following paragraphs.

Prayer is a good arm. It transforms both on the inside and on the outside of us. But if prayer is a request, then satan can pray too; he got far into God’s presence, requesting of His permission to try Job. He demanded of The Lord to sift Peter like wheat. Thus, prayer is not satan’s most-feared ! Afterall, he too can pray to God.

Darkness does not stand Light – God’s Word and Revelations. But the devil so knows the scriptures that he could tempt Jesus with them though he failed. He is so knowledgeable and cunning that he can aptly imitate LIGHT to decieve others into destruction. This is why he is also called, ” angel of light “. ( 2 Corinthians 11:14 )

How about praise and worship? In fact, these are the only arsenal that lift God from His throne. All others only attract His ministering Spirits. Satan and his cohorts were, however, worshippers in the face of God too; they have the flair to praise God, so when The Lord went to cast them out, they would first acknowledge His lordship and bow. Worship and praises can, therefore, not be the greatest weapon.

Faith is deflated into a mere belief when it stands without obedience. Now that makes no difference between us ( Christians ) and the devil because he also believes but trembles – James 2:19. What then is obedience?

Obedience means ” to hearken”, ” hear to do” or “to align with”. Obedience springs forth all other weapons. Obedience does not only prove Faith, as revealed in the previous paragraph; it is also a proof of Love. Now, Of all the aforementioned weapons, obedience is the only one satan lacks. He chose to rebel rather than obey. Obedience is, thus, the greatest weapon !

Brethen, obedience breeds purity, empowers and glorifies. What more can we learn from obedience? We shall find out from the second and final part of this subject. In the meantime, The Spirit says, ” To obey is better than sacrifice !” – 1 Samuel 15:22

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