A GOOD MAN Text: Matt 12: 34

' O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.'

Everybody wants good things in life whether they are evil themselves or good they want goods things to come to them. Everybody wants good houses, good cars, good clothes, good life, empowerment, promotion, and all the good things you can think off. Jesus even said in Luke 11:3 'If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifs unto your children.' This shows that men that are evil want good things to happen to them and their children. But it does not work this way.

Jesus showed us a fundamental principle to having good things in life. The principle of God that will always produce good things which is shown in Matt 12:34 read again.

The first step to having good things is being a good man. To be qualified to operate the principle in Matt 12: 34, we must be sure we are a good man. It is not enough to be a good man you must be sure, if you are or you are not

A good man is first somebody that is born again not necessarily a perfect man. Secondly a good is somebody committed to maturity as a Christian which means getting better everyday. From the day you get born again there should be a daily progress, daily growth, what you are struggle with should be changing. From the day you give your life to Jesus till you will see Jesus in the rapture, you will have area to grow into His likeness continuously. And when you see Him, you will be perfectly changed (transformed) 1Jn 3:2, Php 3:21.

The longer you stay in being born again, in walk with God, in fellowshipping with Jesus through the Holy Spirit the brighter you should shine. To be born again qualifies you as a good man, it does not mean you won't make mistakes but you don't feel fine or enjoy your mistakes. Immediately you take steps to correct the mistakes. And if you are good man you are qualified to expect that Matt 13: 35 is possible in your life.

Every man is naturally evil, a liar a sinner and carnal, as a man you don't have to struggle to become the three. Actually everyone born of a woman is evil, a liar, a sinner and carnal. Num 23:19 says 'God is not a man that He should lie' showing that naturally a man is a liar. Rom 3:23 also records ' all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God' if you are still in sin you are not a good man no matter what people say you are, no matter how religious you are. You must repent, forsake your sins, accept the death and resurrection of Jesus that it is for you. And then you can be changed to a good man.

This is how you get born again. When you get born again you are good man it does not mean that you will not be tempted by the devil. It does not mean a lady will not tempt you. It does not give you a guarantee that unholy offers will not come from the devils agent to lure you back to sin and bring you down and back to where you were. But it means you have the power to say no. You are no longer a captive of the devil, to do the things he suggests into your heart but you have the redemptive power through the nature of God in you. You can say no to the devil.

You are no more a sinner but a saint despite the challenges you are facing. As you mature in your walk with God you have more power (more power is available to you because of your growth to resist the temptation of the devil). If you are a born again all your sins are forgiven you; no matter your past, you are a good man. The death of Jesus has taking care of your past.

OVERCOMING REJECTION Text: Exo 2: 14

 ‘And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.'

Rejection is an attack against who you really are by people who don't know who you are. It creates a wound spiritually and emotionally that if you don't know how to be healed from the wound of rejection it begins to manifest as lifestyle that are inimical to success. This is what affected Moses when he was rejected when he attempted to make effort at identifying with his people.

One of the outstanding manifestations of rejection is pseudo sophistication. It is an unreal land of life. Rejection could come from words from people we expect to accept us. Rejection could come from parents at home not appreciating a child for who the child is, either as a boy or as a girl, rejection could come from racial discrimination and you will meet rejection one way or the other as you strive to become who God says you are.

The devil will raise people who will say to you who made you a ruler and a judge over us. And if you are not careful you will keep the wound in your heart through life and come to God say to Him like Moses said 'who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh' Exo 3:11. Moses answered like this because of the wound of rejection that was still in his heart. Knowing who you are will protect you from rejection wounds. When you know who you are not from what people call you but from who God says you are, you will not be affected by the attack of rejection and you will be healed of every form of rejection.

Ask the Lord to show you who you are in His eternal purpose, plan and design. Let it be what you believe and live your life according to it. There is nobody who can accurately tell who you are except God who made you.

Ex 3:11 ‘And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt'

Most of the time, people are affected by rejection and they are not aware of it. The wound of rejection manifests itself in different ways and is responsible for certain manifestations in people. If you cannot trace the root of such manifestations or the wound caused by rejection, you will not be able to deal with it properly.

One of the manifestations of rejection wounds is identity crisis. Moses said who am I? He was blind to who he was. He could not believe in himself. He did not see himself in the light of what was burning inside him that made him decide to visit his brethren; he was incapacitated. The desire to defend his brethren was disabled because he was rejected.

Identity crisis is one of the wounds of rejection. Another wound of rejection is inferiority complex. Inferiority complex manifests in two important forms:

·      Denial of greatness.

·      Low performance in life.

We can conclude that Rejection --- Inferiority complex --- Denial of greatness --- Low performance in life.

Make sure you don't harbour rejection in any form, it will incapacitate you. The devil uses rejection as a weapon to stop children of God from proceeding to do what God called them to do. And actually God will always call you to do something greater that what you think you can do personally by any standard. This is because there will always be more that God sees in you than you see in yourself. Accept what God says you are and proceed and do what He says you can do.

DON’T OPPOSE YOURSELF II Tim. 2:23-26, Jam. 3:8-18

The greatest opposition a man can face is actually not from the devil, but from himself.  Please I want you to know that you can oppose yourself.  In fact, many today are opposing themselves while thinking God or the devil or someone else is.

Could you be opposing yourself somewhere? You ask how? First by your words.  Do you speak words that oppose good things in your life?  Words such as “I don’t know why bad things always happen to me.”  Do you speak words that oppose the word of God?  Do you speak words that curse rather than bless the heaven?  If you do, you have been opposing yourself through your own words.  It is time to change your language.  The first key to success given to Joshua by God in Joshua 1:8 was to change his speech.  When God touched Isaiah in Isaiah 6, it was his mouth he first touched. 

We need not only to have a born again spirit, we must have a born again mouth if we will make it in life.  The devil is looking for your words to fight you, don’t give them to him.  Rather give your words to God and angels to build your life for you.

The second way you can oppose yourself is by getting involved in strife.  Strife creates the most favourable atmosphere for evil to grow and demons to work.  Strife creates a poisonous atmosphere for the Holy Spirit.   Strife is a cancer that eats the very soul of a relationship, be it a marriage, friendship, business or church.  An environment of strife is simply a little piece of hell on earth wherever you find it.  When you get into strife with anyone for any reason, you begin to oppose yourself.

When Rachael got into strife with Leah, she opposed her health and life and she died at childbirth.  Many researches have proven that many cancer patients also have been involved with strife and unforgiveness at one time or the other.

When two business partners get into strife, they begin to oppose that business, no matter the potential, it won’t grow.  Get rid of all strife through forgiveness.  It is the key that unlocks the prison of strife.  Start practising how to forgive; it is the key to releasing all supernatural brakes on your progress.

The third way you can oppose yourself is through a lack of instruction.  Ignorance kills and in the realm of the spirit there is no room for ignorance.  There is no bliss in ignorance.  What you are ignorant of could kill you. To receive instruction requires you submitting your opinions.

You know the Bible says, “stubbornness is equal to idolatry’ a worship of your own mind.  A stubborn man is a devotee of his own opinion, he worships at the temple of his own ideas, becomes set in his ways, not willing to change and he slips into pride without knowing.  Pride makes God the enemy of the proud.

Pursue instruction and you will experience progress.  Pursue instruction from God and you will know his good will.  God takes special delight in those that pursue his wisdom.

The fourth and final way you can oppose yourself is by refusing to acknowledge the truth.  What is truth? The word of God is truth.  God’s word on a matter is truth.  When you see anyone opposing God’s word on a matter, he stops himself.  Solomon said one of the keys to enjoying divine direction is to acknowledge him in ALL your ways.

The man who enjoys divine direction obviously will make rapid progress in life, while the one who does not will be slow down in life.  To acknowledge means to recognise something.  It means to accept that things as real.  In order to acknowledge the truth, you will “not lean unto thine own understanding.”

Many today promote their own understanding above the word of God and end up opposing their own understanding above the word of God and end up opposing themselves.  Don’t let your education be above your obedience to God.  The kingdom of God does not belong to the educated, it belongs to the obedient.  Obedience is a proof that you acknowledge the truth. God bless you.

USING YOUR WORDS TO THE MERIT OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD

One of the abilities of a man- a head of a home is the ability to speak- they speak words. Such words are recognized in heaven because he is an entity of authority. But it is so sad today that only a few are utilizing the potency of this office.

Beloved in God, I want to stir up a desire in your heart today to dish out anointed proclamations to your household. Like you have known always that words don’t die, your spoken words will not die; it takes the anointing and the anointed to cancel spoken words but if you can speak positive anointed words to your household, such words will have divine backings and the devil can never be able to erase them.

If you will be a man that uses his words well, you need to pay closer attention to these ingredients:

Avoid offenses (Gen.9:24-27, Gen.9:1-27)

Offenses, though inevitable but I want to counsel you to master what comes out of your mouth in all occasions, particularly when you are under pressure. Never find yourself under so huge, a pressure that you begin to speak negative words to your household. If you can tame your tongue and enrich your heart with the word of God, even if you get infuriated, you will find yourself blessing instead of pronouncing curses. The bible says out of the abundance of heart the mouth speaks… have your temper under control at all times and it shall be well with you.

Be sensitive

Do not think the devil will be quiet perpetually in your home. He is always on a standby; if you are cold, he will craftly come in but if you stay hot at all times, he will not stay too close- he’ll only observe afar off. Take note of the source of bitterness in your home. These usually don’t start big. For example, if you find your child stealing, instead of cursing the child for this act, let your concentration be on the spirit behind theft and not the child (I am not saying you should spare the child, discipline him but rebuke the spirit behind the act- by so doing, you have balanced the equation). When Peter spoke against the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus rebuked the devil in him and not Peter. Walk with this sensitivity as well. Pray pre-emptive prayers.

Forgiveness

Have we not hurt our Father? We have on countless occasions but you know what, He does not keep records of our sins. He sees us in our destiny and in the blood of the Lamb. Outside this, He could have just wiped us out of existence. Forgive easily like God does. Never hold any grudge against your household. Do not live matters unresolved. If it is your wife that offended you, settle it so that the devil will not have a hold in your home. The same applies to your children. You cannot live in unforgiveness and expect divine participation in your affairs. Learn to forgive and pray for the grace to abound.

Learn to stay silent

It is not every matter that goes on in your home that people outside your home should know about. Only God knows how many homes have crumbled simply because premature dreams and visions were let lose. Zachariah and Elizabeth did not untimely expose the destiny of John the Baptist. There are some things God will want you to keep a secret until their time is ripe. Do not be frivolous, be courteous and it shall be well with you in the name of Jesus.