Tag: Obedience

“Truth in the inward parts”, the highway to God of Truth’s Conditional Promises

Key scriptures: Romans 8:31-32, Psalm 51:6, John 14:21,23

Joshua said to the Israelites

“Deep in your hearts you know that every promise of the LORD your God has come true. Not a single one has failed!”(Joshua 23:14 NLT).

Joshua’s words affirm what is true, we serve a God who does not lie period!

“he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!”(Isa.15:29 NLT).

He is a God of Truth, this is why His Spirit is also named by Christ as the Spirit of Truth.

“He is the Spirit of Truth who leads into all truth…” (John 14:17 NLT).

The fact that He is a God of Truth is a delight to the ears of the believer in Christ as myself and a spring in our step when we focus on scriptures that speak of His blessed promises to us. These includes His faithfulness to provide for and protect us.

“Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.” (James 1:17 NLT).

Caution! His truth is not only demonstrated when He fulfils His blessed promises as Joshua articulated so well when he said to the Israelites:

“But as surely as the LORD your God has given you the good things he promised, he will also bring disaster on you if you disobey him. He will completely destroy you from this good land he has given you. (Joshua 23:15 NLT).

There are those among believers in Christ who subconsciously as well as consciously do not serve the God of Truth wholeheartedly.

Consciously, some profess to be God’s children but pick and choose which of His scriptures to obey or disobey. In addition, they would interpret certain scriptures to suit their carnal longings and desires deceiving themselves and others but certainly not God.

Despite the aforementioned, such people require God to serve them wholeheartedly and in fact demand it! They pray and quote scriptures back at Him expecting Him to fulfil their every wish and command! If they do not receive answers to their prayers and in their timing, they become angry with God and often times people around them become victims of their wrath.

As a believer in Christ, I confess to haven been among the subconscious category of people who did not serve God wholeheartedly. I use the past tense because I hope I have overcome that tendency, if not, may God continue to help me do so.

I recall I would be recurrently engaging in sinful acts whether large or small based on my mindset and decisions (I later realised that some were rooted in not only personal sins but generational iniquities) I would take unaware that despite a consciously fervent life in Christ, such acts were contrary to God’s will and were therefore the reasons why blockages to sustained peace and answers to prayers were taking place.

In fact I blamed the devil, but while evil was certainly involved, evil can only have its way in the life of a Christian if they become self reliant and collude with Satan by disobeying God. Satan and his demonic army cannot have a foothold or an “entry pass” in our lives without our assistance.

“Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim.” (Prov. 26:2 NLT).

Yes, some sins are glaringly obvious to us but from experience I know that there are some that we commit on a recurring basis that if but for living a life in fellowship with the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin and reveals hidden sins and iniquities, exposes God’s truth contrasting it with our self deception and Satan’s lies, they would remain hidden. I thank God for His powerful Holy Spirit in my life.

Satan and the flesh nature under satanic control majors in hiddenness, meaning they scheme to ensure people, including Christians stay in darkness and are never enlightened to Elohim’s truth.

This is how the kingdom of darkness (Satan’s) founded and built on lies about humanity and the world advances.

“God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.” (John 3:19 NLT).

David, the son of Jesse who become king of Israel knew about his own personal fragility and valued his relationship with God to the point that he did not want his sinful ways, pretensions and presumptions that would be exposed as lies to serve as obstacles to his intimate relationship with God. Therefore He prayed in this manner which certainly appeals to me:

“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.

Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me.

Then I will be free of guilt

and innocent of great sin.

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

(Ps. 19:12-14 NLT)

And also

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Ps. 139:23-24 NLT).

I state that this manner of praying appeals to me because I feel led to pray in the same way as it gets the job done! In other words as long as it is from a sincere heart, the Holy Spirit who abides in the heart of every believer in Christ is activated to answer by convicting the one who prayed if need be and enlightening them to the sinful acts, thoughts or decisions they are making.

I can testify that as one who is eager to make peace and so sustain intimacy with God by refusing to bow to my flesh and Satan through denial, pretence and presumption, I have noticed many times that the Holy Spirit has unveil to me my erroneous thought patterns, decisions and actions which I would not have otherwise been enlightened to.

This has caused me to exclaim in horror and feel the conviction and sorrow necessary to bring me to repentance and a resolve to change my ways with God’s help.

As God desires His truth in the inward parts of humanity, anyone who desires the same opens their hearts to receive revelation of His wisdom or the knowledge of his ways required to live a victorious Christian life (Ps. 51:6).

The Apostle Paul writes about God’s Spirit as follows:

“For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit..” (1 Corinth. 2:10-11 NLT).

Indeed we serve a God who reveals His thoughts or will by His Spirit so as to redeem us. His love is everlasting and He is dedicated to rebuilding our lives. As He said to the ancient Israelites so He says to us;

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel. You will again be happy and dance merrily with your tambourines.” (Jeremiah 31: 3-4 NLT).

It pleases God that we His children would want to sustain our relationship with Him by desiring to know whether we are in sin and if so to confess our sins and ask God to cleans us from all unrighteousness; This is indeed what we are commanded to do according to His Word of truth (1 John 1:9).

God’s promises are true, however their manifestation is only possible within an intimate relationship with Him where we revere Him to the point of receiving His Word of truth as well as demonstrating it in every area of our lives.

“All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23 NLT).

When obedience to God’s Word of truth results in God’s glorious presence in one’s life, it also means that all that God has predestined for the person is available to them. God’s promises are therefore conditional to our obedience.

Satan is crafty and will never leave the children of God alone, if it is not one scheme to blindfold us so as to deceive us, it is another; Satan will use every opportunity in this materialistic world to attempt to make us self-reliant or self-sufficient and think that we do not need to rely or depend on God.

This is why as believers in Christ fellowship with the Holy Spirit is absolutely crucial to us living Victorious Christian lives. By the enabling of the Holy Spirit, the disciples of Christ, who is the light (John 8:12) in a dark world, are able to have the “light of life” or know the truth of Elohim God and be set free by it (John 8:31-32).

Those who truly abide in God are therefore unable to live in denial or pretence because the Spirit of Truth has the liberty to teach them and remind them of the teachings of Jesus (John 14:26/15:26).

They have a choice either to obey or disobey the Word of Truth. If they decide to disobey, then the status of their relationship with God changes to their detriment. The Israelites knew this as they suffered punishment when they disobeyed God. Even an individual’s disobedience (Achan’s) resulted in the entire nation of Israel suffering defeat in the battle at Ai because of God’s anger (Joshua 7).

In Joshua’s final message (Joshua 24) to the Israelites before he died, he reminded them of their ancestral inheritance starting from Abraham and how God had delivered them from Egypt and given them victory over their enemies and the land of Canaan, then he implored them to throw away the gods of their forefathers and not to forsake the LORD their God. If they forsook Him, they would suffer the consequences:

“If you abandon the LORD and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.” (Joshua 24:20 NLT). Again we note that God is truthful in his plan to punish as He is in his plan to bless.

The Israelites then assured Joshua repetitively that they will not forsake the LORD, but would serve Him (Josh. 24:21-24). Joshua put a large stone under an oak tree near the holy place of the LORD and said that the stone “It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.”(Joshua 24:27 NLT)

As God will not tolerate compromise in worship because “…he is a holy and jealous God” (Josh. 24:19 NLT) so too He will not tolerate a lying people. This is because God desires: “truth in the inward parts” (Ps. 51:6 KJV).

In the New Living Translation version Psalm 51:6 a) is expressed as follows “But you desire honesty from the womb..”.

Honesty before God and men is synonymous with being a Christian and can be expressed as a cloak of honesty that is supposed to be a permanent attire of a believer in Christ because it is woven from God’s Word of truth and reflects the nature of God.

In human terms it does not mean one is perfect because no one but Elohim God is perfect, it means one has integrity of the highest order borne out of a heart that is constantly quick to confess and acknowledge Satan’s lies, self-deception and also quick to repent and embrace God’s truth according to His unadulterated Word.

©️7-Oct.2018 DENyamekye

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📸Snapshots of Glory – Word Focus 2 Day:

God’s Ways, Thoughts and Our Obedience Part 3: Obedience is partnering with God by faith for His will to be done on earth.

The prophet or intercessor when revealed the will of God partners with Him to ensure His will in heaven is made manifest on earth. Their prayers and actions in obedience to their call affirm that they are perpetually engaging in acts which are aligned to how the greatest prophet and intercessor Christ Jesus  taught His disciples to pray “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Thus they are confident of the outcome of events to the glory of God.

As believers in Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us who is also the Spirit of prophecy/Testimony of Jesus (Rev. 19:10). The Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and reveals His will to us and makes intercession for us according to the will of God (Romans 8:26/1 Corinthians 2:9-12) each of us therefore has the ability to know the will of God and to intercede for His will to be made manifest on earth. This is our inheritance as children of God.

In the account of Elisha raising the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead (2 Kings 4:8-37), we see that he was inclined to use a method which to the natural eyes looked unusual; Elisha performed the miracle of resurrection by the following process (2 Kings 4:33-35):
He prayed to God, then he
-lay on the woman’s son,
-took a moment to walk up and down the house for a while, then
-went back into the boy’s room and lay on the boy again. This time the boy resurrected from the dead.

Partnering with God in confidence and even in what appears to be peculiar ways for the ultimate fulfillment of His will by Elisha reminds us of Christ. There is a long list of examples in the life of Christ, however we will focus on resurrection miracles of Jesus; He said the Synagogue official, Jarius’ daughter was not dead but sleeping (Mark 5:39) and was laughed at by the crowd. When Jesus was told by Lazarus’ sisters that he was sick, he said that the sickness would not end in death but it was for the glory of God, and so that he, Christ would be glorified (John 11:1-4). However Lazarus died. Jesus also referred to Lazarus death as “sleeping” to his disciples.

By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Mary told Jesus that if he had come earlier their brother would still be alive. Christ knew that there would be the manifestation of a greater miracle and therefore greater glory to God in the resurrection of Lazarus than in his healing, “so when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days…” (John 11:6). In both resurrection incidents, Jesus demonstrated himself as the giver of physical life as he is also the giver of spiritual life. (John 11:25KJV).

The attitude Elisha and Jesus had and the actions they undertook in the resurrection process are not easily understandable to the natural human mind. This is because the ways and thoughts of God are higher than those of men (Isa. 55:8-9) “and because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinth.1:25 KJV).”

As Elisha knew it was God’s will to resurrect the Shunammite woman’s son, so too Jesus knew it was God’s will to resurrect Lazarus. Therefore when Jesus said Lazarus was sleeping and took what seemed like a long time to arrive, he was speaking and acting as one who already knew the outcome, which has already been decreed by God in heaven being one with God (John 10:30).

As children of God, we must remember our identity as heirs with Christ which means we are exceedingly abundantly blessed and therefore with a great capacity by the dwelling Holy Spirit to be used for His sake. This includes seeing things the way Jesus did and therefore making ourselves available to be used by God for miraculous works. Jesus even said that those who believe in him will not only do his works but greater works than he did (John 14:12 KJV).

As we live a life abiding in God and He in us through Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, nothing should stop us from exercising our faith as Christ did. This includes declaring those things that we know are His will by faith, preaching the Gospel and other works of the ministry (Matthew 28:18-20) and taking authority against Satan and his demons (Luke 10:18-19).

My prayer is that we would know our God intimately through daily bible reading and meditation while in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. This way we will become more like God, speaking of those things that be not as though they were, (Romans 4:17). We will also walk in His wisdom, knowledge and understanding, always strengthened by the power of His might to do exploits for Him.
“…but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do [exploits] (Daniel 11:32).”

NOTE: This article ( and last week’s Parts 1 & 2) are from my book:

“God’s ways are Higher”.

In this book, I expound on case studies from scriptures that reveal God’s Ways that are often not easily understood by people and at times may appear foolish to the human mind. However His sovereignty, wisdom and might are greatly revealed in the process as well as the outcome. This book also helps us to know and understand the God we serve and hopefully encourages the reader to search the scriptures more and to cultivate an intimate lifestyle with God even more.

©2018 Deborah E. Nyamekye

Obedience – A vital key to unlock & sustain great outpourings of God’s blessings

Read Deuteronomy 11:8-17

Obedience does not only make a way for us to experience God’s presence (John 14:21,23) and to display His “wisdom and intelligence” as true witnesses (Deut. 4:6), it makes a way for us to take possession of that which God has for us (Deut.11:8-17).

Furthermore, in order for us to thrive in the realm of our blessing, obedience is necessary (Deut.11:9). In other words when we get answers to our prayers and we are actually living out what we prayed for or know God’s prophetic promises are being out worked, it is not the time to be complacent or “sit on our laurels” we must continue steadfastly to obey He who made our breakthrough possible.

When we consider God’s ways not only from the perspective of the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, we realise time and time again that as Israel of old, we do not get anything for nothing when we walk with God through Christ.

I am feeling a nudging of the Holy Spirit to be attentive to these verses (Deut. 11: 8-17 see above).

The meaning of Deuteronomy 11:8-15 is paraphrased in Isaiah 1:19 as follows:

“if you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land” (ESV).

In addition, these New Testament scriptures remind us of the magnitude of God’s blessings and promises to the born again believer:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT).

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21).

This nudge is because I am experiencing some breakthroughs in certain areas of my life.Likewise I am led to nudge you as well. You may however say “Deborah, I am not experiencing any breakthrough nor answers to prayer!” not a problem, the main fact that you are reading this is a sign that your time is nigh or is just around the corner. God foreknew that you would read this and is saying something to you right now. Tune in with your heart or spiritual eyes and you will hear Him. Receive this as a word of counsel and encouragement whether you are within the realm of your blessing, waiting on God or you just feel like you are barely surviving.

While I take this as a word of counsel for the breakthrough I am experiencing now, I also pray that I will remember these verses and other similar ones when I experience another breakthrough or fulfilment of other prophetic promises. At every stage of the journey we are on with Christ, we must remember to have the “key of obedience” firmly in our hands to use at all times. Let us never taking God of our Lord Jesus Christ for granted because as we can read from key scriptures while there are blessings galore at our disposal from a generous God, most of them are conditional; they require our obedience.

After God had spoken through Moses and explained the blessings awaiting Israel in the land He has given them, if they were obedient, He also warned

“16 “But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the LORD and serve and worship other gods. 17 If you do, the LORD’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the LORD is giving you.”(Deut.11:16-17).

Worship of other gods is not just standing before an image or idol worshiping it, “other gods” are things that we give priority to, honour or glory to over and above the priority, honour and glory we give to God and our Lord Jesus Christ. This could be ourselves (self obsession, self elevation etc…), work, our personal business, a person or people, money etc…Let’s regularly examine our hearts in relation to this; as a regular check up at the doctor’s is good for us, so too is a regular check up of our hearts before God.

Also in the New Testament as in the Old, we are reminded that to have a sustained blessed life as a child of God there are conditions, some are as follows:

1.If we obey God’s command that we should confess our sins, then He will faithfully cleanse us from all wickedness or unrighteousness. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.(1 John 1:9 NLT).

2. If we are obedient, we will be loved by God and Jesus. In addition we will gain revelation of who Christ is, reserved only for the obedient. “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” (John 14:21 NLT)

3.Obedience will result in Father manifesting his love to us. He and Christ will abide with us. His glory will therefore be revealed in our lives and through us to bless multitudes. “Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23 NLT).

4. God will only forgive us our sins if we forgive others their sins against us.”And forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us…“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:12,14 -15 NLT)

It is easy to have a blind spot or deafness to the conditions that God requires us to be attentive and responsive to before He releases blessings to us or prophecies are fulfilled (Believe me I know, I have been there!). Then we wonder why we are not advancing victoriously in our Christian walk.

Gracious Father,

today we ask you to forgive us for the times when we have disobeyed your commands. We also ask that you would deliver us from any tendency within to ignore parts of scripture or your voice requiring us to pay a price for the fulfilment of your purposes in our lives.

We pray LORD that you would cleanse us from any secret sins or presumptions that serve as obstacles to us living in total obedience to you.

In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.

“For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.”(Isaiah 44:3 NLT)

You are blessed, determine to stay blessed!

Deborah Esther

©April 2018Deborah E. Nyamekye

The Rewards of Obedience

Another way to get our prayers answered?

Doing what God says! That’s the power of obedience.

He who loves Christ obeys his commands and He and God come to make their home with them. (John 14:21-23)

God’s glory and presence is in their lives hence, they are inclined to live according to His will and gain revelation about what to pray and how to pray … they do not asking amiss, they hit the target for they live intimately with God!

Their steps are ordered by God as they listen and obey His instructions, so He can easily use them not only for his plans and purposes for others but to outwork His plans for them as well as answer their prayers.

Brethren, let us pray and act in obedience to God’s word, then we will see our destinies unfold according to His will.

Have a blessed day xx

Steps of Faith into Your Destiny – The Joshua/Caleb Generation

imageThe journey through the promised land for Israel was a powerful illustration of how God’s people then as now go through the journey of life with a cycle of challenges, problems and obstacles some of which seem insurmountable.

Every step of the way through the promised land was a step of faith, at times their faith was so weak that they murmured, many resorted to idolising a golden calf and some did not even make it to the promised land.
In Joshua 3:3-4 when the LORD told them to follow after the Ark of the Covenant carried by the priests, the Israelites did not know where they were going, as they had never been that way before. They therefore did not know how close or how far they were to the promised land. They had to put their trust totally in God who alone knew the way.

Likewise without God’s leading we do not know what is ahead of us. Without Him we have no idea at what stage of our breakthrough we are in or how long we still need to wait until we receive what we believe God has promised us in personal prophecy or through His Word.

In the wilderness journey the Israelites were led by a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day and received constant counsel and instruction as guidance by God through Moses and then Joshua, as New Covenant believers in our journey of life, we have access to the revelatory realm of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit. We cannot and should not underestimate the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives to draw us closer to God so that we know Him as well as His will and direction for our lives.

When we trust God, we are willing to obey Him and do so by taking steps of faith through the leading of the Holy Spirit in the direction in which He is leading us.

The greatest steps of faith based on our trust in God we will need to take are at the beginning or at the brink of our undertaking, be it a journey, a new job, a project or a ministry.

I sense this juncture is the point at which Satan reinforces his natural and spiritual armies against our progression, attempting to sabotage our plans and therefore these are times when we should strengthen ourselves through intensified or increased prayer, fasting and praise as well as scriptural meditation.

CROSSING THE RED SEA
An illustration of the intensified danger at the commencement of a journey with the intention of stopping it: when the Israelites had just left Egypt they thought the final plague was enough to keep Pharaoh from pursuing them but they were greatly mistaken for he mobilized his horsemen with their chariots and pursued them! The Israelites were terrified as they realised they had no where to turn, with Pharaoh and his army closing in behind them and the Red Sea before them.
But they served a God who is omnipotent and omniscient. He is the sovereign one Adonai, who always has the last word on any matter, for He is the creator and controller of the universe. God foreknew this would happen and devised a miraculous plan of deliverance which would be one of the all time miraculous testimonies the world has ever heard of and would be recounted from generation to generation. Right before their eyes the Red Sea parted and they were able to cross over safely, however Pharaoh’s horsemen and chariots drowned.
“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Is. 59:19b)

CROSSING THE JORDAN
“The priests who carried the Ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.” (Joshua 3:17NASB)

The nation of Israel had come to the end of their journey and their last hurdle was the crossing of the Jordan River which would take them into the promised land. Here we find another water path as the Red Sea which if but for God would have served as a great obstacle to them moving forward to attain His promises.

As with the Red Sea, the Jordan River (Joshua 3:13) was parted supernaturally by God for them to walk across.
It is worth noting how the Lord kept the waters of the Jordan River on one side; the priests carrying “the Ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan” until all the Israelites had finished crossing it.
At the brink of the Israelites’ entry into the promised land, this imagery speaks louder than words and is very powerful; The Ark and the priests carrying it, speak of God’s presence and “Right Hand” or intercessory might in the midst of obstacles so that a way is made for deliverance or release. It also makes a statement that nothing, not even the laws of nature, can withstand God’s power of intervention for the sake of His people.
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;…I will even make a way in the wilderness, [and] rivers in the desert.” (Isa.43:19 KJV)
God is today speaking in the same way to us. Our Royal High Priest Jesus and the indwelling Holy Spirit are not only leading the way, but also making intercession for us in the midst of every situation so that a way is made for us to enter into our promises.
God therefore strategises to take us through every hurdle safely. Our part is to trust and obey for the manifestation of a glorious outcome.

TRUST, OBEY AND TAKE STEPS OF FAITH INTO YOUR PROMISES
In both cases, at the beginning of the journey through the wilderness and at the end so as to enter the promised land, the Israelites were blessed with the miracle of the parting of waters so that they could walk across.
The LORD was saying “the greater the danger you are facing, or is advancing behind you, the greater the miracle I will outwork to deliver you and bring you to the place I am sending you”.
How easy is it to cross over parted waters? It takes great trust in the one who parted it to decide to obey them and take steps of faith to walk across, knowing that they will keep it parted until you get to the other side.

The Israelites who left Israel were not the same crowd who entered the promised land apart from two, Joshua and Caleb. God made sure that the crowd who left Egypt with Joshua and Caleb did not receive their inheritance, instead they died in the wilderness. Why? because of their unbelief.

Joshua and Caleb represented a generation who had a different spirit, in other words they trusted God to do what was impossible to man. They were people of great faith in God and fearless of the giants they would encounter in the promised land (Numbers 11). It is therefore this generation that God chose to enter the promised land. When we trust God, we are fearless, quick to obey and activate our faith in Him so that He is glorified. These are the qualities of the Joshua and Caleb generation, qualities necessary to receive and sustain the promises of God.
Friends, let us examine our hearts today and ask ourselves, are we among the Joshua & Caleb generation in these last days before the return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
Is there anything “old ways of Egypt” in us i.e. mindsets, attitudes, presumptions, secret faults that must die or be overcome so that we can truly be consecrated unto God as true worshippers.
It is never too late to re-address areas of our lives and put things right so that we attain the fullness of our inheritance in God through Jesus Christ. God reveals to redeem.
Dear Father
Thank you for the promises and destiny you have for me.

Forgive me when I have not trusted you or I have been fearful to take steps of faith according to your word.

I am thankful that as you are all knowing, you have a plan or strategy to overcome every obstacle or danger on my behalf by your mighty power.

I ask that you would help me to stay in that place of trusting you completely with every decision and direction I desire to take knowing that you will redirect my course if it is not your will.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

You are blessed, determine to stay blessed.
Deborah Esther x
©Deborah E Nyamekye 20/11/2015

Nevertheless at thy Word, Lord


“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught”. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake” (Luke 5: 4-5 KJV).

Simon (also known as Peter) and his partners were washing their nets, they had toiled all night and caught nothing. Jesus Christ who Simon had made a part of his life accepting him as his “Rabbi” or teacher, needed the use of Simon’s boat for his teaching ministry that day. So Jesus got into Simon’s boat and was sitting in it in the lake not too far from the shore and teaching the crowd.

Having used Simon’s boat to teach the crowd, Jesus then had a plan to bless Simon, James and John. He started by asking Simon to “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught”. Note that Jesus did not merely say launch out into the lake, but in the deeper most part of it is what he was instructing Simon to do.

Simon and the other fishermen had toiled all night and they had caught nothing not even in the shallow waters, and Jesus was saying “Launch out into the deep!”, but Simon obeyed Jesus saying “nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”.

Brethren, when you welcome Jesus in your life “Boat” and allow him to orchestrate your life for the sake of others it means God has a plan for your life that would surprise you, He will do something for you that you least expect; there is a great miracle awaiting you in areas of your life where you lack as Simon and his fishing partners James and John found out.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt.6:33 KJV).

When you say “nevertheless at thy word” to the LORD, not looking at things with your natural eyes, but your spiritual eyes of faith, if the company you keep also have Jesus in their life “boat”, as Simon did, they will surely partake of your blessed life in Christ as you will theirs. It is inevitable that when God provides for you miraculously in your areas of need, they too will benefit from it and you will also benefit when they receive the same. This is because it is God’s will that His people are one and live together as a family of God. Jesus prayed for God’s people to be one (John 17:19-21).

“…Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1 KJV)

What do you have in common with your closest friends? It is the unity through Christ that creates a ripple effect of blessings.

Dear brothers and sisters, this account ought to encourage you that God is always looking for ways to bless His children as only a heavenly Father can do. He knows how you have made Him the captain of your life “boat” through Jesus Christ your Lord and Saviour and so He knows your needs, where you lack and how much you carry on working and toiling for Him, saying daily “nevertheless at thy word” even when he sends you into those “deep” places where an outcome of success seems more impossible.

My message to you today is that He always hears your surrendered response and sees your activation of faith in obedience and whenever you are weak He extends His hand to help you and strengthens you with His powerful Holy Spirit. If you are already seeing the fruit of your labour, I praise God with you and encourage you to keep on keeping on. If you have not yet, I also praise God with you, because God is working on it, delay is not denial and His timing is perfect.
You are blessed, determine to stay blessed.

Deborah Esther

©Deborah E. Nyamekye 2/12/2015

Let us Return & Remain! God’s “…Hand is Stretched out Still” (Isa.9:12,21 KJV).

Introduction 
We serve a merciful God who said of Himself to Moses:

“The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth…”

Through Christ, God’s abundant grace and mercy towards mankind is evidenced eternally. With this in mind as new Covenant believers we can picture a Father with His outstretched hands ready to receive us back again and again following genuine repentance. He is quick to forgive us our sins and remembers them no more. In this Word of encouragement and a call to repentance and restoration in intimacy with Father, we are reminded by Isaiah of God’s ways in relation to His disobedient people and His expectations of them, applicable now as in biblical times.
Let us Return & Remain! God’s “…Hand is Stretched out Still” (Isa.9:12,21 KJV).

Key scripture: Isaiah 9:8-21

We are living in the extremity of times when God’s people are more self reliant and have turned away from God more than ever before. 

As I read Isaiah 9:8-21 theLORD in his rebuke of Ephraim or Israel was showing me that these things are happening now in the church and the land in general to a great extent.

There are people who are saying in “pride and arrogance of heart” (vs 9) that when hard times occur in their lives or things are not going well, they will prevail because they will know what to do in their own strength (vs 10). However God makes it clear that if you say you are His and you think you can prevail without him, then in effect you are building castles in the air or you are in delusion! 

Such an attitude constitutes living for oneself and not God and such people will be “devoured with an open mouth” (vs 12) of the enemy as the Lord will allow the enemy to have free reign in their lives. God does not permanently forsake His people now as he never forsook biblical Israel, however he gives them over to the lusts of their flesh or whatever they uphold in preference to God and His ways. God always hopes that his people will change their ways and repent. 

Some might snigger at the choice of key scriptures (Isaiah 9:8-21) and exclaim “Oh but this is the Old Testament ! There is grace in Christ”. Indeed but it is not an excuse to keep sinning. God is the same yesterday, today and forever more.  

It is true Jesus Christ who brought forth the New Covenant came to perfect the law of Moses (Old Covenant) and the “types” of animal sacrifices and high priests were awaiting His coming, however we serve the same God of the Old Testament who is the one who came in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the incarnate Christ. His personality and requirements in relation to holy living did not change. We are reminded of this many times in the New Testament. A key example is Peter’s quote of who God is and what He requires from His people:

“15But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially,live your lives in reverent fear duringyour temporary stay on earth. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers 19but with the preciousblood of Christ, a lamb without blemishor spot. 20He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake…(1 Peter 1:15-20 KJV).

The sixteenth verse of 1 Peter 1 quotes Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7.

Christ himself says “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9) and “me and my Father are one” (John 10:30). As believers in Christ, we are positioned as kings and priests unto God (Rev 5:10) with the anointing and authority of the overcomer as King Jesus (Rev 12:10, Rom 8:37, Luke 10:18/19) and with the priestly anointing through him, our Royal High Priest (Psa. 110:4/Heb.6:20) to minister before God for the sake of ourselves and others. In this position, we have the righteousness of Abraham through Christ (2Corinth. 5:21, Romans 4:21-22, Gal 3:13-14).

John in his epistle says “5And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. ” (1 John 3:5-7 KJV).

Therefore our mindset as believers in Christ, New Covenant believers that is, should be as ones who daily cultivate sinless lives through living in obedience to God’s Word. In addition, praying, singing worshipfully unto Him and seeking to hear Him speak strengthens our relationship with God and helps us to live in the spirit so as not to fulfil the lusts of our flesh. 

The writer to the Hebrews writes about how during the wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan (the promised land) some did not enter Canaan or “His rest” due to disobedience. This was what God was rebuking Ephraim for in Isaiah 9:8-12; their disobedience constituting self reliance and separation from God among other things which resulted in them suffering the chaotic consequences.

Not only did God give Ephraim or Israel over to their enemies, he also cut of “head (the leaders and honourable) and tail (prophet that teacheth lies) from Israel” (Vs 14/15), this is because 

“the leaders of this people cause [them] to err; and [they that are] led of them [are] destroyed.” (vs 16)

In addition, it states that “..the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one [is] an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly” (vs 17).

The acts of God that unleashes His wrath are described by God through Isaiah as the land burning and going up in smoke as well as being in darkness (vs 18/19). Even people shall be “as the fuel for the fire” (vs 19), in other words used by God in his time of wrath to allow division, contention dissatisfaction and lack. 

This is all because God’s people suffer when they choose to disobey him and this suffering sadly escalates as “the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 9:13 KJV).

God spoke clearly of His nature when Moses went up to Mount Sinai to get the 10 commandments.

 “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7who keepslovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourthgenerations.” 8Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship” (Ex.34:6-8). 

Moses interceded for the people asking for God to pardon them despite their iniquity and disobedience and God said he was going to make a covenant with them and perform miracles that has never been produced in all the earth and that he will drive out their enemies and give them the land of Canaan (Ex 34:8-11).
Brethren, let us therefore be reminded that although God is a consuming fire (Heb.12:29) and does not tolerate disobedience and He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex 34:6KJV), let us also always remember the abundant grace we have in this New Covenant dispensation through Christ who came to perfect the law of Moses received on 
Mount Sinai that was expressed as “the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,…unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest…” (Heb 12:18 KJV).
If God’s “hand is still upraised” in relation to Israel’s disobedience as repeated by Isaiah twice (Isa.9:12, 21). How much more would He not extend His hand of mercy out to us through Christ? 
In our position as “Kings and Priests” of God through Christ, we have access to God intimately. The writer of Hebrews describes this intimate place in God clearly as our coming 
“unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” (Hebrews 12: 22-24 KJV).

Let us therefore use every opportunity God has provided us in obedience to His Word to attain and remain in this realm of intimacy with God to fulfill our predestined purpose on earth which includes being his effective vessels of world transformation.

Deborah is a Minister with prophetic, prayer, teaching and writing ministries under the umbrella of Bearwitness-Forerunner Ministries International. She is also a published Author & Poet.

Ministry Website: http://www.bearwitness-forerunner.org

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/nyamekyede

For more Inspirational teachings, devotionals, poetry, and prayers,  visit “Manna from on High” Blog http://www.readywriterps451.org
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©Jan.2017 Deborah E. Nyamekye 

What worked for Moses will work for us

bbush

There it is written plainly as on tablets in Exodus chapter 3, God spoke to Moses through the bush that was on fire but did not burn. Our God is in the business of performing supernatural works or miracles even today. But hold on, He requires something from us. God said to Moses “..Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground.”(Ex.3:4 KJV).

Brethren, that “something” is reverence. God requires reverence because He is the Most High God who is Holy. When we are in God’s presence He expects us to acknowledge who He is and treat Him with awe and respect. It is therefore not surprising that He told Moses to take his shoes off for the place he stood was holy ground. We were created in His image and so as He is Holy, so He also expects the same from us. God told the Israelites to be Holy because He is Holy (1 Peter 1:16/Lev. 11:44). He requires the same level of reverence and holiness from new covenant believes as he did ancient Israelites.

Obtaining anything from God including His glorious presence is conditional to our obedience. Jesus said”He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him…Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:21,23 KJV).

Just think of what would have happened if Moses refused to believe God was speaking to him or if he did, he refused to obey God’s commands? The prophetic word or promise God gave to Abraham about the deliverance of his descendants from a land of suffering to a land He would give them (Gen. 15:13-14), would not have been fulfilled.

Some may say “oh God would have called someone else to the task!” Well we don’t know this as a fact. I personally don’t want God’s call on my life to be given to someone else, do you? Therefore when I am weak I seek God to help and strengthen me so that I can arise and dust myself off and be on my way, with His leading and guidance, to accomplish exploits for His sake.

Brethren, may this year be full of God’s blessed miracles in every area of your life as you live in obedience. My prayer for you is that you will hear God clearly, even in the most unlikely “burning bush” places, for the plans or projects He has for you.

Happy New Year ! God bless you and your family abundantly!

Deborah Esther x