And It Came To Pass

The Fulfillment of God’s Word

By

INNOCENT ELAIGWU OKOLIKO

Copyright © 2014 Innocent Elaigwu Okoliko

All rights reserved.

ISBN-10: 1495989593

ISBN-13: 978-1495989599

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

Cover photo and design by Nancy Delmerico.

Author photo courtesy of Innocent Okoliko

Printed in the United States of America.

DEDICATION

To The Lord Jesus Christ, By Whose Spirit I Was Inspired To Write This Book For The Edification Of All Believers In Him

.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

GOD’S WORD: THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY

THOUGH IT TARRY: THE INEVITABILITY OF DELAY

WHILE YOU ARE WAITING: LESSONS TO LEARN; PITFALLS TO AVOID

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR DELAYS: WHY IT TARRY

WAITING CONNOTES ACTIVITY, NOT PASSIVITY

AND IT CAME TO PASS: THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S WORD

NOW THAT IT HAS COME TO PASS: YOUR ATTITUDE AND DISPOSITION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PREFACE

When the Word of The Lord came unto me on the 24th day of May, 2013, at about 3.00 p.m. to write a book to be titled, And It Came To Pass, I did not at first take it seriously. I have been looking forward to expanding my horizons and achieving a breakthrough in my life and destiny beyond being a pharmacist by profession, but I was not thinking about writing a book at all. So, when the book title dropped into my spirit, I waved it aside and took it lightly, casually saying, “Lord, if this is You, then let Your will be done.” And I continued on with my day’s routines.

It was not until I had finished my routine evening personal prayers and communion with the Lord at about past 6.00 p.m. that day and was returning from the bush area where we (I and the Lord) usually meet that He dropped the book title again into my spirit. But this time, with details as to who should help me do the editing and proof-reading and possible printing of the book! It was so real that I said to the Holy Spirit, “If this is you, then give me the zeal and the inspiration to begin immediately.” And beginning, I did. As I put my fingers to the keyboard at about 7.00 p.m. that evening, I knew indeed that it was the Lord, because the words just flowed freely!

And so, it was by the 4th of June 2013, what had begun with a simple obedience to an instruction from the Lord was finished and ready for editing and proof-reading! To God be the glory! This book is not the work of man, but of God; the inspiration of His Spirit. Therefore, like the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:31, let me say:

“Now I commit you to God and the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

May the Lord bless you and minister personally to you by His Spirit as you read the pages of this book. Read and meditate on every Scripture given and you shall be transformed and edified.

“And the Lord answered me, and said, ‘write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

“For as the rain cometh down, and snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

INTRODUCTION

I believe you have heard people say “dreams do come to pass”, but have you ever had a dream, a vision, or a prophetic declaration that seemed to have taken an “eternity” to come to pass? Have you been to that point in waiting for the fulfillment of such a word, when it seems as if God has become a liar after all? Such times when doubts and uncertainty fill your mind and spirit, when you become confused as to the clarity of the dream or vision, or begin to question the authenticity of the prophecy or the man of God who prophesied? Such a time when there are so many “buts” in your mind while you sit alone in solitude, musing; “But God can not lie. Can He lie? What have I done wrong? Where have I gone wrong? But this? But that?” Such painful moments when the subtle “ifs” of the devil fills your spirit’s ears? “If God said it then why this and why that?” God said you shall be rich, but you see financial difficulties all over your life! If you are truly God’s child, why are you barren? Did He not say that none shall be barren among you? “If this; if that?” It might be that even now you are contemplating giving up on the dream. Maybe it was not meant to be after all? Maybe a short cut is the sure alternative? The devil is a liar!

If the scenario above describes your situation, then I trust the Lord God to use this book to rekindle your faith and confidence in His word and promises because God cannot lie! If He has given you a dream, a vision, or a word of prophecy, then be sure that they shall come to pass! They shall come to fulfillment in Jesus’ name! In Numbers 23:19 it says:

“God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

You see, our God and heavenly Father is faithful and true. He does not bless you in the morning season, then curse you in the evening! Blessing and cursing does not flow from His fountain! In Psalms 89:34-35 He reassures us that:

“My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.”

Again we see that God is not unjust. He is not a covenant breaker!

So many times the enemy of our souls and destinies would come to fight against the faith of the covenant child. He does so because he knows that when God’s promises to you come to pass, you shall be empowered in faith to trust God all the more and to advance the kingdom of God. He knows that the testimony of your breakthrough will more than likely convince others to turn to the Lord and thereby depopulate hell! So he fights hard, using the weapons of doubt, fear, unbelief, discouragement, deception, murmuring and complaining. His aim is to overthrow your faith in the word of God and keep you lingering in the wilderness of unfulfillment and frustration! That shall not be your portion in Jesus’ name!

A very key thing to note, however, is that straying from the path of God at such time shall not be without some consequences. Yes, God is love. It is equally true that He is just and loves justice, so do not delay the hour of your breakthrough by carelessness, recklessness, or sin. What does God’s word say in Psalms 89:31-33?

“If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, then will I visit them with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my righteousness to fail.”

So, you see, God shall discipline you out of love if you should yield to the lies and deception of the devil even though the promise will still come to pass. You may have to face the same trials several times until you learn God’s intended lesson and you mature in character. But these delays are painful, you may argue. My answer and admonition is that no good thing comes without pain! Childbirth, academic excellence, success and achievements all come at a price. Hebrews 12:11 says:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the moment, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

I have come to discover from my little experience in walking with God these past few years that character development is the cornerstone and basis for the trials of God’s children. The hardship, sorrow, financial difficulties, delay in childbirth or marriage that God allows into our lives are NEVER meant to destroy us or inflict pain, but to develop our character. God’s promises are delayed to enable our spiritual, mental, and emotional maturity. We come to learn to be patient, to be forgiving, to endure, to grow in faith and, above all, become more and more like God in holiness and righteousness. We come to not only appreciate the promise, but He that gave us the promise.

But someone might say, “What if the delay in fulfillment is due to satanic interferences? What other possible reasons might there be which could be delaying my witnessing the fulfillment of God’s word in my life?” The purpose of this book is to attempt, by the grace of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, to answer such questions and to allay the fears of Believers that God shall never fail in fulfilling His promises in their lives. To rekindle your fire of faith in God and His word, knowing that though the enemy is very much implicated in the troubles of life, God is the one in control! Lamentations 3:37 says:

“Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?”

Invariably, it is NOT what the devil says or wants that happens, but what God intends: the good of His people! Hallelujah!! Believe it when I say that Satan is God’s “errand boy”. Ephesians 1:11 tells us that God is the one working everything out for the good of His children in line with His own will. If Satan knew that crucifying Jesus meant the redemption of man, he would not have instigated the Jewish people to suggest His death! But God “used” the devil to accomplish His grand agenda; the salvation of mankind through the death of Jesus on the Cross! Hallelujah!

My prayer for you is that as you read, the Holy Spirit will give you deeper insight and revelation into the heart of our loving God and Father; to let you know that delay is not refusal or denial but a necessary process leading to the fulfillment of His word and promises in your life. Your destiny shall manifest even as you become fully persuaded that God shall never fail you. The next time the enemy points you to the negatives, wanting you to LOOK around and see, drive him away by affirming that “We walk by faith, not by SIGHT!”

God bless you!

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Nugget: God is not a man to lie. He is not a covenant breaker, but a faithful and just God. Even though Satan is implicated in the troubles of life, it is God that is in control; working out everything for the good of His children!

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GOD’S WORD: THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY

“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts…For prophecy came not by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:19-21. Paraphrased)

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines prophecy as “a statement that something will happen in the future”. The Encarta Dictionaries 2009 defines prophecy as “a prediction that something will occur in the future.” The word “sure’” as used in 2 Peter 1:19 implies certainty; a definiteness of purpose. In other words, anything God has said concerning your life and destiny must come to fulfillment! The word of God, whether as a vision, a dream, or a declaration is prophetic, addressing what must soon happen in your life in no distant future! It is important to note that there is a future attached to every prophecy, and that future can be a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or years from the instance of its declaration! The book of Habakkuk (2:3) says that the vision, dream or prophecy is for an appointed time; a set time. God in His wisdom and omniscience has attached a SPEIFIC time. But most times He does not tell you when! That indeed calls for faith, hope, trust, and patience on our part as believers. We must learn to wait; we must pray earnestly for the grace and spirit of patience so that we do not suffer undue torment from the lies of the enemy! It will equally do us great good to take heed of (pay attention to) the word which we have received from God. We are admonished to “write down the vision”. The reason is because we might forget, and if we do so we can quickly go to where we have written it down and remind/reassure ourselves of what God had told us. I have discovered that the ‘freshness’ of a revelation, vision, or prophecy diminishes with time, and this becomes more so when days begin to turn into weeks and weeks into months! What I am learning to do is to earnestly pray the vision into my spirit by speaking in tongues. By so doing, it becomes part and parcel of your subconscious or the inner man. Write down the dream; ponder on it; pray it in.

There was a day in my life when I asked God why His promises where not manifesting in my life. As I fellowshipped with Him, He said this to me: “Most of my children miss out on their harvest of destiny because they lack the patience to wait.” By divine positioning, I was at a piece of farmland where groundnuts were grown. The Holy Spirit asked me if the farmer could just plant the seeds and come to harvest them a few days from planting. No, Lord, was the definite answer that came to me! It takes three to four months on average for groundnuts to mature, depending on the species, to be ready for harvest! He told me that you know that harvest time has arrived when the leaves begin to change from green to brown and that does not take just a few days! The farmer has to weed the piece of farm and has to constantly watch for the presence of rodents which come to destroy the fruits before their time. That is work, requiring diligence, determination, and patience on the part of the farmer. “The same applies to the promises God gives to His children,” He said.

Wow! I have come to learn this lesson practically in my daily walk with God and sometimes the hard way. You see, you cannot hasten God by your cries and petitions! Quote all the relevant scriptures if you may (I have done that myself), but our loving Father will not bulge until the time is ripe and right! Does any pupil graduate from the nursery to the secondary/high school without passing through the primary school? Never! Do you just gain admission into the University for a four-year Course and graduate after 100 level? No way! No Vice Chancellor would do so, even for a genius! The academic curriculum must be followed: tuition must be paid; assignments must be taken; exams must be written. And then, by and by, you get to take the final class, pass the final exams, and then attend the graduation ceremony! My friend, we must not expect God to do any less, if human beings won’t break such chains or protocols. God’s word shall surely come to pass, but we owe ourselves the responsibility and duty to wait. Waiting is a sign that we truly believe and trust Him.

Believe it when He says:

“Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or title shall in no wise pass from the law (God’s word) till all be fulfilled.”? (Matthew 5:18).

In Ezekiel 12:28, it says:

“…this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘None of my words will be delayed any longer, whatever I say will be fulfilled,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.”

God will never delay (postpone) His promise by a day if you stay close in faith and obedience to His instructions! But just like a student, if you don’t want to delay your graduation, then take your tests and examinations seriously! May the Lord grant you the understanding and the grace in Jesus’ name!

Let us take a look at a few more scriptures to augment my point.

“I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back (on my word)…”  (Ezekiel 24:14a)

The words in parentheses are mine.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah…Thus says the Lord: if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should be no day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant…” (Jeremiah 33:14, 20-21)

What the Lord is telling you here is that until night and day ceases to exist, His word shall always come to pass; they shall not falter nor fail! One of those days, the enemy came as usual to weigh me down and trouble me. Immediately I received the insight and declared to the devil “unless the sun ceases to rise from the East and to set in the West, you shall never win; God remains faithful!” Immediately, I had peace and my day went on beautifully. My friend, we must stand our ground and resist the devil; that is our responsibility. In 1peter 5:9 God tells us to

“Resist him (the devil), (by) standing firm in the faith.”

Beloved, it is not enough to just have faith. What?! Yes. Faith is a prerequisite, but it requires the comradeship of hope, patience, as well as endurance and perseverance. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Why? Because whoever comes to God must first believe that He exists and, secondly, that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Believing must be married to diligence, and that is where most believers have the challenge! Diligence entails the requirement of a persistent and hard-working spirit in order to achieve a set goal; an expected sense of carefulness and attention to details. In this our modern world of ‘instant’ everything, short cuts, quick-fixes, and easy-steps, diligence is becoming so unpopular; a cruel and unusual punishment, even with believers!

What is faith? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The emphasis here is mine. You see, there is an element of hope in faith; they go hand-in-hand. When you go to bed every night to sleep and set your alarm to wake up at a particular time in the morning, that is hope! When your little child, niece, or nephew believes you will buy him/her a toy airplane because you told him so, that is faith!  When you throw a little baby into the air and she smiles back at you, knowing that you will catch her, that is trust! We must remember these as we relate with God regarding His word of promises to us. We must not see it happen before we believe it. As children of the Most High, we do not SEE to believe; we BELIEVE to SEE His faithfulness! We do not walk by SIGHT but by faith. (Read 2 Corinth.5:7)

In concluding this chapter, I want to remind us again of the word of God – that every promise, dream, vision, or prophecy from God has a future and a time to be fulfilled. Because God is God, and not man nor the devil, He can never lie about what He says. Let us consider the scripture from the book of Isaiah:

“…I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning , and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isaiah 46: 9-11)

As a covenant child of God, you need not be afraid of the certainty of the promises of God. When fear comes, resist it by faith because God has not given us the spirit of fear! God is so faithful that even if it means sending a bird to fulfill a promise, He shall do so! If He must touch a man or woman’s heart abroad, in a far country from your own, to fulfill His word to you, He will! Don’t get worked up as to the “when” and the “how”. Leave that to God, the Almighty! That is not your responsibility. He said it; He spoke it; He shall bring it to pass! Hallelujah! Relax and sing praises to Him because if God said it, it is as good as done! Praise the Lord!

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Nugget: Don’t get worked up as to the ‘when’ and the ‘how’. Leave that to God, the Almighty! That is not your responsibility; He said it; He spoke it; He shall bring it to pass! Hallelujah! Relax and sing praises to Him because if God said it, it is as good as done! Praise the Lord!

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THOUGH IT TARRY: THE INEVITABILITY OF DELAY

“And the Lord answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

From the words of the Lord above, one thing is suggested and that is the inevitability of delays in God’s promises and agenda. But are they really delays or divinely orchestrated pauses and interjections? “Though it tarries…it will not tarry”. Is God slack in keeping His word? Certainly not. 2 Peter 3:9 says:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness…”

God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. He does not see things the way we see them. In fact, as the heaven is higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts! (Isaiah 55:8-9) God always has a reason behind all His actions but He is not under obligation to explain Himself to us; probably because we may not be able to handle it. In the Gospel of John, when Jesus was preparing to go to the Cross, He told His disciples that He had many things to tell them but that they would not be able to bear them at that moment. So He postponed telling them to a time when the Holy Spirit would come. In another incidence, when He washed the disciples’ feet and Peter protested, He told Peter that he would not understand the significance of the action at that moment but later. It is like trying to explain to a two-year old why you won’t give him a sharp object. That would be a futile attempt indeed! So it is with God’s dealings with us. Let us make up our minds to be content with His silences or the allowing of delays as little children. When we are mature enough, He shall make us understand and then we shall be grateful for all things. Let us leave all things in His loving hands for later.

ABRAHAM: OUR SURE EXAMPLE

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.” (Isaiah 51:1-2)

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shall be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” (Genesis 12: 1-4)

From this scripture, it can be inferred that God’s promises only come to the called; that is, those that answer the call of salvation; those who choose to obey and follow Him. The promise is almost always attached with the conditionality of obedience. I make bold to say that if Abram had not followed the instructions of the Lord, none of his blessings would have come to pass! Obedience is key. The scripture reveals that Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him! There was neither hesitation nor argument on the part of Abram. And who would have blamed him if he did? After all, he had not had any previous encounter with the Lord. He exhibited spontaneous, childlike faith and obedience and, as a result, he became the father of faith. As children, we would do well to imitate the faith and obedience of who would become our patriarch, Abraham.

In the course of waiting for the fulfillment of God’s word in our lives and destinies, we must continually examine ourselves to see if we are in tune with the Spirit of the Most High. We must consciously seek His guidance, counsel, and instruction every step of the way. Don’t let any form of carelessness or disobedience keep you in the wilderness of unfulfilled dreams for too long.

Back to our story in the book of Genesis: In Chapter 12 we learned that Abram instantly obeyed the voice of the Lord and departed as he had been instructed. We have concluded that obedience brings the blessings; it paves way for the fulfillment of dreams, visions, and prophecies so one would have expected that in the next chapter, Abram should have begun to see the fulfillment of the promise. Well, that was not the case! In Chapter 15 we read the following:

“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.’ And Abram said, ‘Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing that I go childless…behold to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.’ And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, ‘this shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir’. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them.’ And He said unto him, ‘so shall thy seed be,’ and he believed Him.”

Time has passed and, I guess, Abram was getting worried and anxious. In His love and care, the Lord came and encouraged him. Abram did not hesitate to express his concern to God:

“Lord, I still go childless since the time you promised to make me a father of many nations. Not even one child to call my own. Are you sure I shouldn’t just make Eliezer of Damascus my heir? It seems to be taking longer than I thought and I am not getting any younger.” (Paraphrased)

The beautiful thing about our God is His understanding of our weaknesses. He did not get angry at Abram, but took him out to the open and reassured him of His determination to make good on His promise to Abram. Thankfully, Abram believed God again. As it was with Abram, so it is with us today. Don’t ever hesitate to express your concerns and worries to God about the delays. He shall not rebuke you, but will reassure and reaffirm His promise to you again and again. However, like Abram, we must not be doubtful, but believing. Faith implies that you keep on believing until it comes to pass. I have personally learned that you cannot fast-forward God’s set time by whining and worrying. At best, when you bombard Him with many petitions, He shall reaffirm the promise by a dream, the still, small voice of His Spirit, or from a TV broadcast from a servant of God! If you do not just accept such reaffirmations with childlike faith, He gradually becomes silent and makes you learn the lesson the hard way. God hates unbelief with a passionate hatred, my beloved.

Let us refer to the New Testament and see what God has to say to us concerning Abraham. The book of Hebrews 6:9-20 has this for our admonition:

“That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself, Saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”

The scripture explains that after God made the glorious promise to Abraham, He confirmed it by an oath; He swore by Himself that He shall surely bring it to pass! Wow! The Almighty God swearing to a mortal man so as to reinforce confidence and to allay doubt and fear! Our God really craves our faith in His word and promises because He doesn’t want us to miss out on His blessings. The most amazing discovery from the scripture above is that of the emphasis on the inability of God to lie and the fact that God, even now much more than He did for Abraham, has sworn an oath to us under the New Testament of grace! Hallelujah! Please read that scripture again. Slowly. Meditatively.

When people are made to swear in a court of law, it is taken for granted that their testimony shall be true and not a lie. That is exactly what God did for us regarding His promises to His children! Amazing! The next time doubt, fear, and unbelief rear their ugly heads to question the faithfulness of God’s word, remind them audibly that these words were given by God under oath! God has sworn by Himself and His holiness NEVER to lie!

What other lesson is obvious in our text? It is the fact that Abraham had to patiently endure terrible pain, mockery, contradiction, and temptation in order to obtain the promise! It was after he had patiently endured that he obtained the promise. We cannot expect anything different if we are children of God. Hebrews 6:9 admonishes:

“That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Do not become tired. Do not give up; don’t quit! In Hebrews 10:23, 35-36 a clear lesson is to be grasped that touches our attitude and disposition when the word of God seems to be delayed.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for He is faithful that promised). Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.”

We are here again encouraged to stand strong in the hope that God’s word must come to pass. We must not become uncertain, but confident that we shall possess our possessions. The essence of the delay is in order for us to do the will of God, after which we shall obtain the promise. And what is that will of God? Patience! In our earlier consideration of Hebrews 6, we read that after Abraham patiently endured, he obtained the promise. So, in order for us to obtain God’s promises we must learn and imbibe patience. The book of James puts it more clearly when it says in Chapter 1:2-4:

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

You see, patience makes you perfect, mature and complete. Lacking nothing. A patient man is a complete man; perfect. I believe that patience embodies all other character requirements of a person. We must pray earnestly for God to give us the spirit of patience and endurance in trials while we wait for God to prove Himself faithful. The Bible describes as blessed those who are patient and persevere under trials. Consider the case of Job. In Job 14:14 he said:

“All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”

He never gave up on God’s word, but chose to wait for God’s appointed time for him! How did Job fare? You know the story.

In concluding this segment on Abraham as a case study on the inevitability of God’s delay, I want you to note that it was not until Abram was ninety-nine years old that God met him again, reassured him of His word, and changed his name to Abraham. That was twenty-four years after the promise was first made! How did Abraham handle such a situation? The book of Romans 4:18-21 tells us that he decided to hope even when there was no reason to hope! He was so convinced that God would not fail that nothing else mattered! That must be our own attitude. There is always hope for the hopeful. Hope saves and keeps the soul in trial. Romans 8:24-25 says:

“We are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we patiently wait for it.”

Hope kept Abraham going. Hope shall keep us going. But did God come through for Abraham? That we shall consider in subsequent chapters.

THE CASE OF JOSEPH

“And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, ‘hear I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, ‘shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, ‘behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me.’ And he told it to his father, and to his brethren and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, ‘what is this dream that thou has dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?’  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.” (Genesis 37:5-11)

The scripture is rather a lengthy one, but is worth our consideration, learning, and admonition. The Scriptures say that those things were written for our learning; as an example for us. (Read 1 Corinth. 10:6)

In this passage, we are told that Joseph, a seventeen-year old young man, had a dream. Without going into any explanation, we know that this dream was from God. The question, rather, is: Why did God choose Joseph to be the carrier of this dream and not one of his other siblings? The answer is in verse two of the same chapter of Genesis. He was God-fearing, so he exposes the evil of his brothers to his father. God, who seeks out those that love and obey him, thus preferred him and chose him!

Once again, be reminded that God’s word of promise or prophecy does not come to those who are disobedient or alien to His voice and ways. As a sinner, the only voice of God you shall hear is the voice of His Spirit, calling you to repentance. Do not be deceived; the ways of the wicked and sinners are abomination to God. Confess your sins to God, repent of them and turn your life over to Jesus, so that a fresh chapter of covenant relationship with God begins for you. God bless you as you do so.

What do you see in common with Abraham and Joseph? Both of them received a word of promise from God. They encountered God on a personal level. Another significant thing I have discovered is that both of them faced delays and contradictions of what God had promised them by His word. In Abraham’s case, the word said he would be the father of MANY nations (children) but that he had to face the ugly contradiction of childlessness for twenty-five years! What a contradiction! What a delay! What about Joseph? The Scriptures recorded that the moment the dream came to him and he told his brethren, they hated him! Then, as if to reaffirm His word to Joseph, God gave him another dream, similar to the first but of greater dimension. Joseph couldn’t contain his excitement and so he told his brothers, This time in the presence of their father. Their response? They hated him all the more! But the father, a covenant child himself, considered the matter in his heart.

What lesson are we to grasp from this? That those who carry divine words and promises, either by dreams, vision, or prophecy, should expect hatred and resistance from those without such glorious privileges. Some of such ‘haters’ may be family members, colleagues, spouses, friends, or even church members! You see, the devil will ALWAYS stir up the forces of evil against carriers of God’s promises in order to attempt to kill such dreams. It is not the carriers of the dreams that Satan is interested in, but the dream! This is because such dreams come from God and have the potential to cause great havoc against the devil and evil as well as establish the will of God on earth when they come to pass. The good news, however, is that the gates of hell shall never prevail!

So what did they do? Genesis 37:19-20, 28 recounts the events. When their plot to kill Joseph did not materialize, because God did not permit it, they sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver!

The puzzling thing I see here is that in verses 5 and 9 a promise came to Joseph from God that he would be a ruler. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he is sold into slavery in verse 28! God said to Joseph, “You shall be a ruler, a king,” a contradiction. “Joseph, you are a slave.” What is the correlation between kingship and slavery? A complete paradox, I believe. Has God told him a lie? Could those two dreams actually be from God? If so, why did God allow the devil to bring about this delay, this contradiction? Is the devil in control? Will God’s word come to pass? We shall consider that much later.

The point I want you to take home is that delays are inevitable in our dealings with God. It happened to Abraham; it happened to Joseph. Time would fail me to talk of David, Paul the Apostle, and even Jesus Himself! All these received clear words of promises from God, regarding their individual destinies. But they all faced great odds and oppositions on the path to fulfilling such destinies.

Your delay may not necessarily be due to sin or disobedience, as we see from the lives of Abraham and Joseph and Jesus! Being in the perfect will of God does not exclude one from the trials of life! Let this truth encourage you, my beloved. Opposition is what causes the delays. Opposition causes friction and tends to reduce speed. But as you stand strong in the grace of God, the victory must come and you shall laugh the last laugh against the devil!

Amen.

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Nugget: Your delay may not necessarily be due to sin or disobedience, as we see from the lives of Abraham and Joseph and Jesus! Being in the perfect will of God does not exclude one from the trials of life! Let this truth encourage you, my beloved. Opposition is what causes the delays.

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WHILE YOU ARE WAITING: LESSONS TO LEARN; PITFALLS TO AVOID

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, now that our fathers were under the cloud, and passed through the sea; and baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them…Neither let us tempt or commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of the serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for an example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the earth are come.” (1 Corinth.10:1-11)

That the Israelites under the Old Covenant are the representation of the New Testament believers is a fact. Hence, we shall do well to learn from how they walked and fared with God as they journeyed through the wilderness towards the Promised Land. They, too, experienced delay as they wondered about the wilderness for forty whole years!

Apostle Paul began his admonition in the scriptures above by expressing his desire that we should not be ignorant or oblivious of the key lessons to be learned from the life of the children of Israel. He stated that with some of them, God was not pleased and so destroyed them in the wilderness. These could not get into the Promised Land. Why? Because of sin and unbelief! (Read Hebrews 3:17 and 19)

In Hebrews 4:1, Apostle Paul further exhorts thus:

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”

This issue is not one to be taken for granted. You do not shove it aside by saying “it is not my portion” because let him who thinks he stands take heed; let him pay attention and be careful lest he falls! The truth and magnitude of God’s rebukes and corrections should drive us with reverential fear and humility to prayers and consecration. If it happened to the stock (Israel), then it can happen to the stem (you and me)! We must take note of their mistakes and avoid them as well as glean from their successes, such as the attitude of Joshua and Caleb. So, then, let us consider the pitfalls that prevented MANY of them from obtaining the promised word of God.

UNBELIEF

“Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6)

“But with many of them God was not well pleased.” (1 Corinth.10:5)

Simply put, they had no faith in God! Faith in God gives one a sense of calmness in the face of difficulties. Faith subdues fear and empowers one to look away from the challenges unto God. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah 17:7 that:

“…blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord.”

But:

“Cursed is the man that trusts in man…whose heart departs from the Lord.” (Verse 5)

The result of God’s blessing is life. The curse brings nothing but death; so a majority of them didn’t make it into Canaan! Even when God had displayed several signs and miracles to make them believe, right from Egypt from the plagues and the Passover through to crossing of the Red Sea, their trust was still not rooted in God!

My beloved friend, I say this with a deep sense of responsibility and reverential fear. We cannot be careless but pray ceaselessly to God for grace to do those things that please Him. “Lord, help thou my unbelief, I believe!” can be a sure way out when our faith appears to wane. Let us pray and guard against the spirit of unbelief. May God help us all.

LUST AND FORNICATION

Lust means a strong desire to obtain something or the strong physical desire to have sex with somebody. Lust is desire gone in the wrong direction. The scriptures categorize lust into three types: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (lust of the heart?). Simply put, fornication is having sexual relations with someone to whom one is not married. The children of Israel were guilty of them all. They lusted after evil things and committed fornication. What the evil things were, I do not attempt to conjecture, but then we are told that they had the desire of returning to bondage in Egypt and had cravings for onions, garlic, and cucumbers.

Are not many of us guilty of the sin of lust? Don’t you sometimes, feeling that the world was easier on you when you were an unbeliever, secretly wish you could return? Don’t you feel sometimes that the people of the world find it easier to prosper (of course by cutting corners and such other things) than it is with you? “They are getting jobs, but look at me. See their good houses; see their cars!” Whenever such thoughts begin to spring up, just know that the enemy of your soul and destiny is at work. Resist him! Remain strong in faith, knowing that your season is just around the corner.

Let not sex be your ruin; do not fornicate; do not go committing adultery. True, you have been barren for several years now, but that is not a license for immorality. The fact that you have been trusting God for a life partner and are yet to get married despite advancing age is not an excuse either. God has promised in His word that none of His children shall lack his or her mate. Children shall come. Husband or wife shall come. Trust God and wait for His appointed time. Your time is not the same as that of John or Janet. God deals differently, individually with each of us. No two persons’ destinies are the same; even for identical twins! Stop comparing yourself with another.

TEMPTING GOD

“Neither tempt you Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.”

(1 Corinth. 10:9).

How did the Israelites tempt God? Is it possible for us to tempt God? If so, how? The main story referenced in 1 Corinthians 10:9 was set beforehand in Numbers 21:4-6:

“And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, (saying) wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loathes this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much of the people of Israel died.”

A few key things are to be noted here. One, they SPOKE AGAINST God and against Moses. Two, they obviously displayed ingratitude to God. Three, they misconstrued God’s purpose for bringing them out of Egypt.

A few moments back, earlier in their journey, they had seen God deliver them from the armies of Pharaoh as they crossed the Red sea. In fact, they sang a song of praise to God, composed by Miriam! How, then, should the same God abandon them to die in the wilderness? They continue to show that they did not know the ways of God. They spoke against God and Moses because, until now, they had not understood the Majesty of the Most High and therefore were rebellious.

Are we less guilty of these crimes against God? One act of deliverance after another, yet at the appearance of another challenge, we begin to jitter and forget all the past miracles we have enjoyed from the Lord! We are quick to forget the past and do not remember the might of our God. The fact of the matter is that if God delivered you yesterday, He shall again today and even tomorrow. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He has promised never to leave us nor to forsake us! I believe we must cultivate the habit of taking God’s word as it is; don’t begin to rationalize it to your own hurt and confusion. “God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philipp. 4:19) This should be taken just as it appears in scripture!

And how many of us have the reverential fear for God, or that deep respect for servants of God such as Pastors, Evangelists, and Preachers? Superficial Christianity has helped to erode all that. The way some of us approach God, we won’t dare do with our earthly fathers or our superiors at the office, not to mention our national leaders! But we approach and speak to the Creator of all things without courtesy and decorum! My earnest advice to you is that even though we must approach His throne of grace will all boldness, we must draw a line between that holy boldness and disrespect for His entity.

Then again, the children of Israel were guilty of ingratitude. God had given them water from the Rock, which followed them throughout their journey; fed them with Manna and quail a little while back. And, now, they are telling God that they lacked all these and hate even the one they currently have at hand! God have mercy.

Once a barren individual, God blesses you with a baby boy, and you wished he were a girl? That car is no longer good enough? You are complaining of the monotony or tediousness of the job you earnestly prayed for to get? Now that you have those shoes, do you complain of their colour? What about the spouse you now have? Is he/she no longer good enough? Not tall enough? Dark enough? Smart enough? Beautiful enough? As genuine Christians, we must learn to appreciate what God gives us and to be grateful for the things we presently have while we trust Him for the higher dimensions.

A salient question to ask is: What was it that prompted this behaviour in them? Discouragement! The scripture says that the soul of the people was much DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF THE WAY. As the journey became tedious, when they discovered that after many years of travelling Canaan was still not in sight, their spirit fainted! They became discouraged and, being discouraged, all resilience fell apart. How true of us is this? You start off the journey of faith with earnest strength and determination. We are expectant, almost certain that the promise would manifest the next day. Then days grow into months and months into years and, alas, our soul begins to faint! It is true of the human heart and soul. The spirit is always willing, but the flesh is weak. And so it is that when the going gets tough; when God appears to hide His face; when our prayers are not answered they way we expected; when troubles encompass you on all sides – it is then, just then, the soul begins to be discouraged.

I do not in any way attempt to excuse the attitude of the Israelites, but I do appreciate the fact that what happened to them can happen to you and me if we do not seek God’s grace. You see, grace is one advantage we have over the Israelites. Let us use it; pray until Christ’s character is fully formed in you. Without Him strengthening you, you can do NOTHING.

IDOLATRY

“Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” (1 Corinth. 10:7)

The entire story of our text is set in Exodus 32:1-4:

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, ‘Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.’ And Aaron said unto them, ‘break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me…’ And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with graven tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’”

Idolatry is simply the worship of idols or false gods. It also means excessive admiration or love shown for somebody or something. In other words, an idol may be a person or a thing. In fact, anyone or anything that takes the place and attention of God in your life is an idol! What is that THING you give more time and attention to than God? Who is that PERSON? Your job, your body, possessions, child/children, spouse can become your idol the moment they become first place instead of God! Our God is a jealous lover and would not accept anything other than first place! How will you feel if you have a fiancé or spouse who spends more time with other people of the opposite sex than you? Won’t you question their love and loyalty? No wonder Jesus says in Mathew 6:33 that we should seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness instead of pursuing the needs of life as first priority. He also said, “You cannot both serve God and Mammon!”

What marvels me about the Israelites is their tendency for fickleness and backsliding. But then, that is what happens when one is not firmly rooted in the word and personal knowledge of God, of Jesus Christ. You attend Sunday service and other church programmes, but only as a mixed multitude; that “I saw them running so I joined in” group! Going to church and attending programmes is good but NOT good enough. You must seriously pursue a personal knowledge of God and of His word. Don’t be content to be a superficial believer. Dig deeper into God, for there is where the real nutrient is. Like soup, the substance is mostly beneath, not at the surface.

So Moses failed to show up for a few days and the next thing they are crying for an idol to lead them! The most troubling thing is that they began to call this idol ‘the LORD’! (Read Exodus 32:5) They began to attribute their deliverance from Egypt to a molten calf! Why did this happen? Moses seemed to have been DELAYED longer than they expected and, in their vain minds, he was as good as dead!

How many people, including believers, have substituted MONEY for the Almighty God? Who is your sufficiency, God or Mammon (the god of riches)? Take a deep breath and sincerely ponder on it. That thing you are trusting God for…is it the ultimate aim to bring glory to God or to satisfy yourself and your ego? When God makes you a millionaire, what shall you do with the millions? When you are elected into that office, how will you impact other people’s lives? How will you impact the Church of Christ and the advancement of His Kingdom here on earth?

Let not your blessings become your idols.

MURMURING

“Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” (1 Corinth. 10:10)

From scriptures, one will discover the Israelites had an annoying habit of murmuring. It shows up almost throughout the Old Testament, but I will just make reference to a verse or two in Exodus 16.

“And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, ‘I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; speak unto them saying, ‘At evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Exod. 16:11-12)

I want to point out to you that there is a difference between murmuring and complaining. On one hand, a complaint is expressive and verbal, distinct and clear. Murmuring, on the other hand, is to say something that is very quiet or sounds very indistinct. You have to strain your ears to grasp what is being said because it is incoherent. While complaining has a target audience, murmuring can almost be like speaking into thin air. You know who you are talking against, but you are not directing your grievance to that person. So when God told Moses that He had “heard” the murmurings of the Israelites, it was like saying to Moses: “EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE SPEAKING AGAINST ME IN HUSHED TONES, I STILL HEARD THEM!”

I very much believe that God would rather have you tell Him directly of your troubles and bitter displeasures like Job did than to speak of them ‘behind His back’! In the book of Psalms, we are admonished to pure out our hearts before Him because He is our refuge. Let us pray that God, through the Holy Spirit, will help us overcome this evil. If we ask according to His will (and not murmur), He will hear and answer us!

Amen.

DILIGENCE IN WAITING

Before I proceed, I wish to point out a common misconception amongst many children of God. The misconception is that of viewing waiting as a passive event rather than an active process. Waiting on God is active in nature; you don’t just sit down doing nothing simply because you are waiting for God’s word to come to pass in your life. You must be up and doing, lest a little sleep and a little slumber brings poverty on you! If you are trusting the Lord for a life partner then, as a man, you don’t wait until you see her before you start running here and there for money! Instead, if you do not yet have a job, seek one or go into personal business because you need a means of livelihood to house a wife! As a lady, you have to consider building your character befitting of a virtuous woman! You can even start saving to support the home when your dream becomes a reality. The book of Romans 12, in verses 11-12, has this to say:

“Not slothful in BUSINESS; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.”

Let us consider some other scriptures before I attempt an explanation and exhortation.

“Let us LABOUR therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11)

“And we desire that every one of you do show the same DILIGENCE to the full assurance of hope unto the end. That you do not be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:11-12)

Diligence implies a persistent and hard-working effort in doing something. It requires a fervent spirit, a patient spirit, a joyful and hopeful spirit, and a prayerful spirit. You cannot afford to be slothful (lazy) in whatever your vocation is, whether secular or ministerial, but labour so you can enter into the realm where all your dreams come to pass. That realm of fulfillment is the realm of rest. Kick unbelief out of your life and choose to imitate those who through faith and patience had obtained their own promises.

Remember that in order to obtain the reward, you must get to the finish line. Be hopeful till the end; it is not over until you win! We are not of them that draw back and quit, but believe. Do not get discouraged. Do not cast away your confidence because God shall reward every act of faith towards Himself and His word!

BE PERSISTENT

“And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.’ But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and besought Him, saying; ‘Send her away; for she crieth after us.’ But He answered and said, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord Help me.’ But He answered and said, ‘It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.’ And she said, ‘Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered and said unto her, ‘O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.’ And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Mathew 15:22-28)

From the passage above, I cannot help but wonder if God’s delays are a deliberate attempt to stretch and develop our faith. I believe that a delay in answers to our prayers or fulfillment of God’s word is to develop resilience and persistence in our lives. It seems to me, from this Scripture, as if Christ was equating persistence with faith. He never commended the woman for her persistence but did so for her faith; whereas all she did was to continue earnestly in her request. Would I then be wrong to say the real faith is that which persists? Is it not often easier to believe God in the moments of peace rather than in the hour of storms? But for faith to be faith indeed, it must be tried; it must encounter delays. Jesus commended her faith because of her dogged persistence. First of all, Jesus answered her not a single word! To make matters worse, the disciples urged the Lord to drive her away. And when the Lord eventually offered a response, it was such that would have sent many a clamouring petitioners reeling in utter dismay! “You are a dog,” Jesus seems to have said. “I agree, Lord. Call me any name but give me what I need. I have nowhere else to go.” she seems to have replied!  What!? So many of us would have not said anything and leave.

I have become discouraged indeed and resigned to fate; shrugged the shoulders and said, “At least I tried. What more could I have done?’ and walked away. A great many others would have expressed real anger; muttered a few words, shaken their heads at Jesus, and stormed out of the vicinity with “and he said he is the Son of God!” as their consolation. But not this woman of Canaan! She came, she saw. And she conquered!

A similitude of this event in the Old Testament is Jacob wrestling with God. “I won’t let you go until you bless me!” And he prevailed. It seems to me that God is looking for wrestlers who would face Him in a duel; the battleground being that of prayer, and the fists being persistence of faith! If you can hold on longer in your faith in His word, pleading your case, day and night, your victory is sure to come.

Apart from her persistence, this woman had one salient attribute – that of reverence for the Lord. She never got angry at His silence nor His seemingly lack of concern for her plight. Instead, she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

We shall do well to borrow a leaf from this woman from Canaan!

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Nugget: “Let us LABOUR therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11)

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GOD’S PURPOSE FOR DELAYS: WHY IT TARRY

“…though it tarry, wait for it…it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:3b)

The purposes of God are often difficult to understand because His ways are beyond searching out. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. However, revelations can be obtained from scriptures and insight can be gained into the mind of God by the help of the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 29:29 says:

“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of His law.”

In the light of this truth, I shall proceed to offer some possible reasons why God allows delays in the lives of His beloved children. Let us begin with one of these scriptures:

“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick’. When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.’ Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode (tarried) two days still in the same place where He was.” (John 11:1-6)

There is a common misconception in the minds of most believers. That misconception is that because we are children of the Most High God, we ought to be exempted from the trials of life! “How can you be a child of God, but so and so happen to you”’ However, God, in His love, has shown throughout Scripture that such is not the case. The lives of Job, Abraham, David, Joseph, and Paul the Apostle all show the contrary. Even Jesus Himself had His fair share of life’s challenges, but He overcame them. And because He overcame them, we can be of good courage. That promised job shall come; that promised child shall be born; that life partner shall come; that car; that house; that healing; that peace of mind; that financial breakthrough! Because God has promised and you believe it, come rain or high waters, God’s word must come to pass; He cannot lie!

But you have a part to play. You must prepare your mind to follow God in obedience every step of the way. He knows what time is the best time for each and every one of His children. But why? Let us see.

FOR HIS OWN GLORY

You see, the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and all that live in it. All things were created by Him and for Him! He did so for His own pleasure. Who can say unto Him: ”What doest thou?“ Can the clay say to the potter, “Why have you made me so?” It was Him who chose us, not we ourselves. Please read Psalms 24:1, John 1:3, Isaiah 46:10, and Jeremiah 18:1-6 where it says God…

“…worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” (Ephesians 1:11).

So, trying to question God is to insist upon having your way; your will and not His. And that can be very dangerous. Jesus submitted to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. You cannot afford to do any differently. Remember what happened to the Israelites when they insisted on having their own king “like the other nations around them”? God gave them King Saul and the rest is history. Taking the short cut instead of waiting for God’s time has its own consequences. Ishmael is a product of man’s will, and, until the world ends, the consequences shall be felt: terrorism and the likes of it.

Now back to our main story in John 11:1-6. Lazarus was sick and the sisters sent words to Jesus to come and heal him. The message was urgent and persuasive:

“Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”

The Scripture affirms that that love was indeed established because verse 5 proceeds to say:

“Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

One, then, would have expected Jesus to have come running down to the aid of His beloved friends. After all, He loves them; they are His FRIENDS. But read again what is written in verse 6:

“When He heard, therefore, that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was.”

What!? Wasn’t that inconsiderate of Jesus? Wasn’t that carelessness or worse, callousness? But Jesus is God…and He knows just what He was doing! But, why? What could be the reason for His delay? Didn’t He know that the sickness could get worse? What if Lazarus died while He delayed? The answer is found in verse 4:

“When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified.’”

The reason, then, for the delay? The glory of God. That Jesus is glorified in all circumstances surrounding His children! We all know the end of that story. God did not allow Lazarus to die from the sickness because He could not prevent him from dying. He delayed so that Lazarus could be raised from the dead! The question I have for you is this: The glory of healing the sick and the glory of raising the dead – which is greater? Hallelujah! Your circumstances are not meant to kill you. God is not delaying the fulfillment of that vision, that dream, that prophecy, that word because He is careless or callous. He wants to give you a glorious testimony; a mega testimony!

Praise the Lord!

FOR YOUR OWN GOOD

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who have been called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn amongst many brethren.” (Romans 8:28)

“For thus says the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon ‘I will visit you, and perform my good word towards you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,’ saith the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.’” (Jeremiah 29:10-11)

God is love, and, whatever He does, He does it for love. He is called our Heavenly Father and all good fathers live and plan for the good of their children. In Mathew 7:11, Jesus argues that if men being evil (imperfect humans) know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more shall our Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? God has nothing but goodwill towards His children in all His dealings with them. Even in adversity. The New International Version of the Bible puts Romans 8:28 this way:

“And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Simply put, God orchestrates all things, all circumstances to our favour! It may not at the present seem so, but, in the long run, you will come to appreciate God for them. It’s just like a child’s first day at school. It is not usually all smiles because all the ease, coziness, and comfort of the home is missed, and the school ‘Aunty’ or ‘Uncle’ is not as nice as the relatives at home. Most children see school as cruel and unusual punishment because at the time they do not see the bigger picture. But from the beginning, you, as a parent, do. Do you withdraw such a child from school because of such temporary complaint or ‘inconvenience’? No! The same goes with God in dealing with us as children. His ultimate goal is that through all things – the good, the bad and the ugly – we become more and more like Jesus, in character and purpose. And He will use any instrument such as trials and the circumstances of life to accomplish it!

Look closely at the event in Jeremiah 29. God told the children of Israel that He was going to send them into captivity in Babylon that would last for seventy years. Immediately after delivering this ‘bad’ news, He went on to say that His intention was not for evil but for good towards them! What!? What is good about captivity? The proceeding verses show us the ‘good’ in their going into captivity. The Israelites would come to understand the value of prayer and devotion to God. The captivity was to drive them to see their need of God and to seek Him wholeheartedly. If you know the history of the children of Israel, you will understand their great tendency towards backsliding and neglecting God and His ways. To cure them of this terrible habit and avert their destruction, God had to arrange their ‘field trip’ to Babylon in order to give them a practical lesson on obedience, loyalty, and submission to authority. They seemed to constantly take God’s love and Majesty for granted. Captivity made them realize their utter need for God.

Once again, be reminded that the trials, delays, and the difficulties you face while you wait for the word of God to come to pass are not meant to kill you. They are meant to purge you of any and every impurity so that you eventually come out as gold! Those challenges are God’s training school for you, to prepare you for public service. It is the graduates from God’s school of affliction and obscurity that are chosen for His service. Isaiah 48: 9-10 puts it thus:

“For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have REFINED thee, but not as silver; I have CHOSEN thee in the FURNACE of AFFLICTION.”  (The emphases are mine.)

Because of our imperfections and constant failures, we deserve God’s great anger and rejection. But in His love and compassion, He chooses to use troubles, trials, and affliction to refine us so that we become who He wants us to be! Have you ever had to deal with a difficult child or ward? Never heeding your instructions and getting things messed up? Which would you do? Disown him or send him to a Military School for hard discipline and training? That was what God did. Difficulties never kill a man. They make him. So, it is for your own good that God allows His word to delay!

FOR YOUR TRAINING: CHARACTER BUILDING

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds…And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He recieveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Hebrews 12:1-11)

It is pertinent to note that as believers, our citizenship is not of this world. (Read Philp.3:20) We are pilgrims in this life. So, our ultimate focus must be in heaven. Set your affection on things above, not on things below, because where your treasure (focus) is, there shall your heart be also! We must make up our mind that whatever blessing we receive from God should be aimed at bringing Him glory and promoting His Kingdom. Since He richly gives us all things for our enjoyment, whether we are eating, drinking, driving, or making money, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God! (Read 1 Corinth.10:31)

Jesus is our perfect example, so you will do well to learn from Him. He, too, had His fair share of life’s troubles. He was called a man of sorrow and one familiar with grief! For one in whom was the fullness of God and is God Himself that would be considered very strange. Yet, He was not exempted. This, indeed, should encourage us. He endured the contradiction and opposition of sinners; He endured temptations, mockery, beatings, and rejection to the point of death on the cross! He did that as an example for us to follow. What was our Lord’s secret? He set His eyes on the glory ahead and so counted the present sufferings as nothing! He knew that a glorious throne was awaiting Him beyond the cross. He knew the salvation of mankind depended upon Him; the zeal to do God’s will consumed Him. He triumphed because He chose to focus on the gain instead of the pain. He chose to focus on the testimony rather than on the test; the triumph rather than the trial.

Another child of God, who endured and triumphed, was the Apostle Paul, believed by many to be the writer of the book of Hebrews. From our main text above, it is obvious that Paul never considered the challenges he went through in life (and they were many) as punishment neither from God nor as signs of unfaithfulness from God. He saw them as a form of child training and argued that if our earthly fathers for selfish reasons disciplined and trained us rigorously, then we cannot expect anything less from our Father in heaven. Paul went on to say that God passes us through such rigorous exercises because He loves us, so that we may become one with Him in holiness and righteousness. His choosing such paths for us is a mark of His approval of us as His own. Hence, if we are without His training or refuse to yield ourselves to them, then we show clearly that we are not His children at all. What do you say to this?

Let the truth of the Scriptures comfort you. God never said it was going to be easy. God never gives false hopes. He affirms the fact that no act of discipline or training appears joyous but grievous! Ask students and military men! However, there is an ‘afterwards’ that we must learn to focus on. That “afterwards” yields the desired fruits which can only be enjoyed by those who have passed through and completed the training process.

Other verses of Scripture have more insight to offer on this matter. Consider what it says in Romans 5:

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed  because the love of God is shed abroad our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:3-5)

In the NIV, the words “tribulation”, “patience”, and “experience” are rendered as “suffering”, “perseverance”, and “character”, respectively. Apostle Paul here makes bold to say that rather than shy away from them, we should welcome the challenges of life as we wait for God to make good on His promises in our lives. He postulates that these agents of God’s training are responsible for developing our backbones; maturing us in Christ. No one ever learns patience without having to wait or experience delays. As we learn to wait, patience develops in us and, after a long period of exercising patience, we gather experience and grow in character. As we mature in character, character gives rise to hope. It is such hope that makes a believer to say “If God did it yesterday, He shall do it again.” Hope, the Scripture says, does not disappoint.

My beloved, keep hoping regardless of the prevailing contrary circumstances because God shall not disappoint you; He never fails. If we must walk effectively with God, we must pray for the grace to be patient. The Scripture admonishes in James 1:4 that we should ALLOW patience to be fully developed in us so that we can become complete, wholesome, and matured. Another encouragement for us is that God will never allow coming to us what we are not equipped to handle! (Read 1 Corinth.10:13) He shall always provide a way out for us. Because of all these assurances of hope, we do not lose heart. For though we are suffering in our physical bodies, our spirits are being renewed day by day. The reason is that, indeed, all these challenges are not only temporary but are a small issue when we consider the glory that awaits us ahead at the finish line. To develop such a dogged attitude of heart, we must fix our eyes not on what is see or visible, but on what is unseen because what is seen is momentary and what is unseen is eternal. We walk by faith and not by sight. Hallelujah! (Read 2 Corinth.4:16-18)

Another character trait God uses in our lives is humility. In the book of James (5:5) it says that God resists and opposes the proud. God does not take lightly with pride. That was the sin that sent Satan packing from heaven. So, we must be wary because it has the habit of subtly and quietly creeping in unnoticed only to show up at opportune times such as when a sudden financial breakthrough arrives! Let us look at a few Scriptures to augment this point.

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee…And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” (Deut.8:2-3)

Humility is a virtue, and, like all virtues, has a price. No one can assume he possesses this trait until subjected to appropriate ‘pride scanners’. The absence of pride is then taken as evidence of humility. Even Jesus had to learn humility. The Scripture says that even though He was the child of God, He still had to learn obedience from the things which He suffered! (Read Hebrews 5:8) Humility must be developed in us by God using any orchestration of His choice. In the case of the Israelites, it was a continuous cycling in the wilderness; always coming back to the same spot from whence they took off, instead of making headway. Have you continued to face delay in a particular area of your life? It could be that the Lord is trying to purge you of the subtlety of pride. Until your desire for what you are waiting on God for is not so that you “show them that you, too, have arrived”, you may remain waiting year after year. May that not be your portion, in Jesus’ name! Amen. Your goal must always be to bring glory to God with all you are and all you have.

Another method God used was to allow the Israelites to suffer hunger. What? But He promises to give us richly all things for our enjoyment! Yes, He did. There is a time and place for everything. And so it is that when God is trying to refine and train His children, He allows them to suffer hunger; physical, material, financial, or spiritual! God’s intention is for us to get to that point in life were nothing moves us, because we have been firmly rooted in Him. We must pray that we grow to a level of maturity in the faith where, like Apostle Paul, we can confidently and conscientiously say, “I have learned the secret of being satisfied in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry; whether living in plenty or in need.” (Read Philippians 4:12)

That, my beloved, is not imbibing a poverty mentality but doing what God wills. Being in want of things for a time does not make you any less a child of God in the same way that having and living in abundance does not make you any less His child. The point is that you must learn to understand the seasons of God’s purposes in your life. Was Job any less a righteous man because of the calamities he suffered? No! Was Paul the Apostle? No! But in ALL THINGS, God is working for the good of them that love Him, to them who have been called according to HIS PURPOSE. His purpose, His plan, His will, not our own, must be allowed to prevail. Like Job, Abraham, and Joseph, your waiting and hoping shall not be in vain.

Hallelujah!

TO PROVE AND TEST YOU

“And thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness…to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or not.” (Deut. 8:2)

“He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold as a servant; Whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron; Until the time that his word came (to pass); the Word of the Lord tried him.” (Psalms 105:17-19)

Some might say, “But God knows all men, why does He need to test His people?” My answer to that question shall be a question: Why does a school teacher or a lecturer give tests and exams to his students even though he may have an idea of the serious and unserious students in his class? It is because it is the test that will prove the teacher right or wrong about his conjectures. It is the same that will prove a student knowledgeable in the subject or otherwise. So, I make bold to say that even though God knows all things, even the end from the beginning, in the hope and good expectation for His children, He still wants to ‘make sure’ He can count on them. Do you send your students to a competition without several rehearsals? Why rehearsals? To avoid mishaps or mistakes, you must make sure each member of the team understands his or her own role.

God wanted to know what was in their hearts; whether or not they would keep His commandments. He still wants to know our hearts. So He allows delays to know whether we will love Him for Him or lose our love and devotion because of the setbacks. God seems to ponder, “Will he choose me and cling to me or will he forsake me now that I am delaying the promise? Does he really love me or just my gifts?” Our true motives for following God come into the open when our paths are filled with pain. “If you genuinely love me, you will keep my commandments,” says God. Trials and delays reveal the contents of our hearts, and what is in our hearts reveals our real selves!

“As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.”(Proverbs 27:19)

It is because of this that the Lord tries and tests the righteous. Proverbs 17:3b tells us that the Lord tests the heart. The heart is where the problem is. But who can know his heart, it being deceitful above all things? It is God who knows the heart, so allow Him to purge it as may be deemed fit by Him.

Going back to the story of Joseph, and the summary of it reflected in Psalms 105, I have become more convinced that were it not for all the delays and trials he was made to pass through, his attitude towards his brothers would have been different. However, God, the Grand Planner, only saw Joseph as someone He sent to preserve the future generations of the Israelites. To be sure that Joseph as His rightful candidate would not fail, He had to “arrange” all the events that occurred in Joseph’s life from the day He gave him the dreams, his brothers selling him into slavery, the false accusation by Potiphar’s wife, and his imprisonment. And until what Joseph said concerning his dreams came to pass, the Word of the Lord tested him and proved him to be the rightful candidate!

My advice to you today is that rather than whine and complain about your circumstance, you should ask God to show you what lessons He wants you to learn from the situation. Is He teaching you to praise Him instead of complaining? Is He trying to teach you humility? Is He trying to teach you patience? There is always a lesson to learn from God’s dealings with His children, so just ask Him the right questions. You must learn to be teachable. Don’t struggle, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.

Praise the Lord.

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Nugget: Rather than whine and complain about your circumstance, you should ask God to show you what lessons He wants you to learn from the situation. Is He teaching you to praise Him instead of complaining? Is He trying to teach you humility? Is He trying to teach you patience? There is always a lesson to learn from God’s dealings with His children, so just ask Him the right questions. You must learn to be teachable. Don’t struggle, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.

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WAITING CONNOTES ACTIVITY, NOT PASSIVITY

“Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong…” (James 5:7-8a. The Message Bible)

One misconception that many Believers have is to think and act as if the waiting moment is a passive period rather than an active one. Nothing can be further from the truth. A waiter or waitress in a restaurant is not known for inactivity, but for the contrary. In fact, to wait for something or someone is to be in readiness for the “next line of action”. To patiently wait for God’s promises to materialize in your life does not imply resignation to fate or despair; neither is it taking a nap from the course of life and duty. Waiting entails all that you DO in preparation for the fulfillment of the promise, the same way an expectant mother waits for the arrival of her baby. You will agree with me that that is not a passive moment at all.

In the Scripture referenced above, the Apostle James likens patient waiting to a farmer waiting in earnest anticipation of a good harvest from the moment he puts the seeds into the soil. The farmer doesn’t just plant his crop in the field and go home to sleep until harvest time, does he? No. He has to tend the crop from time to time, weed the field of competing weeds, and keep pests and rodents out by any means available to him! Sowing the crop is not harvest, but a process leading to harvest with a whole lot of other things in-between. In fact, some farmers have had to resort to irrigation when nature denies them rain!

You have got to do all you have got to do and let God do His part. It is unwise and somewhat a denial of responsibility to think that because God made a promise to you, it will fall to you on a platter of gold. No. You have a part to play if that great dream you have for your life must come to fulfillment. An employee that is not committed to duty should not expect his employer to offer him a promotion, should he? Nor should a student who refuses to study, do his homework, or fails to pay his tuition expect to pass his exams,. Gaining admission into the university is the first step of many that will lead to the graduation ceremony. You must consider waiting for God in this light to succeed in life’s walk. Be ready to endure all the inconveniences, the delays, the interruptions in order to get to the end of the road. Keep the prize in view if you must pay the price.

I do not pretend to admit that patience is an easy virtue to develop, but the rewards of patience are always worthwhile. Look at any masterpiece, be it a painting, an architectural work, or a symphony and you will agree that a lot of time, pain, and diligence had gone into it. Nothing good ever comes easy; if you have not paid the price directly, someone else did. So you won a scholarship for free! No. It wasn’t free because someone or some people made it happen; someone paid the price for you. To master impatience is to master oneself.

Let us glean more insight and understanding from the following verses in James 5:

“Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.” (James 5: 10-11. The Message Bible)

It is always wise to learn from history; from those who have trod the path before us. And who better to learn from than those we admire; our mentors and those we look up to. As believers in God and His word, we cannot but make the Bible our reference point and take the counsels therein as seriously as we would a doctor’s prescription. The faith of the prophets mentioned above made them keep on believing all they had received by the word of God even in the face of severe persecution, mockery, and contradictions. Job held on tenaciously to his faith in spite of all the ills he went through. He waited for God to prove Himself faithful. And He did…at the end.

It may seem late for you and I because we are humans, but God will always come through and true for us. Just hold on. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Every woman that has delivered by natural childbirth will tell you that birth pangs are the worst of pains. Once it sets in, you lose your cool. But it is only momentary, even though it seems at the moment like eternity. The new mother puts to bed and forgets all the pains! Why? Because the joy and fulfillment that follows is always unfathomable.

The whole point I am trying to make here is that waiting is not hibernation; you just don’t go into hiding until the situation becomes favorable. It is a moment of actions and investment towards the glorious future you believe in and hope for. You believe God wants you to be rich and prosperous. Waiting should afford you the opportunity to ask the right questions and take appropriate actions. For instance: What do I do to become rich? What career path should I take? How do I translate my gifts and talents into money? Why is my business failing? Whose professional advice do I seek? You must be found to be doing something even as you wait for the big break!

We shall now go back to the life of Abraham and Joseph. Let us observe and learn from how they lived through their waiting phases in their journey of faith with God.

ABRAHAM

“Listen to me, all you who are serious about right living and committed to seeking God. Ponder the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were dug. Yes, ponder Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. Think of it! One solitary man when I called him, but once I blessed him, he multiplied.” (Isaiah 51:1-2 The Message Bible)

“When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of people. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!” He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promises asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said.” (Romans 4: 18, 20-21 The Message Bible)

God Himself admonishes us, who believe, to look up to Abraham as an example when it comes to the walk of faith because Abraham is described as the father of all who believe in God. The scripture above says that Abraham plunged into the promise. He was never hesitant, but took action by living each day in earnest expectation of the fulfillment of God’s promise to make him the father of many nations. Scripture reveals that Abraham became a wealthy merchant and herdsman with lots of servants in the course of the waiting period being. He didn’t wait for the promised child to be born for him to start thinking of how to care for him. His faith prompted him to dare to build a great future for his promised Isaac. Let us read from the scripture and see:

“By now Abraham was very rich, loaded with cattle and silver and gold. He moved from Negev, camping along the way, to Bethel, the place where he had first set up his tent between Bethel and Ai and built his first altar. Abraham prayed there to God.” (Genesis 13:2-4. The Message Bible)

In fact, Abraham was so rich along with his cousin, Lot, that the entire land became too small to contain both of them!

“Lot, who was travelling with Abraham, was also rich in sheep and cattle and tents. But the land couldn’t support both of them; they had too many possessions. They couldn’t both live there…” (Genesis 13:5-6)

You and I would both agree that wealth does not just fall out of the sky. It requires hard work and commitment. Riches remain an illusion for the lazy and wishful thinker. All I am trying to do is let you know that you don’t just sit in one place waiting for the dream to manifest. Do something about it. Take action steps as you prayerfully trust God to bring that promise to fulfillment. You don’t become a medical doctor, an author, or a career person just because you dream to become one. There are steps you must of a necessity take to reach your desired destination. Add work to your faith, mixed with a cocktail of patience, endurance, and a determined spirit.

You must be fully persuaded enough to hold on to that which you believe regardless of whether people support you or not, and to hold out in the face of storms that might come to put that dream to the test. So, while you are waiting for that college degree, why not find a way to work and save for tuition or take a Diploma program? The point is, you don’t have to wait for your desired dream to happen for you to live your life to the fullest. Abraham’s principal dream was to become a father, but his inability to have a child didn’t stop him from expanding his realm of thought and pursuit of a wealthy life.

Think outside the box. Dare to dream. Dare to take action. Waiting is an active process, not a passive one.

JOSEPH

How about Joseph? What did he do while he waited for his God-given dream to come to fulfillment? Did he resign to fate or did he “wait” for God to make the dream simply pop up out of the blue? You know how easy it is to throw up our arms in despair, especially when things are going contrary to our dreams and aspirations. It is very easy at such times to begin to imagine that since God birthed such dreams, it must be His responsibility to make them “happen”; because, after all, He is “Almighty”. But that is not completely true. Yes, God has His part to play, but so do you! That our parents put us in school to become something great in the future does not make them absolutely responsible for our success in school. We had our part to play, like being present in class! Let us go back into the Bible and hear Joseph’s story while he waited.

“By that time the Midianites traders were passing by. His brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites who took Joseph with them down to Egypt…In Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, manager of his household affairs.” (Gen.37: 28, 36. The Message Bible)

To understand the magnitude of what just happened to Joseph, we must remember that not quite a few chapters back, Joseph was heard excitedly telling his siblings and his father what glorious dream the Lord had given him. How he was to become a ruler someday over all his brethren. One can only imagine how shocked he must have felt with the sudden turn of events. What I want us to note here is how he was able to cope and keep his head up and his spirits high when he should have been bitter against his brothers or, worse, against God. He never gave in to despair nor accepted that the present circumstance defined his life and his person. I believe that deep down in his spirit, in the deep recess of his being, Joseph saw himself as a king and not a slave. He knew that “faith was our handle on what we can’t see” and so continued living day after day in hope. Let us read on.

“After Joseph had been taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelites, Potiphar, an Egyptian, one of Pharaoh’s officials and the manager of his household, bought him from them. As it turned out, God was with Joseph and things went very well with him. He ended up living in the home of his Egyptian master. His master recognized that God was with him, saw that God was working for good in everything he did. He became very fond of Joseph and made him his personal aide. He put him in charge of all his personal affairs, turning everything over to him.” (Genesis 39:1-4. The Message Bible)

You see, Joseph gave himself wholly to the task at hand. Rather than question God and mourning his “loses”, he received courage to accept what, for the moment, he could not change and to do what he knew he could do – to serve his Egyptian master and to do so with all his heart and might. The result was that he enjoyed a promotion by his master!

Who says God cannot elevate you in that humiliating circumstance in which you have found yourself? Who says you can’t find a new job? Who says you can’t come out of that financial struggle? Who says that relationship won’t work out? The truth is that, no matter how bad the circumstance, no matter how contrary to your expectations it may be, God can turn it around if only you’ll keep an undistracted focus on your dream. Let your faith in your set goals drive and push you forward. You may not understand how the turnaround would come but don’t let that keep you down. Crawl if you have to, but, by all means, keep moving. Prayerfully try that business out; take that menial job; get a Diploma. Do not wait for the bigger picture to feel fulfilled. Instead know that it is the individual strokes of the painter’s brush that eventually result in the masterpiece.

You must be convinced beyond all reasonable doubt that in all things God is working for your greater good even when it doesn’t appear to be so. Day by day, circumstance by circumstance, up the mountain and through the valley, the bitter and the sour, God is leading you to your desired haven! The devil and all his machinations may mean it for your doom, but God shall turn them for your good even as we see in the life of Joseph. I understand that often the temptation to quit seems like the way out. It is very easy and human to shrug one’s shoulders and give up. “After all, what’s the use of trying only to fail again and again?” But let me encourage you to continue to try and never give up. The darkest part of the day is that closest to morning. You are stronger than you think and God is more faithful than you know.

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Nugget: One misconception that many Believers have is to think and act as if the waiting moment is a passive period rather than an active one. Nothing can be further from the truth. A waiter or waitress in a restaurant is not known for inactivity, but for the contrary. In fact, to wait for something or someone is to be in readiness for the “next line of action”.

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AND IT CAME TO PASS: THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S WORD

“’For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days…will I say the word, and will perform it,’ saith the Lord God. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: ‘There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.’” (Ezekiel 12:25, 28)

“I, the Lord, have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent…saith the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 24:14)

From the beginning, we have ascertained that God’s word cannot fail because God is not a man that He should lie. He does not repent (change His mind) concerning His words. Once again, it seems to me in the introductory passages above as if God wants His people to be doubly sure that His words are not mere trifles; if He has said it, it must happen! They shall not be delayed a single second longer than God intends. Hallelujah!

That been said, let us go back to the beginning where we spoke concerning Abraham and Joseph as practical examples of people who received a word from the Lord that touched their destinies. In the course of our discussion, I posed the question as to whether or not the word of God eventually came to pass in their lives. We shall be answering that question here, in this chapter. The point I want to make is that since these individuals were covenant children as we are (assuming you are born-again), if the word of God came to pass in their lives, then we can be rest-assured that our case shall not be different (provided we follow in their footsteps). God does not play favorites amongst His children; He is not a respecter of persons! It does not matter what your gender is; what your skin colour is; what your race or ethnicity is; on what part of the globe you are located! If you do right by God, He has no choice but to do right by you.

So then, let’s proceed and journey back to the Book of Genesis, where the entire story is set. Tick- tock, tick-tock, as we journey back in time.

ABRAHAM AND THE WORD OF GOD

“And God said unto Abraham, ‘As for Sarai thy wife, thou shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.’ And Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?’ And God said Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and his seed after him.” (Genesis 17:15-17, 19)

After twenty-five whole years had passed and Abraham was yet to see the fulfillment of God’s word, the Lord in His love and wisdom knowing that His time for Abraham had finally arrived, came back again and reaffirmed His word to His servant. God waited and caused His word to be delayed until He had ascertained Abraham’s obedience, humility, and loyalty. And then He showed up. And what was Abraham’s response? He laughed in his heart. He seems to be saying, “I was seventy-five years old and I couldn’t bear a child. Is it now that I am a hundred years old and my wife is ninety years? God, I know you are faithful, but please don’t raise my hopes again. I don’t want any more heartbreak.“ Abraham had become a prisoner of hope and, like any other form of prisons, he would rather be out and free. I believe that was why God did not consider his laughter as a sign of unbelief. And so, again, in Chapter 15, God showed up to give His final word. Read on.

“And they said unto him, ‘where is Sarah thy wife?’ And he said, ‘behold, in the tent.’ And he said, ‘I will surely return unto thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘after I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the Lord said unto Abraham, ‘wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’” (Genesis 18:9-14)

Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself. The same thing that Abraham did when the word of the Lord came again to reassure him of the certainty of God’s counsel. She laughed, I believe, not because of unbelief but because of the overwhelming nature of the word. “You mean at this stage of old age, when all our reproductive systems are dead, we shall conceive? Lord, please lead us not into the temptation of a failed expectation,” she seems to say. And is that not true of us in many circumstances?

Ask those who have waited many years for the fruit of the womb and they’ll tell you that at the time of the final prophetic declaration that brought about the fulfillment, they didn’t take the word as seriously as they did in the past. It is not usually because they do not believe, but because they became scared lest it should be like the “other times”. “No expectation, no disappointment” becomes the easy path to tread. At such seasons, you seem to quietly and almost unconsciously shove off the comfort of the Spirit. You seem to say, “Lord, you know I believe you. Let your will be done. You told me the same thing last month and I am still waiting, Lord. Just do what best pleases you, O Lord.” That fiery “claiming” of God’s word seems to have been reduced.

If you are at such a point in your walk with God, when you have been faithful and true to your calling and dealings, do not worry. God did not charge Abraham and Sarah with unbelief and so will not do so with you. He understands how you feel because He has been there, too.

“For as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth their frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalms 104:13-14)

Jesus has been there Himself. In Mathew 26:42, He prayed that He bypass the death on the Cross, if it was The Father’s will.

For this reason, He was made like us, His brethren, in EVERY WAY, so that He might become a MERCIFUL and FAITHFUL high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Hallelujah! (Read Hebrews 2:17)

Another key I noted from God’s dealings with His people throughout Scriptures and in contemporary life is how He lets them get to their wits end before coming to their rescue. He kept reassuring Abraham almost year after year without the practical fulfillment of the word until he and Sarah became very old indeed. God gets you to a point where, when He has brought the word to pass, you cannot but instinctually know that it couldn’t have been anything or anyone but God in control! God knows the quick and evil tendency of the human heart to begin to attribute success to human efforts or connections, so He takes you through circumstances where your intellect, academic excellence and qualification, connections in “high places”, “hard work’, family influence and affluence fail to yield the desired results. Then, when all your pride and self-help has been brought to nothing, you run in submission to His will and Majesty. It is at this point that He shows Himself mighty on your behalf. God would NEVER share His glory with anyone or anything! Until it gets to a point in your life when any success, breakthrough or testimony God gives you CANNOT be attributed to anyone or anything else, you may continue with the rigmarole in your wilderness! That shall not be your portion, in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Pray that God will give you a teachable and submissive spirit, and your journey with Him shall be without MANY pains and bruises which one gets by struggling under God’s mighty hands. Remember that you are the clay and He is the potter. Allow Him to mold you into the shape He deems fit. I know from personal experience how hard and painful it can be, but the outcome is nothing short of glorious!

Have you ever been to the barber’s shop or a beauty salon? As a man, the barber turns your head in any direction he pleases and you don’t complain and God help you if the clipper is very sharp as he does the carving! Ouch! In the beauty salon, the female can tell you what it feels like to be under the dryer; what heat they have to endure! All these pains and inconvenience you bear because you want to come out looking gorgeous and beautiful. The question, then, is why can you not endure the “pain” of being under God’s hands in His beauty salon? After all, you will come out looking glorious? Why all the struggle and the wriggling?

May God give us the insight and understanding of His ways!

Let us go back to the story of Abraham versus the word of God and see what followed. In Chapter 21 of Genesis, the account holds thus:

“And the Lord visited Sarah AS HE HAD SAID, and the Lord did unto Sarah AS HE HAD SPOKEN. For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at THE SET TIME of which God had SPOKEN to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.” (Genesis 21:1-3)

Hallelujah!! God’s word came to pass! It came to pass AS HE HAD SAID! It happened as HE HAD SPOKEN! It came to pass at the SET (appointed) TIME of which GOD (not Abraham) had SPOKEN! Abraham named his son Isaac as God had TOLD him to! Glory to the Most High God who speaks and brings to pass! His counsel stands forever! And so it was, that after waiting for a good twenty-five years, the word of the Lord came to pass. It tarried, but it came to pass!

No wonder God instructs in Habakkuk 2 that even when it appears to be delayed, we should wait for it because it will SURELY come to pass. He equally pointed out that there is a set time for the fulfillment of His word in our lives. My counsel and prayer is that the Lord will give every one of us that grace to wait. That resilience and doggedness in faith and the understanding that whatever God has allowed in our lives are not to our disadvantage. As a good father spends his time and resources to train his children, so does God train us using the circumstances of life.

THE WORD OF GOD AND JOSEPH

What about Joseph? Was God faithful to him also? Is there consistency in the dealings of God with His people? He was true to Abraham, but was He true to Joseph? Let His word speak for Him.

“And it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh dreamed; and behold he stood by the river…And Pharaoh awoke and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh…Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.’ And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘It is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace’…And Pharaoh said unto his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the spirit of God is?’ And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shall be over my house, according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only on the throne will I be greater than thou.’ And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt’.…And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt.” (Genesis 41:1-46)

Praise the Lord! The summary of the whole story here is that Joseph was made a RULER over Egypt, according to the word of God that came to him in a dream. God’s word came to pass! Hallelujah!

What lessons can we, as children of promise, learn from the life of Joseph?

Like Abraham, Joseph experienced a delay of the manifestation of the word of God. He waited for a full thirteen years to experience the fulfillment of God’s word spoken to him. Joseph was seventeen when he dreamt the dreams and he was thirty when he became a ruler over Egypt. Another lesson which may not be so apparent is that when God’s set time for a person arrives – and there is ALWAYS a set time – God will orchestrate events that will make His word come to pass! In Joseph’s case, God gave Pharaoh a dream which no one, except Joseph, could interpret! And so as quickly as he was sent to the dungeon, he was just as quickly brought before Pharaoh.

It does not cost God anything to fulfill a destiny; He is the impossibility specialist. Again we can see that God can use a person’s gifts to take him to places of prominence. Joseph’s gift was the interpretation of dreams and God used it as the pathway. You must take your own gifts seriously. Exercise every virtue God has given you with diligence and faithfulness; you do not know when they may become handy! Are you good at counseling? Do it well with all your heart! Whatever it is that you do, be faithful in it and God shall reward you in due course. God considers faithfulness a serious issue when He declares that whoever is faithful in the little things of life shall be faithful in much, and that unto such one shall greater benefit and responsibility be given. Be faithful even if no one commends you. Do it as unto the Lord, not unto men.

Furthermore, can you decipher anything from Joseph’s response to Pharaoh? I hear the voice of one who had learned humility and who sees all things as being from God. “No, Pharaoh, it is not me who interprets dreams, but the Spirit of God in me,” Joseph seems to say. “I am nothing without Him; I can do nothing without Him!” No arrogance! No self aggrandizement! All glory belongs to God! That is what delays and trials can bring forth in a person that is surrendered to God’s will and mandate.

My beloved, I say it again, God hates pride with passion! He OPPOSSES the proud and can never bless nor use such a man or woman. Do not be deceived into thinking anything otherwise! Humility must mark your life and style and God shall bless you richly.

But did not Joseph’s dream say that his brethren shall come and bow to him? Now that he has been made a ruler according to the word of God, will this second aspect come to pass also? Well, let me preempt you by saying that God has no abandoned projects! Whatever He starts, He completes! (Read Philippians 1:6) If He did one part, He will surely do the rest! But let me not be too defensive of God. Let His word speak for Him as we continue in our exploration.

“Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, ‘why do ye look one upon another?’ And he said, ‘Behold I have heard that there are corn in Egypt: get you down thither and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.’ And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt…And Joseph was the governor over the land, and it was he that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and BOWED DOWN THEMSELVES before HIM with their faces to the earth.” (Genesis 42:1-6).

I do not know about you, but I see Joseph’s second aspect of the dream coming to pass. The first was that he was to be a ruler over them, which had already come to pass:

“And Joseph was the governor over the land (of Egypt).”

The second aspect of his dream was that they (his brothers) would submit to his authority and come and bow down to him. Has that happened now or not?

“And Joseph’s brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.”

Hallelujah!

Just as the Lord had showed him. Nothing missing. Nothing broken! Our God is faithful and so is His word! I want to assure you that every detail of God’s word to you shall come to pass! He gives both grace and glory! He is able to establish you in your destiny and keep you from evil. If He has promised you good health and financial prosperity, and you are now enjoying the financial prosperity but lacking in good health, then do not worry at all! That second aspect must follow suit! Not ONE jot or ONE title of His word shall fail! All shall be fulfilled!

Hallelujah! (Read Mathew 5:18)

Having considered the lives of Abraham and Joseph, and mentioned others in passing in whose lives the word of God has spoken which EVENTUALLY came to pass at God’s APPOINTED time, what should our attitudes and disposition towards God and His spoken word be? The Scripture says that by the mouth of two or three witnesses a testimony is established. If so, let the lives of Abraham and Joseph suffice to prove the infallibility of the word of God in our lives.

I once told my wife that the word of God is such a sure word of prophecy that if it speaks in your favour, you can just as well start dancing and singing praises even when the thing is yet to be manifest. If, however, the word of God reprimands or warns you of a bad habit in your life and its damaging consequences, run to God in genuine repentance or face the music! God shall not change His mind concerning His spoken or written word, whether to bless or to curse! It shall be well with the righteous, but the ways of the wicked the Lord shall turn upside down! These truths shall hold true for all time and eternity because they are God’s words.

In concluding this chapter, I would like us to consider our anchor text in Habakkuk 2:2-3.

“And the Lord answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

If you believe this, there shall be a performance of what has been spoken. (Read Luke 1:45)

God bless you.

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Nugget: “For as the rain cometh down, and snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

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NOW THAT IT HAS COME TO PASS: YOUR ATTITUDE AND DISPOSITION

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depth that spring out of the valleys and hills. A land of wheat, barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage…And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.” (Deut.8:2-19)`

From the lengthy Scripture above from the book of Deuteronomy, very salient points stand out as to what our attitudes and disposition of hearts and spirits should be after the promises of God come to pass in our lives. Now that you have received that financial breakthrough; now that you have secured that promotion; now that you have got that job; now that you are married; now that you have that long-awaited child; now that you have built that good house and now drive that choice car…Now that God has proved Himself faithful to you and your expectations of Him have not failed you…What does God expect of you? I believe that the answers may be gleaned from the scriptural text above. Let us consider them one after the other.

DO NOT FORGET YOUR GOD

“Thou shalt REMEMBER…the Lord thy God. Beware that thou FORGET NOT the Lord thy God.” (Deut.8:2, 11)

I have discovered that when God speaks once, it holds a very great weight. Much more so when He repeats the same thing! His warnings and cautions, like His blessings and counsels, cannot be taken for granted because they shall all come to pass, depending, of course, upon our responses. All through the Old Testaments, as well as several places in the New, God warns against the ugly tendency of the human heart to forget God. Experiences have shown many professing believers who depart from the path of God and His righteousness after they have become blessed of Him! Suddenly they no longer have the time for church and fellowship in the guise of “very busy office/business/family life schedules”!

The once barren woman has become the mother of children and can no longer have quality time of prayer and fellowship with God. In fact, she had to skip a church service because the kids were just “crying and disturbing”. The young man now has become so “engaged” that his fiancé is the only one on his mind! The political office is “so demanding” that attending church has become every other Sunday or “as the Lord makes the time available to me!” God knows that my lecture schedules are so “tight” and “exams are just around the corner!”

How quick is it to forget the same God who has been so benevolent! Have His blessings then become a curse? God forbid! His blessings maketh rich and addeth no sorrows! He does not give His children serpents instead of fish! What, then, is the cause of such forgetfulness of God? The answer is from verse 12-14 of the same text in Deuteronomy 8. It says:

“Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied…THEN…thou forget the Lord thy God.”

You see, my beloved, abundance and rest from troubles and challenges of life are very good and it is God’s desire to take us there, but there is something that the sense of ease and fullness of mind and spirit can do to you if you become careless. A man (and a woman) in trouble has the natural tendency to run to and depend upon God. When, however, the prayers have been answered, and “ALL that thou hast is MULTIPLIED”, it becomes easy to gradually begin to forget the need of God because you now have all you need in life! Don’t just begin to say that is not your portion! This reality calls for sobriety and prayer so that you fall not into that temptation. If there wasn’t the possibility of forgetting Him, God wouldn’t have taken all that time to be warning us!  What He spoke to the Israelites, He speaks to us today!

May God grant you the needed grace, love and humility towards Him at ALL times; whether lack or abundance, adversity or prosperity!

Amen.

DO NOT FORGET HIS COMMANDMENTS

But someone may ask, are not this point and the one above one and the same? Can one forget God and not do the same to His commandments? Well, the difference lies in the sequence. The forgetfulness of God’s words or commandments is the first step that results in one forgetting God. You forget God by first forgetting His commandments. Now, I would implore you to consider “commandment” simply as God’s word and not the Ten Commandments. Consider a Christian – I mean a born-again believer – who stops reading the Bible after he or she had “made it in life” and I will show you a child of God on the path to forgetting God! Deuteronomy 8:11 puts it this way:

“Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in NOT KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS, AND HIS JUDGEMENTS, AND HIS STATUTES, which I command thee this day.”

So, as you can see, it is in forgetting His commandments that one forgets His ways of doing things (statutes and judgments) and, by this, even though it happens subtly and gradually, one can forget God. All of a sudden, the ”it doesn’t matter” attitude sets in. You gradually lose your connection with God because how else can you hear God except by His word and commandment? Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by/from the word of God. (Read Romans 10:17)

It is thus, that by forgetting the commandments of God, that people forget God. Imagine an airplane pilot without his compass or flight plan. He will forget his plane’s route!

DO NOT BECOME PROUD OR HIGHMINDED

“Then thine HEART be LIFTED UP, and thou forget the Lord thy God…And thou say in thine HEART, ‘My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.’ But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth.” (Deut.8:14, 17-18)

“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor TRUST in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good; that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1Timothy 6:17-19)

Another evil to look out for and avoid, by the grace of God, as you enter your promised land, is pride or high-mindedness! Pride is one part of the chain reaction leading to the forgetting of God, the reason being that pride is self-sufficiency rather than God-sufficiency. Pride is opposed to God, and God opposes pride. The two can never cohabitate. If in doubt about this, then ask Lucifer! Pride will always say, “I did it!” but humility will always say, “Glory to God, His grace and mercy has done it.”

No matter how well-dressed pride may be, her language betrays her! No matter your academic qualifications, your connections and “hard work”, it is God who gives the power to make wealth! It is failure to grasp this truth early on that has become the downfall of many “once upon a time” rich men and women. You see, whoever exalts himself shall be abased! Reject the path of pride; fear it as you would death!

The admonition in 1 Tim.6 is very explicit as to what God expects of our attitudes and disposition when we have arrived at our desired haven! The first caution still was against pride! Then Paul the Apostle proceeded to teach us what to do at such a time, which is to do good and be willing to use our abundance for the glory of God. I will close this sub-section with an age-old question designed to humble the proud:

“…that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

(1 Corinth. 4:6b-7)

“A man can receive NOTHING unless it is given to him from heaven.” (John 3:27)

REMEMBER THE PAST AND LEARN FROM IT

“And thou shalt remember ALL the ways which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or not. Thou shalt consider in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee…Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.” (Deut. 8:2-3, 5, 15-16)

No one passes an examination if he/she lacks the capacity for recollection. For how does he answer the questions if he does not REMEMBER the appropriate answers?

Any person who does not live by precedence will continue to be a failure in life because he continues to make the same mistakes repeatedly and, as such, continue to bear the same consequences of his/her mistakes. To avoid such a vicious cycle, our loving God and Father continues to admonish us of the importance of remembering all the lessons He teaches us as we walk with Him. Those experiences, as painful as they were, were not for nothing. There are always lessons to learn from every trial or circumstances which the Lord allows to come into the lives of His children. And we owe it a duty to ask the Lord what those lessons are which He intends for us to learn. It is equally very important to make a note of such lessons for future reference.

Fortunately, for us under the New Covenant of grace, the Holy Spirit is here to bring those lessons to our remembrance as we learn to depend on Him for guidance and help. (Read John 14:26) Remember all the lessons He taught you regarding humility; all He taught you concerning pride; all He taught you concerning relying on Him and not on man; all He taught you concerning making Him your first priority; all He taught you concerning prayer and fasting; all He taught you concerning giving and tithing; all He taught you concerning the love for the brethren; all He taught you concerning submission to constituted authority; all He taught you concerning evangelism; all He taught you concerning His second coming. Remember all the ways He led you all these many years through your seasons of dryness and barrenness! It is important to remember these lessons – because many of them are prerequisites for your future growth – and walk with God.

That you passed your Level One exam does not mean you should discard your notebooks because your Level Two exams may require your consultation of those notes from Level One! You see, just as our academic curricula are structured so that there is always a progressive and hierarchal link between successive classes or levels, so is God’s training manual for us, His children! Your smooth advance in a subsequent class will very much depend upon your knowledge and experience of the previous class! In fact, in many professions, to proceed to a higher Level, one must pass courses (termed “prerequisites”) in the current Level!

May God grant you understanding by His Spirit in Jesus’ name!

Again, in all your remembering, you must remember (by the help of His Spirit) that God trains (chastises) you in the same manner that a good and loving father trains and disciplines his children. The reason for this is that it is very easy to misunderstand and misjudge the dealings of God in our lives, and much more so in times of troubles and trials! So, He teaches us ahead to understand that when we are allowed to face challenges, it is not because God hates us or does not care, but that He allows them to train us and make us stronger, wiser, and better!

1 Corinthians 10:13 assures us that God would never allow any challenge to come to us unless He knows we can handle it. And not just that, He will also provide a way of escape for you out of that trouble. Praise the Lord! He knows our level of strength and faith. And just as no pupil in Primary One is given a Primary Two exam, so the Lord will never give you a test that is beyond your present level of spiritual growth! He is faithful! So then, in all thy getting, get remembrance!

God bless you.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF DISOBEDIENCE

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Eccles.12:13-14).

“And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye SURELY perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; BECAUSE ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deut.8: 19-20)

As I conclude this edition of this book, I implore you by the mercies and love of Jesus Christ that you take God’s word more seriously than you have ever done. Make up your mind to take God’s words as they are. Take His blessings seriously and appropriate them in your life. In the same vein, you must take His warnings, rebukes, corrections, instructions, and curses seriously and you must choose wisely. Our God is a merciful and compassionate God, but He equally is a consuming fire! He is just and must bring about justice. He will definitely reward the righteous and punish the evildoer! Do not be deceived by anyone or any demon. Deuteronomy 8:19 says that if you forget God and His ways, you shall SURELY (certainly) perish!

God never trifles with words, my beloved. The devil once told the woman, Eve, “You shall not SURELY die,” and thus deceived her. The consequence of this was eternal separation from God with all the attendant troubles we see in the world today! If God says “surely” then He means “surely”! Don’t go looking for a “suitable” interpretation! God does not lie or mince words! As you are quick to answer a “big amen” to the pronouncement of God’s blessings, so must you also be quick to tremble at His warnings and pronouncement of the curse!

So many believers want the windows of heaven to open to them without the obedience to the covenant of tithing! They lay claim to the blessings in Malachi 3: 10-12, but often avoid reading the ninth verse about the curse! That is a terrible mistake and a serious self-deception. The same attitude is shown when they read Deuteronomy 28. They jump and shout the “Amen” as they read from verse 1 through to 15 and then many would not dare proceed beyond verse 15 which speaks about the curses! The reason for this I have discovered is the fear of taking responsibility. We want to become soldiers, but think we must be exempted from the rigors of the military school of training! We want the blessing of God, but do not think we have to follow His commandments! We want the testimonies, but not the tests! We want the Crown, but not the Cross! We want the gifts, but not the Giver of gifts!

There are many in Church today who are only seeking miracles and wonders, but do not seek intimacy with God and His Son Jesus Christ! What a misplaced priority! May this not be your portion in Jesus’ name!

If, however, you have not given your life genuinely to God, then all I have said in this book will mean little or nothing to you. The reason is this: Spiritual matters don’t make sense to the carnal or worldly-minded. They that are after the flesh do mind (only) the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit. (Read Romans 8:5)

Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, not by mental or academic or theological reasoning! The only place to start is to surrender your life to Jesus Christ by sincerely praying the following prayer to God:

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe that you are the Son of the Most High God. I acknowledge that you came and you died on the Cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of my sins and for the redemption of my soul. Forgive me of all my sins: (mention them as you remember them). I confess your Lordship over my life from today forward. Come into my heart and live inside of me. Reign in me Lord. I thank you because you have heard and answered my prayer. I am now born again. Thank you Lord.

If you genuinely prayed this prayer, then congratulations! You are now set for a glorious and eventful walk with the Lord. You mustn’t FEEL anything to know that you are now saved. Just BELIEVE that it is done and the Holy Spirit will begin His transforming work in your life. Look for a Bible-believing and practicing church and begin to live your God-ordained new life. Your destiny shall break forth at the set time that God has appointed for you, in Jesus’ name!

When you have done this, send your name, phone number, and contact address by e-mail to:

innoksthedestined@gmail.com

Or by phone:

+2347035632354, +2348098413252

In John 11: 40, Jesus said to Martha, “I say to you today; SAID NOT I TO THEE, THAT, IF THOU WOULDEST BELIEVE, THOU SHALL SEE THE GLORY OF GOD?”

Dare to believe every word that God speaks to you from this day forward, which come whether by dream, vision, prophecy, or by revelation (rhema), and they shall eventually come to pass! You are more than certain to meet with odds and challenges. But, as you wait, though it tarry, it shall come to pass!

Believeth thou this.

The Lord bless you.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With profound gratitude to the Almighty God, I will like to acknowledge Pastor Raphael Sunday of DUNAMIS International Gospel Centre, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria for taking time to go through the book and for his encouragement and commendation.

I cannot forget my lovely wife Grace, and my wonderful kids for giving their moral support through the entire period of writing and publication.

My sincere appreciation also goes to June J. McInerney for her expertise in copyediting the book and for her love and support in giving the book its professional status. I equally acknowledge Nancy Delmerico of NDV Designs for the graphic work on the cover, as well as the management of CreateSpace.com for providing the platform on which this wonderful book was published.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Innocent Elaigwu Okoliko is a licensed and practicing pharmacist, a husband, and a father. Above all these, he is a dedicated child of the Most High God, having been born-again and walking closely with God for close to Eighteen years. He possesses an unusual gift of faith and believes that the word of God is exactly what He says it is. He loves to teach the word of God and to give hope to those who are burdened. He belongs to the Counseling Department in his local Church and currently resides in Lafia, Nigeria together with his wife, Grace, and children. And It Came To Pass: The Fulfillment Of God’s Word” is his first inspirational book, with many more still underway.

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

GOD’S WORD: THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY

THOUGH IT TARRY: THE INEVITABILITY OF DELAY

WHILE YOU ARE WAITING: LESSONS TO LEARN; PITFALLS TO AVOID

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR DELAYS: WHY IT TARRY

WAITING CONNOTES ACTIVITY, NOT PASSIVITY

AND IT CAME TO PASS: THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S WORD

NOW THAT IT HAS COME TO PASS: YOUR ATTITUDE AND DISPOSITION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR