LET US BUILD

“And he built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest.” (2Chronicles 14:6)

Some people wait for opportunities to come their way, some look for them. However, best of all, some people actually create opportunities for themselves. In part, the story of King Asa teaches us how we can create opportunities for ourselves through our relationship with God.

In 2Chronicles 14:2, we read that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” In verse 3, we read that “he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.”

In verse 4, we read that “He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment.” In verse 5, we read that “He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him.”

King Asa’s actions are a recipe for success at any time. He did four things: (1) he committed himself to a life of obedience to God by faith, and (2) he backed it up by relevant actions - pulling down strongholds which are an offence to God in his life; (3) he devoted himself to serving God, seeking His face in prayer and worship; and (4) he went the extra mile to please God by even removing the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah.

As a result, God created opportunities for him to build and to prosper. When you do what God is pleased with, He will create opportunities for you to build and prosper.

In verse 7, King Asa said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side." So they built and prospered." (2Chronicles 14:7)

There is no shortcut to godly success. If anyone wants to prosper in the way God approves, the recipe is there in the Word of God. Everyone you can think of in the Bible that built and prospered through their relationship with God followed the same path.

God is a faithful God. When you follow the path that He approves, you are sure to end up in victory and prosperity. The problem is that people want short cuts. People can’t stick to God for long – they find the reason and the season to wander away. People can’t wait the time – for them God is slow, God is late and God is never on time. People can’t stay where they are planted – they uproot themselves and shove off. People can’t accept that God knows best and His plans are best for them.

Worse of all, people are not willing to play their part! Faith requires correspondent actions, such as submission, humility, faithfulness, obedience, patience, generosity, persistence and serving the Lord in your local Church. This is too much for some people. Unfortunately, no Christian can build and prosper without these correspondent actions of faith.

When you are ready to walk with God, you are ready to build and prosper! May the Lord bless you as you journey with Him. Amen.

OFFER ALL YOUR LOAVES TO GOD

“But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see." And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish." (Mark 6:38)

The story of how the Lord fed thousands of people on five loaves of bread and two pieces of fish is well-known. Let us look at five important loaves that we all have which we can offer to God through Christ Jesus in demonstration of our love, our obedience, and our faith.

Our first loaf is our life. Although Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour forever, He does not force Himself on anyone. He gives everyone an open invitation. When we accept that invitation, we can no longer do whatever we like with our life. We have to surrender to God so that our life can be controlled by Him.

There is no way we can succeed in our relationship with God until Jesus is truly fully in control of our life. No matter how many other loaves we offer up to God, it is actually pointless if we did not offer Him first our life. God wants us to be people who live exclusively for Him and for Him alone. Have you offered God the loaf of your life?

Our second loaf is our love. One major sign that we have offered God our life is that we will love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. When we truly love God, there will be such a great passion in our heart to obey Him and to serve Him. We will be very generous and faithful towards Him, towards His house and towards His people. When you look at the way you spend your money and the way you spend your time, can you say you have offered God the loaf of your love?

Our third loaf is our trust. Although people come to Church it does not mean that they actually fully trust in God. To trust God is to depend completely on Him, to believe in His word, to have unshakeable confidence in His goodness, His greatness and His grace. For most people trust is not a simple thing when it comes to trusting in God. It is the greatest challenge that they actually face in life. However, when we trust God, we can genuinely experience the peace of God that passes all understanding when life is tough. When we trust God, it will show practically in everything that we do. Have you offered God the loaf of your trust?

Our fourth loaf is our worship. To worship is to spend time exclusively in prayer, in praise and adoration of God. In order to worship, we have to break off from our own daily routines, and spend the time exclusively in the presence of God, giving Him our wholehearted worship. If we do not make time for God, we discover that we spend our time on many other types of activities which have no direct or even indirect focus on God as our Maker, our Redeemer and our Sustainer. God does want our worship, our whole worship, it is during worship that we give the best time to God, the best attention to His word, and we make Him the sole focus of our life! Have you offered God the loaf of your worship?

Our fifth loaf is our work. Our work is our vocation in life, our employment, our paid or unpaid job. Our work is whatever we do using the skills and wisdom that God has given us. Our work is everything that we do with particular attention and detail – something that requires our time and our effort. The Bible teaches us that whatever we do we should do it as if for the Lord. Have you offered God the loaf of your work?

May the Lord bless you according to the loaves that you offer generously to Him. Amen.