June 2023 - Month of Ehud

From Our Pastor's Desk 

Welcome to this our new Month of Ehud, in Jesus name. Judges 3: 15 – “But when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded: and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab”

Above is an excerpt from the story of Ehud, a man used as deliverer for the Israelites from the hand of evil and oppressive king Eglon of the Moabites, who were idol worshippers and did evil in the sight of the Lord.

The story of Ehud is a story of victory, conquest and overcoming. That’s what we have, through Christ Jesus. We need Christ for the spiritual battle & warfare of life, against satan, our adversary, the enemy of our souls.

God delivered Israel from the hands of Eglon, by sending the left-handed Ehud and his cubit-long sword to assassinate Eglon and liberate God’s people from his evil rule. 1st John 5:4-5 – “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”

Mercy Seatizens, welcome to June 2023, “Our Month of Ehud”. This month & beyond, because we are born of God, we are overcomers. By faith we declare our victory over the world, over every evil oppression, and over every situation that has weighed us down, in Jesus Name. Amen.

Hard Facts About Battles

From Our Pastor's Desk

Psalms 144:1 – “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” 

You must have heard people say “everyone has their demon to fight”, which, in essence, is the same as “every man must fight his own battles”. 

As Christians, we are in a spiritual battle of some sort on a daily basis. 

In warfare, battles are fought on different fronts, for different reasons, and with varying degrees of intensity. 

The same is true in spiritual warfare. The day you surrender your life to Christ is the day you are drafted as a soldier in the ongoing war between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness. 

A battle that satan fights against us because of the position/level God has placed us, because he has lost his position, because satan is envious of the love God has for us. 

Psalms 8:4 says “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

Our spiritual battles and warfare are real, even though we cannot physically see the attacker. But, we can educate ourselves on how the battles are fought and how they impact our lives on a daily basis. 

What you must not do is take a back-seat, spectator stance in this battle of life. It will be very unfortunate and tragic if you opt to take the stance of a civilian while battles are constantly raging around you.

Today we share just 4 hard facts, out of countless others, that we need to know about battles & spiritual warfare.

I pray that the Lord grant you courage from on high to confront every challenge on your path, in Jesus Name.

You will have good success this 2023. 

Remain blessed. 

Shalom.

I.C.O.E...Break Glass - Part II

 From Our Pastor's Desk

Numbers 13:33 - “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). 

We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” 

One of the most powerful weapons of the enemy. Gut-level feeling of inferiority, inadequacy, and low self-worth. Mediocrity, failure, weakness, inability etc. 

In spite of wonderful experiences, in spite of our faith and knowledge of God’s word. 

It’s a limitation through one’s mindset, thinking you amount to nothing, you can’t do it. 

Because of your skin color, your accent, language, your age, economic background, gender etc. That’s a mindset of limitation, mediocrity, inferiority complex, low self-esteem…

The children of Israel suffered from it during the time of Moses, according to the above scripture. 

Our unlimited God will break us out of every mindset of limitation, in Jesus Name.  

You will have good success this 2023. 

Remain blessed.  

Shalom.

I.C.O.E...Break Glass - Part 1

From Our Pastor's Desk

Jeremiah 4:3 – “For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground…” 

This scripture talks about breaking new grounds, stretching, spreading, reaching…”

In case of emergency, break glass” is similar. A break glass situation is a reach to gain access to something/somewhere that is not accessible under normal circumstances. 

The reason we need to break glass is to bypass the limitations put in place that are there to prevent us from reaching our highest potentials, per time. 

The message of today is about overcoming those limitations. Limitations are boundaries – space, restrictions, things you don’t have access to. 

Final point. Limitation is basically as far as something can go. 

It’s a peg, hindrance or barrier that defines restriction. A limitation is that thing that does not allow us to maximize our potentials. Knowing that we serve an unlimited, inexhaustible, and infinitely resourceful God, He commanded us to “break up our fallow grounds”. 

Therefore, knowing you’re not limited, any glass ceiling of limitation needs be broken. In fact, don’t break it… shatter it , in Jesus Name.  

You will have good success this 2023. 

Remain blessed.  Shalom.

The Fear of the Lord

 By Sis. Grace Olujobi 

To fear God means to stand in awe of Him (Ps 33:8), to have reverence for God, to live with the sole purpose of glorifying God, to trust Him completely without any reservations (Ps 40:3). 

King Solomon, the wisest of all men said in Proverbs 9:10 that the fear  of God is the BEGINNING of wisdom, Brethren for something to be the beginning means it is just the first step. 

For example, when you want to use a ladder to reach a top shelf, a tree, etc, probably the ladder has anywhere between 7 to 12 steps or even more, the fear of the Lord is the very first step on the ladder! 

In other words, our Christian journey has not begun if we do not live in awe of God, if we do not have reference for God, if we do not trust Him completely, if we are not living our lives with the sole purpose of bringing glory to God! 

May the Lord give us the grace for distinction, in Jesus Name. You will have good success this 2023. Remain blessed.  

Shalom.

Living a Distinguished Life

 From Our Pastor's Desk

Daniel 6:3 - “Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom”  

The grand theme of the Bible is that God’s people be different, peculiar. 

We are not to go with the flow. As a matter of fact, God has commanded that we be different, or separate. 

Only those who dare to be different for the Lord’s sake are kept safe. 

Don’t assume that something must be okay just because everyone around you is doing it. If it negates God’s word and “everyone is doing it,” dare to be different.  

Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. 

And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for com-plaint against Daniel with regard to the kingdom, but they could find no ground for complaint or any fault, because he was faithful, and no error or fault was found in him. 

May the Lord give us the grace for distinction, in Jesus Name.  

You will have good success this 2023. 

Remain blessed.  

Shalom.

May 2023 - Month of Shiphrah & Puah

From Our Pastor's Desk

Welcome to this our new Month of Shiphrah & Puah, in Jesus name.  One day, Pharaoh ordered two Hebrew midwives to kill any and all the baby boys they delivered.   

Exodus 1: 15-17 – “And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive”  

The two God-fearing midwives heard him, but did not do as he has commanded. They not only defied him, but also got away with it! 

They were not like other midwives.  Brethren, you don’t have to go with the flow. You don’t have to do like others do. You can be different. 

Because others are doing something that you know to be wrong, ungodly and sinful. Be God-fearing and brave.  

Mercy Seatizens, welcome to the Month of May 2023, “Our Month of Shiphrah and Puah”. 

This month & beyond, may the Lord set us apart from the rest, distinguish us, differentiate us and single us out for His glory, in Jesus Name. 

Amen.