GOD IS A GOOD GOD

Monday, August 08

GOD IS A GOOD GOD

Scripture reference: Psalm 100: 4, 5
4) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 5) For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

God indeed has been good to us. He has looked over our failings and shortcomings and has covered us with His unconditional love, grace and peace. Where would we have been had it not being the good Lord on our side?

Let your heart and mouth be saturated with thanksgiving, praises and blessing unto His name. The reasons for being thankful are given by the palmist: ‘For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.’

The everlasting mercy and enduring truth of the Most High will be available in abundance to minister unto you even on a daily basis – for His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3: 22, 23). You just have to open your heart and mouth wide to receive.

Truly, great is His faithfulness. Whatever He has said and promised concerning you, your family, future and destiny will never be cut short. Just co-operate with Him by beginning or maintaining a strong and rich fellowship with Him; and His plans, purposes and provisions for your life would unfold in their right seasons.

However, be careful not to carry any of the sad, miserable, gloomy and despondent moods. Don’t allow Satan to keep you in the cage, so to speak. Instead, let the unspeakable joy of the Lord burst out of your heart and mouth. Shout with a voice of triumph because 2011 is a year of the open door.

Grace unto you,

Osei Barnie

THE COMPLETE BLESSING

Friday, August 05

THE COMPLETE BLESSING

Scriptural reference: Exodus 3:17
‘And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’

In our foundation scripture, we can see that the salvation plan of God for the people of Israel was in twofold. The first stage was to deliver them from the afflictions imposed on them by Pharaoh. The second and final stage was to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey.

The whole community of Israel experienced the first stage as God’s signs and wonders eventually paced way for their deliverance. However, that wasn’t the perfect will and plan of God for them. God wanted more for them than just seeing them free; He desired to lead them to a place of abundance (Canaan).

Yet, of that particular generation only Joshua and Caleb could make it to the land of Promise. The rest of them perished in the wilderness in the space of forty years because of unbelief. So they couldn’t enter into the rest that God had intended for them (Numbers 14: 29, 30).

The finished work of Christ has presented numerous glorious privileges unto us as God’s people that great people of old in the likes of Moses, Isaiah, David could only dream of – things which even angels desire to look into (1 Peter 1:10-12).

The life that God has made available through His Son is unprecedented – a life that the great prophets and righteous people of the old could only speak about. Yet we have been called into it, and it is not when we depart to Heaven but the very moment we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour. But the question is; are we experiencing that abundant life?

Instead of you being delivered, God wants you to live in perfect liberty; instead of being healed, He wants you to live in good, divine health. He does not want you to have ‘bad days’ so as to encourage you, but rather wants you enjoy the days He has made just for you, for that reason He has made His joy available to you.

Grace unto you,

Osei Barnie.

GOD KNOWS MY NAME

Thursday, August 04

GOD KNOWS MY NAME

Scripture Reference: Exodus 31:1, 2
1) Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying: 2) See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

Names are the most common codes of identification. It’s what set a person, a thing or a group out of the masses. It’s that important! Imagine the world without the system of naming.

But are you aware the system of naming was initiated by God: And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day (Gen 1:4,5).

Adam wasn’t created by then. It was five days later that he came into existence. He was, however, the one who named all the animals created by God, and he could do that by reason of being made in the image and likeness of God.

Have you ever experienced God in a dream or other mediums through which God called you by your name? It’s such a glorious experience to know that out of the billions of people on earth, God still knows you by name even with the right pronunciation.

In fact, He knew your name before it was given to you. Not in a single moment has He ever forgotten it, unlike us with our limited memory as we do to some of our friends and colleagues at time.

As much as forgetful you can get at time, it all not people that you would forget their names – those that are so close and dear to your heart. It is true that God is all-knowing and for that matter has your name always in mind. But there is another side to this truth and that is; you are so dear and important to His heart for Him to forget you.

It’s not just that He looks at you for a while and then takes off His sight from you unto another person. Rather, His gaze is constantly at you; for protection, direction, and out of sheer love and admiration for you as His child.

Grace unto you,

Osei Barnie

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY?

Wednesday, August 03

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY?

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Are you a Christian? If your answer is ‘No’, then you are missing out dearly in life. Today is your day of salvation. You only have to say ‘Yes’ to Jesus, and you will become a member of God’s blessed family. Do read on to know how to say ‘Yes.’

If you are a Christian, what is your understanding of that which you profess to be part of? Get to know what Christianity is about so that you don’t perish in the affairs of life due to your lack of knowledge.

Although many people including some Christians think of Christianity as a religion, it is surely not. It just simply couldn’t have been. How could you read Bible Scriptures like the one above and still fail to recognise that it is more than a religion.

On the contrary, Christianity is the participation in the life of God through our relationship or fellowship with Him made possible by the redemptive works of Jesus Christ. Once you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus Christ is Lord over your life that relationship commences. This is how you say ‘Yes’ to Jesus.

At that very moment, the greatest of all miracles takes place; your old sinful spirit is recreated or born again through the Word of salvation you received and the power of the Holy Spirit. Then you become a brand new person with a new life full of righteousness, glory, power, peace, joy and fulfilment.

But there is more: God literally comes and makes His home in your new born spirit (heart) through the agency of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you 24/7 making you a God-carrier. You are never alone since He is with you always. As a result, sin, sickness, sorrow and failure no longer have power over you because you are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37).

Grace unto you,

Osei Barnie

REFUSE TO BE PROBLEM-CONSCIOUS

Monday, August 01

REFUSE TO BE PROBLEM-CONSCIOUS

Scripture Reference: Exodus 4:10
Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’

Do you know the most effective step you would have to take in order to overcome any weakness? This might be simple yet very profound. Catching it will surely change your life.

There are so many factors that tend to limit us in life. In most cases, they appear to be endless. Once a solution is found to one, another obstacle also shows up. Just like Moses, they may be hindering us from fulfilling our God-given assignment.

Regardless of how gigantic the obstacle might seem, there is definitely a way of overcoming it. And it starts from a very simple but powerful truth: refuse to give your attention to that difficulty. So far as you keep brooding over it continually, it can never be overcome. In fact continual pondering over such issues would surely magnify that problem.

It is for this reason that the Bible urges us to renew our mind so that we might always be conscious of God and His power that works in us. The statement in Philippians 4:6; ‘be anxious (worried) about nothing‘ is not just a religious saying. We are to live by this principle as children of God.

Instead of worrying – whatever it might be – rather offer prayers to God concerning that case and thank Him for answered prayers. Paul said ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me’ (Phil. 4:13).

This wasn’t because he had a special anointing which distinguished him from the rest of us. He was rather conscious of the fact that: greater is He that is in him than Satan, sin, sickness or any limitation that is in the world.

Grace unto you,

Osei Barnie