Words for Life Articles

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6: 1-3)

In Mathew 9:37,
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few."

Jesus challenge was not the Harvest, but the workers. God does not have a problem with the harvest but the availability of workers. God is looking for labourers; He is looking for workers.

Hebrews 12: 5-8 (KJV)
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 receiveth. 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.

I attended a marriage fellowship yesterday and the topic was on accountability and transparency. How to safeguard you relationship by being transparent and accountable. It was interesting to me because I have had a similar discussion with my husband a couple of months ago about this and a couple of times in the past.

I have noticed that as we grow together in our marriage we have had situations where we have needed to be transparent and accountable to each other in order to guard each other’s hearts and protect our trust.

1^st Samuel 30:1-5

"David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David's two wives had been captured-Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God."

A few years ago I sat thinking about how much I loved God. It was as if the Holy Spirit immediately said

"Will you love him no matter what?"

I began thinking of my daughter, Amara and husband, Bayo. Could I put my hands on my heart and say that if, God forbid I lost them, I would still say that God is good? Even if I could somehow mutter "God is good", would I truly mean it from the depth of my heart?

John 19:1-5 (KJV):

“Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”

When Pontius Pilate made this statement “Behold the man”, he was probably making the most significant statement of his life as he handed Jesus over to be crucified. Pilate’s statement was an echo of the statement of John the Baptist when he said of Jesus, John 1:29 - “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”