Jide Oladimeji

This is my prayer topic I want to pray upon. It is my own personal prayer topic and you can decide to share it with me. It will benefit you a great deal. Let me read from Hebrew 4: 9 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” 10 “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” 11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

You see God has made provision for you and for me that we can have rest. Rest is sweet, rest is wonderful. There’s no rest without peace. Rest comes when there is peace and calmness. In a world of turbulence, chaos and anarchy, there can not be rest, but in your life, in your heart, in your family there can be rest in your house. Even when there is chaos and anarchy, around your working place, and business arena, there can be rest in yours. Some will say it is not possible to have rest in this world, this because it is not common, but possible. It is forces of push and pull in life that is affecting all of us. In all these cases we can have rest.

God promised rest and only God can give it. We should decide to possess it and we shall have it.

We shall consider two cases and then pray. The first case we shall consider is David. Remember we have been told Jesus labored, suffered for our rest. Now, David is a great person to consider in the case of rest. If David could have rest, start thinking about yourself.

2Samuel 7: 1 –  “And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;” 2  “That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.” 3 “And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee”. 9  “And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.” 10 “Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,” 11 “And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.”  God is a great God. David came to fight war, God referred to him as MY CAPTAIN. He was made basically for war. And all the lands that God promised Abraham that he will give him, all those lands, David conquered them and claimed them for Israel. But then as he was fighting up and down, a time came in his life that the Bible says that he had rest.  And God Himself also said He had given David rest. Look at it in verse one, we are told God had given David rest round about from all his enemies, not from some of his enemies but from all is enemies

2Samuel 7: 9   “And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth.”  God said He had cut off all David’s enemies. Is it possible? Oh yes! If it was not possible, He would not do it for him. Since God is not a partial God, whatever He had done for one person, He will do for all. If at a time of war when every thing was war, war, war, at the time of David there were inter-tribal wars, international wars – war, war, war every time. It was war in every place. If at that time God could give rest to David, what about today, can’t He give you rest.

Can’t He give me rest? You say, ‘well my enemies are too many.’ Are they more than those of David? Think about all the enemies of David – the Moabites, the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Philistines, Saul’s family and every thing. Yet God gave him rest.

My brother, you are to die on the battle ground. You must have a time of relaxation whereby you can worship and magnify the name of the Lord. God gave David rest, why will He not give you rest. When God gave David rest, he was able to think of building a house for God. Rest will make your brain sharp and you will think straight. When God gives you rest you will start thinking about what you can do for God. How you can labour for God, how you can do this and do that. Your brain will become sharp; you will start thinking better than before.

Let’s look at another case.

We are looking at the case of Solomon 1Kings 5: 4 “But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.” Praise the Lord! This so clear but I will say it is great and uncommon. He said “But now the LORD my God hath given me rest,” where and how “on every side”. Think about the Northern side, think about the southern side, think about the Western side, think about the Eastern side, think about up and down –“on every side”. The principalities working in the air, the powers in the sea, the workers in darkness with all of them working, still- “on every side”.  And then he said, “so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.” That is, it was so serious that God had given rest all around. There were wars all over the world of that time but God gave Solomon rest because Solomon had rest he was able to build on to the best edifices of the world. The finishing was superb. Rest is sweet.

When we have rest, we can serve God better. Think faster and be more useful to God, to ourselves, to our families, to our neighbors and to our communities and to our nation. Are you praying? Yes you have to pray now, and say God, give me rest.

But before we pray, I will mention some things. The first one, is

How do we receive rest? Remember where we read first in Hebrews 4: 11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,” we are told we must labour to enter into that rest. There was a small girl where I was staying some time ago, when you tell her to go and sleep, she will run and jump into the bed. Give her just five to six minutes she is gone. Then you start wondering how someone can rush to go and sleep. Yes, that person is laboring to rest. Now look at the same verse again – Hebrews 4:  11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest,” Hebrews 4:  14  “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” 15  “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. “ 16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  We are to labour to enter into that rest and we are to hold fast our profession and we should consider our high Priest that there is nobody that can feel for us like Him. With all He went through, with all the temptations He passed through, yet He could stand, which means, we too would stand and we can enjoy that rest. We are also asked to come boldly unto the throne of grace. To have rest, we need to come boldly to the throne of grace. So we can say from this passage, there are some points we can point to;

1. We have to labour for the rest, work for it, plan for it and discipline yourself for it. You can not just take it for granted and say rest means go and lie down while your enemies are standing outside. You are making yourself a minced meal for the enemy. You will labour to enter into that rest. That is the first thing we are getting from this passage
2. You must exercise your confidence in God. We are going to read some passage here – 2Ki 6: 14 “Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.” 15 “And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?” 16 “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them”. This is a case of confidence in God. Elisha was there, may be he was even having his quiet-time at that time, the servant jump up to find out what was happening and he saw chariots and horses and he quickly ran to disturb the man of God. Then Elisha said, “And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them”. This servant of Elisha then had confidence before he could have rest. In the case of Elisha, he had rest; he was not looking at the multitude of the enemies but the strength and faithfulness of God. It is not the problem that is too great but your attitude to the problem that is making tensed and making you not to have Peace. It is not the problem that is big but your attitude.

Follow me to the New Testament and we shall read,

Mar 4:35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.

Mar 4:36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Mar 4: 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Mar 4: 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Now, let us see the situation together, in that turbulent area, in that turbulent situation, Jesus was sleeping. He could sleep. When the disciples disturbed him He stopped the wind and talked to them; “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” Your problem is not greater than your God. You can have rest, if only you can have confidence in God. Have you forgotten the story of Peter? Let us read it in Acts 12: 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

Peter was sleeping.  He was in the prison tied to the soldiers and still he could sleep. The death sentence was hanging on his head and still he could sleep. If you were in this situation, would you have slept? Knowing the plans of Herod, would you have slept? Seeing the soldiers around you and remembering how James was killed, would you have slept? May be at that time, we would have been picturing how Herod would call the meeting, command Peter to be brought, and the commanded the executioner to cut off his head. Instead of Peter to be picturing all these, he was sleeping. That is confidence in God.

Let us also consider the case of Paul and Silas, Acts 16:23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:

Act 16:24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Act 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Act 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

Act 16:27  And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

Act 16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.

Act 16:29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,

Act 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Act 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Paul and Silas were imprisoned after given many merciless stripes of whip. They were thoroughly beaten and their legs were fixed inside stocks. What were they doing in such situation? They were praising God. Why were they praising God? The answer is simple, because of their confidence in God. When there is confidence in God, God will surprise you. That is what gives rest. Confidence will make you to know that your enemies are nothing to God. Look at it again, Elisha had confidence in God, the enemies – the Syrians – were not able to destabilize him. Jesus could rest and even sleep on the troubled sea because He had confidence that nothing would change what He had said. He had already told them, “Let us pass over unto the other side”. He knew nothing could change that statement. Peter was at danger point but he could sleep because of his confidence in God. Paul and Silas were singing in chains inside the dungeon when they could have been weeping or questioning God. Exercise your confidence in God.

For God to give you rest, you must give Him implicit, prompt, and complete obedience in all areas of life. This was the secret of all the battles of David. He would stand on the side of God and obey God completely. No wonder, he could have rest. If you want rest, you must target the glory of God in whatever you are doing then believe God’s plan for your life. Do not look down on God’s plan for your life because if you do not change God’s plan for your life, no man can change it. God has a plan and program for your life; believe it and God will do something wonderful in your life.

To have rest, fight every trace of sorrow with all your might. Sorrow comes not because of the problems you have but your attitude to your problem. Whatever is giving you sorrow; fight it because it is your enemy. As you fight sorrow, your rest will come. You see sorrow is a very terrible enemy. Sorrow is a great enemy. Sorrow paralyses our brains. Sorrow works against our mind, heart, our blood system, and our nerves; so all the nervous system could be affected seriously whenever sorrow is working you. Joy liberates us. Joy set us free. Joy releases us. Joy makes us to think better, joy makes us to work better; joy makes us to work in a beautiful arena. The blood circulation is better when there is joy. The heart pumps better when there is joy, the lungs work well and the nervous system. They all work better when we are in joy. Therefore when we start fighting sorrow in every area of our life, we will see that rest will come. Agitations will be out and serenity will take over. So then after you have taken this six steps, then you will have to say “Lord give me rest.” If you will be serious about it, God will do it now. You can now start praying, please include every area of your life and as you trust God; it will be to you even according to your faith.

Now in our country, the politicians are busy campaigning.

As we all know, politics is a game of numbers. Let us see some places where numbers work.

ISRAEL AGAINST BENHADAD

1 Kings 20:1 And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

1Ki 20:10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. 11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. 12 And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city. 13 And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. 15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

Apart from his own army, Benhadad got the help of about thirty-two kings with their armies. Now compare them with Israel at that time.

The difference came when a man of God intervene and told them of God’s plan. However big a political party may be, if God is against that party, their numbers will work against them.

Benhadad was so proud because of his power, weapons, number of soldiers, chariots and horses, in addition he also had the support of thirty-two kings. The king of Israel had no confidence, no chariots and the number of his soldiers were negligible. With all that, when God was involved, the story changed.

ASA AGAINST THE ETHIOPIANS

2Ch 14:8 And Asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand; and out of Benjamin, that bare shields and drew bows, two hundred and fourscore thousand: all these were mighty men of valour. 9 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. 10 Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.

2Ch 14:12 So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

2Ch 14:13 And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil.

Asa had five hundred and four thousand soldiers whereas the enemy had one million soldiers and three hundred chariots.

What was the result? Asa cried unto the Lord and God gave him victory. Fear must be thrown away and faith in the power of God must be embraced. The party that has the greatest number of members, money and campaign strategies may not win the victory if they are not the choice of God. We must cry to the Lord to intervene.

As we look at the giant parties and we think that they might not help us if they win, we need to cry to the Lord.

JEHOSHAPHAT AGAINST AMALGAMATED FORCES

2Ch 20:1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. 2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi. 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

2Ch 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

2Ch 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. 24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

Three big parties join together against Jehoshaphat’s party. At the first instance, Jehoshaphat became afraid and he ran to the Lord. The Lord told him the battle was not for Jehoshaphat but for God. Jehoshaphat went to the battle ground (polling station) with singing and praises. The result was a resounding victory.

If the other parties join together and you know that they will not help our country, we should run to the Lord in prayer and our God will fight for us and we shall hold our peace.

There are many examples we can quote from the bible but let us stop here and learn some lessons.

1. The progress of our country is our concern.
2. We must not vote for anybody because he or she comes from our towns, villages or he is from our clan.
3. We must not vote because of our personal gain that we think we will get.
4. We must not vote anybody without a track record of success and progress in whatever he had been doing before.
5. We must not allow the big political parties to intimidate us.
6. Whatever they call vote-buying must not enter your mind because it is selling your tomorrow.
7. Do not allow the majority to dissuade your mind, majority are not always right.
8. Do not allow the money they are throwing around to dissuade you.
9. Do not vote for party, vote for credible individual who can perform and deliver.
10. Experience is very important in leading human beings.

There is the position of mobilizing everybody to vote but the greatest work is still CALLING UPON THE LORD

• God is highly interested in our country and we should be.
• Our tomorrow is greater than today.
• The future of our children depend on who we will vote in to rule us.
• Vote wisely but PRAY!

If God is leading you to a leadership role in the political scene, share with some meaningful Christians and go to the Lord in prayer.

In all situations, prayer is our biggest work, so —

PRAY! PRAY!! PRAY!!!

SeptEMBER is the beginning of EMBER months.

Whenever we enter EMBER months, people think mostly of the various types of accidents and calamities that do occur on regular basis every year.

We also need to think on the other side of EMBER. The word remEMBER is also ending with the same letters. So, look at it from that direction.

The first thing is to pronounce upon you is that the Lord thy God shall remEMBER you.

Genesis 8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

Genesis 30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

Exodus 6:5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

Numbers 10:9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

1 Samuel 1:19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.

Psalms 98:3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Psalms 105:42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.

• The Lord shall remember you for greatness
• The Lord shall remember you for blessings
• The Lord shall remember you for victory
• The Lord shall remember you for exceeding grace
• The Lord shall remember you for upliftment

The Lord shall make all your friends to remEMBER you for good.

Your biological and spiritual children shall remEMBER you for good, for financial support, and for blessings.

In your working place, you shall be remEMBERED for increment and promotions

The enemies of your success and life shall remEMBER the power of the blood of Jesus upon your life and run away from you.

Death by accidents and catastrophes shall remEMBER that you are covered with BLOOD of Jesus so they will not come near you.

Sickness, poverty and failure will remEMBER that the Almighty, the All-Sufficient and the Elshadai is your Farther, so they will pack their loads and run away.

So, from this month of SeptEMBER and throughout to DecEMBER, you shall be remembered.

Accept it! Claim it and pray on it and it shall be yours in Jesus mane.