The Lord will enlarge your territory

This week’s Scripture tells us that the Lord will extend our borders if we keep His commandments:

“Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three.

Deuteronomy 19:8-9

In this story, Moses, the man of God was instructing the Children of Israel that when the Lord brings them to the promise land, they shall separate three cities of refuge for people who may have accidentally killed someone to go and hide.

He then tells them three things they must do so they can add three more cities of refuge. The three things they must do are:

1. Keep all the commandments of God and do them
2. Love the Lord your God and
3. Walk always in His ways

Why do we need our borders to be enlarged?

1. You can fulfil God’s purpose for your life

When your territories are enlarged, your influence in this world will be great and you will be able to fulfill God’s original purpose for humanity which is to ‘be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28)

2. You move from a local champion to an international champion

When your territories are enlarged, you are no longer just a local champion, you become an international champion. So for example, if your calling is to bless others through song writing, your songs will not only be known in the town and country where you live but people all over the world will hear about your songs and you will be celebrated as an international song writer.

God told Abraham that if he obeyed Him and left his country to a land that God will show him, He will make his name great and this promise applies to us also:

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing

Genesis 12:2

What can you do if you want an enlarged territory?

If you want the Lord to extend your territory or influence, please do the following:

1. Keep all the commandments of God and do them
2. Love the Lord your God and
3. Walk always in His ways

Prayer of Jabez

In addition to the above you can do what Jabez did, call on the God of Israel and pray this prayer on a daily basis:

And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

1 Chronicles 4:10

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Do you want everything to go well for you?

Our Scripture this week tells us what to do if we want everything to go well for us and our children:

Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 12:28

In this scripture Moses was telling the children of Israel before they entered the promise land, the things that they must do if they wanted things to go well for them and their children.

These words also apply to us as followers of Jesus Christ, because God doesn’t change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

As we are on our spiritual journey to our promise land, there are things that we must do if we want things to go well for us and our children. They are:

1. Observe the Words of God – to observe means to keep, to watch and to preserve the Word of God. This is basically telling us to take a keen interest in the Bible which is described as the Word of Life (Philippians 2:16) because when you read and confess it, it literally transforms you and brings to life areas that were previously dead. For example your faith may be weak however you can increase your faith by reading the Word of God: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17);
2. Obey the Word of God – to obey the Word means to do what the Word of God says. We are encouraged to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22);
3. Do what is good in the sight of God– goodness is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). If you see your brother or sister in need, you should be eager to help them out of the goodness of your heart. The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 shows that we ought to be good to people who are in need whether or not we know them;
4. Do what is right in the sight of God – to do what is right in the sight of God is to do what God’s Word says. The Bible says that there is a way that seems right unto a man but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). We may do things to try to please other people however the Bible tells us not to be men pleasers (Ephesians 6:6) because it is God who will judge us and not man (Isaiah 33:22).

When you are reading and confessing the Word, and doing what is good and right in the sight of God, it may seem temporarily painful because you are not doing what your natural inclination may tell you, however if you will hold on, the Word tells us that it will go well for you and your children after you.

Just think, when you are living for God, you are heaping up blessings for you and your children. Remember, God is the faithful God, and He keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9).

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What does the Lord require of you?

This week, the Lord wants to remind us of what He wants from us, now that, like the children of Israel, He has delivered from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son whom He loves; The Lord Jesus Christ:

 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?
Deuteronomy 10:12-13

What then, does the Lord require from us?

1.Fear Him – to fear the Lord means to respect Him and hold Him in high honour. For example we hold Queen Elizabeth in extremely high honour which is why if you were invited into Buckingham Palace to have dinner with The Queen, you will dress appropriately and arrive in good time, and ensure that all protocols are followed. Likewise when we fear The Lord we will ensure that we do what He says because we acknowledge Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever (Psalm 19:9), and it is also the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).

2. Walk in His ways – to walk in His ways means to go where He leads you, which is revealed in His Word. Psalms 103:7 says God made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. God is willing and ready to make His ways known to you, but He can only do so when you spend time reading His word, asking The Holy Spirit to give you wisdom, revelation and understanding as you read.

As you go into the secret place and spend quality time with Him, ask Him what is on His heart and how you can please Him, then stay quiet and listen to His instructions. Then whatever He tells you to do, go out and do it, that is what it means to walk in His ways.

His ways cannot be contrary to His Word therefore if you are not sure whether what you have heard is the voice of God, please check it against the Word, and if it agrees with the Word then do it.

3. Love Him – the Bible tells us that to love God is to keep His commandments (1 John 5:3). It also tells us that if a man says He loves God and hates his brother he is a liar (1 John 4:20). To love The Lord then means that you put Him first, always be eager to do what pleases Him, do what He tells you to do in His Word and love your fellow human beings as yourself.

4. Serve Him with all your heart and soul – we serve the Lord by worshiping Him and serving our fellow human beings. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and have a restored relationship with God The Father, this is where the real work begins.

As servants of The Lord we must do what the masters tells us to do. Jesus, the One Whom we follow is called the Righteous Servant (Isaiah 53:11). As a Servant, Jesus had much work to do whilst He was on earth; He preached the gospel, healed the sick, cast out demons, did miracles and He finally finished His work by dying on the Cross to bring us back to God.

As His followers, we too must stand strong and always give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord because we know that our labour is not in vain in The Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Once you become saved and discover what your calling in life is, we must walk in that holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9). The Lord reminds us to work while it is day because the night is coming when no man can work (John 9:4).

5. Keep the commandments of The Lord – the commandments of Lord are the rules and regulations we have to follow. Thank God that we are no longer under the law but we are under grace. In the Old Testament, the Jews had to abide by hundreds of laws which no man could keep.

Now, praise be to God, the only commandments we have to keep is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Jesus tells us that this is the “first and great commandment”. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Matthew 22:37-39).

To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind means we love Him with everything that is in us, it means that our heart is flooded with Him, and our mind, will and emotions are filled with thoughts about Him. It means we should think more about Him and how to please Him than we do with anything else in our lives.

If you find that your love for God is not as hot as it ought to be, please pray this prayer from the Bible which I have personalised, every morning and night and watch your love for the Lord grow strong:

Prayer for Love

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant me, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in my inner man, that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith; that I, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that I may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that works in me, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:14-21)

To recap, what The Lord require from us are to:

1. Fear Him
2. Walk in His ways
3. Love Him
4. Serve Him with all your heart and soul
5. Keep the commandments of The Lord

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It is well

To get a full understanding of this week’s blog, please read 2 Kings 4:8-37 below:

Elisha Raises the Shunammite’s Son

Now it happened one day that Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food. And she said to her husband, “Look now, I know that this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly. Please, let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and a chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there.”

And it happened one day that he came there, and he turned in to the upper room and lay down there. Then he said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” When he had called her, she stood before him. And he said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Look, you have been concerned for us with all this care. What can I do for you? Do you want me to speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”

She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”

So he said, “What then is to be done for her?”

And Gehazi answered, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”

So he said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the doorway. Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.”

And she said, “No, my lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!”

But the woman conceived, and bore a son when the appointed time had come, of which Elisha had told her.

And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. And he said to his father, “My head, my head!”

So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.”

And she said, “It is well.” Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” And so she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.

So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’”

And she answered, “It is well.” Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.”

And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.”

When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

2 Kings 4:8-37

What lessons can we learn from the Shunammite woman?

1. What we say matters

The Shunammite woman had every reason to say it is not well, because the miracle son whom God had given her had died all of a sudden. When her husband asked her why she was travelling to go and see the Prophet she could have responded and said ‘don’t you know our son has died?’ Instead she had faith in God and confessed ‘It is well’.

When the Prophet sent his servant to ask her whether all was well with her and her family she could have stopped him and said ‘no it is not well, my son has died’. But she did not do any of that. She did not speak negativity to people who could not help her, instead she confessed ‘It is well’.

There is a temptation in all of us that when things are not going our way we tell everyone who asks that ‘no things are not alright’, ‘it is hard’, ‘it is difficult’, ‘nothing is going right’, ‘this Christian life is hard’ etc. However let us learn this great lesson from the Shunammite woman and confess over our health ‘it is well’, over finances ‘it is well’, over our family ‘it is well’, over our ministry ‘it is well’.

2. We should only say what we want to see happen

We also learn from this Shunammite woman that she only said what she wanted to see happen, she never once confessed that her son was dead, because she knew that the same God who gave her the son is able to raise him from the dead.

Likewise the woman with the issue of blood, she kept saying ‘If I can only but touch His garments’ (Matthew 9:21). Again she said what she wanted to see, and of course she got what she confessed; when she touched Jesus’ garment her fountain of blood dried up straight away and she was made whole that self-same hour.

I want to encourage you and encourage myself, that no matter how bad the situation is, let us have faith in God and declare ‘it is well’. Even when your health is looking uncertain, say ‘it is well’. Even when your finances are not in shape declare ‘it is well’. Even when your marriage seems to be on the rocks say ‘it is well’. Even when the spiritual attacks are rising declare ‘it is well’.

3. What you say is what you get

The Bible tells us in the book of Job that ‘you shall decree a thing and it shall be established unto you’ (Job 22:28)

You decree a thing with your mouth therefore let us model the Shunammite woman and only say the things that we want to come to pass.

4. Only pour out your heart to someone who can actually help you; God

In this story we learn that it is only when she met the man of God that she poured out her heart, because she knew that it was only God that could give her a miracle and bring her son back to life. Likewise we should only pour out our heart to God because He is the only one who can help us. If we want to pour out our heart we should only speak with people who have faith in God who will pray with us and believe that God is able to help us, and not with negative people.

5. Ask others ‘what can I do for you?

Elisha asked the woman ‘what can I do for you’? It is very important to ask what we can do for each other because we have been placed on this earth to serve one another.

6. It is important to be kind

The kindness of the woman is what opened up the man of God’s heart to ask how he could help her. If you are rich, do not be stingy with your wealth, try your best to help others in any way you can and it will open supernatural doors for you to receive what you did not even expect, which for the Shunammite woman was a son.

7. A leader doesn’t know everything

Though Elisha was a man of God he did not know how he could be of service to this kind Shunammite woman. It was Gehazi his servant who could see that the woman did not have a son. As leaders we must therefore learn to work with people we are leading and do not think we know everything.

My encouragement to you this week is ‘It is well, Jesus is coming back’.

Daily Confessions

Because what we say matters, I have some daily confessions that I declare over my life, family, ministry, business and colleagues. If you would like a copy tailor made for you, please write to me, and I will send you a copy.

My email address is info@blessingcoaching.com. You can also get more information through my website: www.blessingcoaching.com