I was only trying to help!
Have you ever tried to help or each out to someone before and they rejected your help? You tried, but they resisted your help. To make matters worst they even perceived you as an enemy. All you wanted to do was help them.
Most people have gone through this before. Suddenly, they change their telephone number and don’t tell you. Some cut you off, others mis- understand you and start talking about you. Rejecting help is not new, you are not alone. Jesus Christ our Lord went through this during His earthly ministry and is still going through it today.
Luke 13: 34
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Can you see the heart of the Lord? Can you see a similar pattern? The Lord sending prophets and people to help, but they get killed and stoned. While today we may not get killed and stoned, either way, our genuine and sincere help may be rejected.
I am sure most of us have heard statements like, ‘ we tried to help them but they will not let us’, they stopped taking our calls’. they stopped coming to the counselling sections, the list goes on.
So what do you do, when someone rejects our help? The reality of it is that there is not much we can do. All one can do is pray for them, hoping that it will not be too late. Man has been given a free will, and if a person refuses our help there is not much we can do. We cannot impose ourselves.
So what else can we do? Sometimes sad but true, we can only sit back and watch the consequence of the help that was rejected. Painful but true!.
So does that mean we should stop helping others? No not at all. When a person rejects our help, we must not take it personally, just pray, release it, and let it go. Move on, and be a help to someone else.
So what is the conclusion? We are not to impose ourselves on others however severe the consequence of their rejecting help may bring. As we walk along the journey of life, some will receive help and support from us while some will not.
Bisi Oladipupo
Can man limit God?
The Lord has His ways and the wise agree with the ways of the Lord. Its amazing, but in certain ways we can limit what the Lord wants to do in our lives if care is not taken. I recently heard a testimony and l was eye witness to the account.
A lady was about to board a plane in June 2012. She said that she heard very clearly three times ‘ do not board that flight’. She went to the airport and told the airline that she does not want to board the flight. The airline told her, that they cannot refund her money, she either boards the flight or loss the money. She choose to loose the money and thank God she did. The flight crashed with NO survivors. When she was giving the testimony, she held the ticket for the flight and waved it standing on the pulpit.
Thank God she obeyed and listened to the warning of the Lord. The Lord wanted to deliver her, and her obedience to the Lord did not limit Gods delivering power which was manifested on her behalf. A very sobering lesson, disobedience to the voice of the Lord can limit God.
In the book of Numbers 20, Moses disobeyed the Lord. This was the consequence:
Numbers 20: 12
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Lets look at another scripture:
Deuteronomy 31 : 1- 3
1 And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
2 And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
3 The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.
If you note from verse 3, Moses said that he is 120 years old and can go no more out and come in and also (which means in addition to this), the Lord had told him (Moses) that he cannot go over Jordan.
Moses would have taken the children of Israel across the Jordan had he not disobeyed the Lord. Which means that Moses would have been given strength and everything required to complete the job. There would have been no need for Moses to say ‘ l cannot go in and out’ in verse 3. We properly would have had an account of a 120 year old still leading the children of Israel. He would have been strong enough to do it, but he limited God.
The children of Israel also limited God.
Psalm 78: 40 – 43
How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
Please read the full account in Psalm 78.
So can we limit God? Sometimes, yes we can, in many ways. We must be careful not to limit God in what He wants to do in our lives. Many today are refusing to yield to Him and come to the Lord. The Lord wants to reveal His saving power to many. The Lord is faithful and able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all we can ask or think. Refuse to limit the One who wants to do great things through you and for you. An ever great, awesome and faithful God!
Abraham is a good example of one who did not limit God. Quick to believe and obey. The Lord wants to do great things and He will as long as we let Him. He is ever ready to do good!
Bisi Oladipupo
The joy of being totally committed!
Are you still struggling to get fully committed to the Lord? Being fully committed to the Lord is the best thing you can ever do in this life. Life is short and very temporary, eternity is forever. The wise by Gods grace commit to secure their eternal home by making Jesus Christ their Lord and saviour now. In addition to that, they fully give themselves to the Lord. After all, the one who died for us is the only one that fully has our interests at heart!.
In the bible, we can see a man that made a decision to fully follow the Lord. That man is Moses!
Hebrews 11; 24- 27
24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Lets look at verses 25 and 26 again:
Moses choose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses made a choice.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches etc . That sums it up! Moses came to the conclusion that the reproach of Christ were greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
Now lets ask ourselves a question. Where are the treasures of Egypt in Moses day today? If Moses had enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season, what would he have gotten out of temporary pleasure?
Moses fully committed himself to the Lord and the Lord used him mightily. Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt with great signs and wonders (Eoxdus 14: 31). Moses was later described as the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12: 3) . He still lives today, as we see him appear to Jesus talking about what the Jesus would go through (Matthew 17: 3) . There are no words to describe what Moses gained by totally committing himself to the Lord however we must understand that Moses made a choice (Hebrew 11: 25 – 26). Today, we still speak the great man of God Moses!.
So what’s the struggle? It pays to totally commit to the Lord. The Lord has a great plan for your life. Following the Lord fully not only pays in this life, but the life to come. Remember , Hebrews 11: 6b for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Is the Lord calling you to a closer walk with Him? Then simply obey!. It pays to serve God fully!.
Bisi Oladipupo
