THE KEY TO HAPPINESS
………”Obedience is the Key to Happiness”………Jeremiah 35:1-16&18-19…
Samuel told Saul we have appointed you as the King,but we have to do the burnt offering and the peace offering. In the book of Leviticus, The Lord instituted;The burnt offering and The Peace offering, which must be done by the Lord’s Prophet, a Levite and not by any other man.The Lord told him to wait for him for Seven days, I will come and tell you what to do and how to do things and he waited for the Lord for the burnt Offering to be Sacrified…1Samuel 13:8….Saul waited for Seven days but Samuel did not come and the people scattered from him.., God does not change his word because of anyone…whatever God says he will do, that is what he is going to do…we may be waiting for His promises but God’s time is not our Time…Is not just because you are well read,your Family background or your Holiness?All of that does not matter to God.
The Crowd we follow, can make us miss Heaven, displease our God and also bring Unhappiness. when we hear rumors about ourselves and allow it disturb you, it will cause you sadness;But avoiding it will make you Happy…..and just for you to know 85% of Rumors are not True..or what they say about you is it True?…you are not what people say you are..”you don’t need to listen to what they are saying,listen to what God is saying concerning your life”..because God has said Good things about you and your enemies are saying Bad things against you?..But…Who’s report shall you believe?Is it the Report of Man that will die Tomorrow,or God’s Report that we live forever…for God’s report is good, fine & wonderful and God does not condemn anyone only man condemns?…Isaiah 1:18&19…Come let us reason together says the Lord..even though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be white as Snow,Though they are Red like Crimsom,they shall be as wool ;If you are willing and obedient,you shall eat the good of the Land…’It means that no matter how bad you are and terrible,I will receive you’…The Lord said …’Come to me you that are heavily laden and I will give you rest’..Romans 8:1…Therefore now there is no condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ ,who do not walk according to the Flesh,but according to the Spirit….The Spirit gives Life but Flesh profits nothing……..when we are in the spirit, God takes us but he knows our weakness and that we are human beings in the flesh and he is ready to receive us even when people have condemned us, God never condemns us.
….John 8:1…A woman was brought to Jesus Christ by the Pharisees that she was caught in adultery and they told Jesus that the law of Moses states that ‘whoever is caught in the act of adultery should be stoned to death…but the pharisees asked Jesus Christ what does his law say…Jesus stoop down and wrote on the floor with his fingers and He raised himself up and said… ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone first’…and again, he stooped down and wrote…each one of them started dropping their stones to the ground starting from the oldest; one after the other…….I asked myself what He was writing on the floor and I discovered in the Spirit that Jesus Christ is Lord and He was writing the Sins of each Person…this one accusing her is an adulterer?…this one is a thief?…and ‘He scanned everyone and found all of them disqualified’….and that led him to ask if anyone of you have not sinned let him be the first one to throw the stone….The question is how many people threw the stone that day?..’Nobody did’…so they left one after the other…all those accusing you will begin to go one by one…in Jesus name…Amen..
Jesus asked the Woman has anyone condemned you?…She said ..’NO’..so I have not comdemned You..Now go and sin no more….God gave her another chance and God will give you another chance… God never condemns its human beings that do that.
Romans 8:33..’Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who Justifies’…..Who is he who comdemns?It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen,who is even at the right hand of God,Who also makes intercession for us….so it means if God has not charged you with anything every other charge is Nullified…..don’t get distracted by whatever is happening around or what people are saying but you need to focus yourself onto God for God never condemns…Hebrews 12:2…Looking unto Jesus Christ,The Author and Finisher of our Faith…Who for the Joy that was set before Him endured the Cross despising the shame and has sat at the right hand of the throne of God….
If you focus on Man and leave the main focus
which is unto Jesus Christ, you will start sinking. A good example is Peter.
Peter saw Jesus walking on the sea and asked is that you Master? and Jesus said
yes it is I then Peter said if it is you master can I come and Jesus said come.
Peter looked unto Master Jesus and went out of the boat walking on the sea to
meet him ……..and Peter went on; then comes the waves of the sea and Peter
became afraid of it….because he lost focus on God and focused on the earthly
wave, he became distracted and started sinking….
impossible to attain and reach our destined position in life as long as we look
onto Jesus and Focus only onto God and obey Him alone and not man but the
moment we lose the focus on Christ, we begin to sink and get distracted. Jeremiah
was a prophet and brought the sons of Jonadeb a prophet before he died and said
‘thus says the Lord drink wine’ they refused to drink the wine and said ..our
father has commanded us not to drink wine or build house for ourselves but to
serve God almighty all the days of our lives… Many of times we obey the law of
the land which was made by men instead of the law of God which stands forever. Roman
3:4…Let God be true and every man a liar..the law of the land is amended or
changed periodically to suit the situational changes, taking place from time to
time…But the Law of the Lord stands forever…The Law of the Lord in the Ten
Commandments never changes and it stands forever……It is not amended or
changed periodically because the word of the Lord is perfect……GOD’S LAW IN
THE BIBLE & TEN COMMANDMENT STANDS FOREVER…….
reigning in Judah while Rehoboam took the whole tent of Israel. In 1 Kings
13:1-34… A Prophet of God was sent to Jeroboam……And behold a Man of God
went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the
altar to burn incense and offer sacrifice…. and the man of God prophesied that the
altar will be split apart and Jeroboam stretched out his hand to catch him but
his hand withered…. Everything that the man of God said came to past. The lord
told him not to eat, drink or return from the road he came from. There was an
old prophet whose children told him everything that had happened so he went out
and pursued the man of God lying to him that an angel told him to come back and
stay with him. We need to note that when God wants to use you and you are not
ready, he would raise someone else (instead of using the old prophet already in
the kingdom, he sent another prophet). The man of God returned and stayed with
the old prophet then while they were eating, the holy spirit came upon the old
prophet and he said ‘because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord thus
says the Lord you shall not come to the grave of your fathers’.. . and on his
way, a lion met him and killed him. He was riding a donkey and the lion did not
touch the donkey.
What God says is what has to be done that is why the bible says ‘it is not by
might or power’, in Romans 10:1-4…”brethren, my heart desire and prayer to God
for Israel is that they might be saved for I bear them witness that they have a
zeal for God but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,
and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness
of God for Christ is end of the law for righteousness
to everyone who believes”….the children of Israel have established their own
righteousness and not the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is
Jesus and they are still holding on to the book of Moses.
joy you can imagine someone saying I am not happy because I am not married or have a job and
even after they get all they want, the sadness remains. It is the joy of the Lord
that makes one rich and strengthen us, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. We
can have joy in Jesus Christ when we obey him.
prayer in the place of obedience. Saul tried to manipulate God by bringing the
animals that was asked to be destroyed to be sacrificed to God. In 1 Samuel 15: 12-23….So
Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel saying ‘Saul
went to Carmel and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on
around, passed by and had gone down to Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Saul, and
said to him ‘Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of
the Lord’. But Samuel said, ‘what then is this bleating of the sheep in my
ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear…..why then did you not obey the
voice of the Lord?….behold to obey is better than sacrifice…’ All the day of Saul’s
live was lived in agony after this and all he did was pursue after David.
hands and we need to make up our mind to obey the voice of God. If the Lord has
said this is the way, and another comes and says no its this way. We need to be
able to know when God is leading us because he is not a God of confusion. And let
what God says be your priority and not what man says.
get what we ask from God they are:
ask amiss;
James 4:3, he made us to understand that we ask and do not
receive because we ask amiss. We ask
different from what ask us to do.
don’t ask in faith;
Hebrew 11:6 the bible says without faith, no one can
please God. Jesus said have faith in God. Faith moves mountain. In Zechariah
4:7 and we also see faith in John 11:41-44. God said if we have faith like the
seed of mustard, you will tell the mountain to be moved and be cast to the mist
of sea and it would happen. Jesus is talking about every problem in our lives
can be cast away once we have faith.
we don’t stand in agreement that is, our spirit is not in agreement with God or
with our prayer partners.
we don’t keep ourselves holy for God;
Hebrew 12:14.. pursue peace with all
men and holiness without which no one will see the Lord…in Psalm 24:3-5, we also
see the importance of holiness. When we don’t
keep ourselves holy, there is no way we can get anything from God.
we do not believe and obey the word of God;
When God is
leading you, he does not tell you the obstacles that comes along the way. We can
see this when he told the children of Israel that he would lead them to the
promise land but never told them the obstacles that will come their way. God finds
solution to every obstacle once we allow him take the lead.
To every
problem that you are going through, God will see you through. Jesus is the author
and finisher of our faith all he needs from us is to be ready to obey his voice
and follow him wherever he leads us to.
Apostle Matthew Oluwajoba (General Overseer)
