Ministering: Pastor Shola Awobajo.
Text: Isaiah 48:16-19.
“ 16 Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; From the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord God and His Spirit. Have sent Me.” 17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who leads you by the way you should go. 18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. 19 Your descendants also would have been like the sand, And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand; His name would not have been cut off Nor destroyed from before Me.”
There is a Word for every season, The Lord’s Word for us this season is “Lifting”. We are all in a journey in life (spiritually, martially, etc). If you do not progress in life, you will regress. If you don’t progress, you will be stagnated and soon start stinking. Many Lakes stink because they are stagnant. We were redeemed to make continuous progress in life. God has a program and package of progress for every Redeemed. God desires we progress, spiritually, physically, martially, health-wise, etc – 3 John 1:2 says “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”. Progress determines your destination, we all are work-in-progress in The Hands of God. We keep pressing on to Higher Grounds. Without progress, by end of this year, you would be where you were last year. All through The Bible, God always leads His People in the paths of progress. Deut. 1:6. It is time for us as a Church and every member of our family to make progress in every facet of life. In Exod. 40, God told Moses to command His people to move forward, when they did, the Red Sea opened when it saw them coming.
Making Progress in life largely depends on whose leadership you are under. When someone has a good teacher, coach, mentor, he or she is bound to succeed if they follow their instructions. Teams hire and fire coaches mostly due to their performance index. God is our above Text, refers to Himself as Our Teacher and Leader Who Teaches and Leads us in the way to go. Teaching means to impart knowledge to your students. His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither His Ways our Ways. We have to humble ourselves to His Teachings and Leadings.
In 2 Sam. 22:35-37, David said “God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Victory in life depends on who crafted and trained your hands.
Could there be a Better Trainer like Our God?
He not only trains our hands but also enlarges our steps to make giant strides. Lead means to go before and direct your paths. Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:1 – Follow me as I follow Christ. Who you follow determines if you will make progress in life. In Isaiah 45:1 – God held the hands of Cyrus to subdue nations before him, to lose the loins of kings, to open gates before him……. At the presence of The Lord, mountains melt, sicknesses disappear, powers of darkness bow to Him.
Without His Leading, struggling, and toiling is imminent. He leads us to give us the Treasure of Darkness and the hidden riches. Who is leading you in life? God always calls people to lead them in the way of Progress. He called Abraham and led him to make giant strides on earth. God also led Joseph in the paths of progress, even when it appears contrary, God took him from the prison and to the palace. When God is leading you, you can never miss it. When God speaks, everything needed to make it a reality has been released to the earth and that Word can never come back to Him void.
God Bless You!
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