Jacob ran away from home after he cheated his brother Esau out of his birthright. Esau had determined to kill Jacob so his mother sent him to Paddan-aram. While Jacob travelled, he rested one night, in a certain place after he used stones to rest his head. Jacob had a vision that there were angels, ascending and descending on a ladder between heaven and earth. He saw the Lord standing above the ladder and God confirmed his covenant to Abraham, Isaac and now to Jacob also. “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he was afraid and amazed at how awesome the place was. He declared it the house of God and the gate of heaven. Jacob used the stones that were under his head to set up a pillar and poured oil over it. He called the name of the place Bethel, which means the house of God. The amazing thing for me was that until that time, there was no physical building in that place. I believe that Jacob was predestined to carry on the seed of Abraham and the promise of the inheritance. God’s presence came and rested in that place to demonstrate to Jacob that he was chosen.

We see a similar occurrence when Solomon built and consecrated the temple unto God in Jerusalem. “For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.” (2 Chronicles 7:16). When Solomon completed the building and dedication of the temple, the fire of the Lord came down and consumed the sacrifices. The Priests could not enter because the presence of the Lord filled the temple. The people knew that within the ark of the covenant, the presence of the Lord would dwell among them.

God is not limited to physical spaces of buildings and the Holy Spirit dwells in the people of God. God has his resting place with us and our prayers, worship and praise create a place for God to dwell. Our prayers create an opening to heaven as we connect with Christ who is seated making intercession for us. Our affections are set on the things above as we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have access to the throne of God as we come before him in boldness to find grace and mercy in times of need.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name” (Psalm 100:4)!

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; And the King of glory shall come in” (Psalm‬ ‭24:9‬).

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Malachi prophesied about the great day of the Lord, when all the arrogant and evildoers will be stubble. The day of the Lord will be hot like an oven, and the wicked will be set ablaze and uprooted. For those of us who fear the name of the Lord, the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. The righteous will leap forward and tread down the wicked. Malachi spoke of the body of Christ overcoming the persecution of the world. The wicked are people of the world who are children of darkness.

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). People who belong to the world, have the sin nature of darkness and the characteristics of the devil. His characteristics include lying, stealing, murder and destruction. The character traits of people around us points to who their father is. The children of the darkness will not overcome the children of the light.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Our light exposes the darkness as we have nothing to do with unfruitful works. We live so that our light can shine before men, so that they can see our good works and come to glorify God. God will place the children of light among the children of darkness, to bring light to the world. Some will see our light and seek to follow after righteousness. Others will try to extinguish our light because it exposes their deeds which are evil.

Nevertheless, we have overcome the world, by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. Jesus has disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of the devil, by triumphing over him at the cross (Colossians 2:15). Based on the work at the cross, we have the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Jesus Christ we always triumph over darkness and evil. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

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In his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul summarised some major principles that the church should observe. Earlier in his letter, he encouraged the saints to show love and be at peace with everyone. Paul also wanted them to consider those who were not as well thought of. “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). He warned against revenge, but encouraged the saints to always do good to everyone. Later on in verse 16, Paul encouraged the church to rejoice always.

Paul was saying that, despite our challenges and difficulties, we can always find a reason to give praise and thanks to God. Our rejoicing is not in what God can do for us, but is based on who he is. Paul encouraged the church to pray without ceasing. We should never get tired of praying and bringing our requests before God. Do you get tired of speaking to your loved ones? Prayer is our conversation with our father who loves us and cares for us. Moreover, God is the main person who has the power to solve our problems. We sometimes spend too much time talking, to people who don’t have answers or solutions.

Paul warned the church not to quench the Holy Spirit. To quench the spirit means to refuse to heed to the leading of the Holy Spirit. “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). Paul said that we should not despise prophesies. There are many false prophesies in our time. This does not mean that all prophets are false. Paul was saying that we should test everything. What this means is that, if you receive a prophesy from someone, test this for yourself. The main way to test a prophesy is to check whether or not it lines up with scripture. Remember that God does not contradict himself.

You should pray over anything prophesied over your life and also check to see if it lines up with what God has already told you. For example, if you have absolutely no interest in medicine and a ‘prophet’ says that you will be a doctor, then you can dismiss this as false. This is especially when it does not line up with your gifts and talents and you have already prayed and had confirmation about another career pathway. Remember that even seasoned prophets can miss it or interpret a revelation in the wrong way. What Paul suggests is that we take what is useful and stay away from every form of evil.

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David wrote a Psalm to sing praises unto God. He spoke of the downfall that would come of his enemies and the doom of evil assailants. Contrastingly, the reward for the righteous who are planted is to flourish. This planting is in the house of the Lord. The planting that David referred to, is being connected to a place of worship. In David’s time, this would be a sanctuary or a temple where people would pray, worship and offer sacrifices. We can make a similar reference to a plant that needs good soil in order to flourish.

Another analogy is of a branch needing the sustenance of the tree. Jesus made reference in the New Testament to us being branches and the importance of remaining connected. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). Other biblical references are made to us being a part of the larger body of Christ. Similar to body parts needing to remain connected to the body, to continue to survive, we need to remain connected to the body of Christ.

Some modern day ideas and philosophies suggests that you don’t need the church. The redundancy of that statement is that, as Christians, we are the church. A Christian saying that they don’t need to attend church, is saying that they don’t need to be connected to the body that they are a part of. How do Christians think that they can survive without a larger church body? This idea is faulty and a contrary wind of doctrine, which the devil has used to draw people away from the things of God. Moreover, David made it clear that being planted makes us flourish.

We have all had our share of church hurt and many times church people or church leaders, don’t live up to our expectations. What we need to wrap our minds around is that, whether inside or outside of a church building, people are human beings with faults and failings. Putting people who attend church or church leaders on a pedestal is setting yourself up for failure. The bible teaches us about wheat among tares and wolves among sheep. It is our responsibility to test the spirits to see whether they are from God or from the devil. The bible also teaches about false prophets, some of whom have set themselves up as Pastors.

Cultivate a relationship with God for yourself. One which is not determined by what happens around you, or the people that you attend church with. If a church is no longer meeting your needs for spiritual growth and maturity, ask God to lead you to place where you can be fed and nourished. Test the spirits and expect to find some tares among the wheat. Once you have found a fellowship where you can trust the ministers to teach sound doctrine, do not neglect the assembling together of the saints.

“They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be fat and flourishing” (Psalm 92:14).

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David wrote Psalm 60 after the battle against Edom. The story was first written about in 2 Samuel. “So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt” (2 Samuel 8:13). We know that David was a fierce warrior and had mighty men of war who served in his army. One of his soldiers was mentioned in relation to this battle against Edom in Kings. “Joab, his army commander, had stayed to bury some of the Israelite soldiers who had died in battle. While there, they killed every male in Edom. Joab and the army of Israel had stayed there for six months, killing them.” (1 Kings 11:15-16).

These exploits gave David insight into how God acts to deliver and defend his people. Some of his writings are reflections from his exploits for God and gives us information about warfare strategies. David credited God for his skills as a fighter and his victories in battle. “Blessed be the LORD my strength, Which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight” (Psalm 144:1). We don’t fight battles in the physical like David in the Old Testament, but our strategies against the kingdom of darkness are the same. “He teacheth my hands to war, So that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms” (Psalm 18:34).

David’s reference to a banner in Psalm 60 or a rallying point for people doing exploits for God, points to God’s confirmation that he is with his people. His banner is our testimony of salvation and our standard of righteousness, that we have set for the world. The kingdom of darkness will always try to contend with the kingdom of light. We contend for the things of God and continue to advance the kingdom of righteousness. God is clear that he will establish his church on a solid foundation, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against us (Matthew 16:18).

The devil will keep sending his cohorts, to try to antagonise and frustrate the purpose and plans of God for our lives. We will not back down; we will not be silent and we will not fear. We will continue to proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ boldly. We will lead those we come in contact with to the light of Jesus Christ. We are children of God and the banner of God is our shield and defence. “for the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deuteronomy 20:4).

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“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4).

James made reference to patience working in the life of the believer. James asked us to count it all joy, when we experience trials of different kinds. This is because when our faith is tested, we develop spiritual maturity and inner peace. How does testing develop our faith and cause us to have inner peace? It is not the testing that grows our spiritual muscles and gives us inner peace. There are many people experiencing trials who are certainly not at peace and who lack faith. For the believer however, who trusts in Jesus and relies on the help of the Holy Spirit to deliver us from trials, our faith increases and we develop greater peace.

Experience teaches wisdom and a mature Christian who understands the ways of God and the things of God, can often anticipate how God will act. The study and understanding of the word demonstrates how God comes to the rescue of his people. The bible has formulas and prescriptions about how to pray for example and how to seek answers from God. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). This is not to say that we can work God out by a formula and always try to predict what he will do. His ways are beyond our human reasoning and understanding and some acts of God cannot be fathomed or explained.

Patience is steadfast endurance and being willing to wait for God, even when waiting goes beyond our original timetable. Some of us like to make plans for our lives. We make five or two year plans with goals and aspirations. There are some aspects of our lives that we cannot plan and pre-determine. Some situations require waiting and trusting God to act. There are many situations when we will come to the end of ourselves. We exhaust everything that is humanly possible for us to do. It is generally in these times when we surrender and God steps in to do what we cannot do.

Faith requires patience and the hope for things that we cannot see. Patience requires that we do not give up when things seem impossible. God is faithful to establish his promises and to help us while we wait. “For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised” (Hebrews 10:36).

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Paul experienced some of the most intense persecution among the Apostles. He experienced chains, beatings, shipwreck, imprisonment and eventually death. Despite his trials, Paul was confident that God was with him and would never leave him alone. He turned his prison tenures, into writing sessions for the majority of the books in the New Testament. I don’t imagine that the prisons in his time had the finer necessities and comforts of some modern day prisons. Some modern prisons centre around rehabilitation and provide resources for persons to study and earn a degree for example. We can only wrap our imaginations around the prisons of Paul’s time.

“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3). Paul wanted the church to consider those who were in prison or being mistreated. He goes on to expound about avoiding the love of money and learning to be content. He reminded us that God would never leave us or forsake us, no matter where we are or what we are going through. One of Satan’s strategies, is to try to convince us that God has forgotten about us. We sometimes worry that our trials, are God’s acts of punishment and feel that God is angry with us.

We have to remember, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:35). The bible also says, that there is nowhere that we can go, where the love of God cannot reach us. “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there” (Psalm 139:8). What David was saying is that, there is no place where we are, where God is not with us. His hand of protection guides and keeps us. If you feel that you have drifted away from God and you feel separated from God, call out to him in prayer. If you feel like you have sinned against God, confess your sins to him.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The devil will try to use guilt to make us feel separated from God. Once you cry out to God, repent and ask for his forgiveness, you can experience freedom. This is knowing that he loves you and he cares and he has placed your sins into the sea of forgetfulness and he remembers them no more. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

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