Straighten your path
Proverbs 3: “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
What does straighten your paths mean? To start with, this is a promise by God that is sandwiched like jam in the midst of two scriptures and it means that He would straighten that which is crooked, broken, bruised, wounded, hopeless, worthless, damaged, spoiled, messed up, chaotic, injured and fractured. It can be your finances, marriage, health, home, job or anything, God can straighten it for you. Say Amen. What a relief to have such a word and promise when you feel like your lost in a wilderness!
Why do you think conmen, frauds, false prophets flourish? Because people are eager to have swift answers to their problems, do hurdles over the hard work of praying , Bible reading and get quick results. Let me clearly tell you today, that magic is not possible in the Kingdom of God, I today give an extract of my message preached on Wednesday, at our church online streaming on the topic: “Reflection of knowing God’s ways”, it is not enough that you are a Christian, Christian minister, Convert, whatever….you should know ENOUGH OF GOD and His Word in order to do things in the correct way and live a successful life. Many have failed, many have left their faith, many are dejected and discouraged because they have either not studied the Bible properly or they have not executed what they studied. We need to be doers of the Word, are you listening? James 1:23” For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror..”
Even as Christian ministers working in His Vineyard, we have no right to preach or write about God without investing minimum of 5 hours of prayer and Bible reading every day, and during this lockdown crisis, we have no excuse, we need to put aside everything (whatsup, facebook etc) Spending time with God is predominant! As for believers, you need to set aside minimum one hour with God and His word without which you will be like being out on the ocean without compass on a cloudy night, scary indeed!
THIS IS A CONDITIONAL PROMISE: God expects us to fulfill the below mentioned requirements of God, in order for us to claim the promise:
A. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart."
B. "Lean not to thy own understanding."
C. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him."
d) Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
A) Trust in the Lord with all thine heart."
Trust Him when you understand nothing! I’ve been praying and reading His Word for several hours and got so much stored in my heart about this verse and I just wish I download it properly. Amen. Understanding God’s ways comes from knowing who He is! Jeremiah 9:24” But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises loving devotion, justice and righteousness on the earth--for I delight in these things," declares the LORD. Without Bible revelation we cannot have faith, I didn’t say just Bible reading but we need to hear the heartbeat of God through His Word then we would be able to throw our hands up, surrender and say, “ I leave everything into your hands O Lord, though I understand nothing.” I want someone out there to get what I got! Lean not to your own understanding simply means not my brains Lord, not my strength, not my skills, not my smartness, not my knowledge and wisdom, not my experience but I just hand it over to you obediently. Amen.
What do you do when God calls you to serve Him but you don’t have the money, experience, skills and knowledge? All you have is just loads and loads of love for Him and faith in Him. That’s enough. When God called Abraham and said: "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."(Genesis 22:2) Do you think Abraham understood anything? This is so scary and painful, yet, he felt: “ Right now I understand nothing but I know that the God who gave me a son at the age of 100 will take care of me.” Clap hands for God!
This is total surrender; nevertheless, he was breaking on the inside but he kept moving higher and higher on the mountain with his son, when he was about to sacrifice his son, the angel of God stopped him and when Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, “behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.”(Genesis 22:13) Glory to Jesus! Your spiritual eyes get opened to see God’s rewards for you only when you go higher and higher despite the challenges. (Tweet that) When Joseph trusted the Lord and kept moving forward in life, after several years of prison, pain, loneliness and betrayal, his brothers walk into Egypt, into his office, imagine!!!! The Bible says, Joseph recognized his brothers but they were not able to recognize him. Genesis 42: 8 “But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.” As you go higher and higher with God, you have an aerial view of everything !
When God called us to open a free school for the poor and street kids in the year 2011 in a new city with new language, we had no place, no money, no staff and no children. We rented an individual house and started as a ‘Free Children Home”, we were not able to pay Rs.6000/- during those days and then on a particular day, we carried all the things and shifted to another location. Do you think things were fine there? No, we had no water for children, no proper space and things were tough. You think God puts money in the bank and expects you to run ministry? God wants you to walk by faith! Giant walk! We had to pay Rs.750/- for one load of water, on a particular we did not have a drop of water, I stood by the gate with a broken heart, there were 50 children inside the school. If the children want to use wash room what would I do? Just then the lorry tanker came by my gate and he said, “madam, I have half tank water, please take, give me money later.” You need to cross this stage to get into the abundance stage! Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly. Proverbs 14:9
B. "Lean not to thy own understanding."
Good in your own eyes: Deuteronomy 12: 8 "You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;
Everybody gives bribe, I do my prayers everyday so I am a good Christian, few bad friends is ok, after all I don’t drink like them, I am much better than the world, these are thoughts from your own small brain that takes you down the drain.
Presumption: Doing things based on presumptions that it is the right thing is dangerous, you need to do things based on God’s word. Good example for this is Saul the rebellious king who “spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.” 1 Samuel 15:9. When questioned, he daringly replied: “we spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God”( verse 15) Dragging the name of the Lord for your mistakes is audacity! Building churches on land without Government permission and then give bribes to officers while they come for checking is sinning atrociously and leaning unto your own understanding that God is in it . Everybody is doing is the general reply!
c) Acknowledge God in all your ways
Proverbs 3:6 “Acknowledge God in all your ways..”
Acknowledging God is to take Him to all the places we go! That says it all! I am not going to give you a point by point Biblical reference, I have done enough, let me tell you, we just cannot take God with us on Sundays and leave Him behind from Monday to Saturday. Are you listening? Right from our shopping, holiday vacations, the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the friends we move with, the programs we watch on TV and social media, your pic on your status, the statements and photos that you upload…..everything has to please God. He has got to be the Master of your life! You cannot roam around with your friends in the night, talk to your friend the whole day, be busy on your mobile 24/7 and then say ‘God understands’. You are cheating yourself, God is not with you when you do things contrary to His teachings.
In your going and coming acknowledge Him, in your sitting acknowledge Him, once you become His child, then we have given God the full control of our life. Acknowledge God and consult Him during your time of marriage proposals, don’t select as you like and come to Him for last approval like rubber stamp. He/she has to be as God talks about in the Bible and also the celebrations in your house has to be God-centered not based on your friends and relatives. Anybody listening?
When you plan for big investments like purchase of house, car and other major things, pray, fast and then wait for His signals before you jump into it. How do I know God’s will? If you wait, He will reveal because He is interested in your life.
D) Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
Many of us want blessings without fear of God or His commandments, so last I would like to touch the above point and complete my sermon.
Jeremiah 5: 21 'Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear.
22 'Do you not fear Me?' declares the LORD. 'Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.”
Now and then, we do need to hear that God is not asleep, He is very much alert and morning by morning He brings justice to light, caveat! We treat His commandments too lightly and we are surrounded by social media and Christian networks that teach and cajole us that God’s grace will take care of all our wickedness and sins; yes, true, God forgives our sins but He never desires us to persist and continue in sin – even after knowledge of good and bad. God cannot be duped! Anybody there?
If you think you can have an extra marital relationship and still take holy communion and if you think God is blind, then the devil is a liar, he has deceived you to believe lies about God. God expects us to be holy, this message is not to scare you and point guns at you but this is to warn you about the righteousness of God that demands us to walk like Him. While you are offered ice creams to cool your senses in almost all corners of the earth, don’t you think it is my duty to tell you that there is a place called HELL and only God has the authority to throw you there, read:
Mathew 10:28“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
James 4:12”God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy….”
There is a rampant increase of rape, corruption and other unlawful, daring activities because of delay in punishment! Can I use another phrase? Delay of enforcement of law! There is a big hue and cry for some time, procession undertaken, media goes hammer and tongs over it like wildfire, everybody is talking about it at dinner tables, street corners, parliament, colleges, hot debates are held and then???? Nothing happens. The legal procedures do take place at snail-pace and then comes the judgment followed by further appeal against the judgment. There is no end. The accused is scot-free throughout this period, while the beleaguered victims are further emotionally, financially and mentally worn out.
God’s judgment would not be so! When He comes one will be taken and the other left behind! Mathew 24:41”Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. “ Let us not take God and His mercy for granted!
Friend, when you adhere to all the above said principles of God, be sure to have your paths straightened out ! God bless you!
