Scripture reading: Exodus 34:29-35
Focus verse: Exodus 34:29, 30, 34, 35a – "When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. "
When Moses went to Mount Sinai and spent time with God, his life did not
remain the same. He came back radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. Aaron
together with the Israelites could see a difference in his life and they
even feared to come near him. Not only that, but whenever he entered
the Lord’s presence and talked to him, his face shone, meaning he came out
different and the people could witness. I have often fallen a victim of an overcrowded program of activity that leaves me with no or less quality time to spend with God. I know this affects many other believers, we have so many tasks put on our list of activities that leaves us with less time for prayer, study of God’s word and meditation on God’s word.
One reason why many Christians are not living a life of difference is because they don’t spend quality time with God. When you don’t spend time with God you will not grow to become different. John 15:5 – I am the vine; you are the brunches. If a man remains in me, and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Christians are in a constant spiritual battle. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:10-18, we must put on the full armor of God in order to overcome the schemes of the devil. God sent his Son so that we are reconciled back to him and he now wants us to spend quality time with Him.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Director of Bethesda Faith Ministries
Saturday, March 14, 2020
Friday, March 6, 2020
Comissioned by God
Scripture Reading: Genesis 12: 1-4
Focus Verse: Genesis 12: 4 “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him.”
Over the next few weeks we will continue with this subject of "Commissioned by God", and how we are on assignment for the King. Are you a Christian, saved by grace and submitted to God as your boss? If you answered yes, then you are one of God’s commissioned officers. Commissioned...which means that He called him to be a leader under God's authority,
In our scripture reading we read about Abram. God placed a call on Abram’s life. He commissioned him for use in service to God. God told him to move out from where he was and made a promise to Abram if he would obey. The promise was that Abram would lead a great nation, but first Abram would have to move his home to a new place.
God told Abram not only would he lead a great nation, but other nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram’s descendants. And not only that, but through Abram’s family tree Jesus would be born to save humanity from their sins. Let us never underestimate the importance of what God is asking us to do. For Abram, it all started when God asked him to move. And Abram obeyed God and moved even when that was the only step that he knew to take. God would teach him as he went.
God has called you to do something and if you will listen and obey Him, He will do His good work through you so that He will be glorified. God might not be asking you to move, but He certainly asks us to pray, read our Bible, fellowship with believers, love one another, worship Him and make disciples. Though maybe He’s also asking you to teach a Sunday school class, work with the widows in your community or serve the needs of the sick or orphaned. There are many different things God could be asking you to do to serve Him. Have you been faithful in obeying that call? Why not pray and ask God to give you the courage and strength to obey Him.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Friday, February 28, 2020
Battling Temptation
Battling Temptation
Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:9-24
Focus Verse: Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."
Temptation does not single out people. Temptation comes to everyone, Christian or not. As a Christian we can have victory over temptation, and we do that by memorizing the word of God. Let us not forget that God is in control of everything. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give into it." NLT
Let us be sure that we are not putting ourselves into tempting situations. If you have a weakness with alcohol, don't stand in the doorway to the bar. If your weakness is remaining pure sexually, don't go to places where you would see things that would tempt you to do something wrong. Whatever your weakness is (and you know what it is) you can be sure that is where Satan will attack you. If you think that you are never tempted, then you are deceived and may be in the most danger of all. He will not hit you at your strong point. Remember Jesus has given us the example of how to overcome temptation, and that is through His word.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:9-24
Focus Verse: Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."
Temptation does not single out people. Temptation comes to everyone, Christian or not. As a Christian we can have victory over temptation, and we do that by memorizing the word of God. Let us not forget that God is in control of everything. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give into it." NLT
Let us be sure that we are not putting ourselves into tempting situations. If you have a weakness with alcohol, don't stand in the doorway to the bar. If your weakness is remaining pure sexually, don't go to places where you would see things that would tempt you to do something wrong. Whatever your weakness is (and you know what it is) you can be sure that is where Satan will attack you. If you think that you are never tempted, then you are deceived and may be in the most danger of all. He will not hit you at your strong point. Remember Jesus has given us the example of how to overcome temptation, and that is through His word.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Friday, February 14, 2020
God Will Make a Way
God Will Make a Way:
if your heart is ready and willing
Scripture reading: Luke 19:1-9
Focus verse: Luke 19:3-4, “He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran a head and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”
Zacchaeus was chief tax collector and a wealthy man. Possibly he was a well-educated man given his position in the government. He was not liked by many people; they referred to him as a sinner. Possibly he loved bribes and could take tax more than required. We are also told that he was a short man. In spite of all these, he heard that Jesus was passing through his town (Jericho) and he decided in his heart that he too would see who Jesus was. Because of his short stature and being that many people were following Jesus, he realized that his desire to see Jesus could not be possible since the crowd was a barrier. Still determined in his heart to see Jesus, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree that was on the road where Jesus was to pass through. Jesus reached the spot, looking up he saw Zacchaeus and he told him to climb down since He was going to stay at his house. So he came down at once!
We should stop focusing on our limitations but focus on God who is able do all things. God will always provide a way for us to reach him or to do his work if we are ready and willing. He doesn’t require us to be perfect before we can reach Him or serve him. Like Zacchaeus, all human beings are sinners and limited in one way or another but still we can reach God no matter what tries to hinder us. The way of God may seem undesirable or unpleasant before men and it requires a lot of humility for one to find it. God provided the sycamore-fig tree for Zacchaeus to use in reaching to Him but it needed a lot of humility and self-decrease by Zacchaeus given his position and wealth in order to climb it. There are many sycamore-fig trees around us that God provides for us to reach him but we have to decrease ourselves (humble) in order to grab one. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. There are things we cannot change in our nature just like Zacchaeus couldn’t change his height, but God will always provide us with a way out if we ready and willing.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
if your heart is ready and willing
Scripture reading: Luke 19:1-9
Focus verse: Luke 19:3-4, “He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran a head and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.”
Zacchaeus was chief tax collector and a wealthy man. Possibly he was a well-educated man given his position in the government. He was not liked by many people; they referred to him as a sinner. Possibly he loved bribes and could take tax more than required. We are also told that he was a short man. In spite of all these, he heard that Jesus was passing through his town (Jericho) and he decided in his heart that he too would see who Jesus was. Because of his short stature and being that many people were following Jesus, he realized that his desire to see Jesus could not be possible since the crowd was a barrier. Still determined in his heart to see Jesus, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree that was on the road where Jesus was to pass through. Jesus reached the spot, looking up he saw Zacchaeus and he told him to climb down since He was going to stay at his house. So he came down at once!
We should stop focusing on our limitations but focus on God who is able do all things. God will always provide a way for us to reach him or to do his work if we are ready and willing. He doesn’t require us to be perfect before we can reach Him or serve him. Like Zacchaeus, all human beings are sinners and limited in one way or another but still we can reach God no matter what tries to hinder us. The way of God may seem undesirable or unpleasant before men and it requires a lot of humility for one to find it. God provided the sycamore-fig tree for Zacchaeus to use in reaching to Him but it needed a lot of humility and self-decrease by Zacchaeus given his position and wealth in order to climb it. There are many sycamore-fig trees around us that God provides for us to reach him but we have to decrease ourselves (humble) in order to grab one. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. There are things we cannot change in our nature just like Zacchaeus couldn’t change his height, but God will always provide us with a way out if we ready and willing.
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Not Every Storm Calmed
Not Every Storm Calmed
Scripture reading: Matthew 14:22-32
Focus verse: Matthew 14:28-29 – “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “Tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.
A few weeks ago I had the experience of riding on a passenger motor boat on a very stormy lake. I didn’t like it and I prayed that it would calm down but it was never calming but instead getting worse. I was tempted to think thank God is not listening to my prayers and I thought I really needed to begin confessing any sins in my life if this was the reason my plea was not being answered according to how I wanted it. So tough it was that I began to think of what’s next for my family if die then this verse of Jesus walking on water came to me. God spoke to me in midst of the storm and told me that not all storms are to be calmed, others you will walk over them as Jesus did. At one time He calmed the storm but on another note He walked over them and gave Peter the power to walk over them too and we too must prepare ourselves with the same mind.
Storms are part of our everyday life. We have storms of sicknesses, rejection, divorce, separation, poverty, shame, death, persecution among others. Many at times we pray that God would lift them out because they seem too heavy for us to bear. We feel much pain when our physical health is deteriorating and we find hard when our needs constrains us. Yes, it’s ok to pray for God take out the condition from us but at the same time we need to prepare our hearts and mind to be ready to accept what is God’s will for us. Unlike other disciples in the boat, Peter became different from the other eleven disciples since he is the only disciples who walked over water. Storms of life can make us be different from others in our faith and it can be a way that God uses to make us be different from others. Our storm experience can be a source of motivation for them who would go through them some day. Storms make to rely on God and see him as our only source of help. We trust him more for his help.
Paul, 2 Cor. 1: 8-9 – We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on our strength but on God, who raises the death. Also in 2 Cor. 12:7-9 Paul indicates that he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelations. Three times he prayed for God to take it away but God told him that His grace is sufficient for him, and that His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul finishes by saying that “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power may rest on me.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Scripture reading: Matthew 14:22-32
Focus verse: Matthew 14:28-29 – “Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “Tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.
A few weeks ago I had the experience of riding on a passenger motor boat on a very stormy lake. I didn’t like it and I prayed that it would calm down but it was never calming but instead getting worse. I was tempted to think thank God is not listening to my prayers and I thought I really needed to begin confessing any sins in my life if this was the reason my plea was not being answered according to how I wanted it. So tough it was that I began to think of what’s next for my family if die then this verse of Jesus walking on water came to me. God spoke to me in midst of the storm and told me that not all storms are to be calmed, others you will walk over them as Jesus did. At one time He calmed the storm but on another note He walked over them and gave Peter the power to walk over them too and we too must prepare ourselves with the same mind.
Storms are part of our everyday life. We have storms of sicknesses, rejection, divorce, separation, poverty, shame, death, persecution among others. Many at times we pray that God would lift them out because they seem too heavy for us to bear. We feel much pain when our physical health is deteriorating and we find hard when our needs constrains us. Yes, it’s ok to pray for God take out the condition from us but at the same time we need to prepare our hearts and mind to be ready to accept what is God’s will for us. Unlike other disciples in the boat, Peter became different from the other eleven disciples since he is the only disciples who walked over water. Storms of life can make us be different from others in our faith and it can be a way that God uses to make us be different from others. Our storm experience can be a source of motivation for them who would go through them some day. Storms make to rely on God and see him as our only source of help. We trust him more for his help.
Paul, 2 Cor. 1: 8-9 – We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on our strength but on God, who raises the death. Also in 2 Cor. 12:7-9 Paul indicates that he was given a thorn in his flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him and keep him from becoming conceited because of the surpassing great revelations. Three times he prayed for God to take it away but God told him that His grace is sufficient for him, and that His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul finishes by saying that “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ power may rest on me.”
Pastor Eliazar Wambo
Makira Baptist Church, Mfangano Kenya
Friday, January 31, 2020
Plenty During a Famine
Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 7
Focus Verse: 2 Kings 7:9 “Finally, they said to each other, This is not right. This is a day of good news and we aren’t sharing it with anyone. If we wait until morning, some calamity will certainly fall upon us. Come on, let’s go back and tell the people at the palace.”
What an odd story we find in 2 Kings 7. Here are four men dying of leprosy at the city gate during a famine. Not only are they starving, but everyone in the city is also starving. So the four lepers decide to go visit the enemy camp to see if there is food there. Thinking they may be killed by the enemy, but they thought it was a risk they should take to find some food. Much to their surprise when they got to the enemy camp not a person was there. All their food, gold, silver, and possessions were all there in their tents. So the four men began eating their fill for food. They took some of the gold and silver and hid it. But there was so much they could not carry it all away. Then they began to feel guilty. Here they were enjoying all these good things while the people back in their town are starving. So they decided to go back and tell what they had found.
This story reminds me of how we treat the Gospel message sometimes. As believers in Christ we have found the truth of God’s Word and salvation. And we sit around feasting on it, and rarely telling another person what we have found. The world is out there starving spiritually. Let us do as the lepers did and go back and tell of the riches we have found through a relationship with God. We have plenty, so let’s share what we have found. The best way you could show someone that you love them is to tell them about Jesus.
Bobby Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Hope of Success
Scripture reading: Numbers 13
Focus verses: “The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites… Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." Numbers 13:1a, 30-31
The Lord told Moses to send some men to explore the promised land that He is giving to them. (He didn't tell them to decide if they could take it, but that it was being given.) After the appointed men explored, they saw that the land was very good, but most of them complained that it would be too difficult to take over the powerful people and fortified cities. They began to spread lies about the land, saying that it was a bad land and the people were giants. They lost their hope and treated God with contempt.
Caleb saw the good land and trusted in the God who said that He was giving them the land. In Numbers 14 we see that Joshua joins Caleb in declaring the land to be good and trusting in God's protection and promise.
We may not always know what God is giving us, but we can trust God to deliver us if we are trusting in Him, even in the face of our own personal giants. Do not give up hope in God. Do not treat God with contempt and rebel against Him. Walk in confidence as Caleb and Joshua did.
~Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
Focus verses: “The Lord said to Moses, "Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites… Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." Numbers 13:1a, 30-31
The Lord told Moses to send some men to explore the promised land that He is giving to them. (He didn't tell them to decide if they could take it, but that it was being given.) After the appointed men explored, they saw that the land was very good, but most of them complained that it would be too difficult to take over the powerful people and fortified cities. They began to spread lies about the land, saying that it was a bad land and the people were giants. They lost their hope and treated God with contempt.
Caleb saw the good land and trusted in the God who said that He was giving them the land. In Numbers 14 we see that Joshua joins Caleb in declaring the land to be good and trusting in God's protection and promise.
We may not always know what God is giving us, but we can trust God to deliver us if we are trusting in Him, even in the face of our own personal giants. Do not give up hope in God. Do not treat God with contempt and rebel against Him. Walk in confidence as Caleb and Joshua did.
~Page Johnson
Interlocking Ministries
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