I was born in October and cease the opportunity of my month of anniversary to wish everyone born in the tenth month of the year happy birthday. May you enjoy an uncommon favor and blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. I thank God for keeping me and my family alive; sustaining and protecting as well as helping me stand sentinel in my duty post doing His calling on my life. I believe He is taking me somewhere and there is no turning back until full consummation. Permit me to appreciate those who have been in my life, encouraging and supporting Weefree ministries throughout the past years. You shall be richly blessed. The journey has not been easy but I am still hanging in there and matching on.
It is also pertinent to salute those unfriendly friends who have kept me on toes spiritually and otherwise. Those who had acted as great friends turned out as great betrayals; ganged up to fabricate false stories against me. The wicked conceives troubles and brings forth falsehood (Psalm 7:14b). A wicked person walks with a perverse mouth; winks his eyes, shuttles his feet and points his fingers. But perversity is in his heart and he devises evil continually (Proverbs 6:12-14). The Psalmist says our frame is not hidden from God (Psalm 139:15a). The righteous God tests the hearts and minds; judges our motives, words and actions. You have made me grow in the Lord and kept me vigilant. God has turned your bad motives and wicked actions into unexplainable blessings.
Our Daily Manna of July 26-27, 2010 had a devotional titled: When the evidence is true but the story is false [Part 1 & 2]. It was another encounter with the God that frustrates the token of liars (Isaiah 44:25); the God who fetches water with baskets to shame those walking around with empty pots and buckets. The book of Genesis 39:11-12 record, “Potiphar’s wife caught Joseph by his garment saying, lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and ran outside.” It was the garment that she showed the world to see. Joseph’s garment in the hand of Potiphar’s wife was the evidence. She gathered the men of the house saying “see he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice …..he left his garment with me and ran outside (vs. 14-15). These lies she told her husband when he returned to the house (vs. 17-18); provoked her husband’s anger and caused Joseph to be put in prison. She tighted a false story to true evidence. Even in prison, the Lord was with Joseph; no one except God could prove his innocence.
In life and even in ministry, there are times and phases where your marks shall attract false stories by unfriendly friends and even the enemies of your calling. They conspire and lie against you, fabricate false stories just to satisfy their inner desires; bring you down and you can do nothing about it except to pray for God’s vindication and mercies (Psalm 109: 2-4). Proverbs 12:19 says, “The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying is but for a moment.”
In another instance, if Mary (Jesus’ mother) was a member of any Church in our era, would any High priest (Church Leaders) have believed that the Holy Spirit was responsible for her pregnancy. I doubt it since most revelations in our new Church era are spoken from cultural prejudices, denominational doctrines and traditional theology as well as public opinion psychology (what the crowd wants to hear). She would have been summoned to the court of the Church and sanctioned. She would have been brand a liar and accused of trying to obscure her male sex partner. They may have no need for male sex partner, except for child support since the pregnancy was their evidence. Lesbianism wasn’t a popular option, if at all it exists; but mere mentioned of it in the scripture even in those early days suggests the affirmative. Again, even in the case of woman brought to Jesus and accused of committing adultery had no male partner (John 8:3f). Medical opinions would have confirmed that the pregnancy was as a result of sexual intercourse; a DNA test result would have done no good as it would have left experts in disarray and additional meaningless researches and disputes. According to the provision of the Law of Moses, she could have been stoned to death.
Another unbelievable incidence is recorded in the book of 1 Samuel 1: 12f. In the morning about 9 am, Eli – the High Priest had seated in the doorpost of the tabernacle (vs.9b) while Hannah knelt in a distance in bitterness of soul, weeping and meditating to the Lord. That great man of God accused Hannah of being drunk of too much wine. Who would have believed otherwise? Eli had observed her a while and unable to understand what she was saying because the Spirit of the Lord had left him. I want to think that Eli was going through a lot of misgivings or put it another way in emotional trauma since he longer heard from God because His children had defiled the sanctity of the temple under his nose. However he still had on the cassock and bore the label of a high priest. Little wonder God boycotted him and spoke with his servant, boy Samuel. God still spoke through kids today, only when we listen to them. The high priest was still living in self-denial.
Times may have changed but the attitude persists. The Lord knows those who are truly His, sees their hearts and thoughts. Christians should be very careful to make conclusions based on what they see or told; especially when it comes from those who claim to be God’s authorities. No matter what we do, don’t forget that there shall be accountability. No one can deceive God. We should not forget that even though God was with Joseph, yet he went through the pit, prison before getting to the palace. God works in a mysterious way; His angel convinced Joseph to take his wife, Mary for this thing came from the Lord. As the child Samuel weaned, Hannah presented him to the Lord and she said to Eli, ……my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here meditating to the Lord (you accused of a being drunk of wine); ….for this child I prayed for and the Lord granted me the petition I asked from Him (1 Samuel 1:24-27). So shall the Lord vindicate you in all the false charges and misconstructions levied against you by turning them into pleasant surprises and uncommon blessing? Enjoy your Digest and remain blessed.
Reach Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill @weefreeministries.org or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272.