WORD OF THE WEEK
What Egypt represents
Psalm 81:10 NLT
For it was I, the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things.
The Old Testament Egypt represented oppression, slavery, cruelty, man’s inhumanity to man.
A nation decide to enslave another nation, simply because this other nation came there looking for food and sustenance
It was so bad that the Pharaoh instructed all male children born to the Israelites to be killed.
Why did the Pharaoh do this?
If you read Exodus 1, you will see that that particular Pharaoh came into power who had no record of Joseph and the help he rendered to keep the Egyptians alive.
This Pharaoh just saw the Israelites as a multitude of people, he saw them as a threat and he was afraid of them
Yes, the fear of the Israelites was the motivation for the cruelty
This Pharaoh became the one that instigated unimaginable cruelty and wickedness to a nation
So, what can we learn from the Old Testament Egypt?
- Egypt represents the person you did good for, who now persecutes you in their forgetfulness
- Your enemies are afraid of you. They are afraid of your future, they are afraid that you will become greater than them
- No evil deed will go unpunished. I used to feel bad when people commit heinous crimes and they receive little or no punishment. But one day, God spoke to my heart that no one can escape the justice of God. The Egyptians killed innocent children. Their own children were also killed in their prime
- God will recompense and repay you for the injustices done to you. The Egyptians coughed out the unpaid wages of the Israelites at the last minute. The Bible says in the book of Job, ‘he has swallows down riches, he will vomit it, God shall cast it out of his belly’. The Israelites collected their gold and valuable clothing
- The Egyptians trained Moses who became the deliverer God used. When your enemies come against you, they are instruments that God uses to lift you up.
Egypt represents a great enmity that God turned around for the good of His children
May God give us victory over every adversary and make all our enemies to serve us in Jesus Name
MESSAGE OF THE WEEK
Adversity to Victory 1 - Joy
Psalm 118:13 AMPC
“You [my adversary] thrust sorely at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.”
Adversity is a contrary situation, an unpleasant event that was totally unexpected. Adversity could be a sickness, a financial situation gone bad, enmity, homelessness, hardship, bereavement: things that you don’t expect, a situation that throws you off balance.
You were going on a straight road, life was good. Suddenly, life throws you a curve.
You don’t even know where you are:
You don’t even know whether you are dangling from the sky, whether you are in a valley, whether you are in a pit or a tunnel.
You are wondering, ‘what is going on?’
For the next few weeks, we will be dealing with this topic; Adversity to Victory.
I want you to know that no matter the adversity there is victory in Jesus Christ
One of the ways to overcome adversity is joy
One of the first things that happen when you face an adverse situation is to feel sorrowful, sad, discouraged, despondent and depressed.
These are all deadly emotions which if unchecked can paralyse emotionally and ultimately kill a person.
The effects of the adversity first starts like discouragement, then it escalates to terrible depression that can lead to suicidal thoughts and then maybe suicide
God told Joshua in Joshua 1 ‘be strong and of good courage’ 3 times because God knows how deadly discouragement can be, if unchecked.
The antidote to discouragement is joy.
Nehemiah 8:10b says
This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!
Joy will not come to you automatically when facing adversity. You must make a deliberate effort, you must be intentional in cultivating joy.
Sing even when you don’t feel like singing
Play godly music and listen to good Christian messages in your home.
Do this even if you are on the move. Play godly music and good Christian messages in your car, play them on your phone and listen with your AirPods or headphones.
Saturate your environment intentionally with what will make you happy and joyful.
Do this as many times as possible
Any time you start to feel burdened and weighed down by the weight of what you are going through, go back to listening to the godly music and Christian messages
Remember your real adversary is the devil. He wants to use the occasion of the adversity to destroy you.
But we will continually fortify ourselves in the Lord and none of us will be a prey to the teeth of our enemies in Jesus Name