Word of the week
Acts 11:24 NLT says:
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.
I’m always fascinated by the story of Barnabas and Paul. Though they were ministry associates, Barnabas was spared the cruel beatings and troubles Paul went through.
Barnabas and Paul were separated at the point that Paul was to start receiving some serious beatings and persecution.
Why? The Bible says Barnabas was a GOOD man.
Meanwhile Paul formerly Saul had ordered cruel beatings of Christians and sanctioned the killing of Stephen, one of the deacons of the early church. Paul had sowed evil acts and harvest time came for me.
But Barnabas, Paul’s associate was miraculously spared this trouble.
It reminds me of the Scriptures in Proverbs 11:21 that say though hand joins in hand the wicked will not be unpunished.
Notwithstanding all of these, Paul received mercy and lived to full old age. He greatly impacted the world through the penmanship of the mighty Scriptures and through great miracles, signs, and wonders.
What does this say?
Even if you’ve been bad, there is always hope for you. For every bad thing you may have done, God will temper justice with mercy for you and you will have victory.
Have a great year.
God bless you. Amen
Message of the week
Psalm 10:14 NLT
“But you see the trouble and grief they cause. You take note of it and punish them. The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans.”
I want to tell you the story of a lady I know. I will call her Tola though that’s not her real name. Many years ago, Tola’s dad died and her uncle was appointed the administrator of the father’s estate.
The uncle proceeded to appropriate all the resources from the estate to himself leaving Tola, her mum, and siblings in penury.
Tola was so impoverished that as a medical student she did not have money to buy a single textbook.
One day, her uncle asked to see her. Tola was very happy that she was going to get some money from her uncle at last.
The only problem was she didn’t have any money for transport, so she set out trekking from where she was for 2 hours to meet her uncle.
Upon getting to the uncle’s house, he was just going back and forth without saying anything tangible.
Long story short, Tola did not receive a dime from her uncle. Now, don’t forget that she had trekked for 2 hours to get there.
So, Tola had no choice but to trek back to where she came from for another 2 hours. She said that as she was trekking back, she was crying bitterly for the injustice she faced.
Let me fast forward the story.
Today, Tola is a professor in the field of Medicine. She now became the one giving this uncle a feeding allowance because the man had now fallen into penury himself.
God does take note of trouble and grief to punish the perpetrators.
My friend’s husband said many years ago that there is no need to quarrel with anybody. Everyone is being used by God, whether they do good to you or evil.
I want to encourage you that God is on top of everything and He will repay those who have hurt you or those who try to hurt.
In this new year be at peace knowing that God sees.
Have a great year.
God bless you. Amen
