WHAT DO YOU HAVE?

WHAT DO YOU HAVE?

'What do you have in your house?' 2 Kings 4:2

When you pray, God can answer in two ways: 1) He can use somebody you know. Who do you know? Who knows what you don't know? Jesus said, 'Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom' (Luke 6:38 KJV). Note the word 'men'. When God blesses you, He often does it through people. So who should you be listening to and walking with? 'He who walks with wise men will be wise' (Proverbs 13:20 NKJV). Observe the word 'walks'. Wisdom comes when you're moving forward, not resting on your laurels. You must be teachable, discerning, relational, and responsive. 2) He can use something you have. In 2 Kings 4 a minister's wife was in trouble. Her husband had died, the bills were piling up and the creditors took her sons to work off the debt. When she turned to the prophet Elisha for help, he asked her, 'What do you have in your house?' She answered, 'Just a little pot of oil.' He replied, 'Find every empty pot you can and start pouring oil into them. If you do, you'll have enough to pay off your debts and live well' (2 Kings 4:3-7). With God you always have enough to create what you need! He can do 'immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us' (Ephesians 3:20 NIV). Where's the power? Within you! Your resources are in your gifting, your tenacity, your relationships and your connection to God. So the word for you today is: What do you have?

Obama speaks on missing Chibok girls, says Nigerian govt has not been as effective as it needs to be

President Obama was recently interviewed by YouTube stars, Bethany Mota, GloZell Green & Hank Green and one of the questions he was asked was about the missing Chibok girls and efforts by the US government to rescue them. What he said below...

"As people may or may not know, Boko haram is a radical, violent, terrible extremist organisation in Nigeria. It kidnapped 200 young women and there are in many cases still being held. What we tried to do is to help the Nigerian government deal with the problem. The Nigerian government has not been effective as it needs to be in not only finding the girls but also stopping these extremist organization from operating in their territory. What we have tried to do is to mobilize other countries to try to give the Nigerian government more resources, not just military equipment but also better intelligence. A lot of them to track where these folks are and try to stop them" he said

Take Responsibility

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

'Don't try to disclaim responsibility.' Proverbs 24:11

A woman went shopping one day and came home with a very expensive dress. Her budget-conscious husband was very upset and demanded to know what on earth possessed her. 'The devil made me do it,' she replied sweetly. He asked, 'Well, why didn't you say, "Get thee behind me, satan?" 'I did,' she replied. 'But he said it looked great from the back as well--so I had to buy it!' Satan is an expert at distorting the truth by getting us to blame circumstances and other people for our mistakes; that way we never have to take responsibility. But as Albert Ellis observed, 'The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology or the government. You realise you control your own destiny.' Florence Nightingale, hero-nurse of the Crimean War, said, 'I attribute my success to one thing: I never gave or took an excuse.' When a winner messes up, they admit they were wrong and ask for forgiveness. When a loser makes a mistake, they immediately look for somebody or something to blame. The Bible says, 'Don't try to disclaim responsibility by saying you didn't know... God... knows you knew! And he will reward... according to [your] deeds.' David constantly prayed about his shortcomings, and his honesty helped make him 'a man after [God's] own heart' (1 Samuel 13:14 KJV). Instead of denying and defending your mistakes, take responsibility, learn from them and move on. That's how you grow!

What Has God Said About You? (4)

If your vision is to be a great parent, that doesn’t mean you don’t have great faith. It just means you understand your calling. All Moses’ mother did was give birth—but what a baby! God protected her son when she couldn’t do a thing to help him. Then He arranged to have him raised in Pharaoh’s royal courts. And when you discover God’s purpose for your life, He will provide for you, too! Some days your vision won’t look like it’s coming together. As a child, Joseph dreamed of being a great leader, but before he could get to the palace, he had to go through the prison. Pastor James Petro says, ‘You can’t build a foundation in a storm, so God will prepare you in advance.’ Sometimes your vision will seem to die before it springs to life. That happened to Abraham. ‘Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations…he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised’ (vv. 18-21 NIV). Paul wrote, ‘We are fools for Christ…’ (1Corinthians 4:10 NIV). God uses radical people who don’t care how they look: people who’ve survived difficult pasts, defied the odds, held onto their vision, and declared, ‘My God is able!’ And you can be one of those people!

What Has God Said About You? (3)

When God tells you to give of your finances in order to fulfil someone else’s vision, you must realise: 1) He’s testing your faith and your willingness to obey in difficult circumstances. When Elijah the prophet asked a widow to share her last meal with him, the timing seemed strange. There was a famine in the land and people were dying. Who would have blamed her for saying no? But by putting God’s interests before her own, she connected herself to a divine, unending source of supply. The Bible says: ‘Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously …God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work’ (vv. 6-8 NIV). 2) He’s giving you an opportunity to sow into another’s life and reap in your own. We love to quote, ‘My God will meet all your needs…’ (Philippians 4:19 NIV), but do you remember who this promise was made to? It was written to those who supported Paul’s ministry. ‘When I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again, when I was in need’ (vv. 15-16 NIV). Then Paul added these words: ‘My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.’ When you give, you invest in an account you can draw on when you have a need yourself.