I am really excited to write this particular post as there is nothing better than when a piece of truth excites and changes you and more importantly conveys the heart of the Lord.

The year 2011 for many, either personally or nationally has been challenging financially. We all know Christians caught up in the economic crisis and political upheaval the world is going through. For us Christians, our confession, rightly has been that God will continue to protect and provide for us. Such is our confidence in the finished work of God. The question then is, are there any biblical principles that we need to follow during these periods. What I am about to share is just one of many biblical truths, as I believe that we know in part.

This post centres on the subject of worship. In the midst of a crisis around us, our reaction should be one of worship. Worship by definition is someone or something that we give our thoughts and attention to.  Even if we give all our attention to the problem and not to God, there is a danger that we begin to ‘worship’ the problem i.e. elevate the problem before the worship of God.

Worship here means an active response. At the beginning of the year, as I was praying, the Lord shared a word with me ‘Worship only Him’. Puzzled by what this could mean, I discovered that worship was the biblical response to a crisis. I discovered that almost without exception, from Genesis to Revelation, the people of God worshipped Him whenever there was a crisis.

Worship enables us to bring God into the situation and begin to see things from His perspective. Worship enables us to stay close to the Father’s heart and get His view on things.  When this happens, we begin to speak out of the revelation that we have received and victory will come. Space does not permit me to go into all the scriptural references to crisis and worship but consider Job in Job 1:8 and David in 2 Kings 12:20 and you will understand what I mean

However, if there is one area I am going to be focusing on this year, it’s my worship life. If biblical characters reacted with worship as a way of dealing with crisis, then we would be wise to do the same.

I trust that I have shared a valuable insight from the scriptures and so until I appear again in your inbox with more insight from the scriptures, keep on actively worshipping Him.

Stay blessed

Ola

www.christianbusinessmagazine.com

The challenge the author poses is self explanatory in the title for this post. It is a challenge that we should take a few minutes to consider. More importantly, we need to ask ourselves whether living within God’s means is a reality within our lives and not just about faith talk.

The text I am quoting is taken directly from the title ‘Kingdom finances’ in the second chapter of the book. I believe that he shares this more adequately than I can put in words.

“Unfortunately, most of us in the church are still thinking like the older brother We have lost sight of the fact that we don’t just work on the farm –we are sons and daughters of the Owner, and our Dad has plenty! I believe this revelation will totally change the way we think and plan for our futures. Most of us are still looking at our provisions (what our bank account says) to help us determine our visions, and therefore are living within our means instead of His blessings!
For example, if we are constructing a building, we argue that we must give up some other project to cover the cost. Yet we have been called to live beyond reason and far beyond the borders of our own abilities.

“Paul said it best, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). He said, God will supply all of our needs according to His riches). He is not supplying according to my needs but according to His glory”

He goes on to explain that we are called to live by faith, whether our bank accounts are full or not. I was very challenged by these words of wisdom and if I am really honest, I do live within my means (after all that was what I was brought up to do). I believe that whilst this is right, there is another realm that is possible to live in – the realm of God’s means.
As we move into 2012, why not ask yourself the same question I asked myself, am I living within my means or within His means. If you are living within your means, why not ask God change your perspective and give you a new mindset. Once we can ‘see it’, then we can ‘believe it’ and then we can ultimately ‘have it)

That’s exactly what I will be doing. I hope you have enjoyed this week’s short post. So until I appear again in your inbox with more insights from the scriptures, stay blessed.

Ola
www.christianbusinessmagazine.com
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I had heard this comment made many times before and somehow
I think it’s a statement that a lot of people make and even believe in.  It’s something that many of us might have said
at one time or the other; something along the lines of “God always comes
through at the last minute”.

I am not sure whether we have developed this idea out of our
personal experience (and yes, there are times that God comes through at what
‘seems’ the last minute to us. It could also be the story of Paul and Silas,
when God sent an angel at the midnight hour (Acts 16) or even the story of
Daniel (when God said that He had heard Daniel’s prayer from the first day he started
praying, though he did not answer until 21 days later (Daniel 10).

The scriptures do not read that God always comes through at
the last minute and therefore, we should also delete it from our
‘sayings’.  There are a few dangers with
this saying.

The danger is that subconsciously, we are diluting the
sovereignty of God. I believe that God answers prayers when He chooses to,
whether we consider it to be the first, tenth, fourteenth or last hour. Prayer
is not a science.

The second danger of this is that we become a bit
complacent. We stop being like the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-7) whom the
Judge had to get up ‘quickly’ so she could stop bothering him. We shouldn’t
subject ourselves to ‘involuntary longsuffering’ and/or unnecessary warfare.

Thirdly, we begin to believe what we say and our expectation
is based on our belief system. The bible says that out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaks

The truth is God is God and whilst He has given us
principles about prayer from the scriptures, He answers prayers in His timing,
in His way and for His purpose. The scriptures do not contain God, they reveal
Him. The same God that answered at the midnight hour also says in His word that
before we speak, He will answer our prayers (Isaiah 65:24). Another version of
Isaiah 65:24 says while we are praying God will answer.

So next time you might be tempted
to say “God always comes through at the last minute” and even accept your belief
systems to that effect, remember the sovereignty of God.

I think a better statement would be “Sometimes,
God appears to come through at the last minute”.

So until I appear again in your inbox with more insight from
the scriptures or life, stay blessed.

www.christianbusinessmagazine.com

Interestingly, in the last post we discussed the importance of knowing when a season has ended in one’s life. Here we discuss the importance of letting people go when their
‘season’ in your life is over.

Back to my example, initially I had relied on the people working alongside me
because of their specialised knowledge. As people left, I was sacred, just in
case I could not find people to replace them with similar skills.  One day, I woke up to the realisation that everyone had left, I was all alone and I had to get on with the job. I started to look out for others who could step into their shoes and guess what! I found,
another group of people. Suddenly, I realised that I was not ‘helpless’ as I had initially thought. I also discovered that I was a lot more competent in areas I would not previously have been. This taught me a lesson, sometimes when people leave; it is not all bad news.  I should have remembered that the project was God’s idea and all I needed was the courage to move on.

I was encouraged to read of examples from the scriptures where people left others
and it was actually better that they did. Let’s consider a few examples:

a) The most obvious example of someone leaving is the story of Lot and Abraham. The
story can be read in Genesis 13 and the departure was caused in an effort to avoid conflict. When Lot left his uncle, the next thing that happened was  that God gave Abraham a wonderful promise. (Genesis 13:14)

b) Another example is Elijah and Elisha, as recorded in 2 Kings 21:1-15. God was going to
take Elijah home. Here the departure was caused by death, but the departure was
necessary so that Elisha could receive a double portion of the Spirit of God upon Elijah

c) Another interesting example perhaps,  is that of Paul and Barnabas as described in Acts 13:13. Having worked together on a missionary journey with two assistants, Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement over Mark John, whom Paul did not want to take along on any future journeys. The departure was caused by a difference of opinion. We don’t know how the reconciliation took place other than the fact that Mark John was valuable to Paul later on in his life (2 Timothy 4:11)

d) The last example I want to highlight and is possibly the most familiar, is of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He stated that it was better that He leaves so that the disciples (who were now very dependent upon Him) could have the Holy Spirit and do even greater works than He had done (John 16:7). His departure was for our benefit.

In conclusion, there are times when people have to depart from our lives.

So until I appear again in your inbox with more insights from the scriptures                          and from life, stay blessed

Ola

www.christianbusinessmagazine.com

We live in a Christian culture where the word season implies
an almost endless period, whether it is of blessings, finance etc and we are
always being told that we are now in one season of God or the other. I agree
with all that but the word season means a period of time, though the word could
also mean a recurrent period, such as a holiday season. Seasons, by their
definition have a start and end date, even if the end is transformed into
something else

I started to think about my own live. I asked myself the
question – do I know when one season is over and it’s time to move on. The
honest answer is I don’t. I expect a season to last forever.

The danger of this
type of thinking is that it makes it difficult for us to move on, or worse
still, God has moved on and we still think of where He was. Whilst it may not
be difficult to embrace new challenges, these then clog our lives as it is yet
another thing that we have taken on that has no end. This can lead to unnecessary
stress.

I am aware that this is something personal to me but I
really wonder how many of us think consciously of God’s season coming to an
end. If we are need a biblical reference for this, let’s turn to Ecclesiastes
3.

There is
a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to
die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace

Understanding God’s time is crucial to how we live our
lives. So I guess the million dollar question is, do you recognise when a
season has come to an end and I believe that unless there are physical signs,
such as when winter leads to spring, we know the end of a season by revelation.

It took God to tell Joshua that they had stayed on the
mountain long enough and it was now time to go in and possess the Promised
Land. We know the end of a season by staying in the vine, the master planner of
our lives.

I really pray that we will know how a season has ended so
that we can make quick and accurate progress in life. Trust this has been a
blessing to you, so until I appear again in your inbox, stay blessed

Ola

We all have priorities in life and one person’s priority might
not necessarily be important to another person. However, as believers, it is
important that we know and walk in God’s priorities i.e. the things that are
important to Him. In this article, we examine one of the things that’s
important to Him: His house.

One of my favourite pieces of scripture is mentioned in
Exodus 12:6-7.  The reason why this has
been an intriguing piece of scripture is because the secret of Moses’
face-to-face encounter with God is found in this verse and I reckoned that if I
could find the secret, then I would experience what Moses experienced.

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the LORD, make Myself known
to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.

Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;

And he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

The secret to Moses’ face to face encounter was his
faithfulness in the house of God. Let’s consider another example.

In the book of Haggai, God was annoyed with the Israelites
because they were building their own houses and were relatively unconcerned
about God’s house (Haggai 1:4-9).

“Is it time for you yourselves to
dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵ Now
therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! (verse 4)………. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you
brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My
house that is in ruins, while
every one of you runs to his own house (verse 9)

Here God is telling the people off for building their own
house, whilst neglecting His. From this scripture we understand that God is
concerned about His house.

Also, in 2 Samuel 7, we note that David had built himself a
beautiful house but he was not happy that God did not have a house to dwell in.
David knew that a house was important to God.

Moreover, because I have
set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God,
over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special
treasure of gold and silver …… (1 Chronicles 29:3 ff)

The concept of God’s house is one that is important to God. In
whatever context the phrase ‘the house of God’ is used in scripture, it simply
means the place where God has chosen to place His name, whether that is in a
physical building, in believers or amongst believers. We need to set our heart
and affection on the house of God.

God blessed David with covenant blessings after he sought
the house of God (2 Samuel 7:5-16). With Moses, God gave him a face-to-face
encounter (Numbers 12:7). It appears that there is a blessing to those to whom
the house of God is important.

My prayer today is that God would show us how to be faithful
in His house and experience the blessings associated with pursuing His house. I
trust that this post would help you on your journey to sharing what’s important
to God

This is a concept I am very interested in and I would like
to share in any further revelations you might have about the subject. So until
I hear from you or appear again in your inbox, stay blessed

Ola

www.christianbusinessmagazine.com

Oh! By the way, if you have never been to the wonderful
Island of Crete, off the Greece mainland, it is thoroughly recommended.

For the past few weeks, there has been a thought at the back
of my mind. It’s one of those thoughts that wouldn’t go away and has also
informed the directions of my prayers. The thought centres on the anointing.

Many of us are very familiar with this word. Many times in
church, we sing about the anointing and invariably end up asking the Holy
Spirit to anoint us. However, the thought that I want to share with you in this
post is quite simple. The anointing does not come in isolation. It is given for
a purpose.

The anointing simply means a supernatural endowment from God
to fulfil a particular task. It is God’s supernatural empowerment or enabling.
From the Old Testament, we are familiar with the Priest, Prophets and Kings
being anointed before they could function in their posts.

The same principle is illustrated in the New Testament.
Perhaps the one that stands out the most is Acts 10:38 where it is recorded that
Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and He went about doing good and
healing people.

In fact in Luke 4:18-19, Jesus talks about the Spirit of the
Lord being upon Him as He was anointed to….and He goes on to list why the
anointing was necessary. The anointing was present to …..

• Preach the gospel to the  poor
• Heal and restore people
• Proclaim freedom to the
  captives
• Open blind eyes
• Set people free

So fast forward to our present world. There can be no doubt
that we need the anointing. Remember, the key is – What do we need it for?  As Christians in the marketplace, we need the
anointing to stand out. The anointing can be given to us to live Christ-led
lives and function as kings in the marketplace, whether we are in business or
working as an employee. To excel in these arenas, we need the anointing as it
portrays our reliance on God. It is the anointing that will set us apart from
other people.

To get the anointing, we simply need to ask for it. Prayer
or in this case asking is a basic principle that ensures our lifeline with God.
To succeed in whatever God has put in your hand, you need to have the anointing
of God for it to be successful and stress-free.

So whether these truths are new to you or whether you have
heard it before but have not asked for the anointing for a while, why not join
me in going before God and asking for His supernatural empowerment to succeed
in the marketplace.

I believe that He will give us what we request as long as
our motives are right i.e.  to build His
Kingdom.

Today’s post is short but I trust a blessing to you, so
until I appear again in your inbox, stay anointed

Ola

1 Samuel 18:25  ‘and
Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually’

1 Samuel 23:8-9  ‘⁸
Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to
besiege David and his men. ⁹ When David knew that Saul plotted evil
against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”

1 Samuel 23:14  ‘¹⁴
And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the
mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God        did  not deliver him into his hand’

1 Samuel 18:10  ‘The
next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying         in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a
spear in his hand ¹¹ and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin
David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice’

These are just a sample of the many records in the
scriptures of Saul trying to kill David. We can just visualise David watching
out for Saul every day. In addition to the difficulties with Saul, David faced
a lot of other difficulties in his life. So what kept him going?

Before we answer that, apart from David experiencing all
these distressing situations, we see a true worshipper. He displayed an
unwavering trust and confidence in God. How do we reconcile having a difficult
lifestyle and having a thankful heart?

The connection between the two, I believe is explained in
Philippians 4:6-7.

^‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every
situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests              to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will             guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’.

David certainly graduated with honours in the thanksgiving
department. He wrote a lot of the thanksgiving psalms in the scriptures.            There are also numerous references to David inquiring of the Lord,                   before he took certain steps

We also come humbly asking or petitioning God in earnest expectation.            When we experience difficulty, the scriptures encourage us to come humbly   before God to ask and petition Him with earnest expectation and in return            He promises that we would have peace in our hearts. Peace in the midst of a storm.

We will all face difficulties at some stage or another. We
will do well to heed the words of the scripture. Christian Businesses are no
exception.  The formula is simple: petition and thanksgiving. Let’s remember      this when next we are faced with difficult situations.

Until I appear again in your inbox, with more insight from
the scriptures, stay blessed

Ola

www.christianbusinessmagazine.com

So going straight into the message, most of I you have
probably heard words and statements such as:

• You can do anything you set your heart on doing
• With hard work and determination, you can
  achieve whatever you set your mind to
• Nothing is impossible when you work hard
• The sky is the limit
• When there’s a will, there’s a win
• Work hard and you will be successful
• Believe in your dreams and you will make it

I totally agree with the sentiment of these statements. I
might even have used some of these phrases in my writings. Whilst these
statements are true, they must be treated with caution. However, it has one
major flaw with it – it is self-centred. At its core is a belief in self rather
than a belief in God. Unfortunately, many believers have fallen into this trap or
thought process. For believers, life is Christ centred and not self-centred.
The scriptures are not against hard work. Paul, in referring to work uses words
such as labour, toil, endurance etc. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).

This does not mean that we don’t aim to be the best and aim
for the sky (or the moon, since footsteps are now known to be there) but it is
to ACTIVELY ACKNOWLEDGE that all of this is only possible through Christ

Acts 17:28 makes it clear that it is in Him that we live and
move and have our being. Therefore any success in life should be attributed to
Christ who is ‘the root – as all good things come from Him ’.

The book of Philippians is a good book that focus our minds
back to Christ in us. It is one of those books that define the true source of
success.

In Philippians 2:12, Paul mentions that it is God who began
a good work in us whilst Philippians 2:13 state that God is working in us both
to will and for His good purpose. Then Philippians 4:13 states that I can do
all things through Christ that strengthens me’. Christ is the source of our
success and not the belief in self that we will attain whatever we want.

The danger with this type of thinking is that Christ is no
longer enthroned in our thoughts and thoughts give birth to action. Then if we
are not careful, we begin to be self-reliant rather than God-reliant. Remember
man’s first sin.

Let’s be aware of the subtlety of these ways of thinking for
there is nothing a man has that has not been given to him by God. Let’s
consciously remember when we are confronted with these words that all of this
is only possible in Christ,

Hope you have enjoyed this week’s post, so until I appear
again in your inbox with more insight from the scriptures, stay blessed.

Ola

Many times, we are on the go. We keep going on and on and on
without stopping to rest. Life is so much different than it was just ten years
ago. The age of technology has changed things. Today we have Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Groupon, web browsing, websites, mobile phones, text messages (yes I
know we receive texts through the phone), social media sites and the list goes
on. Even on holidays, the phone and text messages don’t stop. You get the point.
All of this technology does have a way of creeping up on us. It is estimated
that an average person spends 55 minutes on Facebook every day, not to talk of
the other ‘things’ I have mentioned. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to spend
55 minutes of Facebook, it depends on what you are doing. Spending a lot of
time and making a lot of money is different from just whiling away the time.

Now people have access to you whenever they can. When people
can’t get hold of you, they send you a text and they expect an instant
response. A company I work for has just introduced yet another communication
technology tool. Difference from email – basically, it’s telling you someone
requires your attention and they want it now. Instant messaging! At least, with
email, you had the pleasure of opening the mail when you want to.

I could go on and on but you get the message and no doubt
you have your own stories too. What perhaps we don’t realise is that (unless
you discipline yourself otherwise), it takes out a lot of stress on the body. It
is easy to get caught up in all the noise we have in life now, especially with
all this technology. Have some quiet time alone to restore your energy. Those
little moments during the day seem to be taken up. At one stage, I realised
that I had let technology take the place of God. We are to use technology
wisely and not let technology use us.

What does one do in the midst of all this? The answer is
simple rest and make sure that our days are not overcrowded. Sometimes, it’s
important to get away from it all for a period of time. Remember you are human
and your body needs to rest. We need rest to give our bodies time to repair or
to recuperate. God designed our bodies with a rhythm of rest. Make sure you are
getting enough.

I believe we need personal strategies especially around the
use of all this new technology e.g. unless you are a very close friend or a
very close family., I do not respond to emails and texts after a certain time
(unless I choose to). Unnecessary time on social media sites have also been cut
off. I encourage you to also make adjustments – if you feel you need to.

Of course, I cannot finish without adding a scriptural
reference. Nobody couldn’t have such a heavy demand and wok schedule like
Jesus. People wanted His attention all the time. It seemed Jesus had so much to
do and very little time to get it done. His work schedule was quite heavy. Yet
even with the weight of so much expectation and the need to meet the constant
needs of people, He recognised the importance of rest. We read in Mark 6:31
that  He encouraged His disciples to get
away from people and try and get some rest. A word they say is enough for the
wise

Until I appear again in your inbox, stay rested

Ola