Today’s Reading:
Isaiah 58:1-9
”No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. "Yes, I am here", he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumours! (vv. 6-9 NLT )
A prophet is called upon to comfort those who are being afflicted; and to afflict, to gear up those that are at ease. This was prophet Isaiah’s assignment in our passage today. God asked him to tell the people of Israel their failure as a nation. Although they are pious, they keep up their religious activities, but they have embraced a wicked lifestyle. They offer empty prayers; they behave like a righteous nation that would never abandon God and The law. In order to have a cordial relationship with God, they fasted but their fast did not impress God (vv. 1-5a). When they fast, they oppress others, and they fight and quarrel among themselves. Their behaviour is all tantamount to pretence.
This trend is exactly the same with our generation today. Why? We have not accorded God His due supremacy over all his creation. We hide behind prayers, meditating upon the Word of God, our attendance at the church, and perpetrate all sorts of wickedness. Forgetting that God sees through all our activities, and deals with them accordingly. We put other things and lesser gods at par with God. By this, the enemy is deceitfully presenting unimportant and mundane things in exchange for the glory and honour of God. He has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy the glory and honour of God from our generation. God is telling us enough of all these pretences! God is interested in our hearts. God want us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. And to love our neighbours as ourselves (Matt. 22:34-40).
The question now is, how much do we genuinely love God and our neighbour?
In our nation today, the poor, the widow, the orphans and the helpless are being oppressed and marginalised. Our leaders do not expend the nation’s resources on matters that will benefit all. Repairs of amenities that are useful to all are being neglected. Existing bad roads are getting worse by the day. In fact, most roads are death traps. Yet new express roads and overhead roads are being constructed. Again, there are three to four refineries in the country and none is functioning, and nothing is being done to repair them.
Yet all focus is on a refinery being built by an individual that has not started operations. All stakeholders in the government are being admonished to please stand up to the plight of the suffering masses. Leaders in the body of Christ are not left out. Our leaders are admonished to stop the cold war of piety and superiority amongst them. Come to think of it, who has ever gone to the world beyond and taken title, superiority, fame, wealth, or massive building with them? Let our genuine focus be on our Saviour Jesus Christ. This is a time of national disaster, pain, grief and persecution, and we should gather as the body of Christ and seek God’s face. Let us all gather together as one-in-Christ, for the sake of the suffering masses and seek the face of God. I remember when we were growing up, there used to be ecumenical worship, at the Racecourse, (Usually in January and in the middle of the year) where God’s face is sought. We should stop managing and pampering wickedness. We should not wait until a further disaster occurs and innocent lives are wasted before something needful is done. God is angry, watching, very soon
His judgment will descend upon the wicked condoning wickedness. God’s judgement will start from the house of God. Let all those who have ears listen to what the Lord is saying through His words. It will be well with our nation, in Jesus' name.
OLUFUNMILAYO TITILOLA ADEKUSIBE
Prayer:
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them in that dream.
In my distress, I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue
I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name forever and ever.
Lord scatter every challenge threatening my existence, in Jesus' name.
My Father arrest every arrester of my dreams, in Jesus' name.
Every garment of irrelevance in my life is consumed by the fire of God, in Jesus' name.
Lord, visit every Christian home with your mercy and love, awake the couples of the house from their slumber to their divine assignment, in Jesus' name.
Father unite the body of Christ in your love that they may harmoniously proclaim the Gospel of truth, in Jesus' name.
Lord, arrest our leaders by Your fire, and by fire, by force, move our nation forward, in Jesus' name Amen.
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