GRATITUDE

GRATITUDE

Text: Leviticus 23: 34-44; Malachi 2: 1-3

The Test: Write down five greatest blessings of God in your life; tangible or intangible; what you have now or is in view.

Introduction: when God gives  a law, statutes or institute a memorial, His target is to inculcate an attitude towards a subject. For instance, the law of tithing in Lev. 27: 30-32 is essentially to let the people learn how to give back to God. For the principle of the first-fruits which was first mentioned in Exodus 23: 16- 19, God wanted them to have an attitude of making him first in all that they get, including what they labour for. The law that permits a person to eat from his neighbour’s farm (as stated in Exodus 23:24-25) but not to steal was to create an attitude of giving back to the society especially the poor.  We see Jesus and his disciples benefit from this principle in Luke 6:1-2.

In the same vein, God wants his children to always express gratitude. So, He instituted the celebration called Sukkoth in Israel. During the celebration, they would live in booths so that they can remember that their God was there to provide shelter for them in the wilderness.

In that book of Malachi, the Priests failed to express gratitude and God was angry with them to the point that He cursed their blessings. May our blessings not be cursed in Jesus Name.

Gratitude is taken from two words; Grateful + Attitude.

Grateful: To be grateful is to be appreciative. The Oxford Advanced Leaners’ dictionary defines it as showing thanks because somebody has done something kind for you or has done as you asked.

Attitude: The way you behave towards something that reveals the way you think about it (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary). So, I say attitude is our mindset that affects our conducts and dispositions in every situation. It is our inward thinking that eventually affect our character because every man’s character is a function of his thinking pattern.

J.C Maxwell has this to say on attitude:

–      An inward feeling expressed by the behaviour

–     The “advance man” of our true selves

–     Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward

–     Our best friend or our worst enemy

–     More honest and more consistent than our words

–     An outward look based on past experiences

–     The thing which draws people to us or repels them

–     Never content until expressed

–     The librarian of our past

–     The speaker of our present

–     The prophet of our future

Ingratitude and Its Causes among Believers

The opposite of gratitude is ingratitude. It simply means an ungrateful attitude. It is equally a mind thing and it is common among believers. In Malachi 3, God was talking to His own Priests that were serving on His altar, people who were supposedly closer to Him than others. Amazingly, it is those who are closer to God that often takes Him for granted. In the New Testament, every Christian is a Priest (I Pet. 2:9, Rev. 5:10). In this generation, we are the ones who often take God for granted. We become familiar with His presence and wonders in our lives and fail to glorify Him. We have become like many old couples who no longer appreciate their spouses any longer, whereas, in the beginning, it was not so.   

More often than not, New Testament Believers behave like the Israelites. Let’s look at some of the causes of ingratitude among Covenant people; Christians:

1.      Forgetfulness: human beings are generally forgetful. When things begin to go well for us, we just seem to quickly forget the days we had nothing. In the same vein, when challenges come, we quickly forget the days that He showed us His faithfulness.

In Psalm 78:10-20; the people soon forgot God and His wonders of old and it did not take them time to begin to murmur against Him when faced with temporary hunger.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness

And the children of Israel said unto them, would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger  (Exodus 16:2-3).

No matter how great the enjoyment of Egypt, it can never compare to the hunger of Canaan. More so, they were still on the way to Canaan. Stop allowing the devil deceives you that your yesterday was better because of your temporary challenges today. God is taking you somewhere and you will get there. The hunger will not kill you. You shall not die in that present situation. Give Him praise because you are confident that the sufferings of this present moment are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall not be revealed in you.

God also warned His Children against forgetfulness when they reach Canaan (Deut. 8:7-11). Canaan was their promised land. When God blesses you with that Job, husband, wife, child, house, promotion, car, contract, will you still remember Him?

2.      Pride: it is pride that makes us to arrogate to ourselves the Glory that is due to God. We fail to acknowledge that it is he that gives us the power to get wealth. Pride sometimes comes from the forgetfulness of our humble beginning (I Samuel 15:17; Deut 8: 11-18).

And Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee King over Israel?

Pride always go before a fall. It was the undoing of Saul. Thank God for hard work but the race is not to the swift.  Bless God for intelligence but bread is not always for the most intellectually gifted. Thank God for skill, favour is not for the best in the field sometimes. It is a product of His mercy (Eccl. 9:11 , Rom. 9: 15-16). This we must always keep at the back of our mind and let all the glory goes to God for all that we see in our lives. A wise man once said, in the kingdom, there is no achievement, we only have entrustment.

3.      Sense of Entitlement: we believe we deserve something. This generation promotes so much of human rights. The right to basic necessities of life. We can even claim the right to air. But if God chooses to cease any of those things, what will you do? In Psalm 92: 1-6, David expounded on the need for giving thanks to God and rejoicing in His works. He concluded that a brutish man does know this. To be brutish is to be stupid.

It is the sense of entitlement that makes people to protest when the government has failed in providing certain amenities. Amazingly, there are many believers today who are protesting at God for things they believe they deserve and He has not given them. After all, they see similar things in the lives of their neighbours who they consider as not so prayerful of faithful and yet is more blessed.

A stupid child would take his father for granted after receiving his tuition fees. A stupid man thinks he has the things of life because he deserves them but the righteous will rejoice in the works of the Lord. Make up your mind today to quit a “protestant” and stupid attitude and be grateful for His wonders in your life.

Christ’s Attitude:  The greatest we can become on earth is to become like Christ. It is to have His attitude. Christ has an attitude of giving glory to God (Phill. 2:5-8 Amplified). We are to emulate that attitude. And because of His attitude, he enjoyed the blessings of thanksgiving.

Case Study 1:

John 11: 1-4, 40-43. Jesus knew that raising Lazarus would bring glory to Him. Certainly, most of the people would not have praised God because they were not seeing God rather they were seeing Christ. It is normal for the people to acknowledge Christ as the one that did it. But Christ knew His source. He knew He had prayed to someone in the secret over the matter and that while praying there, it is because God would choose to answer, that is when a miracle could occur. Truly, because he gave glory to God, his prayer received speedy answers. He was able to bring the dead back to life. He did beyond the expectation of people. What they called closed case, by his thanksgiving, was re-opened. As you give thanks this month, every good thing that is dead in your life will come alive again. Your prayer shall receive speedy response In Jesus Name. God shall use you to wipe away the tears of many and resurrect people’s hopes in Jesus Name.

Case Study 2: Matt. 15: 32-36. He had a need he wanted to meet. I believe He knew He had the power to feed the multitude although he had nothing to do it except the 7 loaves and few fishes. He gave thanks so that what was not enough became more than enough. He worked a miracle through the instrument of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has a miracle working power. It releases divine power to make things happen and bring multiplication. As you give thanks this season, God shall multiply what is not enough in your life in Jesus Name.

Conclusion: Back to those blessings we wrote down. What has been our attitude to God on those blessings? Is it of forgetfulness, pride or entitlement? If it is of any of these things we shall need to repent before the Lord.

Prayers:

Repent of every attitude of forgetfulness, pride and entitlement sense before the Lord.

Lift up those blessings to God in thanksgiving. Whatever is dead there will come alive. What is not enough will be multiplied and you will have more than enough.

Special Call:

A man that refuses to give his life to Christ is not grateful to God for the gift of His  only begotten son John 3:16. And if you deny Christ today, God will deny you in eternity. Your attitude to God here will determine His attitude to you. When you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. If you refuse Christ  today, He will also refuse you in eternity II Tim 2:12 . but He is craving you to come to Him today and be saved.  If you are not born again, make up your mind to give your life to Christ today and it shall be well with you.

Make this confession of faith:

Lord Jesus, I believe you died to set me free. You also rose from the dead to give me the hope of salvation.

Today, I confess you as my Lord and Saviour.

From this day, I renounce the devil and sin.

I confess that I am now free from Satan, Sin and the Curse of the Law, to serve the Living God.

Thank you for saving me In Jesus Name.

Amen.

Series on The Anointing

Wow, I am excited that you opened this blog to read these updates. It shows that you are one of the chosen few that God wants to transform through this message. I serve God and His people currently as a Pastor in Christ Life Church (a.k.a Sword of the Spirit Ministries) in the city of Abuja. Incidentally, the month of September, 2012 is our month of “The Anointing” and it coincides with the Ministry’s 30^th Holy Ghost Convention. This year’s convention was such an awesome time with God that I am yet to recover from the impact and I wish I never do. It played host to notable men in the gospel of our Lord Jesus both in word and music. We heard men like David Oyedepo, Mike Okonkwo, Enoch Adeboye, Francis Wale Oke and others live during the meeting. I recommend that all the readers should get the recordings of the programme. In as much as these men preached great messages, I feel the insights that God has given me are equally relevant for this generation and those unborn.

The series I am about to share contains 3 titles namely: 3 Shadows of the Anointing, God’s Presence in the Life of His Anointed and Challenges of the Anointed. These are anointed messages that I preached in our Church with testimonies following.

3 Shadows of the Anointing

"Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principle spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an bin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office" (Ex. 30:22-30).

The operations and dealings of God in the Old Testament are shadows of what we are experiencing in the New Testament (Heb. 10:1). The dealings are for us to study, understand and apply to living today. The promises are for us to claim. God promised that in the last days He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28-29).  There is a mighty outpouring of the anointing in these last days and it is without any discrimination. This is because God is not a racist neither is He gender biased. There is a release of great mantles all over the world today for the quick working of His will in reaping a great harvest to His kingdom.

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.

Acts 10:34-35 

This move of God is not a function of places but of God and the response of the people. Whatever He is doing in Asia and America, He can replicate across Africa and the Middle East.

In order to partake of this move of God, believers must understand their root by which they are entitled to the mantle as members of the commonwealth of Israel.

Understanding Your Root:

As a covenant person, your root prequalifies you for the anointing. We have the heritage of royalty, priesthood and the prophetic.

1.      Genesis 17:16 ; 35:11 establishes that we are from a royal lineage.

2.      Exodus 19;5-6 establishes that God’s orginal intention for us is to be His Priest. So, we are by design Priests unto our God.

3.      Jeremiah 1:4-5 identifies the unique prophetic mandate hanging over every believer even before conception

The scripture is replete with examples of the three kinds of anointing in the old testament; the Kingly, the Priestly and the Prophetic Anointing.

In our main text (Exodus 30:22-30), God gave instruction on the preparation of the anointing for consecration into Priesthood office.

Similarly, we can see the example of the Kingly anointing in I Sam. 10:1; 16:13 where Saul, the first King of Israel was anointed and followed by David, the promised King of Israel.

When Elijah got tired of his ministry, God instructed him to anoint Jehu and Hazael as Kings but Elisha as Prophet. So these make complete examples of the different shadows of the anointing in the Old Testament. What then is the anointing?

The Anointing: Meaning

1.      The anointing has been defined as God’s supernatural equipment for supernatural assignment (Isaiah 61:1-3) and the resting of the Holy-Spirit upon a man for the fulfilment of divine calling (Isaiah 11:1-2). It is the burden removing, yoke-destroying power of God (Isaiah 10:27). – F.W Oke

2.      The anointing is God’s special mark of separation upon vessels consecrated for His use (Ex. 30:22-30).

3.      It is God’s distinguishing power upon a man that sets him above his mates (Psalm 45:7).

4.      It is the seven-fold Spirit of God at work in a man for supernatural accomplishments (Isa. 11:1-2).

5.      The anointing is God’s authenticating power upon a man for signs and wonders. Acts 2:22; 10:38.

6.      It is the Holy-Spirit at work in His vessels; the believers (I John 2:27).

7.      The anointing is God’s saving and defensive power upon His called and chosen  Psalm 105: 13-15; 20:6

Understanding the 3 Shadows of the Anointing

The Priestly Anointing:

This kind of anointing stewards the glory and the presence of God on the earth.  It is the enabling grace to minister at the altar of God to God and to the people. It is a worship anointing that ushers in the manifest presence of God upon a man and opens him up to the secret of the divine.

The priestly anointing is the ark bearing anointing (Joshua 3:13). And the ark bearing anointing is the barrier breaking anointing. Those who carry this kind of anointing have an unusual grace to part ways for others where there seems to be no way because of the awesome presence of God upon their lives.

It is an intercessory anointing. Hebrews 5:1-3 spells out how certain roles of the Priests in offering sacrifices for themselves and others. The Priestly anointing enables a person to stand in the gap. Every Father, mother, leader and Church worker needs to crave this anointing. It is the right of every believer because we are a royal priesthood.  More importantly, God is looking for men and women who will midwife His presence on earth today. He craves those who will be carriers and couriers of His presence everywhere and every time.

The Kingly Anointing: This is the dominion anointing. It is the warrior/conqueror anointing. The purpose of the Kingly anointing is to establish God’s reign is systems and realms. The dominion anointing can pervade even the secular system because kings are for the entire system. God intends that His children will carry the dominion anointing so as to enforce His dominion in the work place and market place. The dominion anointing is the Leadership anointing. When it comes upon a man, he stands tall everywhere he goes and he must be noticed.

Individuals can carry the dominion anointing as nurses, Doctors, lawyers, engineers, artisans, teachers to deliver and enforce God’s mandate in the lives of people they deal with and systems in which they operate. When a nurse carries a dominion anointing, a patient that has been programmed to die can survive because she is the one on duty. When the dominion anointing comes, it manifests with a high level of authority and influence; establishing the carrier as a voice in his career (Eccl. 8:4).

The Prophetic Anointing:

This is a special anointing that accesses God’s revelation and counsel and deliver it to people Amos 3:7. It is an empowering and equipping anointing. It commission people into the kingship and priestly anointing. It is the special anointing for the emancipation and preservation of God’s own people Hos.12:13.

In the New Testament, the bible establishes that believers are entitled to the royal priesthood heritage I Pet. 2:9. It is the anointing that will establish us in this heritage. In the body, we operate diversities of operations which are spelt out I Cor 12:6-12. The prophetic anointing is a shadow of the five ministry gifts which are meant to minister to the saints to perfect and equip them for the work of kingship and priestly ministry on the earth (Romans 12: 6-8).

  

Levels of the Anointing

With the understanding of the shadows of the anointing, we must also know that we can connect the anointing in levels. There is an anointing of captain over a thousand; there is an anointing of captain over ten thousand. Until the anointing for a level comes upon a man, if he tries to operate at that level, it will amount to mere struggles. David operated different levels of the anointing until he entered the realm of the overflow.

In I Sam. 16:13, David was anointed, a mark of consecration for Kingship; although he remained a King in hiding. In II Samuel 2:4, he was anointed as King over Judah which comprised of only two tribes. Then in II Samuel 5:3, he was anointed as King over all Israel, now a king over twelve tribes. In ministry, there is an anointing for village impact, there is the one for city impact. There is the anointing for national, continental and global impact. A man’s impact will be to the limit of the anointing that is upon him.

This varying level of the anointing was the picture that God painted to Ezekiel when he took him through the river (Ezekiel 47:1-4). It was first to the ankle, then to the knee, later to the waist and finally to the overflow. When a man reaches the overflow level, he becomes swallowed up by grace. He’s almost invisible because God has enveloped him. Jesus is an epitome of the overflow because to Him the Spirit was given without measure. What we see in our ministries today are just ankle and knee levels majorly.

Conclusion

With all that we seen, our disposition should be to connect a higher dimension of the anointing. We should thirst for it like the hart pants for the water brooks (Isa. 42: 1-2). We should crave it with our flesh and soul like the dry ground.

O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.;

To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary (Psalm 63:1-2)

We should cry as if that is if it our life wire. The anointing is the only antidote to struggle in the pursuit of any achievement in life. Crave it and you shall have it.

However, God warned in Exodus 30: 32, that the oil must not be poured upon man’s flesh. God will not anoint the works of flesh. The holy oil is not for the unholy vessels. Notice that before Samuel could proceed in anointing a king among the children of Jesse, he asked them to first purify themselves. You need a sanctification and repentance from all dead works of the flesh for you to qualify for the anointing. Only then can you be truly anointed by God.

Prayer Points:

1.      Repent of all known and unknown sins. Ask the Lord to purify your vessels and make you fit for His oil.

2.      Ask the Lord to anoint you for a higher level with a new anointing.

God’s Presence in the Life of His Anointed:

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38

You cannot separate the presence of God from the anointing. When the anointing comes upon a man, he becomes backed up with divine presence. The same way when the anointing departs, God’s presence leaves the man.

The anointed is never a lone ranger. He may not have men in His Company but He is ever backed up with God’s presence. At the instance of the anointed is the manifest presence of God. That is why when the anointing comes upon a man, he becomes another man.

Consider Saul:

And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

And let it be when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee, for God is with thee. 

As soon as the anointing came upon Saul, His identity changed. He got a new seal. The presence of God marked him different. He could find his way in any situation now because the anointing had come upon him with the guarantee of God’s presence. That is why the anointed cannot be stranded because God cannot be stranded.

The presence of God is the strength of the anointing because the anointing is the resting of the Holy Spirit upon a man. As long as God’s presence remains with the anointed, the anointing is valid and productive. When God’s presence departs from the called, the anointing is reduced to mere oil and title.

And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul.

Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people

And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.  (I Samuel 18:12-14)

The difference between David and Saul was God’s presence. Both had been anointed with oil but God had departed from Saul and has cleaved to David. What should be the heart-cry of every man especially leaders is therefore the abiding presence of God.

Consider Cyrus:

Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of Kings, to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut;

The phrase “whose right hand I have holden” in the above scripture tells that God stays by His anointed at all times. I remember the story told by one of my friends in the University days. It can best illustrate this scripture. He said in his secondary school days (equivalent of high schools), he was a boarding student. Then, harassment and bullying was common among senior students to show their superiority to junior students. 

Often, senior students would make ridiculous demands from the junior ones which if the latter could not meet; he would be in serious trouble. Anytime the junior student passed, he would be harassed by the senior student. In order to save himself from this continuous harassment, the junior student would go and look for another senior student who perhaps is of higher status and more huge than his oppressor to adopt as his school father, mother or mentor. So, the new mentor would only find a suitable opportunity when the bully is hanging out with his friend and he would put his hand across the shoulder of the bullied (junior student) and pass in the presence of the bully. From that point, the bully would know that he dared not harass the junior student again. Why? A higher power is holding the bullied by the right hand. Now the bullied can walk with confidence in school, his weaknesses notwithstanding. That is exactly what God’s presence does in the life of His anointed. It gives him confidence despite his weaknesses. 

As for Cyrus, whenever the other kings saw him, they saw beyond him, they saw God with him. With the sight of God’s presence, their loins were loosed.

I charge everyone reading this article to make up his mind about the pursuit of God’s presence because of the numerous benefits to the anointed;

1.      The presence of God gives the anointed confidence. A man of God’s presence has nothing to fear though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death.

2.      God’s presence gives the anointed victory at all times. The man of divine presence cannot be defeated no matter how fierce the battle or strong the enemies. God’s presence with him fights his battles and subdues the enemies before him. Psalm 89:20-23

3.      The presence of God gives the anointed breakthroughs and access to all things. In Isaiah 45: 1-3, God talks about making way for the anointed to give him access to hidden treasures. Amazingly, God identified different types of entry barriers and how He will deal with them by His own strength without the involvement of the anointed. In cases of two-leaved gates, He will open them with His master key. In cases of gates of brass and bars of iron, He will cut them in pieces because the nature of the problem determines the solution methods.

4.      The presence of God removes obstacles from the way of the anointed. There are obstacles like Jordan and mountains. When God backs a man, they cannot stand him. At the instance of divine presence, mountains skip and rivers flee.

Prayer:

Exodus 33: 14-15. Lord, anoint me with the power of your presence