THE VOICE IN YOUR RADIO

 Phoebe prays every morning to hear God's voice .She would wake up every morning and say "father talk to me",but would be disappointed with the silence response she always got .This morning prayers continued for days ,weeks ,months ,and even years , but to no avail ,not even a whisper .
One day ,she had just returned from choir practice and was preparing to go to bed ,when Yaa (her "spirito " friend whom she always debates bible issues with ), called. This time around ,they argued on the doctrines of grace .Phoebe argued that salvation is by grace and not by works but after one is saved one has to work towards it .Yaa's only objection was that salvation can not be maintained by works since it wasn't obtained by works . She called Phoebe to confirm her side of the argument when she overheard a radio evangelist preaching on grace :
Yaa:"Hello Phoebe ,Turn on your radio right now" .
Phoebe :"Msteew ,what is it ?" She asked scornfully .
"Just turn it on" ;yaa added ,what we discussed is on the radio !
She quickly took her " boom box " and began to tune from one fm to the other and each fm station she tuned into was active.She could hear people either discussing politics or feeding listeners with secular music.
What Yaa failed to say was the name of the radio station and after she finally got to the appropriate fm station ,the sermon was almost over,and the preacher man was just about wrapping up . She asked, "how could i have missed it? ".She had become so eager to get answers or even know the truth about their argument .In the process of thinking ,something wonderful happened ,she had realised why she never heard Gods voice .
As she was tuning from one fm station to another ,she understood that God was always speaking to her but since she wasn't paying attention to Him,she didn't hear his voice . It wasn't as though God wasn't talking ,but she never listened . It was after she turned on her radio set that she came by this revelation .
Hearing God voice is like having your radio tuned in to the right station. Many of us have our radios alright , but we fail to turn it on ,even if it's on ,it is always tuned to the wrong station.Sometimes when God speaks to us,we are busily involved in things that really don't matter that we don't hear Him!! Yes God speaks ,but so does the devil. If our "spiritual antennas" aren't adjusted properly or if we aren't tuned to the right station ,there is no way we will hear God speak . God normally speaks through our conscience in a still small voice . He doesn't speak in plain words (atleast that's what experience has taught me ),rather he speaks to us through ideas ,thoughts etc .
There were so many people speaking on the radio,just like phoebe's experience ,it was up to her to choose the right station to listen to. In the same vein ,there are many voices around us ;our friends ,parents,the devil and even our conscience speak to us ,but it's up to us to tune our spiritual ears to listen to only God speak .We have allowed the world to overshadow the voice of God so much that we turn to blame him for not speaking.

"He who has ears let him hear what the spirit says" .
 
Here,suffer me to give a bit of a personal experience .I was a culprit when It came to doubting if God really speaks ,because I couldn't hear him ,but the fact that I never heard him didn't mean he wasn't speaking.What made matters worse was when I hear other Christians say " God spoke to me " ,or "and I heard the voice of God saying .. " If God really speaks ,then why didn 't I hear him ? The answer is simple ,because I never listened .
Listening to God speak involves patience and sensitivity ,which I didn't have . After a while in my walk with him,I realised that all along he had been speaking ,in the still small voice I never paid attention to .
Does God speak at all ?what's His voice like ?,how can we differentiate between our voice ,satan's voice and God's voice ?Trust me, it's only the HolySpirit who can truly teach us how to listen God's voice ,if we pay attention and listen attentively!!!!
For all you know ,we are already hearing God's voice but we aren't just sure of it .

SEEING BEYOND THE NATURAL

Interestingly, there is a huge connection between our imaginations and faith.Think about it.
I believe that without the imagination, we will not walk by faith, because our imaginations was given by God himself and in Christ it becomes a holy and effective tool to greatness .

It's actually one of the important things we can use to fulfil our desires . The imagination is very essential when it comes to believing something that cannot be seen, heard with our physical ears or feel with our touch. All you need to do is to see in the spirit realm.The Holy Spirit fully intends to up-grade our understanding on the wonderful characteristic contained within the Godhead so that we can see beyond the natural.

There are two ways for a human to see.
* Through the eyes
* Through the imaginations.

SEEING WITH THE EYES

Science teaches about what the eye entails and the wonders it can be able to do .My little study of Science in school proves how important the eyes are .

The human eyes detect light and convert it images. These processes give us a sense of vision,which permits us to observe the surrounding world than we do with any of the four senses.
The use the eye in our day to day endeavors are enormous;this range from reading, working, watching TV, writing a letter, driving a car and in countless other ways.

The eye allows us to be able to see and decipher shapes, color, objects and dimensions by processing the light they reflect . It is a human proclivity to make judgments based on what we see with our physical eyes, yet the physical eye is limited to what can be seen.

One cannot see everything with the physical eyes .The eyes can not detect objects in the dark .Our sight is deprived by darkness .

SEEING WITH THE IMAGINATION .

The mind’s eye can see everything. It is unlimited. You must see with your mind’s eye first before seeing with the physical eyes.

The future can be destroyed or created based on what we see in our minds eye. Without imaginations, man will be completely immobile.

All human developments have been born out of the power of imaginations:the tendency to see things differently. The only way an individual can see the past and the future is by his imaginations. Past events are stored as memory, which use imaginations. Much of our thoughts involve our imaginations. Fear and faith operate in the realm of imagination. when we experience an event in our imagination, it is imprinted as an experience howbeit we did not physically do it. Everyone has in a way abused their imaginations negatively by worrying. We should use the same process in a positive way based on God’s word. When we see something in the eye of faith it is the same as imagining it.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. (Joshua 6:2 NIV)

When the word of the Lord came to Joshua to see, it was in a time when the gates of Jericho were closed and there was no way for the people of God to go.
God told Joshua to see something which in reality wasn't there .Hear  this ,God was not referring to the normal way of seeing but by faith ,in the spirit realm or by his imagination .
God was telling Joshua to see victory rather than what was happening in reality .

You see ,it wasn't as though things were okay in Joshua's case but he had to Change the way he saw to conform to the way God sees .

The way God sees a particular situation may be different from the way we see it. The Israelites were stranded at the gate of Jericho, the only way to the promise land was shut tightly; the walls were so high that it was impossible to climb over. Yet God said "See I have delivered Jericho into your hands".

This might have been a very colossal task for Joshua because he had to switch from seeing with the physical eyes to seeing by faith through his imaginations.

Seeing with our imaginations positively is usually the way God sees things. This is the way God expects us to see irrespective of the challenges confronting us .We must see situations as God sees it and not as they appear .You may be sick or struck with a deadly disease ;basing your survival on the doctors declaration won't give you the peace you need ,you must see as God does ;how does God see it ;To God you are perfectly healed . maybe you are going through a serious financial challenges , fixing your eyes on the problem will only make it worse ,seeing yourself the way God sees you gives you assurance and hope .

The seers are those who see things beyond the normal. They see opportunities in every danger.

OUR KINSMAN REDEEMER

Ruth 2:20 "The LORD bless him!" Naomi said to her daughter-in- law. "He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead." She added, "That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.

What glad tidings for the undeserving ,hearing these words from the great book ,falling into our hearts .It feels wonderful to hear that we have been redeemed by our kinsman redeemer .

Imagine this ,for you were in debt all your life and there was nothing you could have done to redeem yourself .You have been humiliated ,insulted and ridiculed by your debtors .You lived like a servant ,and served like a slave ,then when all hope was lost ,your kinsman redeemer came to your rescue .

Did it ever strike you ,that you ,brothers in the lord ,were redeemed from slavery ?Did it ever occur to you that you could not redeem yourself so someone had to redeem you ? Somebody had to pay the price!! For we were once slaves to sin ,gratifying the desires of the flesh and having no good in our hearts .
we were deprived in sin so much that everything we did was sin ,even the " good deeds " ,by God's estimation,was filthy .There was no way we could have received total freedom from our sins.There was no way we could have saved ourselves from slavery ,if Jesus ,our kinsman redeemer didn't intervene .

Do permit me to say this very plainly:
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.(2 Corinthians 5:21).
Isn't this wonderful ?That's just the reason why Jesus is our kinsman redeemer .

A redeemer is someone who redeems or buys back. To redeem means to recover possession or ownership of ,by payment of a price or service.

Having said this , A Kinsman-redeemer was a title given to a close influential relative to whom members of the extended family could turn to for help. Usually,when the family line or possessions were in danger of being lost. He was resonsible for buying back the family land sold during crises.Buying back enslaved relatives,providing an heir for a dead brother.Avenging the death of a relative,finally caring for relatives in different circumstances.

In those times he was a very influential and important personality in the family.Per definition , the roles of the Kinsman-redeemer is similar to that of Jesus Christ .As Christians ,Jesus is our Kinsman-redeemer . We were redeemed by His blood that purchased us from the claws of of the devil and sin .He bought us with a price and in him we have eternal life (John3:16 ), physical healing(Math 8:17 ),we enjoy financial provision(psalm 23:15) and finally we are safe (psalm 91:11-12) .

As christians these are a few of the numerous benefits we get from our kinsman-redeemer.For those of you who do not know him,this is your time!!! He is waiting on you to accept him,don't turn down this offer ,for your redeemer lives!!!