LAYING FOUNDATION FOR A BLESSED GENERATION

"The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1).

Our God is a God of generations. This is why He refers to Himself as "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6). In a very major sense, God deals with people according to their generations because all generations are forever alive to Him (Matthew 22:32). Generations are important to God because without generational applications, covenants lose a huge chunk of their meaning and relevance. 

CRUSHING THE PUNCHES OF EXPERIENCE

The beautiful thing about our world is that, it is one which have phases; no wonder, the wisest man in history spoke about time in Ecclesiastes 3:1-10. The phases are the past, present and the future, this week edition of winning ways shall be sharing with you the accurate tools to overcome the problems your experience of life might have planted in your destiny.

TRIUMPHANT LIFESTYLE - Revd Muyiwa Okusehinde

"Then the Lord spoke again. 'Do not be afraid. Do not think that you are weak', he said to Joshua. 'Take the whole army with you and go to attack Ai. I will give the king and all his people and the city and its land to you" (Joshua 8:1, Easy English Version).

Life is full of battles. Indeed, the entire process we call life and living is one long stretch of war. While it is true that you will win some battles and lose some, it is important that you don't lose the war called life. It is also important that you progressively minimize the proportion of battles in which you are vanquished by the enemy, ultimately getting to a point that you don't lose battles anymore. From the words that God spoke to Joshua in our Bible verse for today, we can learn a number of lessons on how to be consistently triumphant in life.

BE STILL

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalms 46:10).

Many have been put into serious problems just because they will not keep their tongue in its right place. I once read of a physician who could no longer endure his talkative patient. After a while, he came up with an idea, telling his fair patient to put out her tongue as though he was going to examine the chattering instrument. Then the doctor continued writing out the prescription without even as much as glancing at the woman. When he had finished, he turned to her and said: “There, that will do, take it to the pharmacy”. “But, doctor,” protested the lady, “you never even looked at my tongue”. And the doctor replied: “It wasn’t necessary. I just wanted you to keep quiet while I wrote the prescription”.

Sometimes, we also need to keep quiet so as to allow God sort out the issues of our lives. The quietness I am talking about goes beyond refraining from making speeches. I am talking of a calmness of the total being - mind and body. That, I believe is what God is demanding from us when He ordered, "Be still, and know that I am God". God is saying, "I work best for you, in you and through you when you are quiet and calm". I believe that it will be of a great benefit to your whole life if in the next couple of days, you would make time to spend some real quiet moments before the Lord.

DIVINE INTERVENTION, EVERYBODY SHALL SAY AMEN

"Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses" (Psalms 107:28).

Divine intervention always leads to divine lifting. God cannot intervene in a man's situation and leave the man the way He met him. If you have called on God to intervene in your situation, get ready for a definite improvement because when God steps into any matter, He does so with His transforming power.

The children of Israel were once in bondage in the land of Egypt. As slaves, they were severely oppressed and afflicted. Their earnest cry to God provoked heaven's intervention. That intervention did not leave the Hebrews in Egypt. Rather, it lifted them out of bondage into the land of liberty - the Promised Land.

NOW IS THE TIME, YOUR HELPER IS RELEASED

"And he said, if the LORD does not help you, from where shall I help you?" (2 kings 6:27, Modern King James Version).

The Bible says that "none shall be alone in his appointed times" (Isaiah 14:31). The picture projected here is that of a military situation in which no soldier fights alone or is isolated in battle. God’s program is that no one should stand alone in their moments of adversity. God never intends that any man should fight life's battles all alone. Indeed, according to the Preacher, "woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him" (Ecclesiastes 4:10). The issue of having helpers is crucial in life.

Can Christians Have Sex If The Wedding Date Is Set? John Piper Weighs In

Can Christians cohabit and have sex if their wedding date is already set? That was the question put to famed US pastor John Piper this week on the Ask Pastor John podcast, published at Desiring God today.

Piper said the idea was 'merely fleshly, worldly pragmatism' and that those wh