YOUR BENEFACTORS WILL NOT REST UNTIL THEY LOCATE YOU FOR BENEFITS by Cornelius Osuntade

YOUR BENEFACTORS WILL NOT REST UNTIL THEY LOCATE YOU FOR BENEFITS
by Cornelius Osuntade

This week, the goodness and mercy of God will pursue you and overtake you. You will move from the situation of struggle that you are in right now to a vantage position of ease and comfort. You will be located for favor in Jesus’ name. Amen. Your case will be like that of David in 1^st Samuel 16:10-13: “Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has not chosen these.’ So he asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ ‘There is still the youngest,’ Jesse answered. ‘He is tending the sheep.’ Samuel said, ‘Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.’ So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; this is the one.’ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.” I declare to you today that your benefactors will look for you to marinate you with blessings. Samuel said: “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” In the same vein, I prophecy to you today that, your benefactors will not sit down to rest until they have found you and doused you with innumerable benefits; these are heavenly-sent benefits that will be permanent in your life in Jesus’ name. I reaffirm through the unfailing power of God: “Your heavenly ordained and sent benefactors will not rest until they have located you for heavenly ordained benefits.” Your period of struggle is over this week in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SEVEN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF EVERGREEN LOVE

SEVEN ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS OF

EVERGREEN LOVE

BIBLE TEXT: 1^st Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

            The greatest thing that can happen to man is to find true agape love. And all praises be to God, we have found this in God and Jesus. Remember Jeremiah 31:3 - “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Out of all the characteristics of Christianity, Jesus rated the display of love as the best means of evangelism; no wonder, He mentioned  in John 13:35 that, “your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” If we exercise faith, dramatize hope and show forth joy and happiness, and have no love, it is meaningless. If we give all our possession to the poor, if we are early arrivals to church and we are the last to leave, even if we give our bodies to be burnt and we have no love, it profits nothing.

             Exercising true and genuine love to all and sundry is the greatest virtue of Christianity. Pray for it and God will give it to you. If you cannot preach, sing, or give bible studies, and you have the gift of true and genuine love, God will use you to bring so many people to His kingdom. There are seven essential ingredients of agape love that the Holy Spirit has impressed on my heart; To the married and the non-married, pray that these will begin to manifest in your relationships:

1. If it is necessary each must be willing to die for the other. In John 10:18, Jesus said: “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded." Be voluntarily willing to lay down your life for your partner.
2. Agape Love gives and gives and gives without expecting any reward to the point that what you are giving must pinch you. - John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. Give what is most precious to you as a gift to your spouse-Your heart.
3. It must be unconditional. It is not based on anything you are or have. God loves us not because of the benefits He will derive from us. Hence, He said in Psalm 50: 9-13: I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and everything in it.
4. It is everlasting – Jeremiah 31:3-I have loved you with an everlasting
5. It does not seek for revenge or retaliation. Exodus 14:14: “The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm."
6. It possesses all the Godly virtues of ideal relationships. 1^st Corinthians 13:4-8 underscore that “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.
7. It is not a feeling or affection from the head, rather, it is a feeling or affection from the heart

In conclusion, this is a story of a young couple. The girl has a deficiency; the family members, friends and well-wishers tried to dissuade the young man from marrying the girl but he was very intractable. With the intensity of the pressure from different quarters, this young man insisted he was going to marry this young girl. They married, and today they are happily married, the girl’s deficiency notwithstanding.   

EVERGREEN LOVE

EVERGREEN LOVE

A Devotional Thought presented by Cornelius A. Osuntade to the Aviation students of Andrews University, Michigan, on Friday, April 19, 2013, at 7.30am.

KEY BIBLE TEXT: Jeremiah 31: 3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

          I looked up the synonyms of “evergreen”, and I found out the following words: “Immortal”, “perennial”, “constant”, “recurrent”, “perpetual”, “persistent”, “lasting”, “continuing”, “permanent”, “classic”, “timeless”, “ageless”, “ever popular”, “old time favorite”, etc. I have brought out these words so as to be convinced that God’s love for you and me is indeed evergreen in spite of who you are, what you did, what you are doing and what you will do. Our sins do not stop God from loving us, but He wants us to repent, hence, in 1^st John 2:1, God says: My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Human beings have come up with different types of love; I have summed them up into these seven types:  

storge, (Greek: στοργή) Based on  Affection or fondness through familiarity (a brotherly love ), especially between family members or people who have otherwise found themselves together by chance.

Phileo (Greek: φιλία) is the love between friends. Friendship is the strong bond existing between people who share common interest or activity.

Eros (Greek: ἔρως): This love is most associated with romance. You strive for time together romantically. Eros love is not sustainable. http://talkaboutmarriage.com/general-relationship-discussion/3991-five-kinds-love.html

Epithumia  (Greek:ἐπιθυμία): Lustful desire; eagerness for inordinate desire and lust.  It means to mutually desire each other sexually and to be engrossed  in love making that is driven both by desire and selflessness in pleasing each other. http://talkaboutmarriage.com/general-relationship-discussion/3991-five-kinds-love.html

Ludus: Ludic lovers are players. More interested in quantity than quality of relationships, ludic lovers want to have as much fun as possible. Ludic lovers regard sex as a conquest or a sport. The disadvantage of this love style is the likelihood of infidelity. In its most extreme form, ludic love can become sexual addiction

Pragma Pragmatic lovers think rationally and realistically about their expectations in a partner, and select them via comparison shopping or shopping-list love. Pragmatic lovers want to find value in their partners, and ultimately want to work with their partner to reach a common goal. Pragmatic lovers will avoid infidelity to avoid adverse consequences, and carefully weigh the costs and rewards of a relationship. Pragmatic lovers view sex as a reward or a means of procreation, and view marriage and children as potential liabilities and assets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_styles#Ludus.

Agapē (Greek: ἀγάπη) is the love that brings forth caring regardless of the circumstance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Loves. This is God’s love for man. This is an unconditional love.

Agape love is the one God talked about in Jeremiah 31:3 - “everlasting” and “evergreen”. All other types of love are transient and have conditions attached to them, but God loves you and I, not because we are rich or poor, not because we are white, black or brown, not because you have a degree or not, God loves you not because your parents are rich or poor, He loves you not because you are studying to be a pilot or an aeronautic engineer or a mechanic, or whatever you aspire to be. God loves you not  because you are going to give Him money, food, clothing, or shelter, He loves you not because you are going to run errands for Him, God loves you when you and I are unlovable; He sent Jesus to die for us because He just loves us; our beings and backgrounds notwithstanding; our color and ethnicity do not count in this matter; our tribe and origin are not taken into cognizance; our world view, mindset, or opinion are insignificant, He just loves us.

The question is: What would you give Him back for lavishing this love on you? Note that His love for us goes beyond this world into eternity, He will continue to love us as you and I prepare to cross over to Zion the city of God. And when we finally see His face, He will love us more. What would you give to Him to appreciate this great, evergreen, undying, unfading, and unfailing love? The only thing He requires from you is to allow the Holy Spirit to inhabit your heart.

Revelation 3:20 says:  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. You don’t need to pay Him any money to get the love, you don’t need to bribe your way to possess it, and you don’t need to go through any Pastor or Reverend to have access to it. You don’t need to do anything extraordinary to enjoy His agape love, just be willing to open your heart for Jesus to come in, and sure enough,  you already have His love lavished on you every second of your life. Will you open your heart to Him today?