The Consequences of Idleness

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Wandering – In 1^st Timothy Chapter 5 verses 1 to 15, the widows are described as gossips and busybodies, tell tales interfering in people’s lives, sowing discord among brethren, creating problems among people, constituting themselves into authors of strife and contention, accusing people. Please read 1^st Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 11 to 12 and 2^nd Thessalonians Chapter 3 verses 6 to 12. Though the devil and his cohorts accuse the children of God daily, there are ways to overcome them daily – the blood of Jesus Christ, the word of God and your testimony of victory in Christ Who gives you the victory at all times as well as putting God first. Please read Revelation Chapter 12 verses 9 to 11 and Job Chapter 1 verses 6 to 7.

Covetousness – in the book of 1^st Kings Chapter 21, the Bible records that King Ahab for want of nothing to do coveted the property of one of his subjects, Naboth. Additionally, Ahab took a step further to acquire the property by approaching the subject to sell the property to him. When the subject refused to sell, he was upset and sulked all day. How idle can a person be! A King did not think of improving the quality of lives of the people he ruled over; he did not care about development projects that would benefit the people; he did not reflect on issues of equity and justice in the land and did not bother to learn from the successes of Kings like David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah as well as others who impacted the lives of the people positively. Rather, King Ahab immersed himself in coveting after other people’s properties; and pathetically, the property of his subject.

Idleness was also the reason King David saw Bathsheba. While other kings and warriors were busy at the battle lines, David idled time away on the roof top not thinking about the weightier issues of state but focused his attention and desires on a naked woman bathing. Rather than tame whatever desires were stirred in him particularly so when he discovered that the beautiful woman he could not wait to devour was the wife of one of his subjects who was busy at the battle lines; he proceeded to the sin of adultery and as if that was not bad enough, he attempted to cover his sin the moment he discovered that the woman was pregnant. But when his attempts at cover up failed, David, the man greatly beloved by God and many people resorted to murder. How unfortunate that a person like David who always invested time fell into the trap of the enemy simply because he chose a moment of idleness. Unfortunately, the consequences of David’s action were dire – he lost the child from the sinful liaison and but for the mercy of God, he would have lost the throne. Please read 1^st Samuel Chapters 11 to 19.

Focus on Solutions 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Beloved, you can request help of God to overcome whatever challenges you if only you will focus on solutions rather than on stewing over whatever assails you. Are you sick and in need of healing? God still heals and will gladly heal you if you ask Him to do so. King Hezekiah of Judah cried to God for help when he was sick unto death. God not only healed him; He also gave him additional years to live on planet earth. It is also quite instructive that King Hezekiah was advised on what medications to use and he used them. This implies that God’s healing come in diverse ways; sometimes with His word and the ailment disappears as in a number of cases in the Bible, sometimes with medications as in the case of Hezekiah, the blind man Jesus ministered to with sand and other materials; sometimes by anointing with oil after prayers by the elders of the Church as instructed in the Bible in the book of James. Beloved, God is new every day and will direct you on how to get healed if you focus on receiving healing from Him rather than on the ailment and its pain.

Are you in debt? Take your focus away from the huge amount of debt and ask God to show you how to earn great income with which you can pay off the debts. Worrying about the debts and the consequent actions of servitude that will be taken by your creditor will not solve the problem. What will solve the problem is, you turning to God for solutions. Please quickly do so now if this is the challenge you are experiencing. You will be pleasantly surprised to discover that God will not only help you pay off the debts, He will also empower you to become a lender to nations. The case of the indebted widow of the prophet in 2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verses 1 to 7 is instructive and faith inspiring.

Focus on Solutions

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Every problem has a solution. That is why it is said that problems or challenges are stepping stones to greatness. Therefore, it always best to focus on solutions and not problems. Besides, when you focus on finding solutions to a problem, you are actually taking sides with God to deal the enemy a blow. This is because God the Creator and Owner of the heavens and the earth in His infinite wisdom has solutions to every problem or challenge, whether named or unnamed. Significantly, God loves to give this wisdom to His children who seek solutions to challenges that come their way. Besides, creative people always have divinely received ways to navigate difficult circumstances and satanic obstacles placed in their pathways.

The Bible records that Daniel’s young life was threatened by a hasty death sentence from King Nebuchadnezzar who said that all the wise men in Babylon should be killed on account of their inability to tell him the dream he dreamt and forgot. Rather than stew on dying young at the hands of whom everybody probably referred to as a wicked king, Daniel sought solutions to the problem. He ran to God to reveal King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream alongside the interpretation to him. God honored Daniel’s request and the dream alongside its interpretation was revealed to Daniel. As soon as Daniel told the King his dream and interpretation, the killings stopped.