THE MESSAGE NOW
Vol. 4, No. 47– Monday, 2nd December 2019
(Gen.3:1-15, Rev.12:1-17, Rom.6:16)
THE MYSTERY OF THE WEAKENED AND THE WINNING WOMAN
Within the confines of humanity, there are many truths that just cannot amount to a lie. It is the truth that Almighty God is the most powerful; and there is no question about this. It is equally true that women are the most powerful entity within the realms of existence apart from the Almighty God; this is also an incontestable fact. For is it not a fact of pristine truth that men rule the world? But is it not greater and further truth that women rule the men who rule the world?
But how so true is the fact that women are one of the most powerful entities in the universe? Facts from the desk of the spiritual has it that no man has ever seen the greatest enemy of man, the devil. But women have, and they have had physical encounter with this greatest enemy and even had conversation with this enemy.
As such, I will contend that there exists notes of great lessons to learn from the biblical accounts of the weakened woman and the winning woman. It is a weakness of worship and recognition.
Rom.6:16 categorically states that: ‘know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?’
The purport of this Scripture is obvious; the one man worships is the one man reverences. In other words, obedience to another is undoubtedly a form of reverence for that one. Reverence is an aspect of worship. And worship is a form of giving honour or value to the words, personalty and instructions of a given individual.
The question is how does this apply to the case of the weakened and the winning woman? When Eve obeyed satan in the garden of Eden and indeed went on to carry out his instructions, she was acting in perfect worship and giving recognition to the instruction and the giver of the instruction.
Understand that worship or recognition never occurs except there is some form of yielding on the part of the worshiper or the one recognizing the other. For indeed, it is properly written that ‘unto whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are’.
Understand also that worship means recognizing the presence of a fellow and submitting to the authority and the presence of that fellow. For no true worship can truly be true worship without recognition and submission. So, Eve yielded her authority in perfect submission.
To yield one’s authority is the same as humblying oneself and confirming the lordship of the one yielded to over the person that is yielding. When we yield to God in humble adoration and worship, we receive great strength and exaltation in return. For is it not written that the joy of the Lord is our strength? (Neh.8:10).
The implication of the foregoing Scripture is this: when men (in the generic sense) rejoice the heart of the Lord in humble worship, what men receive in return is strength from the Lord to be able to do all things. It is written: ‘the Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace’ (Ps.29:11).
It is equally written: ‘they go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appeareth before God in Zion’ (Ps.84:7). The questions are obvious. Why do they go from strength to strength? The simple answer is because they appear in Zion. Why are they appearing in Zion? The simple answer is in order to worship God who is the ultimate right Lord to be worshipped in the right sanctuary of right worship. Of course, as a result of worshiping the right Lord in the right sanctuary and with the right heart of worship, strength was ministered.
Unfortunately, in the case of Eve, she yielded to wrong lordship and wrongly worshipped the wrong presence. Therefore, she received no good and no strength in return but slavery and servitude under an evil tax and task master who is the smartest deceiver and snatcher of authority and all goodness.
The same experience of Eve cannot be attributed to the winning woman in Rev.12:1-17. Picture the encounter in verses 1-5 of this chapter. It reads:
‘1 Now there appeared a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 And being with child, she cried out in labour and in pain to give birth.
3 And there appeared another sign in heaven: behold, a great and fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and His throne’.
Dearly beloved, please seethe between the lines of the above five verses and you would notice the following:
That the woman in the above encounter had no time for a single moment of recognition for the presence of the dragon.
That the woman in the above encounter never had a moment of conversation with the the dragon. For the act and the art of entertaining conversation paves the way for receiving all forms of information some or all of which can be fatal to one’s life and destiny.
That the woman in the above encounter gave no room for any instructions from the dragon. As such, the opportunity to obey his instructions did not even arise.
That the woman in the above encounter did not obey the dragon and as such, she did not worship him for obedience to instruction is in itself a form of respect for authority which indeed and in deed translates to a form of worship and reverence.
There is a basic rule about spirituality and worship. It is the basic rule of no-middle-ground. Since the woman did not worship the dragon, the spiritual rule took effect; it meant then that the woman honoured the Almighty God in holy and reverent worship.
What then is the implication for the foregoing? The fact that the woman succeeded in honouring God and not the dragon gave her strength to deliver of her child effortlessly, and saved her destiny and destiny child from ruin.
In the journey of your life as a Christian, how much attention do you give to recognizing the devil? When you retire to bed at night and offer your night prayers, were those prayers offered for the sake of reverence to the God who is able to keep you and your family all through that night?
Think about it and be sincere dearly beloved, was that night prayers offered because of the fear of attacks by the devil and his agents?
Have you ever considered this fact that in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ hardly mentioned the devil except at occasions when He needed to rebuked or disgrace him?
Have you also noticed that in the Old Testament, any time the Israelites had problems, they simply believed that those problems were from the Lord and they simply returned to the Lord with genuine heart of repentance and their problems were immediately solved?
How many times have you had any problems and simply went before the Lord in humble repentance and worship instead of swinging into into immediate useless fire prayers?
Be sincere with yourself, fire prayers are very good. But how many of those fire prayers have produced the answers you expect? Is it not then the time to borrow a leaf from this teaching?
Fiery prayers, I repeat, are good. But why not return to God first, settle all accounts of sin, give Him most reverent worship and express gratitude to Him for His past and present kindness before embarking on the voyage of fiery prayers? Remember Mal.2:4.
Dearly beloved, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, permit me to say that the greatest champion of the New Testament was and is the Apostle called Paul. How many times did he refer to the devil in all of his epistles? Certainly less than five times.
It means Paul the Apostle had no attention for recognizing the devil even in his worst hours of trials and tests. If the Pual the Apostle, a man of like passion as we are had no time for recognizing or ledning credence to the devil, then what about us? No other or better admonision can be offered to us other than the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 84:5.
IN THE END, THE GREATEST SECRET OF LIFE’S SUCCESS IS TO HAVE NO FEAR OF RISK AND RISK-TAKING BUT RATHER TRANSLATE EVERY FEAR INTO REVERENT ADORATION FOR SUCCESS. THEN THE DAWN OF SUCH SUCCESS WILL NOT JUST BE AT THE DOOR BUT ALREADY SEATED ON THE PARLOUR’S SOFFA AWAITING THE VICTOR. THIS SHOULD BE THE ATTITUDE FROM FEAR TO REVERENT WORSHIP. BY SO DOING, WE WILL BE TRANSFORMED FROM WEAKNESS TO WINNING.
Question and Answer Section
Question: What were Paul’s parting words en route heaven?
Answer: ‘I have fought the good fight of faith, and there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness’.
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ALTAR CALL:
Backslidden – living in sin – needing fresh recommitment (say):
Christ Jesus, You are the Anointed One of the Most High. I come to you today as I am. In your mercy, help me out of my situation. Heal my soul, my spirit, my body, my life and my destiny. I acknowledge you as the only true lover of my soul. Please, deliver me on every side and save me through and through. I promise from the depth of my soul to be yours from henceforth, in Jesus name. Help me now O God. Be my Lord, my Saviour and my all in all from this day. Thank you Lord (read Ps.54 in closing and pray more).
HYMN: I Have No Other Argument
PRAY NOW:
1. I repent O God for the sin of fear that I have entertained.
2. O you drier of spiritual strength and vigour, I puncture your power.
3. O merciful God, give me the Spirit of worship and reverent adoration.
4. O Spirit of grace and supplication, fall upon me.
5. O sweetness of life on every side, locate me.
Present your personal petitions now.
