The Influence

03/03/2024

02/08/2021

No matter how far or fast you have gone on a wrong route, until you make a turn to the right route you will never end in your desired destination. Repent Now and escape destruction.

23/05/2020

RETURN FROM YOUR PRODIGAL JOURNEY

Benefits motivate action. When benefits are well spelt out and understood, actions becomes exciting. Some people are yet to repent from their wrong lifestyle because they are yet understand that the benefits of repentance outweighs their temporary enjoyment of sin. Nothing stimulates man to action like the benefit of their actions.

A large number of religious men from all parts of the world who witnessed the first baptism of the Holy Spirit were confused until Peter stood up to explain that it was a benefit of repentance as promised by God. Immediately this was made known, 3000 souls responded, repented and got baptized with Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-41).

Jesus' parables are loaded with a lot of lessons which believers are privileged to understand that unbelievers cannot. The parable of the prodigal son is not an exception (Luke 15:11-32).

For the purpose of this write up, we shall be exploring the benefits of repentance hidden in the parable of the prodigal son.

Some people are coping with and managing the consequences of their sins like the prodigal son did for a while. Some others are trivializing their sins and its consequences. If anyone sins, all they need is repentance.

No sin is of lower consequence than another. No matter how far you travel on a wrong road, until you make the turn to follow the right road, you will never get to your desired destination.

The prodigal son committed a seemly unforgivable sin of asking his father for his own share of the father's property while the father was still alive.

To make matters worse, he went and squandered the resources. He never realized his error until he began to be in want but he finally did.

Let us examine some benefits of repentance from this story in Luke 15:11-17

BENEFITS OF REPENTANCE

FORGIVENESS: Luke 15:20-21
Judging as humans, the prodigal son deserved no forgiveness. He did not spare himself. He told himself the truth. He judged himself, came back home having condemned himself to a life sentence of servant-hood.

But the loving father didn't listen to the self-judgment and condemnation of the son. Rather, he welcomed him with a loving kiss and hug as a sign of total forgiveness.

Friends, how long will you keep judging yourself and condemning yourself in regret of your sins? Our Father is eagerly waiting to welcome you back home with open arms.

CHANGE OF GARMENT: ..."Bring out the best robe and put it on him...” Luke 15:22

This symbolizes the removing of the filthiness of the first Adam and putting on the righteous of the second Adam - Jesus Christ (Zech. 3:1-4).

This is so that the accuser of the brethren will no longer have a right to operate in our lives after repentance.

God in his mercy changes our filthy garment of iniquity with the garment of righteousness which we now have in Christ Jesus. With this, we can now have a new life to live right.

HAVING AUTHORITY: ...and put a ring on his hand Like15:22

This symbolizes transfer of higher authority. Ring is a seal of authority (seal of deed). This was what happened to Joseph when Pharaoh gave him his ring (Gen 41:42).

It was the same in the days of Esther when, the king gave his ring to Haman, which he used to write a law against the Jews.

Esther needed to get the ring before they could rewrite the law that was written contrary to the Jews by Haman (Esther 3:10, 8:2).

It isn't a coincidence that the loving father gave the prodigal son his ring. Apart from the fact that it is sign of sonship, it also symbolizes the authority which we now have in the name of Jesus. (Act 4:12, Phil 2:9-10).

Friends, at repentance, you have at your disposal the authority of heaven - the name of Jesus to operate in the supernatural here on earth.

CARRYING THE GOOD NEWS ...and sandals on his feet. Luke 15:22

Sandals for the feet of the prodigal son had more significance than the fact that servants (slaves) are the ones that goes about barefooted.

This is a commissioning of the assignment to spread the good news of the kindness and love of the Father.

On your feet, wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong. Ehp. 6:15 ERV.

To keep us standing strong, we have a foot wear which is the Good News of peace. We are to share the news of God's graciousness to us. We have now become the proof of God's love, so we can't keep quiet.

SHEDDING OF THE BLOOD ...And bring the fatted calf here and kill it... Luke 15:23

Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Heb. 9:22 ESV

To make the benefits complete and secure, the blood was shed. This was a symbol of what Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary. What great joy!

Our sin is blotted away by the blood. His death is the reason for our living. There was an exchange at the cross. What a great and loving Father we have in God. This is why the Father could say the son was dead but now alive. What a joy!

Wow, it is truly worth it to return from our prodigal journey to enjoy the benefits of repentance.

Praise O. Okeneye - Teacher

05/05/2020

ARE YOU MENDING YOUR NET?
In the life cycle of every fishermen, there are moments they pull back to mend their nets.
This act has nothing to do with the outcome of their previous fishing outing: either successful or not.
But it does have tremendous effect on the outcome of the next fishing outing.
..And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. Rom 8:28 TLB

The period of this COVID-19 lockdown and stay at home, is providing us the opportunity to pull back to mend our nets. To a clever and smart fisherman, the greater his catch during the previous outing, the better he mends his nets
COVID-19 lockdown is providing us the opportunity to reboot. After a system failure, your computer will advise you to reboot to effectively reset and the operating system reloads.

During this process, all components of the computer undergo proper check to assert their capability and readiness to perform the upcoming tasks.

For the purpose of this short message, let us take a look at these essential components of our lives:

1) Spiritual: Luke 5:1-11
This was the story of some professional fishermen with the required skills, right knowledge of timing and equipment but ended in frustration. Then one of the boat and its owner had a divine encounter with the Lord of the ocean.

His obedience to divine instructions, despite the wrong timing, gave them such a great catch that required them to invite their colleagues in another boat for safe landing!

Every one of us has a vacuum in our lives that only God can fill. Jesus said: "...For without ME you can do nothing" Jn 15:5.

This is my interpretation of this: "all our achievement, without God, is nothing, compared with our potential with God." Josh 1:8; Dan 11:32

2) Financial:
"...Either what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she finds it? Luke 15:8 (KJV)

Though the lost coin seemed insignificant, compared with the remaining nine, serious steps were taken to recover it. Let us follow her footprints. What did she do?

Light a candle.
The candle, which is the man's spirit must first be lit. Pro 20:27, Ps 18:28.

You cannot be your best financially until your spirit is set ablaze with God's Word. His divine resources are your most reliable resources.

Sweep the House
This is the act of cleaning up. There are habits, lifestyles, expenses, people, etc. you need to sweep out of your life. Self-appraisal helps in financial analysis and adjustment.

Seek Diligently
You need to seek by thinking, meditating and reasoning in order to find out why, how and what do to generate more income, recover and prevent the losses in your finances. You need to be diligent if you want to have meaningful results. (Ps 77:6, Prob.10:4

Sure Result
All these steps are to be executed with tenacity till the required result is achieved. Amazingly, the joy that comes after the required result was likened to that of heaven when a soul is recovered into the kingdom of God. Wow!

3) Relationship: Mark 8:22-25
Unlike other miracles of Jesus, He hardly asked whether the person involved had been healed or needed a second touch.
The man in question responded, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”

This man's reply implied that he could now differentiate between men and trees after the first touch. The use of the word "like" indicated he could now compare men with trees.

Jesus knew before he asked the question that something was wrong with this man's perspective of people, and man confirmed it. Our perspective affects our actions and inactions toward things and people.

How do you see people around you? What is your perspective of your colleagues and superiors at work? Your customers, supplier, neighbours, spouses, and every other person in your life?

You cannot have a healthy relationship with a faulty perspective. Relationship has a lot to play in quest for success and progress in life.
Take advantage of the lockdown period to mend your net of relationships.

Make that call, send that WhatsApp message or call, send the email to apologize, appreciate, relate, and fellowship with people in your life.
It will go a long way this period.

We need to take advantage of this period to mend our nets, and be ready for greater catch any moment from now.

Praise O. Okeneye - Teacher.