MONTH OF FULFILLMENT

YAYY!!!! It is July already! Wow! The first half of the year slipped by so fast! I am thankful to God for taking care of my loved ones and myself throughout the year and I know He will do the same and even more for the rest of the year. Amen. 

 I was doing a bit of research for my church's prayerline and I was so excited with what I found that I just had to share. July as the 7th month of year is very symbolic and I believe we can access the blessings and promises associated with it throughout the month.

Some churches deem it such an important month that their annual calendars stipulate a fast for the whole month.

You might be asking, why? Well, I believe it is a preparatory initiative to carry everyone through the second half of the year. We are, afterall, being taken care of by God. As the Bible explains aptly in Romans 14:7, 'For we are not our own masters when we live or when we die.' 

The second reason which I believe is the most significant, is the spiritual implications of the numerical representation of the month. July is the 7th month in the year.  Biblically, the number 7 represents Completion, Fulfillment and Perfection. God has given special grace to his stewards to be able to discern times and seasons and so I do not take activities scheduled on our church calendar lightly, especially spiritual activities (Yes, I did say spiritual activities because there are some, for example, cookouts and barbeques, that are not necessarily spiritual. I know we all appreciate good food but the truth is the truth..lol). 

Delving into the number 7 and its Biblical roots I found some very interesting facts which cannot be ignored and further highlight the compelling truth about the number 7. 

• The first use of the number 7 is in Genesis, right at the beginning of creation it is used to signify completion as God finished creating the world and rested on the 7th or Sabbath day.

“By the Seventh day, God had finished the work He had been doing so on the 7th day He rested from all His work” ”

— Genesis 2:1

• Genesis 7:2 records God's instructions to Noah to take every animal in pairs of 7
• God commands the Israelites to only sacrifice animals that are at least 7 days old (Exodus 22:30)
• Joshua led the Israelites around the wall of Jericho 7 times before the Lord sent the wall crashing down (Joshua 6:3-4)
• The Messiah's 7 qualities are listed out in Isaiah 11:2
• Proverbs 6:16 lists out the vices that the Lord Himself detests and guess how many they are? 7,of course!

“Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia—to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.
12 Then I turned to see [whose was] the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 And in the midst of the lampstands [One] like a Son of Man, clothed with a robe which reached to His feet and with a girdle of gold about His breast...
16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth there came forth a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full power at midday.
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last...
20 As to the hidden meaning (the mystery) of the seven stars which you saw on My right hand and the seven lampstands of gold: the seven stars are the seven angels (messengers) of the seven assemblies (churches) and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

— Revelations 1:10-20

let us play a little game of spot the number 7 in Christ's conversation with His disciple John.

1. 7 churches
2. 7 golden lampstands
3. 7 stars 
4. 7 seals of God's judgment (Rev 5:1)
5. 7 angels with 7 trumpets (Rev 8:2)

I'm sorry but I refuse to believe that God in His wisdom which cannot be fathomed, measured or compared decided to throw into His own manual (the Bible) the number 7 a couple of times just to make it more intriguing. I highly, highly doubt that. 

God has a purpose for every single thing that He does, even the ones we do not understand. Now I know a lot of pragmatics will come up with all sorts of reasoning to reduce these findings to nothing more than coincidence or maybe even logic as God is a God of order, and I can respect that. I will still firmly hold on to my belief and discovery that in the month of July, which signifies divine perfection and completion, I can tap into the storehouse of God's blessings by praying some specific prayers in that angle. You know what, let us start now :) 

“Dearest Father,
Thank you for being who you are. You are Mighty, the Wisest of the wise and the Only One who knows all things. Blessed be Your Holy Name. We thank You for Your revelation about the number 7. May the month of July be exactly as You have ordered it to be. May the completion and perfection of everything that pertains to my life start now in this month of Perfection. May the evidence of Your perfect word which never fails and accomplishes everything it has been sent to do, be seen in my life perfectly from today onwards. May I have the spirit of perfection and completion instilled within me. May all my endeavours be perfected and completed from this month onwards. May all my skills, habits, attitudes be perfected from this month onwards to be just like You. May all virtues and the fruits of the Spirit be perfected in me.
Thank You for being a Perfect God, the One that does not make mistakes and the One that always honours His word. I know that You have said in Your word that you will not withold any good gift from me and I believe that every good and perfect gift comes from You. I thank you Daddy, that You have heard my cry. I love you and I bless your Holy Name. In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.”

IF YOU DO WELL

I don't know if this happens to you, but I often find myself suddenly enamored with a particular verse or chapter in the Bible, even though I have read it before. My advice is, when that happens, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what He wants you to know. Empty yourself of unnecessary baggage and go with the flow. Pray for a few minutes and read the passage again... You will have a better understanding of what God wanted His people to gain from that particular Scripture. 

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Alright then... Back to my story, I met a gentleman whose name was one I had never heard before (and I bet more than half of you haven't too). When he told me he was called Enos, I just knew I had to find out the origin and meaning of the name. This search led me to the Bible, straight to Genesis where I found Enos as a direct descendant of Adam. Then my wandering eye caught the Scripture of Cain and Abel. Yes, we all know this story, but my eyes kept hovering over Genesis 4:7. In this verse, God was speaking directly to Abel (wait, what?! yes, directly to the naughty brother!) about his (mis)behaviour;

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“If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him. ”

— Genesis 4:7

Not all of us can readily interpret the  King James Version of the Bible, so I have expounded on the verse based on other versions of the Bible so we can better comprehend the amazing Scripture.  

“If you do well/good/right, will you not be accepted/will your countenance not be lifted/will you not receive?
If you don’t do well, sin lies/crouches/waits at the door.
It desires/lusts/yearns to have dominion/control you but you must subdue/master/rule/have dominion over it.”

— Genesis 4:7

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For today, I just want to deal with the first part of the verse,

IF YOU DO WELL or GOOD or RIGHT, WILL YOU NOT BE ACCEPTED or RECEIVED or YOUR COUNTENANCE LIFTED?

Lets just have that sink in for a moment... Here is God, the Creator of everything and everyone in the world, telling this guy who has just brought something mediocre to him, that;

"Listen buddy, you messed up, you made a mistake, did not make the right decision, but, I AM here, I have not changed, I still love you, just make things right, do good, try again...."

Imagine giving your child or someone you care about a million dollars because they are going away somewhere, only for them to come back with a gift you are allergic to. That is exactly what Cain did. Instead of a meat offering, he lazily brought plants and grains which was not acceptable to God. Where in the Bible has there ever been an offering of grains and plants to God? Cain was definitely a stubborn one! But God being Who He is, gave Cain another chance and just cautioned Cain in the most loving way possible. A few things I learned from this verse:

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• God is a good God (You will see me write this a lot...well, its a fact). 
• God loves everyone, every single person, thing, being, cat, dog, fish.... God loves and He loves unconditionally.
• God does not choose whom He will speak to in terms of preference. He speaks to and would like to speak to everyone; from the Pastor in the pulpit to the homeless man on the street to the stripper in the club. He is accessible to everyone through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (we will talk more about this later, I don't want to derail from this topic)
• God always cautions us when we do wrong, sometimes even before we do it, usually through the Holy Spirit ( that calm voice within you)
• Because of how God is (His goodness) and that unconditional love, we always have another chance with Him. He is always ready to accept us, take us in, forgive us and love us.
• 'Doing well/right/good' has some great benefits that should serve as enough motivation, that being; acceptance, reception (these two are not the same in Biblical terms, you English gurus and yes we can discuss it later, if you'd like :) ) and the lifting up of your countenance.
• When you 'do well', you are accepted or included, you are received or recognized and finally, you gain confidence through Christ. It is therefore for our own well being, that we do the right thing, at all times. 
• The variation of biblical texts help us to understand that in doing the right thing means doing good. The Hebrew word for that text is 'Yatab' which literally means "to make well". It was used in this context to mean "please". God simply wanted Cain to please Him through his offering.
• Our society makes us believe that doing good or pleasing someone is not the same as doing right and that is often correct. This is why our societal  barometer of morality cannot be used to measure what God meant in that passage. In essence, Doing Good/Well/Right simply means PLEASING GOD.
• If you want to know if you are doing good or  doing the right thing just take a second and check if it would please God. God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us know at all times if we are pleasing Him. Sometimes the issue might not be clear as night and day and you might not be too akin to the leading of the Holy Spirit and thats perfectly alright. But there is nothing a little prayer cannot solve. Just pray through it and you will definitely have an answer. We are all on this journey and growing whilst we are at it. Be blessed

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“PRAYER: Dearest Father, I thank You for Your love. That You still love me no matter what, blows my mind. You are indeed a good and gracious Father. I am sorry for ever hurting You. I want to do well Daddy. I want to make You happy and please You alone. Please show me and teach me what pleases You. I desire to please You, my Father. Help me. In Your Son’s Holy Name, I pray, Amen. ”