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Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 16, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:13 KEY VERSE: . . . for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matt 6:13 (NIV) MESSAGE: The Lord’s Prayer starts with an acknowledgement of God and our relationship with Him, as our Father in Heaven. The prayer ends with praise to God for His kingdom, His power and His glory. Whatever we ask for in prayer, for ourselves or for others must be covered with a desire to see God’s Kingdom in the face of the kingdoms of this world, the little kingdoms the enemy tempts us with and the tottering kingdoms we try to build for ourselves. The true King is God and He rules over His Kingdom. But the kingdom of this world is His too, for He created all things, and they all belong to Him. Satan is only a thief that has taken humanity and the beauty of God’s creation captive. At the end of the story, we are told “The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: _“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." Rev 11:15 (NIV). Power belongs to God, from beginning to the end. For a while, it seems the power belongs to Satan. In fact, he suggested to be the powerful one when he dared tempt the Lord Jesus with the power to give Christ the kingdoms of this world. The glory belongs to God, alone, and He has chosen to share it with us to an extent in this life (John 17:22), and forever in eternity, He will glorify us (Rom. 8:17-18). God does not need my praise and worship. He is sufficient in and of Himself. And yet He gives me the privilege of believing and speaking His praises. This is indeed a rare privilege to bring praise to God when we pray. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Reflect on the call for attention by Satan and the world system, to deviate our attention from the praise due God. Will you make up your mind that by mindset, attitude, words and actions you will magnify God? PRAYER: Lord, I really appreciate who you are, your Kingdom, your power, and your glory. Please help me by your Holy Spirit to always project your greatness. May your Church be a praising Church, till we join the saints in glory. For your dear Name’s sake, let it be so, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 15, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:13 KEY VERSE: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:13 (NIV) MESSAGE: Following true repentance which lies under the prayer for God to forgive us, it is proper to desire and to pray that we do not enter any situation that will make us sinful and guilty again. True repentance must not only make us remorseful, and feel sorry; it must be transformational, making us to be different, better, and living as God would have us be. A plea for forgiveness which does not lead us to turn away from sin and to hate sin is not true repentance. Yes, true conversion to Kingdom citizenship, which recognizes that it cost God His only Begotten Son to die a shameful death for us, must make us hate sin, and yearn for that lifestyle that is freed of the love and practice of sin and sinful behaviour. Lead us not into temptation? Remember that “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Matt 4:1 (NIV). Though God Himself will not tempt us He has the power to place us where we may be exposed to temptation. We must ask God who is sovereign over all things to guide our paths in such a way that we do not come into situations where we are confronted with temptations and may be likely to make the wrong choices. Stated more positively we are to ask God to keep us safe from the evil one, Satan. When we have to face the enemy face to face, we can rely on the power of God to deliver us from his evil power, deceptive attraction, evil suggestions, and murderous lies. We are at war, we wrestle against spiritual forces of wickedness that are against our committed walk by Kingdom standards, and sure they have their human agents everywhere, including in the Church and in the larger community. We must not become preoccupied with Satan and his agents to the point that we become paralysed and are not able to function in our blessed state as children of God, (Eph.6:12). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are there challenges that you are facing in your desire to live the Christian life? Are there situations that exact your energies and drag you into wrongful choices? Do we have attractions and desires that conflict with the Lord's demands? Let us go to God in prayer and seek His help. We are able to overcome because God is willing to help us. PRAYER: Dear Lord, lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil, and from the evil one. Lord, please help all your holy people who travel this path of pilgrimage, that we might overcome everyday and in every battle of this war. In Jesus’ blessed Name. Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 14, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:12, 14-15 KEY VERSE: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 (NIV) MESSAGE: When we stand before God in prayer we are instructed by our Saviour and Master Jesus Christ to forgive other people for the offences they have committed against us. It is natural to nurse hurt feelings and to seek ways to deal with our offender, to pay them back in their own coin, or a bigger coin if possible. We struggle to forgive because it is contrary to our nature, but it even gets worse when the offender keeps repeating their offence, and because we do not retaliate, because we are meek, they keep adding salt to our injuries. It is not our part to seek revenge (as we have seen earlier). We are to pray for the grace to forgive, for it takes divine empowerment to forgive. We are to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us; “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Col 3:13 (NIV). There are people who hide behind the Christian duty to forgive and keep on hurting their spouses, children, church members, colleagues they know are Christian etc. For such, if we are any of such, the reminder of something else the Lord said is important; "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! Matt 18:7-8 (NIV). If our continued provocation makes other people struggle with the issue of forgiveness, we can be sure that we will face the judgment of God. Our forgiveness of our offenders paves the way for God to forgive us of the sins that stand between our prayers and His answers, between us and our God. We must lift up hands that have been cleansed from holding the faults of others against them (1 Tim 2:8). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Search your heart to ensure that you deal with all known and unknown sins, because they stand between us and God. Decide to forgive your offenders, truly. You may not forget their hurts against you, but you can choose not to use it against them, that is forgiveness. PRAYER: Father in Heaven, I acknowledge that it is not easy for me to forgive people when they offend me. Please grant me the grace to forgive people and mean it. I also admit that though I have become a saint by your new view of me, because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, I sin by my thoughts, words and actions. Please forgive me for my sins and answer my prayers. In Jesus’ precious Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 13, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:11 KEY VERSE: Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11 (NIV) MESSAGE: When we pray, the Lord Jesus Christ encourages us to ask for the things we need to live this life. We are spirit beings, with souls, but we live in physical bodies that have physical, material, and psychological needs. Our creator Father and God was actually intentional to create all the material things we would need before He created human beings. He also created an abundance of the material necessities so that we would live in abundance. The Fall of the human race into the deception of Satan and therefore into sin led to the curse of the creation and the rat-race to get enough of anything without much struggle. Our humanity has suffered over the centuries, and we continue, in spite of the advances in knowledge in agriculture, in science etc, to live a life of never-enough, disease and social strife. God intends for us to have what it takes to live well. The directive to pray for kings and rulers in 1 Tim 2:2 is given so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. God’s power has provided “everything we need for life and godliness” 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV), not only in spiritual terms but also in physical terms. The Lord came so we may have life, in its totality, physical and spiritual and that we may have it abundantly (John 10:10). This is the Gospel, not a prosperity gospel. I do not believe in the prosperity gospel, but I believe there is prosperity in the Gospel! Desire good things for your life and bring them to God in prayer. WHEN YOU PRAY, ASK FOR BREAD! FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: It is helpful to put into writing what we are thinking of as needs. We should also subject our wish list to ascertain how they contribute to God’s glory in our lives and help bring about God’s Kingdom on earth. PRAYER: Dear Lord, give us this day our daily bread. Thanks for all the provisions you have made for our upkeep. Lead us into green pastures and make us lie by cool waters. May we always have enough for ourselves and for supporting others and the work of the Church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 12, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9-10 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Giving God His rightful place in our prayers requires that we acknowledge that God is elevated above anything here on earth, He is our Father in heaven. His Name must be honoured and adored by us in the words we use concerning Him, in and outside prayer. We must acknowledge that God is King and that He seeks to establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. The kingship of God is His rule in the hearts of people who willingly submit to His standards and by His Spirit live like His children. Our words must remind us to work for the realization of that Kingdom among humans. If we pray without the Kingdom in mind, we pray amiss. Giving God His rightful place in our prayers means we accept the fact that God has a will, revealed to us in His past interactions with humanity and recorded for us in the Bible. He also expresses His will on particular issues that touch our lives as individuals, families, and church communities. When Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians 12 he brought a request that God had a different thought about, and Paul gained fulfilment only when he submitted to the will of God. In prayer we must approach the throne of grace, not to impose our will on God, but to humbly readily hear the will of God and submit to it. We should not attempt to change God by our prayers, but rather allow God to change us to conform to His will on the matter. The Lord Jesus Christ showed us the example when in Gethsemane He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matt 26:39 (NIV) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Do you find yourself having your prayer repeated many times over after God has ruled on the matter and given His answer? Do we keep pushing after this point because we have not learnt to hear from God and to submit to His will? Determine to ask God to speak concerning your prayers, and then submit to His will. PRAYER: My God, my Father, please help me to come before you in prayer always with a consciousness of your exalted place in my life and over all things. May I glorify your Name in word and deed Rule in my life and may your perfect will be done in all things, personal and in your Church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 11, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9-10 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Much of our prayer tends to focus on us and our needs and requests for others. This is necessary, as we shall soon see as we proceed in the lesson on prayer. But the Lord Jesus teaches us when we pray to think of our relationship with God, focus on God as our Father, and start our prayer from that point. Prayer as communication is based on a relationship we have with God. It is an exciting thing to think of and to understand that God is our Father. Some religious thoughts cannot entertain the belief that we humans could become children of God. But the Bible teaches us that at conversion God becomes our Father, and we are accepted as His children. What a thought! God as our Father means that we define and derive our source from Him. It means that we are loved by God and kept by Him (Jude 1). Being children of God means we are a people indwelt by the Holy Spirit, are no longer slaves to Satan and sin, and are inheritors of all that God has (Eph. 4:6-7). These and many other great truths go along with the fact that God is our Father, and we are His children. It is in this understanding that the Apostle John declares: ¹How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 (NIV) FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: When you come to prayer, do not come as a poor stranger or with a sense that you will not be accepted. Come as a child of God, that is if you have accepted the opportunity God gives us through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice to reconnect us to our God and creator. Come boldly to your Father in Heaven. PRAYER: Lord, I am privileged to be your child, through faith in Jesus Christ. Please enable me to remember always that I am accepted in your heavenly presence. Please remind me daily to help others come to faith in Christ by my lifestyle and my evangelistic efforts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 10, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:9; 8:1-8 KEY VERSE: ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Matt 6:9-10 (NIV) MESSAGE: Matthew 6:9-13 gives us what is generally known as the Lord’s Prayer, which some others prefer to call the Disciples’ Prayer (because they hold that the prayer offered by the Lord is captured in John 17). That does not make any difference of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ taught that prayer is an essential part of Kingdom living, and He took time to teach them “This, then, is how you should pray:” (verse 9). We want to reflect on the need to pray. The Lord Jesus Himself prayed, and He presumed and expected that His disciples will pray. Prayer, a lot of it is happening around us, in churches, on football fields, in forests and on mountain tops. Prayer is an essential part of the Kingdom of God because prayer is communication with God. Take note that prayer is not only talking to God but communicating with God. God by the Holy Spirit inspires the desire to pray, guides the content of our prayer and helps us exercise faith for receiving and conforming to the answers of God to our prayer (Rom. 8:22-27; Jude 17-20). Prayer is necessary because we believe in and love God and want to be in communication with Him. Prayer is necessary because we need guidance, direction, and reinforcement from God our Father till we arrive before Him either by the Rapture or by death. Prayer is a necessity in an evil fallen world where the forces of darkness, and often working through their human agents are opposed to the Kingdom citizen, who is thereby engaged in spiritual warfare. We should pray. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: What is your prayer life like? Do you have a consciousness which makes you see the relevance of prayer, being in communication with God at all times, and in specified times of prayer? Do you pray as a family and participate in group and congregational prayer? We should pray and pray we should. PRAYER: Lord, thank you for the gift of prayer, that I, a human being can converse with my God. Please forgive me for the times when I have ignored prayer and lived as if everything depended on my power and the human connections I have. Please inspire my desire to pray and lead me by your Spirit to be a Kingdom citizen who prays. May the Church be roused again to pray. As we live, may we pray. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 9, 2023 | MATTHEW 6:1-8 KEY VERSE: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Matthew 6:5 (NIV) MESSAGE: How we love to see ourselves and love to be seen by others, as doing the right religious things. What if we could get the whole community or the entire church to “like” our prayers, fasting and giving, and to “share” the same till it’s all viral? Righteous acts and acting, “to be seen by people” in order “to be honoured by people.” This was the major problem that the Lord Jesus Christ had with the champions of Jewish religion, the Pharisees. They were strict on fulfilling the religious ceremonies in the Law of Moses, with a desire that people saw them and were impressed with their religious showmanship. The Pharisees went through physical motions of worship while their hearts were far removed from God. Their audience in worship was the human beings around them, and sometimes with an intention to gain an advantage over their observers and to benefit materially from them. The Lord confronts them in Matthew 23. For Kingdom citizens, however, the Lord sets a new standard which must guide His followers. The performance of our religious duties must be carried out with one audience, God, in mind. Those who seek the applause of humans receive their empty rewards once they had been seen by humans. They can expect no rewards from God, the One who matters above all else in the assessment and rewarding of our spirituality and religious practices. True Christian spirituality does not manifest in a public show of lengthy prayers since God our Father already knows what we need, and He is willing to hear us if we approach Him in the secret place of prayer. There may be times when the situation demands that we do some religious duties openly, publicly, and emotionally; "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Heb 5:7) NIV. Take note of the fact that when the Lord was loud and emotional in His prayers, He was heard because of the right relationship He had with the Father. Showmanship does not produce divine response. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Do you have a place of intimate quiet relationship with God? It is also important to develop the ability to retreat within oneself, even when in public or in the company of other people. Try to steal away to God as often as you can. Make up your mind that God will be the One that you focus on in all that you do as your religious expression. PRAYER: Lord, save me from religious showmanship, in all my religious practices. Lord deliver the church from unspiritual performances that seek the approval and ratings of humans and guide us to the development of God as our one audience. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 8, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:43-48 KEY VERSE: ⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, . . . Matt 5:43-45 (NIV) MESSAGE: The expression of human love is often based on positive feelings that we have towards the people shown our love, because they treat us right, make us feel good or generally show affection and have physical attraction. It is humanly possible and easy to love the cheerful person who makes others happy. The natural response to those who make life difficult for us and show themselves by all indications to be against our well-being, welfare and progress is to hate them. The Lord Jesus Christ once again shocks us by instructing us that His disciples, Kingdom citizens, must, rather than live by the law of retaliation or the law of natural attraction, live by the law of love. The law of love demands “. . . Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matt 5:44 (NIV). God, the King of the new Kingdom we are born again into, is a God of love and mercy, a gracious Father who gives us the favour we never deserve. The Lord Jesus makes it clear why we should live in this extraordinary way; "⁴⁴Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt 5:44-45) NIV. Our new status as born-again children of God must show in our imitation of the character of our heavenly Father, gracious love. We must not live the natural life; we must begin to live the supra-natural life. If God calls us to perfect godliness, we can attain it by His Spirit working in us to enable us. He who called light out of darkness can generate love out of our dark hard hearts. What a word, what a high calling, to be like God who Himself is love (1 John 4:7-8). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Admit that there are people that make living out the Christian life of love difficult for you. Ask God to enable you to activate the power of love, the God-kind of love, love that defies human logic, and makes us like God in His perfect love. Determine to love the unloving, the unlovely and seemingly unlovable. PRAYER: Dear Lord, I’m at a loss to receive and to do according to the high calling and demands of the law of love. But I am counting on you by your Holy Spirit to enable me to desire and to be like you, so I may love truly and love like you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 7, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:38-42 KEY VERSE: Matthew 5:38-39 ³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' ³⁹But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:38-39 (NIV) MESSAGE: Revenge is a natural response of the human mind when we feel offended or violated by other people. Kingdom citizens need to respond to offences they suffer at the hands of other people, and the Lord Jesus Christ gives the rule for this, once again showing that God’s demands of His people are always over and above the natural responses of humans. The Ancient world civilizations had what was called the laws of retaliation which the Lord refers to: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' (Matthew 5:38). The Old Testament sustained the laws of retaliation (see Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21). One wonders why God did not immediately rule out the law of retaliation. The answer to that question lies in the same reason why God did not forbid slavery in the New Testament, to avoid possible social chaos and confusion that could result with the sudden cultural implications of such a change. The ancient Hebrews were accustomed to the laws of retaliation as it was practiced among ancient peoples; the revenge for an offence was often retaliated beyond the scope of the offence- a head was cut for a hurt of an eye. And so, God instated in Israel His provision to regulate the retaliation for offences suffered. Similarly, the population imbalance of more slaves than free citizens in the Roman world would have created a revolution in society if converts to Christianity were made to suddenly free all slaves. What the Bible did in both cases was to inject into both Jewish society in the Old Testament, and in the first-century world, the principles of respect for others leading to a measured vengeance, and the principle of brotherhood in the first century, when Christianity was spreading, which eventually moved men like William Wilberforce and his Christian friends in Parliament to rise and fight against slavery, and to bring it to an end. Kingdom standards instruct believers in Christ to avoid retaliation and be ready to suffer additional pain and offences from those who cause them pain (v. 39). If people used the legal system to deprive us of what is rightly ours, we must be ready to allow them to take away from us whatever else, they may want to defraud us of (v. 40). When people used political power to oppress us, we should be willing to suffer their abuse further and not revenge (v. 42). FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: What does all of the above mean? The Christian law of non-revengefulness does not mean an irresponsible inaction when people plan to attack our family members who are dependent on our protection and seek to do them harm. “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Tim 5:8 (NIV). We are not to take revenge, for vengeance belongs to God. PRAYER: Dear Lord, I am overwhelmed by the demands of the Kingdom upon my vengeful heart. Please forgive me for the times I have sought to take vengeance into my own hands. Lord, please heal your Church of a heart of revengefulness, and teach us to take care of our families by using the justice system to protect our dependents. Please give me the wisdom to know when and how to use the legal system to bring perpetrators of evil to book, In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 6, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:33-37 KEY VERSE: Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37 (NIV) MESSAGE: The third of the Ten Commandments spoke against taking the Name of the Lord in vain. By this, it was meant that when people made vows to God or commitments to their neighbour and invoke the Name of God in the process, they should be careful to fulfil their word. When such vows are not kept, the person who made them places themselves in the place where God will be angry at them, not only because they deceive their Neighbours, but especially because they abuse the Name of God, and hide behind Him to cheat out on their human companions. Listen to the Wise Teacher in Eccl 5:4-7 ⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil your vow. ⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfil it. ⁶Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the [temple] messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore, stand in awe of God. (NIV) In the requirement of the Lord Jesus on Kingdom citizens once again the bar is lifted high. We are called to live such transparent, reliable and truthful lives that we do not need to swear for our words to be taken seriously or relied upon by those we deal with. When we say “Yes” to our wives, husbands, children, bosses, and subordinates, everyone must understand that to mean “Yes.” And when we say “No” it must be “No.” If we need to swear to prove that we are speaking the truth, then a certain depreciation of our Kingdom truthfulness has occurred, and we must search our lives to find out when we lost that simplicity of reliability. We must admit that we are compelled to take oaths in certain situations, in a law court, or in taking a new office. What the Lord is saying to us then means that we should be careful to do what we have vowed to do, and not be slack on it. FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are our marital vows being kept or are we allowing circumstances to make us careless about them? What about the unspoken vow of being caring responsible parents to our children, or as children, to give respect and honour to our parents? The acceptance of a job is a vow to serve our employer, and as employers to treat our staff well. Do people require written documents before they could trust us, then we need to look at our lives again. PRAYER: Lord, I admit that the standards are high for me in the matter of trust. Please give me the grace to develop into a trustworthy person, who because of my Kingdom citizenship can say “Yes” or “No”, and not need oaths to control me. Lord, raise such people in your Church, In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!

Rev Enoch Thompson | FEBRUARY 5, 2023 | MATTHEW 5:31-32 KEY VERSE: (But) I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, . . . Matthew 5:32 (NIV) MESSAGE: The statistics of divorce rates globally are alarming. This is not only true of society in general but particularly of the Church. Church leaders are worried about the trend, and wish it were not so. Certainly, the directives in the text were for disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be understood that Kingdom rules are not to be used to measure the behaviour and conduct of non-Kingdom citizens. Paul says “⁹I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— ¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case, you would have to leave this world.” (1 Cor 5:9-11) NIV. The teaching to preserve marriage and to avoid divorce is given in the context of the prevailing practice by which Jewish men divorced their wives so freely, for as frivolous a reason as burning the food (or in Africa, having too much pepper in the soup!), and the demands of higher standards of Kingdom living. It does not mean that God is happy with non-Christian divorce. God hates divorce. His intent is that marriage will last till death. God allows divorce, however. In our text, we discover a clause by which God allows for marriage to be dissolved, marital unfaithfulness. What about abandonment (1 Cor. 7:15), or violence (Mal. 2:16)? FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE: Are you married or thinking of getting married as a Christian? Marriage must be taken very seriously and must be entered into with a commitment to honour God and honour one’s spouse, with a determination that as long as it depends on you that relationship shall last until you are separated by death. Set your heart right and guard your marriage. PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the institution of marriage. Please help me to approach marriage from a Kingdom mindset. Please grant your people the grace to handle the challenges that come with marriage, which makes many see divorce as the easy way out. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING. SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!