Meaning. The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
1. It feels bad if you don’t express Gratitude to someone who offers their service to you no matter how small if you are genuine.
2. It may not be material but just a Thank you will go a long long way we all all know it even when we don’t do it sometimes.
3. Peter offered his boat and to Jesus so he could preach from there and later, Jesus blessed him with a lot of fish.
4. The Shunamite woman was blessed with a son after she built a room for Elisha to sleep in.
5. Out of 10 lepers Jesus healed, only one came back to thank Him. He praised God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet as he thanked Him. He was indeed grateful.
6. Abraham made soup for God and He received an assurance of a son who he came to have 1 year later.
7. God will always be Grateful when you do what He commands you to do. Don’t miss God’s blessings through failure to obey His Word that comes with Him being Grateful. God is not offended to see you prosper. There is a promise of a Reward in every instruction / command you carry out.
Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
One time He said, “Verily, I say unto you, if you give as much as a cup of cold water to one of these, you shall in no wise lose your reward.” The little things that we just forget… And I am duty bound to stand for what’s Truth. See? You know, God will appreciate you if you’ll be honest, just sincere.
SALT Meaning. The Bible contains numerous references to salt. In various contexts, it is used metaphorically to signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification.
1. No matter how little the Salt in the food, you will still taste it.
2. The measure of Salt should equal the food as too much of it spoils the appetite.
3. Less of it in the food will not deter you from eating but with each bite, a reminder that you need some more flashes.
4. You can miss all other ingredients in your food but salt will stand out tall.
5. Salt is added to the food in smaller amounts and stays long on the shelves without losing its original value.
6. Salt with a savour can prevent fresh food from decaying.
7. Salt that loses its savour is good for nothing. No matter how much you put in your food there will be no change and the best is to throw it away. It is a commodity we are not ashamed to ask for from the neighbor if we don’t have it on our restaurant table or indeed in our homes. Keep enough salt but don’t abuse it as it has serious consequences if abused. Christians, let’s make a positive impact to the world that is thirsty for some Salt with savour still intact.
Matthew 5:13 KJV Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
“I’ve often said this: “You be salty; the earth will be thirsty.” He said, “You’re the salt of the earth.” You just get salty, the earth will get thirsty. You live such in your neighborhood and around your people, the people know, say, “There’s a real Christian; I’ll tell you that. If there ever was a Christian there she is, or there he is.” That’s the way to be.” I’d rather have that in my heart than all the gifts there is, God has in His Bible. That’s right.
DISTURBANCE Meaning. A change in the position, arrangement, or order of something: the interruption of a settled and peaceful condition.
1. You can be enjoying a good rest under a tree in a hammock but receive a phone call of someone in distress, it Disturbs resting.
2. You can be studying for an exam but receive news that a loved one is in trouble, you put the studying aside till the Disturbance is sorted.
3. You can be following a presentation in a boardroom but receive a call from home that the youngest child is suddenly ill you get Disturbed and ask for permission to go home.
4. You can be driving at the highest speed on a country highway but let someone in the car ask for a time to relieve themselves by the roadside, your foot will shift onto the break peddle.
5. You can be having a party of the year but let someone fall into your swimming Pool and shout ” I can’t swim” , you will jump into the pool to serve them.
6. You can be heading to the airport with a ticket in your passport, but when you hear your loved one is gasping for breath, that’s enough Disturbance to change the flight date.
7. To all those whose plans have been Disturbed by Covid-19, whose businesses have been disturbed, whose 2020 resolutions can’t seem to come as forecasted, be it known to you this day that Jesus Christ always attends to the Disturbed individuals and Disturbed situations. He awoke to calm the storm, He stopped to attend to Blind Bartimaeus , He stopped by the well to wait for a woman with 6 husbands so he could reveal himself as Savior to save her from prostitution, He loosed the chains on Paul and Silas so they could walk out of prison to continue with the commission of “go ye preach my gospel…” He parted the Red sea so His children could walk on dry ground, He went to Calvary to stop the sting of death and hell on man, He said it is finished! Don’t tell me that Covid-19 disturbance is something He can fail to deal with. ” is there anything too hard for the Lord?”
Matthew 8:5-7 KJV And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
“Mr. Ekberg was dying; he was going down in a plane; he called on the Lord. I was setting in a mountain, hunting, and God gave me a vision to pray for him. The landing gears come down in the plane, where they had been stuck, and he landed safely, safely. Only believe. Have faith”
HARVEST Meaning. As a verb, to harvest something means that you pick or gather it. As a noun, harvest means the time of year when crops are ripe and ready to be gathered.
1. It is a nice feeling of victory to be able to Harvest your crop that you sweated for.
2. Normally there are more people engaged to help in the harvest process than the planting.
3. You may watch while someone is planting but the harvest season calls for you to participate somehow.
4. There is less appreciation given to the one planting compared to the one that shows off the harvest.
5. Harvest gives you a promise that there is a brighter future.
6. Harvest can go to waste if not handled properly.
7. There are souls perishing all over because they are a harvest ready to be picked or garthered but the labourers are few and overwhelmed with so much that needs to be properly harvested and put in a barn. Just like the big farms have mechanisms of harvesting through latest machinery, there are ways too that Christians can reach out to the lost souls for a great Harvest during Covid-19 where restrictions of church gatherings and house to house visits are discouraged. Use your time wisely and social media wisely. If you can Harvest a soul from them other than send that soul far from God the better.
Luke 10:2-6 KJV Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. As long as we can win a soul, let’s go in with “wise as serpent, as harmless as dove,” see, and try to win every soul that we can.
IMMEDIATE Meaning. Without lapse of time; without delay; instantly; at once; without hesitation.
1. If your Immediate reaction towards some happening is a regret letter on, would you say you were lead of God?
2. If your Immediate reaction is disrespectful towards someone you claim to have “a lot of” respect for , what do you make of it?
3. If your Immediate reaction to the news of someone failing to do something right is mockery, is your prayer for them genuine?
4. If your Immediate reaction towards news that someone who was struggling is now prospering makes you feel jealous, how are you different from the enemies of progress?
5. If your Immediate reaction towards someone who has not invited you to their private party is getting upset, do you really mind your own business?
6. The best and encouraging Immediately reactions are from people that spend much time in prayer saying “Lord have thy own way in my life” , “order my steps today and those who follow the teachings if the Bible even if they may not be perfect in other things their reactions are adorable.
7. There are Immediate reactions void of regrets that we can learn from; the woman at the well Immediately said ” come see this man isn’t he the Messiah? ” The woman who said dogs can eat crumbs, Disciples who Immediately left whatever they were doing when Jesus said “come follow me” etc. What Immediate action have I and can proudly testify of because it pleased my God? Oh Lord help me!
Luke 9:59-62 KJV And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
I said, “Ask anything your heart desires, and it shall be produced right here, that you’ll know that the Lord God of Heaven answers, and His Scriptures are true.”…… “Hattie looked around, all around. And she said, “Brother Bill, my greatest desire is for the salvation of my two boys.” What a…Why, there couldn’t have been a greater thing. She could have ask for ten thousand dollars, she would have got it. What if it would have been some millionaire would have asked for another million? God knowed what she was going to ask for”
INSIST Meaning. To be emphatic, firm, or resolute about something intended, demanded, or required 1. Claim what belongs to you when time comes for you to have it as there is no more need to pretend you are ok without it.
2. When it was time for David to be anointed, Samuel said unto Jesse, “Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither”
3. When the woman who had a sick child was told it was not in order to give bread meant for the children to dogs she said ” Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table” .Her child was healed that very hour.
4. I may not understand the scripture in Matthew but it is recorded “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
5. Heaven’s store house has more than what you can store in your biggest store room and more zeros than your bank account (s) can accommodate.
6. Search / examine / find / investigate what you are missing today and if the devil stole it grab it back today don’t give him a chance to keep it not even for another second, minute, hour, day, week, month or year.
7. Do not be shy to ask for what rightfully belongs to you. Be a real testimony of a real child of God not a copy cut.
Genesis 32:24, 26 KJV And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Joshua 14:12-13 KJV Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.
“You Christians sometime don’t look, examine, find out what belongs to you. Healing’s yours, salvation’s yours, joy is yours, peace; every promise in the Bible is yours”
COVERING Meaning. A thing used to protect, decorate, or conceal something else.
1. It is a wonderful feeling to open a Covered / wrapped present only to find its something you have always wished to have.
2. A spare part bought at a high price creates anxiety as long as it is not fitted and proved it is the right replacement.
3. It is unsettling to be told you can’t open a box containing something you want to buy so you be sure about its looks.
4. A Wrapped gift has the same value as any gift one can imagine is in a Covered container in until it is unveiled.
5. Do not yet despise the looks of the container before you know what it Contains as the saying goes “do not judge a book by it’s Cover.
6. They are people we have despised and looked down upon in life because of their appearances only to Discover they hold an influential position in society and what we want to be processed depends on their yes or no.
7. The Lord Jesus Christ was born in a manger yet He was the promised savior of the world: He came to His own and His own rejected Him because they did not expect God to be covered in such an earthly body: despised and rejected yet the greatest man who ever lived: had no place to lay His head yet the Creator of the heavens and the earth etc, let us learn not to judge one another as by any standard so that we too are not judged. The greatest thing we can do for each other is Love one another and this COVERS a multitude of sins.
1 Samuel 16:11-12 KJV And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
Isaiah 53:2-5 KJV For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
I said, “I—I—I’m—I’m Brother Branham, you see,” but I said, “I can’t get up there.” I said, “Look at these trousers. See? Look at this T-shirt.” He said, “Them people don’t care how you dress.”
DELAY Meaning. To cause something to take longer or to be late.
1. Delay is not in any way the other word for denial.
2. Delay doesn’t mean you will not arrive, it only reminds you to change the Expected Time of Arrival.
3. The year 2020 should not make you believe there is no chance for your business to grow , it is just an example of Delay.
4. Something that Delays only creates time for you to deal with matters that you had no time to look at.
5. If your solution Delays to come allowing the problem to grow bigger, worry not. The bigger the Goliath the better the stone can be directed to his big forehead.
6. If you trusted God to help you in 2020 and it seems not likely to happen, just remember Lazarus came forth out of his grave with bound hands & feet in grave clothes with a napkin covering his face upon hearing Jesus call out his name 4 days after his death. Oh yes he was only loosed outside his grave!!!!
7. Before you get upset or disappointed with Delays, get some understanding: you will soon realise that God Himself and not an angel is delivering a perfect solution to a problem that has been troubling you for a long time just like the man who waited for the angel to stir the water at the pool of Bethsaida for 38 yrs. His problem grew older than the Lord Jesus Christ who was about 34 yrs at the time. Jesus did not look at the size of the problem but he was moved by the continued expectation of the man whose healing saw a 38yr Delay.
Luke 2:26-31 KJV And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
John 5:5-9 KJV And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked:
“but doesn’t the Scripture say that, “All things work together for good to them that love God”? He knows what He is doing. If He delays, that’s all right. He knows what He is doing”
Meaning Make or become stronger. 1. Never be selfish when you make it to the top: help someone have a better life too.
2. Do not be scared to show someone the way to succeed, there is a reason you arrived first and hiding the formula for success is not one of them.
3. If teachers became jealous of training those with higher ambitions, the teaching profession would have died long ago.
4. When they clapped for you to the top it felt good, why not make someone feel the same way too?
5. If you live a good life admired by many because someone helped you discover the formula: is it too much to ask of you to do the same?
6. There is a saying “if someone always begs for fish, give them a hook” please practice it genuinely and not as mockery.
7. If you have been friends for long yet the economic gap between you keeps growing apart each day, you need to stop and question who is wasting whose time, who is using who, who is jealous of who, who is being greedy and who does not treasure friendship etc…
Luke 22:31-32 KJV And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
2 Samuel 9:6-7 KJV Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.
“Trying to make life better for somebody. That’s what we all should be doing, trying to help each other as neighbors along life’s journey”.
LONELINESS Meaning. A distressing experience that occurs when a person’s social relationships are perceived by that person to be less in quantity, and especially in quality, than desired: an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation.
1. There are times in life that you feel like a misfit despite a voice assuring you that all is well.
2. There are also times in life where you get excited and invite friends but get apologies.
3. There are times when it gets noisy and times when it seems like you are all alone because there is an unusual silence.
4. There are times when everything you do attracts “likes” and nice comments and times when it seems to go unnoticed.
5. There are times when the audience can make you and times the same audience can break you and this is a feeling evident in the tone of your voice.
6. There are decisions in life that will win you a lot of friends in quantity but nothing in quality and decisions that will only win you quality friends and no quantity to boast about.
7. There are also decisions in life that will leave you very lonely with only God to look up to as a true companion. In all these, be grateful to God who is never taken by surprise but has ordered your steps and believe that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called for His purpose. Make sure you Stay with the Word for there is a reward that awaits thee in Heaven for passing through a Lonely time without turning away from God.
John 6:65-68 KJV ………From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
1 Kings 19:9-10 KJV And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
“Because thou has chosen the narrow path, the harder way, thou has walked of thy own choosing. Thou has picked the correct and precise decision. And this is My way. Because of this momentous decision, a huge portion of heaven awaits thee. What a glorious decision thou has made. This is that which will give and make come to pass the tremendous victory in the love Divine.”
Norton's thoughts 