Dear Friends,

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and I pray the Lord will fill your life abundantly with his Glory and Blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. Recently in a Bible study we had a group discussion on how to get real in the presence of God and draw closer to Christ Jesus. We discussed from the Life of David and Abraham.

It is time to get real and be real. Life is not a performance but a test of your character and how real you are in the eyes of God and people.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.- Psalm 25:5.
King David prayed that the Lord will lead him in truth and not only lead him but also teach him the truth. The Holy Spirit wants to reinstate and reinforce the truth of Jesus Christ into the lives of people who are destined to know him.
King David was a man who admitted his mistake and always had the desire to learn more from God. He would never shy away from a situation that would make him give up his Kingship and embrace the Lordship. He knew where he came from and always wanted to know where God would take him. The power of brokenness in God’s presence produces the favor of God Almighty. David knew the secret to God’s ways of dealing with his Children. My God somebody reading this blog is on their way to find favor with God.

Friends the most difficult thing to do in life is to be just open and frank about what you feel, think, and even want to say about. We always tend to hide and put on a mask. I pray today that every religious mask and façade will be removed and you become “real” in the presence of God and man. King David openly prayed in Psalm 139:23:24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart!Try me and know my thoughts!24And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. He knew within himself even though he was King he was mere human. He knew the day he took his eyes off the Lord, he had his eyes on Bathsheba. He knew he had a lust spirit working around him that was a thorn in his flesh. He knew that once upon a time he was a rejected, left alone little boy roaming in the plain wilderness of Israel. So he became real in the presence of God and said “Search me”. Oh somebody self righteous reading this would say “I know my heart and I am true to my conscious”. But friend God knows more about you than you know about yourself.

God knew the heart of David and said he is a man after my own heart. The Lord did not say ‘He is a King after my own heart”. Before he was King he was a man, he was a shepherd, he was a lonely boy forgotten in the wilderness of Israel. Whom God had chosen and anointed him to be King over Israel. If King David was a man after God’s own heart he was truly a man who knew the heart of God. The connection was strong and no matter what he went through in life. He would call upon the name of the Lord and he would deliver him.

When we enter the presence of God we lay ourselves down, we lay our titles down, we lay our position down, and we lay everything down before the presence of the King Lord Jesus. Our capabilities, talents, gifts, anointing, is down at his feet. “My Friend when we lay everything down that is a place of true surrender”.

Father Abraham in Genesis 22 laid his only son Issac at the altar depicting a picture of surrender. Isaac was a miracle child. He was Abraham’s vision, dream and destiny. He lived all his life hoping to have a child from the Lord. But when he grew up the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice him at the altar to test his obedience and motives. Sacrificing an animal was a religious act in Israel but sacrificing a son was not known to anybody. It was an insane, hideous act of murder. But Abraham chose to obey God. He was ready to lay his dream down, his vision down, his purpose down, his agenda down and just become obedient to the voice of the Lord. It was total surrender. Some of us think Abraham would have shouted, screamed and complained against the Lord for making him do such a thing. But if we check the scriptures the bible says in Genesis 22:8 “And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together” Abraham had revelation in the midst of a test of his character. He knew the Lord will provide in advance. He had advance knowledge and revelation about the work of God.

It was unreal for Abraham to sacrifice his only son at the altar, but the revelation is “It is real that God gave his only Son Jesus to this world to be crucified on the cross for our sins. He paid the price for our sins and not only that he rose from the grave on the third day and gave us power to overcome every sin in our own lives.”

Love
Cleophas David.