A sign is a symbol that points to something of more significance. Any object action, event, pattern etc. that conveys a meaning is a sign.
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Looking at the account when God told Moses to get the children of Israel out of Egypt, Pharaoh did not set his heart on those signs leading to hardness of heart. If Pharaoh had allowed the children of Israel to go after the first sign, he and his host would not have ended up the way they did. Exodus 4: 8 reads “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign”. In other words, a sign has a voice. Its speaking something.

​In the book of Exodus we have the account where Moses went up to mount Sinai  twice to receive instructions  and the ten commandments from God. He was in the mount for 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 24; 18) on both occasions (Exodus 34; 28).
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The first account can be found from (Exodus 24; 18 to 31; 18) and (Exodus 32 ).

​If you were told that something needed strengthening, it could mean any of the following:

• It’s getting weak and needs to be strengthened
• It needs to be made stronger
• It currently risks becoming ineffective if not strengthened.
• It needs to become more effective

Either way some sort of action is required.

The word “contentment” means satisfaction. 
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​I am not saying that we have to be content with bad circumstances, or circumstances that do not line up with the truth of God’s word, however the bible does speak about contentment.

​Proverbs 4: 26 reads “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established”.
Why do we have to think “ponder” the way of our feet? It’s because feet take us into a direction. In other words, we need to know where we are going.

If the Lord physically gave you a rod what you do think the capabilities of it would be?

Let’s look at the book of Exodus.

Exodus 3: 1
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

We all know that shepherds use rods when keeping flock. This is one reason David used the analogy of a rod and staff in Psalm 23: 4b “thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”.

We all know of the account of how Joseph brothers sold him into slavery , yes;  these are the twelve tribes of Israel.
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Genesis 49: 28  reads
“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

We live in an instant world. Drive through take away, microwave oven food: ready in 3 minutes. Unfortunately we have brought this into the church but we have to understand that the ways of God are not always instant.

Let’s look at an example in scripture: 
After the flood, God said that man’s days would be 120 ( Genesis 6: 3), however do you know that it took a while for the physical manifestation of that word to fully come to pass? The Word was spoken, however it took time to be become effective in the earth, As a matter of fact, Noah lived for 950 years (Genesis 9: 29), even longer than Adam. Did that change Gods spoken word? No it did not, just as when you receive a word from the Lord. It will come to pass.

The pattern after the spoken word was that man’s life span started to decrease after the flood. Genesis 11: 10 gives the life span of the descendants of Noah. 

Therefore when you receive a word, or you begin to make faith declarations the word is being effective. Even if you prayed and it appeared that the situation got worst, don’t be discouraged, Gods word is coming to pass. Remember that Noah after the spoken word lived until 590, and his son  Shem,  600, Both lived longer than Adam but did that change what God said? No not at all. If you look at the pattern, Eber lived for 473 years and after that there was a  big drop in age from 473 to 239 and so it continued to drop. Abraham died at 175 (Genesis 25:7),  Joseph died at 110, Sarah 107. Today if someone lives slightly beyond 120 they are in the Guinness book of records, because it is rare. 

​Just as there was sudden drop from age 473 to age 239, so shall you make a sudden significant improvement until the full manifestation of what was spoken over your life, or whatever you are believing the Lord for according to His word comes to pass. God’s word cannot fail.

So hang in there. God is faithful!

​Bisi Oladipupo

​When you look at the genealogy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew, bearing in mind that David had many children, Jesus Christ actually came thorough Solomon.