Have you ever found yourself in the middle of  something that initially looked like a coincidence? However after a while, you
found out that it was a divine appointment?  
  
Lets look at the summary of this  account:
 
Saul was looking for his fathers asses  He then decided to look for a prophet that would tell him where his asses were,  however he did not know that all this was a set up for a divine appointment.  What looked like a daily routine was actually a divine appointment not knowing  he was going to get ordained as a King.

 
1 Samuel 9: 15 - 
 
 
15 Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before  Saul came, saying,

 16 To morrow about this time I will  send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be  captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the  Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto  me.

 17 And when Samuel saw Saul, the  Lord said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake  to thee of! this same shall reign over my
people.

 18 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in  the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house  is.

 19 And Samuel answered Saul, and said,  I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to
day, and to morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thine  heart.

 20 And as for thine asses that were  lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found. And on whom
is all the desire of Israel? Is it  not on thee, and on all thy father's house?


21 And Saul answered and said, Am not  I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my  family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then  speakest thou so to me?

 22 And Samuel took Saul and his   servant, and brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the chiefest  place among them that were bidden, which were about thirty  persons.


23 And Samuel said unto the cook,  Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by  thee.


24 And the cook took up the shoulder,  and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold that
which is left! set it before thee, and eat: for unto this time hath it been kept  for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did eat with Samuel  that day.

 25 And when they were come down from  the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the  house.


26 And they arose early: and it came  to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul to the top of the  house, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out  both of them, he and Samuel, abroad.


27 And as they were going down to the  end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he
passed on), but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of  God.


1  Samuel 10 : 1
 Then  Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and  said, Is it not because the Lord hath anointed thee to be captain over his  inheritance?

 
  Very interesting!. As we all look across  the journey of life, we can see that some coincidences are actually divine  appointments.



Psalm 37: 23
 
  The steps of a good man are ordered  by the Lord: and he delighteth in his  way.

 
A few weeks ago, l was looking for a certain place. I went to  the nearby train station in the area, asked around but nobody seemed to know  where the place was. It was one of those streets that was not marked. Nobody  knew where it was. I prayed and asked the Lord for help. A few minute later l  met a courier delivery man and l thought to myself, ' he must sure know where  this place is'. He did try and used his stat nav to help, only to send me in the opposite direction. 
 
As l approached a major road, l thought to myself, it cannot be  here. I then saw a young gentleman crossing the road on his phone. I asked for  his help and he said that he knew where l was going. He then said that he was  not in a hurry and will take me to the place totally in the opposite direction  of where he was going.  A very rare  thing in London.

 
As we were approaching the place, he then found out that it was  the wrong place we were heading too. He then decided to get the number of the  place on his phone and called for the description. I had already tried that  twice and the number did not come up on my own  phone.
 
He then said he would take me to the place. As we were walking,  l was thinking to myself, what a helpful young man. I asked if he was a  Christian and he said that he had never been to church before. I was shocked. I then shared the gospel with him. He was very respective to the gospel. On  arrival at where l was going, l handed him a booklet  explaining salvation. He was very grateful and said ' l like the sound of  that'. I thanked him, and blessed  him.
 
So what am l saying here? If the only reason why lt took me  almost one hour to find the place was to meet this young man and share the  gospel with him, it was worth every second. Sometimes coincidences are divine  appointments.

 
Time will fail to tell of many of such occurrences over the many  years. We do need to be discerning, the Lord moves in our every day affairs.  Sometimes what we think is a coincident is actually a divine appointment. Lets  stop complaining when things don't go our way, and thank Him for His workings in  our every day lives.
 
Do you have a story to share? Please share it under  comments.



Bisi  Oladipupo

Matthew 7:  6
 
Give not that which is  holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample  them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

 
There are many applications of this verse to life  and our Christian walk. Lets start from the natural, don't give valuable things  to those that will not appreciate it. That would include giving gold jewellery  to somebody that will not appreciate it. If you notice, the bible says, ' your  pearl' which means anything precious to you. Have you ever given somebody  something or sent them something? You don't hear from them, you have to chase  them yourself to draw a thank you out of them. Did they really appreciate what  they got?

 
Another perspective of this verse, is don't share  previous dreams, visions, or experiences with those that will not appreciate it.
We need to be very careful who we share and speak certain things  too.

  If the Lord said this, do you not think that our  Lord would apply the same principle in dealing with people? Look around you, has
the Lord brought previous people across your path? Valuable ministry gifts? Then  value them and cherish them. They are in your life because you appreciate them. 
 
 
Lets have a look at this  scripture:
 
Psalm 25:  14
 
The secret  of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant

 
A secret is precious. The secret of the Lord is with them that  fear Him not with everybody. And it is to those that fear Him that will Lord
will show His covenant.
 
Brethren, we have all been victims of sharing things with those  that we should have not, or given things to those that do not appreciate  them.
 
Lets take the Word of life, and live according to the  instruction of Wisdom given being discerning in who we share precious things  with.



Bisi
Oladipupo


 

Are you struggling with issues in your life? Do you feel that the Lord wants  to use you in some way however you have struggles? Or are you just a Christian, you may not particularly feel any specific call however you just want to please  the Lord at all times. The good news is the  Lord has great plans for us  all. He has designed us all for a purpose. Jeremiah 29: 11  For  I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace,  and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

 Now just imagine Peter. The Lord told Peter that he would deny him three times. Peter was so adamant that it would not happen. So many factors would have  contributed to that response.

 Mark 14: 27 – 33

  27 And Jesus saith unto  them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I  will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.

 28 But after that I am risen, I will go  before you into Galilee.

 29 But Peter said unto him, Although all  shall be offended, yet will not I.

 30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say  unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice.

 31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I  should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they  all.

 32 And they came to a place which was  named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall
pray.

 33 And he taketh  with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be
very heavy;


Now lets look at the above account. The Lord knows better than we do.  If you knew beyond a shadow of doubt that somebody was going to deny you three  times, what would you do? If you were going to pray, especially a significant  prayer, would you take such a person along with you? But watch the mercy and  goodness of our Lord. Jesus still took Peter.

 32 And they came to a place which was  named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall  pray.

 33 And he taketh  with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to very  heavy.

  The Lord told  his other disciples to sit down, while He took Peter, James and John with Him.  Just note that, the final most important prayer He prayed during His earthly  ministry, Jesus knowing very well that Peter would deny him, still took him  along. What an amazing Lord! The Lord sees our hearts beyond our weaknesses.

 The Lord knows our weaknesses but still delights to use us. The Lord knows  that we are all ‘work in progress’ so stop being too hard on yourself.  The Lord kept Peter as one of the three, despite all. And see what happened?  Peter ended writing part of the bible and  was also used mightily  as  we can see in the book of Acts (Acts 15:5). This is also a lesson for leaders  that have flock and people that they mentor.

 The bible says in the book of  Psalms 147: 5:  Great is our Lord, and of great power: his  understanding is infinite.

  The Lord understands our weaknesses and short comings. Is this a  licence not to work on ourselves? No. The point about this article is that we  are all work in progress. The Lord has called you, has plans for you, and still  desires to use you. When we fail, its then we must run to the throne of grace  for mercy. The Lord is not surprised when we fail for He is not caught unawares.  He truly delights in us. Even as the Lord still took Peter, the Lord is still  calling you.  Stop being hard on yourself, respond to His love, keep close  to the Lord.  As the days go by as you grow up in Him, more of Christ will  be formed in you. What you fell for today, will be history and no longer a  temptation tomorrow. Let the Lord have His way.


Bisi Oladipupo

Have you ever tried to help or each out to someone before and they rejected  your help? You tried, but they resisted your help. To make matters worst they  even perceived you as an enemy. All you wanted to do was help them.


Most people have gone through this before. Suddenly, they change their  telephone number and don’t tell you. Some cut you off, others mis- understand  you and start talking about you. Rejecting help is not new, you are not alone.  Jesus Christ our Lord went through this during His earthly ministry and is still  going through it today.

 Luke 13: 34

  O Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee;  how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!  


Can you see the heart of the Lord? Can you see a similar pattern? The Lord  sending prophets and people to help, but they get killed and stoned. While today  we may not get killed and stoned, either way, our genuine and sincere help may  be rejected.


I am sure most of us have heard statements like, ‘ we tried to help them but  they will not let us’, they stopped taking our calls’. they stopped coming to  the counselling sections, the list goes on.


So what do you do, when someone rejects our help? The reality of it is that  there is not much we can do. All one can do is pray for them, hoping that it  will not be too late. Man has been given a free will, and if a person refuses  our help there is not much we can do. We cannot impose ourselves.

 So what else can we do? Sometimes sad but true, we can only sit back and  watch the consequence of the help that was rejected. Painful but true!.


So does that mean we should stop helping others? No not at all. When a person  rejects our help, we must not take it personally, just pray, release it, and let  it go. Move on, and be a help to someone else.


So what is the conclusion? We are not to impose ourselves on others however  severe the consequence of their rejecting help may bring. As we walk along the  journey of life, some will receive help and support from us while some will  not.


Bisi Oladipupo

The Lord is our righteousness, and He has become our righteousness ( 1  Corinthians 1: 30) , however we do have a responsibly to live unto  righteousness. To live anyhow and claim that we are the righteousness in Him is not genuine Christianity!


1 Peter 2: 24
  Who his own self bare our sins in his  own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto  righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.


1 John 1: 9- 10
  If we confess our sins, he is faithful  and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all  unrighteousness.


 If we say that we have not sinned, we  make him a liar, and his word is not in us.


Romans 6:13
 Neither yield ye your members as  instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those
that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of  righteousness unto God


Bisi Oladipupo