JUDGMENT

 God set up Israel as a model for the nations of the earth. We are to watch His dealings with Israel and know this is how He wants to deal with every nation on the earth. If God can become the Lord God of Israel, He can become the Lord God of any nation that chooses to serve Him. If He’s not the Lord God of Nigeria, you don’t know the implication of it in your own life.

 

As believers, we have the God-given right and responsibility to hand over our nation-Nigeria back to Him.

“… With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the LORD... Isaiah 26:1-10

God is the God of judgment. If He doesn’t judge, He’s not righteous. It is only the wicked that ought to be afraid of judgment. If a man is righteous, he knows judgment time is a time of vindication/reward.

Over time, we’ve allowed satan to give us a distorted picture of who God is and when a man does not want to serve God with all of his heart, he is also comfortable with this distorted view, so that keeps him in his comfort/compromising zone.

God is love but is also a consuming fire. God has not changed who He is-He says, “I am God, I change not”. God is consistent in His way, nature, acts and pattern.

- The judgments of God are real. However, there are levels and dimensions of judgment. When the judgments of God are in the earth, the inhabitants will learn righteousness; that is, they learn to fear and acknowledge that there is God and He’s calling for attention. There are many things we’ve attributed to the devil but are really from God. There are certain things God allows in the midst of His people; and until they come to the end of themselves, God’s judgments will remain. This played out in the nation of Israel, God withdrew from them at certain times and returns only when they cry for His help. When we see God’s judgment, we must be careful to learn the right lessons, it is for a purpose.

- Jesus learnt obedience through the things He suffered (Heb.5:8). He could have chosen to be rebellious but He chose to learn the right things. Whatever becomes your state and outcome is your choice. It was not imposed on you. Whatever you become in life is a product of the lessons you’ve learnt. As long as you are making excuses for whatever you are doing, you will never be delivered.

- As a people/nation, what lessons have we learnt? The sufferings of the time can either draw you away from God or closer to Him. The real deliverance is in the lessons learnt. In these times, we have to learn how to prioritize.  These sufferings are to bring us closer to God and not far from Him.

- What lessons have you learnt? A cycle does not break until there’s a change of lifestyle until you’ve learnt your lessons. With the kind of intercession that’s been pouring in for Nigeria, there’s no way Nigeria can escape from it, it is obvious the true Nigeria we are trusting God for will emerge sooner than we think. Where we are now is not the concern but after now. When God takes us through this, what kind of life would we live? Are we going to go back to our old way of living and functioning or we will maintain the momentum and pace? We’re crying for peace and stability, when we do have it, what are we going to do with it?

- The drills you put yourself through when you are going through difficult times are not supposed to lessen but are to be maintained and increased. That’s how victories are sustained. To what intent is the peace we want? The bible says Solomon had peace roundabout (1Kings 4:24), but this peace was not used to the glory of God. The peace we believe God to give us is not for enjoyment but for work. God expects more from us when He increases us. He expects more.

- We need to ask ourselves these questions…what have we learnt? What are we learning? How did we get here? Why do we want peace and prosperity? Nobody can learn your lessons for you. At every level, it has to be personal. God does not bless your plans but His. You have to find out the reason why certain things are present in your life, why you are where you are, etc.

“Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity…Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths”. Isaiah 59:1-9

From the scriptures above, you will notice that there is a progression. It didn’t start with the shedding of blood. It started with an attitude, action, thoughts. God is simply saying it is the things the people have committed that have hindered Him from showing up.

It is the generation that seeks God that can command the gates to open up to the King of glory. Psalm 24.

- Pride, Prayerlessness can also hinder God from showing up on our behalf. Our comfort has the ability to make us pray less but humility and coming to ourselves will bring God in. (See 2 Chron. 7:13-14, Matt. 13:25)

The devil will use different means to come at us but how clean are our hands? (See Num. 23:21, James 3:16, 1 Tim.6:10)

- The first goal is to receive grace and the help of the Spirit to live above board. We ought to project genuine faith.

The problem of Nigeria/individuals is not money. Our problem is a problem of righteousness. It is a problem of living according to God’s standard and measuring scale. God does not and will not compromise His standards for any reason. Serving God on your terms is as good as not serving Him at all. We attract the wrath of God when we begin to drop His standards. “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people”. Prov. 14:34

We cannot be embracing and accommodating sin and expect glory. If we are claiming to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and walking in sin, there’s no way we can see the glory. Being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus makes us act righteously and makes our righteousness count.

There’s a cleansing going on and judgment will begin first from the altar (the church). When we pray such prayer as “there shall be no peace for the wicked”, (Isaiah 8:22, 57:21) we must be sure that we are not a part of the wicked because God will answer such a prayer. The judgment of the Lord will begin from the house of God-the altar, to the congregation and eventually to the outside world.

Hear this: The only way out for the wicked in these times is repentance. If you don’t repent, you will perish.

Before any place is destroyed, it’s as a result of a lack of men who will take responsibility to keep and spare the place with righteousness. (See Genesis 18:23-24)

The call: As we pray and journey towards this new Nigeria, who will make a commitment to say, Lord, I commit to righteous living, to righteous acts, to upholding Your standards come what may, that my domain and territory be spared?

If we are making this pledge, then we must repent of our sins and iniquities. We must rigorously pursue righteous living. Being prayerful is a part of righteous living, fellowship with the saints is also a part of righteous living. It doesn’t just start in Church, but also at home, place of work, righteous thoughts, acts, etc, all conducted according to God’s standard uncompromisingly.

This is the need of Nigeria right now. God says “I sought for a man…” He’s always looking for men, a type.

THE PLEDGE

I choose to be one of the righteous persons because of whom God will spare Nigeria

I repent of my sins and iniquities

I turn from my wicked ways

I will, by the grace of God and the help of the Holy Spirit vigorously pursue righteous living

I will do my best under God, by His grace, by the help of the Holy Spirit to institute righteousness all the days of my life wherever God places me within my sphere of influence all over Nigeria in the name of Jesus. Amen.