Enlarging your capacity (5)

Life is about moving from one level to the next, hence the need to say no to the spirit of stagnation that wants to keep you at the same level forever. Your journey from your mother’s womb to the tomb should be made up of success stories, breakthroughs and elevation to higher levels. Mount Horeb was the most glorious place for Israelites to be after checking out of Egypt. It was a place of re-organisation of the Israelite community.

It was a place of revelation – God showed up among His people. It was a place of radiance, where the glory of God shined upon His people. It was a place of renewal; where God renewed His covenant with His people, culminating with the Ten Commandments. God later told the Israelites that their sojourn on Mount Horeb was over and that they were to move to the next level, which is the Promised Land.

This journey of life is characterised by checking in and checking out. The children of Israel on their way to the Promised Land came to the foot of Mount Horeb and dwelt there for too long. But God told them it was time to leave that very spot and move forward to conquer new territories and possess the Promised Land.

It is time to check out from your sinful past; it is time to break new record of achievement; it is time to attain a new level of spiritual landmark and it is time to check out of hopelessness into a glorious future. When you make progress and increase in capacity, it does not make God sad, it makes Him happy and it brings glory to the Lord’s name.

You must let what happened in the past stay in the past. As you move on to the next level, refuse to look in the rear-view mirror. Your challenges are in the past tense and not in present continuous tense. Take the stance of Joseph in handling your painful past. In Genesis 41:51, Joseph named his first son, Manasseh because God Has made him to forget all his troubles in his father’s house.

By naming his first son Manasseh, he was saying I choose to forget what is in the past. Do not live in deep regret of your past sins if you have repented from them. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God Has put your past behind Him and if you read Isaiah 38:17, you will see the Psalmist saying, “for you have cast all my sins behind your back.” If God has put your past behind Him, you should not put them before you.

God wants us to attain levels of spiritual landmarks. The Christian life experience begins at the cross when we gave up our sins and were saved, but it does not end there; next we continue to grow in the knowledge of God unto full maturity in Christ.

In Ezekiel Chapter 47, Ezekiel in a vision attained different levels of spiritual landmark namely ankle level; knee level; waist level and overflow level as the water that flowed into the temple was measured at different times. God wants you to grow in width and in depth in spiritual things until you are formed into His image and likeness. The song writer sang: “Oh, deeper yet I pray, and higher everyday…”

• Today’s nugget: Don’t stay in the past. Prayer: Lord help me to grow deeper in You. Prayer lines: 08033299824. E-mail: amadiabelukachi@gmail.com. Rev. (Dr.) Abel Ukachi Amadi, General Superintendent, Assemblies of God Nigeria.