LET GOD INCREASE!

Rev. Barr. Dele Buoro Rev. Barr. Dele Buoro

TEXT:

"He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3 verse 30, King James Version).

Have you ever wondered why some people experience God in a much greater way than others? We know that God is the same to all men, but not all experience Him the same way, even as He has portrayed Himself to be experienced. To a whole lot of people, God seems to be little, having no significant impact in their lives and to them, He's never done anything worthwhile for them to praise Him. Should anyone feel so, the reason for this may be that they live too far away from Him.

    The Bible says in James chapter 4 verse 8,

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."

In my little town of Ososo in Edo State of Nigeria is a mass of rock called "Orukhu". It's known to be the highest peak in the entire "Kukuruku"  highlands in Edo State of Nigeria. At first sight from your standpoint, the mountain looks very small, but as you "draw nigh" to it, it surprisingly gets bigger. The truth is that it's still the same size as you sighted at first; but what makes it bigger in size is the fact that you drew closer to it.

     This is what happens when you allow more of God in your life, when you let Him increase in your life. In that case, He literally gets bigger than you previously thought Him to be. Drawing near to God in fellowship, has the tendency to make you know Him better and bigger than what you previously thought of Him to be. The intimate knowledge of God makes the Scripture in Romans 8 verse 31 alive, "If God be for us, who can be against us?". The more you know God, the less you worry about adversities of life. The reason is that you see Him bigger than your circumstances. Indeed, you cannot have this big God for you, in you and by your side and you won't see your problems in life as infinitesimal.

      The Bible says, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12 verse 2). God is expected to be the Object of our gaze. But He is far away from many people because they have allowed other things to come in between them and God. By nature, whatever is nearest to your gaze becomes bigger than anything else that's before you. When you let other things stand between you and God, satan has the way of magnifying that thing as though it's bigger than God. When you give your problem undue attention and significance, you get agitated about it as though your life is hung on it. At such times, you may find yourself drawing nigh to God with your mouth, while your heart is far away from Him (Matthew 15 verse 8). The Bible says that this is a vain thing to do (Mathew 15 verse 9).

    To get God to increase in our lives in order to experience Him greater, we need to focus on Him through fellowship and to give priority to the Word of God. Besides, we're to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Hebrews 12 verse 1, Isaiah 59 verses 1 to 2). Surprisingly, some of the things that hinder us from experiencing God may be very lawful things that are not expressly forbidden by God (1st Corinthians 6 verse 12, 10 verse 23). The choice is ours to make!

PRAYER:

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I desire that You increase in my life. Towards this end, I yield completely to You, having You as the Object of my gaze in life.