The Word for October 2017.
The General Overseer has received a Word for each Month of the Year 2017 for our confession, meditation and action. The Word for October is from Psalm 34:7-9 (KJV):
7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Pick It Up – It Belongs To You !
WHAT would you do if US$69 million was sitting in your loft?
Well, on November 11th, 2010, a Chinese vase sold at auction for US$69 million! And…wait for it, the urn had been sitting in the loft in a house owned by a brother and sister in Pinner, a suburb of London, England, for years! It was only discovered during a routine house clearance. The brother and sister were stunned when it sold for a world-record-breaking US$69 million! The eighteenth-century piece of Qianlong era porcelain had been expected to fetch between $1 million and £1.5 million when it went under the hammer. The vase was believed to have been acquired by an English family during the 1930s or earlier. The auctioneer, Bainbridges said how it reached northwest London would never be known.
An inheritance they didn’t know they had.
According to The Harrow Times (London), the owners, who had inherited the urn, had little or no idea of the fortune it would make them when they found it. The vase is understood to have been carried off by a private buyer from China for what is believed to be the highest sum for any Chinese artwork ever sold at auction. Its eye-watering price shocked both the auctioneer and the owners. Helen Porter of Bainbridges said: “They had no idea what they had. They were hopeful but they didn’t dare believe until the hammer went down. When it did, the sister had to go out of the room and have a breath of fresh air.”
A life-changing sum
Can you imagine having a treasure worth a life-changing US$69 million and leaving it to rot away in your attic? The simple reason why this vase sat in the attic all those years until it was discovered is ignorance! True, no one knew the vase’s true value until it went under the hammer. However, the truth is that the brother and sister did not become millionaires the day the Chinese vase was sold on that cold November morning at auction in Ruislip, West London. They became multimillionaires the very day they inherited the property with all its contents. The fact that they did not know that they owned such a treasure is irrelevant!
How it applies to you
“How does this apply to me as a born again Christian?” you might ask. In every way! In case you didn’t know, the single most important reason why Christians do not exert or make use of their entitlement in Christ Jesus is ignorance, or as the Bible puts it beautifully, “lack of knowledge.”
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
—Hosea 4:6
Did you notice that the Bible passage in Hosea actually says, “My people are destroyed”? It is God’s people, God’s children—not unbelievers, not the dying world, but his own people whom he has redeemed unto himself by the precious blood of Jesus—who are being destroyed, wiped out, defeated, and crushed! Why would God’s chosen people be destroyed? The simple answer is because they are either too busy to read and study the Scriptures or they are not interested in reading or studying the Scriptures, and as a result, they demonstrate an embarrassing lack of knowledge and understanding.
The word “destroyed” here connotes defeat in all its ramifications: shattered dreams and a life ruined. It also denotes bondage or slavery to sin, as well as an inability to achieve anything in life. The word “destroyed” signifies a life of poverty and lack, a lack of fulfilment, and an inability to either discover or fulfil one’s purpose in life.
Make it real and pick it
The Word of God can be real to you. All the resources of heaven are at your disposal. God has given you all things to enjoy in Jesus Christ. However, you have a part to play. Only you can determine how far you go with God. God is willing and able to go with you all the way. Are you ready to walk with Him? The ball is in your court.