JUICY JULY 2021

THEME : CARVED OUT

DAY 8 : WHERE IS YOUR RESTLESSNESS?

TEXT : 

BIBLE READING : Mark 10 : 46-52; Psalms 61

 

It is day 8 already!

 

Eight days of calling upon God! 

 

Eight days of carving out those beautiful things we desire from God! 

 

Eight days of newness!

 

Kai!

 

I have goosebumps all over me right now! 

 

Let’s quickly look at why:

 

Genesis 27 vs 40b: 

 

By your sword, you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; BUT WHEN YOU GROW RESTLESS, YOU SHALL BREAK HIS YOKE FROM YOUR NECK.”

 

Ayayayaya! 

 

Did you see that?

 

Listening to the beginning of that verse didn’t sound like it was a yoke, it didn’t sound like a blessing either. But it says, as long as you remain contented, then the yoke remains.

 

As long as you can manage that problem in your life, the yoke remains! 

 

ARE YOU RESTLESS ENOUGH TO DESIRE A CHANGE?

 

Honestly, at this point let’s pause and begin to look at your prayer journal- your prayer requests. 

 

5 years ago, you wrote the same requests, 

 

4 years ago the same requests! 

 

3 years ago the same requests! 

 

2 years ago, same requests! 

 

Last year juicy July same requests! 

 

And they’ve entered this year again! 

 

Aren’t you tired? 

 

Sickness, seems to be taking turns in your family! 

 

As soon as money comes, something will happen and it will vanish! 

 

What about your Spiritual life? This month you’re hot, your vision life is intact, you understand the season you are in, you manifest in the gifts of the Spirit but two months down the line, you are so down you don’t even know how to shake it off! 

 

“Lord, I’m tired of the status quo’

 

What is status quo “ it means the existing state of affairs “

 

Blind Bartimaeus in our Bible Reading was named based on his status quo. 

 

He was blind and the easiest way to make reference to him was his condition. 

 

Every where he went, the status quo was the same. He was Blind! 

 

But there came a day that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, making new beginnings, carving out new destinies, forming new testimonies, rewriting new stories and Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing that way!

 

Bartimaeus grew restless, he had not seen miracles, but he had heard of them. He had heard of this Jesus who was doing wonders and he began to call,

“Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me”

 

It didn’t look like Jesus heard him at first. 

 

Sisters, I know the first time you called, it didn’t look like Jesus heard. 

 

I know the first time you cried, it didn’t look like Jesus noticed. 

 

I know the first time you pleaded it didn’t look like Jesus stopped.

 

Guess what?

 

It didn’t look like that for Bartimaeus too. But the man was tired of the situations in his life, his desperation, his restlessness only made him scream loudly the more. 

 

Oh, people tried to shut him down- just as people will try to quieten you today. 

 

“It is not as serious as you put it oh” 

 

“You don’t have to pray and pray and pray and pray for God to answer you oh sister Bolu.” 

 

“Our God is a merciful Father, just relax and he will answer you.”

 

Wait, before you relax first, was this not what they told you 5 years ago and you relaxed? 

 

They said the same thing to you and you rested without seeing the miracle come to pass? 

 

“Sister Fortune, you can pray oh, but don’t be doing too much like that, God hears.” 

 

See eh, you are not doing too much ooo!!! 

 

Hope you know that you can by your prayers enter the future and seal things there? 

 

You know by your prayers, you can rewrite the story and fast forward it , you can carry your blessings and watch them manifest right before your eyes?

 

Bartimaeus did. The Bible said “… he cried the more. 

 

The man was restless! 

 

The man was desperate, His miracle must be carved out! 

 

And Jesus healed him. 

 

The life of Blind Bartimaeus and how he obtained his radical change and testimony is an ever inspiring story. WOW!!! 

 

That guy was ready for a miracle!

 

To be born blind is not fun. Yet he did not allow his blindness to stop him from getting his desired solution! He was crazy enough to cry for a change.

 

“…the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs. 

 

Are you hungry? Are you desperate? It is those who acknowledge their poverty and inability and cry out for mercy who will be able to tell the stories of the miraculous works of God among them.

 

Nothing Just Happens. Yes, that is a familiar line, but I wish many people are really living it by practical life application.

 

Many people will never have a testimony until they are desperate enough to provoke it. God is waiting for a lot of people to make the first move, but many people are waiting for God to move first. 

 

God has no need. He is all sufficient! If God actually has any need, He is in need of people to bless and destinies to lift.

 

It is you that has a need. Stop waiting for God to move and for angels to stir the waters of the pool of Bethesda.

 

Dear sister, move now! You make the first move. You move and provoke your change by positive and prophetic desperation!

 

In the words of C. JoyBell C, “We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better.”

 

Your desire, therefore, for change must be greater than your desire to stay the same.

 

Here are five inspirational lessons we can glean from the life of Blind Bartimaeus.

 

#1. Stop doing normal things and stop doing things the normal way.

Truly, as they say, desperate situations require desperate action; abnormal circumstances require abnormal solutions; strange questions require strange answers. 

 

Get rid of your normal sense of carefulness and caution and fear. Rise above normal action, normal effort, normal prayers and fasting, normal giving and offerings, normal thoughts, normal attitude and normal shouts. 

 

Normal will never win the game! BEING TOO CAREFUL WILL NEVER MAKE IT HAPPEN! 

 

Blind Bartimaeus couldn’t care less. The more they hushed him, the more he rushed at his solution, and in the end, they not only got out of his way, but they became his escort riders, heralding him to the Master and his miracle!!!!

 

#2. Cry Out To God While Others Are Crying Out To Men For Help and Change.

 

Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (KJV)

                                                                                                  

 

Psalm 34:17-19 ‘”The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” KJV.

 

 

You may not have everything, but you do have something to use to reach out and cry to God for help and change…YOUR VOICE!

 

Blind Bartimeus did not have his sight, but he had his voice, and by putting it to good use in prayer, he got back his sight – and a better life.

 

Don’t die in silence. God gave mankind at least five senses so we can have at least five chances and multiple choices in calling on Him!!!

 

Like Blind Bartimaeus, by putting that your ‘voice’ to creative use in prayer, you can make yourself a Voice beyond your generation. Cry out to God!

 

#3. Leverage On Other People’s Testimonies (OPT).

When God is blessing your neighbour, it means God is in the neighbourhood. 

 

The point is that the testimonies of what God has done or is doing in the life of others is a prophetic pointer to what he can do for you. 

 

Therefore, use other peoples testimonies as a leverage to build your faith strong enough to receive.

 

It’s one thing to have a rich success mind-set, and entirely another to be resourceful with other peoples testimonies as building blocks to your own faith.

 

Blind Bartimaeus developed and used his existing faith resource built from others testimonies he has heard. He couldn’t see, but he could feel. 

 

The Presence of Christ made a difference in the size and behaviour of the crowd that day, and Blind Bartimaeus felt it. He couldn’t see but he could remember the stories that filled his region of incredible miracles by the Man of Galilee. 

 

He could not see, but he could, and did, build an unshakeable faith in what one encounter with the Messiah MUST do for him.

 

#4. Be  ‘shameless’ with God and not afraid to be laughed at.

 

Now, get ‘shameless’ with God! Let people laugh and mock your faith! You will always laugh last, in time and eternity. 

 

Therefore, become uninhibited and open in your need of Him. After all, we are all already naked and laid bare before Him, and there is nothing to be ashamed of in asking the King of all the earth.

 

Become desperate and driven in your need to reach Christ. Spend and be spent for that one opulent encounter. By using all of his remaining faculties, Blind Bartimaeus deduced that he was face-to-face with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – and being unsure of the right time and the right protocol, having no way to know when Jesus was within earshot, having no one friendly or loving enough to help him seek the Master for his solution, he launched an indiscriminate and determined bid for his miracle. He went flat out for it, and he got it. Make room for nothing to hinder, no one to obstruct and no sin to separate you if you want the usual from God!.

 

#5. Don’t Wait For Perfect Conditions To Take Perfect Action.

Blind Bartimeus didn’t wait for all the elements to line up in auspicious harmony. 

 

The moment he lined up the target, he pulled the trigger. It’s like hunting game. You don’t wait for the antelope to come over and take the muzzle in his mouth. 

 

Those trying to shut Bartimaeus up helped him out when his persistence paid off. His obstructions became his  escort riders the moment Christ sent for him. He will send for you soon. Keep at it. Don’t let people talk you out of action!

 

 

SHALL WE QUICKLY LISTEN TO THIS SONG?

 

It is titled BLIND BARTIMAEUS by Bill and Gloria Gaither.

 

Chorus

Well old blind Bartimaeus stood on the way, blind

Blind Bartimaeus stood on the way.

Well old blind Bartimaeus stood on the way, crying

Oh Lord, have mercy on me

 

In my God’s bible, the word proclaims

that Christ went healing the crippled and the lame.

He gave to the poor and the needy bread.

Healing the sick and raising the dead.

And then when He came to Galilee.

He passed by a man that could not see

Well, the main was blind, he was blind for birth.

They tell me that his name was Blind Bartimaeus.

 

Repeat Chorus

 

When Bartimaeus heard that the Lord was nigh,

He fell on his knees and began to crying

Oh thou man of Galilee

Cryin’ great God Almighty, have mercy on me.

 

Crying Oh Lord, (Mary’s baby)

Oh Lord, (Son of David)

Oh Lord, (Bleeding Lamb)

Oh, my Lord from in Bethlehem

 

Then my Lord, He stopped and He turned around

And He saw Blind Bartimaeus on the ground

And He touched his eyes with the palm of His hand

Blind Bartimaeus saw like a natural man.

 

He cried Thank God

Thank God

Thank God

Thank my God from in Bethlehem.

 

Repeat Chorus

 

 

SHALL WE PRAY???

 

• Come into His presence with thanskgiving and into his courts with praise. Sing joyously to the Lord. He makes the barren to become a mother of seven! He makes diviners mad! He uproots the plantings of the enemy! He laughs at the craftiness of the wicked one!

 

• Exalt our God, This God is too much oh.

 

• Worship Him for the Cross. See, I tell you the Cross is the starting point of victory. Victory starts and ends with the Cross, because the Cross gave us access, unlimited, unmerited access to the Father.

 

• Thank Him for the Salvation of your Soul. Now you can bolding enter into His courts and cry “ Abba Father, 

 

• In Jesus name we have worshipped

 

• Now ask for mercy, see anything that would withhold God’s hands from moving in your life today, can make you miss heaven. And my sisters, heaven is more than the goodies of earth. So, ask Him for mercy, 

 

• Father, where have I erred? With my words?, in my imaginations, in my thoughts, with my actions and reactions, by my body parts? Please forgive me, Let the blood of Jesus which speaks better things avail for me, let it wash me whiter than snow.

 

• Begin to take authority over your environment. The Bible says “ where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Ask the Spirit of God to take over, to saturate the entire place, the atmosphere, the four corners of your area, seal them off. You are in charge as God’s child, that’s right; take charge.

 

• Holy Spirit I welcome You, move as You deem fit.

 

For far too long you have remained contented. I call it the ignorance of Job. (that’s another bible study on it’s own), but Job never knew that the source of his problem was the devil. Read your bible well. He even thought God orchestrated it. And what you don’t know, you don’t contend with. But sisters, the handwritings are already there, too many unanswered prayers!

 

Now you will pray:

 

• Lord create in me a restlessness till I receive my desired blessings. There must be in me a desperation for change. 

 

It says “ but when you are restless, you will break his yoke from off your neck”

 

•  Father, I refuse to stay calm alonger, this yoke around my neck must be broken today.

 

Ask of me and I will give you the heathen and the utmost part of the earth for your possession Psalms 2 vs 8. This doesn’t sound like management to my ears. This sounds like claiming my inheritance in Christ. Go ahead claim what is yours.

 

• Lord, I need my possession, enough of the yoke and restrictions that I see around me, bless me, 

 

Oh that thou would bless me indeed and enlarge my coasts, this was Jabez prayer, it was a prayer of a desperate man. Go ahead tell the Lord your desperate prayer today.

 

• Oh, Lord that you will indeed bless me with that promised child, 

 

• Oh Lord that you will indeed bless me with that wonderful husband

 

Or is it a job, fill in your blank spaces

 

For long, your secret place has lost its fire. All you have now is past testimonies of who you once were- your exploits in your university days, your prayer life and now you seem like a shadow of your self. 

 

You’re relaxed, you call it a phase in time. Your fire is gradually ebbing out,

 

Now arise and take back your place. 

 

• Lord, let hot coals from your altar fall upon me. Cause my secret place to burn again, rekindle the fire in me that seems to be dying out. 

 

• Father place a restlessness in me that I will not get enough of your presence. “ 

 

• Let my daily cry be “ that I may Know Him”.

 

You see that yoke that has hung around your neck for too long, it’s time to break it off.

 

Begin to decree.

 

For the next few minutes I leave you here with your Father, Break the yokes from off your neck.

 

Break the yokes on behalf of your yourself, your family, your church, the BUD family.

 

When you are done, let’s continue. 

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

If you’re satisfied with the way things are going in Nigeria, then you must be living on another planet. 

 

Nigeria looks to me like one who is in bondage, struggling to break the yoke from off her neck, but powers that be are saying “ no way”. So we the people of Nigeria, we are growing restless, desperate for a change and we need this yoke to be broken. 

 

So begin to decree over Nigeria.

 

The yoke of wickedness is broken today, from the north, the south, the east and the west. 

 

Remember two days ago we sent arrows into the camp of the enemy, we are not just leaving them wounded oh, because a man that is wounded can heal again, we are eliminating every form of wickedness and powers that be!

 

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered in our lives

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered in our homes

Let God arsie and let His enemies be scattered in our church

Let God arise and Let’s His enemies be scatterd in Nigeria

 

Sing the song above with fire!

 

Begin to decree

 

• No more shall wars be heard on your street oh Nigeria,

 

• Those that seek for blood shed shall be drunken with their own blood 

 

• Lord, it is enough, Arise, Arise, Arise

 

“ AND WHEN YOU GROW RESTLESS, YOU WILL BREAK THE YOKE FROM OFF YOUR NECK” 

 

WHERE IS YOUR RESTLESSNESS?

 

WHERE IS YOUR CRY OF DESPERATION?

 

Keep praying as you’re led, 

 

Let there be a release till you relax.

 

See you at 5pm, sisters!