GIVE ME CHILDREN, OR ELSE I DIE | WEDNESDAY 29-03-2023 |
CHAPTER 1 | INTRODUCTION
● Codependency is not being in love but being a slave.
● The first red flag of codependency ... thinking and believing that you cannot live without your partner.
● Such thought, such belief and such declaration are not romantic but toxic.
● Why? Because no creature no matter who they are can fill up the emptiness in the heart except the Creator.
● We studied the 2nd red flag of codependency ... Being constantly insecure and fearing that you might lose them ...
● CODEPENDENT RELY AND DEPEND ON THEIR PARTNER TO MEET THE NEEDS ONLY GOD CAN MEET.
● Codependent lack faith and trust in God to care for their needs. As a result, they manipulate others to get what they want.
● THAT'S WHY I SAY ... CODEPENDENCY IS A CURSE ...
Jeremiah 17:5 KJV
Thus saith the Lord ; CURSED be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Today let's look at Rachel to illustrate it.
CHAPTER 2 | RACHEL, THE CODEPENDENT WIFE.
Leah was fruitful and had children. But Rachel was barren and did not have children.
Instead of running to the one who created her, Rachel runs to the creature called Jacob (meaning deception to meet the need only God can meet
As if it was not enough, Rachel pressurises Jacob to give her a child and threatens to die if he doesn't. Manipulation.
Wait a minute ...
How can Rachel says to a human being call him husband ... Give me children?
That's the codependency I'm talking about.
For someone listening to me today, I pray for you to be free in Jesus Name
Rachel the codependent saw Jacob as her god. Like some of us who see their husbands, their wives, their friends as god...
But shame on her. Jacob was not. And because Jacob was not God, Rachel entered and created a painful cycle of inner suffering as we will look at shortly.
CHAPTER 3 | THE PAIN OF CODEPENDENCY
You Remember? I told you that codependency is a curse.
What does the curse comes together with?
- It comes with sorrow. There is no sorrow in blessing Proberbs 10:22
- It comes with oppression Deuteronomy 28:33 ... thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always...
I pray for someone under the sound of my voice to be free from the curse of codependency in the name of Jesus Christ !
Now, let us look at the manifestation of the curse of CODEPENDENCY in the life of Rachel.
Let us confirm it and read again Genesis 30:1 KJV
When Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel ENVIED her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
In this text,
- we see a Jealous woman,
- We see an envious woman
- we see a covetous woman
- we see a woman suffering from competition
- we see a woman struggling with comparison
- we see a stressed woman
- we see an anxious woman
- we see a depressed woman
- we see an unhappy woman
- we see a joyless woman
- we see a bitter woman
I strongly believe that all the above contributed to keep her barren.
Poor Rachel..
The question I am asking .. Where did all this come from ?
They came from misplaced expectation
They came from misplaced focus
They came from Focusing on what she doesn't have.
They came from Focusing on what someone else has, that she wishes to have.
They came from Expecting Jacob to give her what he cannot
They came from Comparing herself with her sister Becoming itter and contemplating death
Someone following me this morning might be at the same place of codependency where RACHEL is. ...
A place of pain for not being able to perform like others.
A place where you see others going forward and you are not.
A place where others get jobs but you don't.
A place where others are married but you are not.
A place where you see others prospering but you are not.
There is hope for you ... If and only if you agree to break free from the curse of codependency.
How? You might ask me ...
CHAPTER 4 GOOD NEWS ... YOU CAN BE FREE FROM CODEPENDENCY
KEY 1 - CULTIVATE GOD-DEPENDENCY
Psalm 34:5 King James Version
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
You cannot look up and look down at the same time. Anytime you keep your eyes on God, you cannot have them on men. ANytime you keep your eyes on men, you cannot have them on God
KEY 2- CULTIVATE GRATITUDE AND GRATEFULNESS
Let's pause there and try to understand Rachel's misery.
Where did it come from? Is is because Leah was fruitful and she was not?
No. I don't think so.
To my understanding, the source of her misery was her LACK OF GRATITUDE.
I was expecting Rachel to be thankful for what she has and her sister doesn't have. Nowhere we see her expressing gratitude.
Rather, we see her complaining. We see her threatening for what her sister had and she didn't have.
Let me show it to you with some facts in her life
Fact 1 | Rachel was granted by God the grace to be beautiful, which Leah did not have.
Genesis 29:17 NKJV
Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.
Fact 2 | Rachel was granted the grace to be Jacob's favourite. She was loved not her sister.
Genesis 29:18 NKJV
Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter."
Fact 3 | Rachel was working not her sister. She's clearly identified as a shepherdess. Nothing is said about Leah's occupation.
Genesis 29:9 NKJV
Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
KEY 3 - CULTIVATE CONTENTMENT ... What is it?
- Contentment is the state of being mentally and emotionally satisfied with how things are.
- Contentment is The decision to be thankful and happy with what you have and patience for what is to come. Phil 4:11
- Contentment Inner peace, enjoyment, inner happiness with who you are and who you are not.
- Contentment is gratitude for little and expectation for more. 1 Tim 6;8
- Contecentment helps you know that life is little by little. Deut 7:22-
- Contentment is COUNT THE BLESSINGS NOT THE MISSINGS
Can you today turn your complaining into Thanksgiving?
CHAPTER 5 | A WAKE-UP CALL
● Now, let's look at Jacob's slap on Rachel's face ...
● Genesis 30:2 KJV
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
● Whoop whoop whoop... Have you just heard what Jacob said?
● Yes. I love you. Yes I care for you. But I cannot open your womb. I cannot give you children. I am not God.
● Do you see how Rachel received a slap?
● The slap was a wake-up call for her to remove her expectation, her faith, her eyes on Jacob and lift then on God.
YOU NEED TO WAKE YOU UP AND GET YOU OUT OF SLUMBER OF CODEPENDENCY ...
I have a message for you to wake you up before it is late
● MESSAGE 1...
Don't depend on men for the things you can get only from God. It is a CURSE.
● Let us read Jeremiah 17:5 KJV
Thus saith the Lord ; CURSED be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
● Jeremiah 17:5 EASY
The Lord spoke again. ‘Some people trust humans. I WILL PUNISH EVERYONE WHO THINKS LIKE THAT. They think that humans can make them strong. They do not ask the Lord for help.
● Jeremiah 17:5 ERV
This is what the Lord says: “BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN PEOPLE. Bad things will happen to THOSE WHO DEPEND ON HUMAN STRENGTH. That is because they have stopped trusting the Lord.
● MESSAGE 2 ...
A man is a man, not God. He might love you, yes, but he is still a man. He might do things for you, yes, but he is still limited. Don't idolise him. IT'S IDOLATRY.
◄ Isaiah 31:3 NIV
But the Egyptians are mere mortals and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, those who help will stumble, those who are helped will fall; all will perish together
● MESSAGE 3 ..
There are things only God can do for you, not a man. There are things you can get only from God, not from men.
So, remove your eyes from humans. Lift them to God.
● The one and only you can't live without is God not any mortal man whoever they can be.
● In John 15:5 KJV, Jesus says ...
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING.
● Galatians 2:20 KJV
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
● John 4:14
“Whoever drinks THE WATER I GIVE THEM WILL NEVER THIRST. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
● John 11:25 KJV
Jesus said unto her, I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
FINAL WORDS
● If you decide to praise God today ...
● GOD will change your level from glory to glory.
● Anytime you praise God for the last blessing, you secure the next. blessing.
● Meaning, you give God a good reason to continue to bless you and continue to change your level
● Hosea 4:7 "As they were increased, so they sinned against Me; therefore will I change their glory into shame.
● The will of God for you is from glory to glory | from increase to increase|
● 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
● 1 Thessalonians 4:10 And indeed you do it toward all the brothers which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brothers, that you increase more and more;
● Psalms 84:7 They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before God.
I I have learnt than winning or losing a battle doesn't equal winning or losing a war.
Hallelujah! Our God is always the God of NEXT LEVEL OPPORTUNITY.
● I pray today that your level should change from glory to glory not from glory to shame in the Name Of Jesus Christ!!!
● I pray today that your level should change from strength to strength not from strength to weakness in the Name Of Jesus Christ!!!
● I pray today that your level should change from increase to increase not from increase to decrease in the Name Of Jesus Christ!!!
● SO GIVE THE LORD PRAISE FOR THE CURRENT LEVEL AND BE FREE FROM DEPENDING ON MEN FOR WHAT ONLY GOD CAN GIVE TO YOU.
No comments:
Post a Comment