FLOURISHING

I congratulate all members of RCCG Mount Zion parish for the huge success of the 10th anniversary celebration. You sowed your time, resources and God-given gifts into the program. My prayer is that you will not lose your rewards in Jesus name. Also, number 10 is the beginning of a double-digit number, henceforth all your blessings will come in manifolds in Jesus name. It is on this note that I gladly welcome you to the month of June, the concluding month for the first half of this year. The theme for this month is FLOURISHING.  This can only come from the Faithful God who says our lives will continue to epitomise flourishing not only in the mode of the past, or the present or in the future but in an unstoppable continuous flow. The bible says “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him (Psalm 92:12-15). From our anchor scripture, it is evident that our flourishing is not negotiable and it is unstoppable. To flourish is to blossom, to thrive, to remain ever fresh without any stale, contamination or impurity.

When your life flourishes, the glory of God unarguably manifests in your life, the unspeakable joy of the Lord fills your heart and the love of God oozes out of you always. Another embedded blessing of flourishing is that it consumes every negative darts directed at you by Satan and its agents. Hence the psalmist compares your flourishing to that of a palm tree and cedar tree in Lebanon. For brief information, palm tree remains one of the few trees on the surface of the earth that consumes effects of all weather (seasons). In other words, it is not affected by the effects of weathers as other trees are. Palm tree flourishes during winter when other trees shrink and some die. It flourishes during spring, not affected by the hot weather of the summer and it does not fail to flourish even in the face of the strong winds and tornadoes of the fall. The cedar tree is such a big tree which has not lost its highly prized quality from ages till now. It is also ever fresh and it is one of the most expensive woods being used to build synagogues and temples in the olden days. This gives us a better understanding when the bible says you will flourish like palm tree and cedar in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, there are conditions for genuine and permanent flourishing. According to our anchor scripture, only the righteous will flourish like palm tree and cedar in Lebanon. This is not self-righteousness but the righteousness of God. The second condition is those who are planted in the house of the Lord. The question is how planted are you in the house of the Lord and do you possess the righteousness of God? Since you desire flourishing and these are prerequisites for it, I earnestly plead with you to consciously work on these two issues to the approval level by God. This month marks the beginning of new chapter in the life of Mount Zion parish and also this is the spring season; you will enjoy God’s blossoming on all fronts in Jesus name.  Amen.