FOOD FOR TEENS: SETTLE IT

   Happy new year God’s people, may all of God’s will and purpose concerning you this year come to pass in Jesus name.
   Dear teens God has a word for you as you venture into 2017 and that word is ‘Settle it.’ A lot of people are busy working on their New Year resolutions but the Lord wants me to tell you to ‘settle it.’ For the sake of clarity I will break down every point through question and answering.
 

Question 1: What is it God wants me to settle? 

   Follow me and I will explain as we go further. Let us start from the book of Psalms 119:89; For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” In this scripture the Bible is making us see that, the word of God concerning us as believers is settled in heaven. Has God said anything concerning us as believers? The verse is telling us that it is settled in heaven forever. Has God said in His word that you are rich? My brothers and sisters, it is settled in heaven, has He said you are healed? It is settled in heaven. The word settle means to be established, concluded. That means as far heaven is concerned, we are what God’s word says about us.
 

Question 2: If God’s word is already settled about me, why am I still the way I am? 

    A lot of Christians remain the way they are because it is settled in heaven and not on earth, we as believers ought to take God’s word and settle it in our heart. Until it drives out every doubt and every knowledge that is contrary to the will of God concerning us. Don’t expect God’s word to work in your life on its own, you have to settle it in your heart first, this is what is called faith. One definition of faith is: The response of the human spirit to God’s word.
   God’s word is spiritual, for it to ever make any impart in a man’s life, it has to find its way to that man’s spirit (heart). A lot of believers only believe in God’s word with their minds and the bad thing is that they think they are in faith. They come to church, they hear the word and they subconsciously accept the word into their minds and not their hearts, so they go and they never become what God’s word is supposed to make them be.
   If you study the gospel of Jesus closely, you will observe that He was so interested in the heart of man because that is the place where faith is birthed in any man. In Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This scripture is the most basic and comprehensive definition of how your faith should work. Jesus kept on talking about people who believed and showed great faith in Him but Apostle Paul in the above scripture just showed us how they did it: They believed with their heart, as simple as that. The heart is the engine room of every man; it is what happens in there that determines the functionality of every man’s life. No wonder proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep our heart with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life (wow). This means until God’s word which has been settled in heaven is settled in our hearts there isn’t going to be any changes.
 

Question 3: How do I settle the word in my heart?   

   Before we answer that let us first x-ray the heart and the word through the teachings of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 12:34-35, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” You see in verse 35, Jesus made us to understand that a good man out of the good treasures of the heart bringeth forth good things which means all a Christian ever need to be successful are:
1. To get the good treasure (which is the gospel of Jesus into His heart)
2. To bring forth these good treasure for cater to every one of His needs here on earth.
Jesus went further to explain in Matthew 13:1-23 the different kinds of hearts:
1. The Stony hearts: These are not really believers so the word of God does not find an enabling environment in this heart to grow.
2. The wayside hearts: These are Christians but the word of God never gets to their hearts, they only receive it with their minds then the devil comes and steals it from them.
3. The heart of thorns: These are believers, their hearts have been prepared to receive the word but they allow their contrary ideas to grow in their hearts, these wrong ideas are way more than the amount of God’s word in them, thereby choking out the word in them (a lot of Christians fall into this category).
4. The understanding heart: This set of Christians receive God’s word like a soil receives seed, they open their heart just like a farmer opens the surface of the soil, then the seed (God’s word) goes down inside them then they close up their heart to any other contrary information that will hinder God’s word from growing in them. From time to time they water the word of God in their heart (Prayers and continuous remembrance) then the word grows to a point that nothing can stop it anymore. This is what we believers should do with God’s word in every aspect of our lives, from our finances to our health, until every aspect of our lives is settled in God’s word that is the only way it can produce result in us.
   God bless you and have a blessed new year.