Today, being the Resurrection Sunday, I am speaking on “God is on my side.”
Psalm 118:6 says, “Jehovah is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me?”
Listen friends, the storms of life come to everybody. They may come in the form of sickness, financial difficulty, barrenness, fear, family problems etc.
But as a Born-Again believer you should know that God is always on your side no matter your situation. And if God is on your side, you can never be defeated.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
Even in hardship and suffering, even in bitter disappointments, even when wrongly treated, Christians can know that God will work amidst such situations to fulfill His purpose in His children.
The situation may or may not directly be changed by God, but even if situations stay difficult, God guarantees ultimate good results, including maturation of character to those who are the called.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
Whatever the situation may be: The Scriptures say, “…If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
“…we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
And because you are dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, you are abiding under the shadow of the Almighty (Ps. 91:1).
Though a 1000 fall at your side and 10,000 at your righthand side, the destroyer shall not come near you (Ps. 91:7)
And because you have made the LORD your refuge and your habitation, no evil shall befall you, and no plague shall come near your dwelling place (Ps. 91:9-10).
God has given His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways and to protect you wherever you go (Ps. 91:11).
In Hebrews 13:5 God said, “… for He said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
In other words, God is saying that no matter what, He will never leave you nor forsake you.
In Psalms 23:4-5 says, “Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you should fear no evil: for God is with you...”
In Numbers 23:19 God said, “God is not a man, that He should lie, neither (is He) the son of man, that He should repent (change His mind): Hath He said, and will He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
When you really know that God is on your side, you can do the unimaginable. For instance, the three Hebrew children knew that God was on their side (Dan. 3). That was why they gave king Nebuchadnezzar an anyhow answer.
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of Gold in Dura, in the province of Babylon (v. 1). He gathered together all the people that mattered in Babylon.
As these people stood before the gold image, the king instructed that everyone should bow and worship the image he has made. He instructed that anyone who disobeys should be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace (v6).
Only the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship that image.
Their enemies went to report them to the king saying, “They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up” (v8-12).
Then the king spoke to them saying, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?” (v14).
Now if ye are ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the musical instruments, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good: but if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? (v. 15).
Now, listen to the reply of the three Hebrew children: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us from your hand, O king.
But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (v 16-18).
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the expression on his face changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego: therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
And he commanded certain mighty men of valour who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace (v 19-20).
Therefore, because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire killed those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace (v 22-23).
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spoke saying to his counsellors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Look! he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God (24-25).
Nebuchadnezzar praises God: Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire. And the people that mattered gathered together, saw these men, on whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them, and the smell of fire was not on them (26-27).
Nebuchadnezzar spoke saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in Him, and have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Therefore, I make a decree, that any people, nation, and language, which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other god that is able to deliver after this sort (v 28).”
Trusting God in this way will make your enemies to promote you: Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon (v 29).”
Therefore, believe God and be expectant because your own promotion is on the way. No matter how extreme your calamity, realize that God is on your side and is able to see you through.
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the pulpit.
Your friend, I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG)
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