29/04/2021
_This study guide is designed to help you understand and do the word of God in a practical way. It contains questions to stir you into thought, a section of prayer & confessions, and also suggested Bible readings to help in your daily fellowship with God._
*Removing Hindrances To Financial Wellbeing:*
*HIDING SIN*
*Thursday, 29th April 2021*
_English and French Audio Version available @ www.thevoiceradio.com.ng;www.hogonline.org_
_Good Morning_
It is vital that you realise and live with the recognition that God wants it to be well with you, and that you should prosper so much that you’d be a blessing, not just to individuals, but to nations. To this end, the Lord God gives Himself to you to teach you to profit, by instructing you how to live. So, as one follows the instructions of God, such a one would find himself making profit. One of such instructions God gives us is that we should not hide our sin like the bible says.
*Proverbs 28 verse 13*
_He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy._
To cover sin is to hide or conceal it. When God says, ‘ _he that covers his sin shall not prosper_ ’, who do you think He is referring to in terms of hiding sin? God is the all-knowing all seeing One. The bible says that darkness is as light to Him - NOTHING can be hidden from Him. So, He obviously could not have been talking about covering your sin from Himself.
It is people that you can cover your sin from. This is strange because we often live our lives with the attitude that we don’t mind if God knows, ‘we can deal with that’, we say; but we are very ashamed for people to know and we do everything to hide or protect it from becoming known to people. This is what God is referring to - the one that lives like this is setting himself up for a life of failure, devoid of God’s help. This does not mean that if you have sinned, you should go and broadcast your sin on network news as a means of asking for forgiveness, but you must live with the mind that people knowing does not bother you, because the more important One already knows.
This is what David was referring to when he repented in the issue of Bathsheba saying, ‘against you and you only God have I sinned’ ( *Ps.51:4* ). Buttressing this principle, the Lord Jesus stated that the one who conducts his life based on people’s opinion CANNOT believe.
*John 5 verse 44*
_How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only._
Exposure breaks the hold of sin and the devil over you. So if you want to forsake something, have the attitude of, since God knows, I don’t care who else knows, I am more concerned about God.
This was the defining point between King David and King Saul in the Bible. David committed a much more heinous crime that Saul did – he committed adultery with a married woman and even killed her husband in an attempt to protect and cover it from public knowledge.
So that it would not be a thing of shame and disgrace, he quickly married Bathsheba so people would assume the pregnancy was conceived after marriage. I believe Bathsheba should have been about 2 months pregnant when this happened. Later on after the birth of the child, probably as from 3 months or so, God sent a message to David about his sin and David cried out loud in repentance, not minding who was there, even tearing his clothes in the process.
Saul on the other hand did not commit a crime of such moral degradation as David. All he did was that he did not obey God fully. God had commanded him to go and execute judgement on an enemy nation – Amalek, by completely destroying it. But rather than burn everything, Saul captured their king to make him a slave in Israel and kept some of the fattest and good-looking oxen, so they could use for sacrifice to God. You see even the reason for his incomplete obedience was for godly intention. Also like David, when God sent a message to him of his displeasure, Saul repented, but in his repentance we see the difference.
*1st Samuel 15 verse 24 to 25*
_And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God._
Notice how Saul repented. But notice his concern also, he wanted the honour of men. He did not want to be dishonoured before the people, that was more of his concern, unlike David who did not care, realising that since God knew, that was the worst thing ever. Saul ended up not prospering, because, he that covers his sin, SHALL NOT prosper.
*QUESTIONS:*
In your estimation, in what way did Saul show he had more regard for the people than God, after all, he wanted to go and worship God?
Is it possible to worship God for the honour of people you would receive?
Is there something that you are doing that you don’t mind God knowing but you would rather nobody knows?
Is it possible to receive forgiveness while hiding your sin?
Though it is natural to want to hide your wrong, resist the temptation of doing this because the implication of it is that you are saying you have more regard for people than you do for God and therefore, you’d rather have what people can offer than what God offers. Get yourself ready for God’s prosperity working in your life, be absolutely unreservedly committed to God. Amen!!!
*A Confession & Prayer:*
I choose respect for God more than respect for people. I refuse to dishonour God by honouring men’s opinion more than His own. I would not hide my sin, rather, I would confess and forsake them.
Tunein,music,song
