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THE COMMANDER OF FISHES (PART 1)
When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said:
"Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?¡±
He said, "Yes¡±. And when He had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him saying,
¡°What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes,
from their sons or strangers?¡± Peter said to Him, "from strangers¡± Jesus said to him,
"then the sons are free."
Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish
that comes first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money,
take that and give it to them for me and for you.¡± Matthew 17:24-27 NIV
We all, as human beings, do have needs, problems, challenges and responsibilities
in life. To think that we can be free from them is biblically incorrect and humanly impossible.
For sure they will continue to face humanity till life terminates. God only promises us
in His word the Bible, to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus, Phil 4:19, to show us a way out of every trial and temptation and to give us the
courage and strength to face and conquer our challenges and responsibilities in the one
and only exalted name that is above every other name; Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Even our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ who is God, had His share of all these while
He was physically here on earth. From the above bible text we are going to see how He at one
time reacted to a particular problem that confronted Him. A time came when He needed to
pay temple tax, just like most of us are confronted by daily, weakly, monthly and yearly
bills of different kinds. When the tax collectors came, it was not difficult for Jesus to
command money to appear on the spot. He could do it after all, He did many miracles greater
than that in many places, but He wouldn¡¯t do that for three reasons:
(1) He wouldn¡¯t want to appear as Magician money doublers. Magicians produce and double
fake money, but He the great provider provides for the need of Hs children according to His
riches in Glory.
(2) He wouldn¡¯t want to encourage laziness and chasing after fantasy. He would rather
want to teach peter as well as you and I that man is dignified when he labours with his own
hand. He wanted to teach Peter that there are some needs that can¡¯t just be provided and
that there are some miracles that can¡¯t just happen unless efforts more than just praying
and fasting are made.
It is pertinent to understand that God had already created avenues to solving every
problem we may encounter in life, but it is also important to find out what particular
avenue there is to solving a particular kind of problem. The first avenue is by coming
to God with the problem, need, challenge or responsibility, and to table them before Him
in prayer.
When you do that, then you listen to hear what He will say. It¡¯s no use bringing problems
to God and asking Him what to do, when you have already made up your mind what you are going
to do. It was while Peter listened to receive answer from Jesus that He told him that the
miracle or solution to their challenge lay in the mouth of a fish that was in the sea some
where down town. So when you pray and fast concerning a need, you have to be sensitive to
the voice of the spirit to know what exactly to do, how to do it, when to do it and where
to do it.
This method eliminates waste of time, unnecessary stress and anxiety before achieving
results.
Our God is a multifaceted God. We cannot limit Him to a particular method of meeting our
needs. The money in the mouth of a fish could as well be in the Log of wood, Rice farm,
Jewelry shop, the Refinery, Coalmine, Poultry farm, Mobile phone market etc.
But Jesus knew the solution was in the mouth of the fish and that fishes live in the sea
and not in the trees or on the mountain. So many of us are looking for fishes where they are
not. So He directed Peter to the sea. If you want to catch your miracle fish, I direct you
to the one I call the commander of fishes with these five principles as He instructed Peter;
- 1.GO DOWN TO THE SEA: Go is an action word, so you must take action and go down to the
sea because faith without work is dead. James 2:17. You must go down to the sea because any
healthy person who refuses to work should not eat 2Thes 3:10. You must go down to the sea
because the dignity of man comes through work. You must go down to the sea because the
field is ripe and the harvest plenty Jn4:35. You must go down to the sea because the night
cometh when no man shall work Jn 9:4
2.LAY DOWN YOUR NET/ HOOK: Invest your energy, time and effort;
be diligent in your duty
3.BE SENSITIVE TO THE MOVEMENT OF THE HOOK: know when the fish is hooked.
Watch out and see when any business window or opportunity door is open then;
4.DRAW THE FISH: Don¡¯t be too lazy to harvest where you have planted.
5.PREPARE THE FISH: In Prov. 12:27, the bible says, A lazy man will go out expending
his energy and time hunting, but when he comes home, he will leave the animal he hunted to
decay and rotten because he was to tired to roast or prepare it.
Preparing the fish begins by opening its mouth. Jesus told Peter to open the mouth of
his fish and collect money. I change you to do same today. Open the mouth of the fish you
have caught and you will find money; not just money but money enough to pay for your own and
that of Jesus.
The money you find in the mouth of your fish is not for you alone,
it is also for Jesus. The money you find in the mouth of your fish is not for you alone,
it is also for Jesus for the expansion of the kingdom of God here on earth and also for
your Pastor; remember Jesus was Peter¡¯s Pastor.
Don¡¯t close the mouth of your fish because you are afraid God or some one else might
ask you to include them in your budget. If you keep it closed, you will diminish but if
you open it, you will increase, multiply, fill, replenish and dominate because your hands
will always touch enough.
Shout Halleluiah!
Rev. Basil C. Ukaere
Senior Pastor
Pastor Basil Ukaere
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