Timely Truths

I once heard a very popular personal development coach say ‘The miracle of the seed and the soil, rain and sunshine, the seasons, God and everything that’s available isn’t available by affirmation, but only by labor’ his advice ,‘so labor well’. While I agree with this statement, there’s a sense to which people have taken this and labored themselves to the point of death and at the end of their lives have realized as Solomon did, that it was all vanity, but there’s also those who go to the other extreme and say God will provide without them applying themselves to doing anything worth while, this is complete heresy and very dangerous, Paul said in his epistles, “He that does not work must not eat”, I believe there is a balance to this in the scriptures, while God never meant for His people to be lazy and shirk their responsibilities, He also didn’t mean for us to spend all of our strengths, gifts, ability and time running after things, there is a right order and priority that we ought to choose so as to walk in all of the good things He has prepared for us.

Like with everything else in Gods kingdom, finding the right order begins with knowing Gods counsel for our lives, what did He intend for us to do, finding this out and following it will save us from a lot of stress and worry, total and complete trust in God is the single most important factor in finding and entering our rest, Heb 3:18,19 says, And to whom swore He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not, so we see that they could not enter because of unbelief. This verse refers to the wilderness journey of the children of Israel, it says every single disobedience they exhibited, every time they grumbled and murmured against Moses and consequently against God, it was because of unbelief, it was because they didn’t think God could come good with His promises of taking them through the harsh wilderness and into the land of promise, unbelief literarily sucks out Gods power and ability to deliver every single time, no wonder Jesus said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to them that believe” (Mk 9:23).

The only criteria that God looks at in bringing His word to pass in our lives is our faith, men have tried to replace faith in God with other things, ok may be not necessarily replace, but they are saying, ‘You cant just believe alone, you have to do so and so’, and they try to outline all this religious stuff that you need to do before God can move in your life, the truth is there’s nothing we as human beings can do to move God, we can only respond in faith to what God has already accomplished in the realm of the spirit through the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross, anything else is simply works, and it’s the reason Gods will isn’t being done.

Heb 4:3a says, For we who do believe do enter into that rest, it says what qualifies us for this rest is our belief, nothing more, vs. 7 says, Today if you will hear His voice do not harden your hearts, it says when He speaks, He’s speaking life unto you, all you need do is make sure you are sensitive to His voice, everything you need for your well being is tied to your ability to stay connected to and believe in Him, vs. 9-11 says; There remains therefore a rest to the people of God, For He that is entered in to his rest has also ceased from his own works (labor), as God did from His; Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Emphasis mine.

This I believe is what fighting the good fight of faith is all about, I wont go into that in this article because I have an article with that same title, but its the point we reach when we take Gods word as the truth of our lives no matter what’s going on around us, our mind is the battle ground, hence the need for daily renewal and meditation in the word, God has shown us what we have in the spirit realm, the realm where all things are created, but our body can only perceive the natural, so its that third part of us that breaks the tie, and whatever dominated the mind (either the word of God or what the world says) eventually gets the nod of approval, it says when you are totally rested in Gods word, when you’ve reached the point where you say, Let God be true and all men liars (Rom 3:4), when your own reality isn’t what you see, taste, hear, smell or feel, but what God says, then you can say you have entered into you rest and have ceased from trying to approach God based on performance, or what the bible calls works, when God finished creating the world, He said it was perfect, there was nothing else left to create, and He hasn’t added anything to it after all this years, it’s the same with us, when we reach this point of total trust in Him, we realize there’s nothing more to do, its all He wants from us.

The dilemma therefore is to labor to cease from labor, it takes all of the spiritual effort we cam muster, to reach a point of absolute and unrelenting belief in Gods word, we wont get there in a day or a month or a year, it will take years or even decades to do it. Nobody, either in scriptures or even in our contemporary lightening fast jet age has ever achieved this over night, the process could sometimes be painful but yet rewarding in the end, it will take falling and rising, patience and perseverance, it will take you challenging everything you had believed before, it will take you making up your mind by the help of the Holy Spirit that whatever it takes you don’t have any other choice but to do it Gods way, then and only then can you truly say you have ceased from your labor and entered your rest, God bless you.

In a previous article I have dealt with the subject of Gods will and plan for each individual and how success in life and ministry rests totally on not relying on the physical realm but on what God says, if He really called us He knows the ultimate route to our destinations. Taking a look at the bible and people who were used mightily by God, they could be divided into various categories, but haven tried to study this subject of Gods call, I split them into two main groups, the sent and the anointed, what does this mean? That’s the question I’m going to try to answer in this article by taking a look at the lives of certain characters in the bible and trying to use their experiences to make the point clearer.

Where else do we start but with Abraham the father of faith himself, in Gen 12:1-3 we see God speaking to him for the first time and giving Him an instruction that turned his entire life around, it says, Now the Lord had said to Abraham, get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you, I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing, I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So there’s no doubt about the fact that Abraham did not decide on his own to embark on this trip, he was sent by God, no wonder God showed up mightily in his affairs, God was just confirming His word after a man had believed Him and obeyed His voice. Don’t forget Abraham never went back to Ur of the Chaldeans, that’s a very significant point to note because we will soon come back to talk about its relevance.

When Isaac came along and it was time to pick a wife for him, Abraham told his servant in Gen 24:6, But Abraham said to him, beware that you do not take my son back there. That’s a pretty strong charge, this guy was asking Abraham in the previous verse, what if she (the wife) doesn’t want to follow me because she hasn’t seen the man I want to marry her to, can I take Isaac back there, only just for a brief period so that his intending bride can see him, the answer was an emphatic no, why is that, what was so particular about that place, Abraham grew up there remember, why then didn’t he want his son to do so much as step a foot in there, I believe that when a man is sent by God out of a place with an instruction God doesn’t go back on His word and He never takes him back to that place again.

When Jacob and Esau came around and their mother had gotten a word from God that the elder will serve the younger or plainly put, Jacob will be the recipient of the blessing that God had given unto his grandfather, she did all she could and made sure he got blessed by Isaac, but this wasn’t God best for him, this meant that he had to run away from Esau, and went back to the place where his farther was forbidden to go, God never sent him to Padan Aram, that was essentially his mothers idea, I believe he went through things he shouldn’t have, and if he had done things Gods way the calamities that he experienced would have been minimal, someone says ‘ well he got blessed with wives, children, cattle and property, what else could he have asked for’ , that’s true and I totally agree with that, but do you know that it wasn’t until he ran away from Laban and headed back to where God placed him initially that he found out who he really was and the blessing kicked in for him, if you have sent yourself some place that God hasn’t sent you, you will have to come back for you to experience the fullness of his blessings for your life and ministry, remember, places are as important as people.

Another person in the bible who ran away and had to go back to where God initially put him was Moses, it wasn’t Gods idea that he should be in the wilderness while the children of Israel were in Egypt slaving and suffering, he knew Gods call was on his life to deliver His people, but again he made a mistake that most people make today, he wanted to fulfill Gods call with his own human ability, not knowing that God will never share His glory with any man, and in the process added thirty extra years to the enslaving in Gods people, if what you say God called you to do can be fulfilled without His supernatural in dwelling, then guess what? Its not God, it will take Him to fulfill your call, I haven’t got time in this article to explain in detail this issues concerning Moses, but he had to go back to Egypt because God never sent him out in the first place, that was his own doing altogether.

Now lets consider the second group of people, those anointed by God, in the old testament, according to the law, priests were anointed and set apart to serve in Gods presence, but later on when Israel asked for a king they too were anointed, Saul was anointed as the first king in Israel and that’s what made the difference in his life, he never heard God for himself, but the anointing on his life was in full effect and ensured he experienced Gods help as long as he obeyed the voice of Gods prophet Samuel, but once he went into error and started becoming too big for God, he was refused and God sent Samuel to anoint David as king over Israel, it was this same anointing that made the difference in David’s life.

Prophets were also anointed by God to carry out specific tasks in the old testament, when Elijah’s time was up God gave him an instruction in 1 Kings 19:16, Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat as prophet in your place. Clearly Elisha was anointed based on Gods instruction, no wonder when people saw him after Elijah’s exit, they said the spirit of Elijah does rest on Elisha and he was able to continue where his master stopped, as prophet and sometimes judge over Israel.

When Jesus Christ came the bible tells us that He was anointed beyond measure, and as born again believers we carry the same power on our inside that He carried while he walked the earth, but in fulfilling Gods call, He might ask us to make certain decisions, which could entail leaving our comfort zones and risking all we have labored for, obeying him no matter what is the single most important decision anybody can make, and no matter what, we will always be better for it, and if He truly spoke to us to leave, we wont ever have to worry about going back, because he never goes back on His word, on the other hand if the decision is out of desperation or fear, we will never reach our full potential until we return to where He destined for us, blessings are always waiting in the place of obedience, God bless you.

The core and heart of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the fact that He went to Calvary carrying a cross on which He died and rose up on the third day just like He said He would is for me the single most significant event in the entire earthly ministry of the Son of God, 1Chor 15: 13,14 says But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty. These are very radical statements, the spiritual implications of this particular occurrence is what our entire born again experience rests on, Christ taking our place and instead of us paying for our sins, He did it once and for all so that we might be set free from the guilt of sin and its numerous off shoots like sickness, poverty, death and so on, which came automatically upon us through the disobedience of the first man Adam, now we as Gods children are no longer under the bondage of the enemy, vs. 20-22 of the same text above says, But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruit of those who have fallen asleep, for since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead, for as in Adam all die, for even so in Christ all shall be made alive. That’s the reality, but sadly though most Christians have missed this truth and the enemy is taking advantage of them, I believe ignorance is the number one reason for not walking in total victory and it’s the truth of the good news that delivers, Jesus said in Jn 8:32, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Once the light of this truths are shined upon our hearts we are well on our way to the victorious life Christ obtained for us.

Who we really are as Christians is readily expressed in the various letters of the apostles in the new testament, and its essential to make a careful study of this letters to get the import of our new nature, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is one of such epistles that conveys this truths, in ch 1 and vs.3 it says, Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath (past tense) blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Emphasis mine. This scripture by its own self speaks volumes, our blessing isn’t something we will obtain in the future, it’s a done deal, we are not struggling as the rest of the world are to obtain a blessing, we have been blessed with all blessings in the heavenly realm and all we need do is find out how to draw out this stuff that’s been given to us in Christ, that’s where it is, in Christ, the reality about Gods blessings is that He never takes them back, once He pronounce you blessed, nothing can reverse it but you, awesome.

Vs. 6 says, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. We have been accepted, because we have responded to the grace that was bestowed on the entire world, we are not in the process of trying to do things to be accepted, we don’t go to church or pray or study the word so that God will accept us, we already are, responding by faith was all we needed to do and its enough, this truth will free us from the performance syndrome that the church is engrossed in today, they say you need to do so and so before God will accept you, that’s not true, you have already been accepted in the beloved, this word ‘beloved’ here actually means highly favored, yes you are highly favored by God, its so simple but yet loads have missed it and are trying to get Gods favor, that’s a misconception by religion.

The latter part of vs. 13-14 says, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. I cant explain the full meaning of this verse in this article but it simply says once you have responded to Gods grace in faith, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, the real you, your spirit man is sealed, free from contamination and pollution of the world, meaning you cant sin away your salvation, I know most will choke on this but that’s exactly what it means.
In vs. 17-23 Paul begins to pray for the Ephesian Christians and since this epistle was also written to the faithful in Christ Jesus, we need to pay close attention to the specifics of his prayers, vs. 17 says, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; The more revelation knowledge of God we have the easier this walk with Him becomes, faith in God is essentially based on how much of Him we know, as a matter of fact Peter said in his letter to the church in 2 Pet 1:3, According as his divine power hath (past tense) given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us unto glory and virtue. Emphasis mine. That’s where it is, wrong knowledge will always produce wrong results. In vs. 18-20 of our text in Ephesians 1, he says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.

This verses make astonishing and awesome statements, first he says you need to have the eyes of your hearts opened and flooded with light, the light of the reality and truth of what Christ obtained for you by going to the cross, there’s hope in our calling as believers, and we have an inheritance which is glorious and lastly he says, Gods raw power in dwells us, it is with this same power (that’s resident in us) that He raised Christ from the dead, so we have raising from the dead power on the inside of us, that’s amazing, vs.21-23 says, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come, and He has put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to His church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Christ is seated far above all this spiritual entities and He has everything under His feet, everything means everything, no matter what their name is, He has it under His feet where He’s seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, so how about us what does this have to do with us someone may ask, vs. 4-6 of Ephesians 2 says, But God, who is rich in mercy, because of Hs great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places with Christ. What? You mean the same spiritual position Christ has in the heavenly realm is what we as believers have, that’s exactly what this verse says, we are seated together with Him, far above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named in this world and in the one to come, that’s what He bought for us when He went to the cross, but again most Christians have missed this and the enemy has literarily taken them to the cleaners, this is the truth of the word, and we had better realize that spiritual truth has more authority and power over physical manifestations.

Christ went through everything not for Himself but for us, if we don’t take full advantage of what we have then guess what? His death and resurrection will all be in vain, its not just about salvation although that’s the starting point, He has obtained victory and dominion for us and we ought to respond in faith to this awesome show of grace by God the father, as we do, we will experience the power that raised Christ up from the dead which resides in us, show up in our daily encounters, God bless you.

The scriptures teach that God made man in His image and likeness, and man was given authority over everything else that was created, over the years man has exercised this dominion to the best of his abilities and has succeeded in subjecting all other forms of creation under himself, God also created man with an ability to think and process ideas, which means man isn’t expected to operate just based on instincts alone, he can ponder on various options and make choices, and sadly its this God given power of choice that has been mans greatest undoing, he has turned it around and made a big mistake that he can run his life on his own without the help or intervention of God, but reality is that God never intended us to run our lives the way we wanted, He wants to be a part of our everyday endeavors, its not just enough to say I am born again, that’s the beginning, God wants to be involved every step of the way as He reveals His hearts desire unto us, and we can live our lives in such a way that we take our directions for every single step we take from Him, this article isn’t essentially about finding out Gods will and plan for us, I have dealt with that in a previous article titled, ‘the will and plan of God’, this article is meant to show us our need for His divine guidance and how impossible it is to direct our own lives just by ourselves.

In Jer 10:23, the prophet made a very important statement, now this was someone who was serving as a priest in Israel and God told him there was more to his life than just burning incense, in fact he was ordained and sanctified to be a prophet or a spokes man on Gods behalf, and this discovery literarily changed his life, he said in this verse, Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. What a radical statement, he says no matter how much know how man has acquired (and he has made successful and admirable strides since creation), man cannot thrive without God, he says its not in him, so he shouldn’t even bother trying, he cannot and will not be able to touch all the bases God intended for him if he tries to short circuit God out of his life, this is so profound and simple but most people have missed it, don’t forget he talk about steps and ways, we’ll come back to the significance of this later on, in Ps 37:23, the psalmist says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way. Here’s David, by far the greatest king ever to rule Israel, he was the one God initiated the covenant with, in fact God called him a man after His heart, this was someone who knew Gods will for his life from an early age, he was anointed to be king in Israel while still in his teens, but he still had to take his orders from God, even to fight the slightest battles, he was so determined to do it Gods way that he inquired for every single course of action to take, he says, if his steps are ordered then he will naturally delight God, no other option, fantastic.

Solomon who became king after David, was regarded the wisest and richest man that ever lived, no surprises at all, his wisdom was from God, hence as a natural consequence wealth followed, in Pr 20:24, he says, A mans steps are of the Lord, how then can a man understand his own ways. He says, wait a minute guys, don’t even think that you can work out, figure out or think through a way for yourselves, when the very steps that you should take were designed before you came, how then could you think you could fashion out a path way, its absolutely impossible, the earlier you submit to the one who designed it the better for you, again quite simple but most have missed it.

How then can we figure out this steps and ways, it all comes down to the foundation of our belief, the word of God, we must develop capacity for revelation from the source of life itself, He has written a book for us which we will do well to follow, and more importantly His Spirit dwells in us and if we allow Him (a BIG if), he will take us by the hand and lead us along, in Ps 119:105 it says, Your word is a lamp to my feet (steps) and a light to my path (way), His word can literarily direct our steps and ultimately our ways. Emphasis mine. The Lord in giving Joshua his first few instructions after the death of Moses, said in Jos1:8, This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written in it (take the required steps), for then you will make your way (that word again) prosperous and then you will have good success. Emphasis mine.

The underlining words in all these scriptural references are steps and ways, God has destined us to reach our full potentials by following His preordained steps, and the more we stick to this, the more we gradually begin to watch our way evolve in front of us, its like a group of people going on an expenditure, they chart a course for themselves and then break it down into little steps, every single day should take them closer to their desired destination and they are so diligent not to get taken off course, until they get to their ultimate destination, we need to take a cue from this, following Gods lead is not negotiable in our walk towards the perfect way, He knows the pitfalls and hurdles that we could come across and He is keen on the process as much as He’s interested in the ultimate destination, as we follow Him whole heartedly and we trust absolutely in His judgment, we will walk the way with joy unspeakable and eventually hear the voice, ‘welcome good and faithful steward, enter into the joy of your father’, God bless you.

Our experience as born again believers out of darkness and into the light of Christ has often times been likened to the journey of the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt through the wilderness and into the promise land, while I don’t exactly agree with direct comparisons and the replacement doctrine that we have replaced the children of Israel, I concur with the idea that we are spiritual Israel and there are similarities between us and them, for example Christ is our mediator of a new and better covenant just as Moses stood between God and His people and delivered the law unto them, you can also argue that the Christian experience is like a journey and you don’t start one day and arrive the next, the same way it took them a while to get into the promised land, the essence of this article isn’t to make comparisons so I wont spend time on this, my focus is on finding out why only two out of all men of fighting age (twenty and above) who left Egypt made it to Canaan, that’s a scary statistic if you ask me. There are various schools of thought as to the exact number of people that left Egypt, but lets just pick a number in the bible that Moses himself talked about in Num 11:21 But Moses said, the people among who I am are six hundred thousand footmen besides women and children…. Going by this figure only 2 out of 600,000 men made it alive into Canaan.

The scriptures made references a lot of times to the conduct and attitude of the Israelites, it often times called them stiff necked people, people who yielded to intense cravings or gluttons, rebellious and stubborn, fornicators, murmuring children etc, all these phrases and adjectives typified things they did when certain difficult situations arose in the course of their journey, but this were just manifestations of a deeper and more subtle problem, and I think its essential in our own walk with God to understand this things, the main reason or should I say the number one cause of all their problems and the underlining factor that prevented them from Gods word becoming the realities of their lives was unbelief, plain and simple, it was their inability to take Gods word as the truth irrespective of the enemy or circumstance, was what cost them the land and ultimately their lives, lets examine a few scriptures, in Numbers 13 and 14 we see the instance where they were at the border of Canaan and Moses sent out twelve spies to spy out the land, among these spies were the two men (Caleb and Joshua) who made it into the land, vs. 27,28 of Num 13 says, Then they told him, and said, ‘we went to land where you sent us, it truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit. Nevertheless (which is a simple way of saying, before you get too excited I have some bad news for you) the people who dwell in the land are strong, the cities are fortified and very large, moreover (if the first bit of news isn’t bad enough, here’s one that will scare you to death) we saw the descendants of Anak there’. Emphasis mine.

Caleb responds in vs. 30, Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it”, vs. 31, But the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we’. Now this guys spied out the same land, saw exact same things but somehow brought two conflicting reports, how’s that?, it can be explained in very elaborate words, but the bottom line was, one party believed in Gods ability to perform what He said He would, and the others didn’t. The result, the congregation of the people raised their voices and cried, saying God brought them out here to kill them, they even thought of appointing a leader to lead them back to Egypt, how dumb can someone be and still be breathing? Unbelief makes people think and act irrationally, it just basically sucks the power and anointing of God away, no wonder Jesus responded to people who came for healing with the words, “Have what your faith expects”, He even told someone, “if you can believe, all things are possible to Him who believes”, again its so simple yet a lot of people miss it. Staying with the Israelites, God shows up in a cloud and talks to Moses, hear what He said, vs. 22, 23 of Num 14, because all this men who have seen my glory and these signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness and have put me to test these now these ten times, and have not heeded my voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected me see it. Now that’s pretty intense, people often think that once God makes a pronouncement it has nothing to do with them, if God said it, no matter my attitude, it will come to pass, they don’t even want to think that a human being can hinder Gods move, what they don’t realize is God put humans on this planet as an extension of Himself, and God is a spirit, He needs the cooperation of humans for His will to come to pass, spirits have no right to move on the earth without a human body, so the more we yield ourselves unto Him in obedience and belief the more of Gods ability that flows through us.

Apostle Paul explains these same things in Hebrews 3 and 4, chapter 3 ends with a simple but profound statement in vs. 19, so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Vs. 6 of Ch 4 says, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Vs. 11 says, Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Three different times now he says, “hey guys pay very close attention to these things, unbelief will literarily stop you from entering into Gods best for your life”, and if anybody should know I think the Apostle Paul should, he even said somewhere that these things (referring specifically to Israel’s experience in the wilderness) were written for our learning and to serve as an example to us, that we shouldn’t follow in their foot steps, but the sad thing is most Christians are doing the exact same things they did, not trusting and resting solely on the integrity of God word and therefore missing out big time on what God has planned for them, I sincerely pray that God will give us understanding in these areas and we will learn to take His word as our realities, God bless you.

Everybody goes through trying times, periods in our lives when it seems as if there’s no end in sight or when it feels like God is a million miles away and we cant sense His presence, if you haven’t experienced this, hang on a minute whether you like it or not, it will come, and I am not prophesying doom, Christ Himself said it in Jn 16:33, This things have I spoken to you that in me you might have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world. Apostle Paul gives us an insight into what our calling entails in 2 Tim 3:12, Yes and all those who desire to live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. The earlier you come to grips with this fact as a follower of Christ, the better for you, its not a choice it’s part of the calling, once you have a word from God, that word will attract tribulations and persecutions and our attitudes to this hindrances will determine what the outcome will be, in other words, being of good cheer isn’t just an advice which you can decide to take or ignore, it’s a charge, a command, if you will experience the supernatural manifestation of God, you must first make up you mind not to lose the joy of the Lord.

I Thess 5:18 says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Most times when people come across difficulties they usually say things like, ‘I don’t seem to be able to know what Gods will is in this particular situation’, this verse says you do, His will for you is giving of thanks, this seems to be so simple and plain but its shocking how many Christians seem to have missed this, they come up with all sorts of excuses to justify their not being able to give thanks, and invariably their inability to obey a command from God, whether you like it or not, whether you agree with it or not, the scriptures cannot be broken, if God says do it, you had better start channeling all your efforts towards the direction Gods word is telling you to go, it will be wicked of God to tell you to do something that’s not within your capability, even in the darkest times of our lives we can give thanks, Paul and Silas showed this in Acts 16:25-40, right in the middle of immense pain and anguish they were praying and singing hymns, brothers and sisters I have found out that its all about perspective, you can either sulk and play the victim or dig deep into your spirit and draw out the joy and the peace Christ promised us, its your choice, and its one that could eventually be the turning point in your difficulty.

How is it possible to maintain an atmosphere of joy around you even in challenging situations? Won’t I be looked upon as not normal at times when everybody expects me to be sorrowful and here I am full of life and bubbly? Isn’t that being hypocritical or being in denial? Firstly God never called us to be normal or natural, He called us to be supernatural, and its not been hypocritical, the real you (your spirit man) is always rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory, so the point is do you want to be like your spirit man already is or you want to conform to what your senses (your body) are telling you, I’ll rather go with the spirit man, which after all, is the real me and is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24).

So how do I get to the point where my spirit man is automatically dominant over the flesh? To the point where the fruits of the spirit in Gal 5:22’23 are the prevailing, domineering and assertive forces in my life, to the point where I can by default walk by faith (in the spirit) and not by sight (in the flesh). The starting point is Gods word, its Gods window into His spiritual word, Jesus said ‘the words that I speak to you are spirit and life’, the more you renew your mind with Gods word, instead of having the worlds views and ideas you have Gods word in there, you’re on your way to unparalleled success in your life and ministry, when His word becomes your reality instead of circumstances around you, that’s when the faith of God comes alive in you, its not denying the existence of the physical, its just accepting the fact that there’s a higher and more authoritative realm of the spiritual, Gods realm, which ultimately controls the physical and you can draw power from that realm to overcome your situations.

We could talk about many other things, but this concept of renewing your mind by the word and accepting it as the real deal in your life is where it all begins, you cant get away from it, His word is the very foundation upon which everything is built and you cant move on until you get Gods exact perspective on issues, guess where that comes from, the word, I have an article on the reality of Gods word that will shed more light on this issues, the article on setting your heart will also be helpful here, that’s where the victory is, so let not your heart be troubled, you can be of good cheer, God bless you.

The Christian faith is essentially heart based, by this I mean God basically deals with us based on the condition of our hearts and not on the outward appearance, and we make reference to the scripture that says man looks on the outward but God looks inwards, the core of Christ’s message was that we should believe with our hearts before confession is made with the mouth, now and again we hear Him say, If u can believe or be it unto you according to your belief, He even rebuked His disciples for what He called the hardness of their hearts, Pr 23:7 also supports this assertion, it says, as he thinks in his heart, so is he, taking a look at the bible from Genesis to Revelation we discover a trend that’s common to both the old and new testament, not everybody got Gods approval, not everybody got Gods will and purpose come to pass in their lives, and it wasn’t about whether or not God was willing to do, it was they who just didn’t let Him, a lot started well and missed it along the line, few started with little or nothing but wont just let go of their faith in the Most High God and their lives took a dramatic turn, there a various reasons for this, but I think the major difference in both cases was the state of their hearts, since the condition of our hearts plays a significant role in the success or otherwise of our Christian experience, its therefore necessary we take a good look at the issues of the heart.

There’s a story about David’s grandson in 2 Chr 12:13, 14, Thus King Rehobaom strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned, he was forty years old when he became king and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there, his mothers name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And he did evil, because he did not prepare to seek the Lord. This is amazing, this was a seed of David on the throne God swore to his grandfather that they would never vacate, he didn’t start being an evil king, in fact he started well and did a few good things for God, but the passage says he did evil just because he did not prepare (fix, set up, prime, make ready, organize) his heart, when things go wrong in our world today with believers, people come along and say all sorts of things, they see the deed done and ask themselves, ‘how could he have done this”, while its fairly easy to point at the outward consequences, the bottom line is that people do not just fix their hearts on seeking God.

That’s exactly where the children of Israel found themselves when they were in the wilderness, we all have a feeling oh they couldn’t enter the promise land because they murmured and complained and did all those kind of things but Ps 78:8b says they were , a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God, it says their hearts were not set, fixed on God, but rather on the situation, that’s a recipe for disaster, no wonder they couldn’t make it into the promise land, its so easy to think the real problems are on the outside but that’s not the case, the real draw back is in the state of the heart, so first and foremost you have to set your heart on obeying God, set your heart such that everything in you knows that following God isn’t just one of the options that you have, it’s the only option, nothing else will work, tell yourself that obeying and walking according to His counsel for your life isn’t negotiable, once that’s sorted out in your heart, then the ability and power to make it work is poured out to you from above.

In Ps 112 vs. 7,8 the psalmist talking about a man that fears God and is in right standing with Him, says, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies. Whatever adjective is used, fixed, established, set, it all means one thing, making up your mind that no matter how it goes, Gods instructions will be priority, most Christians do not have this concept of preparing their hearts, they just wait for the storm to come before they decide on what to do, no wonder we get the results we are getting and the evil one seems to be having fun at our expense, he knows that if he pushes people to a certain limit he can break them, so all he has to do is to come with a few problems, and phew they will lose their faith in God, this things can be prevented, you can get to a point where like Paul you can say , for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain, whichever way it goes, there’s only one line to thread and that’s the path of absolute trust in God

Prophet Isaiah speaking about the Christ in Is 50:7 says, For the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced, therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed. What do you think this was talking about, the Son of God Himself says in fulfilling my calling on earth, even though I am guaranteed the help of God from above, even though He promised to be with me every step of the way, there’s a decision I have to make before Gods help can flow to me, I have to set my face like a flint, a stone or a rock, no wonder He was referred to as the rock out of which the children of Israel drank in the wilderness, and with you its no different, for you to get the best out of this walk with God, for you to even have a chance at being the person God intended you to be, you have to make such a decision and stay committed to it, no matter what happens.

There’s so much God is willing to accomplish in our lives, there’s so much ground we can cover for God on this planet that He has put us, a lot of people have gone ahead of us, some have failed in their quest to be used by their creator, but there were others still who would not yield an inch until Gods purpose for their lives came to pass, its up to you to make up your mind which part of the divide you will fall into, God’s always ready as long as he finds a willing vessel, will you be that person today who will decide to set his heart on God irrespective of the odds, as you do this, He will give you the ability to tap into that power on the inside of you, and you will be able to do amazing things for His kingdom, God bless you.

The bible calls new testament believers the members of the body of Christ, more precisely it says Christ is the head and overseer of the church while we all constitute different components of the body, as human beings we are very familiar with this picture because we have a body with various parts and each part functions differently but not entirely independently of the whole body, in the very same way we as the body of Christ must find our God given role in the body and do all we can to fulfill this call to the best of our ability as the Holy Spirit gives us strength, Eph 4:15,16 says, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
If this is true, and the bible says it is, its therefore no surprise to hear people in the body of Christ praying, “Oh Lord use me for your glory, I want to do your will, wherever you send I will go, whatever you say I will do” and so on and so forth, this are popular prayers we pray regularly in our gatherings, along with the “Send down revival Oh Lord, souls are perishing, we need an awakening in our land, please Lord, the harvest is plentiful”, I am sure most of us have prayed these prayers at one time or the other, don’t get me wrong, it isn’t an offense to pray but my point is most Christians think God isn’t aware of the current situation in our world today, we think God isn’t interested in the fact that people are in a self destruct mode and are going to hell in their thousands daily, we think we are more passionate about souls than a God who watched His Son die on a tree for the sake of this same souls we are talking about, that’s not the case at all,

God is concerned and it grieves Him that these ones are perishing but the truth of the matter is as much as God is willing to use people because He hasn’t got any other way to go about it (as far as this earth is concerned human beings are the only ones that can do the job), He just hasn’t got enough usable people, believe it or not, that’s the truth, and He will never, I repeat never compromise on that stand, He isn’t like us humans who just go about picking people for the sake of it, He’s very meticulous about the process through which He chooses people, and when He eventually finds the right person, He will not hold back on His power or anointing, I mean He will do anything to show case such a person to the world.
So what in the world is God looking for in the vessels He chooses, does He expect us to be perfect before He finds a use for us in His kingdom, the answer is no, I heard a minister say once that “God has never found anybody qualified enough working for Him yet and you wont be the first”, I agree absolutely with that, the only kind of vessels He has to use are flawed vessels, people who have enough sense to know that its not about how well they can do this or that, its just about His grace, if you imbibe that as a philosophy in your walk with Him, it will deliver you from the performance mentality that most people have held on to, they fell God will use them proportionate to their own ability to perform and that’s not what the bible teaches, before I sound like I am contradicting myself, does this then mean God just goes about picking anybody?

Here’s the perfection doctrine and here’s the doctrine that says, it doesn’t matter what you do God will use you anyway, what I am saying is kind of a border line between these two assertions, I believe that what God essentially looks for in any body is total yielded ness and complete trust in Him, it doesn’t matter who the person is, once they can submit to the influence of Gods word (the written word) it shows that he/she has a obedient heart, and when God speaks to his heart, because he has submitted to the written word, obeying the Holy Spirit’s voice wont be such a problem at all, whatever is lacking in competence or ability to deliver or speak on Gods behalf, the Holy Spirit will through the word of God begin to provide for such lack with His supernatural ability, in 2 Tim 2:2 Paul is admonishing Timothy concerning ministry work and picking people to work in the Lord’s vineyard, he says, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others. You see that, if they can be faithful in submitting to God and His word, if they take Gods instructions and counsels from His word as a commandment and they obey it no matter the circumstance they find themselves, if their attitude is that, once God says it, I don’t care what the world says or does, I will obey, then its only a matter of time before God will find them usable in His vineyard and the ability to communicate it to others will flow from Him to them, here’s why obedience is important, you can only teach effectively what you have practiced and mastered in your own life, in this kingdom you cant fake it for very long, people will eventually find out the real you.

Do you desire so much to be a vessel of honor in Gods hands? Do you aspire to be used the same way the early apostles were used? Do you want to live a supernatural life such that signs and wonders will begin to find expression in your life? Then stay committed to His word by obeying and following His counsel all the way, you focus on totally trusting in what His word says and leave the rest to God, He sees not just the outward but the inwards, and in due season He will reward you accordingly, God bless you.

If I were to go out to any major city of the world which has quite a large population of Christians, of whatever denomination and with various doctrines and belief, and if I decided to ask the simple question of what they think Christianity or being a Christian is, I can guaranty you I would have as many answers as there are denominations, why do you think that is? How come there seems to be know absolute answer to such a simple inquiry, is this the type of inconsistency Christ intended his followers to exhibit? The answer is no, even though in our world today the relativity theory seems prevalent, the bible teaches us that there are absolutes, and one of these absolutes is that Christianity is simply being like Christ in life and ministry (career, work, vocation, profession, calling)

Before I reflect on what Christianity is, I would like to express a few ideas on what it isn’t, Christianity isn’t going to church or the ability to quote scriptures from a bible, it isn’t being able to speak in a prayer tongue, it isn’t paying your tithe or giving an offering, it isn’t being part of a unit in church like the ushers or the choir, now don’t get me wrong those things are good and they sort of help us along the way, and its all right if you are doing them, but you must understand their place and know that these are just like the icing on a cake, without the real substance (in this case, a relationship with God through His Son) the icing is useless and just playing religion, and if all you think of is engaging in an activity so as to meet some requirement, then you have totally missed the essence of the new birth, it isn’t about doing, its about being.

Who you are essentially determines what you do, who you are puts a cap on what you are able to do, that’s what Christ tried explaining to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John, vs. 2 says, The same (Nicodemus) came to Jesus by night and said, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles which thou does, except God be with him. Notice that his emphasis was on doing, something external, something that can be perceived by the senses, but hear the Lord’s response in vs. 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The word verily is just an old English way of saying truly, beyond doubt, or in all honesty, now that’s kind of strange isn’t it, when you consider that everything Jesus said was true, but now He’s saying this is double truth, if you focus on the externals, you will miss the true meaning of Christianity and the power of God, but you have to pay more attention to the internal workings of Gods spirit in your heart, that’s where the key to a successful Christian life is.

No wonder so many people who profess to be Christian are living miserable and frustrating lives and some are even confused to the point where they actually start doubting the veracity of Gods word and His ability to manifest Himself in their situations, they have replaced the real essence of spirit and truth worship with activities and they wonder why they feel so empty on the inside, denominations have systematically adopted traditions and ways of men as a substitute to spirit filled living, and this has hindered the move of Gods spirit among us, and once this happens the very life of God that’s supposed to flow from His body (Christians) unto the world is hindered, and instead of us going to the root cause of the matter and figure out where we missed it, most people just say, you know what “God doesn’t move in these end times the way He used to move in the days of the apostles” which entirely puts the blame on God and not on us, and the very few who don’t say that instead say, “you know what we need to pray for a revival, and they engage in more activity and what they call spiritual warfare, bombarding the gates of heaven for an outpouring of the power of God.

Neither of this options is a great solution in itself, God is not the one who isn’t moving in our days, its us who are not receiving, He is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb13:8, he never changes and He’s interested in manifesting His power in these days just like He did in the days of the apostles, and no, praying for an outpouring of power isn’t the way out as well, God has already poured out all the power He needs to pour, He did that on the day of Pentecost, we need to yield ourselves to His Spirit and respond in Faith to what has been provided to us by grace, we must get rid of the notion that we have to deserve Gods blessing, whatever we get from God is based on His grace and not on our own righteousness, once we approach Him with a genuine heart of faith, He is bound by His word to respond, our faith is the victory that overcomes, and as we take action based on faith we will see God show up on our behalf and our Christian lives will be much more productive, God bless you.

I have tried to make a careful study of the way the kingdom of God works or better stated the way things function in Gods spiritual realm as it relates with human beings finding their roles and callings, and I made a fundamental observation in that Gods ways will almost always contradict the worldly system but God still expects His people to make a noticeable impact, its therefore our responsibility as called out ones to always follow Gods counsel, even though it sometimes goes against the norm of the society or what the society terms status quo, Is 55:8,9 clearly states , For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. And it’s the ability to go all the way with God and ruffle a few feathers just because God said so, that ultimately determines the impact or lack of it that individuals and ministries make on their societies.

Our perfect example is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, His entire earthly ministry was of so much significance because it connoted the passing away of the old covenant and the introduction of a new one, it showed the passing away of attaining righteousness by the works of the law into an era when righteousness was strictly a gift of grace based on believe in the name of Jesus, it signified the passing away of the law written on tablets of stone and the entry of epistles written in the hearts of men, Jn 1:17 says, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So you would understand the enormous pressure that Jesus had to go through trying to explain to the people of His days that the old was passing away and the new was in effect, they just couldn’t handle it, more so the person that was telling them this was the son of a carpenter, unlearned and unskilled in the study of the law and the prophets, here He was trying to tell people who have followed a particular belief system for thousands of years, doctrines and traditions that have passed on from one generation to another that it was time to change the way they related to the father, the God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob (their highly revered patriarchs), it was too much for them to take, they withstood Him with all the might they had, even to the point where they decided, it was better to take His life than for them to allow Him spread this new doctrine of His, that was the kind of opposition Jesus faced in His own bid to fulfill Gods call on His life.

One incident that clearly portrayed this divergent doctrines was the case of the woman brought to Him in the temple caught right in the act of adultery in Jn 8:3-11, according to the law of Moses this woman was meant to be stoned to death along with anybody that wanted to stand in the way of what the law stated, but here was Christ who came along with a message of grace and mercy, saying God wasn’t imputing peoples sins on them anymore and rather that He was accepting anybody, no matter what sins they committed, so this was a perfect plan by the Jews to try to get Him into a position where He would either contradict the laws of Moses, or His own grace teaching, if He did then He would be stoned, and if He agreed with them then it would completely go against everything His ministry was based on and all the people that had been following Him because of His new doctrine would have forsaken Him and called Him a fraud. At other times it as issues concerning the Sabbath and whether or not it was lawful to heal someone on that day, He constantly had to confront these ideologies in His days and not once did He yield to the pressure of the society or the prevalent dogma of the Jews, there was no room for compromise as far as He was concerned even if it meant been put to death, we see this same attitude in His disciples and early apostles, some of them literarily had to endure hell but they stood up for what they believed in rather than give in to strain under which they found themselves.

In trying to fulfill Gods call on our lives, sooner than later we will have to confront this kind of situations as well, its not a matter of if , but when, if you really make up your mind to do things Gods way, believe me, opposition will come and it will sometimes come big, and a times from the least unexpected sources, friends, family and relations, what do you do when what the society accepts comes in direct conflict with what God had put in our hearts to do, how then do we handle such situations, how does someone make a stand for God when it’s so much easier to go with the flow, when standing for what is right has lost it’s appeal in the eyes of the vast majority of people and those who you think should do things right have themselves gone with the crowd, what do you do when your voice is the only one among thousands in the opposing side, if you haven’t prepared for situations like this, it could be a water shed in your life and ministry, you’ve got to have a plan of action, you’ve got to decide what to do before the rain storm hits, remember, nobody successfully builds his house in a storm, you’ll lose everything if that’s your tactics, and its not a very good one at that.

Make up your mind that no matter what happens you will make hearing from God and following through with His leading the number one priority of your life, there’s no compromising on this one, there’s no other way to go about it, you can’t decide to pass on it, once you make that decision and you are committed to standing by it, God will start getting committed to you, there are very few people who make up their minds this way, so God is always willing to go all the way once He sees someone whose heart is focused on trusting Him even if it means been labeled by the world, it tells Him as far as you are concerned you have no other choice, and with that attitude He’s bound by His word to show up on your behalf, the reason people fall away from their commitments at the least possible opposition is because they feel they have other choices, they get easily offended and I am sorry to say most Christian find themselves in this category of people, the devil knows that there’s so much they can take and if he pushes them hard enough they will do a complete 360 degrees and walk away from God.

There’s more to this than I could possibly cover in this article, but this I believe is the most important thing, once this is in place everything else falls in line, God bless you.