Month: January 2018

Broken Hearted

Christian Faith, Home, Inspirational, Poems, Relationship, Scripture
Broken Hearted

Broken hearted

Slim and tender

Lovely and precious

Kind and compassionate.

 

You were the broken

Hearted girl

You gave love

You got betrayal

Broken trust

And shattered dreams.

 

Broken hearted

You got the opposite

Of what you gave

And you gave up on love.

 

Broken hearted

Love is a mystery

Love is a risk

Pick up your broken heart

And pick up courage

To love again.

 

Broken hearted

Don’t let the past

Destroy and ruin

Your future

Open your heart

And let yourself

Love again.

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My Beautifier

Bible, Christian Faith, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Intimacy, Jesus, Poems, Scripture
My Beautifier

My beautifier,

You polish me

And refine me

With love, pearls

Fire, gold, diamonds

And great care.

 

My beautifier,

Perfect in beauty,

With hands of beauty

Making the sons of men

Beautiful.

 

My beautifier,

I wait on you

To make me beautiful.

 

Jesus,

Great beautifier,

Come upon me

And crown me

With your beauty.

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The Lion And The Lamb

Bible, Christian Faith, Home, Inspirational, Knowledge and Wisdom, Scripture
The Lion And The Lamb

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:22 ESV)

God’s kindness and severity. Some translations say kindness and sternness. A lot of people know that God is kind but they do not understand His sternness. We are advised to continue in His kindness. This means that we can actually discontinue in His kindness and reverse to begin walking in God’s sternness.

To really know someone and love someone you must appreciate everything about that person. I have always prayed for God’s kindness and tender-mercy to come upon me even as I remain unshaken that I have received His mercy as a redeemed Child. I am also aware of His sternness and judgement.

To know God as a kind and stern God is to know Him as the Lion and Lamb, deliverer and judge. I know a lot of people prefer unbalanced teachings that only talk about the kindness of God but pretend that we can’t offend God and attribute everything to the devil. It is man that is the problem not the devil.

We are the ones who have free wills and we are the ones who grieve God and sin. The devil remains constant and changeless in evil and God remains constant and changeless in good. But man is the one that has variations and varies or changes. Every time we change in the wrong direction towards evil, we mess up the world and create imbalance.

Additionally, we attract judgement. This judgement is the sternness of God. Every change is from man who is not constant and causes changes in the spiritual world and we feel those changes on earth as both negative and positive. We activate the changes, we are the cause. We attract curses or judgement by our actions and inactions. If every man on earth was constant in goodness and love, there will no sin, evil and judgement on this earth.

That is why Paul is telling us about the kindness and sternness of God. He is telling us so that we lean towards His kindness and refuse to provoke His sternness. Just as earthly fathers can be stern to their silly wayward children, God can be stern to His silly children and His haters. Yes, there are some people who hate God, it is sad but true.

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. Romans 1:20

You are no more intelligent than the others,” Jesus said to them. “Don’t you understand? Nothing that goes into you from the outside can really make you unclean. Mark 7:18

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,

But fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7 NKJV)

Anytime we fall short in understanding the word of God, we exhibit some level of spiritual silliness. When we refuse to fear God, that is a confirmation of silliness. Jesus was full of wisdom, understanding and truth and He demonstrated His wisdom by constantly having the fear of the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that reminds us of the sternness of God even as we cling to His kindness in great love and appreciation.

Therefore, we must appreciate who God is and constantly seek to please Him.

 

Points to note.

1. God is always good and never bad

2. The devil is always bad and never good

3. Man is sometimes good and sometimes bad

4. The devil has no freewill

5, Man has a freewill

6. Man is the cause of evil when he partners with the devil. The devil needs mans cooperation.

7. God is always blameless in judgement

8. God disciplines his children

9. God permits tests and trials

10. God cannot temp anyone to commit sin

11. Temptation comes from the human nature and the devil is the tempter

 

More Scriptures 

because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Hebrews 12:6

because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. Proverbs 3:12

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent (Revelation 3:19 NKJV)

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things. Isiah 45:7

Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. (Revelation 2:22 NKJV)

I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23 NKJV)

Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. (Revelation 3:3 NKJV)

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All My Life

Bible, Christian Faith, Compassion, Fiction, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Poems
All My Life

All my life

I crawled.

Where others stood I sat

Where others flew

I was paralysed.

 

When others danced and rejoiced,

I hid and cried.

Favour was so far

And mercy was but a mirage,

As I stumbled

And groped in the dark,

Panting and longing for mercy.

 

One day,

I looked at the face of Jesus

And all I saw was mercy and compassion

And hope shot up in me

“Surely, I have hope,”

I said to myself.

 

Then I cried out for mercy

And Jesus appeared.

He said to me,

“I am full of love and mercy

Today,

Mercy will be your companion

And follow you all the days of your life,

For the King of glory says,

My mercy will never again depart from you

Because you called my name – Mercy!”

 

May we always recognise

That Jesus is the mercy of God

And always call on

His Holy name.

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Face To Face

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Intimacy, Jesus, Poems, Scripture, Songs and lyrics
Face To Face

Face to face

Inside your grace

I taste love and mercy.

 

Face to face

I swim in silver rivers

And diamond lakes.

I dance on Holy Mountains.

 

Face to face,

We have Holy conversations,

Heartfelt and deep,

Touching and loving,

Intimate and uplifting.

 

Face to face,

All I see is glory and love,

Purity and truth,

Consolation and confort.

 

Face to face,

You hold me close

And never let go,

Because our hearts beat as one.

In wonder,

I swim in your love,

And drink from your side,

As mutters of ‘Daddy’ rise from deep in my throat,

To my trembling lips.

 

Jesus,

Nothing compares to this place,

Where I can see you face to face.

I adore you and love you,

With every beat of my heart,

And every breath I take.

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Did You Not Hear?

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Knowledge and Wisdom, Scripture, The Word, Visions
Did You Not Hear?

 The Spirit Of The Lord

8. He Makes Our Garments White

The Holy Spirit is the one who cleanses our garments and makes them white. He said, “buy from me white garments to hide your shameful nakedness,” and He also said, “if you have ears hear what the Spirit says.” We are to buy that garment from the Holy Spirit by letting go of the flesh with its thoughts and desires and accepting and embracing the thoughts of the Holy Spirit which is ‘ the word of God.’ We must embrace Jesus, the word of God.

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. Revelation 19:3

I had this vision a long time ago when I was still behind in my journey to the mountaintop of grace, faith, love and maturity in Christ. We were many students in a hostel all busy with different activities. I was on my bed in the hostel when all of a sudden, a group of men with a leader came to take me away by force.

I immediately knew they were taking me to a place of torture so I began pleading, “ please don’t torture me, please don’t take me away.” The head of the group who had a stern face and was not good looking then said to me, “ Did you not hear that you are supposed to be putting on your white garment?” I shook my head in amazement. “No I did not hear, please I will put on my white garment, don’t torture me.” Then he gave me a very ugly look.

He looked at me from my feet to my head and from my head to my feet with a nasty sneer. Then he said, “look at you, you and your stomach problem.” Then I exclaimed in shock and disbelief, wondering how he knew about my stomach problem, “how did you know I have a stomach problem!” and he replied, “I know, I know, Satan has been dealing with you.” Then he left me and I came out of the vision.

Everyone in that hostel were students of the word of God, who were not putting on their white garments. They were living in disobedience and were facing all sorts of trials until they repent and put on their white garments. The white garment is for purity and the word of God is pure seven times refined. If we judge ourselves and purify ourselves with the word of God, there won’t be any need to pass us through the fire of tests and trials.

The purpose of the fire of tests and trials is purity which means putting on the word of God or the white garment. If we are purified in the word of God, the purpose of purity is achieved in us and the cleansing fire will no longer hurt us but it will baptise us.

I am sure the meaning of this vision is clear but so many truths are embedded in it. They are:

1, We must put on our white garments – the word of a God

2. I opened the door to torture by not putting on my white garment – the word of God

3. We are all students of the word of God

4. God is sovereign over Satan. Even though Satan was dealing with me, God permitted it. The root cause of my torture was spiritual deafness, stubbornness and inability to put on the word of God.

5. When I showed willingness to put on the white garment or the word of God, the tormentors left me.

6. Demons or tormentors believe in God and the word of God. Do not be deceived, it is man that does not believe in God, the word of God and defies the word of God. Man also sometimes partially believes the word of God. Do you believe that there is only one God? Good! The demons also believe—and tremble with fear.James 2:19, And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him (Matthew 18:34 NKJV)

7. God is not satisfied with partial acceptance of His word. All those students of the word of God were believers but partial believers of the word of God. They had not embraced the whole counsel of the word of God. They did not have thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Acts 20:27

8. Did you not hear? Where was I supposed to hear this command or announcement of putting on the white garment from? The answer is my Bible. I must read my Bible, pay close attention to the instructions and follow those instructions.

At that time a Jew named Apollos, who had been born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and had a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. Acts 18:24

Ezra was a scholar with a thorough knowledge of the Law which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given to Moses. Because Ezra had the blessing of the Lord his God, the emperor gave him everything he asked for. In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes, Ezra set out from Babylonia for Jerusalem with a group of Israelites which included priests, Levites, Temple musicians, Temple guards, and workers. Ezra 7:6-7

The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Psalm 12:6

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (Revelation 3:18 NKJV)

You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4 NKJV)

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5 NKJV)

We are supposed to constantly put on our white garments, failure to do that will result in judgement because judgement begins in the house of God. God does not joke with faith, love, cleanness and purity.

It is so vital and imperative to put on our white garments. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can make our garments clean by constantly leading us, reminding us of the word of God and planting His words in our hearts. After cleansing our thoughts and actions, He decorates us with white garments.

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I Told You

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Scripture, The Word, Visions
I Told You

The Spirit of The Lord

7. He gives Faith

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and many people were brought to the Lord. Acts 11:24

No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit so this Scripture speaks for itself. Can we really confess the word of God without the help of the Holy Spirit? Can we say, “ I am redeemed, the blood of Jesus set me free” without the Holy Spirit? Faith comes from the Holy Spirit because He is the spirit of faith, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He is the one who makes us understand the word of God.

Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3

He writes God’s laws in our hearts. He plants His words or thoughts deep into our hearts. These words are seeds that are supposed to grow and produce faith. When He plants those words, we can vomit them or even reject them. The words can also be aborted by the cares of this world and weeds living in our hearts.

The weeds are unhealthy false doctrines that choke the life out of the word of God already growing in us.Then He starts again and keeps planting until our spirits are able to accept, digest and retain His Holy words that produce faith.

He teaches us as the perfect teacher. He keeps teaching us and eliminating confusion until we fall in line with His words. John 16:13 says that the Holy Spirit is the one who will lead us into all truth.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13

Understanding precedes faith

The entrance of His word or light gives understanding. He enables understanding as we meditate. If we meditate on the word of God, the Lord will enable us to understand. When the word penetrates deep into our hearts and stays there without abortion, understanding is the result. Understanding precedes faith. Anyone who has understanding of the good news, will definitely have faith and be joyful. Fear will also fly out of the window.

Think about what I am saying, because the Lord will enable you to understand it all. 2 Timothy 2:7

 

I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God’s secret, which is Christ himself. Colossians 2:2

The steps of the righteous are ordered of God. God will have to reorganise and rearrange our thoughts before our actions can be in line with His ways. The thoughts of the righteous are ordered of God

Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, but he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:31

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, Luke 24:45

Paul planted and Apollos watered but God enables and causes the seed to grow. Let the word of God dwell richly in us. It is only when our hearts are filled with the word of God, especially the good news of salvation that we are saved. We are already saved but if we do not cling to the word of God and obey it, we won’t actualise that salvation on earth, even though it is a Spiritual Law and reality in God’s eyes. We need to accept the word of God with meekness so that we can grow up and be saved.

I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 1 Peter 2:2

In the parable of the sower, a good soil is the soil that has been softened by the power of God. It is God that breaks the heart and softens it to accept the word of God.

Many years ago, I did not know the meaning of faith and I was very far away from understanding the word of God. I knew God and loved Him but I did not understand His word. I believed in Him as a good God. However, the word of God was not living in my heart. The Lord spoke to me and said, ‘ faith is a way of understanding, faith is confidence.’

Then I had a vision of a seed falling on my heart and it was bouncing off my heart. Then the Lord said, ‘it is falling on a hard surface.’ The damage to my heart was caused by all the false doctrines I had been hearing from childhood catechism.

When I came out of the vision I quickly opened my Bible to the parable of the sower which I knew but did not understand. That vision showed me that my heart was a hard stony surface, incapable of accepting and assimilating the word of God. That was when I started digging and digging for the hidden treasure and bit by bit the Holy Spirit taught me the good news.

In another vision, the Lord suddenly asked me, ‘ Now, what is the message?’ I replied, ‘is it not about sins and how we pay for our sins.’ Then the Lord responded in exasperation, ‘no! Don’t you see? You can’t pay for your sins.’ All my life from when I was a little kid, I was taught that I had to pay for my sins and suffer the temporal punishments due to sin. That teaching went deep into my soul to my spirit and caused a lot of havoc.

I defeated myself by believing I had to pay for my sins. How can God help the one who stubbornly believes he must pay for his sins even after Jesus paid for those sin? The only way God can help him is to reverse that unholy doctrine and psychology. You must reject lies to enjoy freedom. Only the truth can set us free.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducee’s.” Matthew 15:6

The conclusion is this : I am saved by the blood of Jesus. I do not have to to pay for my sins because Jesus paid for my sins. This is the good news and it is a spiritual law – it is the message. If I reject this good news and do not accept it with meekness, I have insulted the Spirit of grace, despised Jesus and looked down on the blood of Jesus. I will end up not delivered physically, not because God did not deliver me, but because I rejected the good news and refused to rejoice in my salvation.

If I accept the good news of salvation, rejoice in it, thank God and celebrate Jesus, I will end up experiencing deliverance if I cling to that good news and do not give up or turn back into unbelief. When lots wife turned back, she turned into a pillar of salt.

When we turn back in our journey of faith or reject the good news of salvation, we also end up suffering the penalty for unbelief. The penalty is this; if you don’t believe that the blood of Jesus saved you from temporal punishments for sins, your sins remain it terms of temporal punishments. You will go to heaven as a practising Christian who believes in Jesus and is running towards heaven and has rejected and renounced sin but you will struggle here on earth.

If you don’t believe that the blood of Jesus set you free from both temporal and eternal punishments, you will suffer the temporal punishments on earth and suffer the eternal punishments for your sins in hell. That is the conclusion.

The Holy Ghost then, is the one who can help us erase and eradicate the poison of unbelief. We must let Him uproot and erase every weed of false doctrine in our hearts so that the good news is not choked to expulsion. Those weeds are the contrary thoughts and imaginations fighting against the word of God in our souls. We must keep on depending on Him until we have full assurance of salvation without any shadow of doubt.

The glory for faith goes to the Holy Spirit. He will never share His glory. I was thinking to myself a long time ago, and thought to myself, ‘this happened and that happened until I discovered the truth.’ then unexpectedly, the Holy Spirit interjected into my thoughts and said, ‘I told you.’ Then I reflected on what He said and realised He was so right and I was so wrong. He told me and taught me faith and truth. I did not discover. He had to correct me because the glory goes to Him. Without Him we can know nothing and do nothing. Glory to God!

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Power Through His Spirit

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Intimacy, Jesus, Knowledge and Wisdom, Power, Scripture
Power Through His Spirit

The Spirit Of The Lord

6. Power Through His Spirit

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, (Ephesians 3:16 NKJV)

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (Ephesians 3:17 NKJV)

I pray that he would give you, according to his glorious riches, strength in your inner being and power through his Spirit. Ephesians 3:16

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20 – 3:21 NKJV)

Might or power in the inner man means that Christ is dwelling in us. This means knowing and experiencing the love of Christ. Christ is the power and wisdom of God. He can live in you with a lot of glory and He can live in you with scanty or no glory. He is there but you won’t feel or experience His glory just like when the glory left Israel. Do you remember Ichabod ?- the glory has departed or no glory.

God is everywhere but His glory is not everywhere. His glory dwells in heaven and visits earth. However, He is in Hell as the omnipresent God in all of creation, but His glory is completely absent in Hell. Wrath or punishment is what lives in hell and these are caused by the human nature and disobedience not God.

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psalm 139:8

The power of Christ resting upon the spirit of man is the love of Christ. It is possible for us to be Christians yet Christ is not dwelling in the inner man. Rather, weakness, infirmity and decay dwells in the inner man. Paul said this prayer because he recognised the need to pray for us to be strengthened with might or power in the inner man. God is able to do this in Jesus name.

Christ already lives in us. This is talking about Christ as the power and glory of God. It is talking about His manifest presence dwelling in us. Christ’s Spirit lives in every believer but the glory in every believer varies. The Bible says we are being transformed from glory to glory. This means that the glory or manifest presence of Christ in us must keep increasing, till we are filled up, and surrounded by His very essence, beauty and glory.

Christ dwelling in us through faith means unwavering belief in the blood of Jesus that set us free, praying with expectation and not wavering or doubting. It means constant praise, worship, thanksgiving and rejoicing. We do all these with persistence and perseverance without turning back or giving up.

These are all acts of faith. Faith is a multidimensional concept with many variables. As long as we embrace and practice the variables of faith persistently with love, worship, thanksgiving, praise and expectation God will not fail us. He is a faithful God – if we draw near to Him in faith, He will draw near to us.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 1 Corinthians 3:16

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 3:20

And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. Romans 8:10-11

The Scripture topic at the beginning of this post is also talking about the attributes of God. Christ can live in us yet we have not yet crucified the flesh and the Holy Spirit is not controlling our lives. Christ refers to the power, word, wisdom, glory, and grace of God. The more grace of God we have, the more understanding of the Scriptures which builds faith.

The more grace we have, the more we are able to practice the word of God, are led by the Spirit and follow God’s plan for our lives. The more grace we have, the more we are generally able to please God. These will ensure the manifest presence of God resting on us and going with us everywhere. Meaning that Christ now dwells in us and walks with us.

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. Exodus 33:15

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. Hebrews 13:9

Power resides in the grace of God and every good thing comes by the grace and ability of God. Man’s power is useless. The more we seek God and rely on His grace, the more successful we will be in our Christian lives. We cannot even have faith or practice the word of God without His grace so we must never forget the grace of God even as we seek Him and meditate on the Scriptures to build faith.

Only God and God alone can make us mature Christians. He alone can guarantee power in the inner man through His Spirit. He alone will enable Christ to dwell in us even as we wait upon Him and continue to seek His face daily.

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He Was Upon Jesus

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Intimacy, Jesus, Power, Purity, Righteousness, Scripture
He Was Upon Jesus

The Spirit Of The Lord

6. He Was Upon Jesus

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace, truth, wisdom, glory, mercy, might, counsel, fear of the Lord, understanding, and knowledge; Jesus had all these in abundance. No wonder He was so successful. Unlike most humans, as Jesus grew, He grew in body and Spirit. His body did not leave His spirit behind when he was growing.

He ran His race with His body and Spirit, while a lot of believers are running faster than their spirits or running with just their bodies. In their spiritual lives, there is a massive disconnect between their bodies and spirits. By the time that they realise they left their spirits somewhere in the valley and decide to go back and unite with their spirits, a lot of mistakes would have been made. but glory to God, it is never too late to walk in the spirit with our spirits. Better late than never.

Jesus ran with His body and Spirit. That explains His great extraordinary life. He was filled and crowned with extraordinary and extravagant grace. He had limitless supply of the Holy Spirit.

“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgement to the nations. Matthew 11:2

The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2 NKJV)

For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. John 3:34

 

For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:19

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:13

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:52

The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Luke 2:40

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. Luke 1:80

Jesus had all the attributes of God made available to Him by the presence of the Holy Spirit on and with Him. He was filled with favour and grace. Imagine a human being filled with grace, what a wonder. Jesus as a human, was greatly endowed and decorated with grace. That grace gave Him all the ability that He needed and it came through the Spirit of grace that was constantly with Him.

The Holy Spirit was His Holy companion so He was constantly successful. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to be effective and successful, then it is imperative that we realise that we cannot succeed without constant great supply of the Holy Spirit. He is our help and success and we need great grace upon us.

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33

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He Enables Church Growth

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Scripture
He Enables Church Growth

 

The Spirit Of The Lord

5. He Enables Church Growth

The Holy Spirit is the one that helps Churches to grow. He is the head of the Church. In His great power and wisdom, He calls men into ministry and He is the one that strengthens Churches and enables them to grow.

And so it was that the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. Through the help of the Holy Spirit it was strengthened and grew in numbers, as it lived in reverence for the Lord. Acts 9:31

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2

Sometimes, ministers step out of faith and step into the flesh trying all sorts of human methods of Church growth. I know a Church that gives its members targets in terms of the number of members to win in a month. They depend completely on the power of man and ignore the Holy Spirit. Some of them are so far off in error that they can no more hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. They started by His power but fell off from grace.

Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Galatians 3:3

After they have wandered off into darkness and disobedience as a result of selfishness and personal gains, they embrace tricks and deceptive doctrines that tickle the ear of man but lead to hell. They also embrace magic and idolatry. All this is as a result of personal dreams and ambitions. They are not led by the Holy Spirit and do not care about the Holy Spirit and His desires. Some even want to be worshipped.

Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:21 – 7:23 NKJV)

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:14 NKJV)

“Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth (Revelation 2:15 – 2:16 NKJV)

We need to be sincere in our ministry and service to God. If we genuinely love God and are filled with zeal for His work like Jesus, we won’t be led astray or be deceived. Sincerity of purpose is the only thing that will protect us from the wiles of the devil. Temptations will come but if we love God, and are sincerely and genuinely doing His work His way, with the intention of pleasing Him, we will be protected because our motives are pure.

We will also be able to resist the temptations. Mind you, the purpose of temptations and trials is for God to determine our purity. If our intentions are pure, there won’t even be need to test and try us but if tests, trials and temptations come, the purity in us will lead us to victory. It is only criminals that fall into traps and are caught.

The best one to catch criminals is a superior criminal. Satan is the criminal and scammer in chief scamming and catching other criminals like himself. Human criminals are his children and some children of God are his slaves but a slave does not belong to him permanently.

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:35 – 8:37 NKJV)

“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. “I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father (John 8:37 – 8:38 NKJV)

If we are driven by pride, money, selfishness and grand ideas like owning the largest ministry or being the most famous preacher, we will fall. If our focus is right, God can make us famous, and give us large ministries like Jesus. It becomes an evidence of our dedication and success even though not all ministers will have very large ministries – not all ministers will be famous.

We must not chase the wind and vanity- it is better to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness believing that all other things will be added to us. We must not seek Mammon.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:27

We must be content with the ministry that God has given us and keep depending on Him for growth without loosing focus. We must keep on nourishing the small sheep that God has placed in our care.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46 – 47 NKJV)

Our aim must be to love them and nourish them to spiritual maturity and heaven. God Himself, the Chief Shepherd is the one who will then grow the church and add new sheep. The congregation belongs to God not the ministers. We must not exploit and scam the sheep of Christ because we will be judged for such crimes.

Jesus had the right focus and Paul did too. If our focus is driven by selfishness and geared towards self promotion, celebration and decoration, the devil will see a road and ladder which he can use to deceive us. We will be the ones giving him a foothold.

And do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:27

However, if we realise that it is the Holy Spirit that strengthens and grows Churches, we will depend absolutely on Him to do what He alone can do even as we keep working hard, seeking the Kingdom of God and fulfilling our ministries.

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