Category: Holiness

The Excellent Way

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The Excellent Way

The Excellent Way

But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:31 KJV

But earnestly desire and strive for the greater gifts [if acquiring them is going to be your goal]. And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one of the choicest graces and the highest of them all: unselfish love]. 1 Corinthians 12:31 AMP

The Bible instructs us to pursue love and calls love the perfect and excellent way. God is love. So we see that pursuing love is the same as pursuing God and pursuing God is pursuing love. We are instructed to seek and pursue love. Seeking the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness means seeking love.

Gifts, knowledge, wisdom, faith etc are good but the Bible never called them the excellent way or the perfect way – the Bible calls love the excellent and perfect way. Knowledge, wisdom, faith etc are all means to an end. The end result must be love.

When the perfect comes the imperfect will disappear. When we are filled with love for God and one another and practice love, all the imperfect including fear will disappear, fade and pass away because perfect love casts out all fear. When we are filled with love and pray, the aura of love will surround us. That aura is power. Without love and purity, there will be no power. Any power that comes without love and purity is demonic, magical and destructive. Love is the only true way.

There is a good way and an excellent way. There are many good ways but love is the only excellent way and is the greatest of all virtues and fruits.

 

 

 

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Slaves Of Holiness

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Slaves Of Holiness

So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness (Romans 6:19 NKJV)

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6:22

The Bible says that we are slaves of holiness. We are no longer salves of sin and the devil, but we are now salves of Christ and holiness. It is a very good thing to be a slave of God and holiness because that means that we are slaves of life. If we are salves of life for our own good and protection, then, that is a good thing.

Anyone who looks at it like a burden is not yet a sincere believer. A sincere believer glories and rejoices in holiness and righteousness. He is very pleased to do good and be married to goodness. His life is not all about selfishness and methods of how to acquire wealth and blessings – that is the life of pagans and mammon worshipers.

For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Matthew 6:32

You are either pursuing blessings or you are pursing and pleasing God. You can’t pursue both at the same time. You can only prioritize and make one superior to the other or just focus on pleasing God with the firm unyielding belief that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That is true faith – as you seek His face, you make pleasing Him the only priority.

The Bible commands us to seek His kingdom and righteousness but never commanded us to seek, pant and lust after blessings and materiality which can be a god or idol in place of God. The Bible commands us to pray for our needs and seek God’s face and that is what we should do as we please Him and walk in Christ.

Jesus is the high priest that meets our needs and our spiritual needs are more important than the physical needs. When we are clean, spiritually, our physical lives will be fine. We must be clean from the inside out, not from the outside in. Pagans clean the outside and leave the inside or inner man dead, dirty and rotten. They are so deed that they are not even aware of the deadness on the inside. That is because the outer man has caged and blinded the inner man. Our physical needs must never take precedence over our spiritual needs or pleasing God.

God worshippers love pleasing God and humans above and beyond blessings. When they are in a place of temptation to harm someone else for selfish pleasure, money or material reward, they overcome the temptations because they have their priorities right. They have determined in advance to love God and man above blessings and materiality.

Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

The life of a true believer is centered around Christ and God consciousness. He is constantly aware that He must appreciate God’s redemption by pleasing Him always in response to His great love. He is very aware that he owes love to his fellow humans. He is free from evil and sin but not free from doing good. He owes his neighbor goodness, purity and love. He is a slave of goodness and holiness and loves it.

 

 

 

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Putting On The Word

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Putting On The Word

 

Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior (Titus 2:9 – 2:10 ESV)

Putting on the word of God, shows itself and reflects in godly character. Some people think that it only shows in faith and how much faith they have but this Scripture provides great insight. The word of God produces diverse fruits not just one. Faith is only one of the fruits.

When we adorn ourselves in the word of God, we should manifest good acts and works. Love, kindness. faith, patience, hope, gentleness, peace, righteousness, humility and other positive traits and virtues should accompany the word of God that is resident in our lives. In fact, having godly character as described in the Scripture above is summarized as showing ‘all good faith.’

There is faith that shows itself in good works and manifests as holiness and there is the stubborn persistent faith that knows how to pray, trust and obtain favors from God. The two are intertwined and interrelated because one enhances the other. Jesus was a man of mega faith because He Himself said that the father always heard Him.

Before Jesus opened His mouth to present a prayer request, the Father already heard Him and was present to answer His prayer. In the Scripture Jesus said, ‘ you always hear me.’

I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” John 11:42

If you study the life of Jesus closely, you will observe that Jesus was godly, holy and righteous. He had a burning zeal and passion for God and God’s house and was a God pleaser. He was constantly chasing after God, not after faith or how to get His prayers answered. Relationship is very important. He loved God dearly and there was extraordinary, magnetic, powerful, all encompassing love flowing between Him and The Father.

That is how it should be. If we are chasing after methods of how to get blessings and get our prayers answered or how to have the biggest faith in the world, yet we do not care about pleasing God or seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness and make that a number one priority, we become mammon worshipers and idolators.

This is because our heart that was created for loving God and chasing after Him is now panting and lusting after worldly, material, physical goodies that will surely pass away. If we are in the right relationship with God, God will hear our prayers and bless us but if we make favors and blessing take the place of an active, vibrant relationship with God and pleasing God, we are on the wrong lane and need to reverse back into the right lane – pleasing God.

Jesus had all the good qualities and He is our example. So it is vanity to boast about how much we know the word of God or how super our faith is, if we do not combine faith with other attributes expected in a child of God. Faith without works is dead. Faith is super important because without faith it is impossible to please God, however the Bible tells us that love is the greatest.

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:17

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

We must have mature faith and we must also have mature love, hope, gentleness, patience etc. We must thereby work out our salvation daily by combining all the holy attributes expected of a believer.

Putting on the word means putting on holiness, good fruits, godliness, and all godly attributes including faith, hope and love. May God who started a good work in us complete it in Jesus name.

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He Can Be Received Through Laying Of Hands

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He Can Be Received Through Laying Of Hands

He Can Be Received Through Laying Of Hands

The Spirit Of The Lord

28: He can be received through laying of hands

Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:17

Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them; they spoke in strange tongues and also proclaimed God’s message.Acts 19:6

The Holy Spirit can be received through laying of hands. An anointed vessel can pray for us and lay hands on us to receive the Holy Spirit. We can receive Him depending on the level of anointing upon that vessel and the level of darkness in us. People born with demons and covenanted to darkness require greater anointing than those who have a clean lineage and blood line.

Just as John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, some people are filled with demons from the womb and it is not their fault. Their blood line was polluted by parents and ancestors who worshipped idols.

And asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Acts 19:2

We must be careful not to allow false prophets lay hands on us. Unfortunately, these day are different from the days of the apostles. There are so many false prophets out there masquerading, disguising and pretending to be apostles of light. There are many wolves in sheeps clothing like Jesus warned us in the Scriptures to expect.

Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Matthew 7:15-20

You must study their doctrines and way of life closely to determine if they are pastors and ministers of Christ or darkness. By their doctrines and fruits you will know them. We must be like the berean believers and compare their teachings with Scriptures. False prophets will always give themselves away by their false teachings, practices and way of life. We also need to have a thorough knowledge of Scriptures in order not to be deceived.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

Do not just accept, chew and swallow everything you see and hear – that is spiritual laziness. God gave us intellect and mind and also gave us the word of God. He expects us to use our intellect instead of being docile and lazy in spiritual things. Be of noble Character like the Berean Jews.

Once you determine that an anointed vessel is a true minister of Christ, he can lay hands on you to receive the Holy Spirit. He is God’s gift and our inheritance in Christ. When we receive the Holy Spirit, it becomes easier to obey Christ and please Him. We need Him in greater measures everyday.

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By Him We Defeat Sin

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By Him We Defeat Sin

The Spirit Of The Lord

19: By Him we defeat sin

For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live. Romans 8:13

It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can defeat sin. Sometimes, we actually forget that without Him, we can do nothing and that it is God’s Spirit that gives life, grace and Holiness.

There is a law and a power that is at work in us, making us have the propensity to sin. Man is naturally drawn towards sin as a result of the fallen human nature. However, the grace of God to live above and beyond sin is greater and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of grace.

May we step aside today and let Him lead us and empower us to live above sin. May He kill the desire and lust for sin in us and wash us from the inside out. May we let Him be the captain of our lives because that is why He is here on earth.

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We Live By What He Says

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We Live By What He Says

The Spirit Of The Lord

 

16: We live by what He says.

God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. Romans 8:4

Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. Romans 8:5

To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. Romans 8:6

But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to—if, in fact, God’s Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. Romans 8:9

The Holy Spirit talks

The Holy Spirit is constantly talking and telling us how to live and please God. He talks to us by His written word and by His voice spoken directly into our spirits and hearts.

Human nature talks

The human nature also talks. The flesh, the world and the devil also do their special kind of talking, relentlessly, everyday. The flesh talks by uncontrolled appetites and desires – envy, greed, lust etc. The devil and the world bombard humanity daily, with false doctrines, ideologies and evil communications. We easily get influenced by the media, the crowd, celebrities, the world systems etc.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

What we do not realise is that we live in a fallen world controlled by the god of this world. Of course the god of this world controls the systems of this world and the undiscerning fall into his trap. He has blinded their eyes to believe the evil system controlling this world through entertainment, media and false philosophies. It is not every media that is bad, but the ones that spread contents and philosophies that are strange and opposing to the word of God are the evil media.

Any entertainment, media, and communication that does not fall in line with the word of God and blatantly opposes, disputes, contradicts and judges the word of God is evil and inherently evil – they are from the god of this world. In order to be victorious in Christ, we must resist and oppose those who oppose the word of God with no other weapon than the word of God Himself. When they spread lies, we must believe, practice and spread the truth fearlessly without timidity and fear of criticism and intimidation.

Only those who are hungry for the truth and Christ Himself listen to the Holy Spirit who is always speaking the truth, wisdom, revelation and the word of God.

We decide whom to obey

We must decide whom to bow to – the word of God or lies. We are the ones who will decide if we want to obey and marry the word of God or marry the devil and lies. If we love the Christ hating media, entertainment, systems and the world we have decided to hate Christ and crucify Him – we decide whom we want to love and obey.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15 – 17

Demas fell in love with this present world and has deserted me, going off to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Timothy 4:10

It is possible to fall in love with the world just as it is possible to fall in love with Christ -God’s Word and Will. When men fall in love with the world, they reject and abandon Christ and His word and works. Conversely, when men fall in love with Christ, they dedicate themselves completely to His ways, words and will and strive to obey and please Him always – they hate the world, lies and evil.

Loving the world makes men want to enjoy sinful pleasures and to please themselves, men and the world which is under the spell of the devil. Jesus has conquered the devil and overthrown him but a lot of people do not know this and still want to be ruled by the god of this world – death and sin.

They love death and sin and have refused to come to the light, so they empower the false god to rule them. God has given us a choice, so we are to choose between life and death. However, the truth cannot be broken, Jesus has the key of life and death and the devil has been defeated, dethroned, judged and cast away, but because man has a free will he will have to chose whom he wants as Lord – The false lying overthrown god who pretends that he is God or the true God who died for us to set us free from the false god and his lying cheating ways. All power belongs to Jesus.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

Those who love lies, evil, injustice and darkness will still choose him, that is why an overthrown god still has influence in the affairs of man, so atheists need to stop blaming God – He is not the cause or root of evil, man is. Satan is just a creature with no free will. Man is the one who can obey or disobey. The demons believe in only one God, they believe the word of God and tremble with fear.

In order to deceive and lie, you must know the truth, so the demons know the truth but will twist it and turn it upside down, in order to catch the evil ones. A thief knows how to catch a thief and a smarter lair will outwit a smart lair, so demons believe in only one God, but man is the doubter and mocker of God.

If you claim to believe in God and you don’t obey Him, you are an unbeliever by your actions. Jesus said, “by their fruits you will know them.”

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. James 2:19

The demons and Satan can’t obey God, because they do not have the power to obey. The only power they have is the power of deception. Every evil starts from deception that is why it is only the truth that can set us free.

Our freewill gives us the power of choice and gives us an upper hand over the devil, demons and the dead. The devil has his own place – to deceive, to tempt, test, try, examine, and carry out divine judgement – he can’t do anything without God’s permission so it is only God that we must fear.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.” Luke 22:31

That truth and weapon that the devil knows, we also know it because Jesus has revealed the word of God to us. When you know what the devil knows, he will leave you alone and not bother you. Jesus and Paul knew what the devil knows – the word of God, so the devil could not outwit them. They knew the word of God and the demons knew them.

One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Acts 19:15

Remember the temptation of Jesus, when the devil was twisting scriptures and quoting Scriptures in a perverted form to Jesus to get Him to sin and to disobey God. People including, so called men of God still pervert Scriptures today to entice and deceive the greedy mammon lovers. If you are seeking blessings, rewards and materialism without seeking the Kingdom of God, and seeking how to please God, you will be caught in that evil net and fall – you will be deceived.

It is therefore vital to keep our hearts pure and seek to please God and God alone, nothing else will suffice. It is impurity of heart that is the root cause of men embracing deception. When you are pure, there will be no need for further trials and testing because the purpose of trials is to ensure that our faith is pure as gold. When your faith is pure and you are cleansed and purified, you will become a vessel of honour. No one can escape the fire of testing but the tested, purified and trusted are at the golden mountain top and they will enjoy God and His glory, here on earth like Jesus and Paul.

We must keep marching forward to that glorious mountain top and never get discouraged, weary,  look back or give up. Jesus is at the mountain top with outstretched arms- softly beckoning to His beloved to meet Him there and embrace Him. After the embrace, he will leave His fragrance, perfume, imprint and footprint on you.

Satan definitely knows that he is not God and knows his end – only the foolish and ignorant believe him, follow him, and worship him. Sometimes, the devil will crown those foolish ones with wealth, power, fame and success and men judge by outward appearance. Men worship demonic celebrities and false prophets and assume that because they have it all, they must be doing something right, however that is all part of the deception and devil’s packaging in order to succeed in enticing men.

The devil knows that men love riches, fame, power and they judge by outward appearance so his agents are packaged with wealth and fame and empowered to entice, lure and deceive. Meanwhile, some of the celebrities and false prophets who are hired agents of the devil are laughing at their followers and saying to themselves, “if only they knew that I am a paid agent with no conscience leading them to hell – if only they knew.”

God is so wise that he judges differently. Remember Lazarus and the rich man.  Wealth is not always an evidence of God’s approval. The devil also gives riches and his way is the easy and fast way. The way of God is narrow and difficult but pure and holy. Jesus said, “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and looses his soul.”

Do not be deceived, the devil can offer and give the world to men in exchange for their souls – He tried it with Jesus. He offered all the Kingdoms of the world to Jesus in exchange for worship but Jesus was smarter. Jesus concentrated His energy in obeying Gods will – He was not seeking wealth, fame, power or the approval of men. We must imitate Him as our perfect example.

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:34

He ignored short cut to wealth, fame and power and followed the narrow way – the high way of holiness. The devil can make the world and humanity fall at the feet of his worshippers. He makes them mini and demigods to their fellow men. Do not be deceived because there is a day of reckoning for every man. Everything, including the devil, demons, unrepentant humans like pharaoh and the world of the dead was created through the word of God and for the word of God.

Satan cannot operate outside the word of God. The word of God says we must be tempted, tried and tested and devil goes to work and does exactly that. A demon needed God’s permission to lie to Ahab and eventually, it led to his death.

Micaiah went on: “Now listen to what the Lord says! I saw the Lord sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him. 20 The Lord asked, ‘Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and be killed at Ramoth?’ Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else, 21 until a spirit stepped forward, approached the Lord, and said, ‘I will deceive him.’ 22 ‘How?’ the Lord asked. The spirit replied, ‘I will go and make all of Ahab’s prophets tell lies.’ The Lord said, ‘Go and deceive him. You will succeed.’” I Kings 22: 19-23

23 And Micaiah concluded: “This is what has happened. The Lord has made these prophets of yours lie to you. But he himself has decreed that you will meet with disaster!”

And if a prophet is deceived into giving a message, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will lift my fist against such prophets and cut them off from the community of Israel. Ezikiel 14:9

The Bible advises us to fear God but never advised us to fear the devil but to resist him. If the Bible tells us to resist the devil it means that we can, by the grace of God and God is very gracious.

Our own place is to resist the devil and stop all the irresponsible blaming. whether we like it or not, we are in a battle as ordained by God and we must fight to win instead of blaming God or the devil. God’s commandment to man is fight, period.  If we fight and are pleasing in Gods sight, the demons will know and obey us like they knew Jesus and Paul and obeyed them.

The devil is just an enabler and an accomplice and without man’s consent, the devil cannot succeed, that is why man is judged. Man needs to take responsibility for sin and evil and stop sinning and blaming God or the devil. Adam blamed God and Eve blamed the devil, however they were both judged. They did not escape punishment.

The same story of Adam and Eve is being made manifest in the lives of many men – accept evil because we believe there is good in it or because of some perceived benefit and later blame God or the devil to escape responsibility and judgement. It is not a new trick but an old trick that started long ago in the garden of Eden, however, God cannot be fooled, deceived or mocked – He is the author of knowledge and intelligence. He is all-knowing and much smarter than our human smartness.

We can only be smart here on earth and run our mouth around uttering profanities against God but the truth is that in the presence of God we are utterly speechless, subdued and paralysed from making lame excuses for sin. What excuse did Ananias and Sapphira come up with? None. God is not our problem and the devil is not our problem. Man is the real problem with this world.

Those who love Christ and His words listen to the Holy Spirit and live by the the Holy Spirit Of Christ. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can obey the Holy Spirit and walk by Him, however, we must decide whom we want to obey – the voice of the Spirit or the deafening voice of the world.

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He Sanctifies Us

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He Sanctifies Us

The Spirit Of The Lord

14. He Sanctifies Us

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1:2 ESV)

The Holy Spirit sanctifies us. He is awesome and powerful and He is the Lord. He is also God. Because of this, He is the only one that can make us Holy, complete and pure. He does this by planting the word of God inside us and also enables us to accept His word and retain them in our spirit. It is only by His power that we can understand, keep and practice the word of God.

Without the help of the Holy Spirit we are nothing and less than nothing – we are simply helpless and powerless.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:7

Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Acts 5:3

Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” Acts 5:4

Jesus Himself constantly walked with the Holy Spirit – He needed Him. Jesus was full of wisdom, truth, grace and power by the Holy Spirit. This should serve as a lesson to us and give us some wisdom. If Jesus, the son of God needed the Holy Spirit to fulfil His fathers will, we also need Him.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to please God completely and be healthy and effective in our daily walk with God including being successful in ministry. Nothing else will do.

 

 

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Poor Rich Man

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Poor Rich Man

I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (Revelation 2:9 ESV)

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10 ESV)

This Scripture depicts a physically poor man or church, yet spiritually rich. We can therefore see that physical wealth is not always an evidence of God’s approval while physical poverty is not always an evidence of God’s abandonment or lack of approval. Spiritual wealth is superior to physical wealth so any one that is spiritually wealthy yet physically poor must not be angry. God has kept those physical blessings constant in order to grow you spiritually.

Ultimately, God wants everyone to prosper even as their souls prosper but what of when things are not following that sequence and the soul is not prospering. If the soul is not prospering, God in His sovereignty can hold the physical prospering and allow poverty or health challenges as corrective measures which is a form of judgement.

Judgement begins in the house of God. Someone can be judged because of stagnant or impure faith. If we refuse to grow spiritually, God will introduce ways to make us grow and be spiritually rich. Correction is always painful and never joyful or sweet.

However, everyone does not fall under that category. God deals with everyone individually and there should be no generalisation in Christianity. If someone is born with afflictions, born blind or born with the curse of poverty as a result of ancestral idol worship, He must seek the face of God for deliverance instead of using various scriptures to conclude that it is a test or trial or that God is allowing it to grow him spiritually.

If someone is suffering as a result of a particular sin or lifestyle that he indulged in before he became a believer or as a result of repented and forsaken sins even as a believer, the blood of Jesus has cleansed Him of past sins and forsaken sins and he needs to have faith in the blood of Jesus and pray for deliverance because the blood of Jesus has set him free. He must cry out for his birthright like the widow.

But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:9

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8

A believer can suffer simply because he refuses to grow spiritually. This is what is happening in the Scripture at the top. A believer can also suffer because his faith is being tested. When his faith becomes pure, the test disappears because the purpose of the test has been achieved. Pure faith leads to absolute confidence and dependence on God and also leads to perfect and mature love. Mature faith gives birth to mature purity, love and works.

So that you may be innocent and pure as God’s perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky, Philippians 2:15

Faith is inward and purity, love and works are outward. Love is an expression of faith. What is in the heart will always be proved by the outward actions, behaviours and attitudes. By their fruits you shall know them. Faith is not an isolated variable but expresses itself in a pure lifestyle. Faith is multidimensional and multifaceted. We won’t be perfect like God is perfect but we can become acceptable and blameless in the sight of God the way Job and Paul were.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6 NIV

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Galatians 5:6 ESV

God has a standard and Paul said imitate me as I imitate Christ. This means he was sure of his walk with God. If we can reach the standard of Paul, we have tried however, if we can reach the standard that Jesus walked in, glory to God! We must also never forget that it is by the grace of God not by our own power.

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8 ESV)

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 1 Thessalonians 2:9

You worshipped God, and your life was blameless; and so you should have confidence and hope. Job 4:6

There is godly sorrow that leads to repentance and there is sorrow that leads to death. We must never confuse the two and must pray to God for deliverance and healing. Children born with infirmities, children afflicted with deadly illnesses, and other perplexing conditions do not fall under godly sorrow.

Godly sorrow will always be something that does not kill but can make you very uncomfortable to seek God more. A typical example of godly sorrow is Paul’s thorn in the flesh. I have clarified this so that people don’t mix the two up. Any sorrow that can lead to death must be treated medically and with prayer by persistent asking.

The Holy Spirit is the only one that can reveal to you the cause, reason and solution to your suffering or poverty, never conclude on your own that it is godly sorrow without the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and revelation. When I went through afflictions, the Holy Spirit had told me that I would go through serious trials. I remember that I was never afraid that the challenges would kill me even though at the time, I forgot what the Holy Spirit said.

The Holy Spirit is our leader and must be the one that reveals it all. This is the reason that victory in Christ is impossible if you are not led by the Holy Spirit.

The scripture at the top, talks of physical poverty so in that Scripture, physical poverty is the trial and thorn that the believer is experiencing. These believers are those who will be put in prison to be tested. I believe the prison is a spiritual prison of trials and tribulations not physical prisons.

However, the Lord assures them that they are spiritually rich and He also encourages them to be faithful unto death so as to receive the crown of life. May we never give up our faith when we are under trials and may we always ask for the grace to overcome.

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Towards Perfection

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Towards Perfection

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. (Hebrews 6:1-2 NKJV)

Some people think that faith is superior to perfection and love but they are wrong. Without faith it is impossible to please God, however, love is the greatest and perfect love casts out all fear. The Bible did not say that perfect faith casts out all fear. This is because if you have all the faith in the world and you have no works, faith without works is dead. Without walking in the word of God, you will come under divine judgement and judgement is what brings fear.

There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment. 1 John 4:18

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Fear has to do with punishment. If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you won’t have fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of love, power and sound mind. It is God who gives peace so it is not by power or might. If we draw close to God, He will draw close to us and when God is close to us, we will feel peace instead of fear.

When judgement, death and demons are close to us, we feel fear. The vital thing is for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and His fruits, then we will not live in fear. What some people call faith is actually fear. They keep confessing out of fear, yet refuse to go on to perfection or be filled with the Holy Spirit. They have not yet realised that it is only by the spirit of God, not by power or might or their own power.

There is simply no magic in Christianity. God wants Christian maturity and perfection and He wants us to learn to distinguish between good and evil and keep away from divine judgement.

Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Revelation 3:2 ESV

So wake up, and strengthen what you still have before it dies completely. For I find that what you have done is not yet perfect in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you were taught and what you heard; obey it and turn from your sins. If you do not wake up, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not even know the time when I will come. Revelation 3:2 -3 Good News Translation

The reason that the church is seeing less power today is because they are stuck in foundational teachings and have refused to give the sheep solid meat. I believe that some believers are hungry for very solid meat but are being starved and deprived of this precious golden food.

May we rise from dust, nakedness and powerlessness and embrace glory. That is surely our inheritance in Christ and He is waiting to decorate His beloved.

We are hereby advised in today’s Scripture at the top of this post, to rise from foundational teachings of repentance, faith, Judgement, resurrection and baptism towards mature teachings on perfection and perfect love. It is only when Christ finds your works complete in His sight that you will taste glory, constant peace, joy and the powers of the age to come. We must be sanctified by His Spirit including our runaway “unsanctified” tongues. That is when we will experience heaven on earth and visit heaven in the twinkle of eye.

Heaven will not seem very far away when His manifest presence – His glory dwells in us. May God grant us the grace to keep climbing the Holy Mountain and get to the top. May we constantly dwell at the top when we get there and not fall off again.

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The Key

Bible, Christian Faith, Holiness, Home, Inspirational, Scripture
The Key

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. (Titus 3:3 NKJV)

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4- 3:8 NKJV)

This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Titus 3:8 NKJV)

A disobedient person is a deceived person. This is because obedience is the key to real success and health. It also guarantees a beautiful life in heaven in the after life. Why then do most people scorn and despise obedience? The reason for this error is that most people are sincerely confused and deceived because they judge by outward appearance.

They assume that because they see a lot of successful unbelievers and disobedient people, they can conclude that obedience is not necessary for happiness and success. They therefore follow other ways and routes to health and wealth. The sad truth that they don’t know is that the devil gives wealth and health – poisonous, cancerous deceptive wealth, health, success and happiness .

The devil gives the type of wealth that leads to complete destruction of body and soul. They end up deceived because they judged by outward appearance instead of seeking the true God. Anyone who loves the light goes to the light, however it is those who love the darkness that are constantly seeking blessings without seeking the true God. That is why they end up deceived.

Every good and perfect present comes from God but the deceived do not know this. They do not know that it is God that permits the favours they receive through false worship and idols. They receive it through the forbidden way that God has cursed. God as creator has created every way and road but He has ordered a superior narrow way and has commanded man to follow the narrow way.

“Prophets or interpreters of dreams may promise a miracle or a wonder, 2 in order to lead you to worship and serve gods that you have not worshipped before. Even if what they promise comes true,  do not pay any attention to them. The Lord your God is using them to test you, to see if you love the Lord with all your heart. Follow the Lord and honour him; obey him and keep his commands; worship him and be faithful to him. But put to death any interpreters of dreams or prophets that tell you to rebel against the Lord, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. Such people are evil and are trying to lead you away from the life that the Lord has commanded you to live. They must be put to death, in order to rid yourselves of this evil. Deuteronomy 13: 1-5

Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under the Lord’s curse. Deuteronomy 7:23

God hates disobedience and loves obedience but sadly, most people don’t care about obedience to God anymore. They are under the illusion that it does not matter and they point at certain committed Christians they know who are suffering various afflictions and they conclude that there is no need to worship God or obey Him. Ultimately, it is only after death that man will know his true condition.

It is possible to gain the whole world ( extraordinary blessings and favours) and loose your soul. Jesus would not have warned us if it is not a real threat or temptation. Also the devil promised to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth if only Jesus would worship him. This shows that the devil can give false blessings and the deceived have been enticed by the devil to worship him and despise God.

We were once deceived and disobedient but God chose us to be His own. We must therefore walk in obedience and maintain good works as redeemed children of God. That is the only way that we can please God and demonstrate that we are sons and daughters of grace and light.

 

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