Tag: Faith

He Makes Us Remember

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Scripture, The Word
He Makes Us Remember

The Spirit Of The Lord

21: He makes us remember

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you. John 14:26

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26 NIV

The Holy Spirit makes us remember the word of God. The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to forget the word of God. When we forget the word of God, we forget the source of life and we fall into mistakes and sins. We also loose faith, love, and hope. It is the word of God that makes us grow into mature spiritual beings. The word of God, is food, air and life to our souls and the glory of God is food, air and life to the human spirit. We must know the word before the glory of God. We must know and practice His ways before tasting His essence, blood and Spirit.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. John 15:3 NIV

You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. John 15:3 NLT

It is good to keep the word of God in our memory and retain it. When we do that, we become very conscious of right and wrong as decreed by the word of God and we will not be tempted to follow the crowd of the world in their own analysis and proclamations of what is right and wrong. We reject the world view of the world.

Remembering the word of God also protects us from false doctrines and guards us from the yeast of the Sadducees and Pharisees – false pastors, preachers, miracle workers, teachers and prophets. We easily discern and differentiate storytellers, forgers, magicians and liars from true apostles and ministers like the Berean Jews.

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

Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Matthew 16:6

Jesus and Paul retained and kept the word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit that was with them, that was why they did not fall. Even when Paul fell, He quickly corrected himself because the Holy Spirit reminded Him of the word of God that said you should not insult your superiors. The Holy Spirit was with him to the extent that he sometimes said, “I not the Holy Spirit.”

He was so filled and in tune with the Holy Spirit that he had to differentiate his personal thoughts and opinions from the revelations, instructions and teachings given to him by the Holy Spirit.

Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!” Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!” Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’ Acts 23: 3-5

Jesus was full of grace, truth and wisdom. That means that the Holy Spirit was constantly in Him, reminding Him of relevant laws and scriptures. He constantly studied the word of God and He was reminded. If you do not study the word of God and keep looking into the perfect law of freedom, you will forget.

It means you are not partnering with the Holy Spirit, the author of the word of God and you prefer to forget. When you reject the word of God and refuse to study it, you are rejecting the Holy Spirit because He is the Spirit of The Word Of God, truth, revelation and wisdom.

You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Acts 7:51

He not only makes us remember the word of God, He also gives us the ability to perform, practice and walk in the word of God.

So we can see that the Holy Spirit and the word of God are inseparable and rejecting one is rejecting the other. The thoughts and word of the Holy Spirit is the word of God. That is why Jesus was born of the Spirit because He is the word of God embodied. He is the teaching, word, though, way, will, message and revelation of God made manifest.

You must know the word and have fellowship with the word to be reminded. We need to keep looking at the perfect law of liberty. You must be thought in order to remember. So let us listen to what Jesus is saying in the Scriptures so that the Holy Spirit can remind us of the teachings we have forgotten when we need them and enable us to retain His words.

But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it–they will be blessed in what they do. James 1:25

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26

So the Holy Spirit is the one who reminds us of His thoughts, words, laws, will, and ways. Glory to God! May we give Him the chance to constantly remind us of His word and bring it to remembrance when needed by sitting at His Feet and listening to His word like Mary. May we always study our Bible.

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Preaching By The Spirit

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, light, Scripture, The Word
Preaching By The Spirit

The Spirit Of The Lord

20: Preaching by the Spirit

Serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12 ESV)

Preaching of the good news is done by the Holy Spirit through men. He calls men, anoints them, gives them gifts and enables them to preach the gospel. It is the work of the Holy Spirit not the work of men, however, He does it through willing and yielded vessels who cooperate with Him. He is a Spirit and needs to fulfill His ministry – the ministry of the Spirit through mortal physical men.

Some men are still struggling to grasp this reality as they rely on themselves and make loud noise believing it is by noise making. No, it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that men are won and converted to Christ. It is also God that convicts and draws men to Christ. Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing. It is the Spirit of Christ that spreads the gospel on earth.

Regardless of the style of preaching adopted – either preaching softly, calmly, shouting, writing books, blogging, vlogging, Youtude, podcasts, TV, videos, radio, or any other media channel, men will not be effective in winning souls if they are not empowered and the Holy Spirit is not with them. He is the one that makes men effective in ministry.

May we give Him His place and be loyal and yielded vessels. May we always pray that the good news be spread to hidden places of the earth. May we pray and intercede with God to bring more souls into His kingdom. May we fulfill our own role and part in spreading the gospel. As we pray, preach and obey, God Himself will step into time and convict souls.

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We Live By What He Says

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Scripture, The Word
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 Is The Spirit Of Faith

Bible, Christian Faith, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, light, Scripture, The Word
He Is The Spirit Of Faith

The Spirit Of The Lord

 

15. He is the Spirit of faith

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,“ we also believe and therefore speak, (2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV)

The Holy Spirit is the spirit that produces faith. Any one who is trying to produce faith by his own power lacks humility and wisdom. Faith is spiritual and the author, source and giver of faith is the Holy Spirit. It is only when the word of God dwells in the hearts of men without expulsion that a men have faith. It is only by the Holy Spirits power that we can retain and not expel the word of God.

But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Mathew 13:8

The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. Matthew 13:37

If we study the parable of the sower, we will observe that it is the son of man than plants the word of God in the hearts of men represented as different qualities of soil. The son of man plants the word of God by His Holy Spirit that is here on earth. It is also the son of man that breaks the soil and makes the soil a good soil, capable of accepting the good news and the commandments of God.

He prunes and purifies us by His Holy Spirit in order to enable full indwelling of the word. That is only when the fruits including faith are produced a hundred fold.

The Holy Spirit is all we need and He alone can produce mature faith and purity in us. The kind of faith that relies and depends on God not on self or our own faith. He alone is the author and giver of faith. Glory to God!

 

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Touch Of Love

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Intimacy, Jesus, Love, Poems, Scripture
Touch Of Love

The shattered broken

Pieces of my heart

Lay

At different corners

Of the earth

Waiting and praying fervently

For the healing touch

Of the master

 

His touch

Is the touch of love

That heals and binds

The wounded and

Broken hearted

 

He breathes joy

Where there is

Grief

Laughter in place

Of sorrow

Health in place

Of sickness

Life in place

Of death

 

His touch

Is the touch of love

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All Blessings

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Knowledge and Wisdom, Scripture, The Word
All Blessings

All Blessings

Good News And Faith

  1. All Blessings

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Ephesians 1:3 NKJV)

He gave us life, love, forgiveness and eternal blessings. We were once sinners, lost in the world without hope and stumbling around in the dark. God knew from the beginning of time that we would need grace and forgiveness and He gave us grace, mercy, love and forgiveness. He sent His only son to die in our place and He purchased our redemption and delivered us.

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

As redeemed, sanctified children we are free from past errors, mistakes and sins. Death, hell and the grave have been defeated and we have life. Confessed, forsaken sins no longer have power over us.

The only sin that has power over a redeemed child of God is active sins that have not been forsaken and discarded. Praise God there is hope for the hopeless. All we need to do is divorce any active sins that are openings doors of judgement and death into our lives.

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

For all the brethren struggling with afflictions inherited from the womb or suffering for sins they committed when they were in the world or even sins committed as a believer which has been renounced and forsaken there is a good news. The good news is that, that sin has been destroyed by the blood of Jesus and has no legal power over us..

All we need to do is to keep praying with faith, thanksgiving, praise, worship, and persistence until God uses His mighty power to enforce that freedom and deliverance.

The word of God is superior to all the forces of nature because everything was created through the word of God – when Jesus says yes, no one can say no and His word is yes and Amen. The word of God says we are free, cleansed, washed, sanctified, justified, redeemed and delivered. Praise God!

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My Rescuer

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, Scripture
My Rescuer

 

My Rescuer

You’ve taken away my guilt

You’ve taken away my pain

You’ve taken away my shame

You restored me

 

My Rescuer

You embraced me with love

You hugged me

And took away my sorrows

And became my hero

 

My Rescuer

I love you with all my heart

Because there is no me

Without you

 

 

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My Song

Bible, Christian Faith, Healing, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, joy, Love, Poems, Scripture
My Song

You are my song

My life

And my inspiration

 

You are the reason

That I smile

Laugh and rejoice

 

For you I will

Dance

Celebrate

And be glad

Because

You died in my place

And set me free

 

Glorious prince

Please

Fill me with your

Healing love

Because

Your love is

Better than life

 

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Poor Rich Man

Bible, Christian Faith, Grace, Holiness, Holy Spirit, Home, Inspirational, Jesus, light, Scripture, The Word
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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