Our Crowning Glory

Our Crowning Glory

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silvanus, and Timothy – was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. (2 Corinthians 1_19 NKJV)

Godly reminders 8

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us – by me, Silvanus, and Timothy – was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. (2 Corinthians 1:19 NKJV)

The son of God that was preached to us was a Yes. He is the yes to all God’s promises. This Scripture is a reminder that we should always think positively about God and Christ. We must never doubt His love and ability to help us.

Jesus came as Yes, and forgave us all our sins. He defeated death, hell, the grave and sin. He brought grace and by that grace we have overcome and can overcome if we persist in faith, prayer and righteousness.

May we be fully surrendered to His will and purpose for our lives in complete obedience and love. May His grace, light, mercy and love be our crowning glory in Jesus name.

 

 

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Believing And Praying

Believing And Praying

You must believe and you must also pray. Believing and having faith without spending time in prayer is a great deception. Jesus had super faith, but He also prayed. Paul had super faith but he also prayed. Having faith and a through understanding of your inheritance in Christ does not mean that you should not spent time in prayer.

Seeking God’s face and waiting upon Him for grace, mercy and peace to be yours in full measure is a must. It is the praying that will activate the inheritance. You start with faith, go on to obedience, add prayer and persist or press on with patience. Paul prayed and activated his inheritance.

May mercy, peace, and love be yours in full measure. Jude 1:2

Faith without action is dead. Faith without obedience and prayer is dead. Let the prophets and apostles be your constant example. Paul said, ‘ imitate me as I imitate Christ.’

The whole group was pleased with the apostles’ proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism. Acts 6:5

Faith is stationary while the Holy Spirit moves and performs. You must be filled with faith and the Holy Spirit. If you are filled with faith without being filled with the Holy Spirit, you have not achieved much. The objective, purpose and end result of faith is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You must be purpose driven and not loose focus. Faith for the sake of faith without tasting the reality of the Holy Spirit and being filled with love is a fantasy. Let your faith take you to maturity and the mountain top of God’s glory without distractions. Get to the mountain top because that should be the end result of your faith.

It is obedience, prayer, praise, worship and praise that will give life to your faith. Faith does not work alone. It is multidimensional and works with many variables. Do not rely on your faith alone but pray until you experience the manifest presence of God. When you bask in His glory is when you know that your faith has life.

Your faith must be a constant reality. The reality is the manifest presence of God. Any faith that has not brought down God’s glory is not a mature faith. Faith must become tangible and that tangibility is the glory of God.

Your faith combined with obedience is what will take you to heaven and it is also what will make you experience heaven on earth. The reality of the Holy Spirit is heaven on earth. The Kingdom of God is within us, may He make that Kingdom a tangible reality. May we all persist until we taste His glory, daily.

 

 

 

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Blessed Are All Who Take Refuge In Him

Blessed Are All Who Take Refuge In Him

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The Lord will be your refuge and protection. He will show up when you least expect Him to. You will marvel at the Lord’s goodness and mercy.

 Psalm 2

Why do the nations conspirea]”>[a]
    and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
    against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
“Let us break their chains
    and throw off their shackles.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord scoffs at them.
He rebukes them in his anger
    and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my king
    on Zion, my holy mountain.”

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;
    today I have become your father.
Ask me,
    and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession.
You will break them with a rod of ironb]”>[b];
    you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
    be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear
    and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
    and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
    Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

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He Watches Over The Righteous

He Watches Over The Righteous

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The Lord watches over the righteous, He will preserve you. He will be your shield and keep you from harm. The Lord will crown you with lovingkindness and favor.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

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He Speaks Through Men

He Speaks Through Men

The Spirit Of The Lord

35: He Speaks Through Men

The spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his message is on my lips. 2 Samuel 23:2

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2:29

The Holy Spirit speaks through men. He calls men as prophets and speaks His messages to them for the good of the church and the world. The wise people are able to recognize true prophets and benefit from the messages, while the not so wise ones scorn and hate the prophets and make mockery of them. Jesus was a prophet and He was mocked and killed. John the Baptist was a prophet and because of his message, he was beheaded.

The Apostles were prophets and most of them were killed and became martyrs. The world could not tolerate the truth in their message because the world loves lies and darkness. The world also listens to prophets who dilute and water down the truth. They world loves prophets who masquerade as messengers of light. That is why the world is not seeing great prophets like those in the Bible.

The great prophets are those who will not sell or compromise the truth, light, message or word of God because of fear of death or their belly – bread and butter. They will not exchange Jesus, who is truth and the word of God for money, silver or gold.

God is not as far away as men think. He dwells in every believer and every believer can hear His voice for specific personal guidance, counsel and comfort. He also delivers His messages through anointed prophets. God is not far away, He only needs dedicated vessels of light. The devil has so many dedicated vessels of darkness but men are not willing to pay the price required to be real prophets.

Throughout the Old Testament God spoke through prophets. In the New Testament there were also prophets. Paul as an Apostle was also a prophet because an Apostle has the fivefold ministry of Apostle, Evangelist, Prophet, Teacher and Pastor. John the Apostle was also a Prophet. God shows Prophets deep events and mysteries relating to the past, present and future. He does not show them these things as entertainment but for the edification, sanctification and preparation of the Church.

In the book of Revelations, John, the author kept saying, “He who has ears let Him hear what the Spirt says to the Churches.” The Holy Spirit was the one talking through John. We are told that those who hear and keep the words of the prophesies and messages are blessed.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelation 1:3

May we always hear the messages of the Holy Spirit spoken and still speaking through prophets in Jesus name.

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He Is A Teacher

He Is A Teacher

The Spirit Of The Lord

34: He Is A Teacher

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Luke 12:12

So then, we do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths to those who have the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:13

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

The Holy Spirit is primarily a teacher and a miracle worker just like Jesus. He took over from Jesus and is doing exactly what Jesus did when He was on earth. The only difference is that we cannot see Him physically. Now that Jesus is in heaven, on His throne beside God the father, His Spirit is the perfect companion and comforter that we need.

Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” John 16:16

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18

We are not alone and Jesus did not leave us as orphans, His Spirit is in us and with us, teaching us and guiding us into all truth. If we are humble and do not presume or assume that we already know it all or that our denomination knows it all, He will enlighten us. We must open up our hearts to allow Him teach us. Pride is a great turn off to Him so the proud cannot know the truth or the fullness of truth.

If we claim to know more than God, we have shut off His Holy Spirit and are at risk of attracting the spirit of delusion. Those who oppose God and insult God attract lies unto themselves. God will give them what they like because they actually prefer error, darkness and lies.

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10

For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. 2 Thessalonians 2: 11-12

Brethren, truth is available to all if we are willing. If we want to climb to the mountaintop of Christian Maturity and glory, it is possible. Our blessed teacher is with us and in us longing to take us further and deeper into Him. He is our great mountain top. The more we press deeper into Him, the more He will propel us into the mountaintop of glory where we experience His living water on a constant basis.

May the flesh give way to our blessed teacher, the Holy Spirit always. May we grow in Him and rest in Him. May we touch Him, taste Him, feel Him and see His face here on earth even as we wait for Heaven – our eternal home.

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Putting On The Word

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 Helps Us

He Helps Us

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The Spirit Of The Lord

25: He Helps Us

In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

The Holy Spirit is also called the helper. He is also the comforter. The Bible says, “weak as we are.” This means that no matter how much we try to forget it, we are weak beings that need help. But where does our help come from? Our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

This realization and reality is what will motivate us to constantly rely on the Lord for help and the Lord on earth is the Holy Spirit. We constantly ignore Him and try to do it on our own but consider this. Would Jesus have promised and sent His Spirit – the Holy Spirit if we could succeed in life and Christian walk without Him. He is our powerhouse and without Him, we can do nothing.

Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” John 16:16

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. John 16:17

Jesus promised to come back and be with us as the Holy Spirit. We need Him – His help and His comfort. If we do not desire help and ask for help, we are proud and will not receive help. We must constantly approach the throne of grace to receive help and mercy in time of need

May we realize and confess our absolute need for Him and constantly ask for help until we get to the fullness of grace where great things happen. May great grace be upon us like it was with the apostles. This great grace can only come through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Of grace.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

As we fellowship with the Holy Spirit and minister to Him in dependence and need. He will reveal Himself fully to us. Come Lord Jesus.

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He Gives Conviction And Assurance

He Gives Conviction And Assurance

The Spirit Of The Lord

23: He gives conviction and assurance

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: “of sin, because they do not believe in Me; “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more (John 16:7 – 16:10 NKJV)

The Holy Spirit is the one that makes us sure and certain that we are saved. He makes us hold steadfastly to the good news of salvation without shaking or wavering.

The Holy Spirit also gives conviction. Conviction is a firmly held belief or opinion. Where there is total darkness or doubt, He will step in to shine His light and let it reign. We are not able to accept light and truth without the Holy Spirit’s enablement. As the giver of life, knowledge, wisdom, revelation and truth, conviction will not enter and stay in our hearts concerning any topic or subject in the word of God without the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the one that gives life and light to the mind and soul.

Deadness of the mind and soul is darkness. Darkness exists where there is absence of truth and where there is absence of truth, sin, evil, death and judgement reign. People without truth commit sin without even knowing that their actions are sinful or destructive.

They cannot discern between good and evil. What their religion teaches them is good is evil and what they believe is evil is good. That is because the devil has perverted truth and the scripture and turned everything upside down in their minds and souls. These are known as hidden sins. These sins are hidden from the consciousness and knowledge of man.

Redemption

The Holy Spirit convicts us about our redemption – He is the one that enables us believe that all our past and forsaken sins are forgiven and cancelled. He makes us stand on the word of God to resist the devil steadfast in faith, conviction and confidence. He exalts the finished work of the cross and makes us rejoice in our salvation.

Without Him, we will keep on making sacrifices and offerings for sins like pagans. Without Him, we will be ruled by guilty conscience that exalts death and looks down on the word of God. When people exalt death and judgement they ultimately believe that judgement and death is greater than God’s grace.

This leads them to offer sacrifices for sins. They believe that God cannot forgive sins or that God has not forgiven our sins and that they have to offer sacrifice to Him for sin and that human beings must pay for their sins. They refuse to believe that God Himself can be so gracious and that He Himself paid with His own blood in the form of Jesus.

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. Acts 20:28

A believer, however believes that God’s grace is greater than all our sins and that mercy triumphs over judgement. They rejoice in the Lord’s grace, mercy and love and exalt Him. Even when they experience adversity, they do not renounce God and His grace and become negative about God. They still cling to His mercy even in torture and drowning.

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

The Holy Spirit is also the one that convinces us that Jesus is Lord. He is the one that makes you believe that Jesus is Lord.The same way He makes us believe that Jesus is Lord is the same way He makes us believe in the blood of Jesus. He is the one that makes us believe that the blood of Jesus has set us free. The Scripture says that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Likewise, no one can say my sins are forgive and the blood of Jesus has set me free except by the Holy Spirit.

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He Makes Us Remember

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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