This is maybe because of the program we just had in church. I have thought about the cross a lot lately. The more I think about it, the more I realize that ugly as that cross may have been, it is one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to us as Christians. That is where total deliverance happened for man. Despite the pain Jesus suffered to win the victory for us at the cross, He says we can come to that cross just as we are and He says He will receive us. He goes on to assure us that He suffered all that pain so that we can come to the cross just as we are. What manner of love is this that God would show you and I? Truly this love is amazing and can only be divine because it can only be shown by the God whose name is LOVE. No other personality can love so much and at no cost. As the hymn write says, this type of love demands ‘my soul, my life, my all’.
The amazing thing is that as we come to Him, His blood washes us from all iniquity and we are then empowered to be like Him. All God asks is that we yield ourselves to Him a living sacrifice’ holy and acceptable’. The Bible says this is our reasonable service.
Romans 12: 1 NLT – ‘I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable’.
It is such a small price to pay for what we enjoy by coming to Him by reason of what He did on the cross of Calvary. The truth is that the reason He wants us to present ourselves to Him as a sacrifice is so that He can do in our lives that which is required to be done that we may enjoy benefits that can only be enjoyed by those who are truly His. Again it is not just for Himself but also for our good. If we truly understand the depth of the price that He paid just so that we can enjoy these benefits, then we would, like the hymn writer, declare ‘my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all pride’. If only we could pour contempt on all of those things that mean so much to us, then we can truly yield to God so that like the potter that He is, He can bring out the best in us.
It is amazing how at the point of giving our lives to Christ, we desire to exchange the lives that we live for a better one but soon after we have had the experience and begin to enjoy some of the benefits of the cross, we begin to struggle to hold on to the life that we gave up. Isn’t there something wrong with us and all that is going on? Why bother to invite Him into your life thereby giving Him your life in exchange for the one He gives if you truly think yours is fun? You might as well keep your life and ‘the fun you have’ from being in total control. If the things we left behind begin to appeal to us once more and we begin to enjoy them, we are definitely retrogressing. At best, we will become stagnant and like Lot’s wife, a pillar of salt.
Even the world says the only constant thing is change. We must keep changing if we must lay hold on the purpose for which God laid hold on us. We have to keep being transformed until we are like Him. God is consistently trying to make us better people.
Romans 12: 2NLT – ‘Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the ways you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect’.
God is a God of purpose. Why don’t we keep allowing Him change us until the purpose for which He saved us unfolds. I think we must credit Him with enough wisdom to know what He is doing. He can never make your life worse than it was when you came to Him. Though things may be uncertain for a season, He definitely is ‘going somewhere’ and will get there if you allow Him.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Monday, 19 July 2010
There Is Power MIGHTY In The Blood!
Blood has always been something I prefer to avoid; even the blood of animals. Thank God for already killed and cleaned animals we eat. I don’t know about you but it taste just like the freshly killed ones to me maybe even better. However, as I learn more from the bible about blood it gets clearer to me the reason blood has been an issue to me.
Leviticus 17: 11 & 14a affirms that the life of every animal is in the blood. As soon as the blood of any living thing and/or being is drained from its body, it ceases to have life. Indeed, there is power in the blood of every living thing. No wonder God instructed that the blood of animals be shed for the remission of sins before Christ came.
Recently, as I tried to imagine what must have inspired the hymn ‘there is power in the blood of Jesus’ I felt like my eyes opened to deeper truths of the reality of the strength and power in the blood of Jesus and what that blood is able to do for us. I want to share some of these thoughts that have changed my prayer life yet again.
In the coming of Christ to the world, God actually came down. No wonder one of the names of Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’ which is translated ‘God with us’. The blood that flowed in Jesus is the blood of God which carries the fullness of the life of God. According to the scriptures, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed once and that is for eternity. Also, since God lives forever, the life in the blood exists forever and has the same effect forever. There was no need for any other blood to be shed.
It had to be that blood of Jesus to deliver us from the clutches of sin and our strong enemy (the devil) especially because man through Adam, had given him legitimate authority and power to operate in man and on earth; so that even the life of so many animals could not totally deliver us from his hold.
Since God will not come into the world nor would He pour out his blood to earth from heaven because He is righteous, just and not a thief, He came as man and poured out once that most powerful blood on earth thereby defeating the devil in his terrain.
The blood of Jesus poured out on the cross was one of the most powerful things that happened at Calvary. Immediately, that blood is appropriated in one’s life, everything begins to change. It grants access to the rest of the benefits that we enjoy as a result of what happened on the cross. It immediately washes one so you can move to the kingdom of light and be called by a new name. It creates a definite separation between us and evil and brings immediate, total deliverance. No demon in hell can stand against this blood. No wonder the bible says in Revelation 12: 11 that ‘they overcame him by the blood of the lamb’
We must learn to appropriate this blood in the place of prayer. When we plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, we are like lawyers making a strong case for something before a judge based on statue or case law. Our basis for some requests is the blood of Jesus so we must plead it in those instances.
Have you been chanting 'blood of Jesus' over and over again like a joke or have you being making jokes with this blood? It is lack of revelation knowledge. You may need to ask God for fresh revelation. Let us take what is serious seriously.
Leviticus 17: 11 & 14a affirms that the life of every animal is in the blood. As soon as the blood of any living thing and/or being is drained from its body, it ceases to have life. Indeed, there is power in the blood of every living thing. No wonder God instructed that the blood of animals be shed for the remission of sins before Christ came.
Recently, as I tried to imagine what must have inspired the hymn ‘there is power in the blood of Jesus’ I felt like my eyes opened to deeper truths of the reality of the strength and power in the blood of Jesus and what that blood is able to do for us. I want to share some of these thoughts that have changed my prayer life yet again.
In the coming of Christ to the world, God actually came down. No wonder one of the names of Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’ which is translated ‘God with us’. The blood that flowed in Jesus is the blood of God which carries the fullness of the life of God. According to the scriptures, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed once and that is for eternity. Also, since God lives forever, the life in the blood exists forever and has the same effect forever. There was no need for any other blood to be shed.
It had to be that blood of Jesus to deliver us from the clutches of sin and our strong enemy (the devil) especially because man through Adam, had given him legitimate authority and power to operate in man and on earth; so that even the life of so many animals could not totally deliver us from his hold.
Since God will not come into the world nor would He pour out his blood to earth from heaven because He is righteous, just and not a thief, He came as man and poured out once that most powerful blood on earth thereby defeating the devil in his terrain.
The blood of Jesus poured out on the cross was one of the most powerful things that happened at Calvary. Immediately, that blood is appropriated in one’s life, everything begins to change. It grants access to the rest of the benefits that we enjoy as a result of what happened on the cross. It immediately washes one so you can move to the kingdom of light and be called by a new name. It creates a definite separation between us and evil and brings immediate, total deliverance. No demon in hell can stand against this blood. No wonder the bible says in Revelation 12: 11 that ‘they overcame him by the blood of the lamb’
We must learn to appropriate this blood in the place of prayer. When we plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, we are like lawyers making a strong case for something before a judge based on statue or case law. Our basis for some requests is the blood of Jesus so we must plead it in those instances.
Have you been chanting 'blood of Jesus' over and over again like a joke or have you being making jokes with this blood? It is lack of revelation knowledge. You may need to ask God for fresh revelation. Let us take what is serious seriously.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
True Worship
For the hour now is …when the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth
John 4: 23- 24, Isaiah 1: 10 – 16, Malachi 1: 8
The other day, I was in a church service with hands lifted up in worship, eyes shut and then I realised suddenly that my mind was everywhere but where it was meant to be – presence of God worshipping my creator, the work of whose hands I am. I immediately brought my mind under the control of the spirit.
As I took my seat after the worship, I pondered on our worship. I felt the pain of God when we gather in worship and sing beautiful songs lifting up seemingly ‘holy hands’ in worship even cry ‘in His presence’ yet our hearts are far away from Him and our worship neither in spirit nor in truth. The entire thing is either unreal or at best borne out of a temporary outburst of emotion. O! How those worship songs and the lovely voices of the choir make us feel very ‘spiritual’.
I went to scriptures again to find out if God was so desperate for worship that He would accept anything and found that He isn’t. Some of the scriptures I found are written above. Indeed, going from those scriptures, God feels insulted by unreal or feigned worship and rejects it.
We lift up well manicured hands in worship to Him but our hearts are not only far from Him but also very filthy. How insulting this must be to the God that sees the heart of man and before whom nothing is hidden. God seeks true worshippers – a people who sing in songs of worship the yearning of their hearts and their attitude to life. If He wanted just songs, I beg to suggest that the angels who most likely sing with much better voices than we do would be able to meet that need. Indeed, He said He could even raise stones to do it but instead He yearns for our love, honour and reverence. We should not sing to Him what we do not live in our everyday lives-that would be a lie. Our worship songs and our lives must be in sync. Both describing how much we love, reverence and honour Him. They must show that our total and absolute allegiance is to this God and we have no other.
The truth is you can not worship Him if you don’t know Him. Do you know Him? If yes, are you increasing in your knowledge of Him? The more you know Him, the deeper your worship and the more it pleases God. If you don’t know Him, you can meet Him to today. All you have to do is ask Him to come into your life. Do it now. Your entire life will change for good.
Your worship is only as good as your knowledge of Him. God seeks true worshippers.
John 4: 23- 24, Isaiah 1: 10 – 16, Malachi 1: 8
The other day, I was in a church service with hands lifted up in worship, eyes shut and then I realised suddenly that my mind was everywhere but where it was meant to be – presence of God worshipping my creator, the work of whose hands I am. I immediately brought my mind under the control of the spirit.
As I took my seat after the worship, I pondered on our worship. I felt the pain of God when we gather in worship and sing beautiful songs lifting up seemingly ‘holy hands’ in worship even cry ‘in His presence’ yet our hearts are far away from Him and our worship neither in spirit nor in truth. The entire thing is either unreal or at best borne out of a temporary outburst of emotion. O! How those worship songs and the lovely voices of the choir make us feel very ‘spiritual’.
I went to scriptures again to find out if God was so desperate for worship that He would accept anything and found that He isn’t. Some of the scriptures I found are written above. Indeed, going from those scriptures, God feels insulted by unreal or feigned worship and rejects it.
We lift up well manicured hands in worship to Him but our hearts are not only far from Him but also very filthy. How insulting this must be to the God that sees the heart of man and before whom nothing is hidden. God seeks true worshippers – a people who sing in songs of worship the yearning of their hearts and their attitude to life. If He wanted just songs, I beg to suggest that the angels who most likely sing with much better voices than we do would be able to meet that need. Indeed, He said He could even raise stones to do it but instead He yearns for our love, honour and reverence. We should not sing to Him what we do not live in our everyday lives-that would be a lie. Our worship songs and our lives must be in sync. Both describing how much we love, reverence and honour Him. They must show that our total and absolute allegiance is to this God and we have no other.
The truth is you can not worship Him if you don’t know Him. Do you know Him? If yes, are you increasing in your knowledge of Him? The more you know Him, the deeper your worship and the more it pleases God. If you don’t know Him, you can meet Him to today. All you have to do is ask Him to come into your life. Do it now. Your entire life will change for good.
Your worship is only as good as your knowledge of Him. God seeks true worshippers.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Be The TRUE Light Of The World!
Mathew 5: 14 & 16. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid…Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your FATHER which is in heaven.
God calls us the light of the world because we have been impacted by the light Himself i.e. Jesus. John 1: 4& 5 says In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The light in Jesus was the light of the FATHER and the works He did were the works of that light which is the FATHER. No wonder He says He is one with the FATHER. He did not meet the need of the world. He met the need of His FATHER but in doing that He met the need of the world and went on to do in exceeding abundance.
When He comes into our life, He lights us up so that we are the light of the world – a dark world. We then begin to do the works of the FATHER which are the works of light just like Jesus did. According to Jesus, His FATHER is good and so He is always doing good. When men see these good works they give glory to the FATHER (the one that is truly good and reveals His goodness through us).
The question that one is faced with in our day as we look at all our good works – do they cause men to glorify our FATHER or to glorify us? Is our light shining before men? Are these the works of the FATHER that we do?
For our light to shine before men, we must be so impacted by the light of the world Himself that we would shine brightly ourselves. So brightly that man can not hide from our light. They are left with no choice but to be illuminated. It appears to me that we are not shining that brightly. Our light has been dimmed and the world is actually impacting us and we are getting transformed slowly. We are becoming ‘the world’ but a hybrid because we still have a ‘Jesus label’.
There are good people doing a lot of good work all over the world but ours was meant to be different. It was meant to give God glory. We are meant to be instruments through which God accomplishes His goodness on earth but is that what we are? No wonder our good works no longer cause men to glorify God but us. The works are not instigated by the Spirit of God. We each have our own agenda.
Good works not instigated by the light cannot provoke glory for the FATHER. Your good works can not be instigated by the FATHER if you have not been impacted by Him and are still being impacted by Him. This impartation comes from a relationship. Only through that relationship can you know what He wants to do in the world and then receive the grace to do it.
Despite all the good work being done it is called a dark world? If you just did your own good work it would be just another good work. It will not shine as light in darkness. That good work you are involved in – is it as a result of the light that you have become? Are you covering up the lack of shine with the good works? Have you gotten carried away by your good works? Jesus is still the light of the world. It is time to think deeply and take stock.
The bible says if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. It is never too late to retrace one’s steps. Our God is so good that we can never be better than Him and He wants us to be good.
Pastor B
God calls us the light of the world because we have been impacted by the light Himself i.e. Jesus. John 1: 4& 5 says In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The light in Jesus was the light of the FATHER and the works He did were the works of that light which is the FATHER. No wonder He says He is one with the FATHER. He did not meet the need of the world. He met the need of His FATHER but in doing that He met the need of the world and went on to do in exceeding abundance.
When He comes into our life, He lights us up so that we are the light of the world – a dark world. We then begin to do the works of the FATHER which are the works of light just like Jesus did. According to Jesus, His FATHER is good and so He is always doing good. When men see these good works they give glory to the FATHER (the one that is truly good and reveals His goodness through us).
The question that one is faced with in our day as we look at all our good works – do they cause men to glorify our FATHER or to glorify us? Is our light shining before men? Are these the works of the FATHER that we do?
For our light to shine before men, we must be so impacted by the light of the world Himself that we would shine brightly ourselves. So brightly that man can not hide from our light. They are left with no choice but to be illuminated. It appears to me that we are not shining that brightly. Our light has been dimmed and the world is actually impacting us and we are getting transformed slowly. We are becoming ‘the world’ but a hybrid because we still have a ‘Jesus label’.
There are good people doing a lot of good work all over the world but ours was meant to be different. It was meant to give God glory. We are meant to be instruments through which God accomplishes His goodness on earth but is that what we are? No wonder our good works no longer cause men to glorify God but us. The works are not instigated by the Spirit of God. We each have our own agenda.
Good works not instigated by the light cannot provoke glory for the FATHER. Your good works can not be instigated by the FATHER if you have not been impacted by Him and are still being impacted by Him. This impartation comes from a relationship. Only through that relationship can you know what He wants to do in the world and then receive the grace to do it.
Despite all the good work being done it is called a dark world? If you just did your own good work it would be just another good work. It will not shine as light in darkness. That good work you are involved in – is it as a result of the light that you have become? Are you covering up the lack of shine with the good works? Have you gotten carried away by your good works? Jesus is still the light of the world. It is time to think deeply and take stock.
The bible says if we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. It is never too late to retrace one’s steps. Our God is so good that we can never be better than Him and He wants us to be good.
Pastor B
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