When we give our lives to Christ, as children, we need to learn the way of the Godly royals so that as we grow, we conduct ourselves appropriately. Even earthly royals, have to be groomed from childhood so that by the time they are grown, they are very comfortable with the lifestyle and conduct of royals.
When we believe and accept Christ into our lives we are immediately empowered to become true sons of God. We receive the spirit that enables us become sons of God (the Spirit of adoption and of grace – the Holy Ghost). He is the seal of son-ship; evidence of royalty.
John 1: 12NLT ‘But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn-not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God’.
Our DNA becomes the God DNA so that we are true royals just like being born into earthly royal families. The grooming then begins. For us, the groomer or teacher is the Holy Spirit and the rules are in the Bible. It is only as we do what He tells us to do thereby manifesting the royal nature that we are true royals. Until then, though the seed is in us and blue blood runs in our veins, we act as commoners so we are commoners because as a man thinks in His heart so is he. Who we are is judged by our actions.
Romans 8: 12&14-‘Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do...For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.’
If we submit to the grooming, we will be holy. Godly royals must be holy. Holiness is the nature of God and the nature of the kingdom. It is the nature of the Holy Spirit. We must stop thinking of holiness as one tedious, boring, stiff way of life. It really isn’t. It is being like God. Doing what God would have done in every situation.
1Peter 1: 14 – 15 NLT - So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.’
God wants us to enjoy our lives though within certain predefined limits. Those limits don’t make life tedious except you make them so. Satan has sold us a lie about holiness. Don’t buy it anymore.
John 10: 10 NLT ‘…my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.’
Reality is that sometimes we do wrong but there is always room to correct oneself as soon as we find that we have done wrong and guess what! You will know immediately because that conduct will make you uncomfortable since the groomer will let you know instantly except of course if you have silenced Him by consistently doing your will.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
Me? Royalty? Yes! Absolutely!
Last week, we agreed that we are ‘too much’. God has done and put too much in us; He has gone to too much trouble to ensure that we know who we are. It’s so amazing and I definitely like the way I am feeling with this fresh revelation of how valuable I am. I want you to think about it deeply yourself. Don’t just accept it. Please think on it, meditate on it and you will see the difference that it makes to your mind and conversely, your person. I can’t impose that view on you but I can provoke you to seek understanding that you may find your worth in Christ again.
1 Peter 2: 9 NLT – ‘But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation God’s very possession. As a result, you are can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of His darkness into His wonderful light.
The Bible calls us royalty. We are no longer the ordinary people that we were but do we really know what royalty is about? It has responsibilities and for those who were not born into it, we have a lot of learning to do. I have found over the years from observing people who got married into royalty that anyone who did not alter their own attitude to life, had issues with living in those families. Indeed, a number of royal marriages broke down for those reasons. A number of those that have not broken down have one spouse (or both spouses) usually the one that married into royalty, living a miserable life - just doing their best to endure the so called ‘royal life’. The same way some of us are enduring our lives in Christ. Interestingly, Christ royalty comes with fullness of joy. God brings us from nothingness into His family that we may have joy and that our joy may be full. The Bible describes our previous state below
1 Peter 2: 10 NLT – ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy’
If we do not change our attitude and mindset, we have challenges. What is meant to give us privileges begins to be a burden and we don’t’ enjoy the righteousness, peace and joy that is our portion in the Holy Ghost. There needs to be a change of attitude; an altering of mindset that makes righteous living fun. Otherwise, this whole newness of life becomes a real pain. Do you know that royals have challenges too? The important thing is that their challenges do not make them compromise their position. They resolve the issues in the way that only royals do. You and I need to begin to think like royalty because that is who we are.
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 way you think…’
I know an old song that says ‘I am somebody, I’ve been washed in His blood, I’ve been filled with His power, and I am a child of the glorious king’. I tell you – ‘I am who I am’. Without a doubt, I am somebody and you are privileged to know me. This is not pride, it is revelation knowledge. Of course, I am getting better everyday as I get more acquainted with the values that make me royalty but even now, I am ‘too much’ and you are also ‘too much’ if you are saved. It has nothing to do with what you have or don’t have. It’s a new birth reality.
Please post your comments to this blog if you have any.
1 Peter 2: 9 NLT – ‘But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation God’s very possession. As a result, you are can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of His darkness into His wonderful light.
The Bible calls us royalty. We are no longer the ordinary people that we were but do we really know what royalty is about? It has responsibilities and for those who were not born into it, we have a lot of learning to do. I have found over the years from observing people who got married into royalty that anyone who did not alter their own attitude to life, had issues with living in those families. Indeed, a number of royal marriages broke down for those reasons. A number of those that have not broken down have one spouse (or both spouses) usually the one that married into royalty, living a miserable life - just doing their best to endure the so called ‘royal life’. The same way some of us are enduring our lives in Christ. Interestingly, Christ royalty comes with fullness of joy. God brings us from nothingness into His family that we may have joy and that our joy may be full. The Bible describes our previous state below
1 Peter 2: 10 NLT – ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy’
If we do not change our attitude and mindset, we have challenges. What is meant to give us privileges begins to be a burden and we don’t’ enjoy the righteousness, peace and joy that is our portion in the Holy Ghost. There needs to be a change of attitude; an altering of mindset that makes righteous living fun. Otherwise, this whole newness of life becomes a real pain. Do you know that royals have challenges too? The important thing is that their challenges do not make them compromise their position. They resolve the issues in the way that only royals do. You and I need to begin to think like royalty because that is who we are.
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 way you think…’
I know an old song that says ‘I am somebody, I’ve been washed in His blood, I’ve been filled with His power, and I am a child of the glorious king’. I tell you – ‘I am who I am’. Without a doubt, I am somebody and you are privileged to know me. This is not pride, it is revelation knowledge. Of course, I am getting better everyday as I get more acquainted with the values that make me royalty but even now, I am ‘too much’ and you are also ‘too much’ if you are saved. It has nothing to do with what you have or don’t have. It’s a new birth reality.
Please post your comments to this blog if you have any.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
In Christ, YOU Are 'Too Much'!
In recent times, I have been reminded of the joy that comes from living, moving and having our being in Christ. His goodness to us that is expressed in all the wonderful things He does for us, through us and in us. After much consideration, I have once again, come to the conclusion that without a doubt God is not only good but consistently good.
One thing we must bear in mind about our God is the fact that His thoughts are far from ours. So we often misunderstand and misinterpret Him. As mere mortals and in the times that we live in currently, we are not given to a lot of patience so we start making judgments before God completes whatever work He is doing. I have found that if we just hold on a little longer, we would be able to say at the end of every experience that God is good. According to the scriptures, no experience is wonderful whilst one is going through it but at the end of the day, we find that it works for our good.
Hebrews 12: 11 NLT – ‘No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way’
The first expression of God’s goodness to you and I is in the saving of our souls. I don’t understand why God would first send His son to die just for people like us. It really does not make sense to me and as far as I know we are undeserving. If you think otherwise, please share your thoughts in the blog. One thing I know though is that God is wisdom so there must be something about you and I that make us worth dying for. Though I don’t know what it is, it makes me feel very special and valuable. Then the abundance of gifts He gives makes me feel even more special though more often than not, I dislike His preferred means of delivery.
Isn’t it amazing that God has chosen to dwell in you? Please let us think seriously about what happens when we get born again. The bible tells us that the father, son and the Holy Ghost come to indwell us. Please note that they do not indwell everyone. They only indwell those whom they have chosen to indwell and YOU ARE CHOSEN.
Colossians 2: 9 – 10 NLT – ‘For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you are also complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.’
This is not something we can pay for. The giver already paid for all those that He wants to give this gift to. Worse still, we don’t even earn it. When I really think about it, I must be very special to be chosen for this awesome gift. There is definitely something about me that makes me very special.
This is truth that no one can change. You and I are ‘too much’ otherwise God will not waste His time with us. We must not let any man tell us otherwise. When we know that we know who we truly are, everything changes. We become very confident and people wonder if we are okay. We are so confident that it may be considered arrogance but it isn’t. It comes as a result of the knowledge of your price and how valuable you are. You are priceless.
Nobody and nothing can put a price to you and I. God already put a price that nobody else can pay – the blood of Jesus. Nobody else can pay anything greater than that so they can not buy us except we lower our price/self-worth. We must not reduce or be unmindful of our self worth; any of the two provides satan the opportunity to buy us over. He presents options that look good just because we already reduced our self worth. You are ‘too much’ already.
One thing we must bear in mind about our God is the fact that His thoughts are far from ours. So we often misunderstand and misinterpret Him. As mere mortals and in the times that we live in currently, we are not given to a lot of patience so we start making judgments before God completes whatever work He is doing. I have found that if we just hold on a little longer, we would be able to say at the end of every experience that God is good. According to the scriptures, no experience is wonderful whilst one is going through it but at the end of the day, we find that it works for our good.
Hebrews 12: 11 NLT – ‘No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way’
The first expression of God’s goodness to you and I is in the saving of our souls. I don’t understand why God would first send His son to die just for people like us. It really does not make sense to me and as far as I know we are undeserving. If you think otherwise, please share your thoughts in the blog. One thing I know though is that God is wisdom so there must be something about you and I that make us worth dying for. Though I don’t know what it is, it makes me feel very special and valuable. Then the abundance of gifts He gives makes me feel even more special though more often than not, I dislike His preferred means of delivery.
Isn’t it amazing that God has chosen to dwell in you? Please let us think seriously about what happens when we get born again. The bible tells us that the father, son and the Holy Ghost come to indwell us. Please note that they do not indwell everyone. They only indwell those whom they have chosen to indwell and YOU ARE CHOSEN.
Colossians 2: 9 – 10 NLT – ‘For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you are also complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.’
This is not something we can pay for. The giver already paid for all those that He wants to give this gift to. Worse still, we don’t even earn it. When I really think about it, I must be very special to be chosen for this awesome gift. There is definitely something about me that makes me very special.
This is truth that no one can change. You and I are ‘too much’ otherwise God will not waste His time with us. We must not let any man tell us otherwise. When we know that we know who we truly are, everything changes. We become very confident and people wonder if we are okay. We are so confident that it may be considered arrogance but it isn’t. It comes as a result of the knowledge of your price and how valuable you are. You are priceless.
Nobody and nothing can put a price to you and I. God already put a price that nobody else can pay – the blood of Jesus. Nobody else can pay anything greater than that so they can not buy us except we lower our price/self-worth. We must not reduce or be unmindful of our self worth; any of the two provides satan the opportunity to buy us over. He presents options that look good just because we already reduced our self worth. You are ‘too much’ already.
Monday, 9 August 2010
'Dying' Daily To Live More Abundantly
I don’t have a biological father anymore. He went on to glory a few years ago. I thank God though for my heavenly father who fills the role of my biological father very well; giving me good and perfect gifts often. So, I think about Him and His role in my life a whole lot.
I think about the love we share, the pain, the joy, the experiences etc and I just love Him more but sometimes I also wonder – Doesn’t He ask for too much? Sometimes it is so bad that I think – does He want to kill me? I have found that the answer is yes, He does. He wants me 'dead' though living. Just like Jesus (God’s ultimate sacrifice) you & I have been called primarily to be a sacrifice to God – living sacrifice.
Romans 12: 1 NLT says ‘And so dear brothers and sisters, 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’.
Sacrifices usually die either physically or to themselves depending on what
personality or cause they have been sacrificed to. God demands that we die.
Mathew 10: 39 NLT says ‘if you cling to your life, you will lose; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it’.
In dying (being sacrificed), we give up our own lives that we may receive the true life – Jesus, the way the truth and the life. The manifestation in the physical of this lose of life can be anything from loss of friends, money, material possessions, position and/or social status. God is in the business of making a demand for the very core of our lives that He may exchange it for better. He is God that does not withhold any good thing from those that give Him their lives so that the pain that follows dying to Him last only for a short while.
Since the flesh is so strong, we have the tendency to take back our lives even after exchanging it: so God says we must take up our cross daily which implies that we must die daily because whenever we carry the cross, we get to Calvary (the place of death) and from there to a position in Christ Jesus. No wonder Paul says ‘I die daily’. We must die daily for God’s purpose to be achieved in and through us.
The experience that comes with being a sacrifice to God makes it very undesirable and man hates pain but loves pleasure. That is why though we all want to get to heaven, we don’t want to die. Instead of yielding to situations that God has allowed to ‘kill us’ so that we may enjoy the abundant life He alone gives, we go round them. We must be reminded that Jesus has taken the sting out of death so the pain is less to you & me. Moreover, He goes through the valley of the shadow of death with us so that we have an assurance that He will bring us out.
1 Corinthians 15: 36 NLT says ‘…when you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first’’.
Are you a living sacrifice? Are you dead? Do you die daily? Do you feel this pain I feel from time to time? Do you run your life by your intellect, making choices and decisions that are not aligned to the will & word of God? You & I must die that we may become trees of righteousness, plantings of the Lord.
Please ponder on this and share your thoughts with us.
I think about the love we share, the pain, the joy, the experiences etc and I just love Him more but sometimes I also wonder – Doesn’t He ask for too much? Sometimes it is so bad that I think – does He want to kill me? I have found that the answer is yes, He does. He wants me 'dead' though living. Just like Jesus (God’s ultimate sacrifice) you & I have been called primarily to be a sacrifice to God – living sacrifice.
Romans 12: 1 NLT says ‘And so dear brothers and sisters, 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’.
Sacrifices usually die either physically or to themselves depending on what
personality or cause they have been sacrificed to. God demands that we die.
Mathew 10: 39 NLT says ‘if you cling to your life, you will lose; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it’.
In dying (being sacrificed), we give up our own lives that we may receive the true life – Jesus, the way the truth and the life. The manifestation in the physical of this lose of life can be anything from loss of friends, money, material possessions, position and/or social status. God is in the business of making a demand for the very core of our lives that He may exchange it for better. He is God that does not withhold any good thing from those that give Him their lives so that the pain that follows dying to Him last only for a short while.
Since the flesh is so strong, we have the tendency to take back our lives even after exchanging it: so God says we must take up our cross daily which implies that we must die daily because whenever we carry the cross, we get to Calvary (the place of death) and from there to a position in Christ Jesus. No wonder Paul says ‘I die daily’. We must die daily for God’s purpose to be achieved in and through us.
The experience that comes with being a sacrifice to God makes it very undesirable and man hates pain but loves pleasure. That is why though we all want to get to heaven, we don’t want to die. Instead of yielding to situations that God has allowed to ‘kill us’ so that we may enjoy the abundant life He alone gives, we go round them. We must be reminded that Jesus has taken the sting out of death so the pain is less to you & me. Moreover, He goes through the valley of the shadow of death with us so that we have an assurance that He will bring us out.
1 Corinthians 15: 36 NLT says ‘…when you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first’’.
Are you a living sacrifice? Are you dead? Do you die daily? Do you feel this pain I feel from time to time? Do you run your life by your intellect, making choices and decisions that are not aligned to the will & word of God? You & I must die that we may become trees of righteousness, plantings of the Lord.
Please ponder on this and share your thoughts with us.
Monday, 2 August 2010
Don't Go Back!
I was reading through an email from a friend where she shared her thoughts. She wondered why we don’t leave all the terrible things we take to the cross there? Why do we go back, pick them and then run with them again?’ Since the bible encourages us to ponder, I do that from time to time and I want to share some of the things that came to my mind. I am hoping you will share some of your own thoughts with me.
The devil stole authority from man in the Garden of Eden. He therefore, has authority on earth and the bible also calls him the prince of the power of the air. He has a problem with the cross because that is where Christ defeated and made an open show of Him.
Colossians 2: 15NLT ‘In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the Cross’.
Indeed if Satan had known the power that would be released in Christ dying on the cross, the bible says they would not have killed Jesus. Though Jesus is alive forever, Satan still dislikes the story of the cross because every time we honestly come to the cross, we enter into a position of victory over the entire kingdom of the devil. When we give our lives to Christ, we then sit in Christ in heavenly places. As soon as we enter into that role, we become important in the eyes of the enemy. Before then, we were his slaves under his control and therefore, nonentities; but as soon as we take our positions in Christ, we become royalty and in an opposing kingdom - a kingdom that is consistently de-populating hell. Satan is then reminded that the initial victory he had over man is slowly being eroded and made as nothing.
If the devil came straight to yank us out of the hand of Jesus, he would fail. He doesn’t have the power to achieve that. So, he sells us a lie about sin. He asks the same old question he asked in the Garden of Eden – did God really say you should not do this or that? It comes first as a thought and then if we think the thought long enough, we begin to think it may not be as bad as we think. Our mind then sells us a lie that maybe if you did it in a particular way, God will not mind etc. If we dwell on this thought long enough, it becomes okay and we begin to act it out which is what translates to taking our lives back after giving it to Christ. This is when we take back those terrible things we did that we once left at the cross.
James 1: 14 NLT ‘Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death’
Nobody sees evil and desires it. We desire and do evil because one way or the other, we convince ourselves that it is not so bad. Or we tell ourselves that we have good reasons for the sinful act. It is worse in the times that we live in currently when nothing is really bad anymore. As they say, ‘it depends on how you view it’.
Reality is that the word of God is truth and very clear also. If we put your act and or thoughts against the word of God, it will be clear to you and me when we are either going the wrong way or have done evil. This is our REALITY CHECK which we must do frequently so we don’t become pillars of salt like Lot’s wife.
The devil stole authority from man in the Garden of Eden. He therefore, has authority on earth and the bible also calls him the prince of the power of the air. He has a problem with the cross because that is where Christ defeated and made an open show of Him.
Colossians 2: 15NLT ‘In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the Cross’.
Indeed if Satan had known the power that would be released in Christ dying on the cross, the bible says they would not have killed Jesus. Though Jesus is alive forever, Satan still dislikes the story of the cross because every time we honestly come to the cross, we enter into a position of victory over the entire kingdom of the devil. When we give our lives to Christ, we then sit in Christ in heavenly places. As soon as we enter into that role, we become important in the eyes of the enemy. Before then, we were his slaves under his control and therefore, nonentities; but as soon as we take our positions in Christ, we become royalty and in an opposing kingdom - a kingdom that is consistently de-populating hell. Satan is then reminded that the initial victory he had over man is slowly being eroded and made as nothing.
If the devil came straight to yank us out of the hand of Jesus, he would fail. He doesn’t have the power to achieve that. So, he sells us a lie about sin. He asks the same old question he asked in the Garden of Eden – did God really say you should not do this or that? It comes first as a thought and then if we think the thought long enough, we begin to think it may not be as bad as we think. Our mind then sells us a lie that maybe if you did it in a particular way, God will not mind etc. If we dwell on this thought long enough, it becomes okay and we begin to act it out which is what translates to taking our lives back after giving it to Christ. This is when we take back those terrible things we did that we once left at the cross.
James 1: 14 NLT ‘Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death’
Nobody sees evil and desires it. We desire and do evil because one way or the other, we convince ourselves that it is not so bad. Or we tell ourselves that we have good reasons for the sinful act. It is worse in the times that we live in currently when nothing is really bad anymore. As they say, ‘it depends on how you view it’.
Reality is that the word of God is truth and very clear also. If we put your act and or thoughts against the word of God, it will be clear to you and me when we are either going the wrong way or have done evil. This is our REALITY CHECK which we must do frequently so we don’t become pillars of salt like Lot’s wife.
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