Be Discerning Lest You Pray Your 'Earthquake' Away

There was a period of time when my pastor consistently talked about the need for every Christian to be discerning. At the time, I thought- if you are not discerning, you can always talk to those who are. I have also heard people say that only very “spiritual Christians” discern; as though it is something special for a select few. I have found however, that not only is it available to all Christians; it is a big necessity.

Hebrews 5: 14 “Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

This skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong makes us discerning and the bible says it is available to the mature who allow their spirits to be trained by the Spirit of God through His word.

Having considered a few things that have happened in my life and around me, I have found that when we do not have this skill, we can keep going round and round the same mountain in life and never go forward. One may never even know that one isn’t moving forward because there is some motion going on just that it isn’t taking you forward. If you do not have the skill, you will fight useless and/or every battle, you will not recognize the things that you need to recognize in life to go forward e.g. mate, enemies, friends and you will wrongly interpret situations. If one interprets a situation wrongly, you are bound to act wrongly and if you do, you may loose a chance of life forever.

Mathew 28: 1-2a “Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning…Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone and sat on it.”

An earthquake is usually a sign that terrible things are about to happen. People will lose their lives, homes and family members. It usually brings great pain, loss and suffering. Earthquake can also describe a great shaking in the life of a man. However, this time the earthquake signaled the resurrection of the first begotten of the father; the one that had conquered life and death and liberty was about to be proclaimed to mankind. If at the time, there were undiscerning scientists they would have done their best to prevent it. If God had shown some of us that there would be an earth quake (because sometimes He does not give us the total picture so we may not know why) we would have prayed it out of the way but this was one earthquake that would turn our lives around for good forever.

If you pray the earthquake away, the angel may never come down and then the stone may never be rolled away. Sometimes we deceive ourselves when we say things like “oh God is a loving God and would use a less painful or difficult method” but what if that particular angel who is equipped to roll away the stone is always preceded by an earthquake? 

The same way, I have found in life that one does not have to fight every battle. If it is not one necessary to take you into the fulfillment of your destiny, it would be an unnecessary battle; one put in place by the enemy to make you dissipate energy. Worse still, death can actually occur because we failed to be discerning.  

May God help us go through the training that will make us discerning.

Are YOU Faithful to Christ's Teachings? That's really ALL that Matters.

Pardon me please, but I am a born again Christian. I definitely have accepted Jesus in my life as my personal Lord and Saviour. My entire life is based on His teachings which comprises of His doctrines and beliefs. I still fall short of His teachings sometimes but my goal is to do always, exactly what He would have done. Does that make me religious – I don’t know. I guess you have the right to use your preferred word but reality is that I believe Jesus is the son of God who gave His life that I might be saved and was raised from the dead. I believe that He is seated at the right hand of the father. Whatever word you want to describe me with is fine by me. 

With all the noise going on around me about religion, I was forced to go back to my dictionary to check two words – faith and religion. My dictionary says amongst other things that religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural. To that extent, I am desperately religious and unashamedly so; and I think a lot of us are. Religion is also described as scrupulous conformity or conscientiousness to a cause or system of beliefs held to with ardour and faith. If that is your preferred interpretation, then I won’t be called religious because my conformity is not to a cause but to a person and His name is Jesus. He is not only God but also the son of God. I also believe in the Holy Spirit. Indeed I believe in the trinity.

Please bear with me as I go on to talk about faith. The dictionary amongst other things, says it is belief and trust in, allegiance and loyalty to God. It is firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust and strong conviction in something without doubt or question. Clearly, you can tell my faith from all I have written so you will have to bear with me if all that I do or say is influenced   by the teaching of this Jesus in whom I have strong belief and conviction. He shed His blood that we may have access to worship the father in Spirit and in truth (true religion). 

John 14: 23-24 NLT “All who love me will do what I say…anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”

Jesus says His followers (disciples) are those who hear and obey His word. The first set of Christians were so called because they heard and obeyed His word so hard that it was clear they were followers of Christ. They modeled their lives on the teachings of this Jesus which influenced every area of their lives and their every decision. They thought, ate and dressed like the word of God says. They believed in this Christ unashamedly inspite of the fact that they were stigmatized as Christians seeing as that Christianity was not the favorite faith at the time. Now it is an acceptable word so we are okay with being called Christians but who cares what word is used. Why do we worry so much about words that do not matter? My faith is who I am. It defines me completely except in areas where I am still falling short. Please think - are you ashamed to stand by His teachings just so that you will not be called “a name?” The bible says that Jesus, whilst speaking to people like you and I who believed in Him, said

John 8: 31NLT, “you are truly my disciples if you remain faithfully to my teachings.”

Prayer....A Never-Ending Conversation with God.

Generally, prayer is something we talk about but do little of except of course when we are in trouble. We talk about praying so much that we actually think we have prayed. In this season leading up to Easter, please let us pray as much as we can for “prayer truly changes things” and for good. Remember also that Jesus was, in the place of prayer, empowered to do the ultimate will of God (to die on the cross) which brought Him into His glory. Like Jesus, let us tarry in the place of prayer and see if God will not move us particularly in this season when Christians all over the world are praying.

Philippians 4: 6 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.”

Of course, no one can truly claim to know or understand everything that happens in life or the dynamics that affect the things that happen in life. We can only know what God reveals to us and He has not revealed everything to one person. As the bible says, we only know in part until the end when the fullness of things will be revealed. Until then, we shall be required to commune with our father in heaven consistently to ensure that we have the information and victory that we require to walk in dominion. We can only get this in the place of prayer.

Luke 18: 1 “one day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up”

Jesus during His lifetime, stayed so connected to His father in the place of prayer that He heard Him always. He showed us a life style of power built on prayer. So also God tells us things when we stay connected with Him. If we have an active prayer life, we will hear Him for ourselves so that whatever else anyone tells us, will be some kind of confirmation. Won’t you like to hear the father for yourself talking  to you just like a father speaks to His child?

Don’t let anybody deceive you; nobody can pray for you like yourself. Reason is simple; nobody feels your pain like you do. All you need to know to make your prayer effective is in the word of God and anyhow instead of praying for you, why don’t they teach you what you need to know to pray effectively for yourself? We know for a fact that Christ lived, died and was raised from the dead that we may be reconciled to God. Through Him, we have access to the father. He is ever willing not only to teach us how to pray but also guide us as we pray and ensure that we pray right through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8: 26 “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning which cannot be expressed in words”

Prayer is not seasonal nor is it subject to fashion. It ought to be a way of life for us. We need to pray.

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 “Never stop praying”

Are You Certain That is 'of God'?

As believers, it appears to me that one scripture we often turn away from is the first scripture below. Our principal problem is the fact that we know what we want to hear and pursue that agenda so vigorously we lose sight of the God we started out with and refuse to test every spirit as He instructs in

1 John 4: 1NLT “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”

This is a Godly instruction which even the times compel us to obey because every evil work currently abounds and one of the secrets to victory is sensitivity to the Spirit of God; the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. Indeed it is the wise thing to do when we meet a person(s) or get in the midst of a people, church and/or any organization so that one can immediately discern what spirit is at work therein. We cannot be guided by what we see not even by intense manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which I am by no means undermining, but the bible enjoins us to test all things.

1 Thessalonians 5: 19-22NLT “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.”

The most fearful thing is the fact that everybody seems to want to do something that has never been done before. In our desperation to achieve this goal we unwittingly find ourselves out of the Godly sphere. Unfortunately, there is no middle sphere so when we leave the Godly sphere, we move into the devil’s sphere. So that as men and women wanting so desperately to be in the forefront, we have to be careful to operate within God’s predefined limits. Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, says there is nothing new under the sun. All we see has been and shall be again for as long as Jesus tarries so that we don’t search too hard for “the new”. Just in case this helps, you can’t be the first person that ever did it

Ecclesiastes 1: 9-11NLT “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.”

Another reality we must accept in life is that God reserves the right either to withhold or reveal information regarding our future. The desperation to know the future and control it is so strong and Satan is truly capitalizing on it. I think we have to realize more than ever before that our walk is one of faith. The most important thing is to ensure that God is with you and I through the journey of life. If He is with us, it does not matter how dark the tunnel we have to go through or how deep the valley we fall into, He is able to be a light to us and also bring us out of the valley unto a higher mountain. To think it is okay to force the hands of God to reveal to us what He in His wisdom thinks should be kept from us is foolery. Even I have tried several times in all my foolishness, hoping that He would show me in a dream like a movie but He does as He pleases. I have learnt to stay with what he tells me and maybe “glean” a little of the future from it.

Please let us be circumspect so that we do not willingly submit to the devil the authority we have over our lives because of an agenda that he can’t help us with. Let us begin to check what spirit we submit to.