Watch It! Don't Become Over-Familiar With God.

Frequently, I hear people say God does not want to be feared. He wants you to be His friend, which is not a lie, so we get so familiar with Him that we get carried away and forget Who He is. Generally, familiarity breeds contempt so that since we decided that we ought not to fear God, we then get so familiar with Him that we begin to treat Him contemptuously. That only allows God very little or no impact in our lives because He is just a friend and should allow you express yourself as you deem fit. Unfortunately, the God we serve not only wants to be Lord in our lives but also demands that we fear Him albeit, reverentially.

Hebrews 12: 28 “since we are receiving a kingdom that is unshakeable, let us be thankful and please God by worshipping Him with Holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.

If we must follow God and serve Him acceptably, we must fear Him. The age that we live in is amazing. I like democracy. I like to know that to some extent, the destiny of my nation is in my hands. I like liberty and freedom to say and do what I want to do. I like to have confidence but I am also aware that even good things, when pushed beyond reasonable limits become bad and /or distasteful. It appears we are pushing the benefits of democracy beyond reasonable limits. We must remember that not only was God not elected, He made you and me, and then gave us the honor of allowing us make decisions. We must not abuse that privilege.

1 Peter 2: 17 “Respect everyone and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.”

In my Country, it is common for believers to say “God understands” which usually means “He knows I don’t mean to insult Him” but then you are being rude. If we fear Him, it will be manifestly evident in everything we do and say. Our views on everything and our position too will be affected. Reverential fear is an attitude of mind that is reflected on the outward. God is who He is; it then becomes your responsibility to learn to deal with Him as He should be dealt with. When Cain treated Him disrespectfully in bringing an unacceptable sacrifice, His sacrifice was not accepted. When Uzzah got too familiar, He died. Indeed God Himself said for the children of Israel to put a reasonable distance between themselves and the ark. I would like to suggest that that instruction was to help the children of Israel so that they don’t get familiar with the ark. Sometimes we think that is the Old Testament but the scripture above in Hebrews is in the New Testament.

Psalm 25: 14 “The Lord is a friend to those who fear Him. He teaches them His covenant.

Just like you and I appreciate those that treat us respectfully, God loves even more those that show Him the respect that is due to Him which is why He would let them into His secret or be friends with them. Recall that God calls us friends so that presupposes that we ought to be a people that fear Him. We must stop paying lip service to fearing God. Though Jesus was God, He had so much respect for the father that the father hid nothing from Him. God reveals things to whom He chooses and to others, most things are parables. Those that fear Him are the ones that have revelation knowledge.

By Your Choices I Will Know Who You TRULY Are.

Did you know that our choices are ultimately determined by whom we truly submit to? Indeed who you surrender to is a great determinant of what you become. We often do not realize that the influence of who we surrender to is vey strong over our minds. Many times we argue that though we surrender to a particular personality or thing, we are in control of our minds. We deceive ourselves by saying we are independent and believe we are allowed to think what we want to think but this is not true. You can’t separate the being you worship from the way you think and consequently, from your choices.

Psalm 115: 4-8 KJV “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they but they, but they see not: they have hands but they handle not: feet have they but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them.”

In reality, we take on the mind of whoever we surrender to or worship. We surrender to them because we admire them and their thoughts. So we listen to their thoughts a lot and so the thoughts influence our own minds so that eventually, whether we want to admit it or not, our mind is totally influenced by theirs and that is what forms the basis for the choices that we make. Our choices then determine our tomorrow and also who we are. Even the bible says concerning those that surrender to Jesus, not those that only pay lip service to surrendering to Him, that they think like Him.

1 Corinthians 2: 16b “but we have the mind of Christ”

Sometimes, this becomes a problem to believers. We invite Jesus into our lives which means we are to take on His ideology; but the problem then is that we find that we admire some other ideology which may be contrary to that of Jesus. You admire a lot of things about this contrary ideology but Jesus is meant to be Lord of your life. You admire these ideologies so much that you actually surrender to them though you still profess Christianity. In your mind, you think you only admire it but it does not impact your life. You think “I like what they do but I can’t do it because of my faith.” But eventually, it begins to affect and influence your thinking so that though you have invited Jesus into your life, you worship something else which is controlling your life. That is the dilemma that we find ourselves in today and largely caused by the very deceptive theory that says you are always in control of your mind.

Philippians 4: 5 “let your moderation be known unto all men”

It is important that we evaluate our lives always to ensure that our choices and/or decisions are influenced by the very personalities or ideologies that we truly want to submit to. It would be sad if one thinks they are followers of Christ when in actual fact they are not. Evaluation helps us ensure that we are communicating what we desire to communicate to the world about ourselves. Anyone can get carried away which is why we need this self evaluation. Rev. Emiko Amotsuka describes it like this “you have to call your self to a conference from time to time”

REMINDER: The “Woman Cry out” Prayer conference still holds this Saturday the 22^nd of October but it will now be from 5pm prompt to 9pm at the Oakwood Protea Hotel close to chevron roundabout on the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

Choices, Choices. What Choices Are YOU Making?

Choices! Choices! Once more I am thinking of choices. Isn’t it amazing how even the small choices we make affect our entire lives? The interesting thing about the effect of the choices we make is that very often, they do not immediately play out; they would often play out fully in the future. So that the choices we make today may be the strongest way to truly affect/impact our future. Your today is a very important part of your tomorrow except when God scraps everything and gives us a new beginning. 

Choices we make should be made based on principles and for the believer, our principles should be bible based. It is easy to tell what people believe from looking at their choices. When people live life believing nothing, all you need to do is look at the choices they make; it will have no pattern to it. Their choices build up to nothing and together, make no sense. For such people, the future is bleak. When they look into their future, all they see is nothingness. This is the reason a number of people end up in depression or some even commit suicide.

Hosea 8: “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.”

Galatians 6: 8 “Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.”

Any choice made outside of bible based principles are rooted in the flesh. No matter how subtle the influence of the flesh may seem, it actually made the decision: and the flesh is influenced by the devil. It should not be so for believers but a lot of us still fall into this trap. As believers, if we do not take a definite stance in our minds regarding what we believe, we will do just about anything. We can’t be open- minded. If we are, we permit “the strange birds of the air to build safe nests in our minds” and we may end up like the people that do not know God.

Proverbs 4: 23 & 25 “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life….look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet: stay on the safe path.”

The choices we make can be likened to the blocks that add up to making a building. Every choice is a block added to the building. With every step taken in life, a decision is made and every decision is a choice. This is the reason Christians have to be deliberate. A wrong one could take you several steps back much later in life just like wrongly added blocks can be removed much later in the course of the building, but the owner of the house may suffer some loss. It is good to know however, that we have a God that can cause even our wrong choices to somehow work for our good.

I guess the most difficult choices are the ones between seemingly good things. It’s easier when the choice is between good and bad things. When they are all good things, we are in a dilemma but that is why we must exercise ourselves to discern the will of God at all times. The Holy Spirit always knows what is best for the immediate. 

It's Time To Start Making The RIGHT Choices.

Choice! Choices! Life is full of choices. We wake up every day to choices that we have to make. As soon as you wake up, you are confronted with choices. You need to make a choice to get out of bed or to continue sleeping and that is how life goes on. The thing about these choices is that every one of them, no matter how insignificant it may seem, adds to move you closer or further away from fulfilling your destiny and also deciding where you end up eventually – hell or heaven.

Life is full of priorities and the fact that there is only 24 hours in a day does not help. It is almost as if God did that to ensure that we always prioritize. There are so many things to do every day and yet He expects you and I to find time to be alone with Him. Why? Why can’t I just deal with Him as I move on and go about the things that I do normally after all, He is everywhere and then He is also a Spirit?

God is a God that orders His priorities right and He made us in His image and likeness so that He knows we have the innate ability to order our priorities right too and make the right decisions. At some point in our lives, God begins to make a strong inroad into our lives. Though He does not force His way into any life, He ensures that you are very aware of His presence and His desire to become a major part of your life but then He leaves you to decide whether or not you want Him in your life. This is the first major decision that any man is confronted with and God’s desire is that we make the right decision.

Joshua 24: 15 “…then choose today whom you will serve”

From that point on, for those who make the right decision, which is to let God into their lives, decision making should become easier because the Holy Spirit begins to guide you and He is a knowledgeable guide. You have a witness inside you, a voice telling you that this is the path you should walk in. Do you ignore that voice? If you do, He will eventually leave you to begin to make the decisions yourself again. Simple as the choices may be, the consequences of each one of them may surprise you. Some of them have consequences that impact on our eternity. We must not make choices frivolously. The decision to drink a little alcohol finally put Lot in disobedience to God and we never heard about him thereafter.

Romans 8: 14 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God”

Sometimes, the devil makes it look like as if it is a silly decision and won’t really affect anything but it may come back to haunt you many years down the line. We may say to ourselves that we would think through anytime we have to make decisions but reality is that sometimes, we do not have enough time to think through so what do you do? We need to be full of the Spirit and learn to discern His leading and follow it. The time has come when we must operate at the level God placed us. He did not make us like mere brute beasts that follow their instincts; He made us to follow His voice – the voice of the Holy Spirit. We must begin to train ourselves to discern that voice/will of God.

Romans 8: 9 “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you”