Salvation Is A Total Package

The English dictionary describes salvation as a gift; one that saves and/or delivers from sin or evil and its consequences. This salvation which is the first step toward our faith, Christianity, is the beginning of many changes that take place in the life of any one who also wants to live according to this belief or faith that Christ imparted whilst He lived on earth. It is a spiritual change that takes place on the inside but with an outward expression. A spiritual change because a spirit that was once dead comes alive. I know this sounds really simple, maybe too simple to be true, but it is a lot of changing which only sounds simple because it is all done in the spirit. There is no way this change can remain contained in any person, it must express itself outwardly because it takes one over so completely that one has a different fragrance – an aroma of life. So it is that deliverance from sin that exposes the strength and ability of sin to twist a life so badly that it makes the life ugly because every life that is set free begins to glow with the glory of God. Sadly, many people think a life of sin is exciting when it is instead, a life in bondage and sorrow.

2 Corinthians 5: 17 - 18a “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.”

Mathew 5: 14 & 15b “You are the light of the world…a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.”

Until one is set free, it is difficult to understand that the life they live could be much better. It is worthy of note that the life we live here on earth, determines where we end up in eternity – with Christ in heaven, which is God’s desire, or satan in hell. Fellowship is one of the principal reasons God made man. Man was meant to fellowship with God which said plan was upturned with the fall of Adam and Eve’s from grace. Not only did it become impossible for God to reasonably fellowship with man on earth because of sin, man’s lifestyle here on earth began to determine where he ends up in eternity. So God, after trying different short term and unfruitful ways to sustain a relationship with man, sent His only begotten son to offer His life and shed His blood for the remission of our sins and the destruction of every satanic work or stronghold in lives. The only thing God requires of us is our willingness to yield to Him. The idea is His and the capacity or grace to yield, He also provides. Fellowship with God leaves no one the same. No one fellowships with God with sincerity of heart and remains the same. His words are Spirit and as such, are life giving. They are not mere words but “A Person" hence their ability to change a man so much a sorrowful person is made joyous; the bound are set free and beauty is given for ashes.

Philippians 2: 13 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

2 Corinthians 5: 21 “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

This gift is available to all mankind but only those who yield to God would have the capacity to respond to it correctly. God in making it available to all of mankind reinforces His desire for none to perish; a great act of mercy and show of God’s love.  God’s desire is for none to live an unrewarding life on earth. He would love for none to end up in hell. Many who live this unrewarding life think they “live” but in truth, they don’t. The devil is in control of such lives, ruling them wickedly and using them as pawns. There are some who believe that they are in charge of their own lives so that neither God nor satan can tell them what to do. Such people have been sold a lie by satan because he is actually, in charge. At the end of the day, every man submits to one of two masters, either God or satan. As many as choose God enter total liberty because Jesus sets free all who choose Him as Master despite that they ought to be enslaved to Him since He paid the full price and even much more, to own them but He chose to set free every such person and works to ensure that we walk in the liberty He obtained for us. Salvation is a full package challenging everything you believed before you came to Jesus Christ and God makes available information that helps break the hold of satan over our minds, in God’s word. One thing is certain, salvation is not a weight or burden.

Galatians 5: 1 “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.”

1 John 3: 8 “But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.”

QUIET TIME – That Precious Time Alone With God

This is the phrase commonly used by believers to describe that period of time one spends with the Lord away from every form of distraction and/or noise. This is that time when we listen to God more than we talk opening up ourselves to Him that He may do in our hearts or mind that which He needs to do that we may be more like Him. This is where we behold the glory of The Father and are changed to be like Him drawing strength from Him also to facilitate this change. This is time that no believer can succeed without in any area of life. It should not be the practice of ministers or clergy only, but something every believer does. Our God definitely wants to spend time alone with every one of His children. It is indeed a privilege; one that must not be taken for granted as we are inclined to doing.

Mathew 6: 8 “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”

God is the source of our strength. The closer we draw to Him, the more good we receive from Him; we are also better able to deal with life. Drawing close to Him is both physical and spiritual. The physical bit is the deliberate act of “locking out all others for this time allotted to Him alone” and the spiritual bit is having one’s spirit in absolute control of their mind and body at this time as the Holy Spirit interacts with the person. Satan prefers that we don’t have this alone time with God; so our flesh would normally give us all the excuses in the world to facilitate our not having that time with God. He would rather that we don’t go there because we reject him every time we go into that private communion with God. He can’t be part of this meeting as long as we shut him out unlike when believers gather to fellowship. Spending time with God sounds so simple yet it is tough for many and that is because there is an enemy fighting us and trying to ensure we don’t do it because as we draw closer to God, He draws closer to us.

James 4: 8 “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.”

In this time, we may study our scriptures, worship and praise God and/or even ask God for things we need, discuss the issues that trouble us or just remain silent savoring God’s presence. At this time, God is the focus and not us. My suggestions is that we leave asking for things to the end when one is done with just adoring God. I have observed that when our needs are the main topic of our discussion as we spend alone time with God, He ceases to be the center of our quiet time; instead, that need becomes the object of the quiet time and we don’t really listen for God anymore. The more time we spend with God, the better we are at identifying His voice. Identifying God’s voice is one of those things that get better with practice; and now more than ever before, there is the need for every one of us to hear the voice of God

John 10: 4 - 5 “… and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

Hebrews 5: 14 “… who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”

This ought to be a daily practice and can even be several times daily. If however, one misses out on a day, it’s not the end of the world.  It is still okay to make that time as soon as it is possible to do so. To miss out on this time alone with God consistently is to deliberately set out to destroy your walk with God. It is like shutting out your nose and mouth so that you can’t breathe and hoping to live. Indeed the Spirit of God on the inside of us will keep prompting us to spend time with God until one gets used to doing the contrary and the Holy Spirit goes quiet. How does one know God except they rub minds with Him? Why would a God so great be willing to honour you so highly by choosing to spend time alone with you if it was not important? God is so desperate for this time that I have found that if you choose a particular location consistently to spend time alone with God, after a while you will find that God is there waiting to spend time with you when you get there.

John 15: 5 – 6 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers.”

If Jesus Christ needed to spend time alone with God as frequently as He did, then we need to do the same and even more so. It sounds very simple but very impactful. It is also worthy of note that after every victory, Jesus made the effort to spend time alone with God. If Jesus needed to be refreshed and replenished, then we certainly do.

DO YOU STILL BELIEVE?

Now more than ever before it has become a great necessity to check over and over again that one is still on that right path to life. There are indeed many paths that appear to end in life but end in death instead. Believers must be circumspect in the times that we are in. Some years ago, I wrote a blog similar to this and at the time I thought a number of us were mixed up about our faith. In my opinion, we had gotten so mixed up with the world that we were almost a high breed (neither believers nor unbelievers): I guess that should have made us “carnal believers” but we definitely didn’t see ourselves as “such” and if we go by scriptures, even “such” have, in reality, lost access to eternal life which is the knowledge of Christ. I recall that I mentioned, in that blog, that I had just listened to a sermon by Billy Graham and I wept through it all at the end of which I could not help but pray the sinner’s prayer along with those who yielded to Jesus Christ on the day he preached the sermon. Little did I know then, that it could get as bad as it is today when we are so lost we have lost our identity completely and even now deliberately misinterpret scriptures to make them useful for our purpose albeit, evil purpose.

 

John 17: 3 “And this is the way to have eternal life-to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

Proverbs 16: 25 “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

There is no doubt that the scriptures have always been misinterpreted but it used to be because people were deceived and/or deluded or even possessed by satan more than anything else; it was hardly deliberate. Today however, the story is different. People who once loved and made Jesus Christ Lord over their lives, willfully interpret scriptures wrongly for their own selfish purpose. They know what they teach is wrong but they feel the need to deceive; luring people away from the true faith and largely because they want to meet their own self-imposed goals which often sound godly but are demonic because of the underlying wickedness. Some only want to start or even grow their churches to mega church status so they prey on unsuspecting believers, wickedly using them as tools for accomplishing their personal goals; damaging them with lies and then argue that it was their responsibility to seek out the truth for themselves. Yes it is indeed their responsibility to do so; but it is also every believer’s responsibility to tell truth to each other and present The Truth just as He is. Jesus is Truth and so is His word. The Word of God can never be shrouded in lies and remain truth. The pulpit belongs to God and most be used to push His agenda only – Jesus Christ the son of God who is The Word made flesh.

John 1: 1 & 14 “In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the word was God … So the Word became human and made his home among us.”

Galatians 1: 8 & 9 “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: if anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.”

There is no doubt that these are “perilous times” and walking with God today is tougher than it has ever been but it is not the job of believers to mislead others; that is satan’s job and anyone who does it long enough is bound to become possessed with his spirit. Warfare is at a heightened level and so many soldiers are dying in the battle field. Evil is stirring us right in the face now and we have lost strength. A lot of us have gone to sleep – the sleep of death. That deceitful and destructive sleep which makes you think you are doing great as a believer when indeed, you have lost your salvation. I used to think warfare has become really subtle in the current days but it hasn’t. The enemy has infiltrated our ranks and unlike Jesus our Master, we have fallen for every one of his temptations. Many of us like to argue that it is tough because we fight “new demons” today. I beg to disagree. It’s the same demons despite the different manifestations.

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 “we are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle the keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish all disobedience.”

It is not possible to be “in the flesh” and perceive or identify our common enemy and his works. Yet we are comfortable remaining there not mindful of the fact that he wants us there anyway, to weaken us knowing that we are ill equipped to war at this level because the weapons of our warfare are spiritual and spiritually empowered. If we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Ghost, no enemy will successfully attack us. The devil ought to flee from us as we resist him and not the other way round. Our faith is not powerless but our lies and lifestyle have made it so. We can’t continue with this powerless gospel. We can’t continue to make the Word of God of no effect. It is time to start again. Jesu Christ is coming soon.