MANAGING SUCCESS – THE BANE OF MANY A BELIEVER

3 John 2AMP “Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health (physically), just as (I know) your health prospers (spiritually)

 

There is no doubt that every believer is called to be successful. That one ultimately fails or succeeds in life has nothing to do with God anymore because He has equipped or endowed us with all we need to succeed. Let me say, that success means many different things to different people. If however, we go by the scripture above, then it involves every area of our lives. So we are certain that God’s plan is that we prosper in every area of life. It is therefore surprising to find that success is one of the things we struggle with as believers; well, in my own area of the world. Meanwhile, it should be one of those things we walk into easily and remain well grounded. In my opinion, it is a major struggle both with the highest of believers or the smallest amongst us. It is almost as though we never thought it would happen so we live unprepared for it. It is becoming so consistent for believers to handle success badly around here that it is beginning to look like when the devil realizes he can’t stop one from succeeding, he waits for you to succeed and watches for when (i.e. if) one gets so deceived that they are lured out of the will of God. It is so easy to point at people who are failing but the struggle is real and we must bring an awareness to this seeming reality so that we better prepare ourselves for that eventuality. If God’s word is real as we know that it is it, we shall all have good success.

James 1: 14 “Temptation comes from our own desires which entices us and drag us away.”

Romans 12: 3 “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning. Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”

I recall that I once heard Bishop Jakes talk about how tough it is managing success well; it was indeed an opener. As I pondered on that sermon, it became even clearer to me that since success is bound to happen to believers, we should prepare for it as we prepare for every other thing that we expect to happen to us. We do all sorts of things including making financial investments just preparing for what we often refer to as “the rainy day” which we don’t really hope for, so we ought to be deliberate about preparing ourselves for success. It is very interesting to note that success as with several other things, can be deceptive otherwise, Adam and Eve, who in my opinion are the ultimate of success, would not have fallen for the trick of the enemy. They had everything they needed and more yet they were lured away by the desire for greater success. Surely, God never meant for us to be drowned in the success so there must be a few things we could do better. Please note that success here is not limited to money, success is success even if it is “success as a preacher” which is particularly interesting because the work is in truth, done by the Holy Spirit but if we are misled, we tend of think of ourselves a little higher than we should.

Ecclesiastes 5: 19 “And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God,”

Ecclesiastes 1: 9 - 10 “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say ‘here is something new! But actually it is old, nothing is ever truly new.

In preparing ourselves, we have a host of witness, even in the bible, to look to. Some who failed because they were successful; and others who remained successful to the end. Maybe also those who never succeeded; perchance we may learn from them, some things we should never do. We shall together look at some such people from the scriptures in the next few blogs. Please remember, there is no height of success that has never been experienced before now. Whatever we see today, was; and will also be. There is indeed nothing new under the sun so we really ought to be calm but more often than not, we aren’t. Also, if we truly believe that all we are and have belong to God, which is something we say often, then it is easy to remain unmoved by all that God allows us enjoy because we are well aware of the fact that we remain stewards because we own nothing. Of course, a good steward is first partaker of the fruits but they don’t get carried away with them. The effort that God puts into preparing us to be good stewards for all He places in our care reveals the importance He attaches to good stewardship. It is important that we do not fail.

Jesus Christ – “The Way, the Truth and The Life”

This season, more popularly known amongst Christians as lent, is really all about Jesus Christ the son of God. This is that season when we celebrate His death and subsequent resurrection. Hereafter, we shall go on to celebrate His ascension and the coming of the Holy Ghost according to His promised. This is one season when the love of a Savior who loved so much He gave all so that those He loves, (every man), may be saved. This is indeed true love. Neither before or even after Him was there nor will ever exist such display of genuine or sincere love and one so deep. I think I may have a better understanding now of why God was silent when Jesus seemed hesitant to complete the journey as His death drew closer. As He seemed to pause for a minute during His prayer, there was nothing heaven could do or say because Jesus could not be compelled to do it: it had to be an act of love. Hence the long silence. Thank God, it only lasted a while before He chose to go on.

Mathew 26: 39 “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

John 15: 13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The Father was desperate to be reconciled to His children and the children needed to be reconciled to The Father; that they may successfully walk through this earth and then be with Him in glory. The only ‘bridge’ between God and His children which was acceptable to God, was Jesus Christ and He had to die that painful death to make it happen. No wonder Jesus Christ could boldly announce that He is “The way”. The greater chooses how he would be reached by the lesser. So anyone desirous of legitimately reaching him, would go his way. Of course there would always be those who would try other ways to reach the greater; but any other way would not bring anyone to Him. It may seem sometimes like there are many ways to getting to a destination but all other routes end in a maze except the one or ones meant to get there. I have been really close to places several times in my life but just couldn’t get to the place because I missed a turn. God made the decision and Jesus Christ aligned willingly; there is no other way to God but Jesus Christ.

John 14: 6 “Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Romans 12: 2 “…but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…”

There is no other way to explain this but to accept that Jesus was unequivocal about the fact that He is everything for anyone who wants to dwell in the Father. No wonder one cannot be connected to God through Him and find “the world” or any other god interesting. If Jesus is correct as we know He is, then there is absolutely no other acceptable life except one that is steeped in Him. When He says He is the Life, then if you want to live, it must be through Him. So that for everyone who is not in Him who thinks they are actually living or “enjoying life”, you really are not. To “enjoy life” you need to first have it and you don’t have it outside of Jesus Christ because it is in Him. Every other thing that looks like life is not really life. It doesn’t matter who else pushes something they would like to describe as life, at the end of it all is our common enemy the devil whose ultimate purpose is to destroy man (saved or unsaved). Very often we like to think that the devil is only after believers and that is not true, he is after everyone but has to work harder against those he believes are lost to Christ.

Acts 17: 28 “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”

Christianity is definitely all about transformation; it is an entire change of culture and attitude of mind i.e. mindset. The more I think on God, the more I realize that He is indeed God. He is not frivolous and chooses His words carefully. When He says we have to allow our own transformation, it is indeed so. To move from “life” without Christ to life that is Christ, is a complete change of mindset. It isn’t a behavior modification thing no matter how good we may think we were. The best man is still man and had no idea how to live in Christ; it is a concept totally alien to him because we were all born into sin. Life in Christ is acquired culture which must be acquired for us to make heaven. No matter how terrible or nice you are, we all start on an even ground when we come to Christ. It is what you then do subsequently that determines where you end and the ending is more important even now than it was. As we celebrate, let us remind ourselves that our Savior’s return is imminent.

Yes You Are A Disciple; But Whose Disciple Are You?

I have been thinking about following Jesus and the way we follow Him today as against the way those who were first referred to as Christians followed Him such that they were called Christians. There is no doubt that their faith and/or belief in Christ must have consumed them so much, it altered their personalities such that they responded to situations in the same way - the way that Christ would have responded. They were without a shadow of doubt His disciples (a people who heard His words and obeyed such that their obedience could not be questioned). They rubbed minds with Him to the extent that His thoughts had become theirs. It was easy to tell that they followed Him. Interestingly, following Jesus, even from the beginning of time, has not been without its own challenges just as it is today. There has always been an “unhidden cost” to following Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus admonishes whoever wants to follow Him to count the cost of doing so. Believers in Christ today, complain so much about the Christian life that we often sound like a people lured or deceived into this Christianity.

 

Luke 14: 27b – 28 “…be my disciple … but don’t begin until you count the cost.”  

Hebrews 12: 1b – 2 “And let us run with endurance the God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the Champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.”

In our day, our own journey with Jesus starts with us getting born again, a term coined to describe the process of getting born of the Spirit of God. This birth takes place when one believes and accepts the truth that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God who died and rose again and then ascended to His Father. As soon as this rebirth happens, the fullness of The God head (God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost) take their place in the person empowering such person to live their life according to The Spirit of God as well as enabling them become like Jesus Christ. This experience, also facilitates the opening of one’s spiritual eyes so that they can see Jesus (spiritual revelation) and only thereafter can they fix their eyes on and follow Him. It is impossible for Jesus Christ to be revealed to anyone who has not had the salvation experience without which we cannot have on earth the life that prepares us for a great life in eternity.

Luke 9: 23 “Then he said to the crowd, “if any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.”

I have come to realize, over time, that the fact that one has a revelation of Jesus is not necessarily a guarantee that they follow Him; they are two separate things. Revelation of Him only opens a door that facilitates following Him which is what it takes to His disciple. Following Jesus, unlike following anyone else does not happen randomly; it takes a deliberateness. This is because there is a properly laid down procedure to following Him. Jesus laid down clear steps to following Him which starts with giving up one’s own way and daily taking up of one’s cross. Anyone not aligned with this procedure isn’t a disciple notwithstanding the number of times they are in church. No wonder many claim to follow Him but appear not to because they truly don’t. They meet none of the prerequisites and have no intention of doing so. They do not intend to give up their own way. As long as Jesus way tallies with theirs, then they appear committed to Him, but when His way begins to differ from their preferred path, they dump His way. It is only to the extent that we deny self that we can carry our cross and only then can we follow Him.

Hebrews 12: 4b “let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

Without a doubt, there is a cost to following Jesus Christ; but there is also gain in following Him. There is a self that must be denied and a cross to be carried daily. “Ugly” as the cross is, carrying it is apparently the privileged of only a few; it is not given to all. To be effective in carrying the cross, we must drop all weight and self is a major one. The cross of Jesus Christ is “very heavy”, we don’t any other added weight. One of the challenges of the faith we share today is the fact that self is allowed to mix with Truth even when the scriptures tell us that the two always are against each other. How can anyone succeed with a serious battle going on always in their mind? Many are backsliding because it gets too heavy; heavier than it is meant to be because the grace of God given to us can only help us bear the burden of the cross and not our own added burden.  Some of us even carry our own cross and not the cross of Christ so that we complain consistently against Christ and have no semblance to Him or His followers. We must begin to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and if one finds that they have built on faulty foundation, it is never too late to start again.

REMEMBER THAT THE RETURN OF CHRIST IS NEARER NOW THAN WHEN WE FIRST BELIEVED

Which Way believer? Is it the broad or the narrow way?

I am sure you know the story of the strait gate and narrow way as against the wide gate and broad way which we have heard several times; this past Tuesday during our midweek service, the preacher described both ways very colorfully so I decided to borrow it hoping that she will not mind. Really, really and really again, I am not advertising the church I attend but we definitely hear the word of God. I hope you do too in your church otherwise, you need to do something about it. These are very “perilous times”; I sincerely don’t know how any believer can successfully navigate this life without consistently hearing the accurate The Word of God. I guess you read your bible, which is really great, but what you hear may help your understanding and/or interpretation of what you read and maybe also let you know the ones you may have missed. Again, it impacts on the quality of your fellowship since you most likely keep company with some in your church.

 

Mathew 7: 13 “You can enter God’s kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

So the preacher, describing the broad way, said that the fact that it is broad suggests that it provides  enough room to turn around several times over so that one can sin and repent over and over again until it becomes a normal way of life and others can sway from side to side several times over so that one may be a little spiritual one day and carnal the next so that no one needs to be too much of any just as long as you a good mix - not overly spiritual or outright carnal after all you still prefer to be described as “believer or born again”. The reality though is that notwithstanding the way you prefer to describe yourself, the path that allows you all that movement is one that leads to hell which isn’t the destination you  chose when you chose to make Christ Lord in your life. You just flowed into it for the ease of living. As it is often said, “You know, life does not have to be so hard.”

Romans 14: 17 “For the Kingdom of God is … a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 4: 20 “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.”

The truth is, the problem with that narrow gate and difficult road is just what they are “narrow and difficult”. Our challenge though, is that this is the only way that takes us to that end we desire so much as believers in Christ. I guess God let it be that way because He knows that He already provided all the help we need and will ever need to go through and go through well; otherwise the bible won’t refer to His Kingdom which is this narrow and difficult path as meat and drink. Certainly, our God is good and He is not one of those parents described in the African adage, who give with gifts with one hand and retrieve it from you, with the other” so that you actually got nothing. He sent His son to die for us that we may have that gracious life on earth that would facilitate a wonderful life with Him in eternity. If there is anything that could be described as confusing about God, it surely isn’t that. He reaffirms His desire for us to live an amazing life, albeit on this narrow way, by providing abundant grace; not to destroy ourselves by continually  doing wrong and apologizing, but to live marvelously on the narrow way.

Galatians 5: 19 “When you follow the desires for your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Galatians 5: 25 “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

God has laid out clearly for us what He will not tolerate. It behooves us to put that truth before us always even if we fail several times over. To put a lie before one’s self is to short change one’s self. How does anyone in their right senses do that to themselves? God has made it clear that we are required to be Holy, we have to be. He also says every man would reap what they sow, so that our time on earth is our season for sowing whilst the reaping is quality of life we get to live in eternity. We must be careful to ensure that our sowing will produce the harvest we sincerely desire which is why we must put the truth before us always. It will be sad if for ignorance, one sowed bad seeds and only released they sowed the wrong seeds on the day of harvest. What do you want for eternity? We must make that decision daily and God has done all He will ever do to ensure we get the help needed to get our desired result. We must begin to credit God with all the credit that He deserves, which satan would hate because the more credit one gives Him, the more.

Galatians 6: 7 “Don’t be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.”

From An Older Tree To Younger Trees – Joy Cometh!

The other day I thought about trees in winter and wondered about their lives in winter; that season when the weather is so cold yet all their leaves fall of and they are so bare, fully stripped and exposed without any kind of adorning. I wonder what they would be telling us about winter if they could talk and I imagined that must be the season they hate the most but if there was no winter in their lives, there probably would be no summer and vice versa. Every season of life is of the greatest importance to every tree. Life really does change for every living being and as God says there will always be that season when one can plant and that season when one can harvest; for it was all ordained by God so that it is forever. Just like with the trees, every season of life is great and ties in with the next; greatly impacting on it so that it is best to let every season play out and naturally filter into the next. I must admit that several times in life I have tried in my strength to change the seasons I did not like and/or struggle to hold on to a season that I enjoyed very much but it ultimately becomes something I regret doing because such actions never facilitate our going forward but I thank God for His great love that makes Him constrain us to go through those seasons because there are benefits from doing that. Each season has its own experiences and we have to respond to each experience appropriately tough as that may be sometimes. One thing I know though, is that there is always sufficient grace to come through successfully. Joseph did it and he was man like us.

Genesis 8: 22 “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under the heaven.”

The world over experiences weather changes though different parts of the world experience different extremes and in some places different seasons last a little longer than others but there is summer, spring, fall and there is winter though they may be called different names. In the part of the world where I live, it is either hot, rainy or harmattan but at one point or the other, trees shed leaves in preparation for the next circle of fresh life. Despite that the leaves are a nuisance to the environment, they add to make the soil even more nutritious. There are seasons in our lives when God prepares us for a higher level of life’s circle though in those seasons of preparation we go through things that make us forget that the experiences are facilitating our going forward and the establishment of the will of God and God is also working in us to prepare us to properly carry ourselves in the greater season which is ahead. Indeed like the leaves there may be a huge amount of shedding but some shedding add to improve the quality of our lives just like the dead leaves improve the earth. More than we know, we often carry a lot of baggage that we can’t take into the next level. Trees are laid bare at times like that but that is how our lives must be made bare in some seasons so we can properly judge ourselves as we prepare of the next season. God removes anything and/or persons that need to be removed because we need to come to terms with some truth about us. A tree laid bare has nothing to hide anymore and can hide nothing even if it wanted to because all its' covering has been taken off but all for a good cause. At times like that the tree is most vulnerable but God needed that vulnerability to perfect His work. The tree, at such times, is also unable to provide all the benefit it used to provide so that everyone that benefited from it may think it is no longer useful but God allows it to give the tree room to “recalibrate” but it must keep reminding itself that there is spring and then another summer coming otherwise it may “faint”. Unfortunately, some people who benefitted from it, would cut it down at such times because they don’t see that there is summer coming.

Proverbs 4: 18 “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.”

Micah 7: 8 “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”

Interestingly, I can imagine what the trees are thinking in summer. If we could be a part of their conversation we would probably hear the older trees reminding the younger trees that fall and then winter are round the corner. Whilst those who use the trees whether for good or bad are having the best time with the trees because they are at their height and so are profitable again to many, the trees must remind themselves that the winter comes - that weather one goes through alone and a wise tree is afraid to be proud in the summer because of what it knows. Jesus went through it and alone too. I guess the first time a tree experiences winter after a great summer, it is very tough and no matter how much other trees would have tried to prepare the young tree for winter, he probably would not understand because “life just seems too “wonderful” and one can’t imagine it ever getting bad especially when they started talking about the difficult times even before summer, how can you ever imagine how bad winter could be. When in fall, they tell the young tree that it would get worse, reality then begins to hit hard but the older trees are prepared. The one word of comfort from the older trees would always be after one complete circle, you come up higher. Every level brings a better life and that is my word to every one going through difficulty and this is notwithstanding government policies.

LIFE – That School You Never Graduate From Until Death

I have seen several people who think they have gotten to that place where they know all there is to know about life or an area of life but I disagree with them; instead, I belong to the school of thought that says life is indeed a school which no one graduates from as long as they are still living. There is another group of people who believe there is nothing to learn from a certain group of people because they know what such people know or even more and they may be right. I bet Balaam thought he knew all a donkey would ever know or do until his donkey spoke. There is no master at this game called life or any part of it. You would be surprised at who God would choose to enlighten your understanding. For we all are in this school of life until we return to our maker. The only master at this is Jesus Christ the son of God. He is indeed life. He went through it and came out victorious passing every single examination even the worst of them all which was death on the cross.

John 14: 6a “I am the way, the truth and the life”

Just when you think you know almost everything, then you find that there is more to know. I love learning new things and like to think I am open enough to learn new things fast but I must admit that I often don’t like the way life teaches. The lessons are not in a book which one reads neither are the exams written; the lessons are active and real whilst the exams are even more real experiences that one will never forget, for the pain, though as life progresses one then begins to remember them with joy. I believe God sometimes allows pressure to force our minds to expand. The truth is there is no going forward in life without facing mountains; we will have to either, destroy and go through or climb them but go forward we must. We have to determine which ones we need to climb separate from the ones that must be brought down so we don’t waste energy that we need for the journey of life bringing down what one should go over. Interestingly, there is nothing any one is going through that someone else hasn’t been or is going through and will yet go through successfully. We are made to go through it all successfully and graciously and the only way is to keep our eyes on the one who wrote and finished our faith. You have to be very focused on Him. No wonder God counselled Joshua to remain in the word.

Hebrews 12: 2 “we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfect our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.”

Joshua 1: 8 “Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.”

Going through life successfully requires courage. To expand, we must confront our fears and whilst confronting it, one may still have fears but like they say “you have to do what you have to do.” The entire experience one goes through as they confront their fear is in itself, a victorious experience. I heard Bishop Jakes say that in his opinion, God was calling Moses to confront his fear when He made him pick up the snake which Moses was afraid of because he ran away from the rod when it became a snake. I agree because there must purpose to God insisting that he pick up the snake for it to become rod again because God could have done it even without him picking it up. That is the way we go through life. We don’t know what lies ahead of us and we don’t go forward because we have it all together or know how to deal with the things that we will face but deal we must otherwise we will never go forward. Each step forward is an experience that someone else could learn from as you learn bigger things, breaking from everything that threatens to hold you bound including even when people threaten to damage your image and lie against you. You must break from who you must break from; it is what it is and God must be given glory. It will be an experience that will like Moses after he confronted his fears, move you forward. After all, we have been made of no reputation.

2 Timothy 1: 7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline.”

 

Meanwhile let us not be quick to guide others with our experiences because we may be a little different. Who you are or God’s purpose for your life impacts on what He guides you into and/or away from and how you go through. If you must share your experience, by all means do so and please note that I share mine too, but share only as you are led to by the Holy Spirit and let everyone decide for themselves what to make of it. The Holy Spirit is a very present Helper; for we all come to life differently and will end up facing God differently one day. I guess this must be one of the reasons God counsels that we be slow to speak and quick to hear. We must also listen well to deal appropriately in life. If we don’t listen well enough to hear and interpret correctly those things left unsaid, slight changes in details can change a story when it is reported. We must be sensitive to the reality of the fact that there are wolves in church today so we indeed dwell amongst wolves who are in sheep’s clothing. If they came like wolves, we would have known from the very beginning but they did not and still have the cloak on; they must not kill before we realize they are wolves.

Christianity – A Fad or Faith?

I have been thinking about this faith that we now claim is Christianity and the way we live as believers. I wonder if what we now have is really what it is. If it is, why did people need to die for this faith? Were they just a bit too fanatical or are the ones who got it right? If this life we live now is what it rightly should be then what is there to die for? There won't be anything to die for if we can twist and bend the word of God to align with what is acceptable to us at every point in time. This entire thing is beginning to look like a joke and I know it is not. I wonder if we really believe that God is who He says He is. We act and talk like God is confused and says things He does not mean otherwise why would we live like we do and yet claim to be believers in this faith that is the opposite of what we do and then we laugh and argue that God understands our frail frame and will accept us just as we are. We give up nothing and so pay no price. The only thing that changes is the fact that we now say we are born again. We, like pigs rolling in mud, ravel in iniquity whilst He says anyone who goes by His name should depart from iniquity. Could that be a joke also?

 

2 Timothy 2: 19 "But God's truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: The Lord knows those who are his, and all who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.

1Peter 1: 16 "For the scriptures say you must be holy as I am holy."

I have heard severally and even from preachers, for example that it is impossible for man even the regenerated man to be holy yet the word of God says God demands that we be holy. These things are confusing because I know God Is not confused and certainly expresses Himself very clearly but we sound like He may not quiet mean what he says or like we could help Him say what He intended to say much better than He has done. Indeed, how can we then be holy when we already insist that it is impossible to do so? Honestly, I don't think unbelievers are the greatest problem of our faith; we make nonsense of it ourselves thereby making our God appear smaller than He is. Like I heard a preacher say, the word of God is not a buffet where one is allowed to pick and choose what they prefer to eat, it is a served meal where we take on all that is served for the meal to be impactful. How can the word be powerful in the life of a believer who picks what word they want and then dumps the rest of it? The word is a personality who is either going to be powerful in our lives or powerless in a life because he is inhibited in that  life. God is unchanging but He will be in your life who you decide He should be and that is only in your life because in reality, He is unchanging and it is only to the extent that our existence is in Him that we experience His power. His desire is that we live totally in Him.

 

Acts 17: 28 "For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said we are his offspring.'

This faith has been so watered down that I wonder if the angels recognize who we are. We are not the world yet we are not what God's offspring should be so who really are we? When we are neither here nor there, we become an aberration - a being that doesn't exist anywhere but I guess in truth that means one is in the camp of the devil. How then do we expect the ministering spirits sent to minister to us as we speak the word to move when there is no power released in what we say because it is often not the word of God and even when it is, it is like the devil speaking the word because it is not coming from the right vessel- the vessel is not unto honor. Hence we often find ourselves wondering whether or not there is power in the word of God but it is this same word that released power in the time of the Apostles and the times of saints that have gone before us like Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts and is still releasing power in the mouth of some today. Unfortunately, instead of fixing our issues, believers are running from one lesser god to the other seeking power and help.

Hebrews 1: 14 "Therefore, angels are only servants-spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation."

What exactly is wrong? Is the problem with us, the word or the God of the word? I believe the problem is with us. God has not changed and will never change. If He was consistently changing then variableness would be found in Him which is not the case and that is why we can trust Him. We need to make decisions. God is not changing the faith to suit us. He loves us so much He is doing all to ensure we align with the faith.

Neither God Nor His Word have Changed; Don’t Change His Worship

I think every believer knows that the way of God is not compatible with the way of the world. In bible parlance the Spirit and the flesh are always at war. The flesh always wants to rule even in places where the Spirit of God is legitimately in control. Meanwhile the Spirit of God Is not unruly; He waits to be invited and given room to take charge but when He is in charge, He is absolutely in charge. No wonder the bible says when light comes, darkness has no choice but to leave. The truth is, darkness hates that and is consistently trying to return. Unfortunately, unlike light, darkness is not a gentleman and will go as far as it can push. It does not wait to be permitted but tries very hard to force his way into every life, space or anywhere he finds room. The life of a believer is therefore one of consistent struggle to ensure that He is permitting light into His life and exposing Himself fully to light. As we yield to light, He increases in us and impacts our life even more; but darkness is consistently trying to bring us under his control attempting to enslave us. Darkness is a mean slave master.

 

John 1: 4 – 5 “The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

 

The last time I checked, worship service is church organized gathering of Christians and unbelievers for the sole purpose of fellowshipping with the light. It is a time when our sole focus is to worship God who is Spirit in the Spirit thereby exposing ourselves to the light who is God so that our spirit man is empowered and our flesh is brought under control of our spirit which is controlled by the Spirit of God. God clearly demands to be worshipped in the Spirit and we Pentecostals lay strong claim to doing that very well: also accusing non-Pentecostal churches of not having the Spirit of God. It is therefore getting a little confusing to me when instead of exposing our spirit man to the spirit of God, in some of our worship services we fan the flesh. The excuse we often make give for this is that we feel a need to do everything during these our worship services because that is when we catch everybody so every and anything is allowed during these services and by the time we are done, we leave church even more carnal than we came in. It is not possible to leave a worship service filled with the spirit when all we did almost through it all, was feed our flesh. Could it be that we have lost sight of the purpose for this gathering? Believers came together for a purpose which certainly did not include feeding the flesh. Is it really correct to assume that the two can flow together despite that the spirit and the flesh war against one another?

 

Ephesians 5: 18b “Instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.”

Romans 14: 17 “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

 

Some leaders argue that congregation have very short attention span these days so they need to be engaged fully with activity during the service. It is interesting to note that we are talking about adults who should be controlled and disciplined enough to sit through these things. If this is a real problem then maybe we need to look inwards with a view to ascertaining whether or not God is still in our services. Unlike many would like us to believe, God is not boring; but if we must indeed do something to arrest the situation urgently, it would probably be wiser to spend less time in these services than to engage worldly means bearing in mind that these ways do not align with the ways of God and if anything, will make the Holy Spirit leave. If we so desperately want activities, then we must choose godly ones instead of the ones that make it difficult for the Holy Spirit to remain and definitely fan our flesh. Very often, the same people that complain about the length of worship services, sit for hours without end gossiping or doing other ungodly things feeding their flesh. Worship services must remain what they are and if we must entertain people then we must do it outside of these services. It is disheartening to see the way the church is going today even to the extent where comedians albeit Christian comedians are invited to minister. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not opposed to godly humor and have nothing against the comedians. I am only saying that they would serve their purpose in other church functions and events or Christian events. We appear to be getting everything mixed up and need to sort them out. As it is often said, the line between the flesh and the Spirit is really thin making it easy to crossover from the spirit to the flesh without really meaning to; we need to check to see if we have not crossed that line.

 

James 4: 4 “Ye adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: if you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

 

The traditional churches which we often refer to as worldly appear to be doing better. They even understand about creating the right atmosphere for God. One enters these churches even when there is no service and one feels the presence of God; this is no longer a common experience in our Pentecostal churches. I understand that God loves us all with all our different personalities which He would have us express, but the worship of God has not changed. It could be done with a lot of noise or solemnity but it is still worship of our God and has to be spiritual for He whom we worship demands that He will be worshipped in the Spirit. I know that churches struggle to keep people in church but the longing of man will not be satisfied carnally. He will only get worse because He will yearn for more and more and would need to be entertained with even more carnality as time goes on. Any satisfaction carnality may appear to provide is very temporary; such people soon become restless again because this craving is for something deeply spiritual and can only be satisfied by the Spirit. Worship services must remain what they are - worship service; otherwise let us call them something else. We can’t claim to worship God applying the things He hates so much.

REGULAR INTROSPECTION IS A MUST FOR EVERY BELIEVER

Funny as this may sound, I think one of the most difficult things for a number of believers is to be quiet for a period and that includes being quiet before God. Unfortunately for us, this has made it even more difficult for us to examine ourselves. We are unable to ponder on things long enough to know where God is leading us but it is once more time to do an honest self-examination that we may make the required adjustments for us to be correctly positioned because positioning is a major factor in our reaching and enjoying our God given benefits. It is a state of the mind which definitely affects the outward. It is time to look inwards again. One may be deceived into thinking that one does it often enough but it is never too often because the enemy we deal with is very crafty and we were like him living according to that old nature which he knows and understands perfectly making it a little easier than we would like for him to gain root in our lives. Yet it is our job to put off that cunning craftiness. It is our job to change our old ways that God may then clothe us with the new us. No wonder David communed with his heart regularly. It is only to the extent that we take off that old cloak that we can be clothe with the new nature and only that new nature can be strengthened by God to take that which God has laid out for us in the presence of our enemies.

 

2 Corinthians 13: 5a “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves.”

Indeed to ensure that one is still on the right path to heaven, since we can veer off so easily even without meaning to, one needs constant self-examination. I don’t think we understand how easy it is to become the person you said you would never be, without consistent self-examination. For our self-examination to be effective, we need to be sincere with ourselves which is really tough for a number of us because it requires some sort of maturity. Very often we ask sincerity of others yet we cannot be sincere with ourselves. I admit that introspection may sometimes be tough because it is easier to blame others for our own issues and refuse to take responsibility. Seeing one's wrongs comes with some responsibilities which we really would prefer to pass on so we are always the best person as far as we are concerned. We have become so insincere that we are unable to be sincere with God. How can we then improve on ourselves and become the person God made? God crafted every one of us beautifully so all the ugly personality is definitely not of God and is not in any way a reflection of God.

1 Corinthians 5: 8 “So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.”

There is no doubt that we all come to Christ just as we are but according to scriptures, we are to become more like God so that we are then able to manifest His glory. Where we elect to reject that change that makes us more like Him, the challenge is with us and not Him. God provides all the help we would ever need to see and make these changes. Transformation requires a consistent introspection. One must be willing to look inwards sincerely; an experience that the Holy Spirit makes so much easier. We need Him to help us turn on the lights within us and give us the grace to face ourselves.  In my opinion, refusal to look inward sincerely is a decision to hand over the control of one’s life to others; all those others that we blame for things that are actually our fault. It is another way of declaring openly that you will not allow for transformation and as a result are willing to give up a lot of what God ordained for you. The new things God wants to do at different points in our lives may not fit into what would be our old nature at the point where He is ready to do a new thing in our lives. It behooves God not to do new things in our lives if we refuse to move forward in our journey of transformation because we may be ruined if He insists on doing the new thing despite our state.

Luke 5: 37 - 38 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins.”

This translates to a truth which is that we suffer loss when we refuse to make progress on this journey of transformation. One would live and die and not touch all that God ordained for them. The sooner we make a habit of looking inward, the better for us; and the sooner we learn to do it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the faster we move forward on that journey. Fortunately, we are not required to be in a special place for this introspection; neither is there a pattern for doing it. All we need is the help of the Holy Spirit that it may be sincere.

Trust And Obey – Our God Demands Obedience

Christianity is such a simple faith but we complicate it. Believers have complicated it so badly now that we who ought to be the custodians of The Word, barely understand it. As His children, God already gifted us with the understanding of His word yet the truth of it appears to be lost on us. Even when we manage to understand it, maybe this only happens in the part of the world where I live, we don’t feel the need to be conformed to it. When we study, it is sometimes to show others that we also have a good knowledge of the word and at other times, it is so that we can be appointed to “positions of honor” in church; and some of the best of us study so we know the confessions to make to activate the release of “our blessings” because we know that making the right confessions facilitate the release of blessings but we forget that obedience to His word is also a prerequisite for receiving these blessings.  

Mathew 7: 26 “But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish

In truth, we don’t do ourselves good by being disobedient because simple as the word is; the fulfillment of most of the promises of God is firmly rooted in obedience to the accurate word of God. If we don’t obey His word, we struggle endlessly to activate these promises and are never able to. One of the things that happen when we give our lives to Christ is that we receive power to obey Him but if we receive the power and our preference is for a life of disobedience, we have a problem; a problem which isn’t fixed by having demons cast out of us but by a decision to be obedient. Sometimes we think we are better off because we are obedient in some areas but our God requires total obedience. As I heard a preacher say, “The word of God is not a buffet so we can’t pick and choose” what word we prefer to obey. This is a full meal served by God and we must obey it all.  

Isaiah 1: 19 “If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat.

Proverbs 7: 2 “Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day the loss suffered from disobedience is ours. We suffer untold loss of blessings because we are obstinate. God dislikes disobedience so much He likens it to witchcraft. So why would any adult believer think it is okay? Saul lost an entire Kingdom just for partial obedience. Like a lot of us, he may have thought he had outsmarted God by obeying some of His instruction. Just like us, he may have thought after all why would God be so mean as to punish him when he obeyed most of His instructions? I am certain that Saul never thought his action would cost him his crown. Who would have thought that the loss of the Kingdom could be the consequence of his action?

1 Samuel 15: 23 “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft and stubbornness as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

We have suffered too much loss to continue like this. We either choose to obey God or leave pursuing a life in Christ. Obedience is one of the requirements of following Him and God already counsels that we must count the cost of following Him before we make the decision for Him. It is not being fair to ourselves if we choose a faith we cannot enjoy the full benefits of. God has made His desire clear; He desires to bless people who would trust Him enough to obey Him. God desires children who don’t think they are wiser than He is so they obey Him instead of attempting to modify His instructions to suit them. Such people, thinking their way is better; insult God, albeit unwittingly, and are never able to conform to His image so that they end up looking nothing like God.  We must accept to submit to the Lordship of Christ so that we can be like Him here on earth.