Your 2011 Decisions: Invite Jesus to the Table!

I heard an amazing story today that reconfirmed to me again the reality of Christ and His power and ability to do what He has said He will do. The lady I spoke to said to me that in a lot of ways she was getting confused about the reality of Christ what with all of the terrible stories we hear concerning Christians; the testimonies that leave you confused as to the accuracy of our faith. Then she took ill and God in His goodness shows up in the midst of this real bad situation and assures her of the reality of His existence. As she shared her experience with me, I was again reassured of the reality of His existence and my faith in Him was renewed and strengthened.

It made me wonder as to why we celebrate the birth of Christ just before the end of the year. I don’t think it is a coincidence. It is traditional at this time to think through what happened the entire year and then make new decisions that will guide us through the next year. For me it does not matter whether or not Christ was born on this day but the truth is, as the year comes to an end, we enter into a period of deep thoughts and sober reflection. It is a good time to be reminded of Christ. It kind of gives some form of hope for the future inspite of whatever happened in the past year and guides us as we make these new decisions. The truth is that some of these decisions will die immediately we enter into the New Year, some will never see the light of day and some will become a part of our lives forever.

As we make these decisions, I really want to encourage us to invite Jesus to be a part of this decision making. We must realize that Jesus is real and He wants to help us succeed. His plan is not just to put ideas in us but also to empower us and walk with us to ensure that we succeed. I can’t promise you that you will always like the decisions you end up with if you invite Him to be a part of your decision making process but I can assure you that you will make decisions that will take you forward in life. As they say “the best things in life often come in wrong packages” just like some of these decisions are seemingly “wrong packaging”.

The process of inviting Him to be a part of the decision making process is making one’s mind open to His ideas and putting all the thoughts and decisions against the word of God thereby ensuring that they are not contrary to the word. That is the first way to ensuring that we succeed because the Bible says in

Isaiah 14: 24 NLT “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: it will all happen as I have planned. It will all be as I have decided.”

After having, made the decisions, we need to believe that they will be established even as we walk toward having them established with the Holy Spirit as our helper. We need to have faith in God and in His power and ability to bring to pass that which He has said He will do. I don’t know about you but that is where my own challenge begins. One of the things we need to resolve to do is to do whatever it takes to have faith that transforms the word of God into reality in our lives. I trust God to be helper even to achieve that.

Happy New Year in advance!

It's Christmas! Be Joyful! Regardless.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope you are excited in this season. I don’t mean a peripheral excitement but one that goes deep down. I hope the cause of your excitement is the presence of that river that flows from deep down in your soul. Joy that is born of the fact that Jesus was born; you encountered Him and have revelation knowledge of who He is. This is joy. The bible says it is indescribable. This is not about mere happiness neither is it about mere excitement

1 Peter 1: 8B NKJ - “…..yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory”

According to the dictionary, joy amongst several other things means “to delight in something”. Thank God our delighting is not just in things but is principally in a being that never fails, never changes and lives forever. The one we delight in is the son of God and He is Himself, God. The one in whom all power resides and has come that we may always be joyous.

I don’t know what experiences you may be going through right now; experiences that may be challenging you and trying to steal your joy. I want to encourage you to hold on because there is a morning coming shortly and it shall come with an abundance of Joy with which you will draw out of the wells of salvation.

Isaiah 12: 3 NKJ – “therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”

So many things happen that confirm over and over again that the devil is after our joy. More often than not, the first thing that shows that a man is under the attack of the devil is that He loses His joy. Whilst Jesus came that we may have joy and fullness thereof the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. One thing he tries hard to steal is our joy.

John 10: 10 NKJ – “the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly”

We must do all we can to hold unto our joy. Whatever it takes to ensure that there is joy flowing from inside us we need to do it. Again God has ensured that we do not have to pay a price for this joy. It comes in the anointing. The anointing is able to replace our mourning with oil of joy. The anointing is the oil of joy. It literarily translates us from sorrow to joy even before we see a physical change. Please look every painful experience you may be going through in the face and count them all joy even now.

The Wonder & Power of Our Christ-Identity

I have thought about this Jesus a number of times and I am still thinking about Him today especially at this time when the whole world celebrates His birth yet I still do not understand or know all there is to know about Him. Every time I think about Him deeply, I discover something new about the son of God.

It is amazing how a man born in a manger can become the greatest man of all times. In every age, He is the most popular of all men. Whether out of hate, love or controversy, Jesus is still the most talked about personality in every age and the word concerning Him does not change. It is always the same. In every age, it is a present truth no matter how dark that age may be.

2 Peter 1: 12 NASV “therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present”

For me, one of the most significant things about this Jesus is the fact that He is God and yet man. This is truth that a lot of people find impossible to comprehend and is the cause of a lot of argument today. Well, He died and rose again three days after His death. People testified that they saw Him after His resurrection. Also, God confirmed from the heavens during His lifetime that Jesus is His only begotten son and He said it loud enough for all that where gathered to hear. Today anyone who so desires still hears the voice of God telling him/her that Jesus is His only begotten son who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

The reality of the fact that Jesus is both man and God is fully expressed in the fact that as soon as we get saved, we become gods though we are still men. That seemingly simple act of sincerely inviting Jesus into your life as personal Lord and Saviour apparently creates a lot of activity in heaven. A total remaking that transforms the person from being mere man to god/man. As soon as a man takes this all very important step, heaven goes to work to give life to the spirit of the man by sending the Holy Ghost (quickening Spirit) into the man so that the man is then sealed/ marked with the Holy Spirit making Him God’s exclusive property. In that process, the man’s soul and body are also empowered to follow the leading of the Spirit of God. So the same Spirit that dwells in both God and Christ now dwells in you and me. No wonder Jesus says greater works shall we do if we believe.

Ephesians 1: 13 NASV “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

Jesus in becoming who He is today has shown me that not even my place of birth can determine what I become in life. When you understand this, going through all that trouble to give birth to your children in the western world just so that they can carry foreign passports becomes irrelevant. There is only one passport necessary to put one’s mark on the sands of time and that is the Holy Ghost who is the passport that every citizen of the kingdom carries.

We are gods indeed and I have elected not to die as mere mortal what about you?

Are YOU Committed? Even When It Hurts?

I guess as they say, we are truly in ‘instant’ times. There is instant coffee, instant food, instant marriage in Las Vegas; indeed you can almost get anything you want instantly. The truth however, is that with God we must learn patience. He very often follows processes and if the process takes a while, he may not change it for you and me.  The thing is it really is His prerogative whether or not to do it instantly. Indeed, the bible says that those that those that trust in Him shall not be hasty. The reason we trust God to do what He says He will do is because He is committed to ensuring that His word comes to pass.  

Jeremiah 1: 12b AMP – “…for I am alert and active, watching over my word to perform it’

Commitment is in God’s nature and so, it is intrinsic in our nature. The seed of commitment is sown in us as the spirit of God comes to indwell us. The amazing thing is the ‘seeming scarcity’ of that same said commitment in our lives today particularly because we ought to be like our God. Even more amazing is the fact that we make a joke of commitment and think it is fashionable not to be committed to anything.

Amongst other things, the Webster’s dictionary says commitment includes ‘an agreement or pledge to do something in the future’. It also states that ‘it is the state of being obligated’. Commitment speaks of a sense of responsibility. It takes it seriously when one commits to doing something and is unable to do it. It takes it seriously enough to ensure that the people that need to be notified are notified so that they can make adequate arrangements to cover what would have been a lapse. The fact that God takes commitment seriously is revealed in Psalm 15 which talks about the requirement for persons who can enter and remain in the presence of God. One of the requirements is as stated below.

Psalm 15: 4b NLT says “… and keep their promises even when it hurts”

Jesus, the son of God came down to earth and said over and over again that He was committed to doing only the will of God. He did it to the end and was given a name above all other names. Despite the pain and shame he suffered, He was obligated and He never forgot that. If He was irresponsible like we often are, He would have dumped it when it became tough and we would have been in trouble today because all the good intentions in the world would not have saved our souls. It took Him seeing His responsibility through to the end.

As we often say, we are mere men and so are allowed to fail which is correct, but to treat with carelessness our commitments whether to God or man is unacceptable. The lack of commitment is so bad now that it is beginning to ruin the basic family units and the society is slowly being destroyed. What is worse is that some people avoid commitment because they do not want to be obligated to do anything. How very sad. God expects more from us and He has given us a good example in Christ Jesus.