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.”

Please Permit Me…

Please permit me to celebrate The Godhead. This blog is all about celebrating Jesus Christ the Son of God, God The Father and the Holy Spirit. All Three been wonderful to me and that is inspite of my several wrongdoings. They found me in my own sin, though I thought I was good, and made me realize that I could be the “good person” that I should be. They opened my eyes, by enlightening my understanding, to see that all I had to do to be good was become the child of the only One who is truly good. That was the beginning of a new life for me. That realization that I remained nothing but sinner except and until I allowed myself to be washed in Christ Jesus blood following heaven’s due process for conversion, was the best thing that happened to me because it facilitated my making the right decision – accept salvation that God offers without charging a fee. This is where it all started; when He clothe me with beauty so deep and powerful, it changes the inside as well as the outside; and filled me with indescribable joy that enables one laugh even in pain.

Ezekiel 16: 6 & 8b “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel… So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.”

As soon as this happened, He went to work on my inside bringing about changes in my life that became visible externally. I could not help but allow Him make the changes that transformed me so much and so fast, I almost didn’t recognize myself anymore and He would not stop or even let go. Oh my goodness, I hate to even remember that at some point, I chose to do my own thing. A terrible idea which I knew He wouldn’t go along with so I thought it best to put some distance between us. Would you believe that He waited patiently, reminding me from time to time that He was waiting despite the pain He must have felt. He just would not let go. For such is the power of the love of He who has to look away from our sin whilst not losing interest in us? Just when I thought I had succeeded in my plan, He pulled me into His already outstretched arm enfolding me yet again with His love. This time, even more glorious. So I can testify that love always hopes and never gives up. Our God is indeed, love. Hence the song writer says in our pidgin English dialect “I never see this kind love before o – wonder 4x. Jesus na wa o”

Ezekiel 16: 60 & 62 - 63 “yet I will remember the covenant I made with you …and establish an everlasting covenant with you. And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am The Lord. You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you all that you have done. I, The Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

God must be celebrated. He loves so much He gives all He has just to ensure that we ultimately share His place of abode in eternity. When I think of how much I enjoy having “my space” I wonder what He is doing ensuring and/or enabling us live that life here on earth that facilitates our making heaven - a grace walk enabled by The Holy Ghost who is a part of This Godhead that I celebrate today. What is most interesting about His help is the fact that it is so unobtrusive that one almost forgets that they are actually helped and would fail without the help. This is why it is so easy to get carried away and become proud. It is easy to think one is “self- made” become your own idol and attracting God’s wrath; but my goodness! I love the way He improves our self-worth with this help that makes us feel important even seeming to draw men to us though they actually seek our Father. Though He loves us to shine and is great at celebrating us, He doesn’t want us to forget that the stage is His. This must be one of the many reasons Nathaniel Bassey says “take your glory King of Kings, take your glory Lord of lords; Take your glory King of Kings, It belongs to you alone.” He is The Original Celebrity: The only one that truly walks on a natural red carpet – the blood of those trampled when His right arm brought Him victory.

Isaiah 63: 3 “I have been treading the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger, I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In fury I have trampled my foes.”

Unquestionably, He is The Lord. I celebrate my maker; He who paid the price for me which should ordinarily make me His slave but He set me free instead and just left me with pre-defined limits for my liberty. I celebrate the one who paid for me with His own blood. I celebrate He without whom I can do nothing. Please let me borrow the words of another song by Nathaniel as I sing “Take the stage Lord; have your way. I’m just a vessel and nothing more; and when you are done, please take the glory. I am satisfied just to see you glorified.” For every one whose story is similar to mine, please join me as that together, we can celebrate our God.

Jesus Is No More Enough

Recently, in the course of a conversation with my Pastor and His wife, Pastor Lanre Kosoko, she said something that struck a chord in me. She said ‘the way believers act today, it is almost as if we think Christ is not enough’ and it has stayed with me. Indeed, I feel like we think God was not smart enough in making Christ just the way He is – Jesus Christ. It is almost like Him just as He is, is no longer enough to be all that He is so that we feel a need to make up for the inadequacy we see. We try to make Him look the way we think He ought to be in these present times so that people can think of Him “highly enough” to accept Him. We forget that the ways of God would normally look foolish in the eyes of man and God is well aware of that yet He worked things like that. Can the created redefine ‘The creator’?  We often try so hard to make Him acceptable that we compromise several aspects of the word of God. People, around where I live, argue that if more people must come to Christ, then people have to be given a ‘soft landing’ to Christianity. Are we suggesting that this life is a burden? Any ‘soft landing’ that compromises the word of God probably leads people elsewhere and not to Christ our Saviour.  Unfortunately, the Word of God is greatly compromised in our times; our gospel is largely ours; put together by our intellect. Pastor Femi Monehin once said and I agree, that “God is not a product of my thinking or philosophy.” He is not a product of any one’s thinking or philosophy. He is God in Three Persons and He is enough for us.

 

1 Corinthians 1: 21a & 23a “For after in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God ... But we preach Christ crucified.”

 

It is the belief of many in these present times, that the intellect of man is more powerful than ever before which said argument is not my focus here, but even if it were true, God has never pretended like He planned to satisfy our intellect. He clearly says that the life that He gives is like a river that flows from within and flows forever. It does not directly feed the intellect. The true gospel is not powerless; it accomplishes its purpose because it is the word of God which is what the world needs. The world needs the healing that only Christ can provide – It is healing that reaches deep down to the soul and spirit of man. There is an insatiable quest for God; a hunger and deep yearning by people who may not even be aware of what they hunger for. Unfortunately, believers do not think highly of what He appears to be and in trying to make Him look better, we are preaching a gospel that is unable to satisfy the world’s yearning. Our intellect is unable to bring anyone to God through Christ; only Christ can do that. Sadly, not even our looks can bring people to Christ. It takes the quickening of one’s spirit-man for Him to become a believer and only the word of God has that quickening power. And until a man’s spirit comes alive, He is not born again. God is a Spirit who can only be worshipped in the Spirit. That hunger can only be quenched by His Spirit.

 

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

 

Isaiah 55: 11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it.”

 

It is indeed vain for any man to think that they can describe God in an improved way. The mere thought that any man can better articulate who He is than He has done Himself is vain. Moreover, it is my firm belief that the world is tired of an empty Christianity. The world wants more than the glamour that we seem to only give these days. The glamour is good, but the world knows that they need much more than that. The flesh is unable to meet the need; for it profits nothing. Until we ourselves realize that Jesus Christ is enough, we will never make Him Lord in our lives which is His desire. Until He is Lord in your life, how can you effectively tell another to make Him Lord in their own lives? It is time to get real that we may preach Christ. He is the Redeemer and none other. Sometimes, it is merely the desire to have other people follow us that leads to a little shifting from the Truth. Unlike John the Baptist, we struggle to point people to ourselves because somewhere deep down, we need them to follow us. Unwittingly, a number of us have made more followers for ourselves than we have The Master. As we point people to Jesus and they receive life, Jesus works in us to prepare us for leadership His way. As we follow Him, people will look to us to show them to follow Him. There is only one Lord and His name is Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes 3: 14 “And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.”

 

Our King Entered Jerusalem On A Donkey – How Would You Have Entered?

I think about Jesus and that “long journey into Jerusalem and I wonder how He did it knowing what lay ahead of Him. I am grateful He did it because that entire journey and His subsequent death and resurrection are some of the reasons we are who we are today – children of God. This is the journey that led Him to His painful death for mankind. It is interesting to note that the only person who knew what was ahead of Christ was Christ. As He sat on that donkey and people shouted “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” His mind was on what was set before Him. How could he have even enjoyed the adulation? The people were so excited about him that they threw the entire city into an uproar yet it was not long before the same people turned against him later. Even worse is the fact that He was aware that the same people who shouted hosanna would very soon shout “crucify Him” yet He endured the praise knowing that He had to remain focused – His mind was fixed on His mandate as He rode on that donkey

 

Mathew 21: 10 “The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered, ’who is this? They asked.”

The ordinary man would think that Jesus came to that place of crucifixion “foolishly” because He went to Jerusalem knowing what was going to happen to Him just like Paul did when he insisted on going to Jerusalem even after he had been told what would happen to Him. Sometimes we have to be foolish to accomplish God’s purpose for our lives. God writes the path and pleasurable as the path may sometimes seem, we do not have the right to choose our own preferred path. Paul must have appeared very strange to Agabus who spoke by the Holy Ghost concerning what Paul would face in Jerusalem when Paul insisted on continuing his journey to Jerusalem. God does not compel us to follow His chosen path for us but honors those who love Him enough to pay the price for His will to be accomplished on earth. Jesus did it and was honored as was Paul who wrote almost all the books of the bible which God could have chosen any other person to do. It takes a lot of humility to know the evil people will do to you and not “act out”. It kind of feels good to let them know that you know what they are up to but Jesus did not and He rode humbly on a donkey. This route is definitely a humbling one.

Mathew 21: 5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem, Look your king is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey – riding on a donkey’s colt.”

Philippians 2: 8 – 9 “he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names.”

It is worthy of note that Jesus upon entering Jerusalem, despite the painful future He had there, went about His Father’s business. He did not let the pain or agitation of that which He was about to face hold Him back from completing His work. Jesus had other things to accomplish in Jerusalem before facing the cross and He accomplished them. I can only imagine how tough it was for Him accomplishing other task knowing what was before Him. Anyone else would have understood if He was too weighed down by sorrow but Jesus knew the consequence of disobedience and understood that excuses don’t make disobedience right and God is would not be unjust. This was the only begotten of the Father; if God would not allow mediocrity with Him, I wonder if He would with us. Obviously the way to greatness with God is paved with humility alongside other things, hard-work bring one of them.

Mathew 26: 39b “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.”

God obviously wanted us to know that Jesus found His death a very tough experience otherwise it would not have been recorded in the scriptures for us; yet Jesus died anyway. Death is the ultimate of humility so that as the author of our faith, He walked the entire route to the very end and set Himself the example for us to follow. Many have walked that path after Him but are we ready to make that sacrifice today? It is time to search our hearts once more and ask ourselves the hard question – are we willing to be humble enough to look away from ourselves that the will of God may be done? Can we do it without announcing to all what we about to do and why? The temptation to announce why He accepted to hang on the cross must have been real especially when he was taunted yet He humbled Himself. I wonder, can we resist the taunting knowing that we had the power to put an end to that torture? Jesus deserves the reward and God has His reward for us as we follow in the steps of our Saviour. Happy Easter.

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.

Make No Mistake About Easter - It is a Celebration of the God Head

I am so sorry for not posting any blog in that glorious week leading up to Easter. I really hope some of you looked out for my article and missed it. Lol! The thing is Easter is my season of seasons. I just love Easter. It's that season when Christians everywhere seriously call on God despite the fact of it being a celebratory season. I feel like Easter must be a season when the heavens are opened; so many people can not be calling on God through Jesus and the heavens will remain heavy. Easter reminds me of power and then speaks of the foolishness of the wisdom of man especially when he thinks he is at his smartest. Easter is for me that one season that fully describes our faith and God's expectations of us, believers.

Romans 8: 11 & 17 "The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering."

I like to think on and talk about God's display of power as He raised Jesus. I like the very elegant way that God proves His Lordship. He does not fuss, He just does what needs to be done often taking the enemy by surprise and consistently reaffirming the enemy's stupidity such that satan is always left trying to catch up with God and God carries on like nothing is happening; not even acknowledging whatever satan is doing. God just watches His own calendar and when it is time, He moves. He is totally unfazed by how much the enemy may seem to have achieved. With just one move, He puts an end to every activity of the enemy and establishes His authority and power. Our God is worthy to be worshipped.

Isaiah 55: 11 "It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it."

So this Easter story again attest to God's style of displaying His greatness.Whilst the devil was rejoicing thinking He had Jesus where He wanted Him and man in all of His wisdom, which actually was stupidity, thought the tomb was sealed so hard Jesus could not escape and then had soldiers outside the tomb to prevent external help; an angel arrived on the scene. People, only one angel totally finished everything satan working with man had been working at for days and thought they had finally concluded. God was obviously making an open show of His defeat of the enemy. Man in His foolishness had forgotten that the word of God would not return to Him void so that even the Living word had to accomplish His purpose before returning to the Father.

Mathew 28: 2-4 "Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint."

Permit me however to talk about the return of the Master, Jesus, at this time. To my mind, one of the most precious things about Easter is the fact that in His coming He opened the door that has made it possible for us to live the life that will enable us see and be with Him when He returns. It is because of Easter that we can be called the sons of God and also have a hope that we shall be with Him in eternity. Easter is that season when we must remind ourselves that Jesus is coming again and also that there is life after death on earth. Furthermore, that you can make the decision where you spend that life here on earth. Your choice of Jesus crucified, raised from the dead and subsequent ascension is a deal breaker. It is the beginning of an assurance of life hereafter with Jesus. Easter is that season when we ought to remind ourselves that He is coming again so that as we celebrate, we are celebrating that fact of life with Him hereafter.

Self-denial Is a Sure Path to Victory

If we, believers, will have good success as promised us in the word of God and also fulfill our destinies, then we must be able to deny ourselves of some things such that self-denial becomes a part of our lives. Self-denial is denying one's self of something that one can give one's self. It is exercising your will against your flesh thereby compelling it to learn discipline without which one would also fail. So many things beckon to us in life that will ultimately not work good for us but as we learn to deny ourselves, we are able to connect even more with our God. If we must walk with God successfully enjoying all the benefits that are our portion, then we would have to learn to say no to ourselves especially in those tough times when God's desire is different from our desire and we feel strongly the need to follow our desire; those times when we feel compelled to put another person's desire above ours because that is what God would rather that we do.

Mark 8: 34-35 "Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it."

So the dictionary describes denial as sacrifice of one's wants or needs. In truth, it is turning from selfish ways where one's decisions are no longer instigated by how they feel but what God desires. It is going up to the level where it is no longer "our will but His will be done in our lives." Our faith calls for sacrifice. There is a price to pay for the benefits that we receive. In Christ, you don't pay the price to receive but you are required to give back for what you receive that you may then receive more. His gifts come with responsibilities and/or obligations which I refer to as price to be paid. If you will not take on the responsibilities then you may loose that which you have; according to scriptures, it will be given to those who took their responsibility seriously. We cannot afford to bury that which He gives us but we would have to deny ourselves if we must multiply them. With God, if you must get more or go higher, you will at some point be required to give up things.

Mathew 25: 29 "To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away."

As believers, we know that good success is our portion. We get frustrated and angry with God whenever it seems like success is eluding us but the question is what are we willing to give up that we might have this good success which is written into our future? It is never convenient when it has to do with God because it would call for a sacrifice. Some people struggle with denying themselves because they were hardly denied anything as children while some others just feel that they earned the right to have whatever they want despite what God days. Whatever your excuse maybe, the thing to have at the back of your mind is the fact that God has put in your hands the power to be truly blessed or fail; furthermore, sad as this may sound, inability to deny one's self may ultimately cause a believer to end up in hell.

Mathew 25: 30 "Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

I would like to suggest that self-denial was a major part of Cain's problem. He could not be bothered to get for God that which asked for. It was just not convenient. Since God wanted a sacrifice, he did not see why his farm produce was not good enough for God who already stated what he preferred. Going out of his way to get for God that which He wanted was certainly stressful to him. He was one of those who felt God should continue to accept Him just the way He is. It is true that He saves us the way we are but He desires that we then yield ourselves that we may be changed to become like Him. There is a cross to carry, for every believer; to carry the cross requires us to deny ourselves.

Don't Go Back!

I was reading through an email from a friend where she shared her thoughts. She wondered why we don’t leave all the terrible things we take to the cross there? Why do we go back, pick them and then run with them again?’ Since the bible encourages us to ponder, I do that from time to time and I want to share some of the things that came to my mind. I am hoping you will share some of your own thoughts with me.

The devil stole authority from man in the Garden of Eden. He therefore, has authority on earth and the bible also calls him the prince of the power of the air. He has a problem with the cross because that is where Christ defeated and made an open show of Him.

Colossians 2: 15NLT ‘In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the Cross’.


Indeed if Satan had known the power that would be released in Christ dying on the cross, the bible says they would not have killed Jesus. Though Jesus is alive forever, Satan still dislikes the story of the cross because every time we honestly come to the cross, we enter into a position of victory over the entire kingdom of the devil. When we give our lives to Christ, we then sit in Christ in heavenly places. As soon as we enter into that role, we become important in the eyes of the enemy. Before then, we were his slaves under his control and therefore, nonentities; but as soon as we take our positions in Christ, we become royalty and in an opposing kingdom - a kingdom that is consistently de-populating hell. Satan is then reminded that the initial victory he had over man is slowly being eroded and made as nothing.


If the devil came straight to yank us out of the hand of Jesus, he would fail. He doesn’t have the power to achieve that. So, he sells us a lie about sin. He asks the same old question he asked in the Garden of Eden – did God really say you should not do this or that? It comes first as a thought and then if we think the thought long enough, we begin to think it may not be as bad as we think. Our mind then sells us a lie that maybe if you did it in a particular way, God will not mind etc. If we dwell on this thought long enough, it becomes okay and we begin to act it out which is what translates to taking our lives back after giving it to Christ. This is when we take back those terrible things we did that we once left at the cross.

James 1: 14 NLT ‘Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death’


Nobody sees evil and desires it. We desire and do evil because one way or the other, we convince ourselves that it is not so bad. Or we tell ourselves that we have good reasons for the sinful act. It is worse in the times that we live in currently when nothing is really bad anymore. As they say, ‘it depends on how you view it’.
Reality is that the word of God is truth and very clear also. If we put your act and or thoughts against the word of God, it will be clear to you and me when we are either going the wrong way or have done evil. This is our REALITY CHECK which we must do frequently so we don’t become pillars of salt like Lot’s wife.

Submit Your Life At The Cross and Leave It There!

This is maybe because of the program we just had in church. I have thought about the cross a lot lately. The more I think about it, the more I realize that ugly as that cross may have been, it is one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to us as Christians. That is where total deliverance happened for man. Despite the pain Jesus suffered to win the victory for us at the cross, He says we can come to that cross just as we are and He says He will receive us. He goes on to assure us that He suffered all that pain so that we can come to the cross just as we are. What manner of love is this that God would show you and I? Truly this love is amazing and can only be divine because it can only be shown by the God whose name is LOVE. No other personality can love so much and at no cost. As the hymn write says, this type of love demands ‘my soul, my life, my all’.


The amazing thing is that as we come to Him, His blood washes us from all iniquity and we are then empowered to be like Him. All God asks is that we yield ourselves to Him a living sacrifice’ holy and acceptable’. The Bible says this is our reasonable service.

Romans 12: 1 NLT – ‘I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable’.


It is such a small price to pay for what we enjoy by coming to Him by reason of what He did on the cross of Calvary. The truth is that the reason He wants us to present ourselves to Him as a sacrifice is so that He can do in our lives that which is required to be done that we may enjoy benefits that can only be enjoyed by those who are truly His. Again it is not just for Himself but also for our good. If we truly understand the depth of the price that He paid just so that we can enjoy these benefits, then we would, like the hymn writer, declare ‘my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all pride’. If only we could pour contempt on all of those things that mean so much to us, then we can truly yield to God so that like the potter that He is, He can bring out the best in us.


It is amazing how at the point of giving our lives to Christ, we desire to exchange the lives that we live for a better one but soon after we have had the experience and begin to enjoy some of the benefits of the cross, we begin to struggle to hold on to the life that we gave up. Isn’t there something wrong with us and all that is going on? Why bother to invite Him into your life thereby giving Him your life in exchange for the one He gives if you truly think yours is fun? You might as well keep your life and ‘the fun you have’ from being in total control. If the things we left behind begin to appeal to us once more and we begin to enjoy them, we are definitely retrogressing. At best, we will become stagnant and like Lot’s wife, a pillar of salt.


Even the world says the only constant thing is change. We must keep changing if we must lay hold on the purpose for which God laid hold on us. We have to keep being transformed until we are like Him. God is consistently trying to make us better people.

Romans 12: 2NLT – ‘Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the ways you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect’.


God is a God of purpose. Why don’t we keep allowing Him change us until the purpose for which He saved us unfolds. I think we must credit Him with enough wisdom to know what He is doing. He can never make your life worse than it was when you came to Him. Though things may be uncertain for a season, He definitely is ‘going somewhere’ and will get there if you allow Him.