Are YOU Faithful to Christ's Teachings? That's really ALL that Matters.

Pardon me please, but I am a born again Christian. I definitely have accepted Jesus in my life as my personal Lord and Saviour. My entire life is based on His teachings which comprises of His doctrines and beliefs. I still fall short of His teachings sometimes but my goal is to do always, exactly what He would have done. Does that make me religious – I don’t know. I guess you have the right to use your preferred word but reality is that I believe Jesus is the son of God who gave His life that I might be saved and was raised from the dead. I believe that He is seated at the right hand of the father. Whatever word you want to describe me with is fine by me. 

With all the noise going on around me about religion, I was forced to go back to my dictionary to check two words – faith and religion. My dictionary says amongst other things that religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural. To that extent, I am desperately religious and unashamedly so; and I think a lot of us are. Religion is also described as scrupulous conformity or conscientiousness to a cause or system of beliefs held to with ardour and faith. If that is your preferred interpretation, then I won’t be called religious because my conformity is not to a cause but to a person and His name is Jesus. He is not only God but also the son of God. I also believe in the Holy Spirit. Indeed I believe in the trinity.

Please bear with me as I go on to talk about faith. The dictionary amongst other things, says it is belief and trust in, allegiance and loyalty to God. It is firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust and strong conviction in something without doubt or question. Clearly, you can tell my faith from all I have written so you will have to bear with me if all that I do or say is influenced   by the teaching of this Jesus in whom I have strong belief and conviction. He shed His blood that we may have access to worship the father in Spirit and in truth (true religion). 

John 14: 23-24 NLT “All who love me will do what I say…anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me.”

Jesus says His followers (disciples) are those who hear and obey His word. The first set of Christians were so called because they heard and obeyed His word so hard that it was clear they were followers of Christ. They modeled their lives on the teachings of this Jesus which influenced every area of their lives and their every decision. They thought, ate and dressed like the word of God says. They believed in this Christ unashamedly inspite of the fact that they were stigmatized as Christians seeing as that Christianity was not the favorite faith at the time. Now it is an acceptable word so we are okay with being called Christians but who cares what word is used. Why do we worry so much about words that do not matter? My faith is who I am. It defines me completely except in areas where I am still falling short. Please think - are you ashamed to stand by His teachings just so that you will not be called “a name?” The bible says that Jesus, whilst speaking to people like you and I who believed in Him, said

John 8: 31NLT, “you are truly my disciples if you remain faithfully to my teachings.”

Prayer....A Never-Ending Conversation with God.

Generally, prayer is something we talk about but do little of except of course when we are in trouble. We talk about praying so much that we actually think we have prayed. In this season leading up to Easter, please let us pray as much as we can for “prayer truly changes things” and for good. Remember also that Jesus was, in the place of prayer, empowered to do the ultimate will of God (to die on the cross) which brought Him into His glory. Like Jesus, let us tarry in the place of prayer and see if God will not move us particularly in this season when Christians all over the world are praying.

Philippians 4: 6 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.”

Of course, no one can truly claim to know or understand everything that happens in life or the dynamics that affect the things that happen in life. We can only know what God reveals to us and He has not revealed everything to one person. As the bible says, we only know in part until the end when the fullness of things will be revealed. Until then, we shall be required to commune with our father in heaven consistently to ensure that we have the information and victory that we require to walk in dominion. We can only get this in the place of prayer.

Luke 18: 1 “one day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up”

Jesus during His lifetime, stayed so connected to His father in the place of prayer that He heard Him always. He showed us a life style of power built on prayer. So also God tells us things when we stay connected with Him. If we have an active prayer life, we will hear Him for ourselves so that whatever else anyone tells us, will be some kind of confirmation. Won’t you like to hear the father for yourself talking  to you just like a father speaks to His child?

Don’t let anybody deceive you; nobody can pray for you like yourself. Reason is simple; nobody feels your pain like you do. All you need to know to make your prayer effective is in the word of God and anyhow instead of praying for you, why don’t they teach you what you need to know to pray effectively for yourself? We know for a fact that Christ lived, died and was raised from the dead that we may be reconciled to God. Through Him, we have access to the father. He is ever willing not only to teach us how to pray but also guide us as we pray and ensure that we pray right through the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8: 26 “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groaning which cannot be expressed in words”

Prayer is not seasonal nor is it subject to fashion. It ought to be a way of life for us. We need to pray.

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 “Never stop praying”

Are You Certain That is 'of God'?

As believers, it appears to me that one scripture we often turn away from is the first scripture below. Our principal problem is the fact that we know what we want to hear and pursue that agenda so vigorously we lose sight of the God we started out with and refuse to test every spirit as He instructs in

1 John 4: 1NLT “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”

This is a Godly instruction which even the times compel us to obey because every evil work currently abounds and one of the secrets to victory is sensitivity to the Spirit of God; the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. Indeed it is the wise thing to do when we meet a person(s) or get in the midst of a people, church and/or any organization so that one can immediately discern what spirit is at work therein. We cannot be guided by what we see not even by intense manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which I am by no means undermining, but the bible enjoins us to test all things.

1 Thessalonians 5: 19-22NLT “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.”

The most fearful thing is the fact that everybody seems to want to do something that has never been done before. In our desperation to achieve this goal we unwittingly find ourselves out of the Godly sphere. Unfortunately, there is no middle sphere so when we leave the Godly sphere, we move into the devil’s sphere. So that as men and women wanting so desperately to be in the forefront, we have to be careful to operate within God’s predefined limits. Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, says there is nothing new under the sun. All we see has been and shall be again for as long as Jesus tarries so that we don’t search too hard for “the new”. Just in case this helps, you can’t be the first person that ever did it

Ecclesiastes 1: 9-11NLT “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.”

Another reality we must accept in life is that God reserves the right either to withhold or reveal information regarding our future. The desperation to know the future and control it is so strong and Satan is truly capitalizing on it. I think we have to realize more than ever before that our walk is one of faith. The most important thing is to ensure that God is with you and I through the journey of life. If He is with us, it does not matter how dark the tunnel we have to go through or how deep the valley we fall into, He is able to be a light to us and also bring us out of the valley unto a higher mountain. To think it is okay to force the hands of God to reveal to us what He in His wisdom thinks should be kept from us is foolery. Even I have tried several times in all my foolishness, hoping that He would show me in a dream like a movie but He does as He pleases. I have learnt to stay with what he tells me and maybe “glean” a little of the future from it.

Please let us be circumspect so that we do not willingly submit to the devil the authority we have over our lives because of an agenda that he can’t help us with. Let us begin to check what spirit we submit to.

Seeking to Destroy Trees 'Rooted' In Christ? Beware! It WILL Boomerang!

It is almost Easter and this is the season I celebrate the most. Of course since I am a little ill, I am thinking about the stripes He endured for me, the blood He shed to pay the price for me and all that surrounds everything this celebrated at Easter and all I can say is “thank you Jesus for all you have done and the love you have shown toward mankind”

I can’t stop thinking about the soldiers that beat him almost to death, scourged him and then hung him on the cross until He died. Okay let us leave the soldiers, did the people that testified against him really believe all the lies they told? Where they so deluded that they believed Jesus actually did those things? Though I must admit that it has all worked out for my good but I am wondering how the hearts of these men were so hardened that they refused to see the pain but could only see their profiting. Obviously all the position, honor and peace they thought would become theirs after his death did not happen.

Just like a tree that is planted by the rivers of waters whose roots go deep down, Jesus reappeared and this time, He multiplied Himself in several people. They apparently cut off the top of the tree but forgot that it has such strong roots and they did not have the strength or wisdom required to take Him out from the roots. Neither could they reach where His roots were.

When I was much younger, I heard that some trees in Africa can never be cut down. The people say demons live in them making it impossible to cut them down. As I got older, I found that these are strong trees with big, strong roots that go deep down so that when you cut them down, they will certainly resurface because their roots are still alive and go deep down. Even the roots are strong. It makes me glad to know that because of Jesus, you and I are like those trees. The bible says in

Jeremiah 17: 7 & 8 NLT “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along the riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing fruit”

It is sad that in the church today, there are a lot of people like the Pharisees who want to kill anyone that is carrying the seed of God. They get so desperate that they get consumed by this desire to destroy any person carrying the seed of God. If you are one of such people, it is time to stop. You can’t destroy that person but instead you may end up destroying yourself just like Judas. After you have wasted your energy and everything, what satisfaction will you get and worse still, the person shall return. Its too much time and energy wasted. Judas ended up killing himself do you want to end up that way?

Brethren, its time to think deeply – why do you want that person destroyed. They say the church is a hospital where people come for healing but it does not give them a right to kill the already healed. They come for a healing and I know that there is a physician in the midst of His people who heals all and any ailment - His name is Jesus. This is Easter; let us trust Him for a healing. We cannot continue the way we have been.

Beware! Dream Killers On The Prowl!!!!!

We have to be very careful to guard our God given dream and/or vision. We have to be careful who we share it with and even watch the word God gives us to encourage us until the dream is birth. As you and I know, the dream is always birthed in reality by the word of God. To guard your God given vision is to diligently protect it and focus on the word of God that will bring it to pass. To protect our dream is to be careful who we allow to make a contribution to the dream i.e. to be careful not to share the dream with dream killers. Their word or contribution is meant to kill the dream.

Psalm 1: 1NLT Oh! The joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.”

The dreams and visions that God gives us will sometimes go through several difficult turns before they become reality and at each turn, it appears like the dream will be aborted but God ultimately intends to bring it to pass which is why He gives us a word that keeps and encourages us to hold on as we go on. At each turn, satan wants to kill the dream and will use just about anyone or any thing that is useable. Sometimes Christians actually lend themselves to the enemy for use by him to destroy other people’s vision with words. Now this is when it gets worrisome and we should be discerning.

Dream killers are mockers. Sometimes they don’t realize but they are actually destroying the will of God on earth. They think they are smart but, as someone said, satan “borrows” them to destroy the seed of God in another man. If the seed of God in a man is destroyed, the man’s destiny is ultimately destroyed so the dream killer partners with satan whether deliberately or inadvertently to destroy destinies. The man’s destiny is part of God’s total vision to take over the earth. It is part of God’s grand plan to display His manifold wisdom on earth. So dream killers are actually not just being “smart”, though they may be born again, they are actually standing against God’s plan. What they want to achieve is - to superimpose the wisdom of the world on the wisdom of God.

Ephesians 3: 10NLT“God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

If you have a God given vision or dream, be careful who you share it with. If you accidentally find yourself sharing your dream with a dream killer, learn to shut down as soon as you find that the person is a dream killer. They are so desperate for attention that when they think they are not making an impact, they become more desperate to destroy the vision meanwhile they are Christians. Satan holds on to the seed of evil, jealousy, envy, pride etc, in them and stirs them up so that they loose a grip of themselves and become tools in the hands of the enemy. You need to help them by switching off and not taking in what they say. It is your responsibility to guard your dream until it is birthed.

Seeking Higher Heights? Trusting & Obeying God is Imperative!

Indeed without faith, it is impossible to please God or give Him pleasure. I have recently realized that it is most unlikely that one will do the will of God or obey God without faith. As a result, one is consistently displeasing God and is very unaware of it even with all the best intentions in the world.

Obedience is key to pleasing God and following His counsel requires faith because He usually requires us to do things that appear impossible and/or unreasonable. The natural mind can hardly comprehend some of the things that God requires us to do. They just seem incapable of producing the obvious result that would appear to be the solution to the problem. It is so easy to discountenance the voice which is actually speaking the will of God and turn to the voice of reason.

Clearly, at that point, God cannot be happy. Imagine that someone turns to you for counsel, you speak to them in all honesty and sincerity and then they turn around and do something else. How pleased would you be particularly if it happens over and over again? It is most unlikely that the person will give you pleasure. The message that is transmitted is that the person does not trust your sense of judgment and/or capacity to guide them wisely.

Please come with me to 11 Chronicles 20: 15-27, where God gave the children of Judah victory over three major enemies who gathered against them. Interestingly, Israel did not have to fight; the enemies destroyed themselves. Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah cried to God for help because they were afraid and God’s response is quoted below but please how does anybody work with this? He tells you to go out battle ready, position yourselves against the enemy then He says He will give you the victory.

11 Chronicles’ 20: 15b-17 saying “Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march out against them… but you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you”.

How does He do that? No details, doesn’t even tell you how and when He intends to intervene to give you the victory. Meanwhile you are up against three strong nations that have come against you. This is God’s method. You have to have known enough about Him to know that He shall neither leave you nor forsake you. That even if you lose the first few rounds, He shall give you the victory ultimately. Even Jehoshaphat knew the people needed to be encouraged hence his words of encouragement in verse 20b

“believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in the prophets and you will succeed.”

Their obedience must have pleased God. We are either going to believe this God or leave Him; and we can’t leave Him for He alone has the word of life. We just have to train ourselves to trust Him which can only come from meditating on His word. We have to work at trusting Him. You have to do this yourself. No one can do it for you.

We have been too long at this level of our walk with God. It is time to come up higher for of a truth, the just shall live by faith.

Hold On! Your 'Axe-Head' Too Shall Float To The Surface'!

I was not able to go to RCCG camp to be a part of the Holy Ghost service this past Friday but I actively participated via television. As I heard a man share his testimony of how God restored his marriage and his job after seven years, I was filled with excitement. His testimony was particularly interesting to me because for a while now, I have been meditating on God’s power and ability to restore all things.

Over the years, I have come to realize that there is nothing so lost God cannot restore. God even redeems the time which means He restores lost time. The way we expect Him to restore may not be the way He would ultimately restore. Sometimes, the restoration is actually a replacement but eventually you will find that His replacement is even much better than what you had. The fact of Him allowing a replacement is not because He could not have brought back any lost thing but in my opinion, He allows those things go because it is the best thing to do for the lost thing and the people that will be bear the loss.

Usually at the point when one suffers the loss, the enemy is excited and thinks he has won the victory but he keeps forgetting that the Almighty God is a restorer and never loses any battle. If you are reading this blog and have lost anything, I want to encourage you to rejoice as you look up to Him because “something good is coming your way” notwithstanding the length of the period of loss.

2 Kings 6: 3 “when they arrived at the Jordan, they began cutting down trees. But as one of them was cutting a tree, his ax head fell into the river. “Oh sir!” he cried. “It was a borrowed ax!” “where did it fall?” the man of God asked. When he showed him to the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it into the water at the spot. Then the ax head floated to the surface.

Recently, I have thought about above story a lot. God could not have put it there just to tell us about the sons of the prophets nor was it about the house they wanted to build or about Elisha. It was much more than all of those people. I have decided that God put the story there to demonstrate his power and also make us realize that no matter how lost anything is, He can find and restore it.

Sometimes when we lose things and it appears like God is asking us questions, do not be discouraged, he still intends to restore. You know in that time when He is asking questions, like Elisha was asking the man that lost his axe questions, it is natural to think why don’t you just do something before the loss becomes irreparable? But with Him, it never gets irreparable.

Indeed sometimes we don’t tell Him about the loss anymore because we think it is too late to do anything about it whilst sometimes we think it is too small for him to worry about. Any loss is loss and God is interested in restoration. What have you lost? I know a couple that was separated for over years and God restored their marriage several years ago. Today they are still together and very happily.

Is there anything too difficult for God?