When we give our lives to Christ, as children, we need to learn the way of the Godly royals so that as we grow, we conduct ourselves appropriately. Even earthly royals, have to be groomed from childhood so that by the time they are grown, they are very comfortable with the lifestyle and conduct of royals.
When we believe and accept Christ into our lives we are immediately empowered to become true sons of God. We receive the spirit that enables us become sons of God (the Spirit of adoption and of grace – the Holy Ghost). He is the seal of son-ship; evidence of royalty.
John 1: 12NLT ‘But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn-not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God’.
Our DNA becomes the God DNA so that we are true royals just like being born into earthly royal families. The grooming then begins. For us, the groomer or teacher is the Holy Spirit and the rules are in the Bible. It is only as we do what He tells us to do thereby manifesting the royal nature that we are true royals. Until then, though the seed is in us and blue blood runs in our veins, we act as commoners so we are commoners because as a man thinks in His heart so is he. Who we are is judged by our actions.
Romans 8: 12&14-‘Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do...For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.’
If we submit to the grooming, we will be holy. Godly royals must be holy. Holiness is the nature of God and the nature of the kingdom. It is the nature of the Holy Spirit. We must stop thinking of holiness as one tedious, boring, stiff way of life. It really isn’t. It is being like God. Doing what God would have done in every situation.
1Peter 1: 14 – 15 NLT - So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.’
God wants us to enjoy our lives though within certain predefined limits. Those limits don’t make life tedious except you make them so. Satan has sold us a lie about holiness. Don’t buy it anymore.
John 10: 10 NLT ‘…my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.’
Reality is that sometimes we do wrong but there is always room to correct oneself as soon as we find that we have done wrong and guess what! You will know immediately because that conduct will make you uncomfortable since the groomer will let you know instantly except of course if you have silenced Him by consistently doing your will.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
Me? Royalty? Yes! Absolutely!
Last week, we agreed that we are ‘too much’. God has done and put too much in us; He has gone to too much trouble to ensure that we know who we are. It’s so amazing and I definitely like the way I am feeling with this fresh revelation of how valuable I am. I want you to think about it deeply yourself. Don’t just accept it. Please think on it, meditate on it and you will see the difference that it makes to your mind and conversely, your person. I can’t impose that view on you but I can provoke you to seek understanding that you may find your worth in Christ again.
1 Peter 2: 9 NLT – ‘But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation God’s very possession. As a result, you are can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of His darkness into His wonderful light.
The Bible calls us royalty. We are no longer the ordinary people that we were but do we really know what royalty is about? It has responsibilities and for those who were not born into it, we have a lot of learning to do. I have found over the years from observing people who got married into royalty that anyone who did not alter their own attitude to life, had issues with living in those families. Indeed, a number of royal marriages broke down for those reasons. A number of those that have not broken down have one spouse (or both spouses) usually the one that married into royalty, living a miserable life - just doing their best to endure the so called ‘royal life’. The same way some of us are enduring our lives in Christ. Interestingly, Christ royalty comes with fullness of joy. God brings us from nothingness into His family that we may have joy and that our joy may be full. The Bible describes our previous state below
1 Peter 2: 10 NLT – ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy’
If we do not change our attitude and mindset, we have challenges. What is meant to give us privileges begins to be a burden and we don’t’ enjoy the righteousness, peace and joy that is our portion in the Holy Ghost. There needs to be a change of attitude; an altering of mindset that makes righteous living fun. Otherwise, this whole newness of life becomes a real pain. Do you know that royals have challenges too? The important thing is that their challenges do not make them compromise their position. They resolve the issues in the way that only royals do. You and I need to begin to think like royalty because that is who we are.
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 way you think…’
I know an old song that says ‘I am somebody, I’ve been washed in His blood, I’ve been filled with His power, and I am a child of the glorious king’. I tell you – ‘I am who I am’. Without a doubt, I am somebody and you are privileged to know me. This is not pride, it is revelation knowledge. Of course, I am getting better everyday as I get more acquainted with the values that make me royalty but even now, I am ‘too much’ and you are also ‘too much’ if you are saved. It has nothing to do with what you have or don’t have. It’s a new birth reality.
Please post your comments to this blog if you have any.
1 Peter 2: 9 NLT – ‘But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation God’s very possession. As a result, you are can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of His darkness into His wonderful light.
The Bible calls us royalty. We are no longer the ordinary people that we were but do we really know what royalty is about? It has responsibilities and for those who were not born into it, we have a lot of learning to do. I have found over the years from observing people who got married into royalty that anyone who did not alter their own attitude to life, had issues with living in those families. Indeed, a number of royal marriages broke down for those reasons. A number of those that have not broken down have one spouse (or both spouses) usually the one that married into royalty, living a miserable life - just doing their best to endure the so called ‘royal life’. The same way some of us are enduring our lives in Christ. Interestingly, Christ royalty comes with fullness of joy. God brings us from nothingness into His family that we may have joy and that our joy may be full. The Bible describes our previous state below
1 Peter 2: 10 NLT – ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy’
If we do not change our attitude and mindset, we have challenges. What is meant to give us privileges begins to be a burden and we don’t’ enjoy the righteousness, peace and joy that is our portion in the Holy Ghost. There needs to be a change of attitude; an altering of mindset that makes righteous living fun. Otherwise, this whole newness of life becomes a real pain. Do you know that royals have challenges too? The important thing is that their challenges do not make them compromise their position. They resolve the issues in the way that only royals do. You and I need to begin to think like royalty because that is who we are.
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 way you think…’
I know an old song that says ‘I am somebody, I’ve been washed in His blood, I’ve been filled with His power, and I am a child of the glorious king’. I tell you – ‘I am who I am’. Without a doubt, I am somebody and you are privileged to know me. This is not pride, it is revelation knowledge. Of course, I am getting better everyday as I get more acquainted with the values that make me royalty but even now, I am ‘too much’ and you are also ‘too much’ if you are saved. It has nothing to do with what you have or don’t have. It’s a new birth reality.
Please post your comments to this blog if you have any.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
In Christ, YOU Are 'Too Much'!
In recent times, I have been reminded of the joy that comes from living, moving and having our being in Christ. His goodness to us that is expressed in all the wonderful things He does for us, through us and in us. After much consideration, I have once again, come to the conclusion that without a doubt God is not only good but consistently good.
One thing we must bear in mind about our God is the fact that His thoughts are far from ours. So we often misunderstand and misinterpret Him. As mere mortals and in the times that we live in currently, we are not given to a lot of patience so we start making judgments before God completes whatever work He is doing. I have found that if we just hold on a little longer, we would be able to say at the end of every experience that God is good. According to the scriptures, no experience is wonderful whilst one is going through it but at the end of the day, we find that it works for our good.
Hebrews 12: 11 NLT – ‘No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way’
The first expression of God’s goodness to you and I is in the saving of our souls. I don’t understand why God would first send His son to die just for people like us. It really does not make sense to me and as far as I know we are undeserving. If you think otherwise, please share your thoughts in the blog. One thing I know though is that God is wisdom so there must be something about you and I that make us worth dying for. Though I don’t know what it is, it makes me feel very special and valuable. Then the abundance of gifts He gives makes me feel even more special though more often than not, I dislike His preferred means of delivery.
Isn’t it amazing that God has chosen to dwell in you? Please let us think seriously about what happens when we get born again. The bible tells us that the father, son and the Holy Ghost come to indwell us. Please note that they do not indwell everyone. They only indwell those whom they have chosen to indwell and YOU ARE CHOSEN.
Colossians 2: 9 – 10 NLT – ‘For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you are also complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.’
This is not something we can pay for. The giver already paid for all those that He wants to give this gift to. Worse still, we don’t even earn it. When I really think about it, I must be very special to be chosen for this awesome gift. There is definitely something about me that makes me very special.
This is truth that no one can change. You and I are ‘too much’ otherwise God will not waste His time with us. We must not let any man tell us otherwise. When we know that we know who we truly are, everything changes. We become very confident and people wonder if we are okay. We are so confident that it may be considered arrogance but it isn’t. It comes as a result of the knowledge of your price and how valuable you are. You are priceless.
Nobody and nothing can put a price to you and I. God already put a price that nobody else can pay – the blood of Jesus. Nobody else can pay anything greater than that so they can not buy us except we lower our price/self-worth. We must not reduce or be unmindful of our self worth; any of the two provides satan the opportunity to buy us over. He presents options that look good just because we already reduced our self worth. You are ‘too much’ already.
One thing we must bear in mind about our God is the fact that His thoughts are far from ours. So we often misunderstand and misinterpret Him. As mere mortals and in the times that we live in currently, we are not given to a lot of patience so we start making judgments before God completes whatever work He is doing. I have found that if we just hold on a little longer, we would be able to say at the end of every experience that God is good. According to the scriptures, no experience is wonderful whilst one is going through it but at the end of the day, we find that it works for our good.
Hebrews 12: 11 NLT – ‘No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening – it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way’
The first expression of God’s goodness to you and I is in the saving of our souls. I don’t understand why God would first send His son to die just for people like us. It really does not make sense to me and as far as I know we are undeserving. If you think otherwise, please share your thoughts in the blog. One thing I know though is that God is wisdom so there must be something about you and I that make us worth dying for. Though I don’t know what it is, it makes me feel very special and valuable. Then the abundance of gifts He gives makes me feel even more special though more often than not, I dislike His preferred means of delivery.
Isn’t it amazing that God has chosen to dwell in you? Please let us think seriously about what happens when we get born again. The bible tells us that the father, son and the Holy Ghost come to indwell us. Please note that they do not indwell everyone. They only indwell those whom they have chosen to indwell and YOU ARE CHOSEN.
Colossians 2: 9 – 10 NLT – ‘For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you are also complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.’
This is not something we can pay for. The giver already paid for all those that He wants to give this gift to. Worse still, we don’t even earn it. When I really think about it, I must be very special to be chosen for this awesome gift. There is definitely something about me that makes me very special.
This is truth that no one can change. You and I are ‘too much’ otherwise God will not waste His time with us. We must not let any man tell us otherwise. When we know that we know who we truly are, everything changes. We become very confident and people wonder if we are okay. We are so confident that it may be considered arrogance but it isn’t. It comes as a result of the knowledge of your price and how valuable you are. You are priceless.
Nobody and nothing can put a price to you and I. God already put a price that nobody else can pay – the blood of Jesus. Nobody else can pay anything greater than that so they can not buy us except we lower our price/self-worth. We must not reduce or be unmindful of our self worth; any of the two provides satan the opportunity to buy us over. He presents options that look good just because we already reduced our self worth. You are ‘too much’ already.
Monday, 9 August 2010
'Dying' Daily To Live More Abundantly
I don’t have a biological father anymore. He went on to glory a few years ago. I thank God though for my heavenly father who fills the role of my biological father very well; giving me good and perfect gifts often. So, I think about Him and His role in my life a whole lot.
I think about the love we share, the pain, the joy, the experiences etc and I just love Him more but sometimes I also wonder – Doesn’t He ask for too much? Sometimes it is so bad that I think – does He want to kill me? I have found that the answer is yes, He does. He wants me 'dead' though living. Just like Jesus (God’s ultimate sacrifice) you & I have been called primarily to be a sacrifice to God – living sacrifice.
Romans 12: 1 NLT says ‘And so dear brothers and sisters, 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’.
Sacrifices usually die either physically or to themselves depending on what
personality or cause they have been sacrificed to. God demands that we die.
Mathew 10: 39 NLT says ‘if you cling to your life, you will lose; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it’.
In dying (being sacrificed), we give up our own lives that we may receive the true life – Jesus, the way the truth and the life. The manifestation in the physical of this lose of life can be anything from loss of friends, money, material possessions, position and/or social status. God is in the business of making a demand for the very core of our lives that He may exchange it for better. He is God that does not withhold any good thing from those that give Him their lives so that the pain that follows dying to Him last only for a short while.
Since the flesh is so strong, we have the tendency to take back our lives even after exchanging it: so God says we must take up our cross daily which implies that we must die daily because whenever we carry the cross, we get to Calvary (the place of death) and from there to a position in Christ Jesus. No wonder Paul says ‘I die daily’. We must die daily for God’s purpose to be achieved in and through us.
The experience that comes with being a sacrifice to God makes it very undesirable and man hates pain but loves pleasure. That is why though we all want to get to heaven, we don’t want to die. Instead of yielding to situations that God has allowed to ‘kill us’ so that we may enjoy the abundant life He alone gives, we go round them. We must be reminded that Jesus has taken the sting out of death so the pain is less to you & me. Moreover, He goes through the valley of the shadow of death with us so that we have an assurance that He will bring us out.
1 Corinthians 15: 36 NLT says ‘…when you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first’’.
Are you a living sacrifice? Are you dead? Do you die daily? Do you feel this pain I feel from time to time? Do you run your life by your intellect, making choices and decisions that are not aligned to the will & word of God? You & I must die that we may become trees of righteousness, plantings of the Lord.
Please ponder on this and share your thoughts with us.
I think about the love we share, the pain, the joy, the experiences etc and I just love Him more but sometimes I also wonder – Doesn’t He ask for too much? Sometimes it is so bad that I think – does He want to kill me? I have found that the answer is yes, He does. He wants me 'dead' though living. Just like Jesus (God’s ultimate sacrifice) you & I have been called primarily to be a sacrifice to God – living sacrifice.
Romans 12: 1 NLT says ‘And so dear brothers and sisters, 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’.
Sacrifices usually die either physically or to themselves depending on what
personality or cause they have been sacrificed to. God demands that we die.
Mathew 10: 39 NLT says ‘if you cling to your life, you will lose; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it’.
In dying (being sacrificed), we give up our own lives that we may receive the true life – Jesus, the way the truth and the life. The manifestation in the physical of this lose of life can be anything from loss of friends, money, material possessions, position and/or social status. God is in the business of making a demand for the very core of our lives that He may exchange it for better. He is God that does not withhold any good thing from those that give Him their lives so that the pain that follows dying to Him last only for a short while.
Since the flesh is so strong, we have the tendency to take back our lives even after exchanging it: so God says we must take up our cross daily which implies that we must die daily because whenever we carry the cross, we get to Calvary (the place of death) and from there to a position in Christ Jesus. No wonder Paul says ‘I die daily’. We must die daily for God’s purpose to be achieved in and through us.
The experience that comes with being a sacrifice to God makes it very undesirable and man hates pain but loves pleasure. That is why though we all want to get to heaven, we don’t want to die. Instead of yielding to situations that God has allowed to ‘kill us’ so that we may enjoy the abundant life He alone gives, we go round them. We must be reminded that Jesus has taken the sting out of death so the pain is less to you & me. Moreover, He goes through the valley of the shadow of death with us so that we have an assurance that He will bring us out.
1 Corinthians 15: 36 NLT says ‘…when you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first’’.
Are you a living sacrifice? Are you dead? Do you die daily? Do you feel this pain I feel from time to time? Do you run your life by your intellect, making choices and decisions that are not aligned to the will & word of God? You & I must die that we may become trees of righteousness, plantings of the Lord.
Please ponder on this and share your thoughts with us.
Monday, 2 August 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 26 July 2010
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.
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.
Monday, 19 July 2010
There Is Power MIGHTY In The Blood!
Blood has always been something I prefer to avoid; even the blood of animals. Thank God for already killed and cleaned animals we eat. I don’t know about you but it taste just like the freshly killed ones to me maybe even better. However, as I learn more from the bible about blood it gets clearer to me the reason blood has been an issue to me.
Leviticus 17: 11 & 14a affirms that the life of every animal is in the blood. As soon as the blood of any living thing and/or being is drained from its body, it ceases to have life. Indeed, there is power in the blood of every living thing. No wonder God instructed that the blood of animals be shed for the remission of sins before Christ came.
Recently, as I tried to imagine what must have inspired the hymn ‘there is power in the blood of Jesus’ I felt like my eyes opened to deeper truths of the reality of the strength and power in the blood of Jesus and what that blood is able to do for us. I want to share some of these thoughts that have changed my prayer life yet again.
In the coming of Christ to the world, God actually came down. No wonder one of the names of Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’ which is translated ‘God with us’. The blood that flowed in Jesus is the blood of God which carries the fullness of the life of God. According to the scriptures, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed once and that is for eternity. Also, since God lives forever, the life in the blood exists forever and has the same effect forever. There was no need for any other blood to be shed.
It had to be that blood of Jesus to deliver us from the clutches of sin and our strong enemy (the devil) especially because man through Adam, had given him legitimate authority and power to operate in man and on earth; so that even the life of so many animals could not totally deliver us from his hold.
Since God will not come into the world nor would He pour out his blood to earth from heaven because He is righteous, just and not a thief, He came as man and poured out once that most powerful blood on earth thereby defeating the devil in his terrain.
The blood of Jesus poured out on the cross was one of the most powerful things that happened at Calvary. Immediately, that blood is appropriated in one’s life, everything begins to change. It grants access to the rest of the benefits that we enjoy as a result of what happened on the cross. It immediately washes one so you can move to the kingdom of light and be called by a new name. It creates a definite separation between us and evil and brings immediate, total deliverance. No demon in hell can stand against this blood. No wonder the bible says in Revelation 12: 11 that ‘they overcame him by the blood of the lamb’
We must learn to appropriate this blood in the place of prayer. When we plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, we are like lawyers making a strong case for something before a judge based on statue or case law. Our basis for some requests is the blood of Jesus so we must plead it in those instances.
Have you been chanting 'blood of Jesus' over and over again like a joke or have you being making jokes with this blood? It is lack of revelation knowledge. You may need to ask God for fresh revelation. Let us take what is serious seriously.
Leviticus 17: 11 & 14a affirms that the life of every animal is in the blood. As soon as the blood of any living thing and/or being is drained from its body, it ceases to have life. Indeed, there is power in the blood of every living thing. No wonder God instructed that the blood of animals be shed for the remission of sins before Christ came.
Recently, as I tried to imagine what must have inspired the hymn ‘there is power in the blood of Jesus’ I felt like my eyes opened to deeper truths of the reality of the strength and power in the blood of Jesus and what that blood is able to do for us. I want to share some of these thoughts that have changed my prayer life yet again.
In the coming of Christ to the world, God actually came down. No wonder one of the names of Jesus is ‘Emmanuel’ which is translated ‘God with us’. The blood that flowed in Jesus is the blood of God which carries the fullness of the life of God. According to the scriptures, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed once and that is for eternity. Also, since God lives forever, the life in the blood exists forever and has the same effect forever. There was no need for any other blood to be shed.
It had to be that blood of Jesus to deliver us from the clutches of sin and our strong enemy (the devil) especially because man through Adam, had given him legitimate authority and power to operate in man and on earth; so that even the life of so many animals could not totally deliver us from his hold.
Since God will not come into the world nor would He pour out his blood to earth from heaven because He is righteous, just and not a thief, He came as man and poured out once that most powerful blood on earth thereby defeating the devil in his terrain.
The blood of Jesus poured out on the cross was one of the most powerful things that happened at Calvary. Immediately, that blood is appropriated in one’s life, everything begins to change. It grants access to the rest of the benefits that we enjoy as a result of what happened on the cross. It immediately washes one so you can move to the kingdom of light and be called by a new name. It creates a definite separation between us and evil and brings immediate, total deliverance. No demon in hell can stand against this blood. No wonder the bible says in Revelation 12: 11 that ‘they overcame him by the blood of the lamb’
We must learn to appropriate this blood in the place of prayer. When we plead the blood of Jesus in prayer, we are like lawyers making a strong case for something before a judge based on statue or case law. Our basis for some requests is the blood of Jesus so we must plead it in those instances.
Have you been chanting 'blood of Jesus' over and over again like a joke or have you being making jokes with this blood? It is lack of revelation knowledge. You may need to ask God for fresh revelation. Let us take what is serious seriously.
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