jiggaz:
One of my biggest testimonies of believing the Gospel of Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is this...

Before knowing and believing the Gospel of Grace i. e Justification by faith alone.... I always have demonic attacks. I was a Christian but i did not know who i am in Christ because of the Law Preaching / Condemnation my pastor then always preaches. I was having serious spiritual attacks and anytime, i sleep, its always warfare with demonic entities trying to kill me...

1) I have been shot in the dream with a bullet.

2) I have been attacked with different weapons by demonic spirits in the dream.

3) Sometimes when i sleep, i will wake up suddenly in the night and in a trance, see a wild animal sleeping beside me & i will shout but the thing will kind of vanish.

4) I have been reported by somebody to a shrine and they invoked one useless disease that wanted to disfigure my face way back then....

5) I have been attacked spiritually in the night that most times, i will wake up in the middle of the night shouting cos a group of strong men wanted to bury me inside a pit...

I have seen so many things and have ran helter skelter, from one deliverance to another. Some worked but still the attacks continued. God was protecting me then cos He's the Almighty......

But in June 2015, my sister gave me Pastor Joseph Prince's videos to watch... I started listening to his teachings on Grace, Truth, Jesus Christ and His Finished Work on the Cross.. and i was transformed!!! After one month of studying his teachings, cross-checking from the bible and being established in the fact that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, all those nightmares stopped completely!! I told everyone close to me cos i was soooooo happy!!!

The Gospel of Grace saves!! Knowing that Christ has made me righteous apart from my works!! I sleep soundly now, no more nightmares .... That's why i push the grace gospel here cos i know that so many people need it to be free!!

When you are established in the Gospel of Grace, the devill will become powerless in your life. That is why he is fighting the Gospel of Grace so much.... Grace is a person and it is our Lord Jesus Christ!!

I am also very Happy that this Gospel of Christ have spread all over the world... from America to India to Australia to everywhere!!!

Hallelujah to Jesus for you.

I was once like that too. Mine was fear! Especially of night. I fear something evil will happen to me in the dark and so I'm constantly perturbed by night.

Another is dreams. I would dream being pursued by wild animals on several occasions.

My breakthrough happened when I became truly born again in late 2015. I usually don't attend church service and Sunday school is a no no for me. Plus, I was not convince in the Lord Jesus as my Savior. I was confused as to how Jesus is God, Son of God and prophet all at the same time.

My confusion led me to embrace Islam, unknown to my family. But still, I felt incomplete and at some point miserable and confused yet again. I read the Qur'an complete(something I have never done with my Bible. A lot of Christians are like that and it so unfortunate) hoping to find the solace that will give my soul peace, I find none. To me, the Qur'an is full of venom. The Hadith, too much drama about the life of Muhammad.

I became more confused than ever.

So, I decided to keep an open mind and ask questions about Jesus. Started attending church service and my miracle happened late 2015 when I started attending Sunday school class.


God opened my eyes to the truth in His word. The truth is, No man can redeem himself the price is too great (Psalms 49:7- and no amount of my effort can truly guarantee heaven if I don't rest in His Mercy, Love and Sacrifice which was made manifest through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection (1John 4:9). For the Bible says the blood of bull and lamb(trying by one's effort of keeping the law to be made righteous) can not take away sin (Hebrews10:4-10). Jesus has done it once and for all. All I need is believe He has won the victory I couldn't for me. And that's what I did. I just believe!

Then to the fear part.

God opened my eyes to the truth in Psalms 91.... I never understood there are arrows that fly by day and I walk about without fear. Now, I got to understand there are, then I asked myself... 'Ruth, who has been keeping and protecting you all these while despite your ignorance?' I answered 'Hmmm... God'. If then He's able to protect and save you during the day, then He's more than able to, even by night! And that was how fear of night disappeared with all other fears. Dreaming of animals pursuing me is completely gone.

The Lord is good! Amen

jiggaz:
2 Corinthians 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him

God wants us to seek His righteousness and not our own righteousness. When we seek our own righteousness, we will always end up feeling miserable because we can never be righteous by our works, no matter how hard we try. That is why our loving Father wants us to remember that righteousness is not right behavior but a person—Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30), and that we have “become the righteousness of God in Him”.

I know of a lady who, before coming to our church, attempted to establish her own righteousness by confessing all her sins to “clean” herself up. But she found that the more she confessed her sins, the more sins she discovered in herself. She became guilt-ridden and miserable. Feeling stressed out and weary of confessing her sins all the time, she eventually left the church she was attending. In fact, she never stepped into another church again for the next 10 years.

One day, someone gave her my message tape entitled You Will Never Lose God’s Everlasting Righteousness Given To You and she started listening to it. Once she learnt that Jesus was the measure of her righteousness and acceptance before God, she began to seek God’s righteousness by seeing Christ as her righteousness. Before long, peace and joy came flooding back into her life.Today, she worships in our church. She testified of how God has supernaturally healed her of a long-term medical condition she had. Even her husband, once balding, found hair sprouting supernaturally! God was adding all these things to her according to His promise—“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. (Matthew 6:33)

Beloved, seeking God’s righteousness means that you see Jesus as someone who knew no sin but became sin for you, so that He could give you His righteousness and make you the righteousness of God in Him! As you proclaim daily the truth that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, you will see “all these things” (Matthew 6:33) added to you without even asking for them!

Thought For The Day

Righteousness is not right behavior but a person—Jesus.

http://www.josephprince.org/daily-grace/grace-inspirations/single/jesus-the-measure-of-your-righteousness/

Ref 19v8.... Believers righteousness was never earned nor can it be earned but was granted; a free gift of God. Now, if God say I'm righteousness because of Christ sacrifice why should I believe otherwise by believing the devils lies? devil is our accuser anyways, so don't expect anything good from him. but God is for us and if He is then no one can be against us. All I need is to BELIEVE and know that His sacrifice is SUFFICIENT for me.

Amen.

jiggas, keep the good work going..... Christ is exalted.

jiggaz:
Much of what we believe about discipline in the church is informed by the old covenant. For instance, if you think God’s discipline entails punishment in any shape or form, you’re living in the past. You haven’t seen the cross (Is 53:5).

Think about it. If the cross was the once and final solution for sin Hebrews says it is, then you would not expect to find any scriptures in the new covenant linking sin with divine punishment. And indeed, there are none – except this one:

For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. (Heb 12:6, NASB)

As we saw in our last post , this may be a badly mangled New Testament quote of an Old Testament proverb. It’s like reading Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech in Chinese and finding the last line says, “Thank God almighty, we are not free at all!” It’s jarring, it’s wrong, and it runs totally against the context.
Am I saying the Bible is wrong? No, we don’t have to go that far.

As I explained last time, my best guess is the problem was introduced during translation. I am convinced that the author of Hebrews had a profound revelation of God with-no-whip. The picture he gives us is of a good God sitting on a throne of grace offering us grace and mercy in our time of need (Heb 4:16). And when we go astray – what happens then? Does God come charging after us with a whip? No, he deals with us gently (Heb 5:2) as a loving father deals with his sons (Heb 12:. The suggestion that God metaphorically rips shreds off us with a flagellum is slanderous and ridiculous.
To help you settle this in your own mind, I want to give you
…

7 reasons why God never scourges his children

1. In the Bible, the word for scourge (mastigoō ) appears in 7 times in 7 verses. In every verse apart from Hebrews 12:6 it is associated with unjust punishment inflicted by the unjust upon the just – either Jesus (Mt 20:19, Mar 10:34, Lu 18:33, Joh 19:1) or those who follow him (Mat 10:7, 23:34). Given this context, to say that a God scourges his sons implies that God acts like the unjust, which he doesn’t.

2. The context of Hebrews 12 is being persecuted for the faith (see Hebrews 11). There is something twisted in telling a group of believers facing the threat of scourging that God is the one scourging them. The author writes to encourage them (Heb 12:3,5). Hearing that God is the one persecuting you is not encouraging. It’s discouraging. It doesn’t fit the context.

3. Nor does it make any sense. If God scourges us then the hurts of Heb 12:11 are the hurts of his scourging. But the actual hurts being experienced were the hurts of persecution,
not sickness or anything you might wrongly accuse God of giving you. Believers have always been persecuted for the gospel and sometimes that persecution takes the form of flogging (see Heb 11:36). To read Heb 12:6 as scourging is like saying, “God is punishing you for believing in him.”

4. In Biblical times, scourging was reserved for slaves and criminals, not sons and citizens. Jesus and Paul were both unjustly scourged. Paul never says, “I was scourged for my good.” Instead, he resisted scourging (Acts 22:25), as should every free man and woman.

5. Hebrews 12 says God disciplines or trains us as a father. I don’t know any father, good or bad, who scourges his kids the way the Romans scourged Jesus. It’s a metaphor that doesn’t apply at any level. God doesn’t train us with whips. He nurtures us. The Biblical picture of godly fathering is this: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4, KJV). Scourging is not nurturing.

6. There was one father in the Bible who was famous for using whips and rods, and that was Solomon. We know he used the rod of correction because he tells us in Proverbs (13:24, 22:15, 23:14-15, 29:15). Solomon evidently had old-school views regarding corporal punishment yet even he didn’t whip his sons. He said whips were for horses (Prov 26:3). I’ve had people tell me they won’t respond to God unless he whips them. That’s like saying, “I’m as dumb as a horse.”

7. Jesus met plenty of people in need of correction and discipline. How many of those people did Jesus scourge? How many did he afflict with pain, sickness, trials, or suffering? Zero. If Jesus was ever going to whip someone, he might’ve whipped the Pharisees, but he didn’t. He even said the Pharisees belonged to their father the devil (Joh 8:44). If God won’t scourge the devil’s kids, he surely won’t whip his own.

The terrifying God of Hebrews

There are 303 verses in Hebrews and, in my opinion, 99.7% of them were translated into Greek more or less accurately. Why am I so worked up about one solitary verb? Because a whip-toting monster-of-a-god has been created on the basis of that one verb!

God is dangerous enough without us adding to the Bible. For those who reject his grace Hebrews describes him as a “consuming fire” (Heb 12:29), and warns that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31).
Am I trying to balance my words by painting God as both loving and terrifying, as though he were double-minded? No – I’m saying that a perfect God cannot coexist with imperfect man and the only way we can relate to him is through his free and perfect grace. Those who try to approach God on their own imperfect merits will find him unaccommodating and consequently terrifying.

The Hebrews of old knew this – they had seen this consuming God at the untouchable Mount Sinai when the old covenant was given. They were terrified and wouldn’t draw near. But we have not returned to Mount Sinai. We have come to Mount Zion and to Jesus the mediator of a new and better covenant (Heb 12:24).

To make sense of Hebrews, you need to understand that it sends two messages to two kinds of people.

(i) For those uncertain about the grace of God, the message is: “See to it that you don’t refuse the one who speaks” (Heb 12:25). Through the book of Hebrews God draws the ungodly to himself, urging them to abandon the sinking ship of self-sufficiency and to enter his rest.

(ii) For those who have already entered, the message is “Draw near – approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Heb 4:14).

But the ungodly won’t come in and the saint won’t draw near if they believe God is waiting for them with a whip of scourging. That is not the gospel and it is not the message of Hebrews.

https://escapetoreality.org/2013/06/18/does-god-scourge-us/

Truth!

if Jesus can listen and answer the plea of those demons in that man at the sepulchre and didn't punish them despite what they have done to that man but hearken and send them into the herds of swine , how much more will he not punish his own children

Christian discipline is not punishment, it is restoring a fellow believers who sins back to the Lord not counting oneself as incapable of doing the same thing. Gal 6v1

Some churches today still use that passage of "Scourging " to inert punishment on fellow believers who sins. My church for instance have the "sinners seat".... it is heart breaking!

if you are caught in adultery, fornication, abortion, stealing and so on .... You'll sit on the sinners seat for months and your sin ,the number times and so on will be publicly announced to the whole congregation with an air of triumph. And I wonder whether lying, lusting, changing zeroes, envy and so on are not sins punishable as the aforementioned.

Once a young dude was caught with someone else's phone, he was whipped before the whole congregation like a Fulani chap wanting a wife... after the disgrace, he never come back to the church. Am I saying it is okay to sin? NO. But there are better ways to go about it. Like book Galarians admonished.

Christ didn't teach us this way (scourging) I pray our eyes be open to see the truth about Him. Amen

�

meobizy:
I remember chatting up Ekaette [real name] from Nairaland. I got her number from a random thread. After lapping up the attention and giving mono-responses repeatedly she blocked my line for good.

I remember collecting the number of a popular politics section member aiming for a hook up. When I discovered she was old, unmarried, a single mother and no different in size from a hippo I left the number sitting lonely in my list.
From time to time I went through her pictures, wondering how women allow themselves go physically.

I looked around this forum, searching for opposite sex members I could get numbers from and hopefully engage in something meaningful with. I stay disappointed in my search at the low quality females who congregate here.

I will update similar stories from other platforms in my diary.

Well, you have got to keep trying and searching, who knows t hat lady might just be around the corner.

And if you don't mind, I have got a lady who might change your thinking about Nairaland girls.... dm me for her number.

Shalom.

[quote author=meobizy post=73203029]I remember chatting up Ekaette [real name] from Nairaland. I got her number from a random thread. After lapping up the attention and giving mono-responses repeatedly she blocked my line for good.

I remember collecting the number of a popular politics section member aiming for a hook up. When I discovered she was old, unmarried, a single mother and no different in size from a hippo I left the number sitting lonely in my list.
From time to time I went through her pictures, wondering how women allow themselves go physically.

I looked around this forum, searching for opposite sex members I could get numbers from and hopefully engage in something meaningful with. I stay disappointed in my search at the low quality females who congregate here.

I will update similar stories from other platforms in my diary.[/quote

jiggaz:
If God loves us unconditionally, how do we account for those scriptures that link His love with our obedience, like this one:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15)

A legalist reads this backwards: “You will keep my commandments if you love me.”

In other words, we must prove our love for God by doing what He commands. Commandment-keeping is our duty, a condition we must meet if we are to enjoy His love.

But someone who is walking in grace reads it just as Jesus said it. He understands that keeping His commands is a by-product of love. Paul explains this in Romans 8:3-4, but let me give you an everyday example inspired by something I read from Steve McVey.

Here in New Zealand we have a big problem with domestic violence. Consequently, there are many laws governing the responsibilities of fathers. Break any of these laws and you might go to jail or have your kids taken away. It’s a serious business. But to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what these laws are. I’ve never read them. Yet I can confidently declare that I am keeping every one of these laws. How do I know? Because I love my kids. I don’t keep the laws to show the authorities that I love my kids and I don’t relate to my children on the basis of these laws. I relate to them on the basis of love and keeping the laws of the land flows naturally from that love relationship. I know the laws serve a good purpose, but they weren’t written for me. They were written for fathers who don’t love their kids.

Similarly, the laws found in the Bible were not written for those who love Jesus (1 Tim 1:9). Contrary to what the legalist may tell you, keeping the laws to earn what He freely offers is a surefire sign that you don’t know the love of God. A legalist reads the words of Jesus above and sees a threat. Do the commandments or else! But love makes no threats. Jesus is returning for a bride and it won’t be a shotgun wedding.

What are the commands of Jesus?

The next time someone tells you that you must keep the commands of Jesus to prove your love, ask them, “what are the commands of Jesus?” They will probably respond with the greatest commandment which is, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul” (Mt 22:38). This is fine, I guess. But if you insert that command into the phrase above it becomes, “If you love me, you will love me with all your heart, mind and soul,” which is kind of redundant.

If you read John 14:15 in context, you will see that on this occasion Jesus is referring to two specific commands. Here’s the first:

“A new command I give you: Love one another….” (Jn 13:34)

And here’s the second:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me… Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves” (Jn 14:1,11)

How can we be certain that these are His commandments? Because John – who was there when Jesus spoke these words – says so in one of his letters:

“And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.” (1 Jn 3:23)

What does it mean to keep His commands?

Lest we dilute His commandments to accommodate our experience, Jesus outlines His expectations of obedience for both. Here’s what He expects from the first:

“As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
(Jn 13:34)

How did Jesus love us? By laying down His life for us (Jn 15:3). That’s a high standard of love! Indeed, there is no greater love. And what are His expectations regarding the second commandment:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these…” (Jn 14:12)

Believe in Jesus and you will do the works of Jesus. Put it altogether and Jesus is saying this:

“If you love me, you will love one another as I have loved you and your faith in me will lead to miracles like I have been doing and greater miracles still.”

If you’ve been in any church for at least five years, you will know that Jesus’ first commandment is pretty much humanly impossible to keep, while the second commandment is definitely impossible. So the next time someone tries to lay a heavy burden on you by telling you that you must keep Jesus’ commandments to earn God’s love, just ask them how many people they’ve raised from the dead! When they look puzzled, tell them that Jesus commanded us to believe in Him and He said that those who did would do the same works He did and greater works besides!

Now that we begin to understand what Jesus wasn’t saying – He wasn’t saying that we need to keep His commandments to prove our love – we’re ready to dig deeper into what He was saying. That’s the subject of the next post. You won’t want to miss it. When you see what Jesus was promising His disciples and you, it’s going to blow you away! Maybe you’ve been intimidated by John 14:15 and the other new covenant laws. If so, prepare to be set free. When you get a hold of the words of Jesus you’re going to be so pumped that you’ll want to frame them and hang them on your wall. Stay tuned!



https://escapetoreality.org/2011/06/03/john-14v15/

Beautiful!

It is all about Christ love for us. Hallelujah!

jiggaz:
In the Old Testament, God ordained the anointing oil to bless His people. But what can new covenant believers use it for today? Joseph Prince shares from the Bible how the anointing oil speaks of Christ and His finished work.
Understanding this will give you access to God’s supernatural provision of health, wholeness and prosperity!

The Bible mentions in many places the grain, wine and oil. For years, I had wondered why the Lord always mentions these three items together. So I asked the Lord and I thank Him that the search is over.

Through the grain, wine and oil, we can receive by grace, not by accomplishing or striving, all the benefits of Jesus. Man ate his way into trouble in the Garden of Eden. By the same token, you can eat your way back into God’s blessings today.

Seeing Christ In The Grain, Wine And Oil

The grain and wine represent the Holy Communion, which speaks of the broken body of Jesus and the blood that He shed. To make bread, you take the wheat or grain, then crush and beat it to make dough. Then, you punch the dough and put it into the fiery heat for it to become bread. That’s what happened to our Lord Jesus on the cross—He became our Bread of Life.

To get wine, the grapes not only have to be plucked, they also need to be crushed and trodden upon. Likewise, our Lord Jesus was trodden upon by the judgment of God and He became new wine for all of us.

Olive oil comes from the olive fruit. But when you press the fruit real hard, you won’t find oil, only a white sap. Also, the fruit tastes very bitter. To get the oil, the fruit and its seed have to be crushed by a great weight in an olive press. The crushing also removes the bitterness. In the same manner, Jesus was crushed under the burden and weight of our sins, and under the judgment of a holy God. He was crushed to become the anointing oil that heals us today.

Ordained By God

God is bringing the church to a place where we see the importance of the holy anointing oil. God’s way is always for us to act on what we can do in the natural, and He will accomplish in the supernatural what we cannot. Using the anointing oil is biblical and ordained by God. So don’t let people tell you that you are superstitious for using the anointing oil.

James 5:14–15
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

It was a practice in the early church to use the anointing oil on the sick. So when the elders of the church visited the sick, they anointed the sick person with oil in the name of the Lord. “And the prayer of faith will save the sick ” shows us clearly that this is not a superstition, but something done in faith. How do you have faith? “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ” (Romans 10:17) So once you have a revelation about what the Bible teaches on a subject, faith for that area will come.

Fresh Oil Of The New Covenant

Let’s look at Psalm 92, a psalm for the Sabbath. In verse 10, it says, “ But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. ” God expects us to have fresh oil because when oil gets stagnant, it becomes stale.
The word “fresh” in Hebrew is raanan which means “green”. Notice that extra virgin olive oil is green. Green speaks of newness or youth. So the oil has to be of the new covenant because the oil of the old covenant is stale.

The old covenant tells you that you must obey God before He can heal your body. Some people believe that and their faith becomes stale. They will slowly stay away from God because of wrong believing.

But do you know that the new covenant doesn’t teach that? It teaches that despite your failures, God will heal you. As seen earlier in James 5:15, even if a person has committed sins, he need not feel disqualified because God will forgive his sins through the prayer of faith. Once sin, the biggest hindrance, has been removed, what is there to stop us from receiving from God?

After we have prayed over the olive oil, it becomes holy anointing oil. “Holy” means set apart for God’s purposes. It also means “separated from”—darkness into light, lack into abundance and sickness into wholeness. Thus, the anointing oil is no longer just natural oil. The next verse says:

Psalm 92:11
My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; my ears hear my desire on the wicked who rise up against me.

When you are anointed with green or fresh oil, it’s going to affect your eyes and ears. Your eyes will see victory and your ears will hear victory. So “the wicked ” or your enemies will not prosper, but you will!

Before you read the Bible, you can tell the Lord, “I am anointing my eyes, Lord. Let me see You afresh in the Scriptures.” Then, you will find that the Bible comes alive for you. You are relying on the Holy Spirit to give you revelations, to guide you into all truths, and not trusting in your own intellect.

Yokes Destroyed, Burdens Lifted
Isaiah 10:27
It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke [satanic bondage] will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

Sometimes, you feel stressed and are full of worries. After a quarrel or moment of strife, you sense a weight on your shoulders. The word “his” in the above verse refers to the Assyrians, Israel’s enemies then. Today, it represents the spirit of the anti-Christ or the devil who seeks to oppress you. An ox has a yoke around its neck to pull the cart. Likewise, the devil wants to put a yoke on your neck to pull you wherever he wants you to go. For instance, if you are addicted to nicotine, the devil tells you, “You cannot but smoke. I’ve got you where I want you.”

But the thing that can destroy this yoke is the anointing oil. You may say, “Pastor Prince, the oil represents the power of the Holy Spirit.” Yes, the Holy Spirit is 100 per cent involved here. But in this context, God says to use “the anointing oil”. Then, the power of the Holy Spirit will destroy every satanic bondage in your life.

Notice that the yoke will be “ destroyed ” and not “broken”. There is a difference between these two words. When something is broken, it can be repaired. But when something is destroyed, it is beyond repair. God’s anointing oil will destroy every satanic bondage in your life beyond repair!

Restoration Of Time And Family Life

When the devil wants to attack you, one of the ways he comes against you is to steal from you. In Deuteronomy 28, there is a very interesting principle to observe under the portion of the curses.

Deuteronomy 28:38–40
“You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off.

The “ seed” here refers to grain and in the “vineyards ”, you have wine. Notice that the devil is out to consume your grain and wine, so he sends the locusts and worms. He is also out to consume your oil.
Let’s look at the next verse to find out why the devil wants to take away these things from your life.

Deuteronomy 28:41
You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity.

Whenever there is a lack of the grain, wine and oil, your family life is affected. You may have children whom you love deeply, but when they grow up, you lose them. Mixing with bad company, they become captive to drinking, partying and drug addictions.
But God has prepared a way out for you.

Joel 2:23–24
…for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

The “ former rain” in Hebrew refers to a teacher of righteousness. The reason God gives you a teacher of righteousness is so that the church, your home and your workplace will be full of grain, and overflowing with new wine and oil. And the next verse says:

Joel 2:25
“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.

Here, the “ chewing locust” refers to the worm. The King James Bible uses the word “palmerworm”. When your life is full of the grain, wine and oil, God will restore to you the years that the locusts and worms have eaten. Some of you may say, “Pastor Prince, once the years have passed, they are gone.” But the Creator of time says that He will restore to you the years that have been wasted!

Revealing The Beauty Of The Olive Tree

When you study the olive tree, you will be blessed because every part of the tree has a meaning. Today, when you go to the Garden of Gethsemane in Israel, you will find really old olive trees with gnarled trunks. Interestingly, the trunk of an olive tree is hollow unlike most trees.

Why is the olive tree trunk hollow? The olive tree represents each of us and God wants us to remember always that we are created by God with this purpose—to contain Him only, not ourselves or the devil.

People who don’t fulfill or refuse to accept God’s purpose for them will feel empty inside. They can do many things to fill themselves up—live for pleasure, earn lots of money, get whatever they desire—but they will end up feeling empty. You can even see the emptiness if you look real close into their eyes. But when you look at those who are full of God, there is a fire in their eyes and a spring in their steps everywhere they go.

In the Bible, God describes His people Israel as the “Green Olive Tree”. (Jeremiah 11:16) We, who were formerly Gentiles, have been grafted into this olive tree. (Romans 11:13–25) The olive tree lives long, so expect to live a good, long life. Have you wondered how the olive tree lives long?

Benefits Of The Olive Oil Released Through The Cross

A few years ago when I was in Capernaum, the hometown of Jesus, I saw an olive press. The guide explained that olive berries were put in the press and crushed with a huge millstone. The first press produces extra virgin olive oil, which is used to light the Jewish temple. The oil from the second press is used for medicine, while the oil from the third or last press is used for making soap.

At that moment, the Holy Spirit revealed to me, “That’s what happened to Jesus in Gethsemane.” Gethsemane, which means “oil press”, was where Jesus was first pressed in a time of darkness (Luke 22:53), so that we will always be in the light and walk in the light.

The light makes you see what others—your competitors, professors, scientists—cannot see in the natural. It is the Holy Spirit that gives you spiritual enlightenment. For instance, people saw David as a shepherd boy. But Samuel, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saw a king in David. So the anointing oil will cause you to see how God sees. And when you see how He sees, you will enjoy what He enjoys.

The second press took place after Jesus was brought from Gethsemane and scourged. Jesus is our “medicine” because “by His stripes we are healed ”. (Isaiah 53:5)

A member in our church told me that he had eczema on his left thigh for some time. He had applied all kinds of medication on his thigh, but the eczema did not subside. When I first preached about the anointing oil, he bought some olive oil and prayed over it. Then, he started applying the oil on a daily basis for a week. Today, he is healed of eczema!

The last press, in which the oil is used for cleansing, happened at the cross. Jesus was crushed under the fiery indignation of a holy righteous God, suffering the judgment and penalties for our sins. His blood has cleansed us of our sins.

Olive oil in the natural has no effect on you unless you eat or use it. But when you pray over your bottle of natural olive oil in Jesus’ name, God sets it apart and it becomes holy anointing oil. Use the oil for God’s glory and see His miracles, prosperity and restoration in your life!

Prayer For Anointing Oil

You may approach a pastor or leader in your local church to pray over and consecrate your oil for you. As a king and priest in Christ (Revelation 1:6), you can also pray over the oil and set it apart to be holy. Here’s a prayer for blessing and sanctifying your oil:

Dear Father in heaven, in and of itself, this bottle of oil is just oil. But I ask You, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, anoint this oil I hold in my hands. Anoint it and set it apart for Your holy purposes. Make it holy anointing oil.
Use it for Your glory, Father. According to Your Word in Mark 6:13 and James 5:14, use it to make those on whom it is applied healthy, strong, and youthful, with sickness and disease far from them.

Father, I pray that as this oil is set apart right now for holy and consecrated purposes, may it bring down Your glory, bring down Your miracles. Wherever it is laid, may it turn darkness into light. May it turn lack into abundance. May it turn sickness into healing. May there be wonderful restoration and fruitfulness.

Father, I thank You that this bottle of oil is now holy anointing oil. In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.


http://www.josephprince.org/daily-grace/articles/single/understanding-the-significance-of-the-olive-tree-and-anointing-oil/

This is powerful!

I'm really blessed.

Christ..... the grain, wine and oil. I have never seen it this way talk more of imagine it.
Thank you Lord Jesus for being my light, healing and cleansing. Hallelujah to Jesus my Lover and Lord.

jiggas, remain blessed!!!

jiggaz:
1 Corinthians 11:26
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

In the Old Testament, whenever the children of Israel sacrificed a lamb for a burnt offering as they faced a strong enemy, victory was theirs. For example, in 1 Samuel 7:7–11, when the Philistines were coming against them, the prophet Samuel offered a lamb as a burnt offering. As it was being offered, the Lord came like a loud thunder on the Philistine army, confusing them. This led to victory for the Israelites.

Every time something bad happened to the children of Israel, by offering a lamb sacrifice, they were proclaiming the Lord’s death, and the battle would turn in their favor.

Today, when we are faced with an enemy, how do we offer our “burnt offering”? How do we proclaim the Lord’s death and come out victorious? Do we ask Jesus to come down to where we are at and die on the cross all over again?

Of course not. Jesus died once for all our sins—past, present and future. (Hebrews 10:12) His work is perfectly perfect and completely complete, so He doesn’t have to die for us again. Today, we proclaim His death simply by partaking of the Lord’s Supper.

Every time you partake of the bread and wine, you declare to the principalities and powers of darkness that the Lord’s death avails for you. Every time you partake, you are saying that because Jesus has been judged and punished in your place, you cannot be judged and punished. Because Jesus died young in your place, you will live long. And because He conquered death and stripped the devil of his powers, you will not be defeated. The victory is already yours!

That is why the psalmist David said, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…” (Psalm 23:5) The Lord’s table is prepared for you in the presence of your enemies because when you partake of the bread and wine, you will see your enemies tremble and scatter! Why? Because when you proclaim the Lord’s death through the Holy Communion, you are reminding the devil and his cohorts of their humiliating defeat at Calvary’s cross! (Colossians 2:15)

Thought For The Day

Every time you partake of the bread and wine, you declare to the powers of darkness that the Lord’s death avails for you and that the victory is already yours!


http://www.josephprince.org/daily-grace/grace-inspirations/single/proclaim-the-lords-death/

Indeed, we do that in remembrance (though not as if we have forgotten) of what Jesus has done for us.

Hallelujah to Jesus. Amen.

bloodofthelamb:
Solite, Jiggaz, AlexRi, Ichuka, Janeyinspires/ MuttleyLaff, ScienceWatch, Johnw47 and all who has something edifying to say.

Let's reason together. May the Holy Spirit convict and convince us of the truth, that is the absolute mind of the Father in Jesus name. Amen!

Just saw this now. I have not been online for a while. I will reply when digest the op. Thanks Bro, keep up the good work. Christ is magnify.

It is His "neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more"... Very Truthful! Condemnation has never yield anything positive even in our every day life talk more of salvation. Jesus You're Good. Jiggaz, That is a beautiful piece, thanks and God bless you PLENTY.

jiggaz, God bless you for this beautiful op. Christ is praise.

If God's Love is not based on what you do or do not, how can it change because of what you do or do not?! No way! Abraham the father of faith was made righteous by faith. If only you'll have faith and accept Jesus today, you also will be made righteous. It has been faith from the beginning till now and so shall it be till the end. Jesus is still calling, have you received His call? If not, NOW is the time!

This Piece is awesome. I love it! It is powerful and enlightening. Thank You Jesus For Your Love unending and for wisdom.

TheAlchemist:

Wonderful post. Thanks

You're welcome. Christ our bond be praise.

Most of the time, I will play a song that is talking about God's love for me till day breaks. I came to discover that the more I bless Him for his amazing love and grace for me, the more He floods me with his annointing and presence.[/quote] This song 'Jesus, how I love you' came to mind. I LOVE this song with everything in me. It is always awesome in His presence. God bless you bro.

Remember, in His presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore. You can never feel depressed in His holy presence.[/quote] Yes sir!

bloodofthelamb:
NB: It is not only in the morning you do this. You can carry it out anytime when you are less busy.

Just move out from the presence of people and find a quiet place to ruminate and reflect on God's love for you.

The more you do, the more you are filled with the fullness of God.

You will become his light to this dark world. His glory, goodness, mercy, love, power will be seen and felt through you. Hallelujah!

This was the secrete of Jesus Christ( God in flesh ) and all the holy men who did mighty deeds for God.

May God bless you and fill you as you draw near to Him. Amen!

Amen! Thanks for this

Okay, Keep learning man, learning is good. The Lord is thy strength.

He didn't only show the way, He is the Way! And the only way. Believing is sufficient but not just any belief cos as you've rightly mentioned satan believe too. But to believe that Christ died for your sins and rose for your justification, that's the only way to be righteous in God's sight not some punny efforts of ours. It is not an error in understanding. The God kind of love is high and deep, the question is, who can attain it? The Bible says "I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me". Now, how can you be strengthen to do all things(including loving your neighbour in the God kinda love) through Christ that you've not believed in?

budaatum:
The Lord is with you.

Amen! Budaatum, hope you've forgiven me?

budaatum:

You would please be specific and show me which quote I cherry pick.
When I converse with Christians, I do assume they are aware of the devil's cherry picking when he tempted Christ on the mountain. If I do the same, I am a fool for not comprehending the most basic and one of the first lesson Christ taught one to beware of. Or I am assuming you are stupid, which I think you would find opposes my words against assumptions. I am after all an atheist. I need evidence, and not baseless assumptions cooked up in my head!
Do note that I expect you to at least refer to the entire chapter, and Bible, and whatever the Holy Spirit brings to mind, and if you can, bring your entire knowledge in too, when you read what I write. Do not cherry pick in your understanding, for that is not what Jesus taught one to do.

I was in the wrong, forgive me. I just re-read your comment on my quote. I've modified it. It's wrong of me to have replied you when I was engrossed in somethn els

bloodofthelamb:


Thank you sis, for this brilliant reply. I did not even noticed this your post before I replied him.

Awesome enough, we are of the same line of thought.

You're welcome bro.

Ok, assumption is wrong. Anyway, you are right that God's standards are exceedingly high, and no man can meet them. But Jesus has fulfilled ALL for the whole world. What is left is for man is to believe. Shalom!

AlexRi:
The Love that comes from the knowledge and realization of God's love is second to none! Your love for God is made manifest when you love your neighbour not the reverse. So, atheist that donot even believe in HIS existence, love Him? You certainly can not give what you don't have!

Another thing is, as humans (whether atheist, muslim or christian) we all love but what differentiate our kinda love from God's is that, God kinda love "is not partial skeptical love which seeks to embrace only those who echo our feelings, hopes, aspirations, likes and dislikes nor is it reciprocal. Rather, it is a love that is trusting and opens towards ALL, both friends and foes. It is unsuspecting and it seeks to win over the opponent even as he may be planning to stab us viciously in the back". I suppose this isn't the kind of love you mean humans have or is it? Now, when you realise and believe God loves you this much, what follows is you loving your neighbour as you have been loved.

budaatum:

I beg to differ! You began well enough but got lost along the way somewhere.

When Jesus, who Christians call God, was asked when it was that they had loved God, he answered, "in as much as ye have done for those here whom thou seest, ye have done for the Lord thy God in heaven whom thou seest not".

You show the love of God by loving your fellow human being, or the Levite and the Priest would precede the Samaritan in going to heaven, and the Samaritan would continue unto the hell many think was preserved for him!

You cannot love God and hate your neighbour! And those who love their neighbour love God whether they are Samaritans, Muslims, atheists or Christians!

The Love that comes from the knowledge and realization of God's love is second to none! Your love for God is made manifest when you love your neighbour not the reverse. So, atheist that donot even believe in HIS existence, love Him? You certainly can not give what you don't have!

bloodofthelamb:


Amen!

The Lover of our soul(Christ Jesus) is exalted forever without end. Amen!

Amen!

bloodofthelamb:


Christ be praised sister. Thank you for this timeless scripture you posted.

I am wrapped up in the evergreen love of Christ.

You're welcome brother. "38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" ( Romans 8:38-39). Glory Hallelujah. Amen!

Lovely post brother. Keep up the good work. Christ is exalted.

"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not Love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not Love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing"(1Cor13:1-3). We are NOTHING without this Love, For God is love(1John 4:8b).

This piece is awesome! Keep up the good work jiggaz

Jesus the ONLY true way to life. Brother, God bless you for this wonderful piece.

HCpaul:
I can't just believe that a road leading to the Almighty Heaven can be narrow. Every real kingdom usually plan a broader route and not a narrow one. That is where the delusion of the kingdom starts.

So, if I say, HCpaul 'played the ostrich', do I now mean you played like an ostrich cos you're one? You see, you'll always get it wrong if you take Jesus' words literal because sometimes they ain't. Sometimes His words are fugurative and some other times literal, the wisdom here is for you to know when to draw the line and if you can't you can always ASK. The Hausas say 'mai tambaya baya batawa'. Shalom man.

Because Jesus, God's Wisdom is in me, there is no stopping my prosperity! Hallelujah!!