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Josephjnr:
Abeg summersault am,I mean, summerize am.

plz read it..

A friend of mine lost several million dollars in a bad investment. He is well into his seventies and this was his retirement money, so this is a big blow. How did he lose it? Well, here’s my theory: He took some bad financial advice from a dodgy analyst and put his money where he shouldn’t have. But my friend doesn’t see it like that. He told me, “God is in control. I guess he didn’t want me to have all that money.” In other words, God is to blame for his loss.

When I heard this I was too stunned to speak, but my friend was just getting warmed up. “I guess I’m a lot like Job who suffered at God’s hand. At least I can say, ‘God gives and God takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.’”

Well, isn’t that just swell?

As I have explained elsewhere, Job was wrong about God being a thief and a killer. Judging by the reaction that post stirred you’d think I was a heretic, but I was merely repeating something Jesus said (John 10:10) and Paul said (Rom 11:29).

Today I want to go a little further and address three lies or half-truths that may need to be rooted out of your belief-set.

Lie #1: “God is in control of everything”

There is perhaps no more damaging lie than the belief that God is in control of everything and that he is the reason everything happens. You hear stuff like this all time:

“I got cancer but God is sovereign. He permitted this to happen to teach me something.”
“God took my baby. I guess he needed another angel in heaven.”
“I lost my job. Perhaps God took it because I was enjoying it too much.”

Statements like these are ignorant. How many people did Jesus give cancer to? How many people did he rob or kill? Jesus did none of these things yet some think his Father does them on a regular basis. Jesus went around healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching good news to the poor. If God were making people poor, sick, or dead, then the Father and the Son are a house divided. But he isn’t and they’re not.

If God was in control of everything, then he would be responsible for all the evil in our world – all the wars, killings, disease and destruction. But contrary to what some misguided souls in the Old Testament might claim, God is not the author of evil. In him there is no shadow at all.

The Bible never says God is in control. Instead, it says stuff like this:

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. (1 Jn 5:19)

Much of the world is under the influence of evil. It remains captive to what the New Testament writers called “the power of darkness.” Yes, Satan was defeated and disarmed at the cross, but his influence persists wherever the light of the gospel is not seen.

The problem with thinking “God is in control” is it makes us passive spectators in the ride of life. We’ll just sit there and take whatever life hands us saying, “C’est la vie. God is in control. It’ll work out.” Can you imagine how short the New Testament would be if Jesus and the apostles believed that?

The truth is that God is not in control of everything. The good news is that his sphere of influence increases as we, his children, shine in a dark world. He has given us his authority to resist the devil and his evil influence. We have been empowered to heal the sick, raise the dead, drive out demons and otherwise reveal the gospel of his kingdom in dark places.

Lie #2: “God is sovereign”

My bankrupt friend wrote off his loss saying, “God is sovereign.” In other words, it was God’s divine and mysterious will for him to lose all his money. He was not saying “God is king” – no argument there. He was saying, “Everything that happens is God’s will.” Again, this is simply not true. Consider the following:

– It was not God’s will for Adam to eat from the forbidden tree (Gen 2:17), but Adam ate
– God is not willing that any perish (2 Pet 3:9), yet people perish
– God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30), yet many don’t

You don’t have to read more than three chapters into the Bible to realize that Almighty God, the Supreme Ruler of all, does not always get what he wants. How is this possible? This verse explains it:

The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man. (Psalms 115:16)

God is Lord of the universe but we are little lords of our own little worlds. This is God’s gift to us – the freedom to choose how we live. The problem is, we often make choices contrary to God’s will.

Why do you think Jesus taught us to pray “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

The “God is sovereign” mantra is trotted out nearly every time something bad happens but it’s just not true. The word “sovereign” is not even in the Bible! (If you don’t believe me, read this article by Andrew Wommack.)

The truth is that God is not sovereign in the sense that he always gets what he wants. Fact is, his will is not always done. The good news is that he will write the final chapter of human history and for those who trust him all things will work out for good. And the really good news is that we can walk in the will of God here and now with the aid of the Holy Spirit. It’s the best way to live.

Lie #3: “God could’ve stopped this from happening but he didn’t”

A boy takes a loaded gun to school and God doesn’t stop him. An earthquake flattens a city and God apparently does nothing. What kind of God is this?!

The “God could’ve stopped this but didn’t” chestnut is another way of saying, “This bad thing is God’s fault. He allowed it to happen.”

Like all the lies on this page, there’s a measure of truth behind this. Everything that happens happens because God gave us the freedom to do what we like, even the freedom to hate him, kill our brothers, and then blame him for what we did. Of course, we look like fools when we do this. We look like Adam who blamed God for giving him a woman who led him into sin (Gen 3:12).

We are masters at playing the blame game. When something bad happens we blame our genes, our parents, our spouses, or our kids. We blame the government, the system, immigrants, Communists, so we might as well go the whole hog and blame God. “I got sick. God allowed this to happen. God is at fault.”

Jesus, on the other hand, never blamed anyone. He just took responsibility for other people’s messes and fixed them.

Believe the lie that God is behind everything that happens and you’ll end up in the ash heap of life licking your wounds and examining your navel like a perplexed Job. You’ll bend over whenever the devil wants to kick you. Who wants to live like that?

The truth is God doesn’t always stop bad things from happening. The good news is that sometimes you can. You can bring the weight of his purposes to bear on your circumstances simply by trusting in him. You can walk through the valley of the shadow of death without fear knowing that he is with you. Life doesn’t have the last word when you’re walking in the spirit.

A simple test

To see how well you are getting this, ask yourself this question: Which of the following two Jesuses is found the Bible?

• Jesus #1 sat around powerless, making excuses and doing nothing to help those who had been made sick by God
• Jesus #2 went around in the power of the Spirit doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil

Hopefully you know the second Jesus is true (see Acts 10:38). Yet many of us look more like the first Jesus. We’re not walking in the power of the spirit, we’re not healing the sick, but we’re making excuses. Chief among them is this one, “God is in control. It’s his fault, not ours.”

I don’t write this to condemn you – we’re all learning here – but to make you angry at Satan’s lies. James said “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” It really is that simple. We resist, he flees. But we won’t resist if we think God is doing the devil’s work and making us sick, killing our kids, and robbing us blind.

God is not making you sick and poor! He is not the reason you lost your money, your job, your marriage, or your kids. These are the tragedies of a life cursed by Adam’s sin. But the good news is that one greater than Adam has come and he has given you authority to proclaim the good news of his kingship to all creation.

• Are you sick? Talk to your sickness about Jesus by whose stripes you are healed (1 Pet 2:24).
• Are you poor? Talk to your bank account about your rich King who became poor so that through his poverty you might become rich (2 Cor 8:9).
• Have you been robbed, discouraged, and beaten by life? Then be like David and strengthen yourself in the Lord your mighty God (1 Sam 30:6).

Why did Jesus come? Did he come to help us understand why God never lifts a finger to help? No! Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:. In his name go and do likewise.


https://escapetoreality.org/2013/01/04/is-god-sovereign/

Kooo

Gbim

Hi

Goood

Hey

Janeyinspires:
Brymo,come in here.
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Holiness is who Christ has made us to be through His sacrifice,it's not what we do.
Keep'em coming,jiggaz!

Thanks Janey!!

Ooooo

Xxxxx

Morning

bloodofthelamb:
SURELY, I WILL BE THERE LIVE AND DIRECT THROUGH GRACE IN CHRIST JESUS...HEAVENLY PART! NOTHING LIKE IT.

Yes oo my broda!! We will be there live!!

Hey

Huh

My new book, Grace Party, comes out next week. Here’s a taste…

One of the best parties I have ever been to was a surprise party. It was a hot, humid Friday night in Hong Kong and Camilla and I were running late. We were supposed to be at church for our weekly prayer meeting, but one of us was taking her sweet time getting ready. No need to mention names.

When we finally arrived at church, the place was dark. I flipped on the lights and was greeted with a shout of “Surprise!” I was shocked to find a room full of people, all dressed in colorful sixties’ gear, waiting to celebrate my birthday.

A couple of things from that night endure in my memory. One was the dancing. I don’t dance much but that night there was such a happy, joyful vibe that everybody danced for hours. We almost missed the last train home.

Another memory: unexpected guests. Some of my friends ducked out to buy drinks and they came back with five German tourists. One of the Germans was having a birthday so we celebrated with him as well.

To appreciate the effect of this party you have to understand that the Hong Kong I lived in was all work, work, work. I worked seven days a week. Even church was work. This party was an unexpected break in the routine, a vacation, a breather that I sorely needed. It was one of those moments of frivolity and festivity, that C.S. Lewis said reveal heaven.

At least it felt like heaven to me.

Jesus said the kingdom of God is a party, and it is because Jesus is there and everywhere he goes there is joy.

The Son of God gave reasons to rejoice by turning thieves into givers and haters into lovers. He healed lepers (thank you, Jesus!), delivered the demonized (free at last!), and raised the dead (look who’s back!). He told stories that ended in unexpected parties for undeserving prodigals. When he rose from the grave his surprised disciples were filled with joy and wonder. And after he ascended into heaven they returned to Jerusalem “with great joy.”

Jesus said “I am the life,” and his is a life of righteousness, peace, and joy. It is a life of freedom and celebration. And it’s a life of fun that offends the religious.

The Pharisees were not impressed by all the joy that followed Jesus. “He’s out of order. He’s not observing the rules. Why is he healing on the Sabbath?” These party-poopers tried to rain on his parade but the parade of his grace just kept rolling.

I can’t imagine the Pharisees ever throwing a party, can you? And yet by law they were required to do so. According to Deuteronomy chapter 14, the Israelites were supposed to celebrate the harvest by spending their tithes on “whatever your heart desires” and throwing a party that included the poor widow and orphan. They sound like awesome parties, but by the time Jesus showed up they had come to an end. Instead of throwing parties for poor people, the law teachers were stealing widows’ homes (Luke 20:47).

To be fair, the Jews were in no mood for celebrating, not with the heavy Roman yoke upon their necks. Burdensome taxes and cruel oppression don’t make for a party vibe. But they do make Jesus’ preoccupation with joyful celebration all the more compelling, indeed, prophetic.

“The kingdom of heaven is not like this,” said Jesus pointing to the oppressive world in which they lived. “It’s like a wedding feast. It’s like a great banquet. And you guys are going to be surprised because many will come from the east and the west and take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

In other words, there will be Germans there.

Jesus spoke of parties because he was heaven-minded. There’s no oppression in heaven, no leprosy, no poverty. Knowing that God’s will for there is his will for here, Jesus shone in a dark world. He rebuked storms, drove out demons, and loved the loveless. He was good news on a bad news day. He was fun in an unfun world.

On that humid Friday night, I went to church expecting one thing and discovered another. It’s like that with Jesus. People come to him on account of some need and find themselves caught up in the joy of heaven.

Who knew that following Christ could be such fun? Certainly this is not the picture we get from boring religion, but it is the blessed reality of grace.

It is my conviction that followers of Christ ought to be celebrating constantly. We ought to be a happy people because we serve a happy God who has entrusted us with a happy gospel.

When we enjoy the Lord and his many good gifts, we are painting a prophetic picture of the kingdom come. We are saying, “Life is more than tears.” We are agreeing with Jesus who said, “Blessed are those who mourn for comfort is at hand.” Indeed, in his presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures forever more (Psalm 16:11).

https://escapetoreality.org/2015/05/01/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-a-party/

Huh

Evening

Morning

Morning

Ferisidowu:
lolz so what is Holiness

Check my next post.

Ferisidowu:
what is the effect of Christ righteousness

The effect of Christ's Righteousness is that it will make you to work for Him out of love and gratitude for what He achieved for us at the Cross, not out of duty to make ourselves more holy or more righteous.

“Holiness is avoiding sin. It’s being set apart from the world and staying undefiled.” Or so we’ve been told. The problem with defining holiness like this is that it doesn’t actually describe a God who is holy. God was holy long before there was any sin to avoid. He was unblemished long before there were blemishes.

In the last post we looked at seven fairly useless definitions of holiness. All of them have a measure of truth but none of them contains the whole truth. None of them actually tells us what holiness is. And this is a problem because we are called to be holy as He is holy. How can we do that if we don’t even know what it means?

So what is holiness?

Holiness means wholeness. To say that “God is holy” is to refer to the wholeness, fullness, beauty, and abundant life that overflows within the Godhead. God lacks nothing. He is unbroken, undamaged, unfallen, completely complete and entire within Himself. He is the indivisible One, wholly self-sufficient, and the picture of perfection.

Holiness is not one aspect of God’s character; it is the whole package in glorious unity. This is how Spurgeon describes it in his discourse on Psalm 99:5:

Holiness is the harmony of all the virtues. The Lord has not one glorious attribute alone, or in excess, but all glories are in him as a whole; this is the crown of his honour and the honour of his crown. His power is not his choicest jewel, nor his sovereignty, but his holiness. In this all comprehensive moral excellence he would have his creatures take delight, and when they do so their delight is evidence that their hearts have been renewed, and they themselves have been made partakers of his holiness.

Holiness means perfection in the sense of completion. When Jesus the Holy One came exhorting us to “Be perfect,” He was inviting us to a life of wholeness and holiness (see Mt 5:48). The Greek word for “perfect” means “complete” or “whole.” Jesus was saying, “Be whole as your Father in heaven is whole.” Jesus came to make broken people whole. He was calling us to the life that was His.

A holy and whole God stands in contrast to an unholy and broken world. Because of sin and separation we live in a world of death and scarcity. In our natural state we are consumed with our needs and lack. We spend our lives trying to get what we don’t have and trying to repair the damage of our estrangement. But the only cure for our brokenness is a revelation of a whole and holy God who lacks nothing and who has promised to supply all our needs out of His overflowing sufficiency.

Those in Christ ought to know better. We are to worship God in the beauty of His holiness yet much of what passes for worship is nothing more than grizzling about our ugliness. To the degree that we are conscious of our needs over His provision, we don’t get it. We don’t understand all that Christ accomplished on our behalf. The Bible declares we were sanctified (1 Cor 6:11); we have been made holy through His sacrifice and perfected forever (Heb 10:10,14); and we are complete in Christ (Col 2:10). In Him we lack absolutely nothing. Yet we run here and there to trying to gain what we already possess and speaking the faithless language of lack and longing.

We need to change our vocabulary. We need to start walking in our true identity of holiness. We need to thank Him for who He is and what He’s done. Here is a simple idea to help you do that. Whenever you read the words “holy” or “sanctified” in scripture, replace them with the heavenly language of wholeness and completion. This will give you a clearer insight into what Jesus has accomplished:

To the church of God in Corinth, to those complete in Christ Jesus and called to be whole.(1 Cor 1:2)

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and wholeness. (Eph 4:24)

So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord… who has saved us and called us to a whole and complete life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. (2 Tim 1:9)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a whole nation, a people belonging to God (1Pe 2:9)

But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in wholeness and its end is eternal life. (Rom 6:22, AMP)

Jesus gives us a picture of a whole and holy life, unbroken and unstained by sin. Everything Jesus does is prefaced by holiness. His is a holy love, a holy righteousness, a holy joy. Holiness, or wholeness, is the very definition of abundant life. Such is the life you already have in Him.

https://escapetoreality.org/2012/05/23/what-is-holiness/

Huh