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Scripture Texts: John 14: 16-21; Acts 8: 26-39

The Holy Spirit is the Promise of the Father. He is God's divine Executive Agent in the world. The Lord called the Holy Spirit another Helper, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter.

The Holy Spirit is also our Senior Partner. In a partnership, the senior partner is at the top while the junior partner is below him and subservient to him. Though the senior partner leads and makes decisions, they both work towards achieving a success in their vision or project. The Holy Spirit is our Senior Partner when He is the Mentor and we are His mentees. He is the Master and we are His servants; He is our Teacher and we are His students; He is our Leader and we are His followers.

For the Holy Spirit to be our Senior Partner, there are things we need to do. We must depend absolutely on Him and live a holy life and please God in ALL our ways. We must establish consistent intimacy and fellowship with Him. We must also let Him direct our lives and get His leading or guidance on all matters before we make decisions or act. We must do the work of God in the power of the Holy Spirit rather than in the flesh. We must submit to His leadership, obey His guidance and instructions as well as follow His promptings at all times.

How To Make Holy Spirit Our Senior Partner?

- Being addicted to God's Word: We can only know the Will of God through His Word and the Holy Spirit is the One that can teach us and remind us all what Jesus taught us. By this, He will become our Senior Partner and give us the understanding grace to do the Lord's bidding and will.

- By living a consistent life of purity and obedience, we can make the Holy Spirit our Senior Partner. Making the Holy Spirit our guide, teacher and director shows our allegiance or submission to His leadership. He will then guide us in our business, career, marriage, ministry, finances and all spheres of life. Even as a preacher, He leads by inspiring our sermons for He knows those who will be in church and their needs.

- Building our day to day and moment to moment relationship with the Holy Spirit gives us access to being in partnership with Him. When we are consistent in our relationship with Him, the Holy Spirit will not only become our Senior Partner but He will also reveal deeply to us the Father, the Son and Himself . In the same vein, our level of infilling will increase from minimum to maximum and manifest greater dimension of anointing and miracles.

- The Holy Spirit can be our Senior Partner through evangelism. This can be called corporate partnership. In Acts 8: 26-39, the Ethiopian eunuch's conversion was accomplished by the collaborative effort and partnership between the Holy Spirit and Philip. It was the Holy Spirit who gave Philip the strategy for converting the Ethiopian eunuch. He guided Philip to preach Jesus to the man. The man declared " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God". He was baptised and his soul was harvested for Christ through evangelism.

Benefits of Making The Holy Spirit Our Senior Partner

1. After experiencing His baptism, we can receive the help of the Holy Spirt for further infilling and His fire.
2. Making Him our indispensable ally and leader determines how much of His blessings we are able to receive.
3. He will move us from lowest to highest level of infilling. From ankle level, to knee level, to waist level and then to the overwhelming level as the Book of Ezekiel states the kind of different levels. This will make our effectiveness and results in life and ministry become exponential.
4. He will make His immeasurable power available to us to fulfil our purpose and scale hurdles in life and ministry.
5. We will be able to access His fruit and gifts, well equipped and excel in ministry.
6. We won't be able to lean on our own understanding anymore but will acknowledge the Holy Spirit in ALL our ways and He will direct our paths. He will be our best guide for correct direction to succeed in life and towards eternal life.
7. He will comfort and help us constantly by bearing our burdens and clearing our paths from destructions and evil judgements.
8. The Spirit of God is All-Knowing. He is our Teacher and Illuminator. When we make Him our Senior Partner, He will give us deep insight and understanding about the Scriptures and teach us all truth (John 14:26).
9. The Holy Spirit will also defend and protect us in our life matters. "When the enemy shall come like a flood, the Spirit of God will lift up a standard against Him" ( Isaiah 59: 19b).
10. He will convict us of our wrongs and teach us the path to righteousness or doing things right and the right time.

Brethren, we cannot survive this world without the help of the Holy Spirit. Without Him, we are nothing but with Him we are everything in Christ Jesus. Make Him your Senior Partner today and you're sure on the path of life.

God bless you!

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to devil, I enter into the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus for saving me, for in Jesus mighty name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

Peace!


Ref: Mountain Top Daily Devotional Vol 7

Tennyjot:
I like your write up. Can i know you ?

All glory to God, thank you.
Sure you can know me. My name is Grace. What would you like to know about me, please?

Scripture Text: Galatians 5: 22-23

Calvary greetings to you brethren. We bless God for the gift of life to us, and for the special gift of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who died to save us from sin and destruction. All glory be to God, amen.

Love and Patience are part of the fruit of the Spirit. They are intertwined and all must possess these fruit as a gate pass to the Kingdom of God.

The man who loves would patiently wait for the improvement in others. Love endures pain, sorrow and anger. Love would endure selfishness, critical spirit, and immature spirit from the other person. Love that is patient is not judgmental in rushing to criticize somebody based on assumption or expectations. Love that is patient does not harshly retaliate or promptly punish. It exhibits self-restraint in the face of serious provocation. Patience does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. So to be patient is to be long tempered not short tempered. Patience is putting up with others without fighting. You are not upset, angry or revengeful when you are inconvenienced or when they take advantage of you or when you are made to wait for someone who is moving at a slower pace. Patience will not strike after being insulted. Patience is to refuse to pay evil back for evil. Patience is to turn the right cheek when you are slapped on the left side. Patience is not to keep malice at all, let alone three weeks.

True love is patient; it waits without murmuring, it never gives up and it's willing to suffer. Being unfaithful in your marriage vow is not love. Love endures suffering and impatience against anyone is evident that there is no love. True love will wait patiently. Love that is able to turn to hatred overnight is not love, but true love would go through fire, sorrow, trouble to endure suffering. Impatience against anyone is evident that there is not true love. I want us to examine the quality of love in your heart. True love does not steal other people's money. It doesn't do strange things.

Conclusively, true love will wait patiently for the Second Coming of Christ and won't disregard the Word of God. If we claim we love God, we should love His Son, Jesus Christ. God first loved us by giving us His only Son to die for our sins that we might have eternal live. Not only must we love God but also we must love our neighbours as ourselves, as these are the two greatest Commandments of God to man. Without these, we can not inherit God's Kingdom. I pray that the Holy Sprit will teach us how to love in Jesus mighty name, amen.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You now. Come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter into the Kingdom of Light, in Jesus name I pray, amen".

God bless you.

Congratulations!

Peace!

Ref: Sound The Battle Cry Vol.22 No 7&8 Part II

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”- John 13:34-35

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."- 1 Corinthians 13:13. No matter how hard you can pray or how good you can read and memorize the Bible or how angelic your voice may be when singing praises to God, if you have no love the chances of making Heaven is very slim, if not impossible.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

The Corinthians had a very wrong view of true Christianity, they thought that Christianity is a prophetic knowledge. They thought Christianity is the ability to speak in tongues, they thought that Christianity is just miraculous power. But they ignored the fact that being a true disciple of Christ is by possessing the fruit of love.

There are so many people who never enjoyed any good relationship with anybody, they have no friend. They completely lock themselves inside and box themselves in where no one can penetrate. When you tell them to change from this way of life they ignore you. God is love, his own love is unconditional, impartial, everlasting, infinite and perfect.

Love is never wasted. It may not get the reaction expected now, but it is never wasted. Love that expects positive reaction or result always is not true love but conditional. Love that expects something in return is not true love. The Lord wants us His disciples to have true love. Love never makes any demand. Love only gives, it does not stop giving because the other party does not appreciate. The true lover does require people to meet any condition. The perfect lover would devote himself or herself to others, as Jesus did.

Christ devoted Himself to us but what did He get from us? We crucified Him but did He complain? The most outstanding thing Christ did for us was to love the unlovable and all the world despite our sins. He did like a criminal because of us yet He had never committed any sin. That's what true and divine love is all about! But many of us are quick to write off anyone who offends us. Even if the person does not know what he or she is doing, we retaliate at the slightest offence.

Beloved, if you are going to fight, fight to improve that relationship as husband and wife not to destroy your home through divorce. Don't fight for separation, fight for reconciliation. Fight to preserve good relationship with your family, not destroy it. Fight to win your spouse over and not to lose him or her. Fight to save your marriage, don't fight to break it. Fight to solve the problem, don't fight to just salvage your self-pride. So, if you're going to fight, do it right to win, don't fight to lose.

A loving person will always strive to control all the unloving attitudes with his or her will power. In fact, you can be saved and inherit God's Kingdom without spiritual gifts. You can make heaven without receiving the word of knowledge and so on. But you cannot be saved or make heaven without LOVE. Love is the gateway to heaven! All the tools and talents are waste of time without love. Love sums up the whole Christianity and it is the distinguishing mark of a true Christian. Without love, spiritual gifts are useless.

The trouble we have in the hose of God now is that we have a lot of Christians who do not greet each other , who do not like each other, who keep malice, unforgiving spirit against each other. What the Bible is telling us is that those who have that kind of attitude are not disciples of Christ. They may be coming to church but they are not true disciples. So, examine yourself if there is anybody you don't greet? Is there anybody that you are not happy with anytime you hear his or her voice? If yes, then you need to repent because it is evident that you are not a true disciple of Christ and not ready for Christ's Second Coming for the saints. You need to sit down and re-adjust. When love is presented before you, you can choose what to do, you can decide to love yourself, which is selfishness. you can also decide to love your God as your neighbour, as Christ commanded- Mathew 22: 35-40.

The Bible says, whoever loves his brother is in the light whoever hates his brother is in darkness. When you concentrate all attention on yourself then you are a selfish person and you don't have the kind of thing would demote you from being a true disciple. Love for self is the love that drinks water and your neighbour is thirsty, but no water to drink. Love of self is the love that has two hundred skirts and two hundred blouses or shirts and trousers and somebody else is naked, but the person cannot say, take to cover your unclothedness. Love of self, is when there are things to be shared, the best part for himself or herself. Love of self would make a person to speak about self but deaf to other people's words or concerns. Love of self would make a choice and force that choice on somebody else. Love of self is self-pitying. Love of self advertises their own and despises those of others. Love of self would put on slippers and have extra behind while somebody else is walking about bare foot. The greatest of human suffering is caused by love of self. If we love God and love our neighbour as ourselves, then we fulfill the whole of God's Commandments. Then we will be recognised as true disciples of Christ. His love must be in our heart. That love in our heart would flow out according to Corinthians 13:1-3. Fulfilling God's Commandment is hence a sure path to inherit the His Kingdom and reign with Christ forever and in eternity.

Surrender your life to Christ today and make Him your Lord and Saviour.

If you would like to give your life to Jesus, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil. I enter the Kingdom of Light, in Jesus name I pray, amen"

Congratulations!!! Welcome to the fold of Christ!

God bless you.

Peace!

Cull from Dr. D.K Olukoya's message

Scripture Texts: Revelations 2-3

Jesus’ letters to the seven churches recorded in the Book of Revelation considers how Christ’s message speaks to the church today. The apostle John, who wrote Revelation, was in exile on the prison island of Pátmos. While on the island, John was given an astonishing vision of God’s final victory over evil and sin. It all began with a majestic vision of Jesus in his glory, recorded in Revelation 1:9-20

Let's examine the Letters to the seven Churches

1. The Church of Ephesus- The Church that Has Abandoned Its Love for Christ and His Teachings (Revelation 2:1-7): In the church at Ephesus, Jesus finds a lot to praise, but his heart is broken by one glaring absence: love.

2. The Church of Smyrna- The Church that Remains Faithful Amidst Persecution (Revelation 2:8-11): The church at Smyrna was under persecution for their faith. As Jesus speaks to these men and women, he reminds them that he is greater than any suffering—greater even than death.

3. The Church of Pergamum- The Church that Compromises Its Beliefs (Revelation 2:12-17): Jesus calls the city of Pergamum the place “where Satan has his throne” (Revelation 2:13). You might think that such a church in such a place would be a persecuted church, but that was not the case. Satan’s tactic against the church was much more effective than persecution; he sought to corrupt the church from the inside.

4. The Church of Thyatira- The Church that Follows False Prophets (Revelation 2:18-29): Jesus expresses anger at the church at Thyatira, coming to them with a rod of judgment and a sword to cut them apart. He gives them time to repent, but if they refuse his grace, he says he will come in swift judgment.

5. The Church of Sardis- The Church that is Spiritually Dead (Revelation 3:1-6): The church at Sardis had the reputation of being alive—vibrant, Spirit-filled, open to God’s work, obedient to God’s Word. But as Jesus looked at this church, he saw a deeper reality. The church was not wicked or immoral, but dead, unresponsive to Christ.

6. The Church of Philadelphia-The Church that Patiently Endured Despite Weaknesses (Revelation 3:7-13): The city of Philadelphia (in Asia Minor) was a door for the Greek language and culture to spread into the surrounding region. In this letter, we see a new door of opportunity was wide open in Philadelphia for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was open to a small band of seemingly weak and uninfluential Christians, a band of Christians very much like us.

7. The Church of Laodicea- The Church with a Lukewarm Faith (Revelation 3:14-22): This is the Church that makes Jesus sick. Jesus says that the church in Laodicea is lukewarm, neither cold nor hot and would spit them out of His mouth. In this letter, Jesus expresses his desire for this church to see the reality of their own condition and of the world around them.

Cue, Promises and Warnings!

With these thoughts in mind, we should read these letters with a pair of lenses, not one. The first lens should ask the question, “How can our church learn from the message Christ gave to each of these seven churches?” The second lens should ask, “How can I learn from the message Christ gave to each of these churches?” We cannot emphasize this second question strongly enough because though we can diagnose the spiritual condition of a congregation as a large, single group, we can only change as a group (whether for good or bad) one person at a time. It is useless to diagnose the spiritual weaknesses of your church, for instance, if you make no progress in overcoming your personal weaknesses as a member.

Overcomers are True Believers
The preferred identification for these overcomers mentioned at the end of end of these letters is those followers of Christ who persevere in their faith to the end of their lives. No matter how many trials they face, even if they face martyrdom, they do not recant. They do not just start out by claiming to have faith in Christ. They demonstrate the reality of their faith in Christ by finishing their lives, as well, as followers of him.

Near the end of Revelation, John writes, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son” (Rev 21:7). The context that precedes this statement indicates that John is referring to all believers, not just a small group of those who’ve experienced a special level of victory which others have not. In Rev 21:3, he says that God will dwell among his people. In Rev 21:4, he says that God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. In Rev 21:5, he said that God will make everything new. As you can tell, these are the eternal blessings that God will give to every believer, not just some. To make this even more clear, the following verse contrasts this group of people with those who will be cast into the Lake of Fire, which are those who are outside the born-again family of God. There is no third group of people who are rescued from the Lake of Fire on one hand but denied the blessings of God’s eternal kingdom on the other. Either you’re an overcomer or you’re cast into the Lake of Fire. According to John, every believer is an overcomer.

Some of the rewards previewed in these letters clearly refer to rewards given to all believers, not just some.

Those who overcome, for instance, will not be “hurt by the second death,” which is a reference to the Lake of Fire (Rev. 2:11; cf. Rev 20:6, 14; 21:8.
They will also be allowed to “eat from the tree of life” (Rev 2:7; cf. Rev. 22:2, 14).
What’s more, they have assurance that Christ will not “blot out their names from the Book of Life” and Christ will “confess their name before the Father” (Rev 3:5; cf. Phil 4:3; Matt. 10:32; Luke 12: 8.

What Do You Need To Do To Be an Overcomer?

- Be born again
- Accept Christ into your heart and make Him Your Lord and Saviour.
- Ask God to forgive your sins to behold His Glory.
- Accept the peace of God in your hearts
- Stand for the gospel of Christ.
- Walk by faith not by sight.
- Acknowledge that you cannot do anything in your own strength expect through Christ's.
- In the face of opposition stands for Christ.
- Remains faithful no matter the cost- chose Christ over what the world offers.
- See spiritual victory as more important than physical prosperity.
-Know that a victorious and is one who may experience suffering and even physical death but will not experience separation from Christ.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter into the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Mathew 11:12

The Almighty is the president, vice chancellor and principal of the school of holy insanity. He was the One who made Isaac to be conceived when the mother was 90 years old and father 100 years old. It makes no sense. It is madness. It was Him who made the burning bush that was not consumed. It makes no sense. He divided the Red Sea and water was standing as walls and people were passing through it. He ran three million people through that. It makes no sense.

He was the One who kept Jonah in the belly of that fish for three days, and it vomited him back to the place where he should be and nothing happened to Jonah.

How can you explain somebody being thrown into a lions’ den and the lions did not touch him? And then when they threw other people in, the lions just ate them straight up? It makes no sense.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace and the men who threw them there burnt to death while these men were walking about in the fire? It makes no sense.

Baalam’s donkey started speaking; a donkey verbally rebuked Baalam for wrongfully beating him? It makes no sense.

The sun and moon stood still for Joshua to continue the battle.

Jesus healed the man by spitting in his eyes.

God picked men to fight in Gideon’s battle just by the way they lapped up water.

The wall of Jericho falling down by just blowing trumpets round the city seven times? Makes no sense. It is the kind of thing you will be told to do and will say “ah this makes no sense. It looks like madness”.

Jesus too exhibited symptoms of holy insanity. They called Jesus a mad man because He was not saying the things that are normal. The truth is that in the spirit realm, there is no normalcy. Things are not the way we see them here, in the spirit realm.

Do you desire to operate like Jesus did? Do you want to flow generally in the spirit of His power? Then, if you have not been called a fanatic, or an unreasonable person, it is unlikely that you are like Jesus. Paul was also addressed as a mad man.

Jesus was saying what was not normal. They said “do not do any work on the Sabbath day” but He was busy healing people on the sabbath. “Do not eat with sinners”, He was eating with sinners. Even the demons acknowledged Jesus. Although theologians rejected Him, the demons accepted that He was the Son of God. Jesus spoke to water, trees, demons, dead bodies, fever, sicknesses. A sign of holy madness. Jesus was the person who saw His family and said “they are not my family, my family is those who do the will of God”.

Jesus used saliva for healing. He walked across the Sea. Even His friends did not see Him as somebody who was normal. He was acknowledged by demons as well. He spoke to storms and was always doing things out of the ordinary. By the logic of men, the activities of the old prophets will not make sense to people. Elijah called down fire. He also called down water. This is strange. Very strange. But he was able to demonstrate the power of God in his own time.

What I am saying is this, your words should become the sword of fire so that when you start speaking them, demons will begin to flee. If you walk according to God’s plan, you will take steps that will make people think you are mad. That is why in the history of the world, many of the great men were misunderstood by their generations. All the men who made impact in scriptures were members of the school of holy insanity.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were mad men. They refused to bow to that image even at the point of brutal destruction. They said they preferred to burn than to bow. A little bit of holy insanity is needed to make any progress even in life. Whether it is a race, exam, competition, in this world we live in now, unless we are able to catch serious fire and show some holy insanity, it will be difficult to make headway with the bombardment of demons of this generation.

The kind of insanity that blind Bartimaeus exhibited, that Jesus looked him straight in the eye and said “thy faith has made thee whole”, that is: the temporary insanity you showed now, not caring those saying ‘shut up, you are disturbing us’, and when you saw that your garment was disturbing you, you threw it away, and you kept screaming until your screaming, and prayers you were praying were heard; is needed today.

Blind Bartimaeus was not saying his prayers, he was crying them. Sometimes a man gets to a stage where saying prayers is no longer relevant. It requires crying them. Anytime those prayers are cried, there is a regulation in heaven that God will never ignore a desperate cry from the heart.

But there is a school you have to enroll in. It is the school of holy insanity, the kind of school Bartimaeus enrolled in. The testimony of the apostles is that the apostles were described as men who turned their world upside down. That is, they were like mad people. To the people of the world, they looked crazy. That was their testimony, that wherever they entered, there was holy trouble. They were holy trouble makers harassing demons, tormenting long term problems, putting to shame stubborn pursuers, causing serious uproar.

“These men who have turned the world upside down”. That was the description of our forefathers. I am not too sure about whether we can be described as such because there are many of us who have not even turned themselves upside down, let alone turn others upside down. That is why you must enroll in that school. Was it only the apostles who were accused like this? No. They also said Jesus was possessed. So even the Lord Jesus Christ whom we serve was referred to as a mad man, because what He was saying did not sound normal.

Heaven has an expectation for everyone to live in its divine plan. When you live in that divine plan of heaven, definitely you will live outside the expectations of this world and the people of the world will find you strange and see you as a mad person. The record about the apostles was that they were men who had turned the world upside down for Christ. This should be the kind of accusation they should be accusing each of us, that as Christians we are turning the world upside down.

It is because many Christians are normal, that is why we are having the problems we are having now, both nationally and internationally. We are not supposed to be normal. They told Jesus “you are a mad man”.

Jesus Christ says He has given us the power. Why are we not using it? Unfortunately like I always say, there is no gentle way of addressing evil. Every method to arrest anything evil is violent. There is no gentle way to clean a septic tank.

Believers nowadays are so scared. They are afraid, some are hiding their Bibles, some enter a vehicle and are afraid to pray, they are asked to shut up and they shut up very quickly instead of praying. You need to join that band of holy insanity. So three things needed this morning:
1. Surrender your life to Jesus.
2. Repent of every known sin.
3. Join the company of holy mad people.

If you would like to surrender your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter the Kingdom of Light, in Your name I pray, amen."

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Culled from Dr. D.K Olukoya Message (G.O MFM Worldwide)- February 5th, 2022.

Scripture Texts: 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Timothy 2:26; Ephesians 6:11

Wastage is the action or process of losing or destroying something by using it carelessly or extravagantly. Carelessness negligence; or failure to give sufficient attention to avoiding harm or errors.

God created us all to be perfect and beautiful. God has equipped His children with everything they need to live victoriously in life, but many Christians have fallen out of Gods' original plan for them and have disconnected from His power, presence and perspective due to carelessness.

From our Scripture Texts today, we can see that satan is an adversary of God's children and act subtle to rob them of their God's given blessings. He goes about to ensure that waste their lives on earth. A wasted life is the one without purpose known on earth. The original purpose of God for creating us in this world is to give Him pleasure; and the greatest concern of heaven about us is to know "why are we living on earth". It's not surprising that many can not answer this simple question.

Things the enemy (satan) is interested in wasting in a man's life if he is careless include:
1. Life
2. Opportunities
3. Time
4. Money
5. Virtues
6. Blessing
7. Talent
8. Career
9. Calling
10. Marriage
11. Anointing
12. Virginity
13. Labour
14. Labour
15. Health
16. Knowledge
17. Children
18. Birthright
19. Resources
19. Parents
20.Friends
21. Destiny

However, of all the precious things God has given us, as mentioned above the most dangerous things to waste are: life, destiny, opportunity and time. Once you waste these it's finished and irredeemable.

So, for us to avoid any wastage, we must always be at alert. Watch and pray!

If you are not a born again, you are the first target and have been wasting your time since your birth. You need to connect to your Source (God) and recover the things you still can. If you claim to be a Christian but you are swimming and diving in sin, this means you have been long away careless with your life and you need to rededicate your life to Christ and disgrace all the acts of satan.

I[i]t is a fact that anyone who lives on earth, dies or raptured but doesn't inherit the Kingdom of God has lived a wasted life. [/i]

But there's solution and another opportunity you must not waste due to your carelessness. What is this solution?

1. Repent! Repent!! Repent!!!
2. You must be born again by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ and accepting Him as your Lord and saviour
3. Determine that wasters cannot have power over you.
4. Declare war from the Host of Heaven against wasters through fervent prayers.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this:
"Lord Jesus, I come before You now. Come into my life. Take control of my life and change my world. Thank You Jesus, for in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Culled from Dr. D.K Olukoya message

Scripture Text: Luke 1:10-19

The sin of ingratitude one of the signs of the end time mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-15

The Bible tells us that in the last days there will be:
- Terrible/difficult times
-Lovers of self and money
- Boastful and proud
- Scoffing at God
- Disobedience to parents
- Abusive
- Ungrateful (Unthankful, Ingrate)
- Unholy/Unsacred
- Unloving
- Unforgiving
- Slanderous
- Lack of self-control
- Brutal/Cruel
- Hatred towards goodness
- Treacherous/Betrayals of friends
- Reckless/rash
- Conceited/Puffed-up
- Worldly pleasures
- Knowing but denying the Power of godliness...

However, we will be delving into the sin of ingratitude.

We can see the way God values our gratitude towards Him through the examples of the tem lepers in our Scripture Text today. The only leper that came back to thank Jesus Christ after he received healing was not even a Jew. He was a Samaritan. This shows that it is not only the Jews that could please the heart of God but also the Samaritans. Jesus' questions were: "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? (Luke 17:17). It was evident that Jesus was very displeased and disappointed at the ingratitude of the nine lepers that were healed by Him. The Lord notices and appreciates those who thank Him, regardless of their social ,political, spiritual, financial, race, ethnic, tribe status.

It is noteworthy that only the leper that came back to thank the Lord was made WHOLE. That is, he received his permanent healing. There is the possibility that the other nine lepers could become leprous again but this one grateful man was cleansed for a life time by Jesus Christ.

Those who appreciate do not suffer depreciation. Ingrates do not have glory. Most Christians today do not appreciate God's grace upon their lives. They have hardened their hearts to the point that they no longer see God as the source of their gifts. They have become a law unto themselves. The reason the Bible takes such a strong stance against un-thankfulness and ingratitude may be that God knows that the end result of such arrogance is a reprobate mind (Romans 1:24). When we remind ourselves often that all we are and all we have is a gift from God (James 1:17), we are guarding ourselves against idolatry and pride.

Types of Ingrates
1. Divine ingrates: These are Christians who are ungrateful to God and His grace and Power.
2. Parasites: They loach on people as if it's their right without an iota of appreciation towards the giver.
3. The Blank Ingrates: They don't remember anyone who has helped them.
4. Vampire ingrates: They bite the fingers that fed them.
5. Evil ingrates: They return evil with kindness.
6. Strategic forgetters: They deliberately forget the act of kindness towards them.
7. Sugar ingrates: They are friendly when they can get something from you but unfriendly when they can't get anything from you.
8. Envious ingrates: No matter the act of kindness you show towards them, they still envy you and may harm you.
9. Lavicious ingrates: They will help you lavish your wealth or become "Mario" or "Oliver Twist" on someone else's possessions at any slight opportunity given to them.
10. Complainants ingrates: No matter what you do to help them, they will always complain- like the Israelites in the wilderness.
11. Pride ingrates: They are the set of people who still "carry shoulder" or show arrogance towards their helpers.

Possible Effect of Ingratitude
- You shut off your destiny from those who can or will help you.
- You may shorten your progress in life
- You may attract divine curses
- You attract bad things or bad energy towards yourself
- You invite evil angels or demons into your life.
- You may shut down the door of your mercy
- You lose may things
- Your children may suffer from unhelp
- You will surely face the law of karma or face nemesis by being paid back in your own coin.
- It will weaken your spiritual life.
- It may affect your generation negatively.
- It may cut of your healing or making of whole.
- You may be assisting in handing over your glory to the enemy.
- You glory may be turn to shame.
- You may provoke God's anger and invite divine curses.

What Do You Need To Do?
1. Repent! Repent!! Repent!!!
2. Learn to praise and appreciate God in thanksgiving over everything (1 Thessalonian 5:18).
3. Appreciate everyone who assists you in one way or the other.
4. Honour those who appreciate you genuinely because they are very rare.
5. Count your blessings rather than what you don't have.

If you would like to you give Your life to Christ just say this short prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I come before You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter in the Kingdom of Light, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you!

Peace!

Scripture Text: Mathew 10:34-39

Calvary greetings to you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a great privilege to be alive today and thank the Lord for the work of His grace in our lives.

Today, we will be looking at what God's greatest concern is. That is, what is the greatest thing that is in the heartbeat of God and is expected of us to do to please Him as His Children.

In our today's Scripture text, it is written: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"- Mathew 10:37.

What Christ is trying to tell us here is that He is our Priority. God- the Father, Christ- the Son, and the Third God Head- Holy Spirit, all One God should be our top priority in life over any other person or thing we hold dear on in high esteem. Anything that takes over the first position of God in a man's life has become an idol and makes him unworthy before Christ Jesus. If you love your father or mother more than Christ, you are unworthy. If you love your son or daughter more than Christ, you are unworthy, if you love your husband or wife more than Christ, you are unworthy. If you love your life, money, business, job, successes, ambitions, dreams and et al more than Christ, you are unworthy.

However, the greatest concern of God is found in Mathew 9: 37-38.

"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest"- Mathew 9:37-38 KJV.

From the above Scripture what does God expects of us or what is Christ telling us to do?

1. There is plenty of harvest but very few workers. Harvest here means lost souls that need to be won for Christ to expand the Kingdom of God. But there are no workers in God's vineyard to harvest these souls for Him. So, the greatest concern of God here is for you and I to make ourselves available in totality and make God's heartbeat our top priority by registering in His Vineyard to work for Him and harvest these lost souls. After all, we and all things were all created by God to give Him pleasure, why are we the unavailable for Him? What is the essence of our being on earth if God's concern is not our priority?

2. Another thing that is God's concern is for us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. We don't have to be seeking for money, fame, children, success, etc. first before God. What God needs us to put before us first are not all these worldly things- that would eventually be eaten by moth or destroyed by fire at the end- but He wants us to seek His "Righteousness" and "Kingdom- Heaven"- Mathew 6:33. Only when we seek first what is of God's great concern that He Himself will arise to supply us everything we need without us struggling or toiling hard day and night before getting it. He will supply our needs with supernatural ease and will bless us without any sorrow added.

3. Mission is another greatest concern of God. Going on mission for Christ is the heartbeat of God. Mathew 28:19-20 tells us about the Greatest Commission. " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen". -KJV
Someone has to go on this mission for Christ. Someone has to send them. If you can't go, you can send people to go. You can invest your money for the mission if you cannot invest your time. Your money go a long way to help those who want to invest their time for the mission of Christ. You can buy Bibles, Christian Books, contribute towards the establishment of a Church Branch where the children of God can fellowship, especially some remote areas that do not have any presence yet. There wouldn't have been any church in Africa after all, if there was no mission carried out by the earliest missionaries from the West. There are still some countries and areas that need Christ presence. They too must know Christ through us and enjoy the privileges of God.

4. Evangelism: This is one of God's greatest concern to show us as His true disciple. We should be fishers of men to God's Kingdom wherever we are and harvest souls for Christ. We must be Kingdom Seekers, Kingdom Builders, Ambassadors for Christ wherever we may be. We may not all go on a mission or be missionaries but we must all be evangelists of Christ through the different gifts of the Spirit God Has put in us. Above all, our lives, word, conduct, act, motive, action, character, appearance, emotion, relationship, affection, fellowship, home, family, church and society at large must be channels of evangelism and epistles of Christ to win lost souls to Christ.

Albeit, no one can satisfy God's greatest concern except by the help of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not dwell in a sinful heart. He only dwells in a heart where Christ resides. Our heart can only receive sanctification through the Blood of Jesus. To enjoy this cleansing, holiness, righteousness and the Spirit of God, we must be born again and accept Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour.

So, if you are reading this and your heart desires to please God and carry out His great concern but you need help to be free from sin. No worries! It's very simple. What you need you do is to only give your life to Christ by saying this short prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray. Amen!"

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: Dr. D.K Olukoya Message- "The Greatest Heaven Lamentation"

Scripture Text: John 4: 1-24; Galatians 5:16-18

Calvary greetings to you brethren in Christ. Today we'll be looking at the benefits of showing allegiance to the Holy Spirit.

As believers one of the Christ' qualities that should be evident in us is to show a strong allegiance to the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the third God Head. He is a spiritual being who also have emotions like us. He's being sent to us by our Lord Jesus Christ as our companion, to walk with us in the way and will of the Father, to complete His works in us, and to save us from this wicked, sinful and dangerous world.

By allegiance we meant to say that our "loyalty" and "faithfulness" must be to the Holy Spirit alone and no other spirit. The Holy Spirit is always pleased when we obey and depend only on Him so much that He gives us strength and wisdom to live according to God's plan for our lives.

The Holy Spirit is our constant ever-present Helper. He reminds us of who we are in Christ. He convicts us of our sins so that we can confess and receive forgiveness from God.

Benefits of Showing Allegiance to the Holy Spirit

There are many advantages that accrue to believers who show strong allegiance to the Spirit of God. When we are fully devoted to Him we will enjoy the following blessings of God:
1. Comfort on all sides of our lives
2. Peace of God that surpasses all understanding
3. God's Love
4. Light of God and His Presence will always be with us and we shall not stumble in darkness.
5. Our souls shall be watered and refreshed continuously and we shall never experience any form of dryness in life.
6. Our prayers and altars of prayers will become strong and be a good savour to God.
7. We shall prevail with God and man (Gen 32:28)
8. We'll have a great, deep and divine understanding of the Scriptures and spiritual eyes to gain insight into the mysteries of the truth in God's Word (Psalms 119: 18).
9. Our strengths will be renewed when we wait upon the Lord. We shall walk and not be weary, walk and not faint and mount up with wings as eagle's (Isaiah 40:31)
10. The presence of God will never depart from us (Hebrews 13:5)
11. There will be blessed assurance for us
12. Our faith will move mountains
13. We'll receive constant and consistent answers to our prayers.
14. We'll have certainty and confidence in the Lord.
15. Our usefulness to God will increase.
16. We shall be fruitful in every area of our lives.
17. The power of darkness shall flee before us.
18. We shall rule in the midst of our enemies (Psalms 110:2).
19. We shall be friend of God.
20. Christ will dwell richly in us and we'll never make foolish mistakes or decisions.

However, walking contrary to the leading of the Holy Spirit is walking against God and the consequences are grave.
We are not to grieve the Spirit of God (Matthew 12:31-32) whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption ( Ephesians 4:30). When we act against the Holy Spirit, our sins cannot be forgiven forever. Hence we must never allow ourselves or situations lead us to grieving Him. We should rather please Him and be devoted to Him.

You definitely cannot have access to the Holy Spirit if you don't have Christ in you. Hence if you would like to give your life to Christ just say this prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye bye to the devil and enter into the Kingdom of Light, in Your name Jesus Christ I pray amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you

Peace!

Message culled from Mountain Top Devotional.

Scripture Text: Hebrews 13:1-2

Angels started their activities far back from Eden (Gen 3:24). They are spirits of heaven who worship God and appear in different forms.

Though all the good angels are angels of God, or angels of the Lord, there is one special angel who is distinct and unique from all the other angels, he is called the "angel of the LORD."

Both Old and New Testaments of the Bible speak of this angel as the "angel of the LORD," the "angel of the Presence" or the "angel, or messenger, of the Covenant." He appears in many important contexts in Scripture. The manner in which he is described sets him apart from all the other angels. The angel of the Lord when swung into action brings God's presence, answers to prayers, supernatural provisions, divine healing, heavenly ministers, supernatural turnaround and shaping of history, judgement and also rewards.

The angel of the Lord could appear as:

- A mighty angel who acted as the special representative of the LORD.

- God the Father assuming a human body.

- God the Son, taking a body for a short period of time.

These three possible appearances are evident in Biblical examples who had the privilege to experience the angel of the Lord.

The angel of the Lord appeared to:
1. Hagar: The first recorded appearance of the angel of the LORD was to Hagar, Abraham's mistress, and the mother of his son Ishmael.
The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude" (Genesis 16:10).
This angel said He Himself would multiply the descendants of Hagar. After the appearance of the angel of the LORD Hagar said. She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me" (Genesis 16:13).
She believed that she had spoken directly to God.

2. Abraham And Sarah At Mamre: Three men appeared to Abraham and his wife Sarah at the plains of Mamre. They had come to inform Abraham and Sarah concerning two matters. The son that God had promised them would be born to Abraham and Sarah the next year, and the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed. One of the three visitors who gave them this information is specifically called the LORD. The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day (Genesis 18:1).
-To Abraham On Mount Moriah
God told Abraham to bring his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed. Abraham obeyed and was about to take Isaac's life when God intervened. The angel of the LORD stopped Abraham saying: "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" (Genesis 22:12). He called a second time to Abraham: The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven (Genesis 22:15). In this instance the angel of the LORD, who called out to Abraham, seems to be the LORD Himself.

3. Jacob: This angel appeared a number of times to Jacob. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob,' and I said, 'Here I am' (Genesis 31:11). Jacob wrestled all night with a man who finally disabled him. The next morning Jacob understood that it was God Himself whom he had wrestled: "And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved " (Genesis 32:30). At the end of his life, Jacob spoke of God, and the angel of the LORD, as identical: "The Angel who has delivered me from all harm - may He bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth" (Genesis 48:16).

4. Moses And The Burning Bush: The angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in the burning bush. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up (Exodus 3: 2). The angel explained who He was. He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3:6).

5. The martyr Stephen emphasized this special event: And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush (Acts 7:30).

6. Children of Israel: God promised to send His angel ahead of the children of Israel. "I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. When my angel goes in front of you, and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out" (Exodus 23:20-23). The Israelites were told that they must obey this angel because the name of the LORD was in him. Since God would never share His name with any created being, this angel must be God Himself.

7. Isaiah the prophet: He wrote: "I am the LORD, that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:. Since God will not share His name or glory with anyone else, this angel must be God.

8. Joshua: An imposing personage appeared to Joshua. "When Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, "What has my lord to say to his servant?" And the captain of the LORD's host said to Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:13-15). Having Joshua immediately remove his sandals reminds one of the LORD telling Moses to remove his sandals in God's presence at the burning bush.

9. Gideon: Gideon was a man who was called by God to raise an army to defeat the innumerable Midianites. Because Gideon was a timid person, God paid him a visit to assure him that all would go well. After the encounter Gideon exclaimed! "Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the LORD; and Gideon said, "Help me, Lord GOD! For I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face." But the LORD said to him, "Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die" (Judges 6:22). If it was only an angel, and not God, that Gideon saw, then why was he afraid for his life?

10. Samson's Parents: The angel of the LORD appeared to a Hebrew woman to announce the birth of a son, Samson. He was to deliver the people of Israel from their enemies. The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God" (Judges 13:21,22). They identified the angel of the LORD with God Himself.

11. Lot: He recognised two angels and gave them hospitality in his house hence Lot and his household members were saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire (Genesis 19: 1-21)

Some Reasons the angel of the Lord is the appearance of God Himself


1. He is identified With God: In some contexts, the angel of the LORD is identified with God.

2. Power To Give Life: The angel of the LORD is said to have power to give life (Genesis 16:10). Only God has this power.

3. All-Knowing: The quality of omniscience, or knowing everything, is attributed to the angel of the LORD (Genesis 16:13; Exodus 3:7).

4. Judge The Earth: The angel of the LORD is called the "Judge of all the earth" (Genesis 18:25). This is a title that belongs to God alone.

5. Forgive Sin: The Bible says that only God can forgive sin. "I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins" (Isaiah 43:25). Yet the angel of the LORD had authority to forgive sins (Exodus 23:21).

6. Receive Worship: Worship belongs to God and Him alone. Yet the angel of the LORD was worshipped by Moses and Joshua.

God In Human Flesh

The evidence from these appearances seems clear. At certain times in the past God took upon Himself a human form to appear to people as the angel of the LORD. Though we do not know exactly which member of the Trinity is in view, the most likely candidate would be God the Son.

However, though the angel of the LORD is sometimes identified with the LORD Himself, there are other times when they are distinguished. Therefore we can conclude that on some occasions the angel of the LORD was God Himself, while at other times he was merely a messenger sent from the LORD.

The angel of the Lord strictly follows the instructions and commandments of the Living God. Most time, it is the appearance of God Himself in a human body, Who shows no mercy to the enemies and great mercy to His children. "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:7).

How Can We Provoke The Angel of the Lord to Action?

1. By having a strong faith in God
2. By the Word of God (Psalm 103:20): The angel of the Lord responds to the Word of God as it reminds God of His Word and provoke Him to action.
3. Using or saying the right word: Sometimes, what we say at a particular time comes to pass, which is as a result of the angel of the Lord representing the presence of God at that time. So, we should always choose our words carefully and declare positive things.
4. Fasting and Prayer in holiness: This can also provoke the angel of the Lord as seen in the case of Daniel (Daniel 10:10-21).
5. Believing in the Supernatural: That you can see what others cannot see
6. By True Worship of The Lord: Praise and worship of the Living God bring down the presence of God provoke the angel of the Lord to action.
7. Prayer: Binding the demons and loosing the angels of the Lord in a place.
8. Fear of the Lord: The angel of the Lord encompass to who fear Him.
9. Trust in God provokes His angel to action.
10. Generosity: Those who are hospitable will pure and holy mind tend to attract a certain level of mercy from God that ordinarily we may not get from Him. We should always go out of our ways to help people for we know not who might be the angel of the Lord (Mathew 8: 8-10)

Having said all these things, it is important to NOTE that only those who believe and do the Will of the Father can know or have access to His presence. For you to enjoy the supernatural presence of God there is need to get close to Him. You can only get to Him when you are born again and have totally surrendered your life to Christ as your Lord and saviour. Also, God dwells in a holy place. Only those will clean hands and pure heart can ascend unto the hills of the Lord. In essence, of you want to provoke the angel of the Lord to action, you must be righteous and holy and make Jesus Christ your friend.

If you would like to give your life to Christ just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil and I enter into the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus for in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: Dr. D.K Olukoya message
blueletterbible.org

Scripture Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:22

Calvary greetings to you brethren in Christ. We thank God for His saving grace upon us and the precious gift of life Christ to us all.

Without much ado, let's all consider things that appear like evil and a must for us to abstain from if we consider ourselves as true children of God, saved by Christ.

1. Following friends who follow night life-style
2. Telling lies- you tell people exactly opposite what a situation is for whatever reason.
3. Sitting and chatting away your precious time with smokers and drunks at the bar or ungodly places.
4. Gossiping or paying attention to gossips.
5. Caught in a compromising situation of any kind that doesn't give glory to God.
6. Watching porns.
7. Exposure of your body-God's Temple to the public or any form of indecent dressing.
8. Permitting the opposite sex to touch sensitive parts of your body, especially someone who is not your spouse.
9. Exposing your private parts to opposite sex while sitting.
10. Going or traveling around to conferences with opposite sex to be with them with an ulterior motive.
11. Lack of Scripture indepth and knowledge.
12. Weak prayer altars.
13. Poor reading culture- especially Christian literatures and books that can boost your spiritual life.
14. Lack of quiet time with God.
15. Inordinate love for positions.
16. Unholy attention to money or too much love of money.
17. Entertainment lovers- bringing comedians to the altar of God in the Chirch. The Church is a sacred place of prayer and worship not an entertainment centre.
18. Sermon proof Christians- the Word of God doesn't penetrate into their lives. They always have a second opinion to every word that comes out of a preacher and turn the Bible upside down. They only select and hold on to the sermon that is convenient for them and discard the one that brush their egos. They love to go and stay long in the church but don't have a change of heart towards God.
19. Hypocrites who preach Christ to others but do exactly opposite what Christ expects from a true child of God.
20. They lack faith and only believe what they see.

If you are guilty of one, some or all of the aforementioned, you need to repent and turn to God before it is too late. There's room at the Cross and the grace of God is not a passport to sin but to avoid sin. God is merciful and always forgives.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:

"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

Peace!

Scripture Text: Philippians 4:8

Abstain from all appearance of evil! Once it's looking like evil or sin, flee!- 1 Thessalonians 5:22

What is Emotional Affair?

The term emotional affair describes a type of relationship between people. The term often describes a bond between two people that mimics or matches the closeness and emotional intimacy of a romantic relationship while not being physically consummated- Wikipedia

Emotional affair can also be called emotional infidelity. Emotional infidelity involves a partner engaging in any activity with another person, whether real or imaginary, which has a negative impact on the established relationship. The person becomes emotionally unavailable, and this impacts the physical and emotional energy they can extend to their partner.

Emotional affairs often start out as a harmless, platonic friendship, but can develop into infidelity when someone becomes too invested in and too reliant on someone that is not their partner. It's important to distinguish here between close, healthy friendships and emotional affairs.

Married partners must value their relationship the way the Lord does and work on ways to strengthen it and build closeness. The Lord also forbids adultery or lusting for a person outside of marriage (Proverbs 6:25; Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:28).

Causes of Emotional Affair?

Emotional affairs are often a result of feeling neglected, misunderstood or overlooked in a relationship. If a person believes that their partner does not value them, or does not have time for them, then they might strike up a friendship with a new person who offers more emotional investment and support.

Some Signs of Emotional Affair

Today, many people are innocently having emotional affairs, which may be injurious to relationship with their spouse and with God. Some signs you must not overlook are:

1. When you intimately think about someone or opposite sex more than your spouse to the extent that you are having sex with the person in the dream. You prefer to discuss or confined with them rather than your spouse .
2. When you see someone and you are sexually aroused and the person is not your spouse, especially when such feeling doesn't bother you or immediately leads you to ask for God's forgiveness and total repentance.
3. Speaking with the opposite sex for hours while you don't talk long with your spouse, especially on sensitive issues that may be emotional.
4. Pointing out your lips or carrying your body in front of opposite sex seductively.
5. Hugging an opposite sex who is not your spouse in a compromising way.
6. Frequent contact with someone you may be attracted to and who is not your spouse.
7. Sharing secrets with someone who is not your spouse.
8. When you have a physical chemistry around someone who is not your spouse and you are not doing anything to stop that feeling.
9. You share things with the other person that you haven't shared with your spouse.
10. You think about this other person as the source of your strength whenever you are facing any challenge but never think of your spouse in such manner.

However, if emotional affair is not well handled, the possibility of it turning into physical intimacy is very high.

How To Overcome Emotional Intimacy

- Be an immigration officer to the door of your heart. Guard your heart and know the thoughts that come into it.
- Don't be too friendly with an opposite sex who is not your spouse.
- Avoid sharing your problems with someone who is not your spouse, especially with an opposite sex who is having similar issues or problems.
- Be godly, holy, self-disciplined, and guard your mouth.
- Do not spend more time with another person than you do with your spouse.
- Avoid secret conversation with an opposite sex who is not your spouse.
- Do not share intimate details of your life with anyone before sharing it with your spouse.
- Live transparently. Do everything as if your spouse were present
- Devote personal time to prayer and Bible study. Ask God to put a hedge around your marriage (Job 1:10).
- Avoid emotional and sexual affection that can destroy your marriage or home.
- Ask God for the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in you, especially self-control.
-Plan time with your spouse on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis and use those times to build emotional closeness.
-Maintain a pure thought life. Do not entertain fantasies about other people.
- As shown in today's Scripture: Philippians 4:8 "Finally brethren, whatsoever things are:
True
Honest
Just
Pure
Lovely
Of good report
Virtue
Praise
Think of these things.

God bless you, amen!

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen"

Congratulations!!!

Peace!

Scripture Texts: Romans 5:6-10; Hebrews 10:1-23; Ephesians 2:1-21

Happy Easter! Jesus is the reason for the season.

Christ did not die for us in vain! There are reasons he died for you and I and shown in today's Scripture texts. That's why we need to appreciate God and not take Christ's death for granted.


1. It's the demonstration of God's love for us

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"- Romans 5: 6-8

2. Christ's death reconciled us with God

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!"- Romans 5:9-10

3. Christ’s Sacrificed Himself for us once for All

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins- Hebrews 10:1-3
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a]
First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”[c]
And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary- Hebrews 10:1-3

[b]4. We have been called to Persevere in Faith
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:4

5. We have been Made Alive in Christ

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Hebrews 10:5-10

6. Christ Has joined us to Him in One Body

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. Hebrews 10:11-23


7. To Prepare Us For His Second Coming and Judgement Day
The second coming is when Jesus returns to judge all mankind – the living and the dead. The living includes all who will be alive when he returns. The dead includes everyone else, all who have lived and died physically. Jesus said that everyone who has died will be raised from the dead and be judged (John 5:26-29).

8. To Have Eternal Life
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

We need to appreciate God's love for us by taking deep reflection over what Christ's death bestowed on us. Also, we need to totally commit ourselves to Christ our Lord and Saviour. That's the only way we can appreciate Him even though we can do nothing to compensate His great offering of Himself.

If you would like to give your life to Christ just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen.

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Leviticus 18:27; Jeremiah 3:2

Defilement is anything unclean, polluted, filthy, soiled, impure, unholy, blemished (of persons and characters) or desecrated.

There are different channels by which defilement come into the lives of man. You can be defiled through the following ways:

1. Seeking after wizards (Leviticus 19:31)
2. Abortions (Leviticus 20:3)
3. Making and serving idols (Ezekiel 20:17-18)
4. Shedding of blood (Isaiah 59:3)
5. Foods (1 Corinthians 10:20)
6. Mouth/Tongue (James 3:6)
7. Death- Any action carried out that which produces death defiles (eg. murder)- Numbers 19:15
8. Spiritual uses of saliva, semen, blood, pus, faeces, etc. and sprinkling of these cause defilement
9. Sexual Pollution (Hebrews 13:4) These include:
- Inordinate affections
- Foolish fondness
- Teddy-bear husbands
- Teddy-bear wives
- Insatiable sex
- Unlawful sexual intercourse
- Scientific fornication (use of intimacy gadgets, dildos etc)
- Prostitution
- Incest
-Masturbation
- MouthAction
- Anal sex
- Rape
-Lust
-Pornography
- Animalistic sex
-Sexual flashbacks
- Preoccupation with ungodly sexual desires
- Filthy conversation and communication (sex chats via messages or videos)
- Sexual confusion and wandering mind
10. Medical defilement (abuse of drugs and medical treatment, and invasions)
11. Mutilation of the body (cutting, marking, tattooing, piercing and all forms of disfiguring the body)
12. Hard drugs and Self medications
13. Cursed materials or bewitched household items (Deuteronomy 7:26)
14. Foundational bondage.

How Can We Cleanse Ourselves From Defilement?
- Surrender your life to Jesus, you need to get born again.
- Carry out a spiritual research on your life
- Repent of every known sin.
- Forgive those who have offended you.
- Break every ungodly soul tie
- Cast out all the agents of defilement and their effects within, outside and around you in the name of Jesus Christ
- Ask God cleanse you.
- Ask God to reverse the consequences of all the items that have caused pollution your life.

I pray that every agent of defilement assigned against us shall be disgraced, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!

If you would like to give your life to Christ just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come before You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil and I enter the Kingdom of Light, in Your name I pray, amen.

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Culled from "Fire in the Word" Vol. 25, 27&28.

Scripture Text: Proverbs 3:5-6

Our popular Scripture, Hebrews 11:1-2 defines: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report". Faith is the assurance that the things revealed and promised in the Word are true, even though unseen, and gives the believer a conviction that what he expects in faith, will come to pass. Having faith in God usually brings good reports.

Contrarily, Natural Reasoning is the innate human faculty of reasoning; human reasoning or its conclusions, as distinguished from divine revelation.

God delights in those who have faith in Him and those without faith displeases Him. This is evident in Hebrews 11:16 which says:

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him".

Ten (10) Scriptures That Talked About Faith vs Natural Reasoning

1. Psalm 118:8
"It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans".
2. Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight".
3. Isaiah 11:3
"And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears";
4. Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts".
5. Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord".
6. John 20:29
Then Jesus told him,
“Because you have seen me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
7. 1 Corinthians 1:21
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him,
God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe".
8. 1 Corinthians 2:5
"So that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power".
9. 1 Corinthians 2:14
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God
but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit".
10. 1 Corinthians 5:7
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here"!


However, for one to have total faith in God, he or she must have been born of the Spirit and Spirit-led. In essence, anyone who is not born again cannot not experience the faith the Holy Spirit expresses in believers. Faith is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and anyone who wants to inherit the Kingdom of God must bear this fruit in him or her.

So, if you are not be born again and still believe in your strength , this is an opportunity for you to repent and put your trust in God. Just say this:
"Lord Jesus, I come to you today, come into my life, take control of my life and rule my world. I say bye-bye to the world and enter the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus for in your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

" Fear God and obey His Commandments. For this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work to judgement for every secret thing, whether good or bad".

From the above Scripture, the main purpose we are all here on earth is fear God and obey His Commands. Whatever we do with our lives in seasons and time, we must fulfil our whole duty to God; for God will bring to judgement every work we do whether good or bad. Whatever we do in secret, there is reward, judgement and consequences.

How Do We Perform Our Whole Duty To God?

It has been established that our whole duty is to manage our time and seasons well in the fear of God. In other words, our time and seasons here on earth is for us to fear God and obey His Word and instructions to us.

The question now is, what is the fear of God?

1. Proverbs 3:7 says: "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and shun evil". This means that the fear of God is for us to shun all forms of evil.

2. The fear of God is the respect, reverence and total submission to God and to His Will. Our real service is to respect and choose His will over ours- Proverbs 3:5-6.

3. Looking around us daily and beholding the awesomeness of God's Power around us will trigger us to appreciate Him and fear Him. The creative Power of God in nature, universe, heaven and the earth should instill His fear in us by praising and worshipping Him alone- Psalm 19:1.

4. To fear God is to live with others in love, joy, peace and harmony. This is the command of God for us. Treating others the way we want to be treated are ways to fear God- 1 John 4:18.

5. If we fear God, we won't be selfish towards or cheat others in our dealings. But we will use any opportunity or position to please God and serve humanity and men will see in our actions and dispositions that we truly fear God.

Mathew 5: 14-16

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven".

6. Every blessed day that God wakes us up and makes us alive should be one of the major reasons to fear Him. "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up" (1 Samuel 2:6). He is the One that sustains our lives everyday, so we should fear Him for that (Psalm 3:5)

Benefits of Fearing God - Psalm 25:12-15

"What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose.
His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net."

- We'll become God's personal projects and He will complete and perfect our lives in every area.
- He'll take over our lives and heaven will watch over us 24/7.
- He will satisfy us with long life - Proverbs 10:27
- He will give us wisdom to live a life of impact and meaning, and we can never be stranded in the journey of life- Psalm 145:19.
- He will empower us and fortify us with His weapons against satan and sin- Exodus 20:20; Hebrews 10:26-31
- God will have mercy on us as a weapon of warfare.. He will show us mercy instead of judgement- Luke 1:50.
- God will secure us and our family members. The Lord is with those that fear Him- Psalm 115:11
- He will direct our path in the right way and keep our feet from evil, disaster and sudden death- Proverbs 3:25-26
- The Secret of the Lord is always with those that fear Him. God will begin to trust us with His secrets when we begin to fear Him- Psalm 25:14
- The fear of God in us will never let us lie but speak the truth at all times- Proverbs 8:13.
- Heaven and its host will automatically become our deliverance ministers- Romans 8:38-39.
- The fear of the Lord brings in us the humility Spirit.
- We will be made holy and righteous through the fear of God. When we fear God, we His Holiness and His Glory- Philippians 2:12-13
- We shall inherit God's Kingdom at last- Isaiah 33:6; Luke 12:32.

Brethren, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... It is wise to hear God as from today. Tomorrow may be too late to repent. The best time is now! Give your life to Christ by obeying the commands of God in John 3: 16-17: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him". For this is the whole duty of man on earth.

If you would like to give your life to Christ Jesus, just say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. i say by-bye to the devil, and I enter into the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen".
[i][/i]
Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Mathew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The one of the things we learn from the beatitude is that Jesus is concerned with our heart and Him aim is to change the hearts of sinners just like you and me so that we can have access to the Father and His Kingdom in heaven.

The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thought and feeling, when nobody knows but God. . “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). From the heart are all the issues of life.

"What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart . . . For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man” (Matthew 15:18–19).

“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit . . . For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:33–34).

Our heart is utterly crucial to Jesus. What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what he cares about most. Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some bad habits that need to be broken. He came into the world because we have such dirty hearts that need to be purified.


What Does it Mean To Be Pure In Heart?

1. Psalm 24:3–4:

"Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false,
and does not swear deceitfully."

David pointed out that a pure heart is a heart that has nothing to do with falsehood. It is painstakingly truthful and free from deceitfulness. A deceitful heart is when you will to do one thing but you are actually doing the opposite of what you will. Or you don't regard God's instructions in your heart but you are doing it just to fulfil all righteousness. That is impurity of heart. Purity of heart is to will one thing, namely, to “seek the face of the Lord”.

2. James 4:8:

"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind."

Men who need to purify their hearts are “men of double mind.” That is they are men that will two things not just one thing. The impurity of double-mindedness is explained in James.

So the double-minded man has his heart divided between the world and God, like a wife who has a husband and a boyfriend or a husband who has a wife and a girlfriend. Purity of heart, on the other hand, is to will one thing, namely, full and total allegiance to God.

3. Matthew 22:37:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart."

Jesus Christ also commanded us to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, not with PART of your heart. Not with a double or divided heart. That would be impurity. Purity of heart is no deception, no double-mindedness, no divided allegiance.

Therefore, purity of heart is to will one thing, namely, God’s truth and God’s value in everything we do. The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with utter single-mindedness. Purity of heart is to will that one thing.

What is it to see God?

1. First, to see God means to be admitted to His presence. To be admitted into God's presence is to ensure that God always welcomes us into His presence. However, no sinner can be admitted in God's presence.

2. Second, seeing God means being awestruck by His glory — by a direct experience of His holiness, just like Moses did.

3. Finally, seeing God means being comforted by His grace. Again and again the psalmists cry out to God that He not hide His face from them. For example in Psalm 27 (verses 7–9) David says, Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! . . . Hide not thy face from me.

Brethren, purity is a prerequisite for seeing God. The impure are neither granted admittance to His presence, nor are they awed by the glory of His holiness, nor are they comforted by His grace. Jesus’s point in Hebrews 12:14: “Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” In other words, blessed are the holy for they shall see God. There is a real purity and a real holiness which fits us to see the king of glory.

But “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?- Proverbs 20:9, And with the disciples: “Who then can be saved?” Jesus answer comes back just like it did to the disciples in Matthew 19:26 - “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” In other words, God creates a purity for us and in us so that we can pursue purity. Only by His grace through Jesus Christ that we can be made pure. We must seek God in prayer like David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10). Lastly, we must look to Christ “who gave himself for us . . . to purify for himself a people” (Titus 2:14).

In conclusion, No purity of the heart, no entry to God's Kingdom!

If you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart

Scripture Text: James 3:2 - “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”[b][/b]

The tongue is certainly the most dangerous part of our body. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). “Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity” -Prov. 21:23. Words can make or break lives, relationships and churches. The line between information, gossip and slander is easily crossed. No-one can tame the tongue–except God, by His grace.

What is ironic in the human tongue, mine naturally included, is that “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9). Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! That’s like expecting to find poisonous water and fresh water coming out of the same fountain. Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring” -James 3:8-12. It is contrary to the Spirit of God and the will of God. Sadly, no human can tame this wild tongue of ours so we must rely on God’s strength in trying to bridle it because it’s just about as hard as bridling a wild stallion. “No human being can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.

James 3 scripture… it says that “No human being can tame the tongue?” What’s the point of trying if it can’t be done? Matthew 19:26 says that “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” The way to tame your tongue is by partnering with the Holy Spirit; these problems cannot be solved or transformed by mere willpower.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” -Matt 12:33-34

Why It is Important To Tame Our Tongue

Words have meaning. They can bring great joy and admonishment but they can also leave deep wounds where scars cannot be seen or easily be healed. One small word can do so much good but it can also do so much bad. The power of the human tongue is that it can make a child believe they’ll never amount to anything or they’ll feel encouraged by their parents and feel like they can amount to anything. The rudder on a great ship is so tiny compared to the vessel but that same tiny rudder can cause the whole vessel to sink.

1. Peter writes about the tongue as something we must do; keep it from evil and the “lips from speaking deceit.” It takes a cooperative work with the Spirit and Jesus strengthening us to keep this rebel member of the body. The tongue likes to move before the brain told it what to say. Peter puts it like this; if we love life and desire to see a good day then keep the tongue from evil (words) and lips from lying because “a lying tongue” is an abomination to God (Prov 6:17).

2. Do you claim to be religious but just can’t keep your tongue under control? James has a word for you; if someone really thinks he’s a religious person but lies and deceives, then that person’s religion is totally worthless. It’s one thing to say you’re a Christian but sometimes our words betray us; they reveal what’s in our heart. Jesus clarifies this point by saying “the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man” (Matt 15:18) because it is “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt 15:19).

3. Saying rash words are deadly and poisonous. One second of restraint can mean avoiding a thousand days of regret. Spontaneous anger never ends well and the person who spoke the angry words nearly always ends up with regrets for what they said. The use of imagery is very vivid and compares to the deadliness of a quick thrusting of rash words with that of actual sword thrusts. This naturally injures the person on the receiving end however the tongue of the wise can often heal what the rash person has inflicted. The rash one is constantly cutting a path by mowing down everyone in their way on the way to what they want, however the wise person’s words can act as a balm that promotes inner healing.

4. Also, it is important to tame our tongue because it takes one tiny bit of gossip, one slip of someone’s confidential files, or some flash of anger in a moment to set a whole forest on fire. Smallness does not mean insignificant. Dynamite does come in small packages and nothing in the human body packs a punch like the human tongue. It can do so many great things but it can also do so many destructive things. Like the old Navy saying “loose lips sink ships” so a tongue can sink a marriage, a church, a relationship, a job, and just about anything else you can imagine. The tongue’s like a loose cannon on a wave-tossed ship. It can help but it can also quickly turn on you.

5. Solomon sees a gentle tongue as one that gives life but when used in a perverse or evil manner, it breaks the person’s spirit. At least it breaks their resistance to perversion. The tongue and the words used can be profanity-laced or grace-filled. The choice is purely up to the one which the tongue belongs too. It is a matter of personal choice so it is always best to remember that “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly” (Prov 15:2).

Biblical Verses That Talks About The Importance of Taming Our Tongues


“The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” -Prov 12:18

“Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips” -Psalm 141:3

Psalm 34:12-13 – “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.”

Proverbs 10:11 – “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life…”

Proverbs 10:19 – “Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”

Proverbs 10:21 – “The lips of the righteous nourish many…”

Proverbs 10:31 – “From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be silenced.”

Proverbs 11:12 – “Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.”

Proverbs 12:18 – “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Proverbs 15:1 – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Proverbs 15:4 – “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”

Proverbs 16:23-24 – “The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction. Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

James 3:8 “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”

Proverbs 12:18 “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

1 Peter 3:10 “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.”

James 3:5 “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.”

James 1:26 “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.”

Proverbs 15:4 “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”


How Can You Tame Your Tongue?

1. DEDICATE YOUR HEART, MIND, AND TONGUE TO THE LORD, DAILY
Seek holistic purity. Pray that God would protect your mind from thoughts that lead to words of destruction. Offer all the words of the day ahead to Him with praise. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” When we choose praise, we “sacrifice” slander, gossip, fear-based words, and the language of hell. Luke 6:45 says that, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of!” What are you filling your heart and mind with?

2. PRAY THAT GOD WOULD GIVE YOU AN AWARENESS/CONSCIOUSNESS OF YOUR WORDS
Someone once said, “Taste your words before you spit them out!” Acknowledge your need for discernment and God’s grace to help you remain conscious of your words. Be intentional. If you’re supposed to speak up, do it with boldness. If you are supposed to remain silent, do it with boldness. Psalm 19:14- “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength.” Take responsibility for the words that come out of your mouth.

3. SURRENDER UP YOUR “RIGHT” TO COMPLAIN
You and I are not entitled to the act of complaining, especially not in front of your friends, coworkers, and strangers. No one enjoys hearing it, and the people that seem to don’t have your best interests in mind. If people don’t engage you or agree with you when you complain about yourself and others, it is because you are making them uncomfortable.

4. ASK FOR FORGIVENESS FOR ANY UNLOVING WORDS OR ATTITUDES
“Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way” James 3:2. Spend some time with the Lord repenting and asking for forgiveness regarding language or words that you have spoken that are offensive. Commit to working on changing the way you speak in order to demonstrate His love to the world.

5. PRACTICE SPEAKING WORDS THAT WILL ENCOURAGE, COMFORT, EDIFY, AND INSPIRE
Ask God to guide you to speak words that will honor Him and accomplish His purposes. The goal is to SPEAK LIFE. This means that you try practicing Ephesians 4:29 which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” To encourage means to give support, confidence, or hope. To comfort means to soothe, console, or bring freedom from pain. To edify means to cultivate, develop, and build up. And to inspire means to motivate, excite, energize, and to “breathe into.”

In conclusion, what was on the tongue of the psalmist should be on ours too as he wrote, “I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue” (Psalm 66:17) so “my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long” (Psalm 71:24). There is no greater use for the tongue “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9).

If you would like to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come before You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!


Ref: https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 6:12, 20b)

In 1 Timothy 5:23 Paul told Timothy, "Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illness.". This was suggested for medical reason. However, the in-depth study of the Scripture shows that generally, drinking alcohol is dangerous for Christians. Although the issue of drinking alcohol is controversial because of some reason most people proved to be Biblical but if you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in the study of God's Word, you will actually see that it is dangerous to drink alcohol. It is always difficult to drink alcohol without getting tipsy or drunk, and that's exactly the sinful part of the whole thing.

We are going to be looking inward into reasons you should stay away from drinking with some Biblical verses and examples.

1. Genesis 9:20-25: Noah cursed his children after getting drunk from alcohol.

"Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked". When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

“Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers.”

2. Genesis 19: 30-38: Lot's daughters committed sexual abomination with their father after getting him drunk.

"Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”
That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father". So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.
So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab[a]; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi[b]; he is the father of the Ammonites[c] of today".

3. Leviticus 10:9-11: The Bible regards to who drink as "unclean" and "common" people.

“You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, so that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean and so you can teach the Israelites all the decrees the Lord has given them through Moses.”

4. Deuteronomy 21:20: Drunkards tend to be stubborn, glutton and rebellious.

"They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.”

5. 1 Samuel 25: 36-38: Nabal died of heart failure after he became sober from being drunk.

When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

6. 1 Corinthians 10:23-24: It's not all things that seems good that are helpful.

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.

7. Children of God with special anointing and divine assignments are usually forbidden to drink wine.

a. John the Baptist- "For he [John the Baptist] shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb".
b. Samson- Judges 13:7 "But he told me, ‘You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.’”
c. Aaron and his sons- Luke 10:9 :"You and your sons are not to drink wine or other fermented drink whenever you go into the tent of meeting, or you will die. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come...".

8. Proverbs 20:1: Drinking wine can mock you and make you foolish.
" Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise"

9. Proverbs 31:4-5: Being drunk can lead to perverseness and wrong judgement

"It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted".

10. Isaiah 5:11: The Lord declared "woe" unto drunkards.

"Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them".

11. Ephesians 5:18: You cannot be filled with wine and the Spirit of God at the same time.

"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit".

12. Romans 14:21: It's not good to drink wine as a Christian because you may be hindering an unbeliever from giving his or life to Christ.

"It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak".

13. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8: Those who drink cannot simultaneously be watchful and sober as the Lord Has commanded.

"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation".

14. We are not to be mastered by anything (i.e. addicted to anything). Rather, we are to live in submission to the Holy Spirit and God’s revealed will in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 6:12, Romans 8:5).

15. We are to take every thought captive for Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5). Therefore, we are not to allow our minds to be taken captive by alcohol (Romans 8:6).

16. We are to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).

There was alcohol during biblical times, and God did not forbid it, except under certain circumstances and to specific people. In Jesus’ ministry, He did not speak of any prohibition. And Paul spoke clearly about the limited and responsible consumption of alcohol. But alcohol consumption can lead to sin and that is why we should avoid drinking it.

Physically, alcohol can have a short-term and long-term effects. Short term effects may include but not limited to distorted vision, hearing, coordination, altered perceptions and emotions, impaired judgment, bad breath and hangovers. Such problems can occur after drinking over a relatively short period of time. Long-term effect of alcohol drinking may also lead to other problems such as liver disease, heart disease, certain forms of cancer, and pancreatitis—often develop more gradually and may become evident only after years of drinking. Women may develop alcohol-related health problems sooner than men and from drinking less alcohol than men. Because alcohol affects nearly every organ in the body.

Our body is the temple of God and we should always keep it undefiled and disciplined- Proverbs 10:17. We must strive for holiness within and without and let's not confuse those whose souls have been lost with our carefree as a Christian. Remember that if your action misleads someone to miss heaven, you are also guilty.

If you would like to give your life to Christ just say this short prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Texts: Ephesians 4: 31-32; Mathew 5:23-24; Micah 6:8; 1 John 4:20-21


God has called us to forgive others as He has forgiven us. Refusal to forgive is not only harmful to us but it is a sin of rebellion and disobedience against God. People might have betrayed or hurt your feelings deeply that you find it difficult to let go. This is not the will and mind of Christ for us! Jesus Christ Himself passed through the pains of offences, betrayal, disappointment and all but in all these, He never sinned. He understand how we feel when someone offends us yet he does not approve of unforgiveness and unresolved differences. A forgiving heart is the heart that have come to terms with God first over a matter and goes on to accommodate the offender. Hence we should always remember that God forgave us and we should not harbour bitterness so that our prayers would be answered. Refusal to forgive can put one into emotional poison, deny one of God's promises and can make one to lose the inheritance of God's Kingdom.

There are dangers and consequences of unforgiveness and we must do everything within our power and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to avoid them.

1. Loss of a Walk with God: Unforgiving spirit separates you from fellowship with God. It separates you from enjoying the benefits of dependence on His wisdom, and separates you from growing more of the Fruit of the Spirit in your life.

2. Loss of Health and Vitality: God provides healing and blessing through forgiveness, both for those confessing (seeking forgiveness) and those forgiving. When David did not confess, he suffered physically (Psalm 32:1-5) Research shows that bitterness and grudges impact your health.

3. Loss of Joy: Bitterness and vengeance fuel wars and the disputes you have with your enemies. They always hurt and destroy you as well as others. Forgiveness, though, heals. Choose wisely.

4. Loss of Freedom: Consumed with, Controlled by, and Become Like the Offender:: Your mind is stuck on trying to resolve something that only God can handle effectively. When you spend that much time thinking about those who offend you, you are already consumed by the offender. They not only consume your mind, worse yet, they control you. The longer you carry the grudge, the more they control your thoughts, actions, and feelings. The more you want vengeance, the more energy drains from you as you plot, seek, or try to get revenge. And, even if you do get revenge, you often have regrets, second-guesses or feel it wasn’t enough. So, the more energy you use and the more time you spend thinking about the person who wronged you, the greater the chance they have to influence your thoughts and actions. You increase the possibility of becoming just like them. The Lord has a better path for you. He wants you to renew your mind. He wants your mind controlled by His thinking, by truth. Most importantly, He does not want you to renew you mind to just anything, it is to renew your mind to truth.

5. Loss of Hope: Depression is often born from an unhealthy focus on past events. It can be birthed from trying to control a past event, the unfairness of what happened, and the lost hope for justice. Hope, like joy, doesn’t grow from vengeance, bitterness or holding grudges. Hope takes root in the soil of forgiveness. Forgiveness encourages hope and a new future for your life. That's what forgiveness is about.

Forgiveness is the best way to deal with your memory of wrongful pain. It’s an opportunity to be free of the pain and probably help other people, even the person who hurt you. It’s your choice to trust God's way or yours. And by the way, the alternative to forgiving – bitterness and vengeance – only makes the pain last longer. It will affect you emotionally, mentally, and physically, and even generations to come. Please, don’t choose that.”

If you would like to give your life to Christ just confess this:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen!"

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: Mountain Top Daily Devotional; https://gr8relate.com

Scripture Texts: Psalm 109:7; 80:4; 35:13; Proverbs 28:9


Prayer is a good thing and a medium of communication with God. However, wrong praying is just as sinful as not praying at all.

The psalmist writes, “How long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?” (Ps. 80:4). Here God was not angry because they didn’t pray. God was angry because of the prayer they offered Him. Moreover, David says of the wicked, “Let his prayer become sin” (Ps. 109:7).

These Scriptures show that it is not all prayers the Living God is pleased with. There are some prayers that get God angry and they are the ones offered to Him in sin.

Let's consider some of these things that can make our prayers become sin.

1. Praying With One’s Back Toward God (Jeremiah 2)

These are prayers made when we have idols in our hearts. God said to the idolatrous Israelites in Jeremiah 2, “They have turned their back unto me, and not their face” (v. 27). The essence of idolatry is setting one’s gaze on something other than God. Such was the case at the foot of Sinai when Israel worshipped the golden calf. Moses’ face shone with radiance because he had looked on the glory of God on the mount. In contrast, the calf worshippers turned their backs to God. Lot’s wife, in order to look back at Sodom, had to turn her face from the Godward direction and directive. Desiring Sodom rather than God, she was turned to a pillar of salt. To pray while defying God’s commands and ignoring His standards, hoping that God will overlook disobedience, is to turn our backs to God, which makes our prayers become sin.

2. Hypocritical Prayers (Mathew 6:5; Galatians 6:12)

Our prayers can become sin if done in hypocrisy. Hypocrites loves to "show-off" while praying and most times pray in the flesh with so much unnecessary lengthy and repetitive prayers, without being Spirit-led.

3. Praying As A Substitute For Obedience

Prayer can never be substitute for obedience. In Joshua 7:10-11, we read that Joshua and the elders of Israel were moaning and complaining before God after the Israelites were defeated at Ai. They were putting on quite a show tearing their sackclothes, throwing dust in the air, and griping to God. But God appeared and said to Joshua, “Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned”. Joshua never realized that their prayer had become sin until God told him that the Israelites were defeated because Achan had partaken of the accursed (forbidden) thing. Disobedience in the camp, disobedience in the church, and disobedience in the heart hinder the blessing of God. More prayer was not the remedy on this occasion. Their great need was to get the sin out of the camp!

Today, many are wasting their breath praying while supporting religious, political, educational, and social institutions which are against the Will of God. In this dispensation, our great need is not prayer, but repentance! “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Prov. 28:9). Praying instead of repenting is sin.

4. Selfish Praying (James 4:3)

Any prayer we offer to God that does not honour God’s name, advances God’s kingdom, or in accordance with God’s will becomes sin. This can also be called praying amiss. Our prayer is meant to be God-centred and Spirit-centred not self-centred. The first three elements in the Lord’s prayer concern God’s character, cause, and kingdom. Man’s concerns and needs are secondary.

5. Faithless Praying

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). To pray in unbelief is just as bad as not praying at all. Many of us pray to God for forgiveness for a certain sin yet unwilling in our hearts to let go of that sin while still praying. This type of prayer becomes sin for it is done with an evil heart of unbelief.

6. Praying To Oneself

“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself” (Lk.18:11). This man is not really praying to God. He is praying. . .with himself. By comparing himself to extortionists, adulterers, and the publican, this Pharisee was building a case of self-righteousness, self-image, self-talk, self-esteem, and self-image in his mind when compared to others. Contemplating on our good deeds or perfection as motive behind praying is sinful and not acceptable to God. We must come to Him with a heart of humility, for all have sinned and cut short the glory of God.

7. Praying To Men Rather Than To God

God-forsaken souls like Saul, from whom the Lord had departed (1 Sam. 28:16) could not obtain answers or direction from the Lord. Saul sought out a medium whom he asked to conjure up Samuel that he might seek counsel from the departed prophet. Asking advice from departed spirits by means of witchcraft, and praying to men instead of God made his prayers become sin. Many people now worship men of God rather than God Himself. Some even now pray in their pastor's name and ascribe their miracles to them rather than God.

8. Praying Out Of Duty Alone

This is prayer made to fulfil all righteousness as a Christian. Christians ought to pray in faith and Spirit to get results or answers from God but many often “say” their prayers and do not expect anything as a result. Having fulfilled their duty they are not disappointed when nothing happens. Prayers of this sort are little more than religious exercises, rituals, and routines which take up time while producing a pious sense of having done one’s duty, and can become sinful prayers.

9. Pretentious Praying

Jesus said of the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, “Ye devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense make long prayer” (Mt. 23:14). The contradiction between the Pharisees’ deeds and sanctimonious prayers was astounding. In order to cover their deceitful works they prayed lengthy prayers. They hoped their outward religiosity would disguise their wicked actions.


10. Asking God For Assistance While Shying Away From Responsibility

Many ask God to do for them what He has plainly told you to do for themselves. God initiates every good thing in our lives, but it is our duty to cooperate with His Spirit in “working out” our salvation. Jesus said, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say” (Lk. 6:46). To appeal to God for help while neglecting the clear-cut mandates of Christ is sheer folly. God has given us the privilege, as well as the duty, of implementing the spiritual disciplines. To utter words in prayer while never exercising one’s will to do one’s duty to God becomes a sin.

11. Praying From An Impure Heart

“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Ps. 66:18). Looking favorably toward sin bars God from hearing prayer. God views our hearts before He listens to our words. “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). This is why confession of sin is mandatory. In order to contact God our sins must be put under the blood of Christ. Sin separates from God (Isa. 59:1-2). Only the Blood can cleanse from sin. To seek to approach the Creator with an unclean heart makes our prayers sinful.

12. Praying To Another "god" rather than the "Living God"

Our conception of God must come directly from the Word of God and not from philosophy, culture or spiritual apostasy. We must pray having the Almighty I Am in our heart so that our prayers do not become sin.

Brethren, the right form of praying is Spirit-born, Spirit-guided, and Spirit-empowered. The Spirit helps our infirmities when it comes to prayer and makes intercession for us (Rom. 8:26). Sinful praying is praying on a human level. Man apart from God will naturally pray corrupt prayers because man has a corrupt nature. But prayer that is acceptable to God is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let this truth grip your heart and cause you to cry out, “Lord, teach me to pray!”

Prayerlessness is sin and calls for deep repentance. Wrong praying calls for repentance just as loudly as not praying at all. Do not doubt it, praying amiss is sinful. Praying aright is a mighty force. May God enable us to recover the lost art of Spiritual Praying.

If you would like to give your life to Christ say this:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil, I enter into the Kingdom of Light, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: https://christlifemin.org/

Scripture Texts: 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 1:10

Last week, we talked about certain things we need to check out in our lives before we can confidently call or answer as Christians. Yes! We have been saved by God's grace and become heirs to His Throne that day we gave our lives and all to Christ but we constantly need to examine ourselves and right standing and the kind of confidence we have in Him, lest we fall (Galatians 6:14).

Today, we will continue we the checks to boost our confidence that we are Christians as discussed below:

4. You must peaceably live with others in order to win them to Christ: Proverbs 16:7 says; "When people's lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them. As a confident Christian, you ought to have first built up your peace with God by pleasing Him before you can embark on the journey of soul winning, only then can you make peace with the lost souls and win them back to Christ. It'll be a total failure if you try and win people over using violence, threats, abusive words or trying to proof that you are better than them spiritually or in the Word of God. These are not the qualities of Christians. We should live by example and try to relate with their thinking in order to win them. Lost souls should be approached with God's wisdom and through the Holy Spirit directives while we ourselves must lead a quiet and peaceable life with all men. Also, we can identify with the lost souls by giving them your background and credentials in Christ, sharing your personal testimony of Salvation with them. - Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3; Colossians 4:5)

5. You dare not compromise with the world (Mathew 5:16; Romans 14:16; Romans 12:17): To confidently call yourself a Christian, even if you are at the verge of getting beheaded, nothing can make you compromise. We must caution against pleasing others to the point of compromising. We should stand up for, and not be ashamed of our faith. How do we do this? We must be honest and sincere in all our dealings. We must not bring reproach upon the cause of Christ. We must be blameless and innocent. We should not let our liberties or grace in Christ become a "stumbling block" to others who are yet to be saved. Don't confuse people with your bipolar spiritual behaviour and keep your priorities straight. Consider the fate of those who covet riches and exhibit wrong attitudes in the Scripture before you compromise with the world.

6. You must be spiritually and financially responsible (1 Timothy 5:17-18; Acts 20:34-35): Confident Christians don't shy away from their responsibilities. Although full-time pastors, Christian workers and missionaries are preachers of gospels and reapers in God's harvest that deserve wages albeit all Christians must be spiritually and financially responsible. Christians with secular jobs should help support God's workers and not find lame excuse why they shouldn't pay their tithes or give offerings because pastors will eat their money. What happens to the act of showing kindness which is one of the fruit of the Spirit? On the other hand, God's workers should stop being lazy bones. God's workers can hold secular jobs too so that they can help the needy in the society, even Apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker under Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:1-3). We should all be responsible and help each other spiritually and financially and not become freeloaders hiding under Christianity. Jesus Christ is our example. He fed the hungry (5000) with food and the Word of God and even instructed His disciples (Peter) to feed His flocks.

7. You must be responsible to the government (Romans 13:1): Christians do not misbehave in the society and strive to obey government rules. We must try to be good citizens and obey the government (e.g. obeying traffic rules, getting the correct license required as and when due, pay taxes, adhering to policies and procedures, obeying curfew period and other instructions from government to its citizens). Most government laws are for our good and protection. We must also set a good example by praying for the government and officials rather than cursing them. This is what distinguishes us as Christians. We must perform required national and community duties. However, we must obey God above all for He rules the governments of men.- Titus 3:1; John 19:10-11; Proverbs 8:15-16; Acts 4:19-20.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil and enter into the Kingdom of God Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen"!

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Colossians 4:12

Have you been in a situation where you or others have ever doubted you as a Christian? If there is a chance (even a slim chance) this has occurred or may occur, then you need spiritual overhauling. So, next time, before you raise your hands when they are calling out Christians, please check out what we're about discussing now.

"Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship (i.e. to God's holy people in the city of Colosse) and servant of Christ Jesus... always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you "strong", "perfect" and "fully confident" that you are "following the whole Will of God" - Colossians 4:12. From this Scripture we can see that before you call yourself a Christian (servant of Christ Jesus) you must be strong, perfect, fully confident and always willing to follow the whole (not in part) Will of God, just as brother Epaphras prayed.

As Christians we need to be cautious. Our relationship to the society goes a long way to determine if we are Christians or not. Like someone always says " there is nothing like a 'good Christian' or 'bad Christian'. it's either your are a Christian or a heathen; for Christ or against Him".

Christians, to boost your confidence anywhere in the world that you belong to Christ, look out for these things!

1. In your true mind, you are always seeing yourself that you don't belong to this world: We are not of the world, but Christ Has chosen us out of the world (John 15:19). As Christians, we are citizens of heaven, sojourners in this world, pilgrims passing through, the earthly lands, homes and mansions we possess now are temporary and our lives on earth is brief. When we constantly remind ourselves in our subconscious mind, moment by moment, that that this world is not our permanent home: it shapes our thoughts and perspectives about life itself, we focus more on how to please Christ, we think more about God's Kingdom and where to spend eternity in afterlife, we lose the will to fight over worldly and unworthy things that will perish with this world, and take things very easy- John 17:14-16; Romans 12:2; Hebrews 11:14,16; Hebrews 13:14.

2. You have completely separate yourself from those who conform to this world: You don't need to announce this yourself. When worldly people have started sorting you out by themselves because of the Christlike character in you then you have just started the separation assignment. They know you: the heathen, worldly family, friends and colleagues, and even demons are already testifying that you are indeed a Christian. When they have started calling you names like "pastor", "fanatics" ,"Jesus' mumu" , "prayer addict", "Bible addict", and avoid you like a plague when they want to commit their atrocities such as alcoholism, idolatry, smoking, fraud, wild parties, sexual immoralities, lying and deceits of any kind- because they know you won't bulge; then you can now start seeing yourself as someone who has come out from among them and separate yourself to God. You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and of devils. What fellowship do you have with darkness or those who have out rightly rejected Christ? Why will you be unequally yoked together with unbelievers? Why will you join yourself in marriage with an idolater, unbelieving and worldly spouse? And you still confident that you are a Christian? However, God is not telling us to entirely separate, especially when we are already deep in such relationships (e.g., marriage, family members, etc.) but He still wants us to witness to them. He wants us to go into the world, and preach the gospel of Christ to unbelievers. Jesus Christ told God that He should not separate us by taking us out of this world but to keep us from the evil of the world. So, we must always hold our principles in Christ no matter the situation- John 17:15; Philippians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 10: 20-21; Nehemiah 13: 26-27; 1 Corinthians 7:12-16,39.

3. Your core values and attitude align with God's : The friendship of the world is enmity with God. Love not the world neither things that are in it. When you deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly...in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, choosing rather to partake in the suffering of Christ and God's people against frivolities, keeping pure religion without blemish, abstaining from lusts of the flesh , resisting being influenced by trends, fads and media, you don't pursue vanity or indiscriminate worldly entertainment, you don't give in to unholy peer pressure and influence, you don't compromise or tolerate ungodly ways, you avoid wanton parties and activities and don't go to the opposite extreme (i.e. practicing self-righteousness or refusal to accept invitations to pure and innocent lunch, dinner, banquets and feasts): then you can start boosting your confidence of being a Christian- James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16; Hebrews 11:24-27; 1 Corinthians 7:31; Colossians 2:8; Romans 13:13-14; 1 Timothy 5:22; 1 Peter 4:3-4; Mathew 9: 9-13; 1 Corinthians 10:27.

...to be continued

if you would like to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You now, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world. I say bye-bye to the devil and enter into the Kingdom of God Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen"!

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-5

The Bible commands believers to give because God blesses us when we give (Mathew 6:4). Material and spiritual blessings are delivered abundantly to our bosom when we give. Also, it has been confirmed that the best form of investment is giving to God's work. We can invest towards the needy, missionaries, evangelism, etc. However, giving is not just enough but the motive by which we give is noteworthy, to avoid giving amiss. Although, the concept 'giving' has become a controversial issues nevertheless we should always give with the right motives.

We will consider the different types of givers today in order to give us insight into the type(s) of givers we really are.

Types of Givers

1. Reluctant Givers: They are usually unhappy when anyone talks about giving. They raise all kinds of debate and arguments to justify their negative attitude towards giving. Even if they have to give, they do it grudgingly with so much reluctance. They are against paying of tithes while some who manage to pay can delay or borrow their tithes.
2. Casual Givers: These people are irregular or occasional givers who show very little commitment to God's command of giving. They are inconsistent and unfaithful givers (Philippians 4: 14-20).
3. Stingy Givers: They lack generosity. They usually give sparingly and are unwilling to share a large part of their substance or possessions with anyone, not even with God nor Kingdom projects (2 Corinthians 9:6).
4. Covetous Givers: They pretend to give their all to God but are actually giving a little or part of what they have. e.g. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5: 1-11).
5. Expectant Givers: They give with a mind of getting a reward or favour from the person they are giving to (Mathew 6:2). We should emulate the three wise men who traced the star from the East to locate Jesus and gifted him with great gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. These men had no hidden agenda, neither were they self-seeking. They came specifically to worship Jesus and bless His family with gifts (Mathew 2:11).
6. Willing Givers: They give from their heart and willingly even though it seems difficult to give. Father Abraham is a classic example for he willingly offered to give his only son to God. God saw his faithfulness and replaced Isaac with a lamb for offering (Genesis 22:1-19).
7. Big Little Givers: Like the poor widow who gave to mites, these people give their all to God even in their lack or little. God usually adjudge our giving by the measure of what we have left after giving, not what we give.
8. Sacrificial Givers: They give not out of abundance but out of their poverty. This type of giving is unusual, painful and extra ordinary and most time will cost them something in order to attract God's attention to change their financial stories or pending situations to testimonies. The widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16) and David (2 Samuel 24:24) are typical Biblical examples of sacrificial givers.
9.Voluntary Givers: These are like Zacchaeus- the tax collector who gave his foods to feed the poor without being asked to do so (Luke 19:1-9)
10. Unpretentious Givers: These type of people give without making any shows of their giving. They are modest and unassuming (Luke 10:25-37).
11. Perfumed Givers: These people's gifts bring "an odour of sweet smell and saviour, a sacrifice acceptable, fragrant and well-pleasing to God. The Philippians were perfumed givers. (Philippians 4:18).
12. Life Givers: Giving does not involve only money. We can give our time, talent and resources to God. We can also give to God's Kingdom by winning souls for Christ consistently through the Word of God or our godly lifestyles (Mark 12:41-44).
13. Consecrated Givers: As shown in our scripture text, we are to be like the Macedonians by first giving ourselves to the Lord, as a living sacrifice, then we can go on to demonstrate great acts of generosity to Him and His work with all our substance (Proverbs 3:9).
14. The Greatest Giver: The Greatest Giver is God- who gave His only begotten Son for us that we might be saved (John 3:16-17). Jesus Christ the Son of God gave Himself and His all to save and redeem us. Therefore, when we give, let God's Kingdom always be in our focus.

Brethren, Jesus Christ Has given us Himself and His all, what have you given back to Him?

This is another chance to give your life to Christ and give your all to the Lord, just like the Macedonians. Give yourself up to God today as a living sacrifice so that He can takeover your life, for tomorrow may be too late.

if you would like to give your life to Christ, just say this short prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You today, I offer my life to You, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!



Reference: Mountain Top Daily Devotional

Scripture Text: Philippians 4:6-7

As Christians, it is evident to us that prayer is an effective medium of communication with God. However, most of us do not really know or understand the effectiveness of supplication and how it affects our relationship with God as a whole.

Prayer and supplication are closely related and interconnected as they are both forms of reverence and invocation to God. However, there is a thin difference between supplication and prayer. Prayer is defined to be doxology, praise, thanksgiving, confession, supplication, and intercession to God. Prayer is the way to renewal and spiritual life. We can pray in thanksgiving, simply praising God for His many blessings and mercy, and it is a form of talking to God generally. What then is Supplication?

Supplication

Supplication (also known as petitioning) is a form of prayer, wherein one party humbly or earnestly asks God to provide something. Supplication is a request. And if the request is made to God, it becomes a prayer. However, supplications are not those quick or "sharp sharp" five minutes prayers we do. In a supplication, we ask God for something from a place of humility and desperation. When we are humble before God, we acknowledge our sinful condition as well as God’s holiness. Humility in the place of prayer helps us to pray with the right motive (James 4:1-3). Supplication arms us with the strength and courage to suffer and wait while we ask for relief. If we’re truly humble, we will ask in faith and continue to believe even when life does not turn out like we had hoped.

Biblical Examples of those who made Supplication to God

1. Moses: He asked to see God’s glory (Exodus 33:18)

2. Hannah: She asked for a son (1 Samuel 1:11)

3. David: He asked for punishment of his enemies (Psalm 83)

4. Hezekiah: He asked for God to prolong his life (2 Kings 20:1-3)

5. Esther: She asked for deliverance of the Jews (Esther 4:15-16)

6. Jesus: He asked for strength on the cross and power for believers (John 17)

Scriptures we can use to make supplication to God


- Psalm 20:4 – “May he give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

- 2 Chronicles 33:13 – “And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea.”

- Jeremiah 33:3 – “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

- Matthew 7:7-11 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

What are the things we can ask God in Supplication?

1. Divine Healing: Trusting the Lord as the Great Physician who can heal anybody. Being humble to His will and power over the sickness or disease, honouring and trusting Him regardless of what happens.
2. Interceding for someone: We can humbly request God to reveal Himself to any of our loved ones who are yet to experience Christ's salvation.
3. For Companionship: If anyone is lonely and needs a companion to share and experience love with, supplication can be made to God in this regard.
4. For Wisdom or Direction on an issue: Sometimes, when we feel so desperate or in a dilemma to making a right decision, we can humbly table it before God for Him to take over (Proverbs 3:5-6). We should wait on Him while I read His Word and listening for His voice. He will surely guide and use us according to His glory.
5. Supplication for Protection: We can humbly commit our lives into God's Hand to protect us from all harms and evils of this world. Let Him know that He is the only One you trust with your life.
6. Supplication for Faith: Many times, we need God to help us increase our faith especially when the situations may be looking impossible in human perspective and confused (Luke 1:37). God can help us overcome our doubts, fears and unbelief if we humbly seek Him for help (Mathew 7:7).

How To Make an Effective Supplication to God?

It is important to NOTE that supplications that are wrongly made may not be effective. There are things we must do that can help us get our desired requests from God in the place of supplication.

1. Ensure that you have accepted Christ as your Lord and personal Saviour. That is, the first step to an effective supplication is the salvation of our souls (James 5:16; John 3:16)

2. Give Praise and Thanksgiving to God: Just as today's Scripture tells us, our supplication should be made through thanksgiving... so that God can give us our requests.

3. Confess your sin: If we come to God with hidden sin, He will not hear your prayer. We need to ask God to reveal our sins to us (Psalm 51:1-7). Then we confess and forsake all our sins. We need to remember who we are and ask God for forgiveness in an active form of humility.

4. Lament!: Share your burdens, complaints, and confusion with God. He wants to hear you. Mentally lay your worries at God’s feet. (John 16:33, Matthew 11:30).

5. Ask God for His will: Don't be afraid to ask God for His good and perfect will you want. If you have praised, confessed, and lamented, your heart and mind are suppliant, ask that His will be done and He will answer you (John 14:14).

God made us to walk and talk with Him daily, to love Him and long for Him and pant for His Word. So, when we implore His power over our lives, we reveal our dependence on Him hence Supplication builds faith, even as it requires faith.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer: "Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Ephesians 6:10-18

Today, we will be looking at the concepts "Good News" or "Gospel" "Shoes" of "Peace" - one of God's Armor, and how to use them to stand against the devil.

"Gospel" or "Good News"

The word gospel is translated from the Greek word euangelion, and it means “good news” or “good tidings.” Our Lord Jesus Christ came to the world to tell people the good news, the gospel, of a coming Kingdom of God. This message was intended for the people to take a decision on where to spend their Eternity. “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1:14-15). Also, our Lord Jesus Christ went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” (Matthew 4:23).The gospel message that Jesus brought was about a coming government of God on earth and what we should be doing to prepare for it!

Jesus brought a directive to His disciples, whose feet were to be firmly planted in the gospel: The good news of His coming Kingdom was to be shared and spread. “Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:1-2).The disciples carried out His command! “So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere” (Luke 9:6). His final command to His disciples was , “the Great Commission,” . “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16). In fact, the feet of those disciples, who were delivering that message of peace, are figuratively described as beautiful: “And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Romans 10:15).

"Shoes of Peace"

In our world today, we have come to think of peace as a time when there are no active wars. But the Bible shows us that peace is more than just the absence of conflict—peace comes from unity and closeness with God (Isaiah 2:2-4).

During the time of the apostle Paul, the shoes worn by the soldiers of the Roman Empire were called "caligae". They were specifically designed to keep soldiers’ feet healthy during the rigors of long forced marches and were very different from the sandals worn by most of the populace.

The shoes were constructed from three layers of leather, which were pulled up and laced around the ankle. The "caligae" helped protect against blisters and foot diseases. In addition, small spikes or iron hobnails were often driven into the soles of the shoes in order to give firm footing on uneven terrain. in those days, a soldier’s shoes formed the foundation of his armament. The foot soldiers of the empire relied on walking as their primary means of transportation, so the ability to move easily and comfortably was a necessity for them. Also, they needed to be able to step about in battle without thinking about where they placed their feet. They needed solid footing in order to concentrate on the battle at hand. The hobnails on their shoes made it easier to hold their ground or navigate through difficult terrain.

The enemies of the Roman Empire would sometimes place sharp, spiked objects on the ground in front of them before a battle. Any attacking soldier not wearing shoes substantial enough for the attack would soon find himself crippled or fall dead in battle. The shoes were vital to the foot soldiers.

The same is true where the armor of God is concerned. Our enemy, Satan the devil, will use every opportunity to litter our path with distractions and traps—and only the shoes God gives us as part of His armor can give us the protection we need to keep moving safely across the battlefield.

There is a famous quote of “If you’re going to talk the talk, you also have to walk the walk.”

Just like having a good pair of shoes can help us walk across rough terrain, having confidence in Christ allows us to boldly proclaim His name. While we may face persecution in this life, we can rest in knowing the Savior of the world loves us and cares for us.
Having our feet fitted with the shoes of the gospel of peace allows us to be ready to share God with others at all times. As Christians, we should always be prepared, as we never know when an opportunity may arise to share the good news of the gospel with someone else. Ultimately, the shoes of peace equip us to fight for Christ in the spiritual battles we face.

However, before we can activate God's Armor Shoe of Gospel and Peace, we need to be a friend of God. We must have given our lives to Christ and accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour. Only by this can we use this "Shoes of Good News" to crush the devil and keep standing after the battle against him and all his demons, principalities and powers in heavenly places and of this world. In addition, when we put on the shoes of God and spread the "Good News", our feet shall be beautiful and we bring "joy", "peace" and "good tidings" wherever we go or step. We also must have been fortified by God and no power of darkness can harm us.

if you are willing to put on this "Shoe of Peace" but you are not yet born again, this is a best chance for you for tomorrow may be to late. Please say this short prayer- "Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: 2 Peter 3-16

If you are reading this message now and you are fond of mocking the Truth of God's Word (the Bible) or like to twist the Scriptures, you are a scoffer! This message is for you, and you need to repent now so that this act will not lead to your destruction.

Today's Scripture Text is affirmative of the fact that the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. Whether we like it or not, believe it or not, mock it or not, take it slightly or serious; Jesus is coming soon and His Coming is at hand. It is better to believe and be prepared for it so as not to be caught unaware.

A scoffer can be defined as someone who mocks or makes fun of someone or something, especially of religious or moral values. The Bible describes them as those who choose to disbelieve God and His Word, deliberately.

Biblical Facts About Coming of The Lord's Day and Why we Should Prepare!

Are you one of the scoffers who believes not and usually says: " What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created"- 2Pet 3:4. I have a good news for you today as confirmed by Apostle Peter in today's scripture Text.

1. Have you deliberately forgotten that God made the heavens long ago by the Word of His Commands, and He brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water? Then He used that same water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood because of the wickedness and sin of man in the days of Noah.
2. By that same Word of His Commands, this present heaven and earth have been created and stored up with fire. This fire is being stored up and kept for the day of judgement, when the ungodly people will be destroyed.
3. Don't forget that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day to Him. God doesn't operate in our own time but in His own, and God's time is the best.
4. The Lord isn't really being slow about His promise, as scoffers think. No! He is only being patient for our sake. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent. Our Lord's patience gives sinners time to be saved!
5. The Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly as a thief. Then this present heaven will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire; and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgement. On that day God will set the heaven on fire and the elements will melt away in the flames.
6. After the destruction of this present heaven and earth with fire, there shall be a day when we will have new heavens and new earth, a world filled with God's Righteousness, as He Has promised us.
7. The requirements needed by us to see and live in this new world to be created by God is to be born again, live a holy life and live peacefully in purity, blameless before God.

Hence as believers, we are not to mind the scoffers who continue to reject genuine repentance. Scoffers are to repent from their sins so that the will not be destroyed eventually. For those of us who already believe in the Lord Second Coming, we should be on guard so that we will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose our foothold secured in Christ. "We must grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen!"-2 Pet 3:16.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer:
" Lord Jesus Christ, I come before You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen!

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Luke 13:6-9

...give it another year and put plenty of fertilizer, if it's still barren next year, cut it down! (Luk 13: 8b,9).

Happy new year to you all!

Glory to God for His mercy to witness another year. Last year, many of us had hopes for next year ( i.e. this new year). Now that we are here, what does God think of you? Has God spared you to see the new year for a second or last chance to bear fruit in Him. Probably you have been a barren fig tree for a long time, you were not useful to God neither have you borne fruit in Christ, is this the year you bear fruit or be cut off?

In today's Scripture text, Jesus told a parable of the Barren Fig Tree. A man planted a fig tree. The fig tree used up lots of nutrients but did not produce any figs. “Why should I let this good-for-nothing fig tree use up good soil?” he asked the man. “Cut it down.” But the gardener replies, “Let it be for one more year. I will do everything I can for it. If it bears fruit, great! If not, cut it down.”
This story is about God's grace and generosity to sinners for another opportunity to repent but not to perish. Jesus Christ is the one who intercedes for us not to be cut off but be given a chance to be ferterlized ( through the Good News/Word of Christ), so that we can bear fruit of new birth and resurrection ( John 3:16).

God is not finished with any one of us yet, that's why He's giving us another opportunity to repent from our sin and turn to Christ for the salvation of our souls. He is a patient God!
The farm owner wants to cut it down. But his head gardener, a patient person who sees the big picture and asks the right questions says to him, “First let me aerate the soil and throw some manure on it. Let’s give it a second chance. After that, if it does not produce fruit, we can chop it down.” The question for us is “Are we like that fig tree? Are we bearing fruit that will last? What kind of fruit are we expected to bear?

Brethren, the fruit God is expecting us to bear this new year is the fruit of the Spirit, which is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control ( Galatians 5: 22-23).

How do we bear this fruit?
1. Repent from all known sin
2. Give your life to Christ Jesus and make Him Your Lord and personal Saviour.
3. Ask for and receive the Baptism of Holy Ghost and Fire.
4. Be a friend of God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
5. Befriend the Holy Spirit in your daily life and routine.
6. Store up your treasure in Heaven and seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness...) Mathew 6:33)
7. Love God with all your life, soul, might, strength and power, and love your neighbor as yourself.
I pray that God will give us the grace to bear good fruit and we shall not be cut off this year and beyond in Jesus mighty name, amen.

If you would love to give your life to Christ, say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".
Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Scripture Text: Mathew 26: 41

The Bible tells us to watch and pray!
While prayer has been an integral part of Christians, it is also important to watch as much as we pray.

To be watchful is simply to look out for something: our footsteps, our words, our decisions and so on. We need to be conscious of the things going on around us or in our lives so that we will not stumble.

What are the things to Watch?
1. Watch for temptation lest you fall. We are to be watchful for temptation of the flesh (Gal 5: 19-21). Sin such as gluttony, sexual immorality, passing values or things of vanity, anger, unforgiveness, unfaithfulness, lies and whatever that can make man fall off from God must be put on watch.

2. Watch for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelations 19:11-16 ; John 14:1-3). The second coming of Jesus Christ is the hope of believers that God is in control of all things, and is faithful to the promises and prophecies in His Word. In His first coming, Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, just as prophesied. Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Messiah during His birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection. However, there are some prophecies regarding the Messiah that Jesus has not yet fulfilled. The second coming of Christ will be the return of Christ to fulfill these remaining prophecies. In His first coming, Jesus was the suffering Servant. In His second coming, Jesus will be the conquering King. In His first coming, Jesus arrived in the most humble of circumstances. In His second coming, Jesus will arrive with the armies of heaven at His side. Don't be left out!

3. Watch for life of Wisdom. Only God's Wisdom leads to life. A life of Wisdom is to be filled with divine wisdom in all the things. Applying God's wisdom in your walk with Him is profitable. Many have been defeated by the spirit of ignorance because they refused to ask and follow God's wisdom in their actions and decisions. Not all battles can be fought, there are some words that should not be spoken , there are certain places you should not go, and there are some people you must not confront in life. To know these, you need to watch and ask for God's wisdom. Whenever you apply divine wisdom people will testify that the Spirit of God dwells in you.

The Scripture also enjoins us to be sober and vigilant because our adversary, the devil, moves about roaring and seeking whom he may devour (1Peter 5:.

You can't really watch except through the help of the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God does not dwell where there is sin. So if you want to watch effectively, you need to first give your life to Christ and also receive the baptism of Holy Ghost so that you can get the divine help.

If you would like to give your life to Christ say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life, and change my world, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: Mountain Top Life Devotional

Scripture Text: Ephesians 4:14-30

Holy Spirit is the Third God-Head. He is a gentle man, full of love and Has been sent to help us in our Christian walk.
However, the Spirit of God Has long been grieved enough by mankind and we need to start making Him happy, so that we will not face His Judgement. The Scripture has helped us summaries ways to make the Spirit of God happy.

1. You must be born again and united with Christ (Ephesians 4:3-6)
2. When life tosses you, you must not waver. You must stand firm in Christ.
3. You must speak the truth always, especially if you are under the influence or pressure to lie. Stop telling lies!
4. You must be selfless and put the interests of others before yours. This gladens the Spirit of God.
5. You must walk in the Light (Christ), forsaking all forms of darkness from your mind.
6. You must forsake your old ways, bad habits and ungodly characters and begin anew a Christ-like life.
7. You must get rid of anger, bitterness, rage, harsh words and slander to make the Holy Spirit happy.
8. When words that come out of your mouth they must be soothing to the hearer. Your words must no more be abusive, vile, vulger foul or offensive but good, helpful and encouraging to others.
9. You must be kindhearted and forgiving towards anyone who offends you.
10. You must be the doer of the Word of God and apply it in your daily life.
11. Trust God totally! It is one thing to have faith in God, it is another to trust Him with your life and everything (Psalm 31:1)
12. Rely solely on the Power of the Holy Spirit, the giver of Power (Acts 1:.
13. Listen and adhere clearly to the instructions and nudges of the Holy Spirit and not what is in your five senses.
14. You must love your neighbors as yourself.
15. You must witness for Jesus wherever the Spirit leads. This make Him happy.
16. Run away from anything and everything that is displeasing to God.
16. Seek first, God's Kingdom, His good and perfect Will, and His Righteousness in all you do.
17. Have a full cooperation with the Spirit of God.

When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, He will cooperate with us. When we do all the aforementioned, the Spirit of God will be happy with us and follow us every where we go. He will lead us, teach us, cover us, advocate for us, comfort us, walk with us, direct us and guide us to inherit the Kingdom of of our Father with Christ Jesus.

But remember, to make the Spirit happy we must be born again. We cannot have access to Him except we have Christ in us.

If you would like to give your life to Christ, say this:
"Lord Jesus, I come to You today, come into my life, take control of my life to change my world. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!

Ref: Mountain Top Life Devotional

Scripture Text: 2 Peter 3:8-9.

Long-suffering is the first of this second set of three fruits. It is the fourth Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Long-suffering simply means patiently enduring wrongs and difficulties. It is a deliberate, slow, measured and consistent calmness in the face of provocative or hopeless situations. An associate to patience, long-suffering means to be cool, calm and collected to avoid rash reactions to issues.

In our Scripture text, Peter makes us understand that is a strength rather than a weakness: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Therefore, if we fear God and keep His commandments, we can delight in His long-suffering and loving attitude towards us since as sinners, we do not deserve such blessed consideration. Paul says more bluntly in Romans 2:3-4: And thinks thou this, O man…that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Peter reminds us that God was long-suffering during Noah’s time. In 1 Peter 1:20, we read, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

There are so many benefits of long-suffering to mention but few:

1. It accomplishes God’s perfect purposes for our lives(Romans 8:28). Everything God does, He does for a reason—an infinitely good reason. He does nothing arbitrarily but purposeful, intentional, loving and wise to perfect His grand and perfect providential plan for our lives.

2. It is God’s tool for the advancement of the Gospel and His Kingdom (Philippians 1:12) .In His wisdom, God has chosen suffering as one of the primary tools He uses for the effective spread of the gospel and the encouragement of the saints.

3. For our Purification (Job 23:10; Psalm 119:67) Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. God uses suffering in countless different ways to increase our holiness and obedience.

4. It increases the Power of God in Us! (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). When we realize that our suffering opens up greater possibilities for God to demonstrate His power in our lives, we will delight in our sufferings. Lack of suffering tends toward self-reliance which reduces the level of divine power at work in your life.


5. It exposes us to the level of our faith or unbelief (Luke 8:13).
All suffering is a test. Each trial exposes the genuineness or lack of genuineness of our faith. When a trial pushes a person away from God, that exposes the fact that faith, in that area, is not real. When suffering drives a person toward God, that exposes the fact that his faith is real.

7. It gives us greater ability to experience various attributes of God (1 Peter 4:13). One of the reasons for our increased capacity for joy on that Day is the fact that our suffering enables us to experience all the attributes of God that can only be experienced in the midst of pain. There is no greater thing than to have a favorable experience of an attribute of God.

8. It increases our understanding of the goodness of the presence of God (Psalms 13:1). One of our greatest problems is our inability to appreciate what is so wonderful about the presence of God. We can read about it in Scripture, but often our emotions and desires don't get on board with what we know intellectually. But when we suffer, and we say to our soul, “See, the presence of God is so good; this is a sample of what it’s like to be a little further from that presence”—that trains the soul to appreciate (with mind, heart, and soul) how wonderful the presence of God is.

9. It increases our thirst for God’s presence (Psalm 63). Like David, we can respond to agonizing pain by using that pain to increase our thirst for God’s presence, because only His presence can restore joy.

10. It draws us closer to God and intensifies prayer (Luke 22:44).It is a fact that our most intense, heartfelt, passionate prayers, have been in times of anguish or desperation.

11. It makes us long for Heaven (2 Corinthians 5:. The greater our hope for heaven the more we honor God. Suffering increases that hope. We should respond to long suffering by thinking more about heaven.

12. It increases our hope for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 21:4) . Let long suffering turn our thinking to that glorious Day as no joy is greater than the one awaiting us in Heaven.

13. It teaches us to understand God’s Word (Psalm 119:71). Very often the key to understanding God’s Word comes only through suffering. A painful ordeal breaks into our lives, and the agony of it drives us to seek a solution from Scripture with an intensity we would not otherwise have.
15. It teaches us the horror of sin (Romans 8:19). All pain exists because of sin and is designed to teach us how horrible sin really is. None of us hate sin enough, but suffering, if we use it right, can train us to hate sin more. Let all your distress over suffering feed your hatred for sin and increase your love for righteousness.

16. It gives us the privilege of participate in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:12; Philippians 3:10; Acts 5:41).

17. We have a reward from God (Luke 6:22). Suffering for Christ is a grand and glorious privilege, and will be richly rewarded. No matter what you go through in following Christ, He will make it worth our while!

18. It Motivates us to change (Psalm 119:67). Long-suffering is a gift from God that motivates us to take action to solve problems in the soul. When our pain is due to a pattern of wrong thinking or behavior or attitudes, when the pain becomes intense enough it drives us to find answers about the cause of that pain and change towards a right cause.
19. It activates compassion (Hebrews 2:18). Compassion is a crucial component of Christ-likeness, but it is impossible apart from suffering. You cannot feel for someone who is suffering if you have no idea what it is like to suffer. And the closer your suffering is to that of the other person, the greater your ability to have compassion. So the greater the intensity and variety of your sufferings, the better!

20. It encourages us to help others (2 Corinthians 1:3). In our suffering, we succeed in finding comfort from God. And having suffered and found comfort from God, we now have the ability to show others how it’s done.

21. It increases God's glory in our lives (2 Corinthians 4:17). The greater our suffering now, the greater the glory of heaven for us when Jesus comes.

22. We follow the footsteps of Jesus (Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 2:10; 1 Peter 2:19-21). Every time we suffer and respond like Jesus responded, we are following in His glorious steps.

23. It enables sacrificial giving and deeper expressions of love (2 Corinthians 1:6;1 John 4:9; 2 Sam.24:24). Giving in a way that causes us suffering is the most costly gift we can give. That is the way God gave to us. Suffering enables us to give precious, priceless gifts even when we are penniless.

Brethren, to get the fruit of long-suffering is not within our power. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. However, only when we have given our lives to Christ can we have access to the Holy Spirit, who in return fills us with His "Fruit". And this fruit that we bear in us (Gal. 5:22-23) is only way we can inherit the Kingdom of God.

If you would give your life to Christ today, say this short prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I come to you now, come into my life, take control and change my world. I say bye bye to the devil, I enter into the Kingdom of Light. Thank You Jesus, in Your name I pray, amen".

Congratulations!!!

God bless you.

Peace!