Praying for Protecting and Preservation
God is sovereign and omnipotent, meaning He is all-knowing and everywhere simultaneously.
These are comforting truths in a world full of pain, calamity and injustice.
To draw attention to God's ability to protect and preserve His own.
When we turn to God, we find the peaceful and powerful arm of His protection.
Prayer is powerful, and our Father in heaven hears, and answers, us.
The words of Psalm 91 guide us in prayer for God’s protection and refuge from all of the things life throws at us.
Psalm 91 is one of the few biblical text that makes reference to guardian angels - God’s heavenly army which divinely protects His children under His command. And so as evidence of His commitment to the protection and preservation of His children, God has made a host of heavenly messengers available and ready to carry out the responsibility of guarding His people throughout their lives and protecting them—sometimes from dangers they are not even aware of.”
God’s protection and love doesn’t bubble and lock out all of the complicated and harmful aspects of human life on earth. But He does offer us shelter in the midst of the storm.
God is always working, though we can’t see Him, or what lies ahead of us in the next minutes, hours, or days. Angels do His bidding, and whether we feel it or not, He blankets our lives in the protective refuge of His love.
🔍So what do we do when the chaos of this world crashes into our reality?
What do we do when we feel threatened and we or our families appear exposed to danger, sickness and death as we have experienced this year?
🔍Do we throw ourselves into panic mode and begin to search for definitive answers in news reports and other people's opinion?
👏Or, do we pause🚥, and quietly turn our trust and temperament over to our sovereign God, who commands an army of angels on our behalf?
The apostle Paul was shipwrecked, beaten and jailed.
He prayed for God to remove a thorn in his life. Yet, he proclaimed in his letter to the Corinthian church what the Lord said to him:
“ *_My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness_* ” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I give you praise, I worship you, you are sovereign and omnipotent, I acknowledge and appreciate your ability and commitment to preserving your own children. Blessed be your name forever in Jesus name. I thank you for your covering over me all these years. With your feathers, you have protected me and you have caused me to dwell under your great wings; your faithfulness has been my shield and a rock-solid wall to protect me and all that is mine. As I continue my journey on this side of eternity, may I remain under your covering, please continue to be my protection and refuge from all of the things that life throws at me in Jesus name. May your protection and love continue to offer me shelter in the midst of storm and other complicated and harmful aspects of human life in Jesus name. In time of chaos, sickness, afflictions, and al manner of complications of life, please help me to turn my trust and temperament over to you my Sovereign God, who commands an army of angels on my behalf, such that in such situations I will be at rest in Jesus name.
We also like the apostle Paul are eternally secure in the arms of our Father through the salvation we receive in Jesus Christ.
🗝️Therefore in our times of trouble we can turn to Him in prayer to seek for His protection and refuge and we can be rest assured that He will be there for us to cross us safely to the other side. What a Savior.
To Grow Up, You Must First Come Down
It's been a while, I couldn't post articles due to school activities. But you can enjoy this piece before I'm gone again.
The apostle Paul deals with this, specifically challenging the believers in Corinth who were having their identity connected to a specific leader – “ _Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you_
Looking outside the Scriptures, we see this attitude demonstrated in our world today.
People like to be associated or connected to those who are popular, they usually refer to them as the “ *happening people* ”.
As a people we like to be identified with successful people, we like to hang around them and behave as though we are part of the reason for their success, meanwhile we had nothing to do with their success, in fact we know next to nothing about how they succeeded.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to be associated with successful people as long as our motive in doing so is right.
📌One of the right reason to desire to identify with successful people should be that we want to draw inspiration from them to be successful.
📌We want to understudy them and learn lessons that if properly applied will make us successful as well.
For this reason, yes it is good to associate with successful people.
Everyone desire to be successful, everyone desire to grow spiritually, materially, physically and so on.
In order to grow or to succeed however there is a very important key that must be applied.
This key is even much more important than associating with successful people.
🗝️The key for our growth is allowing ourselves to decrease in our own lives and let the Lord increase.
This key🗝️is the great secret that John the Baptist revealed to us in our anchor passage for this devotional. He states that it is his joy that the Lord was coming on the scene more fully and that people were following Jesus.
Can you and I say the same thing? Are we ready to allow God to increase in our lives while we reduce?
Christ increasing in us while we reduce can manifest itself in various ways. It can be in the form of somebody else whom you consider to be beneath you being preferred and lifted above you. If that happens to you how will you feel?
If someone else gets a promotion at work or it seems that all the good you have done has been forgotten are you able to humbly rejoice?
The search for the road to heaven is an earnest quest to ensure that *whatever happens to us after this life is better than what happened to us in this life*
. Many religions, teachers, and gurus offer their take on paradise, and how to get there.
The Book of Revelation describes _Heaven as a beautiful place with streets of gold, no suffering, gates of pearl, no sorrow_ , and infinite beauty; *all of these wonderful attributes pale in comparison to the joy that being in the eternal presence of God will bring forever*
I praise you because the glory and lifter of all those who humble themselves before you. Forgive me when I feel I need to be exalted for selfish reasons. Please help me allow Your Spirit to work in my heart so that You may truly increase in all areas of my life in Jesus' name. Amen. As as a necessary key to success please help me to decrease so that you can increase in me in Jesus name. As I journey on this side of eternity may I never use my hand to work against my spiritual, material and physical growth in Jesus name.
♟️Heaven is the dwelling place of Almighty God.
♟️It is where His holy nature shines unveiled and in its full glory and majesty.
♟️ It is where the angels dwell in service and worship.
♟️ It is a place of peace, beauty, and joy.
*This wondrous place is also where man’s heart often yearns to be.*
The Bible says that *God loves His people, and wants to be in fellowship with them.* When the world was created, Adam - the first man - and his wife Eve lived in harmony with God. In the Garden of Eden, there was a tree that could give man the knowledge of good and evil.
Fear Him
*Text: Prov. 3: 7*
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”
Our text this morning seems to be saying that when we are wise in our own eyes we are working the path of evil. Now how can that be? How can being wise in our own eyes translate to evil? Well, it is pride that leads us down the path of being wise in our own eyes. When we are wise in our own eyes, we will reject the superior ideas and suggestions of others and choose to do things our way. When we are wise in our own eyes we will query God’s instruction and ultimately jettison them in favor of our own ideas. This will take us down the path of disobedience and rebellion to God and this of course is evil.
To emphasize the importance of this subject, this counsel is repeated over and over again in several places in the scriptures. Let us consider a few:
“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” (Prov. 26: 12)
“Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. And clever in their own sight!” (Isa. 5: 21)
“Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation” (Rom. 12: 16)
To say that someone is wise in his own eyes is another way of saying that the person is proud and the bible is against the proud. The bible says that God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4: 6). In his book, “Winning with people”. John Maxwell talks about different kind of learning attitudes. He says that there are basically three types of attitudes: Arrogant, Naïve and Teachable. The arrogant people think that they don’t need to learn anything from anyone. They are a typically example of people who are wise in their own eyes. The naïve people believe that only one person can teach them everything, while the teachable people learn from everyone and everything that is around them. He concludes that the people who make an impact on others around them are the ones who are teachable.
The bible warns that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16: 18). When a person begins to believe that he knows everything there is to know, he has taken the path of self-destruction. This attitude is dangerous as it produces damaging results. First it blinds us from all truth, secondly we are blind to new revelations or further knowledge and this stunts our overall personal growth. Pride keeps us in the same place we are in and we don’t grow to newer heights. The worst of it all is those who are wise in their own eyes lack the fear of the Lord and this makes them a direct enemy of God, and that is a really dangerous place to be!
The fear of the Lord is a necessity for anyone who seeks to break away from this dangerous path and develop a teachable spirit. The fear of the Lord will not only help to us to develop a teachable spirit, it will also help us to remain teachable for life. The fear of the Lord firmly takes us away from the path of evil where pride has placed us and helps us to walk along the path of peace, joy and progress.
Do you lack the fear of the Lord? You do if you there is evidence that you esteem yourself to be wise in your own eyes or if there is evidence of pride in your life. The good news is that the fear of the Lord can be taught and so we can learn to fear God. “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (Psa. 34: 11). The fear of the Lord comes by knowledge, the knowledge of God. Who He is and what are His attributes and this knowledge can be accessed in the scriptures. The more time we spent reading, studying and meditating on God’s word, the more knowledgeable we become regarding the person of God and His ways. And then the more we learn to fear Him.
The fear of the Lord in your life will steer you away from the path of evil and firmly position you on the path of multi-dimensional growth, which of course will translate to prosperity and wellness in all areas of life - spiritual, physical, emotional and so on. My prayer for you today is that God will grant you grace to fear Him all the days of your life in Jesus name. Shalom
Do You Love Your Enemies?
Guys its danbrilliant again. I've been away for just a little while but I'm back. Read And Remain Blessed.
Text: Luke 6: 35
“Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked” (NLT)
The command to love our enemies for many people will be easy until they actually have someone whom they can regard as an enemy then they will realize that the command is not as easy as they thought. An enemy is someone who does not mean well for you, someone who will do all that is in his power to pull you down. Someone who will deliberately resist every god thing that he sees coming your way. In summary an enemy is someone who only wants to act wickedly towards you whenever the opportunity presents itself. In the real world, nobody wants to love his enemy, what many would actually like to do is to hate their enemies and to pay them back in their own coin, to avenge the wickedness they have done to them. Many both within and outside the church will even wish their enemies dead and will even dare to make that a prayer point to God.
In the light of this therefore, you will understand that for many, loving their enemies is not an option at all, yet it is the demand of God. Our text reveals to us clearly that loving our enemies is not optional but a commandment from God. It is something we must do it we truly wish to identify ourselves with God as His children. Jesus said in that passage that it is by loving our enemies that we show ourselves as children of God.
God Himself laid example for us in this regard by showing kindness to all men – which includes those who are unthankful and also those who are wicked. If Jesus were to be like men, on the cross He will be issuing all manner of curse on all those who ganged up to falsely accuse Him and also conspire to get Him crucified, but instead He was praying for them. If He is our Savior and Lord then we have no choice but to follow in His footsteps.
Our text gave us examples of what we can do to demonstrate that we truly love our enemies. We should do good to them, even when all they do to us is evil, we should lend to them without expecting to be repaid even when they refused to lend or give to us when they had the opportunity to do so.
Jesus in our text promised that when we love our enemies then our reward in heaven will be great. We will we not fall short of this reward in Jesus name. So we are not to pray against our enemies, we are not to seek for opportunities of revenge against them, in fact we should forgive them even when they have not apologized for the wrong they did to us. By so doing we show ourselves as true children of God. God help us to love our enemies in Jesus name. Amen. Shalom.
Prayer Points
1. Father I give you praise for loving me even when I was unfaithfulness thereby setting example for me to do likewise
2. Father grant me grace not to be vengeful but instead to be quick to forgive in Jesus name
3. Father I command every root of hatred and bitterness within me to die in Jesus name
4. Father according to your word, it is by loving enemies that I show myself as your true disciple grant me grace therefore to love and not to hate in Jesus name
5. Father may I be found worthy of the reward reserved in heaven for those who love their enemies in Jesus name. Amen
The Fear of the Lord
*Text: Prov. 1: 7*
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction” (NLT)
To properly understand the bible, you must understand what the fear of the Lord is. The Old Testament is filled with admonition for us to fear the Lord. Generally when we talk about fear, it usually reminds us of something negative. Most people who use the word “fear”, use it in a negative sense. Also, you will notice that fear seldom exist on its own, it is usually a reaction to something else. For example the fear of the dark is a negative reaction to darkness, if you take the darkness away, the fear becomes nonexistent. The reason why fear cannot exist on its own is because it is a lie! It merely creates a false reality that doesn’t actually exist.
However, there is one object of fear in the whole world which produces a positive reaction rather than a negative one. It is a fear that causes us to flourish in our relationship with God and that is the fear of the Lord. It is the most positive fear in the world. The Hebrew word for this type of fear refers to the reverence or the awesome nature of God. In the New Testament, the Greek term used for fear of God also refers to awe, reverence and an understanding of God’s greatness. This shows to us clearly that the fear of God is actually a positive fear and in this context, fear does not mean being scared of God, but rather to be in awe of His greatness. The implication of having this type of fear is that you will not want to offend God in any way, rather you will desire to please Him and you will continue to seek for ways to do so.
Our text tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, meaning that if we seek to be knowledgeable it begins with us understanding and walking in the fear of the Lord. It has been said that to be uninformed is to be deformed which drives home the point that it is important for us to be knowledgeable, but access to the right knowledge, understanding and taking proper advantage of it will only happen when we are established in the fear of the Lord. Also Prov. 9: 10 tells us that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, if we desire to be wise, we need to start with the understanding of the fear of God. Every one of us desire to become wiser, and if the key to that growth is the fear of God, we need to start with an awe and reverence for who God is and what He has done!
Psalm 130: 4, explains that the fear of the Lord is a product of the forgiveness that we receive from Him. The more we are forgiven by God, the more we fear Him and the stronger our resolve not to offend Him anymore. Also the knowledge that the fear of God gives us access to will translate to wisdom and will also come to us in form of instructions which if followed will lead to the accomplishment of great things in our lives.
To walk in a path contrary to the fear of God therefore is to walk along the path of foolishness which ultimately leads to destruction. To walk in the fear of God however gives us victory over any other form of fear and puts us in command over life’s battles. Receive grace today to walk in the fear of God. Shalom.
You are most welcome to the month of November 2020. May the God of the eleventh hour bless your journey through this month in Jesus name. Surely He will visit you with eleventh hour blessings, eleventh hour breakthroughs, eleventh hour testimonies in the name of Jesus Christ. Whatever may be the challenges or the problems in this month, this month will not swallow you, it will not swallow any member of your family neither will it swallow anything good in your life in Jesus name. From the eleventh month the 12th month is in view, the end of the year is in view, you will get there and you will go beyond it into the year 2021 in Jesus name. So shall it be in Jesus name. Amen.
Happy, blessed, peaceful and prosperous New Month to you and all that is yours in Jesus name. Shalom
Prayer Points
1. Father you are awesome and you are deserve to be feared, all those who fear you will experience your joy and your peace
2. Father please let the fear of you be rooted in my life and let me walk in this fear all the days of my life
3. Father by reason of your fear in my life, I will not walk the path of disobedience to you in Jesus name
4. Father the fear of you is the key to knowledge, as I walk with you therefore please open me up to all the knowledge I need in order to successfully walk with you in Jesus name
5. Father to walk contrary to your fear is to walk the path of destruction, I will not walk the path of destruction in Jesus name.
Set Your Priorities Right
Greetings guys, its still me danbrilliant. I'm here again to bring a knowledge filled article. Read and stay blessed.
*Text: Matt. 6: 33*
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (NLT)
It is God’s desire for all of His children to live an anxiety free life. He does not want His children to be anxious about anything and so he gives assurance that it is very possible for us to have all our needs provided for. He can provide for us all the food we need, all the money we need, all the peace we need, all the joy we need, in short He can provide for us everything we need provided that we put Him first in our life.
So our text tells us that we need to set our priorities right and once we do that, then we have rightly positioned ourselves to receive everything we need from God. Setting our priorities right simply means putting God first in all we do. To put God first is to put everything relating to His Kingdom first above every other thing we seek or pursue in life. The kingdom of God talks about the government of God, we should realize that as God’s children our loyalty goes first to His government ahead of any other government. We should therefore commit ourselves first and foremost to the pursuit of the establishment, the growth and welfare of His government above every other pursuit in life.
This begins first with us making sure that our lifestyle is fully compliant with the demands of His kingdom – a lifestyle of righteousness, a life of total submission and obedience to the rules and the demands of His kingdom thereby being a worthy ambassador of the kingdom and bringing glory to God. Secondly we actively and zealously commit ourselves to evangelical effort that will lead to more people turning away from sin, rejecting the kingdom of darkness and flowing into the kingdom of God. These does not imply that we live our jobs and become full time evangelist or pastors, but that in our work, business or vocations we introduce the kingdom to people, we talk freely about the kingdom and the blessedness of being in the kingdom and we also showoff the blessings of the kingdom in our own life and in the life of others who are already in the kingdom so that those outside the kingdom will also desire to come into the kingdom.
When we live our life this way, we will be able to truly shine as light for God in this world and God assures that everything we need will be added to us. He that has promised is faithful and will certainly do it as long as we are faithful to fulfil our own part. Shalom.
Prayer points
1. Father I worship you because you are the great provider, you are able to meet all our needs
2. Father having ben rightly positioned to receive all that I need from you, may I not fall out of position in Jesus name
3. Father please teach me to always put you first in all my endeavor in life in Jesus name
4. Father may my life always be fully compliant with the demands of your kingdom in Jesus name
5. Father may I be zealously committed to evangelical effort that will lead to massive harvest of souls into the kingdom in Jesus name.
Have You Lifted Your Burdens To God?
Give your burdens to Him
Text: Psalm 55: 22
“Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”
What is that burden on your mind today?
- No money
- No job
- No husband
- No child
- Marital issues
- Your children are growing out of control
- Fear of tomorrow
- Fear for your safety and that of your family due to insecurity in the land
- Health concerns, maybe due to a doctor's report
What is it that is pulling your mind in different directions and wearing you out? I have two very vital pieces of information for you regarding them based on our text this morning:
• God knows about them all
• God wants to carry them for you
God understands that you are human and so you have limitations regarding what you are able to carry. That is why He made the offer to help you carry them.
There is a limit to what your spouse, your family, your friend or your neighbor can carry for you. And when you combine them all together, there still is a limit to what they can carry for you, that is if they are able to carry any of your burdens for you because they also are busy with their own burdens. Often the people you look up to as burden bearers or potential burden barriers are themselves in search of persons to help them carry their own burdens, so if you rely on them they will at some point disappoint you – not because they are wicked or uncaring but because they also need help with their own burdens too.
God however Has limitless capacity to bear burdens for as many as those that will accept His offer by handing their burdens over to Him. He does not have a limit to the weight of burdens that He can carry, so He does not set a daily quota, such that once the quota is reached, He throws up His hands and say “I cannot carry anymore for today, come back again tomorrow with more burdens". His capacity to carry burdens is unlimited so there is no need for daily quota, you can give Him in a day as much burden as you wish and He will carry it all. His strength is limitless and no amount of burden is too hard for Him. He will carry your burden so well that our text tells us that He will not permit you to slip or fall under the load of the burdens.
God finds great pleasure in helping and caring for your every need but according to our text you have the responsibility of giving your burdens to Him. He will not forcefully take them off you.
For some strange reasons many prefer to carry their burdens on their own rather than give them to God, and even though they are hard pressed under the load of the burden, they stubbornly hold on to them. God will not force you to hand your burden over to Him, if you are interested to carry them yourself, He will leave you to do just that, but I can assure you that you won't make much progress in your life if you hold on to that burden, that is, if you make progress at all.
We also have another strange category of people who will give their burdens to the Lord and then still worry about the burdens. If you give your burdens to God and you still worry about them then it is as good as not giving them to Him, it is as good as you carrying the burdens yourself. When you give your burdens to God, you live them with Him and you trust Him fully to take care of them, so you don’t worry about them anymore.
Today, the invitation still stands, you can either hand over those burdens to Him, or you either continue to carry them yourself or entrust them to others who will make a mess of carrying them for you. The choice is yours, what will it be? Shalom
Prayer
Lord I thank you for your grace and strength to carry me through today.
I give you all my burdens now and rest in knowing that you have taken them and that you are with me.
Thank you Lord
In Jesus name I pray. Amen
Have You Planned?
*Text: Isaiah 25: 1*
“O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them” (NKJV)
The Almighty God is worthy of praise, He deserves all honor, all glory and sacrifice of thanksgiving should always ascend to His throne because of the mighty things, the wonderful things that He does. Our God is full of wonders and mighty acts. Job 37: 5 says that God does great things which we cannot comprehend. Psa. 111: 2-3 says that the works of the Lord are great, His works is honorable and glorious and Psa. 139:14 says that the works of God are marvelous. For all these and much more the Lord deserves and has earned our praise. Even if the Lord decides not to do anything anymore, we cannot give Him praise enough for the ones He has done in our lives, families, all around us, in our nation and all over the world
But as great and wonderful the works of God are, there is none that He does without first planning it out. Our text reveals this clearly to us that the wonderful works of God that we see all around us today are works that the Lord has planned long ago. Our God is a God that does not do anything without first planning for it. Right from the time in the Garden of Eden when our first parents sold us out to the devil, God as far back as that time had planned our rescue and what was the plan? The seed of the woman is coming (Gen. 3:15). Jesus came as a fulfilment of that plan and today as many as those who believe in Him have been rescued from the devil and have gained back all that they lost in the Garden of Eden to the devil.
God through His word admonished every one of us His children to learn to embrace planning as well. Unfortunately today, many are going about their activity without a plan. No plan for their life, they have no idea whatsoever of where they hope to be say for instance five years from now and since they don’t know where they want to be, how can they have a plan of how to get there? Some boast about great things they hope to accomplish in their life, but have no plan whatsoever of how they intend to go about achieving it. Talking about the need for us to plan, the bible says in Prov. 24: 27 – “Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house”.
Accomplishment of set goals and desires become easy when there is a plan in place, also the existence of a plan makes self-evaluation possible, and we can measure our performance to know whether we are making progress toward the realization of our goals or whether the reverse is the case. Closely meditating on our text you get the impression that the accomplishment of the things that God wanted to accomplish was easy because there already was a plan and the same will be our experience as well because a good plan will always provide a strong drive toward accomplishment.
Do you have a plan for your life? A road map of how you propose to arrive at the glorious destination and accomplish the great things you desire for yourself and your family? If you do not have any then the right time to start making one is now. Without a plan you have nothing to commit into the hands of God and testimony becomes scarce. So I ask again, do you have a plan? Shalom
Prayer Points
1. Father I worship and praise you for you a great God, you do great and marvelous things and you are worthy of praise
2. Father I give thanks to you for your wonderful works, the great things you have done in my life and family
3. Father please help me never to leave without an established God approved and plan of how to achieve the purpose in Jesus name
4. Father please grant me grace to overcome every force that seeks to stop me from effectively and properly planning my life, my family and my ways in line with your purpose for my life in Jesus name.
5. Father through proper planning, help me to accomplish the great things you desire for me and my family and to arrive at the glorious destination you have purposed for us in Jesus name.
Timely Admonition
Text: 1 Cor. 16: 13-14
“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love”
The above text are part of the words of the Apostle Paul’s final admonition to the Corinthian church in his first letter to them. The admonition was coming at a time when there was some level of division in the church and perhaps it was in the light of the division that Paul gave the admonition.
In the admonition he charged them to do five things – First he charged them to be on guard. They were to be constantly watchful or alert for enemies that might quietly slip in and threaten to destroy their union. Some of the things they must be on the lookout for and which they must avoid at all cost are negative vices such as pride, sexual immorality in all its manifestations, bitterness and lack of self-control. The bible warns us believer of today including to be alert and watchful because the devil is moving around as a roaring lion seeking whom to devour (1 Pet. 5: 8).
Secondly, they are to stand firm in their faith. As a people who have left the life of sin to embrace the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are to hold on firmly to that faith, and never let it go come what may. There should be nothing in this world that should be able to separate us from our faith in Christ provided that the faith is a genuine faith. Regardless of the trial or the challenge remain in faith it will be well at last.
Thirdly, they are to be courageous so that they can be able to confront false teachers and false prophets and also to be able to maintain an uncompromising stand against sin in the church. We also need courage today to maintain our stand in God as children of God and also to preach Christ in our neighborhood and wherever we find ourselves.
Fourthly, he charged them to be strong, this what the Holy Spirit does for all children of God, he gives us ability to remain strong physically, emotionally and spiritually, this strength is necessary for instance in helping us to remain firmly on the pathway of holiness, because there will a lot of temptations and pressures all trying their best to push us out of the way.
Finally, they are to do everything with love, not with hatred, grumbling or complaining. And if anything is to be done in love then diligence and commitment will be required. The apostle Paul had said earlier in 1 Cor 13: 1, that whatever we do without love is worth nothing no matter how good it may be. Therefore it is love that makes the good to be of the right quality and to count before God.
My prayer is that God will help us never to forget who we are. We are daughters and sons of God. We have been given authority over our enemies and through our Lord Jesus Christ, we lack nothing. Because of the cross we can stand firm no matter what may try to come against us. I pray that our faith would rise up inside of us and become bigger than anything either confronting us presently or that may confront us in the future. I pray that our faith will become as strong as a mountain, that it would be unshakeable, and lift us up above the adversities that come our way in Jesus name. Amen. Shalom.
Prayer Points
1. Father, thank you for the authority you have given to me over my enemies through my Lord Jesus Christ
2. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who gives me the ability to remain strong physically, emotionally and spiritually
3. Thank you for helping me to remain on the right path despite all temptations and pressures that is trying their best to push us out of the way.
4. Father, I pray that my faith would rise up inside of me and become bigger than anything either confronting me presently or that may confront me in the future.
5. Father, I pray that my faith will become as strong as a mountain, such that it would be unshakeable, and lift me up above the adversities that come my way in Jesus name. Amen.
The Great Voice of God
Text: John 5:25:
“Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live”
It is God's desire to always speak to us. He spoke through the prophets in the old dispensation and the writer of the book of Hebrews in Chapter 1: 2 confirms our text - Jesus speaks and He still speaks today!
Jesus speaks for different reasons for example -
1. He speaks to give direction (Isaiah 30;21)
2. He speaks to bring about restoration (life, health, lost opportunities, etc - Luke 7:2-10;5:4)
3. He speaks to bring deliverance (John 11:43)
Without a doubt, we need God to speak into our lives for direction when faced with different options; for restoration, for deliverance and so on. All we need to do is to remind Him of His word. Next is to apply our faith like the centurion in Luke 7:7b did. Jesus wasted no time to speak the word needed for the healing of the centurion's servant because of the centurion's faith.
Are you busy nursing the pain of a dying or dead business, a dwindling career, a failing health, a bad marriage and stagnation in different areas of life? Please turn to God. He can make all these to live again. He spoke and the storm the disciples faced became calm (Mark 4:39). He is more than able to bring calmness and peace to that overwhelming situation. He is the God of all flesh. Nothing is too hard for Him!
NEXT PHASE
**The Voice of God can raise the dead**
Text: John 11:43-44
God created man in His own image. This also means that man is supposed to carry the immortal nature of God. This immortality or life in abundance is supposed to be upon on that we do - our career, business, marriages, health, finances and so on. But when Adam sinned, death came to man. Since then, death has become part of humanity and an instrument in the hands of the devil to frustrate man's effort (John 10:10a).
We say that something is dead when:
1. It is stagnant, that is, it has lost capacity to grow
2. It is not working, no matter the level of input made
3. When it becomes unimpactful or uninfluential
Death also connotes or suggests captivity. No wonder Jesus commanded that Lazarus be loosed and allowed to move on after raising him from the dead.
Today, God's power is still available to bring life in abundance to every situation of life.(John 10:10b) and all-round fruitfulness is assured (Jeremiah 17:8).
Shalom
Let God Fight For You
Text: Exod. 14: 13-14
“And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace”
Just after they escaped from Egypt, Moses encouraged the Israelites with the words of our text. Perhaps he understood that our natural reaction in moments of uncertainty is to restlessly bounce between anxiety and despair.
The Israelites were in a state of fear and panic stricken here they were confronted by the Rea Sea not knowing how they would be able to cross it over to the other side. Going back was not option because they had the Egyptians to contend with, if they did and so they were stranded. Also if they remained there and did nothing the Egyptians will eventually catch up with them and definitely feast on them, their situation was indeed very bad. In the midst of their trouble Moses came to them with these words of comfort, encouragement and assurance. It was short and straight to the point, they were not to be afraid, instead they were to be still and watch as God’s rescue agenda unfolds before their very eyes. They were not even going to have to fight in this battle, God will do the fighting, and theirs is to hold their peace.
Now in a situation of great fear and panic similar to the situation the Israelites found themselves, standing still, holding your peace or staying calm is the last thing you want to do. The usual thing is that people who find themselves in such situation will be restless and will want to run around to see what they can do for themselves, but that is the worldly approach, it is not the godly approach and the problem with the worldly approach is that it is not a faith based approach and anything that is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14: 23). Secondly, as long as you have ideas of your own and continue to run around trying to see what you can do for yourself, God will leave you to it and allow you to exhaust your options. If you are able to rescue yourself out of the situation, then you don’t need God, if you know what to do, that will bring you out of the situation then you don’t need God. But when you lift up your hands to God in surrender, telling Him that you don’t know what to do, just like Jehoshaphat did (2 Chro. 20: 12), then you are ready for God’s intervention
It is not God’s design or intention for the child of God to face the battles of life on his own, God is ever prepared to fight the battles of life on behalf of His children but first they will have to invite Him into their battles and secondly they will have to let go and let God. Meaning that they must release themselves fully to God and allow Him take full control. That is the reason why Moses admonished the people to stand still and remain calm in other to see God fight for them and this admonishment remains true for us today.
People say heaven helps those who help themselves, if you can help yourself then why do you need the help of heaven. The reverse actually is the truth which is that heaven helps those who cannot help themselves. Do you want to see God to take over your battles? Then hand over your battles to Him and learn to be still and to be calm as you eagerly wait for His salvation, He will not put you to shame. Shalom.
Prayer Points
1. Thank you Father for your willingness to fight my battles for me, thank you for the victories you have given to me in the past.
2. Lord I worship you because no situation overwhelms you, but in all situation you know what to do to bring me out victorious.
3. O Lord help me to trust you fully, teach me to rest and remain calm in you even in the face of the battles of life in Jesus name.
4. Lord I surrender I give my ideas and repent of every worldly approach that I have been adopting to fight my battles in the past and I surrender fully to you now in Jesus name.
5. Lord I invite you into my battles now, please arise and fight for me in Jesus name
Overcoming Dangerous Barriers
Text: 2 Sam. 22: 30
“' For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.”
Barriers are obstacles that impede movement. They are obstructions that makes it impossible to move forward and thereby making backward movement inevitable. When barriers are in place, forward movement is stopped and people will naturally tend to move backward.
Barriers can be physical, it can be a thing – either living or non-living and it can be a person. For instance the wall of Jericho was a barrier to the Israelites and for as long as the wall was in place they were unable to penetrate Jericho to dislodge the inhabitants of the place and take possession. They have the weapons, they have the warriors to prosecute the war, they have all that it takes to defeat the opposition in combat, but as long as the barrier is in place, there was nothing they could do. Barriers makes people even with readily available means to become handicapped and unable to effectively put their God given talents to use, many people of talents and skills have wasted away in life just because there were barriers before them which they were unable to cross and so they never had the opportunity to showcase their skill, if queen Vashti was not removed as queen, Esther would never have had the opportunity to showcase her beauty, talk less of her becoming queen. In spite of her beauty she may have died a slave if not that the barrier called Vashti was removed. Same for Mordecai, if Haman did not misbehave and was removed, Mordecai may never have the opportunity to rise to the top. Although he had all that it takes to successfully operate at the top, he needed the barrier named Haman to be removed for him to have that opportunity to showcase the grace he carried.
Apart from physical barriers discussed above, barriers can be invisible – unfavourable circumstances can be a barrier. For example, the shunamite woman was barren and her husband was old (2 Kings 4: 14), Gehazi presented the circumstance of her husband being as old as an impediment to her not having children. Forces of darkness can be a barrier, the demon possessed man whose story is recorded in the gospel had what it takes to evangelize and to preach Christ, but barrier of demonic possession did not allow him to explore this grace in his life until the barrier was removed (Luke 8: 39). When anyone decides to walk in a way contrary to God, God can decide to assign His angels to be a barrier to such a man and in some cases, He will personally be a barrier to such people. When Balaam decided to embark on that ungodly journey to Balak in order to curse God’s children, God sent His angel to be barrier to him on his journey (Num. 22: 32), also we saw how Jesus personally became a barrier to Saul as he embarked on that infamous journey to arrest and cage God’s children.
Barrier is a very important weapon that the devil uses to block good thing from coming the way of men, he sometimes uses barriers to divert blessing meant for persons away from them to someone else. He uses barriers also to resist the going forward of persons, thereby causing them to move backward rather than go forward, these are just a few of the evil that the devil is able to carry out through the use of barriers.
Everyone confronts barriers at some point in their life’s journey, no one is left out. Not even our Lord Jesus Christ. In the cause of His earthly ministry, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jewish leaders at the time raised all manner of barriers against Him, to stop Him from moving forward to fulfil His purpose, but of course He surmounted them all, and because He overcame all barriers that confronted Him, those of us who have put our trust in Him will also overcome as well. The Red Sea was a barrier both to the Children of Israel and the Egyptians. The Israelites however have God on their side while the Egyptians were opposed to God. The outcome tells you who was on the better side. While the Red Sea parted for the Israelites to cross safely, the same Red Sea buried the Egyptians, none of them escaped.
Barriers cannot successfully hinder God’s children from the fulfilment of their destiny. He deals with barriers in various ways. He can melt the barrier away, He can make you jump over them, as David testified in our anchor passage, and David’s testimony also revealed that He can make you confront them by running against them and gaining victory over them. Whichever way, the fact is that God gives victory to His children over barriers.
Whatever barrier confronts you, whether marital, business, career, as long as you are on God’s side, it is not your end, rather it is a necessary stepping stone to your new height. Remain resolute therefore and refuse to be intimidated. Shalom.
PRAYER POINTS
Father, please remove every barrier between me and my destined place in life in Jesus name. Father, please destroy before me every barrier that is denying me access to the opportunity to showcase my skill , my talent and my competence in Jesus name. Father please raise unsurmountable barriers against all unseen and seen forces of darkness that is out to stop my forward movement in life in Jesus name. Father, whether by dividing it into two, whether by melting it away or whether by carrying me over them, by whatever means you of your choice give me victory over every barrier that will confront me especially in the rest of my journey for this year in Jesus name. Father use the barriers along my path presently to launch me to my next level of glory in Jesus name. Amen
The Greatest Ministry Of The HolySpirit
Text: John 16: 13
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”
Jesus Christ has always shown concern regarding what would be the fate of His disciples after His departure, and He did not hide His concern from them. He pictured His disciples as sheep in the midst of wolves and we all have a good idea of what will happen if wolves should have access to sheep, the wolves will feast on them. This was Jesus' concern for His disciples especially since He knew that they will be persecuted. Some of these is concern come to the fore in His high priestly prayer for them - John 17 and we will just list a few:
• He was concerned that these wolves in human skin will feast on them even before they get the chance to commence the work He has called them to do
• He was concerned for their safety against the evil one and evil devices, He did not want anyone of them to be a victim- He did not want anyone of them to be lost.
• He was concerned that they were still very much ignorant, there are vital truths necessary for their survival as Christians in the world that they are yet know
• He was concerned that He still has a lot of things that He will love to share with them but they are just not ready to receive at the moment and He cannot continue to stick around until they are ready to receive it
• He was concerned about their ability to retain even the little that He had shared with them already
• He was concerned about their ability to stay united in a world that will seek to pull them apart through every possible means.
This once again clearly demonstrates to us the love of Jesus for His church and His concern and care for them. If you belong to Jesus, then you can be rest assured that He cares for you and because He cares for you, He invites you to cast your burden on Him (Matt. 11: 28; 1Pet. 5: 7)
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is God's solution to this concern. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is about the service of the Holy Spirit to individual believers that makes up the body of Christ and by extension to the body of Christ as a whole.
Basically the service the Holy Spirit provides to the body of Christ to a large extent has to do with guidance -
1. He guides believers into deep truths – He does this by revealing to them secrets within the heart of Jesus and the Father. Secrets that are essential and necessary for believers to live successful Christian life here on earth
2. He guides believers along the path leading to the fulfilment of their purpose, which of course is the path of peace
3. He provides guidance regarding the future by giving believers a picture of the glorious future that God has prepared for them thereby giving them hope to remain in Christ regard less of the level of opposition or persecution they encounter
The Holy Spirit has spiritual gifts through which He accomplishes this responsibility of providing guidance to the body of Christ. Through these gifts –
1. He gives special capabilities to individuals within the body of Christ and also enables them
2. To occupy spiritual offices in the body of Christ. Some of those offices were listed for us in Eph. 4: 11 – Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors and Teachers.
This implies that ultimately the Holy Spirit carries out His ministry through believers.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is primarily to believers and not unbelievers and so every believer is privileged to receive and to at least manifest one spiritual gift with which he can be of service to the body of Christ.
Through the operation of gifts the church is –
1. Equipped to carry the work that God has for her
2. The church of God is edified, that is, built up to a state of full maturity in Christ – Eph. 4: 12-13
In order to address the concern of Christ therefore for the church to survive the hostile environment of the world, the Holy S
pirit seeks for believers through whom He will carry out His ministry to the church.
These will be individuals –
• who are yielded to Him
• Who desire to be used by Him
• Who are ready not to live to themselves anymore but to live unto God
These qualities we find in the life of Elisha as he gave up everything to follow Elijah, no wonder he was able to receive a double portion of Elijah's anointing at Elijah's departure (2 Kings 2: 1-15)
In conclusion, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is God's solution to the concern of Jesus regarding what will be the fate of the church after His departure.
The Holy Spirit operates His ministry through believers who will totally surrender to Him
Are you a believer? Are you born again?
Are you ready to surrender yourself fully to the Holy Spirit, so that He can operate His ministry through you?
Let us pray.
The Greater Mercies Of God
*Text: Lam. 3: 22-23*
“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness”
The Almighty God does not change, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The world around you may change, friends who used to be trusted and reliable can become unreliable and untrustworthy, government who used to be responsible can become irresponsible, spouses who used to be loving and caring may change and become the opposite of what they used to be, but God does not change. That is the reason why scriptures admonished us not to put our hope in friends or human beings generally, neither must we place our hope in any worldly system, because these things are fleeting and may change for the worse, rather we are admonished to place our hope in God because God never change and so He does not disappoint. He does not stop loving you, even when you sin, He hates the sin, but He still loves you. Our text this morning is a word of assurance to us, let it encourage you today.
Our text this morning talks to us about two very important attribute of God that is unchanging, namely His mercies and His faithfulness. It says three things about the mercies of God, first is that the mercies of God are renewed every morning and so it is perfectly sufficient for the challenges, disappointments, sufferings, temptations and struggles that may rise up against us daily. Secondly, it says that the mercies of God does not fail and so it remains ever potent, it never loses its power to lift up us above the problems that may come against us, it remains efficacious to deal with the issue of sin and its attendant complications or problems in our lives and thirdly it is by the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed. Jesus said in matt. 6: 34c, “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” There are enough trouble in the day to overwhelm and consume us, to swallow us up completely but for the mercies of God which provides escape routes for us from these troubles so that we are not consumed. Many of us have found ourselves in situations where we considered the mountains of trouble and the avalanche of troubles that came against us on a particular day and we could not help but wonder how we overcame, if not that the mercies of the Lord saw us through such that we were able to ride the wave of the troubles and come out safely on the other side.
Another attribute of God mentioned in our text this morning is the faithfulness of God. It says that the faithfulness of God is great. This commentary on the faithfulness of God, is the product of deep reflections of the moves and the acts of God both in the life of the writer and his people the Jews. Considering the various interventions of God, many of which were timely, unprecedented and undeserved by the people, he could not but wonder at the greatness of the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God is great because it is incomparable to any other faithfulness we see around from other sources. One of the peculiarities of the faithfulness of God that makes it great is that it does not depend on our own faithfulness to Him. And so even when we are unfaithful to Him, He remains faithful, because to become unfaithful for whatever reason is for Him to deny Himself and God will not deny Himself (2 Tim. 2: 13).
Is this a license for us to go ahead and remain unfaithful to Him knowing that He will remain forever faithful to us? No at all. Rather, if we our conscience is still alive and not dead, this fact should sober us up, and produce in us genuine repentance for our acts of unfaithfulness to Him in the past, with a fresh resolution and commitment to a new lifestyle of faithfulness to Him.
His mercies toward you is new every morning, His faithfulness towards you is great, allow this word of comfort coming to you from His word for today pull you closer to Him and detach you from everything ungodly. Then you rest in His word, regardless of the present trouble or distress around and within you. That will be the right approach to this word of assurance from God to you today. Shalom.
Prayer Point
1. Father, your faithfulness is great, it is incomparable and it is not dependent on our own faithfulness. Even when we are unfaithful you remain faithful.
2. Father, thank you for your acts and your various interventions in my life by reason of your faithfulness
3. Father, thank you for your mercies towards me that is new every morning
4. Father please forgive me for the various acts of unfaithfulness that has been evident in my life
5. Father, by your mercy may I continue to escape from every trouble that will rise up against me, seeking to consume me in Jesus name.
The Peace Of God Which Passeth All Understanding
*Text: Phil. 4: 7*
“Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
This is a great promise for the day and the hour in which we are living right now. The world is full of many troubles, turmoil and conflicts and these things tend to create unrest in the lives of many. Many are permanently in a state of panic, many are disturbed at the thought of what tomorrow will bring to them. Many are living in a state of fear and anxiety due to the rising wave of insecurity in the country and all over the world. Many due to financial challenges and bad business climate are in a state of depression and some have become suicidal. In the midst of all these we have this great promise from scripture telling us that the peace of God is available for us and this peace will protect our hearts and minds from all negative things that will like to creep in there to disturb our rest.
There is something very important about this peace of God, we are told that this peace transcend all understanding, it is beyond understanding, it is a peace that allows you to remain at rest and undisturbed even when we are surrounded by trouble and disturbing developments. We can have peace in times where having peace does not make sense.
When the world talks of peace, it is circumstantial. If there is a lack of conflict, or if there is freedom from violence, if everything is going well, there is money in your bank account, you are doing well in your career, your children are well behaved and making good grades in school, then the world says there is peace.
But God’s peace sustains us through all circumstances. The Greek word for peace in this passage can be understood as the peace of mind which comes from reconciliation with God. Because I am reconciled to my heavenly Father, I can pray and present my worries, my anxieties to Him. When I do that with thanksgiving, the peace of God guards my heart and mind. This nearness to God allows me to experience a true, deep sense of peace – whether in comfort or hardship.
The peace of God keeps life’s challenges from paralyzing us. This peace does not make our problems go away, at least not immediately, but it helps us to keep our perspective focused on God, which provides hopes for endurance. God knows the difficulties that we will encounter, and He equips us for them. God provides for us, He protects us, He shields us and He loves us. Even when we might be tempted to doubt that God is doing any of those things in our lives, we can read of His faithfulness to His people throughout His word, and know that He is working behind the scenes. We can wait for Him with confidence and peace that His timing is always perfect.
So whatever situation you find yourself, maybe you find yourself surrounded by unfavorable circumstances, bring the presence of God into that circumstance through prayer and the comfort from His word and His peace will flood your life lifting you above that circumstance to a place of safety and rest. Shalom.
Prayer Point
1. Father I thank you for your peace that is available to me, thank you that through this peace, you have protected my heart and mind from all negative things that will like to creep in to disturb my rest.
2. Thank you Father that through the disturbing developments of this year you flooded my heart with your peace.
3. Father through whatever circumstances that I may go through the rest of this year and beyond, your peace will continue to sustain me in Jesus name.
4. Father the closer I am to you, the greater my peace. May I never be separated from you in Jesus name.
5. Father may your peace continually lift me above every unfavorable circumstance and bring me to a place of safety and rest in Jesus name.
Light Vs Darkness
I'm back. Read & be blessed
The dispensation of darkness is gone and the dispensation of light is here. The dispensation of darkness is the dispensation without Christ. It can otherwise be called the hour of the kingdom of darkness. Before the advent of Christ the devil had a field day terrorising, tormenting and destroying lives at will. Darkness reigned and many were held in captivity by it without any hope of deliverance.
The coming of Jesus, His death and resurrection ushered in the Light of God, this Light terminated the reign of darkness all over the world and established the reign of the Light of God all over the world.
Today, if anyone is living in darkness or if anyone is under the manipulation of darkness, it is either as a result of ignorance or by choice. The bible makes it clear that one of the things that characterizes the people of the world is that they are people who by choice have preferred darkness to light because their deeds are evil (John 3: 19-21)
All those who embrace our Lord Jesus Christ has embraced light, bible says that those who are in Christ are in the light, they walk in the light and so there is no occasion for them to stumble (1 John 2: 10). However love is the key that grant them permanent access to light. When a believer stops walking in love, the implication is that he has stepped out of light into darkness and that is terrible.
Take heed of your ways therefore as a believer and ensure that you walk in love in your relationship with fellow believers and people generally, when you step our of love, you step out of the light of God into darkness and I need not tell you how terrible that can be.
May God give you the grace to remain in His light. Shalom
But Do You Follow the Lord wholeheartedly?
Text: Num. 32: 10-12
It is not enough to follow the Lord, in following the Lord we must be prepared to follow Him wholeheartedly.
The people of Israel were following the Lord under the leadership of Moses, but they did not follow Him wholeheartedly and so many of them perished in the wilderness, not because the Lord was able to take them all into the promised land but because they offended Him on the way and He rose up against them to destroy them in His anger.
How do you know when you are not following the Lord wholeheartedly?
1. When your heart is not completely with Him – when the going is good you believe in Him but the moment the going is bad, you turn away from Him to something else
2. When you refuse to trust Him completely even after you have seen Him do mighty works in your life in the past
3. When you are disloyal to Him, you fear other people, idols more than Him
4. When your heart is always turning away from Him to the oath of sin
5. When you murmur, grumble or complain against him and His representative – the Israelites did that many times and God was not happy with them
When you do not follow the Lord wholeheartedly -
1. Instead of reward you position yourself for punishment
2. Instead of His love and affection, you become a victim of His anger
3. You make yourself God's enemy and so all that He has helped you to gather over the years may be destroyed at once
4. Your life may be cut short by God Himself.
5. Ultimately you will not get to heaven
We saw all these happen to the Israelites, of all them that left Egypt, only Joshua and Caleb made it to the promised land the rest of the people, including Moses and Aaron their leader died in the wilderness. So you can see that whoever does not follow the Lord wholeheartedly should forget about going to heaven and prepare for a place in hell. That will not be our portion in Jesus name. Amen
Modelling Christ In Our Behaviour
READINGS: Psa. 119: 49-64; Ezek. 36: 24-28; Gal. 5: 16-26; Luke 6: 27-38
TEXT: Luke 6: 35-36
“But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful”
A model is defined in the dictionary as a miniature (small) representation of something.
A model gives you a picture of something that you desire to see but not yet available, so before it becomes available the model gives you a picture of what it looks like.
The purpose of a model of anything is first to create awareness and secondly to create interest in that thing
So that people will believe in it, will be interested in it and will commit themselves to it one way or another
For example we have plans to build a new church building, a model of the building we plan to build will help to –
1. Present to the congregation a picture of the structure of the building, what the building will look like
2. The congregation sees the model of the building and without seeing the building itself they fall in love with it. Their interest is stirred up
3. It generates desire and positive energy the actualization of the project – everybody becomes ready to do whatever is necessary to make the building a reality, but all of this started just because they saw the model
In the same way as children of God, it is God’s desire that our lives will be a model of the life of Christ, such that when people see us –
1. They will desire to see Christ
2. They will be interested in committing themselves to Him
3. They will be prepared to do whatever is necessary for them to eventually get to meet Him and spend the rest of their lives with Him in eternity
Now the effectiveness of any model is measured by how well it is able to capture and represent the individual features that make up the structure or the personality that it models.
For example, back to the church building scenario, if by the time the design model of the church building is completed we discover that the final picture the model presents to us is different from the picture of what we want our church to look like, what do we do, we reject the model and ask that the person who built should rework it and that cycles continues until we get it right.
If some reasons after several attempts, we find that the person helping us with the model is unable to give us what we want, what do we do? Do we say okay since you cannot get what I want let me take what you have, some may do that, but some will rather give the job to some else who they believe will be able to give them what they want.
In the same way God will not settle for less in raising for Himself a people who will perfectly model Christ in their daily walk.
To have a perfect model of Christ, all the features of Christ must be perfectly represented in that model. The essential feature of Christ that must be in anyone who seeks to perfectly model Christ is love.
The love we talk about here is not the popular one that the world celebrates today, rather it is sacrificial, unconditional love of God for man demonstrated through the His giving of His only begotten Son for the redemption of mankind.
It is the master feature that encapsulate other features.
Jesus in the gospel read to us a few minutes ago, mentioned seven aspects of unconditional love. These actions, not done naturally by human nature, require supernatural enabling - and serve as proof that we perfectly model Christ -
• Love your enemies.
• Do good to those who hate you.
• Bless those who curse you.
• Pray for those who mistreat you.
• Do not retaliate (v. 29 a).
• Give freely (vv. 29 b-30).
• Treat others the way you want to be treated (v. 31).
This kind of love marks one off as distinctive (vv. 32-34), and as having the same characteristics as the heavenly Father (v. 35).
What must we do if we are
to serve as perfect models of Christ?
Do not live in the flesh but live in the spirit. Another way to say this is to say that you do not listen to the suggestions of the flesh but follow entirely the suggestions of the Spirit. (Gal. 5: 16)
What is our benefit when we model Christ? Jesus says that your reward will be great (v. 35)
In explaining what we can call part of the reward, Jesus taught His followers a fundamental principle of the universe - what one sows he will reap (vv. 36-38; cf. Gal 6:7).
Jesus outlined five areas which were proof of the sowing and reaping theme, mentioned so often in Scripture:
• Mercy will lead to mercy (Luke 6:36). The disciples were exhorted to have the same merciful attitude God displayed toward them.
• Judgment will lead to judgment (v. 37 a).
• Condemnation will lead to condemnation (v. 37 b).
• Pardon will lead to pardon (v. 37 c).
• Giving will lead to giving (v. 38). It is simply a fact of life that certain attitudes and actions often reflect back on the individual.
• And of course it is only Christlike persons that can hope to be with God in eternity, so when you are making effort to perfectly model Christ, you are only helping yourself to develop the necessary attribute that will make you a citizen of heaven. So when you sow to yourself now in modelling Christ perfectly, you reap as eternal life in the future.
May this gift of eternal life not elude any of us in Jesus name. Amen.
Are You Unstoppable?
Text: Jer. 1: 19
“' They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”
To be unstoppable is to be without restraint such that nothing is able to pull you back from whatever it is you set out to achieve. To be unstoppable is to be sufficiently empowered such that you are able to overcome limitations and whatsoever may constitute a stumbling block to whatever you seek to achieve in life. To be unstoppable is to have ability to subdue all powers and forces of life that are able to stop a man from achieving set goals in life.
When anyone claims to be unstoppable therefore, such a person is either directly or in directly saying that he has gained total control over forces, powers, situations and circumstances of life that can pose as a threat to the achievement of his set goals. A lot of people claim to be unstoppable but when you look at them and their life in the light of their claim, you are led to make the conclusion that it is either they do not know the implication of what they are saying or they are just playing with words, either way they are not being truthful to themselves and that can lead to some form of complications in their life.
In the light of the explanation given above regarding what it means to be unstoppable, we find that only God is unstoppable, even the devil is stoppable. And we see so many instances of this in the bible, for example, he once purposed to ascend to heavenly heights and usurp God’s throne, authority and influence, but he could not achieve this lofty agenda because God stopped him (Isa. 14: 14-15). After the death of Moses, he attempted to harvest his soul and lead him to hell but again the Lord stopped him (Jude 1: 9). We also see enough examples from scriptures to proof clearly to us that man also is stoppable, whether they form a collabo, to put up a united front or they choose to operate alone they can be stopped. In Gen. 11: 1ff, we read the story of how the people living on earth came together to jointly carry out the project of building a tower that will reach to the heavens, in their unity they were formidable, even God acknowledged this fact, but in spite of that, God stopped them. Pharaoh made up his mind to enslave the children of Israel for life, he claimed that not even God could not stop him (Exod. 5: 1-2), but God stopped him.
Apart from God, the devil also can stop people from achieving their set goals, men can stop their fellow men, and situations and circumstances can stop people from achieving their goal. The wind and the waves will have stopped Peter’s attempt to walk on the sea, if not that Jesus intervened (Matt. 14: 22-33), just like Peter, there are people that circumstances of life that can be described as wind and waves has been stopping them from going ahead to become what they should become for God (Eccl. 11: 4).
Only God is truly unstoppable, not just because He claims to be, but nature, life’s experiences and most important of all, scriptures proves it. If man or the devil was able to stop the sun or the moon from shining, they certainly would have done so, but every day the sun and the moon comes and goes as it has been decreed by the Almighty God. There are people today who by their testimonies are addressed as persons that God did not kill. Because they went through situations that naturally should have killed them, some were fed with poison, some suffered accidents so terrible that no one can explain why they are still alive other than to say that God did not kill them, in other words, the death that was planned for them by either man or the devil was stopped by God. I pray for someone reading this right now that whatever is that trouble, problem, disaster or death planned for you or any of yours, the Almighty God stop it now in Jesus name. Amen.
Therefore since God is unstoppable, all those who are connected to Him can be unstoppable as well. One of the things that God does for His children is that He gives them ability to be unstoppable. He does this so as to make sure that no one stops them from the assignment He has assigned to them. When He called Prophet Jeremiah, He told Him that people will do all sort of things to him in an attempt to stop him, but that he will be unstoppable (Jer. 1: 18-19). Apostle Paul experienced a lot of persecution, his life was threatened on many occasion all in a bid to stop him from what the Lord has asked him to do, but the Lord told him clearly that he was unstoppable (Acts 23: 11). After failing in his attempt to use men to stop, the devil also attempted to use the storm but right in the midst of the storm apostle Paul remained unshaken and he was not only rescued, but for his sake all that were with him in the ship were rescued as well (Acts 27: 21-25).
As a child of God, engaged in the pursuit of God’s purpose for your life, you are unstoppable, because the king’s assignment requires haste (1 Sam. 21: 8), and no one can successfully pose as an obstacle to the fulfilment of the assignment. So if you find yourself being stopped successfully from the pursuit of your goal, then you need to stop and find out whose errand you are running – is it your own errand or God’s errand? You become stoppable when you begin to run your errand.
If you find that you are guilty of running your errand rather than running God’s errand, all you need do is to repent, ask God to forgive and retrace your step by dropping your own assignment and pick up His assignment, you will find that every attempt to stop you will fail. Of course they will make attempts but they will not prevail. Shalom.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Father, thank you for your power and grace available unto me through I am sufficiently equipped to be unstoppable in my pursuit of your purpose for my life
2. Thank you Father, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus and through my faith in Him, I have gained total control over forces, powers, situations and circumstances of life that can pose as a threat to the achievement of his set goals
3. Father, please forgive me for running my personal assignments, rather than running your assignment you for me.
4. Father, may your power be activated within me to break all restraints and to clear out all limitations and stumbling blocks set to stop me in the pursuit of my purpose in Jesus name.
5. Father, I come against satanic agents, human agents, situations or circumstances or the devil himself that is out to stop me, stop them O Lord in Jesus name.
Which Christian Denomination Is The Best -2
Good morning all, I greet you guys in a very good and blessed mood. May your morning indeed be good. This is the part 2 of the topic 'Which Christian Denomination Is The Best'. Some days ago, I posted the first part and it attracted so many readers because over the years, there have been arguments on this topic. I hope you enjoyed the part 1 of this topic, if you haven't read it, please do so before reading this part so as to follow up. Its indeed interesting and eye-opening.
Today, many spiritual leaders in different christian denominations across the globe try their possible best to make you believe that their own church preaches the right word of God. They can hardly direct you to another denomination. Why? Reason being that they can't stand in for another denomination.
Not that other denominations are bad but they have been trained in a particular mode of worship. So speaking in full support about another denomination becomes a little bit difficult or uneasy for them. This doesn't only affect priests or spiritual leaders but also the congregation. Sometimes, we tend to find fault in worship instead of listening carefully to the sermon being preached.
Remember what I posted in the first part of this article. I said that "the best denomination is that which preaches the undiluted word of God". And I said that the undiluted word of God is that Word of God which is preached without any form of compromise. When compromise comes into our Christian life, it degenerates, it stops growing positively.
Even in our work place, businesses and even schooling activities, we have been cautioned not to compromise in order to get the maximum best quality we need. Compromise brings corruption! Hence, the word of God shouldn't be compromised! It should be preached purely and without stain.
In the first article, I wrote about compromising the word of God so as to gain population or members in a church. They only preach what the members wants to hear. They hide the truth from them, which is very bad. Sometimes, I wonder why there are a lot of churches today but it also seems like the trouble in the world also increases.
This shouldn't be so. With the increase or rise in number of Christian churches, there ought to be a decrease in the rate of evil in the world but its not so. Evil increases everyday. Countries fight countries, nations rising against nations just for power.
We ought to see an indirect relationship between these two factors; number of churches or denominations and the number of evil occurences. But what we see is a direct relationship. Why? In my own opinion, the rise in evil in the world today is of a result of the preaching of the diluted word Of God in some churches today.
That's my opinion and I'm sure that you have your own view or opinion to share with us here. You can do that in the comment section, I'll be glad to read it and learn. No one is an encyclopedia of knowledge, so be free to share your ideas in the comment section. Now, only us, genuine Christians can change the wrong doings already made in the past by preaching the undiluted word.
No matter your denomination, on judgement day it won't be used by God to judge us. Always remember that we won't be segmented by denominations before being judged by God. Instead we will be judged by the right and undiluted word of God. Recall from the bible that at the call of His name, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.
I hope we are blessed with the part 2 of this topic. Don't be limited by your denomination. Always hunger and thirst for the undiluted word of God Almighty and you'll be blessed and growth abundantly. God bless you. Remain blessed and prosperous.
Shalom.
As Christians, What Happens When We Fall?
Greetings guys, it's still me danbrilliant. I hope you enjoyed the last article. I know you did, that's why you're here to read again. Well this one is really important. Read and be blessed.
As Christians, there are cases where we stumble and get back on our feet. Sometimes, we even fall, but what next? What happens ? What should be our next step or action?
As we have learned from our text the last two days, we can fall, but God will not allow us to be destroyed. Here are three practical applications of this truth. First is that every detail of life is under God’s control. Intellectually we know this is true. If God is God, then he must know about all the things that happen to us, and in some sense we can’t fully understand, that “all things” includes both the best and the worst that comes our way. And there is an important personal application to be made at this point. Since every detail of life comes under God’s control, we can remain confident and peaceful even when life itself seems to spin control.
The second application is that, God takes pleasure in our struggle to walk in holiness. The last part of verse 23 says, “And He delights in his way.” The “He” refers to God and the “his” refers to the individual believer.” Charles Spurgeon says it very nicely, “As parents are pleased with the tottering footsteps of their babes. All that concerns a saint is interesting to his heavenly Father. God loves to view the holy strivings of a soul pressing forward to the skies.” This applies directly to the “falls” we take spiritually, that is, the struggles and the pains we go through as a result of the sins we commit. Our struggles are necessary even though they are not pleasant or easy to endure. This does not in any way suggest that God takes pleasure in our sin or that our sin does not bring punishment. But when we sin, we sometimes wrongly conclude that “God must hate me now.” And in our despair we want to hide in a closet and never come out. How could God ever take us back after what we did? The answer is, God loves his children with an everlasting love.
Thirdly, God designs our trials so they will not destroy us. God will not allow anything to permanently destroy our relationship with him. Not even death itself can sever our strong connection with God. When you are “in the furnace,” it is hard to believe that any good could result from the fiery trial, but God says, “Wait for a while and you will see pure gold.”
Be encouraged therefore, that whatever state you may find yourself presently as a child of God, God is with you. Are you presently under heavy condemnation from the devil and his agents because of wrongs or sins you committed and you are so ashamed to approach God to talk to Him about it. Lay aside every shame and approach God’s throne of mercy, He is waiting for you there and He is ready to cleanse you and give you a fresh start. Shalom.
Prayer Points
1. Father I praise you that even though we may fall, you alone are able to keep us from being destroyed.
2. Father I praise you that since you are always in control you are able keep us confident and peaceful even when life itself seems to spin out of control.
3. Father thank you that no shame or reproach can successfully keep me away accessing your throne of mercy
4. Father please help me to always remember that nothing can separate me from your love especially when the devil seeks to convince me otherwise
5. Father by your power and your grace, satanic to destroy my relationship with you will not prevail in Jesus name.
This article was made courtesy of a man I respect so much: Rev'd Canon Oladele Odumosu.
Hope you were blessed. Shalom!
As Christians, Why Do We Find It Hard To Pray?
Read and be blessed
*Text: Matt. 6: 7-8*
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” (NLT)
Prayer is one of the most critical component of the Christian life. When talking to God whether in silence or with a loud voice, what is important is the power of fellowship with Him. Therefore it is essential that we pray and pray often. But how exactly do we pray, what are the things we are allowed to do and things we are not allowed to do when we pray? The Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry gave a lot of teachings on prayer, where He taught us how to pray by giving us a prayer template popularly called the Lord’s Prayer, His teaching also covered what should be our approach towards prayer and rules to follow when we pray so that our prayers can be answered. It is one of those rules that we are considering today.
The rule says that when we are praying we should avoid babbling or vain repetitions as though God is partially deaf or slow of understanding so that we have to repeat our prayers several times over and over again in order to be sure that He has heard us or understood us. Jesus however taught us that this is not necessary, as a matter of fact He says that it is unbelievers that pray in such manner, in other words praying in such manner is evidence of unbelief and we know that no one who prays with unbelief in his/her heart should expect answers to their prayers. Secondly he taught us that it is not the length of our prayers that determine whether God will or will not answer the prayer, in fact praying is such manner is evidence that God will not answer our prayers
In that passage Jesus also revealed something very important about prayer and that is the fact that Jesus knows what we need even before we ask Him. Why then do we need to ask Him, you may ask? Amongst other reasons, asking Him in spite of the fact that He already knows what we need is an expression of our faith in Him that He is able to provide for us. Also, asking Him, is an opportunity to fellowship with Him and this is something that God desires greatly.
The willingness to take time to pray is a beautiful act of reverence. Too few ever take time to pray, and even fewer spend more than scant minutes in prayer. God is available to us just as fathers are available to their children. We are to go to Him to pray, share and commune with Him, in doing so however, take heed of the above rules and observe them religiously so that you will not be the obstacle to your own prayers from being answered. Shalom
Prayer Points
1. Father thank you for the gift of prayer which you so graciously bestowed on the church, thereby opening to us a channel through which we can communicate with you
2. Father thank you for the great results that I have received in the place of prayers, it is not because I can pray, it is purely by your act of mercy
3. Father each day help me to be opened to instructions from you through your word or other mediums that will build my prayer life and make me more effective in the place of prayer
4. Father I rebuke every agenda of darkness to draw me away from the place of prayer in Jesus name.
5. Father by your grace, I shall remain forever active and steadfast in the place of prayer and I shall continue to reap the generous benefits that is available to those who maintain a consistent life of prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
Courtesy goes a man I respect so much:Rev’d Canon Oladele Odumosu
As Christains, How Many Church Services Should Be Held On A Sunday?
Greetings to you all. It is me danbrilliant and I'm still here to bring you great articles for discussion. I hope you enjoyed the last article. I know you did, it was really an interesting one, I must say. There were so many opinions on it. Well, today is another day and we have another interesting topic to discuss. Let's go!
Today, there have been so many views/opinions on how many church services should be held on a Sunday. A person who is used to two Sunday services is likely to condemn another church with five Sunday services. Some set of people condemn churches with so many church services.
Sometimes, these set of people do say that churches with so many services are only looking for members and money. But is this true? I know you have something to say already. But chill.. Now this is my opinion. Though, you can share your opinion in the comment section and I'll love to read it.
My opinion-How many services should be held on a Sunday? I think that this should be flexible. It shouldn't be rigid! For me, I'll suggest that a church should have at least two sunday services (but this depends on the population of the church and the carrying capacity of the church).
In some churches, the first service is preached in English while the second service is preached in the native language of the community. So you can see that in that community, not everyone understands English. So, the service is divided so that it can accommodate non-speaking English people. This will even help new converts who just stopped worshipping idol. Because most of them do not understand English. Hence, preaching in their native language will make it easier for them to repent and worship in the church.
So now, you see the strategy used here. So, we can learn that understanding of the community is required before fixing the number of services. And from my own opinion, I mentioned about knowing the capacity of the church with ratio to the members attending. So, you can see that there are several factors to consider before fixing the number of services.
Okay let's look at this covid-19 period. We are all aware that social distancing must not be compromised in any place in the world today so as to reduce the spread of the virus. And the church is one area that is usually populated. So, to control the population, churches that use their maximum seat capacity will need to adjust thereby maintaining social distancing.
And in order to obey the law of the government by maintaining social distancing, many churches had to increase their Sunday church services so as to control the virus spread. So we can all see that this was another factor that influenced the number of church services for the good of the people.
So, as I said earlier, the arrangement of service should be flexible and not rigid because various factors play a role in this. Hence, we should not judge other churches based on another because of the differences in the affecting factors. Instead, we should make sure as Christians that the undiluted word of God is only preached in the church so that the gate of hell will not prevail.
So, I hope we learnt something today? Yes I know you did and I pray that God will keep to alive to learn more and more from Him. You're blessed wherever you go. The favour of God will always be with you. You are a chosen one of the Most High. You will not be weary. Always be prayerful and vigilant. The Lord is your strength. Remain blessed.
Shalom.
Till we see again in my next article
As Christians, Which Unit Of The Church Is The Most Important?
Good day guys, its still me danbrilliant. I'm really sorry for posting my article a bit late today. Please bear with me, my schedule was really tight today but I still tried to put up something powerful and blessful for us today. I know you have all been waiting, so let's not waste time. We move! Let's go!
Yes, over the years, there has been several comparison and discussions about the different units in the church today and which one out of all is the most important. This argument has made so many workers of the church to go into serious disagreement as they think and believe that their own unit is better and more important than others.
I remember vividly well on a Sunday morning, after the church service, two well known church workers (name of church withheld) were arguing about this topic. One was in the choir unit while the order was in the media unit. So, they were arguing within themselves about which of the units amongst the two listed above was more important for the progress of the church.
Initially, I saw it as a friendly and baseless argument, but with time, it turned out into a serious disagreement between both of them. At some point, I began to smell pride amongst them. They both began to feel that their unit was more superior for the church service to work out perfectly well.
With immediate effect, I left after I smelt pride in the argument which started friendly at the very beginning. I was really shocked with the rage that pulled out from them. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like arguing for so long. I will just drop my point and move. Sometimes, I even derail when arguing for so long... So let's get back to the topic! Next paragraph..
Which unit do you think is the most important? I know you have something to say.. We all have different ideas, views and opinions . But chill.. Just keep reading.. Now, what are even the several units in the church? I may not know all of them but I will be listing out some which are very popular to us Christians.
Some of these church units or departments include; Altar servers/Mass servers, Choir, Band, Guild of stewards, sextons, media group/team, Cleaners/Sweepers, Sunday school teachers, Lay readers, Parish council, etc. I have listed about ten units and I think that is enough for us to deliberate on.
So, of all these units found in the church, which of them is the most important? Now hear this.. Every unit or department in the church is as important as the other. And the moment we start debating on which one is more important, division will start to grow in the church. #FACT
For the church to grow and be blessful to us all, all units and departments must work hand in hand to achieve this.. All hands must be on deck for that progress which we seek as Christian to come to pass. We shouldn't always feel superior than others in the church. Even though it's visible that the work done by a particular department/unit is bigger than another, we should not make that a basis for other units to look irrelevant.
Always remember that there must be unity in the Body Of Christ. And when we hear the phrase 'Body of Christ', we should see it as different parts assembling together. A body is made up by different assembled parts. So what I'm I trying to pass across to us?
Don't compare your unit/department in the church to another. Just work for God in His Sanctuary and receive the blessings attached to it. God loves service and its best we do it with all our heart and with humility. God wants you to use your gifts in that unit to work for him so there's no need comparing your destiny to another. We are all running different races, we have different journeys and its wise to pursue it with all seriousness and focus with God leading our footsteps.
May the good Lord always reward us for doing His work. You're blessed and you'll forever be under God's guidance. You're safe.
Till we see in my next article.
Shalom
Will Tron (TRX) still rise again?
Dangerous & Dreadful Things Done By Christians In The Church
Happy Sunday to us all, I hope we all had a wonderful Sunday service today and we were blessed by it? Its still me danbrilliant and we will be discussing about some lined out dangerous acts done by some Christians in the church today. Sit back, read and be blessed. Let's go!
Today is Sunday, the first day of the week and all over the world, Sunday services were held which is marvellous. However, over the years, I have noticed some doings by Christians in the church which I am totally against because they are not good at all. So, I pointed out some of them in this article so that we will know them (though we know some of them) and flew from them totally to avoid punishments from God. Some of these dangerous acts include;
**Pretending to put offerings in the church**
Now, this is a very bad act done very well in the church. Some of us may not understand it , so I will explain it. What do I mean by pretending to put offering in the church? I have noticed that some people due to shame of not having offering to give in church, they will get up and dance towards the altar with the congregation then, when they are close to the offering bag and are expected to drop their offerings, they will put their empty hands deep inside the offering bag and pretend to have drop their offering without actually dropping anything.
The first day I saw this, I felt really bad. I think its better to dance to the altar and return back to your seat without actually pretending to drop money when you don't have. Its a very very bad act. You can't confuse God. We should always remember that we are giving to God and not man. God watches during the day and night and so, we cannot in anyway confuse Him. This act can bring a deadly punishment from God Almighty, so please abstain from it and receive God's abundant blessing.
**Lateness**
Lateness lateness lateness.. Another bad act that we should flew away from. This one is very very obvious in the church today. Most of us who call ourselves Christians and believers of Christ try as much as possible to go early to our several workplaces and schools because we know fully well that we might lose our jobs and also get punished for coming late.
But when it comes to the church, no one penalizes us physically, so we most times tend to go not early as we do in our jobs and schools. Is this good? We all know its not good but we still indulge on late coming. I've been a victim of this severally in the past but after I compared it to how I go early to work, I noticed that it wasn't fair, I was robbing God. Robbing God of what? Of time. Sometimes, we come late to church and we are quickly in a hurry to go home. We may even end the service if we were given the power to do so. Hahaha. Its funny right? But its true. But its not good at all, as Christians we must try as much as possible to plan for our church services and avoid late coming. May God help us as we plan to prevent lateness to His Temple. Amen.
**Showing of pride during donations**
If I was to miss or forget or skip any dangerous act committed in the church, I won't miss this particular one. Why? Its so dangerous that It can even lead to an instant death inside the church. There are times whereby the church do ask for donations and support fund. And the church members are supposed to support the church financially in any way they can.
Some people then make use of that period of donation to show some level of pride when giving to church. Remember the bible says that "whatever you left hand is doing, your right hand shouldn't know...". Its a good thing to give in the church but give with humility because your money is from still from God. Its God that gave you that money. Giving with pride is not acceptable by God hence, we as Christians must flew away from such act.
**Chatting/irregular discussions**
During church services, I have noticed that some set or group of people do get involve in long discussions that could be kept for a later time. Even during the sermon, some youths and adults still chant, chat, make noise, etc and it makes the church to look like an unregulated and lawless environment. This act leads to distraction of other members who came to church with a mindset to focus on the word of God.
Hence, any form of irregular discussions should be avoided during church services. We should always have it in our hearts that the church is a Holy place and must be given the respect it needs. May God help us as we deviate from such act. Amen.
**Indecent dressing**
Over the years, indecent dressing has been rebuked in the church of God. But many (especially the youths) still indulge themselves in such act. It may look ignorable but it can cause havoc and sin to the congregation and even the pastor. That's why in some churches today, ladies are not allowed to sit in the front seats because some of them may wear short skirts.
As Christians, we must learn to draw a thick line between indecent dressing and decent dressing. The former could lead to sexual harassment and even immorality in the church. Hence, a positive change must be done towards this so as to avoid sinful acts and punishments from God.
I hope we enjoyed this article and also learnt a lot from it. Let's try as much as possible under God to abstain from this dangerous and dreadful acts and we shall be blessed abundantly by God. You will not be a victim of Gods anger. Amen. It is well with you. Remain blessed.
Shalom.
As Christians, Must A Church Service Last For More Than One Hour?
Good day to you all guys. I'm still me. I haven't left.I feel happy to be here again to share something very important. I know that you guys really want to read this.. So, no time to waste, you'll enjoy it... Let's go!
In the world today, a lot of thoughts have been shared on the time or duration that a church service should be. There are several schools of thought on this due to the fact that no particular duration was stated clearly in the bible. So, people tend to say whatever pleases them about time spent in church services.
Some churches or let me say denominations spend less than an hour for a service, some do spend more than an hour, some also spend up to 6 hours in one service. So what time is spent in your own church service? I know that you already know the answer but chill.. Chill.. Read the next paragraph.
I remember chatting with a friend about this topic, and he told me that in his church, the service do last for one hour only. He also said that there could be three services in a day with each service done within an hour. Another of my friend said his own church service stays for 3 hours and on Sunday, only Two services are conducted.
My other friend, who is a lady, said her own church service do last for up to six good hours.. Woow wow wow. I was damn shocked. I wasn't against it tho. Who am I to be? I was literally shocked because I have never stayed that long on a Sunday service except for night vigils. All these were real church service duration (for record sake, I don't want to mention the churches and also I'm not against any).
But what bothers me is the quality of our church services. Is quality time spent in worship? In praises, In prayer? In bible study? In sermon? And even Thanksgiving? I think these are some of the main areas in which quality time should be spent during a church service or mass. Have you really though about it in the past? I think you may have.
Now, let's ask ourselves again, should a church service last more one hour? Hmmmmm. But i think the question should be this way... 'What's the quality of our church service with respect to the time spent?'.. I hope we understand this question? Well, let me explain what I meant. A church service could be for 4 hours but the total time of worship, prayer, praises and sermon could be for one hour, thirty minutes..
It happens in some churches.. Yes. I'm not saying it's bad. Please don't quote me wrong. I only gave a real life illustration. In some churches too, sermon could take only thirty minutes. So you see, it becomes a difficult thing to choose the time duration for church services all over the world. It will be difficult for the church to accept a particular time.
But this is one thing I know. You can't use time to control God. Instead its God that will control us. You can be led by the Holyspirit as a pastor to hold a church service for more than an hour. Yes! This could happen in some cases whereby God wants some particular set of people to be touched and repent of their evil ways. Or it could be because of something else. I don't think time should limit what God wants to do for us in the church. We need to obey him as he leads us.
Also, You can be led by the same Holyspirit to hold it for less than an hour. You can't predict God's action. He works in mysterious ways. Obedient to God is indeed needed for our blessings to reach us. So what I'm I trying to say? You can't just put a rule for all churches worldwide that a church service should be less than an hour or more.
Why? Because God could lead the pastor to any length he wishes to. Always remember that a quality service or mass is very much needed. And when I say quality service, I don't just mean in the physical but in the spiritual realm. I hope you enjoyed this article... I'm sure that you also have something to contribute to this topic. I'm really sure. You can always contribute..
As I conclude, my prayer is that you will always have a quality service with God and his everlasting love, mercy and grave will never leave you. He will not forsake you. He will never leave you. Remain blessed.
Shalom.
Is Going To Church Everyday A Must For Christians?
Greetings you all, I hope you all are going great. My previous article was really good to some of us and I want to believe that we jotted and learnt a lot from it. Yes! Well, Here is a new one, read and be blessed once again.
In the world today, a lot of people have summoned so much emphasis on going to church everyday as christains. Some believe that once you miss out a church program, then you have sinned. Hmmmmm.. Is this true? Many tag going to church everyday as being devoted to the work of God.. But is that so? I'm sure you already have something to say right but chill..
I remember what happened last month being September in a church. I was passing a church (I don't want to call the name) and I overheard a Lady shouting with a loud voice on the phone. Well, I didn't know who she was conversing with. She shouted on the call saying "if you don't come to church today, you have sinned!". I was shocked at that statement. I even felt like reaching out to her to correct her or understand fully what she was trying to say but her rage really scared me, not to talk more of approaching her.
So now, do you think it was a sin for the person she spoke to? Well we don't know what transpired earlier between them so we cant suggest what it really is. So back to what we are here for, is going to church everyday the best as Christians?. I think we should first of all, ask ourselves the question of 'what are going to church to do?' Yes!. Many people who call themselves Christians go to church for fashion. Some do go to chat with friends, some do go there to power their phones, laptops or gadgets.
Alot of irrelevancies for going to church. Is that what it is meant to be? You can answer that without anybody telling you. You know the truth. Some even go to church just to pass away time and people may be watching and then tag that person as being devoted or committed to the things of God or the church. It really hurts me when such happens.
I believe and stand with the fact that we should have a purpose for going to the church. A person who goes to the church twice a week with the purpose of worshipping God is better than a person who goes there everyday with an aim to showoff his or her latest possessions or chat with people.
I know you like what you just read. That is just the truth! Nothing but the truth. It pains me to see people go to a holy place for a wordly reason. So gibberish! So unholy! So dangerous! We should be guided as Christians. There are other places one can go for other things, we should not forget that the church is a holy temple and it must be accorded the respect it deserves.
So how many times do you go to church in a week? And what do you spend time doing there? Praying? Singing praises? Worshipping God? Playing? Just chatting? Showing expensive possessions? This should awaken us from the worldly things especially in this era as youths. We determine the coming future, the generation. We are the hope of the future.
Inshort, we are the future and we must build that future purposely and correctly. Strength relies on our youthful days and hence we must maximize it so well to the fullest. I'm not against going to church everyday.. Let's make it clear.. I'm against going to church for wrong reasons. I could be employed in a job and based on my job schedule, I can only attend 3 programs out of 5.
Cool, the best thing is to attend those 3 programs and worship God with all my heart in those 3 programs and God will accept it. Time is really precious and God watches how we use it and manage it. Do we spend it correctly or on frivolities??? This is another question we should ask ourselves.
This is a very crucial and sensitive time in the world today. A lot of evil activities has stolen the youths, but you're perfectly save in God's hand. Amen. The Good Lord will see us through in this hard time.
Lastly, always remember to do good to people. Do not repay evil for evil. God will bless you always. He will protect you from evil and he will sustain you. Remain blessed.
Shalom
Which Christian Denomination Is The Best?
Good day guys, its me danbrilliant again. I hope you enjoyed the previous articles? I know you did! And that's why you want to read more. Well the good news is there is more to read. So let's do this!
Today's topic centres on the denominations in Christianity today and the best out of all. It sounds interesting right? So let's read carefully. Currently, there are several ' Christian denominations' in the world today and there will be even more as time goes on. We call them denominations based of some little differences in the beliefs of Christ and also in the different terms of worship of God.
A slight difference in belief or worship could eventually lead to a new denomination in the world today and those who are satisfied or otherwise comfortable with a particular worship or belief will join that which they are satisfied with so as to have a rest of mind. People prefer joining a particular denomination voluntarily without being forced by anyone to.
Now, let us look at some denominations in the world today. Some of them include; the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, the Pentecostal Church, Deeper Life Bible Church, The Lord's Chosen Charismatic Church, the Jehovah's Witness, the Canaan Land, the Purity Land, The Redeemed Christian Church, the Living Faith Church, Cherubim and Seraphim, the Celestial Church of Christ, Assemblies of God Church and so on.
They are so many that if I start typing all of them here, we won't finish. Sometimes I do ask myself if these denominations are created everyday. But the question we should ask ourselves is what is preached about Christ in these denominations? What are the members fed with spiritually? Is it negative or positive? Is it in alignment with Gods word? Is the bible interpreted wrongly or correctly?
All these questions is what should bother us because we are all brethren in Christ and we should be our brothers keeper! We should never say, "well he/she is not in my denomination so I don't care about his spiritual life". That is totally wrong and unacceptable. Some of us only relate with people in our denomination and see others as outcast or evil.
I know this writeup sounds interesting but let's not forget that we are here to know the best Christian denomination. We are not here to condemn any. In short we were instructed in the bible never to condemn. So which one out of all the denominations in the world today is the best? Is it Catholic? Is it Anglican? Is it Pentecostal? Hmmmm. Read the next paragraph..
I know you think I'll choose a particular denomination right? But read this..... The best Christian denomination is the one which preaches the undiluted word of God. What do I mean by this? A lot of churches today interprete the bible wrongly. Or let me say that a lot of churches today preach the Word of God in a way that will look very comfortable to people. They twist the truth so that people will keep coming to their church, by doing this, the word of God becomes diluted.
Hence, the best Christian denomination is that which worship and preaches the rightful word of God without any form of compromise. Yes, that is the right answer. That is the type of church or denomination you should worship in. Remember that after our life here on earth, there is a judgement day awaiting us all.
So let me ask you, does your church or denomination preach the undiluted or the diluted word of God? Do they preach about the Great Love Of God? Have a little time to meditate upon this and pray to God for direction. I'm not saying you are in the wrong church.. Hahaha.. Please do not quote me wrong. Just ask that God should help you in all your doings and he should direct your path. Because a lot of things on earth here are bad but they are clothed with good coverings.. Watch and pray..
I hope you enjoyed this. I know you did. Always remember to pray fervently and always to God and he will help you in all your understanding and ways. He will lead you right and you will reach your rightful destination and destiny. He will go before you, go with you and go after you. You're blessed.
Shalom.
Hello members of Christian family community.
We just passed 150 members.. Cheers!! Cheers to everyone for making this possible.... We move towards 160!!
Don't forget to invite your friends here. 160!! We move!
Do You Know Your Real Enemy?
Good days guys, its Me again danbrilliant. I hope we enjoyed the previous posts. There are more to come.
Now, as Christians, do you even know your enemy? Do you know what you even wrestle against?
As Christians we wrestle against principalities and powers, evil powers from high places. They are indeed our enemies and we cannot settle with them on earth. Why? Light and darkness does not comprehend! That's why! Hence, we must continue the fight against evil powers on earth. Now, when last did you pray against evil powers?
Did you pray today? If no, why? Do not feel so comfortable because you are healthy or financially strong. No matter how well things or situations seems so good for you, do not neglect praying!! It is a very important tool needed to fight our enemies. Prayer is the master key! Say a prayer!
Have you ever faced a challenge with the evil world? How did you overcome it? Through prayers? Yes! When praying or even praising God, battles are won in the spiritual world without our very self noticing it. We win by praying, praising and worshipping God. He is indeed our heavenly and loving great father and he is ever ready to protect us.
Now, who can you say is your real enemy? Evil powers! These powers can manifest through friends, family members, colleagues at work, employers and even fake pastors and fake prophets in church today. A lot of evil has entered the church and it is our duty as christains to wipe them all out.
Yes, its our duty! Because the church must move forward, it must March forward forever and the devil must not prevail over us as Christians all over the world. We are here to save the world from destruction. Always remember that the devil is here to kill steal and destroy people here on earth but Christ came to bring salvation upon us.
Have you received the salvation of the Lord? Do repent of your sins and ask Him to become your personal Lord and saviour and he will guide and protect you all the day of your life. Once you accept him as your Lord and Saviour, you'll begin to experience his loving power and sustenance in your health, career, family, and financial life.
After accepting him, your eyes will be open to see your real enemies. Many people can't see this because they are spiritually blind! Are you blind spiritually? Rest in God and you won be blind anymore. Many people who claim to be genuine Christians are actually spiritually blind and this isn't good for them and the church presently.
I believed in God almighty the maker of heaven and earth and of all that is seen and unseen. This should be our prayer every day of our lives. That statement shows and proves our believe in God Almighty. It is said ix the Nicene creed and all Christians in Anglican and catholic church do recite it every Sunday for their spiritual growth
Spiritual growth helps us to fight against evil people . yes! Because, as we grow, we being to understand the spiritual matters better and easier thereby giving us an understanding of how thy do work in their evil doings. We must end evil doings as Christainz. Its our work to do on earth and God will surely help us achieve it in Jesus name Amen.
Alwys believe that God will fight all tour battles and you are a winner indeed. Do not ever feel like a loosed at all. Thats the impression that the devil wants us to always have so that we can be defeated but with a string mind and good courage we will win all our battles both physical and spiritual. Are you a winner?
I am a winner indeed. Always have an optimistic mindset and you'll glow like light forever. Do not be afraid our the evil by day and night because they are powerless over us as Christians. Yes they are powerless. Now, always do good to people even though they do bad to you. Don't repay evil for evil because we are Christlikes and we are obliged to always do good no matter what!
@Danbrilliant
