🏅 THE ULTIMATE RACE 🏅

THE ULTIMATE RACE 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 

   24. Do you not know that 

in a race all the runners run, 

but only one gets the prize? 

Run in such a way 

as to get the prize. 

   25. Everyone who 

competes in the games 

goes into strict training. 

They do it to get a crown 

that will not last, 

but we do it to get a crown 

that will last forever. 

   26. Therefore 

I do not run like someone 

running aimlessly; 

I do not fight like a boxer 

beating the air. 

   27. No, 

I strike a blow to my body 

and make it my slave 

so that after 

I have preached to others, 

I myself will not be disqualified 

for the prize.

This passage is an example of a metaphorical and didactic expression. 

The apostle Paul uses the metaphor 

of a race to illustrate spiritual discipline 

and the pursuit of a virtuous Christian life. 

Unlike a typical human race, there are some stark differences in this one that Paul is using to compare it with. 

The differences and similarities between this race that is the Race to Fulfill Destiny and the Normal Human Race are as follows: 

   1. The competition is only with one's self. 

You must give it your very best to win. 

Unlike the conventional race where runners run and contest between themselves for an ultimate prize like a gold medal or trophy, the race that Paul is using to compare it with is an individual one. 

   2. We must approach this call to fulfill our individual Destiny's personally because as individuals we each have an ultimate prize we must strive to attain with purpose, focus and dogged determination. 

   We must be the best at what we do and be excellent in our service to God and our fellow men because the quality of our life on earth and indeed hereafter depends on it. 

   3. The Prize Paul is referring to is not tangible like a gold medal or trophy. 

It is the Crown of Salvation, to fulfill your individual destiny in Christ Jesus. 

   4. Unlike the normal race we are accustomed to, there is a particular way we need to approach this race for Eternity for us to get the prize. 

   

  5. Just as everyone who competes in normal games or sporting competitions needs to go into strict training to be fit enough to have a fighting chance of winning, so also is this race to fulfill destiny. 

   We must do it with absolute focus, discipline and self-control. 

   6. There is a strict training regiment required for this race - to fulfill destiny, which is essentially, God's good, pleasing and perfect will and plan for a person, that differs from the typical races we are used to. 

   7. While people compete in regular races to obtain a reward that will ultimately not last, we embark on this race of life to get an everlasting crown, that will endure long after we leave this ephemeral earth.

   8. As a result we should ensure that we are focused like a runner and precise like a boxer, in the way we live our lives. 

   

   9. We should strive to mortify our flesh on a daily basis for our unbridled appetites and desires are the greatest impediments we must overcome to finish well. 

   We must by the dictates of the Holy Spirit, daily put to death all the desires and cravings of our flesh by striking blows to our body and making it our slave via daily sacrifices that empower the Spirit of God in us while subduing our innate fleshly and sinful nature that is constantly at war with the Holy Spirit in us. 

   The passage that begins with a question is essentially a wake-up call to every follower of God that there must be an urgency and a renewed determination with the way we live our lives. 

   Paul encourages the Corinthians and by extension, us - to live their lives with purpose and discipline, much like athletes who train rigorously to win a race or competition. 

The "prize" he refers to is eternal life and the rewards of living a faithful Christian life.

   Please note that as in Matthew 20:20-21, the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons kneeling down, and dared to ask a favor of Jesus, that he should grant that one of her two sons may sit at his right and the other at his left in his kingdom. 

   While you can read the latter verses to get the context, it is important that your goal should be set by the very words of our Saviour and Lord himself as he said thus in 

John 14:12-13

   12. Very truly I tell you, 

whoever believes in me 

will do the works I have been doing, 

and they will do even greater things 

than these, 

because I am going to the Father.

   13. And I will do whatever you ask 

in my name, 

so that the Father may be glorified 

in the Son.

Shalom

FAITH HAS NO BACKUP PLAN

FAITH HAS NO BACKUP PLAN

In life, it is common place to have one contingency or the other when we make plans so that if one doesn't pan out, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we at least have another to fall back on. 

While such a practice of not putting one's eggs in just one basket is indeed a logical and strategic one, that gives one the much needed alternative solution to leverage on, when it comes to our faith in God however, we must totally put aside such propensity of self-help. 

The existence of a "plan B" in any matter you have committed to God, just in case He doesn't pull through for you, is proof of your lack of complete confidence in His Almighty ability to save and to provide. 

Faith, which must be one's total confidence in God is essential for us to access all we desire and ask of God, because it is the only way by which God can intervene in the affairs of men for as in Mark 9:23, “ '... “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Harbouring doubt, even a little bit; to the point of agreeing to a backup plan simply negates the faith we need to have in God for him to step in to our situation, for as in Hebrews 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God, talk-less have Him fulfil our requests because our relationship with Him must be by faith or nothing at all. 

Our faith in the One we believe to be Almighty should be absolute, if we truly have the complete confidence in Him through what we have personally heard and experienced of him in the past. 

Our unshakeable belief in God should get us to the point like in Luke 18:28, where it was recorded that Peter said to Jesus, “We have left all we had to follow you!”

In Matthew 6:31,34, it is written, 

31. So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 

34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus in the scripture above, admonishes us not to worry; to give no thought (according to the KJV version) about our daily needs or even our needs for the day to come. 

The proof of our faith is not just confessing and saying to others that we have complete confidence in God's Word, for Faith is not faith, unless it is tested; for the testing of our faith is the confirmation that we actually believe. 

Our faith can be tested in a number of ways like when everything looks like it has failed and we are prompted to respond about the plausibility of what we hoped would happen. In such times we need to remain resolute and still continue to confess what we believe the outcome should be, no matter how foolish our utterances may sound, even in the midst of overwhelming facts that prove the opposite. 

So, if we have asked God to meet a need or want, we must work on not pondering over the matter again.  

In having complete confidence in God's Almighty ability to fulfil what we desire of Him, we must make up our minds that we will not brood over the issue to the point that we start to harbour doubts or start looking for a backup, just incase He doesn't come through for us. 

Shalom!

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

There are a lot of things that go on in our lives that are out of our control, but most of the goings-on in our lives are things that are in our purview, that we have the capacity and ability to deal with and do something about to our favour. 

We are the captain of our souls and as a result, we are solely responsible for our lives and destiny, by our actions, reactions or lack thereof, and we shouldn't be fooled into the enemies deception of blaming the situations of our lives on others or forces greater than ourselves. 

Accepting responsibility for all we think, say and do is a sign of emotional maturity; it demonstrates our belief in the inate ability God Almighty has given us all to be free moral agents, that have the power to determine the course of our lives, for better or worse. 

Unfortunately, people who don’t accept responsibility tend to believe they are not primarily to blame for their actions or inactions and therefore have no motivating factor or reason to change.

Accepting responsibility by celebrating our good judgments and owning our errors helps in the relationships we have with God and our fellow men.

People that have the wrong mindset that others must accept them for who they are, feigning they were made the way they are because they don't want to make the necessary effort to change, as a result loose goodwill and trust in the sight of men and God. 

It is however important to know and understand our responsibilities to God and to our fellow men, in order for us to accept that we are supposed to have dependable control over some matters that people have entrusted to us, because they believe we are mature enough, and that we will also be held liable and culpable, if we fail in the confidence placed on us concerning the management of such matters. 

We must see ourselves as faithful Ambassadors of Christ because of the complete confidence we have in the faithfulness of the One who has called us, to complete that which He has assigned to us. 

● RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES BETWEEN GOD AND MAN: 

We have rights and responsibilities as God Almighty does too. 

We have rights; that is, we are entitled to things from our creator, like the provision of our daily bread, etc. just as we have responsibilities; that is, duties, things we must do for our Creator, like abiding by his laws and the Bible, the instruction manual that guides our existence and relationship with Him. 

Unfortunately, many of us unwittingly or selfishly, lacking faith in God, like pagans do, worry and run after trying to fulfil God's responsibility towards us, by ourselves, as found in Matthew 6: 25-32, at the expense of our health and wellbeing, and end up leaving our own responsibilities towards God as found in Matthew 6:33, albeit to our own detriment. 

God's responsibility towards His faithful one's is to help provide for our needs like what we will eat, drink, wear, etc and our own responsibility towards God is to seek first the establishment of the influence of his heavenly kingdom and a right standing with Him in our hearts and also that of our fellow men so that in turn, all the other things that we need for a godly life, will be provided by God as well.

We also have God-given responsibilities towards our fellow men.

In John 10:16, Jesus Christ told his disciples, 

"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." 

For this reason, God reconciled us to himself through Jesus and as followers of Christ, He also entrusted to us Christ's ministry of reconciliation: (2 Corinthians 5:18). 

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, so that God can make his appeal through us, and implore those who don't know Christ to be reconciled to Him. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

● WE MUST ALL GIVE ACCOUNT FOR OUR ACTIONS: 

Taking responsibility for our actions is important because as in 2 Corinthians 5:10, 

"... we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 

Indeed at the end of our lives on earth, we must give account to our maker for how we lived our lives. 

● CALL ON THE ONE WHO IS ALMIGHTY: 

If you are having issues being responsible for what you ought, then you can be rest assured that God who is Almighty is in the business of making up for areas in our lives that we are inadequate or powerless. 

We must remember in all our challenges that though we may be limited in what we can achieve, we serve a limitless God who is waiting for us to call on Him so He can show Himself mighty on our behalf. 

All we need to do is heed His call to drop all our inadequacies at his feat as He calls us now saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

● FAITH IN JESUS: 

Finally, only our faith in Jesus can make us faithful in fulfilling our responsibilities towards God and our fellow men. 

Taking responsibility will always remain an uphill battle for a person who hasn't surrendered his life to Jesus Christ, for as in 2 Corinthians 5:17, it is only when a person is in Christ that he will become a new creature in which, old habits that are prompted by the devil and the inordinate desires of our sinful bodies will pass away, and all things in that person's life will literally become new. 

Let's take responsibility to love, to have faith in, obey and ask God our creator for help because He has the Almighty ability to save by wading into the affairs of men and let's also take responsibility to love our fellow men as we love ourselves.

Shalom!

SABOTAGE YOURSELF

Sometimes you need to devise ways of subtly sabotaging yourself so you can get ahead in life.

In order to make worthwhile progress in life, at times we need to deliberately put obstacles in our own way to ensure we walk the straight an narrow. 

In order to mortify the desires of our flesh we must learn the salient art of self-sabotage because we are admonished thus in Mark 9:43, 

"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out."

For example, as you get along in years, you know you need to stop binging on soda drinks, so you can make up your mind not to drink soda unless someone gives you, and also not to buy any with your own money unless someone buys one for you.

You can also take it a step further by ensuring that when you are offered a soda drink, you make up your mind just to drink a percentage of it and immediately pour away the remainder, so as to purposefully set limits for yourself, with the ultimate motive of one day putting an end to taking such unhealthy sugar-loaded drinks. 

Once you can psychologically get rid of the thought that though the drink was bought but the disadvantage of you finishing the drink far outweighs what it costs to purchase it, it becomes easier to dump it after having a few sips. 

Sometimes building up one's self-control needs to begin with little but meaningful steps to overcome some compulsive behaviours. 

I once went for an anti-drug abuse rally and I met a lady who was bold enough to say she was glad that she was not struggling with any addiction in her life. 

Instinctively remembering what addiction I knew that I was struggling with and having a premonition that she too may be having the same difficulty but had not accepted that it was an issue she had to deal with in her life, the Holy Spirit helped me to contrive a way to bring her issue out into the limelight. 

I quickly counted the witnesses around when she made her unwitting boast and proceeded to buy cold soda drinks for the people present, especially because it was midday and the sun was scorching hot. 

I purposely waited for her to lift the bottle to her lips and just when she was about to take the first sip I prevented her from doing so by holding back the drink.

Knowing she was about to protest my action I then told her that if she was sure she wasn't struggling with any addiction she should not take the Cola I bought for her but instantly pour it away. 

It took her a few seconds to process what I was up to but when she fully grasped what I did she immediately told me I was a wicked person, and that why would I do what I did to her. 

She subsequently guzzled down the drink while some of those around us chuckled and admitted the same type of addiction affected us all, but that we sometimes fail to recognise such cos we always feel someone else's own is more weightier than ours. 

Thank God everybody got the message and had sometime to reflect on the compulsively habitual issues they had to deal with in there lives, but had not realized or even bothered to reflect on. 

The self-sabotage tactic as a first-aid attempt to try and resist can be used on a myriad of addictive issues that we may identify in our lives but we must apply it with the most effective way of self-control, which still is to pray and have faith on the very words of God concerning why we shouldn't be addicted, knowing that as in 2 Timothy 1:7, "...the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

Shalom

ACCESSING GOD'S PROVISIONS.

There's something about times and seasons God has alloted for us to activate and enjoy, that we need to understand and key into if we are to take full advantage of His Supernatural provisions of blessings for our lives that are new every morning. 

In Psalm 68:19 KJV, the author praised God by saying, 

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, ...."

We can surmise that King David, the author of the Psalm was able to identify and therefore praise God this way because God's daily provisions that were able to cater for his needs and wants, had become his daily experience. 

From Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV, 

1. We can appreciate the greatness of God's faithfulness upon our lives - on a daily basis. 

2. We can understand that God's compassion fails not and that it is because of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed as a result of our sins.

3. We can also delight in the truth that his mercy and compassion are new every morning. 

As people of God, we are supposed to speak forth and declare (by faith) what we desire for ourselves and indeed confess the blessings of God we come across in His word into the next day, before it comes upon us. 

We can understand the reason we need to do this from Genesis 1:5, where it is recorded that, 

God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.

From this scripture we can deduce that the biblical day begins in the evening and as a result we can therefore pattern our lives after this truth, for as with God's scheme of things, it is only what a man sows today that he is assured of reaping tomorrow. 

Before Christ called, chose and designated twelve of his disciples as apostles in Luke 6:12-13, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray. It was recorded that he spent the whole night praying to God. 

God who calls those things that are not as though they were, graciously chose to make us in His image and likeness so we could also partake in His godly nature of declaring a thing and having it come to pass, by our faith in His very words and promises that are strewn all over the Holy Bible. 

We not only need to take advantage of this Supernatural provision of bringing to life our needs and indeed wants, by confessing His Words but we also need to do so in the manner God has purposed and provided we do for effectiveness.

Being expectant, preparing for and even going the extra mile to find out the exact times and seasons for the good, pleasing and perfect will of God for our lives, is crucial to ensure we don't miss out on God's provisions as and at when due. 

A few principles we must adhere to so we can access God's provisions for us are: 

1. Realising that God's supply of our provisions in life are tied to our love for Him and our desire to accomplish His purpose for our existence, and our obedience to what He reveals to us to do for Him. 

In Proverbs 23:26, God commands His Children thus: "My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,"

2. Recognising that God expects us to ask Him for our provisions and doing so. 

We need to ask God for our daily provisions because the relationship He foreplanned for us is not just that of a creator to the created but that of a heavenly Father to an earthly child.

We are mere mortals with limits on our knowledge and abilities but that is how God intended it to be.  

His plan is that as His children we approach Him by prayer, as our example Jesus Christ did, in asking Him of our provisions and His empowerment to live above our limitations, so that in turn we do His bidding as we would our earthly fathers.  

This may be hard for some of us to wrap our minds around but in God's scheme of things we as His creation; made for His good pleasure, need to understand that God is Almighty and His plan is that though we have finite wisdom and limits on our strength on earth, we are to depend on Him for absolutely everything we desire or lack as a child would his father. 

3. Asking for our needs and wants in a timely manner. 

In Matthew 7:7, we are assured of getting an answer to our request or appeal to God concerning our provisions or indeed any other petition concerning other people thus: 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

We can also intimated as in Ecclesiastes 3:1, that: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:" so we need to understand the times so we can not only ask for our needs and wants in there allotted period but also be expectant of them. 

4. Being expectant that what God promised in His Words concerning us, will be accomplished by our faith in Him to bring them to pass. 

In Matthew 7:8, we are guaranteed that: 

"... everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." So let's live every single day with high expectations that God will provide for us. 

Finally and most importantly, as in Matthew 6:33, we are commanded to seek first the establishment of God's Supernatural kingdom and a right-standing with him in our lives and that of others, and as a result all the other necessities of life like our feeding, clothing, livelihoods, etc, that unbelievers unfortunately run after, and that our heavenly Father already knows we need, will be given to us as well.

Shalom

THE GREAT COMMISSION - DISCIPLESHIP

THE GREAT COMMISSION - DISCIPLESHIP 

Discipleship is a practical "follow me as I follow Christ" approach to teaching new converts and other people who don't have a firm biblical foundation about Christ by living by example.

The call to Disciple others is the last command Jesus Christ gave the disciples he had called unto himself and by the extension of faith, we his latter-day disciples, before his departure from the earth. 

To disciple others, a discipler must be a active follower of Christ. He must constantly seek God's guidance about his own affairs and that of his disciples while practically teaching them about living a Christ-like Abundant life.  

In Luke 9:23-26, Jesus Christ cautioned his disciples concerning the daily sacrifice they had to make in following him saying: 

23. ....“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 

24. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 

25. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 

26. Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

The 4 major things that Jesus Christ expects of those who are serious about following him, on a daily basis are: 

1. Denying Oneself.

Denying oneself refers to mortifying the cravings and desires of one's own flesh while feeding one's spirit with the Word of God, so that the Spirit of Christ will be in full control, thereby empowering and allowing one to do Christ's bidding alone. 

2 Taking up one's cross.

Before Jesus Christ died he carried a cross on the behalf of all mankind, by this he carried the sins and burdens of all men so that the devil could lose his hold on creation and all men would be free to choose to be reconciled to God. 

We too as his disciples, that is, his followers, also in our own way need to carry the burdens of others so they can focus on Christ. 

Some of the burdens we are expected to carry on behalf of others can be found in Isaiah 58:6-7 & 9-10.

3. Be prepared to lose one's life to follow Christ and for the sake of lost souls so that one can save it for eternity. 

Loss of one's life in this context may not outrightly mean by death, although it might come to that for some people, but that one will have to make some sacrifices in life, like Christ and his disciples did to win souls. 

To be true disciples of Christ (as in verse 25) there is a lifestyle choice in the form of daily sacrifices that we must make in choosing to lose what we would have gained in enjoying the trappings this vain world has to offer, so that at the end we do not lose what really matters in this life, and then the life hereafter forfeit one's soul to hell for eternity. 

The loss we may have to experience in life, that is the sacrifice we must undergo to be latter-day disciples of Christ can be appreciated if we can understand the word of God as stated in Psalm 126:6 which confirms that: 

"Those who go out weeping, 

carrying seed to sow, 

will return with songs of joy, 

carrying sheaves with them."

4. As disciples of Christ we must always be proud to identify with Christ and all he represents. 

One cannot be embarrassed or ashamed of Christ and his words, and expect to be a disciple of Jesus.  

Many people find it easy to identify with Christ as their Saviour knowing he has delivered them from one issue or the other they faced in life and that they'll need him to continue to do so but having him as Lord of their lives, having to take instructions from him about how he would have them live their lives on his own term and not on theirs is unfortunately the reason some find it difficult to effectively follow, as they want to be in full control. 

Finally as disciples of Jesus we must follow the pattern Christ's disciples of old did as seen below. 

Shalom

The Discipleship Triangle: 

HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO YOU?

God may choose to directly speak to us audibly or to our hearts or indeed communicate with us in any way He chooses to. 

With time He may choose to speak more frequently with us if we come to the  understanding that He can. 

This consciousness helps us to be expectant of His promptings and feedback to our longings, prayers and Petitions. 

We may never in our lifetime hear God speak to us saying something like, "My son, don't go to work today!" or in any other epic warning or command, but we can be rest assured that God will certainly communicate to each and every one of us in our lifetime, whether we choose to seek a relationship with Him or not. 

It is important we all find out the specific way(s) God chooses to relate with us when He wants to pass across an instruction or warning, so we are not in any doubt when He does, so we can act immediately on it. 

Over the years I have come to understand  these 5 specific ways God communicates with me: 

1. Through Songs and Hymns. 

I may wake up early in the morning with a particular piece of edifying music playing in my head that the Holy Spirit will prompt me to start singing, and while I'm praising God or lifting my own spirit through the song, I find that the wordings themselves may also have a particular significance to what God would have me focus on that day.

2. Through the Word. 

Hearing the Word of God in church, while taking public transport, through digital media, visually seeing the Word via tracts, books, magazines, etc are all avenues God affords me to commune with Him.

Whenever I come across the Word of God my Spirit immediately confirms that which is noteworthy, that God would have me act upon. 

3. By Speaking to other People.

I have come to understand that when I speak to certain kingdom-minded individuals comcerning godly living, etc, I tend to reiterate things in the affirmative that God has previously layed in my heart but that I have not fully grasped or accepted are what He expects of me.

4. By putting a thought in my head. 

God from time to time would put a thought in my head for me to document and act upon or share.

Thoughts would come to my mind and I would instinctively know God desired I dwelt on them and understand them so I could act on them.

So that I don't forget I would quickly jot the thought down on a phone app like Google Keep and allow the Holy Spirit to help me expand on it so I could get the full picture and act on it. 

However, there was a particular time in which I had a long spell of drought of God's revelations because I failed to document, brood over so I could understand and act upon what the Spirit of God had impressed upon my heart. 

The drought lasted for almost a year despite my prayers and apologies for my failure to act decisively. 

5. By highlighting topical issues I come across in my interactions with people that He would like me to expand upon so that I will be able to understand the godly perspective of the topic and therefore be able to pass the knowledge across to others.

In Jeremiah 33:3, God Almighty enjoins us thus: 

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

The scripture above makes us understand that it is God's desire we call upon Him that He may likewise answer us but we must also understand that as the adage goes, "God speaks to those who take time to listen".

It is unfortunate that a lot of us Christians are foolish and indeed selfish communicators. 

We are actually aware that Prayer is supposed to be a two way communication channel but seldom do we believe that God can audibly reply our requests just as we audibly spoke to Him, talk-less impress His reply upon our hearts or through other mediums like through His word, through a prophet, situations and circumstances, etc.

We need to come to the understanding that Christianity is all about God's desire to cultivate individual relationships with us all via channels like prayer. 

We therefore need to believe in the communication channel of prayer that God has availed us with to commune with Him, to the extent that we are expectant and patient enough to wait for answers. 

God is our Father and we need not be afraid to approach Him and vehemently request that He answers us when we call upon Him in a way that will be clear and obvious enough to us, that it is He indeed that is replying like our earthly fathers relate with us. 

If we are truly serious about living godly lives and fulfilling our God-given mandates and therefore destiny's, then we need to complete the cycle of prayer by actually making out time to listen to God reply us after we have called upon Him, and made our supplications known unto Him. 

May God Almighty who has revealed all we now know empower us to  go the extra mile by being real and true to the concept of prayer by believing and making out quality time to listen to God reply our requests to Him, whether the answer be a "Yes!", "No!", "Wait!" or some other reply, and may He give us the grace to accept the outcome, knowing that His reply is always for our good, in Jesus name, Amen.