Submit, Resist & Be Delivered

The road to victory concerning every negative issue we may come across in life can only be found in this 2 pronged approach as commanded in Gods Word, which is to: 
1. Submit to God's will concerning our lives and 
2. Resist the devil & as a result of our faithfulness to His provision via His word, the ancient enemy of the souls of men shall indeed flee from every situation that he had hitherto tried to steal, destroy or even kill what concerns us.  

We must understand that God's commands as found in the holy writ were lovingly written and passed down from generation to generation for all ages, for our benefit and not because God almighty rejoices in giving us strange and seemingly difficult commands, conditions and restrictions to make our lives miserable like  some erroneously think.

When God reveals Himself and His Christ to us individually, and we humbly accept and choose to submit ourselves to Him by believing in the only provision He has made available to deliver mankind from temptations allure and the unfairness of this fallen world's systems caused by the evil manipulations of Satan over them,  we are automatically strengthened to resist the devil by the empowerment we are afforded as a result by the Holy Spirit.

We can therefore be rest assured that the ancient enemy of the souls of men shall indeed flee from us concerning every situation we apply God's principle of deliverance upon.

In James 4:7-10, we are commanded by God to:
1. Submit ourselves to Him, 
2. Resist the devil, and as a result, he will flee from us.
We are admonished to draw near to God that He may in return, come near to us.
We are advised to wash our hands from our sinful ways, and to purify our hearts from our double-mindedness.
We are also encouraged to grieve, mourn and wail. To change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom concerning sin and all that is wrong with this fallen world we live in, and humble ourselves before the Lord, that He may lift us up.

As light will always have victory over darkness so also will the submissive relationship God has call us into with Him always strengthen and empower us to follow Him faithfully, to resist the evil one and also cause him to flee from the light of God that emanates from us because of our obedience to His mandate for our lives. 

Finally, God almighty has called us individually into a relationship with Him that He may bless us and cause us to ve blessings to others as in Genesis 12: 2-3 so let us be consistent in following Him.
Not just in our acceptance of Jesus as Saviour, that he may deliver us and merely help us resist and rebuff the devil whenever we are in trouble but more importantly as our Lord, that we may not continue to live life on the defensive but victoriously by being on the offensive, to twart Satans plans against us and our fellow men, like God has empowered us all to do in Christ Jesus.

Shalom.

LIES (3)

Lies are oh so significant an issue in the lives of men, than we could ever imagine, especially in the lives of God's people, which should not be, because anyone who chooses to use such, actually does so at his own detriment, for when a person lies, he not only consciously or inadvertently ushers the father of lies into the situation he told a lie about but also gives him inroads into other aspects of his life as well. 

There's nothing more deleterious to the child of God than fooling around with things that are exclusively in the devils domain, as such would serve as cogent grounds for one to be legally  robbed by the ancient enemy of our souls. 

Lies nowadays form a major part of the discourse of myriads of people all over the world because most believe there's just no way they can avoid them.

People of God can I'll-afford to be faithless about living lives free from lies and therefore be so casual with telling fibs as a means of deflecting another's attention from the truth or any of the other reasons anyone would feel warrants it's use, as what is ungodly is exactly what it is, and as such should not be used by God's people, period. 

The truth of God's word, spoken by faith serves to deflect the flaming arrows of temptations, doubt and deceit the devil may assault us with from time to time but playing with lies creates gaps in the armour of God we are clothed in, for the devils arrows to easily penetrate and harm us. 

Unfortunately, lies to most people are not just here to stay but are a valid part of human interaction.

Christians must however individually take a stance against the mindset that they are unavoidable, as a first step in redeeming themselves from the devils hold over situations in their lives through such intangible slip-ups, because there is no seemingly insignificant lie that does not have the potential to give the devil a foothold into situations in our lives and serve as an inroad for the ancient enemy of our souls to steal from us, destroy things in our lives and even terminate our very existence, if afforded the opportunity.

The seriousness of the issue of controlling our tongues can be understood from James 3, verses 6 - 8, to the extent that it was stated that," no human being can tame the tongue..." a glimpse of hope was however given in verse 3 that,
"When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal."  

It is indeed an important analogy we must consider in that it gives us an idea of the type of solution we need to adopt in order to reign in our tongues and therefore force ourselves to desist from telling lies or better still, to stop talking too much, in that we cannot by our own intuition or physical strength bridle our tongues.

Finally, praying to God for grace and imbibing the word of God that the resident Holy Spirit can work with, to serve as the bits needed to rein in our tongues, is the only solution that exists for loose lips and lies. So let's take full advantage of the provisions God has made and stop telling lies.

Shalom.

Lies (2)

Choose to be Responsible.

God commands us to be perfect as He is perfect but unfortunately a lot of us don't believe it's possible and as a result make ourselves useless to Him because of our lack of faith in the impossible that we ought to have in Christ.
We however due to our lack of faith, inadvertently limit God's work in our lives and make ourselves useful pawns for the evil one as a result.

Indeed, while we can't attain perfection in anything by our own willpower or flesh, God has made it possible for us to do so through the Holy Spirit's empowerment.

When we choose to put to death our flesh and feed our spirit and by so doing, follow the promptings of His Holy Spirit that is resident within us, then perfection pertaining to various aspects of life and godliness, that seems impossible becomes possible.

It is said that when the root of a problem is identified then to proffer a solution is made easier.

We must understand that our propensity to tell lies emanates from our inability to want to accept responsibility for our actions.

If you want to stem the tide of lies you tell then you need to be desperate and deliberate about it.

We've all heard the adage, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time" but most of us want to eat our cake and have it.

When a man chooses to be responsible for what he does, such a person is ready to start to kick out lies from his life.

If you are expected to go on an errand for your boss and return at a specific time but then decide to deviate from the task to do one or two personal things that makes it impossible to return when you ought, the next truthfully logical thing to do is to choose to own up to what you have done, however, failure to do the right thing will surely give rise to shame and the opportunity to lie in order to try to cover up one's wrong actions.

So, the first steps for kicking out lies from your life are:
1. Be a Christian, and as such, dare to believe in the impossible, that you can kick out lies from your life,
2. the next time you foolishly choose to be disobedient or do things your own way rather than the way you ought pertaining to any situation, make up your mind to be Christ's Ambassador rather than the devil's side-kick by choosing to be responsible for what you have done rather than lie about it.

Shalom.

Lies

A lie is what it is ...a lie.

A lot of us speak the truth only when it serves our purposes but we must stop fooling ourselves and desist from bringing God's holy name and His work of salvation in the lives of others into disrepute because of the sloppy, self-centered services we render to our fellow men and to God Almighty as well.  

No one is an exception to His word; His commands, precepts and consequences for disobedience. 

A lie is what it is ...a lie.
"...When the devil lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44 ), so if we habitually do the same are we not his children? 

God is a respecter of no one and as such we cannot exempt ourselves from His principles and the consequences of willfully disobeying them, vascilating between lies and the truth and expecting grace to abound. 

If you can stand in the midst of people, ignore His Spirit of Truth within you and willfully tell a lie and try to pass it off as the truth or even a joke and your conscience does not prick you, or you don't have any qualms that your utterance won't encourage others to speak the devils native language, which is opposite and opposed to God's mandate that we speak the truth in love always, then you should be gravely concerned about the state of your heart, and you better check yourself and repent of your ways.

For example, If you happen to be in a vehicle and you indicate to the person you are discussing with on phone that you are in a location where you really are not, to try to make the person feel that you are closer to him than you really are, what does that make you, and how do you want the people around you to perceive you and the faith you claim to profess?

The seemingly little things that we tend to overlook are usually the ones that the enemy of our souls uses with time, to shipwreck our faith and that usually have a ripple effect on others who are looking to us as authority figures and role models.

Are you having a hard time not spicing up your conversation with a lie, here and there? 

Admit to yourself that you have a challenge in this area, pray for grace to desist from such and as in Proverbs 10:19, think before you talk and try to keep your utterances few, knowing that usually when words are many, sin is not absent and finally, "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,.." (James 1:19).

May God's grace avail for you immensely on this issue.

Shalom

You Don't Get What You Deserve

In life some of us believe that we should be afforded some basic rights and privileges by others and even God Almighty Himself, that will make our lives peaceable and enjoyable but however such ideas are utopian, as the truth about life at most times can be summed up in the adage that goes thus, "You don't get what you deserve, but what you  negotiate." 

We live in a fallen world with less than perfect systems that are as a result of the devils influence in the lives of men who do his bidding whether unwittingly or not, for their selfish ends.

Only the confession of God's Word pertaining to the unfavorable issues we face in life, like the all-too-common, "Let there be light!" that God Almighty spoke forth in the beginning, that caused the prevailing darkness that covered the earth to flee, can ensure that we experience what the Word of God says is our portion in Christ Jesus.

The Bible is replete with precious Words and promises that we can by faith, speak forth concerning situations that are beyond our control, that can turn those challenges around, if we would but imbibe them into our hearts and confess them in preparation for such times.

We need to see the world we live in, as it really is, a place where the devil, who is the ancient enemy of the souls of men, has legal rights of dominion to control it's systems, and He uses it to manipulate men as a result, to go against God's will for their lives by instigating them to steal, kill and destroy themselves.

This distortion of life from what God had planned, although due to the original sin that our forefather, Adam committed can be overturned because of the victory over sin, the world and the devil, that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ wrought for all mankind as a result of his death, resurrection and ascension.

We must however key into the provisions He has made available for our deliverance and salvation for us to regain our dominion on earth and therefore have godly control over our lives and in turn, be able to spread the influence of our Maker all over the world.

Finally, we must learn how to negotiate our way with the instrumentality of our confessions of God's word, out of the influence of the evil one in the systems of the world and his manipulation of men as a result.
We can do this by finding out and confessing the truth of God's Word in the Bible that can make the difference in every ungodly fact and situation that presents itself against the will of God in our lives and that of our fellow men.

Shalom.

Guide Your Heart

"Above all else, guard your heart." 
(Proverbs 4:23)

Having issues with doing what you desire to do in your heart as opposed to what your body is pushing and prodding you to do that is diametrically opposite to what you know is God's will for your life?

Then you need to be careful about the inputs you take in from around you, especially what you see and hear. As bad communication corrupts good character so also does ungodly inputs into a man's life lead to ungodly thoughts, utterances and actions.

Everything you do flows from what you take in. If your senses take in things that are ungodly your body will tend to want to move you towards such actions because it's perpetually at war with the Spirit of God in you.

You cannot desire that God deliver you from sexual immorality when you are watching sexually elicit clips and sexually charged movies and expect a different result from your emotions and your bodily reactions. If you do, then you are an accident waiting to happen.

You cannot eat your cake and have it when it comes to vascilating between the sometimes ungodly desires of your flesh and the good, pleasing and perfect will of God that His Spirit promotes in you.

In Proverbs 4:20-23, God admonishes us to: 
1. feed our Spirit with His Word, 
2. pay attention to what He says through His Word, 
3. not to let them out of our sight, but to keep them within our heart, that we may obey them, 
4. for they  give life to those who find them and take them to heart, and also 
5. give health to one's whole body. 

He however went on to warn that the other side of the 2 pronged approach to ensuring the obedience of our flesh to His Spirit at work in us, was to ensure that we guard our hearts, above all else, for every thought and action which are the end result of what we take in, flows from it.

In James 4:4, it is aptly written, 
"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." 

This is where most people are missing it. We still desire, find joy and participate from time to time, in the semi-adulterous relationship with the world whilst having a foothold in the things of God's kingdom, which should not be and cannot work.

We need to ask God for grace to hate and therefore learn to dissociate ourselves from all the ungodly practices and allure this fallen world has to offer that we may squarely face God's purposes for our lives.

So guard your heart by constantly feeding your spirit with God's Word, prayer, making the necessary daily sacrifice of consciously fleeing from imbibing ungodly information and asking God's Spirit to help you instinctively hate what He hates and like what He likes. 

Shalom

Abrahams Blessings Are Mine

Our forefather, Abraham left his father's household and all he ever knew to be normal and sane, to obey God who revealed Himself to him.
He dared to foolishly obey God's  command for him to go to an unknown destination that was not at all definitively described to him and as a result not clearly understood by him either.
He chose to have an uncommon faith in the Almighty to do the seemingly ridiculous to the minds of most people if they were faced with the same situation.

As a direct result of his choice to obey God's call upon his life, to leave the known and follow the unknown, God Almighty rewarded his faithfulness in Him with the 7 fold blessing as recorded in Genesis 12:2-3, that goes thus:
1. “I will make you into a great nation, and 
2. I will bless you; 
3. I will make your name great, and 
4. you will be a blessing. 
5. I will bless those who bless you, 
6. whoever curses you I will curse; and 
7. all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

As in Galatians 3:29,  
"If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." 

Therefore, Abrahams blessings automatically accrues to anyone who would by faith in Christ Jesus, desire to have such work replicated in their lives for the sole purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission, ensuring that the peoples of the earth are blessed through them. 

The call of God upon Abraham and the Almighty's blessings upon his life and indeed the life of any other man is always geared towards one purpose, which is His will that all men be delivered from all that is wrong with this world we were born into as a result of the curse of the original sin of our forefather Adam and the influence of the evil one, so that His prized creation can be blessed because it was for such a reason that they were born and also called. 

God's command that we have dominion over all he has made for us and the blessings that accrue as a result, that He desires for all mankind as in Genesis 1:28, is this:
.., “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

So let us imbibe it, focus on it, and manifest it in our daily lives through all we think, say and do, everywhere we go, as God has purposed for us, for in Christ Jesus we are already empowered by the Holy Spirit to be victorious in all He has purposed for us to be and do.

Shalom.

Criticism ..a positive influence

Nothing beats a mind open to criticism, whether it be constructive or not, with an ear to listen or a teachable heart, to be able to decipher what is useful enough to take in and what should be discarded.  

No matter how scathing a criticism may be, we need to try to see if we can pick out any iota of truth in it, irrespective of what quarters it emanates from, rather than have a negatively critical mindset that is not willing to analyze information that may be painful to swallow and take corrections when applicable. 

We must understand that criticism is a part of life and is indeed one of the avenues by which we can learn and therefore be afforded the opportunity to avoid some pitfalls in life that may be as a result of a fault in our character or other issues we may not be able to easily perceive pertaining to our thinking, attitude or actions, if not for the perception of someone else on the outside.

We learn on a daily basis from examples we are opportune to hear about from others or come across from various media, experiences we and others face, and the criticisms from others, to but mention a few avenues that can help us improve ourselves and the knowledge we have about unfavorable situations in life, and how we can adjust accordingly.

In fact, a person who is unwilling to learn is one that is not ready to move ahead in life and as such, we can ill-afford to be bitter about and fail to pick out the important things in the information we come across from time to time, that are critical about us and how we live our lives.

So from now on, let's pray for a teachable Spirit and always keep an open mind about the not so palatable things people say about us and try to see criticism, no matter how painful it may be when being meeted out to us, as a possible avenue for change or an opportunity to prove to the aggressor that we will not be flustered by falsehood.

Shalom

Favour (Divine Assistance)

Favour is an instance of voluntary assistance that one is offered by another. It is goodwill from others that one is opportune to come across.

Most people experience favour from time to time while others have such opportunities of uncommon help meted out to them more frequently.

Looking at God's promises strewn about the holy writ, it is obvious to the discerning heart that we should indeed be the most favoured on the face of the earth if we could but know how to tap into such an infinite well of divine blessings.

The words, "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?" is a testimony concerning God's favour upon His chosen people Israel, as found in Deuteronomy 4:7 that we can instantly tap into if we could but sincerely have a relationship like Israel had with Him and also learn to pray to Him and therefore relate with Him likewise.

That is indeed favour at work that the Israelites could testify to, and an unmerited one at that. Note that God Almighty chose Israel at that time, as the only nation that would experience His presence from all the nations of the earth because of the faith of but one man. If that ain't divine favour then I don't know what is.

Israel were indeed chosen by God to be instruments of His favour but through our faith in Jesus Christ we too can enjoy such a most-favoured-nation status and the blessings that once accrued to the Israelites alone, in that we can by faith, also be Abrahams descendants and heirs to the blessings God bestowed upon him and his lineage.

The onus lies on us now to by faith, actively covet and ascribe God's blessings that are our heritage in Christ Jesus into our lives and that of others, until we start seeing their manifestation.

God's favour is our heritage in Christ Jesus. We are supposed to experience it on a perpetual basis and not just once in a while.

It is paramount that we must also be willing conduits of His favour to others in appreciation of God's faithfulness upon us to remain recipients of it, as it is the abundant lifestyle Jesus wrought for all his followers, through his death and resurrection.

You inadvertently confess your desire for God's favour upon your life when you say the "Lord's Prayer as found in  Psalm 23.
In verse 6 we usually profess, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Goodness and Mercy are God's messengers of favour upon our lives and if we can profess it, then we can faithfully be expectant and appreciative of it by our testimonies to others of His benevolence.

From now on, realize that you are favoured and be expectant of God's un-merited favour from everyone around you and wherever you find yourself and likewise be conduits of favor for this is God's Word concerning you and indeed the purpose for the favour he bestows upon you, as found in 2 Corinthians 9:11, which goes thus:
"You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and ... your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God."

Shalom.