Living Waters: 2015

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 4 [Testing the voice you hear]

Messages for November 2015: Our Month of the Holy Spirit

John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

Message for Sunday 29^th November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 4 [Testing the voice you hear]

Introduction: From the beginning of this month, we began to look at this great subject on the Holy Spirit that would help us acquaint ourselves with the Lord. In Job 22:21-23, we read:

“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.

If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.”

We therefore established that for us to really know God, we must be able to hear His voice because the first step to becoming acquainted with anyone is communication. We also saw that you cannot truly communicate with someone you are not on the same page with. In other words, you must understand their language and ways. We also saw that when God wanted to erode the unity of men who were united against His purpose, He had to confuse their tongues so that they could no more operate on the same page. In the same way to be in agreement with God, we must understand His language and ways. This is why we have been looking at how to hear the voice of God.

Today, we shall be looking at how we can ascertain that the voice we hear is actually the voice of God. I have here listed six things we can look out for to enable us test the voice we hear to ensure that it is God’s voice.

1. The voice of God carries peace with it. When we lose our peace over a voice we hear, we should pause because evil spirits are always in a hurry. If you wait long enough, you would discover that it was not God who spoke as the cover would be taken off by your patience. Remember, in Galatians 5:6, we are told that faith works by love and patience is the first manifestation of love. This is on the understanding that God’s voice is the basis of true faith as shown in Romans 10:17. See Phil. 4:6-7, Ps.85:8.

2. The voice of God agrees with the Bible. All scripture is authored by the Holy Spirit and therefore the bible is the basis for testing any voice that claims to be the voice of God. Whatever you hear from God will never conflict with the principles of scriptures because the bible is the word of God that has been tried seven times and has come out flawless. See Ps.12:6; Isa.8:20; Jer.23:25-29; 2Tim.3:16 and 2Pet.1:19.

3. The voice of the Lord does not encourage hastiness. Any voice you hear from God that promotes hastiness should be checked against what we have discussed in paragraph 1 above. See Isa.28:16 and Heb.6:12.

4. The voice of the Lord does not release fear but faith in your heart. Every time God speaks, His voice shoots arrows of faith into your heart such that you are empowered to take faith actions that bear the fruits that can only be described as the hand of God at work. See Rm.10:17; 1Jn.4:18.

5. The voice of the Lord releases joy in your heart. Every time God speaks to us, his voice settles us in such a way that our hearts become filled with joy because in His presence is fullness of joy. Jesus said things to His disciples that enabled their hearts to receive and be filled with joy. See Ps.16:11 and John 15:11.

6. Whatever God says eventually comes to pass as He says it will. God always confirms what He says through others who are more experienced in the ways of God. This is why we are told in Isaiah 30:20-21 that God gives us teachers who we can see and through them, the Holy Spirit confirms the leadings of God for our lives. See Deut.8:21-22; Isa.44:26, Luke 21:33 and Matthew 24:30, 35. Note however that this is without prejudice to conditional promises which requires that we meet certain conditions before the word can be actualized. Once the demands are met, the fulfilment of God’s word in this case is absolutely certain. A good example is His promise to Israel in Deuteronomy 28.

In summation therefore, putting all we have done so far in this month together, we can say that God not only speaks but He wants to speak to us and it is His pleasure to do so. He also wants us to hear and know for certain that He is the one speaking to us.

However, this blessing is meant for those who have entered into the covenant relationship of the New Birth with the Lord. The bible says that Christ in you is the hope of glory and this mystery was hidden from the foundation of the world for our glory. They are not hidden from us but for us to be able to discover them. If you desire this new birth experience so as to take advantage of what God has given us, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be saved and granted access to the mysteries of God that would enable you manifest His glory on earth. When Jesus was about to round off His mission on earth, he said he had brought glory to God by fulfilling His purpose. See John 17:4. If you want to be able to say the same thing when the time comes, please say the following prayer out loud and God would honor your faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name!

Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email: jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 3 [hearing His voice]

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 3 [hearing His voice]

Introduction: Last week, we established that God speaks and why. We also began to look at the different ways God chooses to communicate His mind to us. Today, we shall continue looking at how God speaks and begin to look at how to hear the voice of God spoken directly to us by the inward witness which is the main way God wants to speak to all His children apart from the bible:

A sixth way God speaks to us is through the written word or the bible. It is a compilation of prophecies spoken by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit to reveal the heart of God to man and the stories of men and women who walked with God and people of their time. See 1John 5:7-8, 2Peter 1:19-21 and 2Tim.3:16. This is why Isaiah, referring to those who consult familiar spirits; said in Isa.8:20 that if people do not refer you back to the law and testimony [the confirmed word of God] that it is because there is no light in them. Spiritual light can only be generated when the written word of God is mingled with faith otherwise, God is not obligated to confirm what a purported preacher preaches.

I consider the Bible the Creator’s manual for mankind and his environment. All that can be known of God and man are packaged in the bible made up of the Old and New Testament. Thus the only way we can actually live meaningful lives is by living by the word of God.

A seventh way God speaks to people is through circumstances. A good example of the circumstantial leading of God is seen in the entire book of Esther in the bible where the name of God was not mentioned once yet His acts from behind the scenes were evident. In our lives, God can bring this about by shutting every door except the one He wants to open for us. I have had this experience several times in my missionary journey and at the end of the day, it always turns out that God was actually working behind the scenes and usually, the hand of God becomes visible in the testimonies that accompany the outcome of being led circumstantially. See the story of the four lepers at the gate of Samaria in 2kings 7:3-8.

An eighth way God leads us is through the teaching and preaching of the word of God. This method is usually taken lightly by many, but I have found it to be one of the best ways to confirm a leading you get privately from the Lord. See Isa.30:20-21, Mt.4:23, Mk.9:35, Acts 15:35; Acts 28:30-31 and Hebrews 10:25.

A ninth way God leads is through prophecies: Prophecies are messages from God through mostly human vessels intended to bring edification, exhortation and comfort to us. They do not invoke fear; even when they foretell of terrible events that may come, they also tell the solution that could avert the crises immediately. See 1Cor.14:3, Acts 11:27-30. In our example here, through prophecy, the Church received prudence, they saw the evil ahead and took care of it. See Prov.22:3; 27:12. This is comforting.

A tenth way God Leads is through angels: we see this so many times in the bible like in Gen.18 when God sent angels to assure Abraham of the coming of Isaac and when God revealed His impending judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and gave Abraham the opportunity to intercede for them. Also, an angel was sent to reveal the virgin conception and birth of the Messiah in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 and 2. Also, angels were assigned to help Paul in his missionary journeys like in Acts 27 when they were affected by a shipwreck that would have cost all of them their lives.

How to hear the voice of God using Habakkuk’s example

In Habakkuk 2:1-3, we read:

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

From this text of scripture, we can identify four steps we can take to start hearing the voice of God and build on it to consciously be led by the Holy Spirit through the inward witness or inward perception. They are as follows:

1. Stillness of quietness before God: In the first verse, we are told to be still before God. This entails that we shut out every other voice consciously. This is not a time to remember the many other things we want to do. We must shut out the world, television, radio, internet, phones etc and get quiet in a quiet place before God. This is what Jesus sought to do daily on his earthly sojourn. See Mark 1:35. Indeed, to make a practice of waking up early and seeking God this way is the best. This was Abraham’s style too. In Gen.19:27, we see an account of Abraham rising up early as is the habit with him to the place where he usually stood before the Lord. We must make a habit of making out time daily with the Lord. I do this in my bedroom every morning taking the posture most comfortable for me. When this is in place, then we are ready for the next stage where we begin to see what God is saying.

2. Vision: When God speaks, His voice activates our imagination so that we begin to see what He says with our minds. This is why Habakkuk says he has to see what the Lord would say to him. In other words, what God is going to say to us would be first caught in vision before our inner ears can pick it. The power of our imagination cannot be overstated. In Gen.11:6, God said nothing will be withheld from a people working together as a team with one imagination. This is why God involves our imagination when He speaks to us to enable us have faith. It is one of the complex means of getting our faith to work because our utterances are empowered by a unity of our speech and imagination. When our imagination becomes one with God’s own, we are said to have vision. This is why it is very necessary for us to be filled with the word of God so that our minds can be renewed enough to be able to comprehend what the Spirit is saying to us. See 1Cor.6:17, Rom.12:1-2 and Col.3:16.

3. Spontaneity: When God begins to speak to our hearts, it comes through a spontaneous flow of thoughts which can only be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Even though we can stop the flow by our distraction, we cannot turn it on at will. However, God has promised us that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we shall find Him. See Jer.29:13; 33:3, Matthew 7:7-8. The first answer to prayer I look forward to is what God has to say to me in answer to my prayer. Once God says anything to you, you can lay your life on it as it would surely come to pass even if not immediately. See Hab.2:3

4. Journaling: Finally, to maintain the flow of thought, we should immediately begin to write whatever we hear down in our diaries. This way, we would be able to capture most; if not all of what we hear. Then later, we can go over them along with our bibles to enable us ascertain it was the voice of God. The scripture we are looking at in Hab.2:3 says to write the vision down and make it plain on tables that we may run with it when we read it. This is very important to God. In Jeremiah 36, when He sent the prophet to his people and they burnt the scroll in which His words were journaled, God instructed the prophet to write it out again. What is documented cannot be forgotten easily and even if it is forgotten, we can refer to the documents again. See Apostle Paul’s example in 2Tim.4:13. I have kept journals since 1990 and many of what the Lord had told me then have come to pass.

I will stop here today. Next week by God’s grace, we shall be looking at how to know that what we heard is actually God’s voice and not another.

Heavenly Father,

Amen.

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 2 [hearing His voice]

Messages for November 2015: Our Month of the Holy Spirit

John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

Message for Sunday 15^th November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 2 [hearing His voice]

Introduction: Last week we established that God already knows us through and through but because of sin, we lost living contact with God and that Jesus Christ came to restore that living contact with us through His sacrifice on the Cross which enabled the Holy Spirit to come and live in us. We also saw that for us to enjoy His ministry to us, we must cultivate a relationship with Him. The reason being that all we can know of God is purely by His revelation to us and this revelation is only accessible to the believer. We saw three demands placed on us to enable us cultivate this great relationship. The first was new birth, the second was communicating with God His way and relating with Him on the platform of His word – The Bible. When this is in place, we become spiritual enough to start hearing Him and being led by His Spirit because God is a Spirit and can only relate with our spirits as spirits talk to spirits. See John 4:23-24 and 1Cor.2:14.

Hearing the voice of God: To hear the voice of God, we must first understand the following:

1. The answer to the question whether God speaks is positive and this is what distinguishes him from idols which others call god [see Ps.94:9] because He is the prototype of the man He made. He has eyes and sees and ears and hears. Whereas some idols are masterminded by evil spirits to speak, it is evident that they cannot legally speak to man and any man who goes to them for help is seeking help where there is no help. David compares them aptly with helpless beings who have eyes but cannot see; ears but cannot hear and hands and feet but cannot handle or move on their own and concludes that all who make them would be like them. See Psalm 115:5; 135:16. The help the evil spirits offer through them serve to steal from you, kill and then destroy you [John 10:10]. This is why it is so vital to cultivate the divine skills of hearing God directly so as to avoid going to idols as we used to do when we did not know Him. Apostle Paul makes us understand in 1Cor.12:1-2 that this is why we need to learn about the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2. Secondly, the answer to the question whether God wants to speak to us is also positive because this is why He made us in the first place. He wanted to have children like Him who would communicate with Him on the same level. See Gen.1:26. It is also interesting to note that God speaks to all of His creation for example, He authorized Jeremiah to speak to the earth in Jer.22:29 and Ezekiel to speak to hopeless dried up skeletal bones of men and cause them to come back to life. We can go on and on but let us just understand that God speaks to all and expects us to do likewise because it is the means by which He demonstrates His creativity and we have His DNA to do likewise. See Ps.33:6, 9. Gen.1:1-3, John 1:1-3.

How God speaks and Guides

From the word of God, we understand that God speaks by the following means among others:

1. Through the audible voice: see 1Sam.3:1-10 and Acts 9:1-7

2. The inward witness or inner perception [we shall be looking at this in greater details in future by God’s grace]: Rom.8:14, 16; Acts 16:6-7; 27:10-11, 14-20.

3. Through dreams and visions of the night: Dan.2:19; Job 33:14-16; Matthew 1: 18-21 and Acts 16:9-10.

4. Through trance: This is the temporary suspension of our senses to enable us become more aware of the events taking place in the spirit realm which God wants to show us. See the example of Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10:1-20 and the example of Balaam in Numbers 24:4, 16.

5. Through Spiritual and open visions: Spiritual visions happen as a flash of pictures in our minds which we cannot shake off easily. I believe this was how Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream on the spot in Gen.41:14-38. Another example is Elisha getting to know of Gehazi’s treachery in 2Kings 5:20-27. The open vision however happens when we see events as though they are playing out right in front of us like a television screen. See the example of Jesus and Nathaniel in John 1:48 and the visions of John in the entire book of Revelation.

We shall stop here today. Next week we will continue looking at the different ways God speaks and subsequently, we will focus on how to hear God through the inward perception as it is the most important way God wants to speak to us all through our lives and when confirmed by the bible principles and the Spirit, it is the most authentic means by which we can be led by the Holy Spirit because only the Spirit of God resides in the spirit of the new creation.

Heavenly Father,

Amen.

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Monday, 9 November 2015

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 1

Messages for November 2015: Our Month of the Holy Spirit

John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

Message for Sunday 8^th November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 1

Introduction: Last week, we commenced this month’s theme with looking at who the Holy Spirit is and what His mission is on earth. We were able to establish from the word of God that He is God and the first of the Godhead introduced to us in the Bible. We also saw that His mission could be interpreted as reestablishing God’s original purpose for making man which was to have a family for Himself who would replenish the earth with His plan for the earth by multiplying the Garden of Eden all around the world according to the prototype God showed him in the beginning thus subduing the world and exercising dominion over it. However, man could not do this without God and unknown to him at the time, there was a dangerous slimy enemy in the earth known as Satan the devil who through the serpent lured the first man from God’s purpose through sin. Man was thus disconnected from God and all efforts to get back to God on his own proved to be to no avail until God reestablished the link by coming in the person of God the Son: Jesus Christ to take away our sin and make it possible for us to be able to relate with God as he originally intended. Since then, all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ are given access to God and can receive a new spirit that becomes the house where the Holy Spirit resides in on earth.

What is required in this relationship?

1. Understand that God now dwells in man through the new birth experience. This means the closest person to us now is God the Holy Spirit. This therefore shows us that any man who wants to cultivate a relationship with God must first be born again. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord, the Holy Spirit births a new spirit within you where He would reside and from where He would fulfill His ministry to you and through you. See John 3:3-7, 16; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Heb.10:15-22; 2Cor.5:17-21; 1Cor.3:16 & 6:19-20.

2. In every relationship, communication is vital for the parties to be able to understand each other and relate appropriately. God knows and understands us more than we even know ourselves because He created and made us and like the perfect manufacturer He is, He has our entire lives mapped out in His plan. If we seek Him, He’ll reveal it to us [Jer.1:4-5; 29:11-13 & 33:3]. See Gen.1:26-28; Ps.100:3; Isa.43:7; John 1:3 and Col.1:16. On the other hand, we had lost the glory of knowing and walking with God to sin. Therefore, we must work out our salvation by meeting the demands of spirituality so that God who is Spirit can reveal Himself to us because all that can be known of God is only possible by His revelation to us. What He does not show us would be hidden to us because the secret things belong to Him but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever [Deu.29:29; Philippians 2:12-13]. God has solved this problem by offering us the infilling with His Spirit. When we are filled with His Spirit, we have ease of access into the world of God’s Spirit by His language. Let us understand that the importance of language in communication cannot be overemphasized because it is the foundation for communicating. This explains why unity cannot be actualized without a common language. When God wanted to break the unity among men because they were using it against their purpose, He confused their language. Now for us to come into oneness with God, we have to speak His language in tongues and His word revealed to us now packaged in the bible. See [Gen.11:1-9; Mark 16:17; Isa.28:11; John 4:23-24; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4, 38-39; 1Cor.14:2, 14].

3. We must get to know and understand God through His word because the Holy Spirit would only reason with us on the platform of the scriptures. See Isa.1:18; 43:25-25; Romans 12:2; Ps.1:1-3; Joshua 1:8. Knowing God through His word is actualized by reading, meditating on and doing His word. If we only read and cram the word, the best we would get out of it is quoting the scriptures like parrots without benefiting from the life it generates. But when we read, meditate on and do the word, we would be able to access the Spirit and life of the word and be instrumental in bringing it to others. We would not only receive the light of life, we would become lights indeed to the world. Let us not forget that God’s desire for us is to bear much fruit. This is the only way we can maintain sustained relevance with God. See Jas.1:22-25; 1Tim.4:14-16; John 1:1-5; 6:63; 15:8; Ps.119:130; Matthew 5:14-16.

Heavenly Father,

Amen.

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Friday, 6 November 2015

Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Messages for November 2015: Our Month of the Holy Spirit

John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

Message for Sunday 1^st November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of The Holy Spirit.

Topic: Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Introduction: a look at the word of God reveals to us the names of the Holy Spirit through His multiple personalities. In Genesis 1:1-3, He is the first of the Godhead introduced to us as the Spirit of God. We know from the Bible that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit [1John 5:7, Matthew 3:16-17]. He is on earth to accomplish a mission we shall be looking at in more details in the course of this month. According to the Lord Jesus Christ, His mission among other things is to bring conviction to the world with the aim of saving mankind and his environment and reveal God and His mind to us. See John 16:7-13, Rom.8:19-22 and Acts 3:19-21.

Who then is the Holy Spirit?

To understand who He is, we have to go back to God’s word to find our answers. From the scriptures, we are made to know that He is:

1. A person described in the male gender. In John 16:13, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us this insight when He refers to Him as follows: “When He the Spirit of truth is come, He shall…” and went on to describe His mission to us. In talking about His purpose on Earth from John 16:8-15, the Lord refers to Him as a person in the male gender. Until you recognize Him as a person, you will not be able to establish a working relationship with you and that would be very devastating considering what His purpose is on earth in relation to our fulfilling God’s purpose for us.

2. He is God: As God, He has all the power and backing of the Godhead. Whenever He speaks to us, He speaks on behalf of the Father and the Son. Like we saw earlier, He is the first of the Godhead introduced to us in the bible. In Gen.1:3, we see Him hovering over the face of the deep before the father could issue the command that triggered the recreation of the Earth as it is today. See 1John 5:7 and Matthew 3:16-17.

3. He is also known as The Lord: When we compare the places when He ministered in the Old Testament and some of what was reported about those same texts in the New Testament, this truth is made very evident. For instance, when we compare Hebrews 10:15-17 with Ezekiel 36:22-28, we see that Ezekiel was prophesying what was to be discussed in our Hebrew text here as having been fulfilled. Ezekiel refers to Him as The Lord God while Paul calls Him The Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.

4. He is the author of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation: As a Spirit, He could only work on Earth through human vessels. This is why we are told that He moved on Holy men to put the scriptures together. He is therefore, the most authentic source of bible interpretation. See 2Peter 1:14-21 where Peter left his legacy affirming the authority of the word of God, He makes us realize that He witnessed God Speaking and that Holy men of Old also heard God speak to them and documented them in writing which now makes up the scriptures. Also, Apostle Paul in 2Tim.3:16 makes us see that the Scriptures were not original with men but that they were given to men by the Holy Spirit to show us how to live well. This is why the Bible is God’s manual for our lives and environment.

Why is the Holy Spirit Here?

The Holy Spirit is on Earth today for the following reasons:

1. To bring Conviction to the world: He convicts the world of sin showing us that we are all sinners and lost and hell bound and in need of salvation [John 16:7-13; Rom.3:23; 6:23]. Then, He convicts us of righteousness that could only be found in Christ Jesus because we were not eyewitnesses to his death, burial and resurrection. Even many who witness it like Pilate could not understand it. All to the understanding given to Apostle Paul like the one in 1Cor.15:1-5 came by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. See Gal.1:12; 2:2 and Eph.3:3. Also, when People sought to know what they must do to be saved, the Holy Spirit used the disciples to show them. See Acts 2:37-39 and Acts 16:31. This is his ministry of showing the world true righteousness. See also Ephesians 2:8-10. Finally, He shows us the defeat of our archenemy and that we need not fear him anymore as all power has been given to the Lord Jesus Christ including the power he once stole from Adam. This is what gives us the audacity to bind him and cast him out. See Matthew 28:18; Mark 16;17 and Revelation 12:7-11 and 20:10.

2. To give us vision: Vision is God’s revelation of our purpose to us: Like we already know, a life without a purpose is a meaningless life. In every right thinking person; is a desire to know why they are on earth and the only person that can reveal it to us is our manufacturer – God. This is why Jesus said He would take of Him and the father and show it to us. Then He added that He would show us things to come. See John 16:13. The importance of vision for each of us cannot be overemphasized. It is what gives us direction and the proper pursuit of it brings out the best in us. Every one without a vision lacks beauty and dignity; they perish. See Prov.29:18. Vision is the compass for life that enables us to know where to go. As we receive and follow divine instructions on a consistent basis, we will get there. The example of Joseph is very instructive here. See his story in Genesis 36-42. He knew his calling and lived a life that honored God until He was standing in his dream.

3. To bring us all the revelation required to fulfill our purpose: Every time we read the bible, we need the Holy Spirit to open our understanding to help us see the secrets embedded in the scriptures. Jesus said He will teach us all things in John 14:26 [all things means exactly that and includes everything about life including our profession]. It is an understanding of these mysteries that provides us with the wisdom to master our world. If it is not given to us to know the mysteries of the kingdom, we cannot know them on our own. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us to know. See Mark 4:11, Ps.127:1, Luke 24:13-31. Without the revelation from God to pursue our God given purpose, our vision will look like a lie because it would never find expression as we would not know what to do to bring it to pass. This is why the preacher says in Ecclesiastes 10:15 that the labour of the foolish brings them weariness as they do not know how to get to the city.

4. To help us with the power we need on the journey: He does this by filling our hearts with the Joy of the Lord. Peter refers to this joy as joy unspeakable full of glory. It is joy that provides us with the energy required to make it to the end of our journey on earth. See 1Peter 1:8, Neh.8:10.

Heavenly Father,

Amen.

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Saturday, 31 October 2015

Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Message for Sunday 1^st November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of The Holy Spirit.

Topic: Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does

Who then is the Holy Spirit?

To understand who He is, we have to go back to God’s word to find our answers. From the scriptures, we are made to know that He is:

Why is the Holy Spirit Here?

The Holy Spirit is on Earth today for the following reasons:

Welcome To November 2015: Our Month Of The Holy Spirit

John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

With abundant joy in my heart today, I welcome you to this great month of November 2015 which the Lord has graciously named for us as the month of The Holy Spirit. When the Lord gave me this word, I thought it strange because I did not really consider it as appropriate to be the tag of any month because to me He is so real that my experience of Him is an everyday thing.

However, the Lord made me to see that not everyone is conscious of Him or even know Him. In fact I began to observe that even some believers in Christ do not even know of Him nor do they have any personal experience of Him in their lives. Some do not even recognize Him as a person; not to talk of His status as God. This is unfortunate because it is the Holy Spirit that makes Christianity different from religion and distinguishes Christianity from any other purported access to God.

Without the Holy Spirit, we would never be able to know true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because it was Him who came to bring us the conviction that the Lord came, died for our sins and arose from the dead for our justification [1Cor.15:1-10; 12:7 & John 16:7-13].

As a result of His ministry on Earth, we have experienced the reality of God and His presence and power as a ministry so much that it would require more than all the faith in the entire universe not to believe in His reality. For instance, one day in the mission field, I had told Him to wake me up at 3.20am so as to be able to convene a 4.00am prayer service. Unknown to me, I had switched off my phone and removed the battery for some hours the previous day and did not remember to update it when I switched it on. When I awoke the next morning, the fastest means of checking my time was my phone which I could look at without having to switch on the light. When I checked, the time was far ahead. I was so upset that I immediately started to accuse him of not waking me up. His response was simply, “is this how you talk to me?” I immediately repented and was just thinking that this is unlike Him because He’s been waking me up faithfully and I never have to use an alarm clock to wake up when I want to. So I decided to check my wrist watch and I saw that it was just 3:20am meaning He even over delivered because He saw what was coming and what time I was going to waste. Then it dawned on me that I had tampered with the phone the previous day. I was very unhappy with my behavior but praising him took care of everything.

Most people who know me do not know me to be down. It is the joy of the Lord burbling in my heart most of the time that keeps my energy high and enables me do what I do. He is so real to me that it is my pleasure to share Him with the entire world this month. To this end, this month, we shall be looking at Understanding the Gift and Ministry of The Holy Spirit. As an appetizer, I want to quickly say here that the manifestation of the Spirit is given to everyone to profit with [1Cor.12:7]. This truth is self-explanatory as it shows us that the Holy Spirit is a gift of God to the entire world to bring about our awareness of Him and what He has done to save us and keep us saved. However, no one will receive this great redemption if they are not aware of it. This is why I consider it my business to spread this word around the world.

Many people want to be able to hear the voice of God, their religious persuasion notwithstanding. I believe that includes you reader even if you are not born again yet. Well; I have good news for you. You can begin hearing him today as you embrace the ministry of the Holy Spirit; but you must meet the demands of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith:

Father in Heaven,

I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your word says in John 6:37 that you will not cast me out when I come to you. So I thank you that you will take me in.

You also said in Romans 10:9-10 that if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that you raised him from the dead, I shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died for my sin on Calvary’s Cross and was raised from the dead for my justification and I confess him now as my Saviour and Lord.

I believe that I have now become your righteousness in Christ whom you made to be sin for me on Calvary’s Cross.

Thank you father that I am saved from this day in Jesus’s name!

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Week 2 Sunday Sept.13th, 2015 Topic: The Labour that brings rest part 1. – Faith, hope and Love.

Week 2 Sunday Sept.13th, 2015

Topic: The Labour that brings rest part 1. – Faith, hope and Love.

1Cor.13:13 (The Amplified Bible)

“And so faith, hope, love abide [faith – conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope – joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love – true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

From our text scripture here, whether or not we are laboring to enter into God’s rest shows in our lives in three qualities namely; our faith, our hope and our love life.

Faith and hope: Last month, we looked extensively at faith in relation to rest and refreshing. We saw what faith means and we also looked at some elements of faith and showed how faith can be a major player if we are going to enter into our rest and refreshing as intended by God.

In Heb.11:1 we are told that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Also, in Gal.5:6, we are told that faith works by love. When we put these scriptures together with our text scripture today, it becomes clear that the labour required to enter the rest of God would happen as we walk in faith and demonstrate the hope of our eternal salvation and the love of God towards God and men.

How does this work? First, we need to walk in faith; a lifestyle ordered by the word of God or Godly values. However, for faith to be truly the faith of God, it hinges on the hope of our eternal salvation as shown us in the text above. As long as we stay joyfully expectant of our eternal salvation, our faith would have a resting place. Then for our faith to truly work to the point of leaving behind us an eternal legacy, we must demonstrate the third quality of walking in love.

Since we have seen the quality of faith for rest extensively last month, we shall just look at the connection between hope and faith and how to release faith today.

Faith and hope as exemplified by Abraham

Heb.11:8, Rom.4:1, 17-24 - From our texts here, God called Abraham to go to a place He would show him even though he did not know the place, he went ahead and trusted God to fulfill His promise.

He hoped to get there and he demonstrated faith by taking steps to get there by actually obeying God to go. If he merely believed God without taking any action, his faith would have been questionable and there is no way he would have entered the Promised Land.

Lessons:

When we first hear a promise of God, our hope is stirred up; we receive the word with joy like the person in the parable of the sower who could not bear fruit to perfection in Luke 8:13-14. This group of people hears the word and receives it in the hope of getting the goodies promised. However, they are not willing to pay the price of getting to the end of the journey of fulfilment. These kinds of people are easy prey to persecution and they become victims to the cares of this life and over time; they would lose the patience required to get to the end of the journey that would bring them the rest of fruitfulness which is the end of the promise. In 2Cor.4:13-14, Apostle Paul refers to those who would follow through to the end as people having another spirit; not the regular one like others. In verse 13, we see that apostle Paul and his company believed and therefore spoke in accordance with what they believed. The reason for this is seen in their hope of eternal salvation as shown in verse 14.

For example, in Numbers 13-14, the popular opinion demonstrated by the evil report of ten spies and the unpopular opinion demonstrated by the “another spirit” of Joshua and Caleb. All of them hoped to get to the Promised Land from the beginning but only two of them paid the price of faith to get there. This takes us to the next way faith and hope works.

Faith speaks what is hoped for with full persuasion that what is believed must come to pass. In the case of Abraham in Romans 4:17-24, he kept giving glory to God by consistently saying what he hoped to see in the end and the result was that he entered his promised land of the father of many nations. This was his rest and he is still there until today.

Faith keeps moving on even when the hope of what is expected seem to be shaken by circumstances. No one ever enters rest who allows contrary circumstances to deter them from the direction of God. This is why Abraham believed in hope against hope. See Romans 4:18. Even when his body spoke against his hope of bearing a son with his old barren wife, he refused to stagger at the promise of God. He never allowed unbelief to rob him of the fulfilment of God’s promise.

Even when hope seems taken away, faith will keep you going until the fulfilment of God’s promise. See Acts 27:20-25; in this account, all the people in the imminent shipwreck had lost hope until Paul received a word from the Lord that none of them would be lost in the shipwreck. This goes to tell you that faith keeps working even when all hope is lost. Therefore even though faith and hope work together, faith is stronger than hope because even when hope is taken away, faith can still help you take the journey to the end.

Finally, whereas hope is the trigger for faith to start to grow, faith is what sustains hope even if hope is lost. The loss of hope would not necessarily result in the loss of the promised fulfilment as long as one maintains their faith in God’s word and act accordingly until the end. When you maintain your faith in God’s word, you are indeed operating in the rest of God because the means by which we enter our rest is mixing the word of God with faith or commensurate action based on the promise. See Heb.4:1-3, Rom.4:1-25.

MESSAGES FOR SEPTEMBER, 2015 Week 1 Sunday Sept.6th, 2015 Topic: What Rest is and why we need to enter rest

Theme: Understanding How to Labour To Enter Divine Rest – Matthew 11:28-30, Heb.4:9-11

Week 1 Sunday Sept.6th, 2015

Topic: What Rest is and why we need to enter rest

Text: Matthew 11:28-30, Heb.4:1-11.

Introduction: From our text scriptures above, we can easily glean what rest is from the mouth of the Lord and from the Letter to the Hebrew Church. Here we see the Lord making an open invitation to all who are weighed down and burdened to come to him to find rest and He also went on to provide the way they can find rest as learning of Him. However, our text in Hebrews makes us understand that much as we are invited to rest, not all who actually receive the invitation to rest get to the place of rest because of the major hindrance of unbelief. So while rest is assured by the Lord, there is a monster called unbelief that could stop those who allow it from entering into their rest. Last month, we took the time to look at faith and how it can help us get to our place of rest and refreshing. This month however, we shall be looking at how we can actually enter into rest in spite of our enemy – unbelief. First we must establish from scripture what the Lord means by rest and see some examples of people in the bible who entered into rest and check our lives to know in what areas we have also entered the rest of God.

First, Rest is preceded by a promise of God. The entire bible is a promise of God to people that if they would live in a certain way, He would commit to bring to pass all His intentions for them. See 2Tim.3:16-17, Ps.119:105, Joshua 1:8, Ps.1:1-3, Matthew 7:24-27.

Second, when we hear and receive the word of God, we prove our reception of the word by first doing what the word says. The first thing the word of God commands us to do is repent and become a part of the body of Christ. When we do this, we become saved and the journey into God’s promised land of all the good things of life and eventually an eternal abode with God commences. Acts2:26, 38-39; John 3:16-18.

The good things of life are spiritual, soulish and physical. This is why in 3John 2, we are told that we are wished above all things prosperity and health even as our souls prosper. This sums up the good things of life. Man is spirit, soul and body; prosperity is required for all areas of life. See 1Thess.5:23.

Thirdly, on the journey of life to our promised land of blessing with total wholeness; nothing broken and nothing missing, the first thing we must enjoy is spiritual prosperity. When we find rest here, rest in every other area of our lives is guaranteed. In John 17:3, we learn that we are actually experiencing eternal life when we know Jesus Christ and the father in our personal experience. It is impossible to know Him if you don’t hear His voice. Thus if you are really his sheep, you must pay the price to hear his voice through learning. Remember, He says “learn of me…” see Mt.11:29, John10:27, Rm.8:14, 16.

Fourthly, whatever you hear from God by His Holy Spirit and His written word is what you will be tested on to know if you qualify for the promised land of blessing or not. See Heb.4:1-3, Matthew 7:24-27. You qualify when you hold on to what God says till it comes to pass for you [Heb.10:23, 36-39]. Those who failed this test were those who did not mix the word with faith [Heb.4:1-3]. The way we mix the word with faith is by doing what the word says.

Some examples of those who entered rest in the bible include Abraham and Sarah who were promised children and received the promise of a son after 25 years and then had to die not having received the promise of becoming parents to many nations. However, that promise is actualized today several hundreds of years later. This is because the promises of God are usually transgenerational. We must therefore raise our children to follow in our steps to continue to walk with God. Another example is Joseph who had to go through the process of slavery to obtain the promise and He did enter rest by first walking in the word of God and later rising from the prison to the palace overnight.

When John the Baptist was born, it was said concerning him by prophecy that He would be the forerunner of the most high. The process to get there made a hermit of him and the day He baptized the Lord, he entered the Promised Land. See Luk.1:76-77, Matthew 3:11-17.

Why do we need rest?

Rest is like giving birth to a baby that is conceived. If a pregnant woman does not give birth to the baby for instance, she cannot be relieved of the weight and could even be killed from the abnormality. This is why many of the children of Israel died in the wilderness as they could not deliver their promise because of unbelief. The place of rest is the place of fulfilment, rewards, comfort and refreshing. When God finished making the world, He rested on the 7th day and was refreshed. See Ex.31:17.

You cannot keep fighting battles without victory. Therefore rest is the place of victory. As we learn of the Lord on a daily basis, everything will eventually culminate in victory for us. See Rev.2-3.

Conclusion: What has God promised you? Whatever you are going through now is the process by which you will get there; so don’t give up, keep trusting in the Lord; it will come to pass.