We have at one point or the other in life played the role of being an enemy to someone, perhaps by omission or commission. But I’ve always wondered if God were to answer all prayers, most likely majority of those in existence today would not be. We often have prayed “let God arise and our enemies not see the light of the day” or they should be partially paralyzed, which means we should have suffered the same thing. But God is not a man, not even in His thought.
There is no doubt that it looks very unrealistic to bless someone who has played the role of an enemy, but it’s expected of us to do so. Let me ask you; do you think it looks realistic to be loved by God to whom humanity displayed the best of hatred at his son on his way to Calvary. Or you think it is one of those comic relieves in Bible, that when slapped on the right cheek turn the left?
Whoever the enemy is, or whatever he has done, God demands that he be loved. It’s this love that will motivate you to bless and pray for him.
“But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans so?
And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others do not even the publicans so.
Be ye therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect”. (Matt. 5: 44-48 KJV)
Would you choose to believe this charge from the savior of your soul, Jesus, or you still want to have your way?
– adeyiga awomuti
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, THAT HE MAY HAVE TO GIVE TO HIM THAT NEEDETH. – Ephesians 4:28
I have shewed you all things, how THAT SO LABOURING YE OUGHT TO SUPPORT THE WEAK, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. – Acts 20:35
What an interesting injunction! This is certainly a revolutionary reason for recommending hard work.
Paul says, “I want you to work, so that you may have funds with which to support the poor.” Many times we have heard believers talk about how they don’t really want to be rich, they just want to be comfortable.
Well, no where are we told to be rich, or comfortable either. Instead, we are told to work hard and earn money so that we may be able to give to those who need it. You may have various financial goals and targets in life. Today I would like to ask you to add the support of the poor and needy around you to the list.
Work hard. For the sake of the poor.
-jide lawal
“And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but THE SPIRIT IS LIFE (or ‘the spirit is the life of the flesh’) because of righteousness”.
(Brackets Mine) Romans 8:10 – KJV
Christianity is supernatural! This is not an overstatement; it is a statement of fact. To be a Christian is to be an extraordinary man or woman. One out of the many things that mark us out as extraordinary is our ability to live above the blood level.
In the portion of scripture quoted above, we are told of the extraordinary make-up of the believer. We are told that because of the presence of sin in his flesh, his body is dead (or subject to death) like the body of any unbeliever. But through the gift of righteousness we are told that his spirit becomes the life of the body.
So what’s the meaning of all this? When you are born again, the righteousness of God in you enables the life in your spirit to overrule the death in your body so that you begin to live in your mortal body as though it were not mortal.
The Bible tells us in Leviticus 17:11 that the life of the flesh is in the blood and medical science confirms that the majority of infections and diseases are carried by the blood. But when a man becomes born again, he has gone beyond the blood level. The life of his flesh is not in the blood. The life of his flesh is in his spirit.
Acknowledgement is the button of operation. Embrace this truth and put an end to the rule of sickness and death in your body. Today!
– Dr. deji oyebamiji
| Are you righteous? Do you stand right with God. Let us consider God’s viewpoint and how he addresses you on this issue.
A summary of the best deeds of man is given by Isaiah in chapter 64 and verse 6 where he graphically illustrates the best works of man as filthy rags. I wouldn’t have minded rags. BUT FILTHY RAGS? Paul somewhat re-echoes this when he considered all HE HAD DONE stating that he counted all but dung. Job showed our utter hopelessness when he said how can a man be cleansed of his ways. He equates man’s tendency to sin to a fish taking in water. Again reminding us that the issue of sin went beyond the proceeds of your hands rather it was about who you were. I once had a dog, got clothes to put on it. Washed it, trained it to shake and sit. But did it change the fact that it was a dog. No way!! A dog would always be a dog. It could lick my feet and bring back my lost ball but a dog would always be a dog. It might even be able to save me from drowning but a dog would always be a dog. The best of its actions could not excuse who it was – A dog. What does the scripture say? We were no better. Sin was our very identity. Read Rom 3:9 – 18
But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by Grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places with Christ… Eph 2: 4 – 6
But God did something and that is why I am not wearing ashes and sack clothes even as I send this.
And that is what some of you were. But you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. 1st Cor. 6:11 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Rom 6:6 – 7
God identified us in the death of Jesus nailing all we were to the cross and the same way Christ rose up never to be nailed again so also we have been given newness of life. This new life is God’s life in Christ. It characterises the very core of our being.
I can’t wait to tell you that righteousness is not something we try to attain to anymore, it is who we have become. Consider the following: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.2nd Cor. 5:21 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will be made righteous. Rom. 5:19
This is new. So new Romans chapter 4 and verse 6 says that David could only but describe how blessed this person is to whom God would impute righteousness without considering the works of his hands But doesn’t it matter what I do? Of course it does but realise that an understanding of who God has made me leads me to carry out actions in line with this truth. How do I achieve this? Consider Rom 3:20 – 22 This righteousness which is of God comes entirely by believing in Christ Jesus. It is not given in parts rather it came with the package of salvation. He (Christ) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Rom 4: 25 It is no wonder that Paul didn’t wait for people to die before declaring them as saints (Rom 1:7, Eph 1:1, 2nd Cor. 1:1). He was not shy to do so either. He knew what “stuff” they were now made off. Therefore since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…..Rom 5:1 Consider this till we meet again.
– bolaji akanni |
‘Whatever will be will be’. True? Bible Reading: Luke 8: 5-16
“Whatever will be will be”. This is a phrase that is used by many to suggest that we do not really determine how we end up in life or what shows up in our lives. I’ve never heard any great person make this statement. But I’ve seen the poor, the sickly and the unsuccessful find consolation in it. When some people make efforts to attain a level of success and they get there, they attribute it to their hard work, experience, exposure and creativity. Some remember to say “thank God”. But when the desired success is not achieved, they say “what will be will be”.
Jesus Christ taught us something different. For example, In Luke 8 when he explained the parable of the Sower, He gave some reasons why people don’t get good results. In verse 15, he said “But the seed in the good earth–these are the good-hearts who seize the Word and hold on no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest” (MSG). This sounds like someone who determines what tomorrow will be.
Apostle Paul said “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man may sow, that he also will reap”. He did not say “it doesn’t really matter what you sow, what will be will be”. People who say ‘whatever will be will be’ have never attempted to jump into the front of a fast moving train. A part of their mind knows that their actions can determine how they end up in life.
Although there were rare instances where God exercised his sovereignty in some circumstances not minding the will and input of man (See Exo. 9:12, Roman 9:10-13, 11:8), His fundamental principle is to show us the right way and permit us to make our choices on which way to go. So, you can choose to live a successful life. You can choose to know tomorrow. You can choose to walk with God. You can choose to know His will.
– tope aladenusi
The great majority of the NT books were penned between A.D. 50 and 100. The writers were apostles and associates and were men specially fitted and commissioned to convey to mankind the Word of God as revealed in the acts and teachings of the Lord Jesus.
We have a NT of 27 books in which we find 5 narrative books, 21 letters and a single book of quite a different character, aptly called the Apocalypse or Revelation; and in them we acknowledge the supreme and complete guide for Christian doctrine and faith.
FORMATION OF THE NT
A. Synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
- Historical Book – Acts of Apostles
- Pauline Epistles – 13
- General Epistles – 8
- Revelation of Apocalypse’ – 1
NT STATISTICS
Number of Books – 27
Verses – 7957
Middle book – II Thessalonians
Middle Verse – Acts 27;17
Longest Verse – Rev. 20:4
Longest Book – Luke
Chapter – 260
Words – 180,552
Middle Chapter – Romans 8 & 9
Smallest Book – 3 John
Longest Book – Luke 1
20 CONTRASTS OF THE OT & NT
OLD TESTAMENT —- NEW TESTAMENT
First Covenant – 2 Cor. 3:14 —- Second Covenant – 2 Cor3:6
Came by Moses – John 1:17 —- Came by Christ – Heb 8:6; 9: 15
Law of the Flesh – Rom 7:5-6 —- Law of the Spirit – Rom 8:2
A Shadow – Co12:14 -17 —- The Reality – Heb 10: 1-8
Powerless to Save – Heb 9:9 —– Saves to uttermost – Heb 7:25
Yearly atonement – Heb 10 : 3 —- Eternal Atonement – Heb 7:25
Animal Sacrifices’ – Heb 9 :12 —- Human Sacrifice – Heb 9:14 – 28
Sinful Mediator – Gal 3 :19 —- Sinless Mediator – I Tim 2:15
Abolishment predicted – Hos. 2:11 —- Establishment predicted – Heb 9:14-28
Daily Programme – Heb7:27 —— Finished Programme – Heb 10: 10-18
Exposes Sin – Gal 3: 19 —- Covered sin – 4:1-8
Many Priests – Heb7:23 —- One Priest – Heb 7:24 -28
No Personal access to God -Heb 9:7 —- Personal access to God – Heb 4 :14-16
Fault – Heb 8 :7 —- Perfect – James l :25
Remembers sins – Heb 10:3 —- Forget Sins – Heb 8 :12;10:17
Could not redeem – Heb 10:4 —- Redeems – Gal. 3:13
No Salvation – Heb 10:28 —- Complete Salvation – Heb8:12
Made at Sinai – Gal 4:24 —- Made at Calvary – Mat. 26:28
No Mercy – Heb 10:28 —- Complete Mercy – Heb 8: 12
For Israel only – Dt.4:7-8; Dt 5:3 —- For all Man -Mat 26:28; Jn3:16.
The provisions of OT are’ not enough for our salvation. Therefore God gave us His Son to open the way for us.
Under the NT, God’s law is inside us, no longer external set of rules and obligations. ‘Holy Spirit reminds us Christ’s Word, activates our conscience, influences our motives and desires and makes us, want to obey God.
-gabriel ajibade
| These days life is full of exciting events and sites. For those who create time off work, there is a lot to enjoy. There are fun games, sun bathing, cliff-diving, swimming contests, hikes, beach walks and bush walks, visits to game parks, historical sights, museums, and monumental parks among many others. Still there is visit to homes for the destitute and the elderly, tree planting, visit to countryside and reflection retreats. We have a real variety to choose from. All these events provide exciting and relaxing moments and off-work climate suitable for bodies that have passed through days or weeks of hassles and haggles.
We as Christians however need to be careful during these times because of several reasons. During some of these events, our bodies and minds are idling hence susceptible to evil thoughts engineered by Satan. It’s during personal reflections that some people find life worthless and may decide to commit suicide. It’s during fun games that jokes are taken too far and indeed lies are spoken. It’s during sun bathing that fleshly passions run high due to the nude bodies in beaches hence causing beachgoers to sin by way of lust. Weekends have been marked by a lot of indulgence in drinking, anti-spiritual melodramatic movies and soap operas and unspeakable forms of immorality. Christians are not exempted from these evil waves. It’s when people have gone to tour museums and monumental sites that some buy some items which are idols and have evil deity connections which may be accursed in the sight of God. We will not go deeper than this. All I’m putting across is that off-work clouds may carry with themselves heavier drops than anticipated … in form of serious temptations.
2 Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. David was taking a roof walk relaxing because the Israel army had utterly destroyed the Ammonites. What followed before the end of the walk was a real bombshell. And things snowballed from lust to covetousness to adultery to conspiracy (duping Uriah into lying with his wife) and finally to murder! ‘An idle mind is a devil’s workshop’ so the saying goes. Let’s watch out! Even when we are having off-work events let us cling to Romans 12:1-2 ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ And let us also remember Colossians 3: 3 & 5, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
– johnstone katuku
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Indeed, the Christian walk is all about service, a life long commitment to the cause of Jesus. Scriptures reveal a resultant effect of the ultimate price paid by Jesus
“He died for all that they that live should not henceforth, live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again”2 Cor 5:15
The singular purpose of Christ’s presence on earth was to bring unto himself, a people with an electrifying zeal for divine initiatives. In other words, God’s utmost desire was to populate the earth with men who are totally sold out to selfless service. You might be wont to say “hey he didn’t have to die to get me committed”. Well, his death was not supposed to whip out some emotional sentiments in you to serve him but rather impact upon you His very life, nature and divine abilities. The Christian has been qualified to offer up to God quality service. Not as of His natural endowments but rather as enabled by God.
No doubt there are benefits for doing your part in service. But the Lord spoke of a satisfaction which is derived in just doing service-“my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work” John 4:34.
Let your service unto him be your desire all day long.
Lots of love.
-gideon gbeja
I’m sure if we continued, we could go on and on about Love because of its nature. But I will like to round up what we started, so we can move on to other things.
My desire is that after we’re through here we can say “I Love You” with a proper understanding of what we say. Remember the Scriptures say “By Understanding a house is established”. Everyone needs to act with understanding, it’s the greatest key to life.
Everyday I get to experience the different sides to love. I have found that Love grows when it is nourished properly. For love to grow some basic nutrients like Patience, Forgiveness, Appreciation, Faithfulness, Honesty, Care, Understanding, Trust and even more, needs to be continuously added. For a relationship to grow in love, these things need to abound. For love to grow, appreciation of one another even as weaknesses begin to show is very important. I have found that the closer a couple get, the more they see each other’s weakness and the more they see this, there is a need to pause and remember the goodies of the relationship. Appreciate your partner for the good person he or she is despite the many weaknesses you see and try to speak the truth in love about the other short comings you see.
Forgiveness after every argument is very important. Every argument is like a time of breaking bottles/glass and you know what happens with bottles. When you don’t clean properly, you find little bits of the pieces here and there causing harm later. To build a successful Love relationship that will go to the next level, you need to forgive and forgive and forgive. Take care of your hurts, and don’t hold grudges. Whenever you find the next piece of bottle, sweep it off like the rest, don’t allow it to cause any havoc.
Everyone needs and desires to be cared for. There’s that person in everyone that calls for attention. Most of us seek this care in our love relationship. It gets really disappointing when we don’t find it and when we find it we call it Heaven.
Honesty is very important to sustain a love in relationship, when a party begins to doubt the other person, a break down is almost inevitable. There must be absolute trust. This solves a lot of problems before they arise. It helps love to believe all things.
Faithfulness is also very key in a love relationship. Both parties need to be committed to the relationship. Never give room for distractions. I have found out that distraction come the minute you decide to settle in a relationship. Then all the Romeos and Juliets surface, just when you decided to start your relationship. Your commitment and integrity will be your stay in days like this. You need to get to understand its not just about how you feel alone. It’s also about the sense in how you feel and how right is what you feel. Love is not just a heart thing but a head thing.
Trust comes when the other partner sees day by day your honesty andfaithfulness.
Trust is earned when you don’t leave your partner in the dark. In love you should be an open book.
You need to display Understanding of your partner especially in the way you react at the display of his or her weakness. You need to cover up for one another and make up for each other’s deficiencies. Remember the story of Abigail how she rose up to clear her husband’s mess (I Samuel 25:14-37) and also Zipporah Moses’ wife when God was about to strike against them (Exodus 4:24-25).
You can never have enough patience, each day you need to increase in patience. Patience is a precious virtue you can’t have too much of. Bible says “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise …” (Heb 10:35). Even after you have done all that God requires of you in a relationship, the effect or result is not automatic. You need to patiently wait to see the change in your partner while prayerfully doing what is right.
Finally, Love is not all soft; there is a tough side to it. Love must be firm too! Sometimes in a Love relationship you need to make some decisions that might seem harsh or even difficult in order to correct a wrong that has been done. You need to understand that as much as Love believes all things and forgives all things, you must be wise and check out the fact. It doesn’t make you gullible.
Always pray that God will teach you each day to Love more. Let us love people around us. Make love a lifestyle. You will find that it will make you a better person.
Some Quotes on Love
Real love is a permanently self-enlarging experience.
- Scott Peck, O Magazine, February 2004
The first duty of love is to listen.
Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965), O Magazine
– lola ezeifeoma
Have you ever noticed that God currently says blessed and not bless1. He says washed and not will wash2. He calls you cleansed, and he says you are sanctified2. He says forgiven3 and not that you should be looking for forgiveness. He says you are called.
It’s such an endless list – justified4 and even delivered5.
The issue is not so much about what God should do to you; rather it is about what God did. No wonder scripture says you have received the spirit of God so that you should know what God has freely given you already6.
The word of God is not revealing what God is about to do. Neither is it a blank cheque to fill in what God should do. It is an accomplished deed revealing all that God has done for you. Ephesians 2:10 aptly describes you as God’s masterpiece. A master piece does not need any touch again by the maker. It is complete already.
Let’s face the facts and accept who God says we are. You may not feel like it. People around you might not suggest it. You may even have been acting contrary to it all the while. But this does not deny the fact that God has made you whole. For in Christ all the fullness of the God head dwells in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ – Col 2:10
Ever seen anyone deny the humanity of a baby because it fails to speak?
If only you had a glimpse of the man within. You would wonder why you had been fooled all the while.
Again, remember these are not issues you neither pray into reality nor carry out any form of work for it to manifest. The same way you would not tell a 3 year old baby born without any defect whatsoever to pray to walk.
This is simply what we should affirm or rather acknowledge. We should allow it rule our mentality and take over our very walk. There is something about you. Time is not called to tell it. It is who you are and have been made in Christ Jesus.
One alarming thing I noticed in the letter of James was in the description of the mirror – like quality of God’s word. God’s word is not out to show who you should be; rather it tells you who you are. That is who you are now. Learn to agree with the word. Renewing my mind in accordance with this truth and the true image of who I have been made makes me align my walk accordingly.
1 Eph 1:3 2 1st Cor. 6:11 3 Eph 1:7, Col 1:14 4 Rom 8:30 5 Col 1:13
– bolaji akanni