Humility
What is humility?
True humility can be defined as the true measure of a man in relation to God. It is when a creature knows his limits in comparison to the Creator. When John said, 'I am not the Christ' and 'I am not good enough to untie the strings of his sandals', that is humility (John 1:20, 27). When Christ told Peter he would deny Him three times before the cock crows, the disciple's refusal to accept the truth shows pride. Pride goes before a fall. Humility comes before promotion.
Humility according to John 3:30 is, “He must become greater; I must become less”. The natural man is born full of himself. The process whereby he gets filled with God as he empties himself is humility. It is the displacement of self by the enthronement of God. Where God is all, self is nothing.
The measure of a man compared to God is his humility. It is not how we compare ourselves with others or where we stand in relation to our peers. Humility is not peer review. It's not a byproduct of peer pressure. You can't generate humility from your resume. The only assessment that generates true humility is when we see God as He is and us as we are. When we understand that the race is not for the swift and the battle is not for the strong, we become humble (Ecclesiastes 9:11). When we come to know that in life, the elder may serve the younger not by fault but by fate, we become humble (Genesis 25:23). When we get the revelation that our accomplishments are not by might nor by power but by divine enablement, we become humble (Zechariah 4:6). When we come to find out that sometimes in divine mathematics, 1+1=100, and a man may sow in time of famine and reap a hundredfold, we become humble (Genesis 26:12).
You are not God
The first recorded temptation took place when the snake told Eve in Genesis 3:4-5 that she will be like God if she ate the forbidden fruit. Since then, mankind had been trying to play God. You are not God. Never been, never will be. In fact, if you want to really enjoy life, recognize that the One and Only God is your source for everything you are and have.
“For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” 1 Corinthians 4:7
The 2 types of humility
“Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Colossians 2:18
“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2: 20-23
True humility is distinctly different from false humility which consists of deprecating one's own sanctity, gifts, talents, and accomplishments for the sake of receiving praise or adulation from other. False humility is humility for show. It is limited to the external.
True humility starts on the inside although it may manifest itself outwardly. It is primarily an attitude of the heart. It submits to God and legitimate authority. It recognizes virtues and talents that others possess, particularly those that surpass one's own, and gives due honor and, when required, obedience.
Benefits of Humility
“For thus says the high and lofty One--He who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, but with him also who is of a thoroughly penitent and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the thoroughly penitent. Isaiah 57: 15.
Humility makes God feel at home with you. Pride drives him away. Any attribute that draws us closer to God is a crucial one to possess.
“He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself [with haughtiness and empty pride] shall be humbled (brought low), and whoever humbles himself [whoever has a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly] shall be raised to honor”. Matthew 23:11-12. Another benefit of humility is the potential to be promoted by the Lord. Promotion does not come from the east or the west but from the Lord and humility is a catalyst for it.
Humility also helps in receiving from God. “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land”. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Dangers of Pride
Pride is the opposite of humility. The Greek word most often translated proud is: - Phusioo - to blow up, or puff up, inflate. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” Proverbs 16:18–19. Humility is being weak and pitiful and knowing it. Pride is being weak and pitiful and believing otherwise. Lack of humility leads to humiliation. It also brings resistance from the Lord. James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5. The same God resisted the people of Babel in Genesis 11:4 when they said, “And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth”. However, in the following chapter, Genesis 12:1-2, He promised Abram what he denied the people of Babel. “Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing”. What you stand to lose from pride you gain by humility.
“I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves one above another and the taller we grow, the easier we can reach them. Now, I find, that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath another and the lower we stoop, the more we get”. F. B. Meyer.
Like Father, like son
“In God’s family, children never grow up; they grow down. The more Christ-like the person, the more humble and dependent he is. "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matt. 18:3-4). We should be humble because God is humble. He doesn’t abuse his rank or his power. He is very patient with us. He doesn’t rise up indiscriminately in great anger in reaction to our insults and denial of him. Jesus himself said it plainly, "I am gentle and humble in heart" (Matt. 11:29). Jesus was born in a manger in a stable, in a little, out-of-the-way town. His family was poor and of no account in society. The witnesses of his birth were shepherds, sheep and cattle. He was called the Lamb of God many times in Scripture. A lamb has no power. It is at the mercy of its shepherd.
Leadership & Humility
“Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Mark 10:42-45. Lead by serving. Whatever titles we may have earned, whatever degrees may hang on our wall, being like Jesus will mean we never lord our authority over others, or try to make them feel inferior to us.
“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place."Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”. John 13:12-17. It is interesting that both Philip, the evangelist who preached to the Ethiopian eunuch and Stephen the first martyr killed for the Christian faith, were men who were happy to wait on tables (Acts 6:1-6). God usually chooses those who are willing to do the lowly tasks to do the greatest tasks. "The beginning of greatness is to be little, the increase of greatness is to be less, and the perfection of greatness is to be nothing” D. L. Moody
Measure your humility by your sense of unworthiness of God’s goodness and grace. If you are truly humble, you will be constantly amazed that God is so good and gracious to you. Every time the Lord rewards you, deep gratitude wells up in your soul. You feel compelled to exclaim in the words Jesus taught, "I am an unworthy servant of the Lord; I am only doing what it is my duty to do" (Luke 17:10). Measure yourself by your eagerness to decrease so that Christ may be all in all. Measure yourself by your willingness for others to receive the prominence while you are forgotten, for others to receive credit for what you have worked so hard to achieve. Measure yourself by your joy in working the hardest in the most obscure positions. Wesley Deuwel
The big question
How can a Christian think of himself as having a lowly state and being weak if he is God’s child and is seated with Christ in heavenly places? We should never forget that though we have the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and countless blessings because we are in Christ, all of them are undeserved gifts. D. L. Moody was once walking along the streets of Chicago with another man. On seeing a drunk sleeping in a doorway, Moody said, "There, except for the grace of God, go I”.
You are not humble when:
• You perform good deeds and expect the praise of men.
• Your children litter the church but you are offended when asked to clean up the mess.
• You exaggerate the faults of others but minimize yours
• You cannot be corrected without being offended.
• The number of brethren you don’t greet is more than the number you have visited.
• A believer commits a sin and your response is, “I can never do that”
• You get angry with pastor because the church bulletin missed your birthday.
• You find it difficult to forgive others.
• You throw tantrums when criticized.
• You give excuses for sin rather than repent.
How to be humble
Humility, like agape love and faith, are divine qualities made possible in us by the Spirit of God. None of us can make ourselves humble. When the Bible says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord" that does not mean you can acquire the virtue by wishful thinking. It means you and I should go to God asking Him to reveal Himself to us. The more of Him we see, the more humble we become. It was after Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon the throne that he realized he was a man of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). When the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, he said, 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child" (Jeremiah 1:6). When Moses met with God behind a burning bush, his initial response was, 'Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11). Whenever a man encounters God, he gets a true sense of how inadequate he is. Regardless of what you may be before men, you are nothing before your Maker. He made you what and who you are today. Your humility should show in your eagerness to worship Him in all situations.
We were born full of ourselves. We grow up using the time, treasure and talents the Lord has given us. The more we accomplish and acquire, the more we become proud of our success. Those with five talents look down on those with two and they in turn look down on those with one. It is not natural to realize that there is nothing we have that we have not received (1 Corinthians 4:7). When we catch a glimpse of who God is we realize we are nothing without Him or compared to Him. This is what it means to be humble in the sight of the Lord. Humility is the realization that the conduit pipe does not own the oil that passes through it. The message is not owned by the messenger. It is not the helm of the garment that heals but the virtue that flows from the Master.
Serve with humility following the example of Christ. “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion”. Philippians 2:5-8. Let us put self aside, put on God and walk before Him.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Mind of the Believer
Introduction to the Mind
At conversion, only your spirit is born again. Your mind and your body are not. Your mind is the gateway to your spirit and it controls your body. Your state of mind determines your state of being. The mind of the natural man is not subject to God and can never be. Rom 8:5-8. This is the main reason your mind must be renewed as a child of God. When this happens, your mind becomes that of a spiritual man which is subject to the Spirit of God.
At birth, the mind is a blank slate. It becomes shaped by the things it is exposed to as a child grows up. Examples of those things that mold the mind are fashion, media (electronic/print), popular psychology, religion, superstition, advertisement, friends, relatives, culture, and for believers, the Bible.
The war over your mind
Every believer is a walking civil war. Within us are the old and the new man. Each jostles for control and dominance.
“For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want”. Galatians 5:17.
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin”. Romans 7:21-25
Satan has declared war on you and the battlefield is in your mind. That’s why Paul tells us to be vigilant in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Satan's method
Satan will use any goal, any ambition, any activity, and any material thing to occupy our minds; so that we will not be receptive to God’s Word; and, consequently, we will not grow or be changed. What goes into our mind determines the output. Consequently, Satan is going to do all he can to fill our minds with garbage—Why? Because Satan knows that if:
- he can change our thoughts, he can change our attitudes,
- and if he changes our attitudes, he can change our actions,
- and if he can change our actions, he’ll get what he’s always wanted- the destruction of our marriages, our children, and our churches.
An old Indian Christian was explaining to a missionary that the battle inside of him was like a black dog fighting a white dog. “Which dog wins?” asked the missionary. “The one I feed the most,” replied the Indian.
2 Rules of the Mind
Psychologists tell us there are two simple rules to do with the mind:
The Law of Concentration states that whatever we dwell on grows in our life experience and becomes part of us.
In the Law of Substitution states that our conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time and you can substitute a positive thought for a negative thought and vice versa.
Two thoughts cannot occupy the mind at the same time, so the choice is ours whether or not our thoughts will be constructive or destructive. It is impossible to think evil when we think on the good!
Born Single Minded
Man was created to be single minded.
Matthew 6:24 “No one is able to serve two lords; for either he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will cling to one, and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon”.
Jesus is saying that a human being has been created with a capacity to serve only one master. He cannot and does not have the capacity to serve two. A double-minded person is unstable (James 1:8).
Fixed Mindset
Colossians 3:2: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” A mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. That’s exactly what Isaiah 26:3 in the New Living Translation proclaims: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” In other words, we must let the mind of the Master be the Master of our minds as Philippians 2:5 says: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Lanny Bassham, is an Olympic gold medalist in shooting the small-bore rifle. Listen to how he trained himself to hit the bulls-eye as told to Sports Illustrated: “Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters--over half a football field--at a bull ’s eye three-quarter the size of a dime. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more than .005 of a millimeter (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats…You do all of this and you have the technical control. But you have to have some years of experience in reading conditions: the wind, the mirage. Then you have the other 80% of the problem—focusing the mind” (Sports Illustrated, 8/2/76).
How the mind works
First used in the field of computer science, the phrase “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” really expresses a biblical principle. When we allow garbage into our minds, garbage will come out. If we allow godly thoughts in, godly behavior follows. In his book called, “As a Man Thinketh,” James Allen writes: “A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” Your input determines your output which in turn, determines your outcome.
There are 3 sources of input to your mind: eyes, ears and mouth.
Your eyes are the windows to your mind. You capture images with your eyes which are then developed in your mind. This is why it is possible to commit adultery with your eyes.
“You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery'. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. Mat 5:27-28.
Job, a righteous man, took what he saw seriously. He controlled his eyes by been careful what he looked at.
"I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a girl”. Job 31:1
Your ears are the door to your mind. What you hear makes a big impact on your life. The just shall live by faith but this faith comes by hearing God’s word. Rom 10:17. Read the Bible aloud to yourself. Make is a point of duty to attend meetings where you are exposed to the Word of God. Note however that the converse is also true. Doubt, unbelief, skepticism, fear, confusion, anxiety, depressed mood and sorrow can all come from what you hear. Control your hearing to control your life.
You mouth is the garage to your mind. While the Bible says, “You shall have what you hear” it is also true that you can lose what you have by how you talk. Mk 11:23b, James 3:2, 6, 9-10. Your speech should not be based on how you feel but on your expectation. For example, when a weak person expects to be strong, he should say so according to Joel 3:10 which says, “Let the weak say I am strong”.
In summary, what comes to your eyes, your ears and out of your mouth carries a spiritual charge that affects you. Watch out and be discreet with what you see, hear and say.
Mind Training
Our minds cannot tell the difference between real experience and imagination. That is why one can watch a horror movie and not be able to sleep or wake up from a bad dream with your heart pounding in fear. Neither situation is real but the mind cannot tell the difference. Of what use is this information? When a carnal man is repeatedly exposed to God’s Word through study, meditation, preaching, television, radio, and internet, he becomes transformed by that word. Regardless of how far he may be from the word of God, if he applies himself, his mind will become renewed.
Most of the feelings, beliefs and attitudes we have about ourselves are acquired through habitual repetition. By repeatedly thinking on the Scriptures, you can become what God wants you to be.
"Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind”. Author Unknown
The importance of what you think
You’re not what you think you are; but what you THINK—you are! To change your life, you have to change your life. What you think is so important the next few principles may change your life.
Principle 1
Think about what you think about because your life depends on it.
Genesis 6:5-7
“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them."
The world was destroyed because of evil thinking. Man judges only what you do but God judges what you think and as well as do. Therefore, think about what you think about. It is that important.
Principle 2
What you think today determines where you’ll be tomorrow.
Proverbs 23:7
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”.
You were what you thought. You are what you thought. You will become what you think today. Those who allow anything into their minds cede the control of their life to circumstances and the environment. Life change happens only AFTER you change your thinking. And the thinking can only be changed by the Word of God, when applied to us by the Holy Spirit.
Principle 3
Your thinking has creative power
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
When God thinks, it happens. When man thinks, it happens because he is made in God’s image. You are sad because you think sadness. You are glad because you think gladness. It is not your circumstances that determine your mood, it is how you think about your circumstances. Regardless of the situation, thinking like your Father will change you to see things as He does.
Your thought-life affects everything about you, how you act, feel, live.
If you THINK negative thoughts, you will ACT in a negative way.
If you THINK sad things … you will BE sad.
If you THINK you’re sick … you will FEEL sick.
If you THINK you’re worthless… you’ll TURN OUT to be worthless.
If you THINK bad thoughts … you’ll DO bad things.
BUT … on the other hand if you THINK godly things … you’ll ACT more Godly!
Norman Cousins was hospitalized with a rare, crippling disease. When he was diagnosed as incurable, Cousins checked out of the hospital. Aware of the harmful effects that negative emotions can have on the body, Cousins reasoned the reverse was true. So he borrowed a movie projector and prescribed his own treatment, consisting of Marx Brothers films and old "Candid Camera" reruns. It didn’t take long for him to discover that 10 minutes of laughter provided two hours of pain free sleep. Amazingly, his debilitating disease was eventually reversed. After the account of his victory appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cousins received more than 3000 letters from appreciative physicians throughout the world.
“Beware of what you set your mind on because that you surely will become.” Ralph W. Emerson
Principle 4
Your thoughts constitute your prayer requests; do not think about that you do not want God to act upon.
Ephesians 3:20
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..”
This passage declares that God is able to according to what we think. Will you like God to act on your thoughts? If not, change what you think about. God will respond to your thoughts because they are also your prayer requests.
Ask and you will receive; think and you will receive.
Seek and you shall find; think and you shall find.
Knock and it shall open; think and it shall open.
Principle 5
Be proactive with what occupies your mind because your life depends on it.
Phil 4:8
“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse”.
The mind is never empty. Psychologists tell us that each person has about ten thousand thoughts per day. How many of our thoughts are of the qualities described in Philippians 4:8? The human mind is going to set itself on something. The question is on what? The best way is to keep the bad thoughts out of your mind is to concentrate on the good thoughts.
Principle 6
Your thinking determines your success in life.
Joshua 1:8
“And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed”
Your thinking = your success or lack of it. Those who set their minds on God’s Word often will be successful.
“But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law he habitually meditates by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper. Psalm 1:2-3
“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide….” Genesis 24:63. I believe this is partly why he sowed and reaped a hundredfold in one year during famine. Meditation on God’s Word guarantees success in life.
Principle 7
Our behavior will change, when our thinking changes. If there is no change in your behavior, question your thinking. If someone says, “I believe in tithing” but does not tithe – then he doesn’t believe in it. You only really believe the parts of the Bible that you obey. All behavior is based on a belief. If you lie, it’s because you believe lying will cause less pain than being honest. It’s a lie, but you believe it. Eating the forbidden fruit will not bring Adam and Eve blessings – it’s a lie - but they believed it. When somebody comes to you and says, “I’m leaving my husband, and I’m going to marry this other man because I believe God wants me to be happy.” They just told you the belief behind their behavior. It’s wrong, but they believe it.
When you sin, you’re doing what you think is the best thing for you. You say, “I know God says to do that, but I’m going to do this.” You believe a lie. Behind every sin is a lie. You believe that something is good for you, even if it is an outright sin to God. When you live in sin, you’re living in deception and believing a lie. Confront these lies with the Word of God because change always starts in the mind. When you start dealing with these lies, you’ll start to see change in your life. This is what the Bible describes in Romans 12:2 as being “transformed by renewing your mind”.
How you think determines how you feel, and how you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change the way you act, you must determine the way you think. You can’t start with the action. You start with the thought. If you want to see a change in your life – change your beliefs first. If we are feeling afraid, we need to ask ourselves what we are thinking. If we are sad, we need to ask ourselves what’s in our mind that caused it. We need to change our thoughts about the situation by looking at the Word – reading, listening, studying, meditation, and memorizing it.
At conversion, only your spirit is born again. Your mind and your body are not. Your mind is the gateway to your spirit and it controls your body. Your state of mind determines your state of being. The mind of the natural man is not subject to God and can never be. Rom 8:5-8. This is the main reason your mind must be renewed as a child of God. When this happens, your mind becomes that of a spiritual man which is subject to the Spirit of God.
At birth, the mind is a blank slate. It becomes shaped by the things it is exposed to as a child grows up. Examples of those things that mold the mind are fashion, media (electronic/print), popular psychology, religion, superstition, advertisement, friends, relatives, culture, and for believers, the Bible.
The war over your mind
Every believer is a walking civil war. Within us are the old and the new man. Each jostles for control and dominance.
“For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want”. Galatians 5:17.
“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin”. Romans 7:21-25
Satan has declared war on you and the battlefield is in your mind. That’s why Paul tells us to be vigilant in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Satan's method
Satan will use any goal, any ambition, any activity, and any material thing to occupy our minds; so that we will not be receptive to God’s Word; and, consequently, we will not grow or be changed. What goes into our mind determines the output. Consequently, Satan is going to do all he can to fill our minds with garbage—Why? Because Satan knows that if:
- he can change our thoughts, he can change our attitudes,
- and if he changes our attitudes, he can change our actions,
- and if he can change our actions, he’ll get what he’s always wanted- the destruction of our marriages, our children, and our churches.
An old Indian Christian was explaining to a missionary that the battle inside of him was like a black dog fighting a white dog. “Which dog wins?” asked the missionary. “The one I feed the most,” replied the Indian.
2 Rules of the Mind
Psychologists tell us there are two simple rules to do with the mind:
The Law of Concentration states that whatever we dwell on grows in our life experience and becomes part of us.
In the Law of Substitution states that our conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time and you can substitute a positive thought for a negative thought and vice versa.
Two thoughts cannot occupy the mind at the same time, so the choice is ours whether or not our thoughts will be constructive or destructive. It is impossible to think evil when we think on the good!
Born Single Minded
Man was created to be single minded.
Matthew 6:24 “No one is able to serve two lords; for either he will hate the one, and he will love the other; or he will cling to one, and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and mammon”.
Jesus is saying that a human being has been created with a capacity to serve only one master. He cannot and does not have the capacity to serve two. A double-minded person is unstable (James 1:8).
Fixed Mindset
Colossians 3:2: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” A mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. That’s exactly what Isaiah 26:3 in the New Living Translation proclaims: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” In other words, we must let the mind of the Master be the Master of our minds as Philippians 2:5 says: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Lanny Bassham, is an Olympic gold medalist in shooting the small-bore rifle. Listen to how he trained himself to hit the bulls-eye as told to Sports Illustrated: “Our sport is controlled non-movement. We are shooting from 50 meters--over half a football field--at a bull ’s eye three-quarter the size of a dime. If the angle of error at the point of the barrel is more than .005 of a millimeter (that is five one-thousandths), you drop into the next circle and lose a point. So we have to learn how to make everything stop. I stop my breathing. I stop my digestion by not eating for 12 hours before the competition. I train by running to keep my pulse around 60, so I have a full second between beats…You do all of this and you have the technical control. But you have to have some years of experience in reading conditions: the wind, the mirage. Then you have the other 80% of the problem—focusing the mind” (Sports Illustrated, 8/2/76).
How the mind works
First used in the field of computer science, the phrase “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” really expresses a biblical principle. When we allow garbage into our minds, garbage will come out. If we allow godly thoughts in, godly behavior follows. In his book called, “As a Man Thinketh,” James Allen writes: “A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” Your input determines your output which in turn, determines your outcome.
There are 3 sources of input to your mind: eyes, ears and mouth.
Your eyes are the windows to your mind. You capture images with your eyes which are then developed in your mind. This is why it is possible to commit adultery with your eyes.
“You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery'. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. Mat 5:27-28.
Job, a righteous man, took what he saw seriously. He controlled his eyes by been careful what he looked at.
"I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a girl”. Job 31:1
Your ears are the door to your mind. What you hear makes a big impact on your life. The just shall live by faith but this faith comes by hearing God’s word. Rom 10:17. Read the Bible aloud to yourself. Make is a point of duty to attend meetings where you are exposed to the Word of God. Note however that the converse is also true. Doubt, unbelief, skepticism, fear, confusion, anxiety, depressed mood and sorrow can all come from what you hear. Control your hearing to control your life.
You mouth is the garage to your mind. While the Bible says, “You shall have what you hear” it is also true that you can lose what you have by how you talk. Mk 11:23b, James 3:2, 6, 9-10. Your speech should not be based on how you feel but on your expectation. For example, when a weak person expects to be strong, he should say so according to Joel 3:10 which says, “Let the weak say I am strong”.
In summary, what comes to your eyes, your ears and out of your mouth carries a spiritual charge that affects you. Watch out and be discreet with what you see, hear and say.
Mind Training
Our minds cannot tell the difference between real experience and imagination. That is why one can watch a horror movie and not be able to sleep or wake up from a bad dream with your heart pounding in fear. Neither situation is real but the mind cannot tell the difference. Of what use is this information? When a carnal man is repeatedly exposed to God’s Word through study, meditation, preaching, television, radio, and internet, he becomes transformed by that word. Regardless of how far he may be from the word of God, if he applies himself, his mind will become renewed.
Most of the feelings, beliefs and attitudes we have about ourselves are acquired through habitual repetition. By repeatedly thinking on the Scriptures, you can become what God wants you to be.
"Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind”. Author Unknown
The importance of what you think
You’re not what you think you are; but what you THINK—you are! To change your life, you have to change your life. What you think is so important the next few principles may change your life.
Principle 1
Think about what you think about because your life depends on it.
Genesis 6:5-7
“The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them."
The world was destroyed because of evil thinking. Man judges only what you do but God judges what you think and as well as do. Therefore, think about what you think about. It is that important.
Principle 2
What you think today determines where you’ll be tomorrow.
Proverbs 23:7
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”.
You were what you thought. You are what you thought. You will become what you think today. Those who allow anything into their minds cede the control of their life to circumstances and the environment. Life change happens only AFTER you change your thinking. And the thinking can only be changed by the Word of God, when applied to us by the Holy Spirit.
Principle 3
Your thinking has creative power
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
When God thinks, it happens. When man thinks, it happens because he is made in God’s image. You are sad because you think sadness. You are glad because you think gladness. It is not your circumstances that determine your mood, it is how you think about your circumstances. Regardless of the situation, thinking like your Father will change you to see things as He does.
Your thought-life affects everything about you, how you act, feel, live.
If you THINK negative thoughts, you will ACT in a negative way.
If you THINK sad things … you will BE sad.
If you THINK you’re sick … you will FEEL sick.
If you THINK you’re worthless… you’ll TURN OUT to be worthless.
If you THINK bad thoughts … you’ll DO bad things.
BUT … on the other hand if you THINK godly things … you’ll ACT more Godly!
Norman Cousins was hospitalized with a rare, crippling disease. When he was diagnosed as incurable, Cousins checked out of the hospital. Aware of the harmful effects that negative emotions can have on the body, Cousins reasoned the reverse was true. So he borrowed a movie projector and prescribed his own treatment, consisting of Marx Brothers films and old "Candid Camera" reruns. It didn’t take long for him to discover that 10 minutes of laughter provided two hours of pain free sleep. Amazingly, his debilitating disease was eventually reversed. After the account of his victory appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cousins received more than 3000 letters from appreciative physicians throughout the world.
“Beware of what you set your mind on because that you surely will become.” Ralph W. Emerson
Principle 4
Your thoughts constitute your prayer requests; do not think about that you do not want God to act upon.
Ephesians 3:20
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us..”
This passage declares that God is able to according to what we think. Will you like God to act on your thoughts? If not, change what you think about. God will respond to your thoughts because they are also your prayer requests.
Ask and you will receive; think and you will receive.
Seek and you shall find; think and you shall find.
Knock and it shall open; think and it shall open.
Principle 5
Be proactive with what occupies your mind because your life depends on it.
Phil 4:8
“Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse”.
The mind is never empty. Psychologists tell us that each person has about ten thousand thoughts per day. How many of our thoughts are of the qualities described in Philippians 4:8? The human mind is going to set itself on something. The question is on what? The best way is to keep the bad thoughts out of your mind is to concentrate on the good thoughts.
Principle 6
Your thinking determines your success in life.
Joshua 1:8
“And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed”
Your thinking = your success or lack of it. Those who set their minds on God’s Word often will be successful.
“But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law he habitually meditates by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper. Psalm 1:2-3
“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide….” Genesis 24:63. I believe this is partly why he sowed and reaped a hundredfold in one year during famine. Meditation on God’s Word guarantees success in life.
Principle 7
Our behavior will change, when our thinking changes. If there is no change in your behavior, question your thinking. If someone says, “I believe in tithing” but does not tithe – then he doesn’t believe in it. You only really believe the parts of the Bible that you obey. All behavior is based on a belief. If you lie, it’s because you believe lying will cause less pain than being honest. It’s a lie, but you believe it. Eating the forbidden fruit will not bring Adam and Eve blessings – it’s a lie - but they believed it. When somebody comes to you and says, “I’m leaving my husband, and I’m going to marry this other man because I believe God wants me to be happy.” They just told you the belief behind their behavior. It’s wrong, but they believe it.
When you sin, you’re doing what you think is the best thing for you. You say, “I know God says to do that, but I’m going to do this.” You believe a lie. Behind every sin is a lie. You believe that something is good for you, even if it is an outright sin to God. When you live in sin, you’re living in deception and believing a lie. Confront these lies with the Word of God because change always starts in the mind. When you start dealing with these lies, you’ll start to see change in your life. This is what the Bible describes in Romans 12:2 as being “transformed by renewing your mind”.
How you think determines how you feel, and how you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change the way you act, you must determine the way you think. You can’t start with the action. You start with the thought. If you want to see a change in your life – change your beliefs first. If we are feeling afraid, we need to ask ourselves what we are thinking. If we are sad, we need to ask ourselves what’s in our mind that caused it. We need to change our thoughts about the situation by looking at the Word – reading, listening, studying, meditation, and memorizing it.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Gate Opener
What’s in a gate? The dictionary definition of a gate is a point of entry to a space enclosed by walls. Gates may prevent or control entry or exit.
Biblical Significance of a Gate
A gate is a control center of a city in Bible days. Important decisions are taken at the gates of cities. They sometimes function as courts of justice. Citizens can sell or buy land there. General proclamations are made at the gates; the council running the city meets there and conferences are held there too. Public condemnation of people is made there. When the enemy wants to attack a city, the area of concentration is the gate; that is why experienced officers are placed there. Idolatrous people perform their rites there.
John 10:1-3
"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Life is controlled by a gate.
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Heaven has gates.
Genesis 28:17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven“.
Revelation 21:25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
Hell has gates
Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.
The enemy (Satan) has a gate
Genesis 22:16-17
“And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son, In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed will possess the gate of His enemies”.
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies”.
The gate of the enemy is its control center and whosoever controls the gate controls the city. The gate of the enemy is our possession.
Our God is a great controller. He can break or strengthen gates.
Psalm 107:15-16
“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron”.
Psalm 147:12-13
“Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you”.
Gate Opener
While gates are generally speaking, physical or spiritual barriers, thank God there is a gate opener.
Psalm 100:4
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!”
There is a gate that leads the presence of God and praise is the gate opener.
Psalm 24:7-10
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory”.
Psalm 118:19-21
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation”.
Praise opens the gate into God’s presence. It can also bring Him to wherever you are as experienced by Paul and Silas. Your heart-felt praise will open the gates of brass and tear apart your bars of iron. You will take possession of the gates of your enemy. Make a commitment that His praises shall be in your mouth continually.
Biblical Significance of a Gate
A gate is a control center of a city in Bible days. Important decisions are taken at the gates of cities. They sometimes function as courts of justice. Citizens can sell or buy land there. General proclamations are made at the gates; the council running the city meets there and conferences are held there too. Public condemnation of people is made there. When the enemy wants to attack a city, the area of concentration is the gate; that is why experienced officers are placed there. Idolatrous people perform their rites there.
John 10:1-3
"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Life is controlled by a gate.
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Heaven has gates.
Genesis 28:17 He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven“.
Revelation 21:25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
Hell has gates
Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.
The enemy (Satan) has a gate
Genesis 22:16-17
“And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son, In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed will possess the gate of His enemies”.
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies”.
The gate of the enemy is its control center and whosoever controls the gate controls the city. The gate of the enemy is our possession.
Our God is a great controller. He can break or strengthen gates.
Psalm 107:15-16
“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron”.
Psalm 147:12-13
“Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you”.
Gate Opener
While gates are generally speaking, physical or spiritual barriers, thank God there is a gate opener.
Psalm 100:4
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!”
There is a gate that leads the presence of God and praise is the gate opener.
Psalm 24:7-10
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory”.
Psalm 118:19-21
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation”.
Praise opens the gate into God’s presence. It can also bring Him to wherever you are as experienced by Paul and Silas. Your heart-felt praise will open the gates of brass and tear apart your bars of iron. You will take possession of the gates of your enemy. Make a commitment that His praises shall be in your mouth continually.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Your body is not yours
All believers have 2 kinds of life: the physical and the spiritual. Both types of life have bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:44. Anyone born of a woman has a physical body. At the resurrection, we shall acquire a spiritual body. The focus of this article however is on our physical body.
In order to lay a foundation for this exposition, please note that every human being is made up of spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). These three parts of us are not ours; they belong to the Creator. Therefore one can categorically say that your life is not yours. Your spirit, soul and body are not yours. They are God’s.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The Bible says that Christ is our life. (Colossians 3:4). This makes the Lord Jesus the hub of our life around which everything revolves. You are not your own; you are a caretaker of yourself. Imagine that you own a rental property and you appoint a caretaker to manage the property for you. The caretaker may collect the rent, pay the mortgage and taxes, carry out necessary repairs on the house etc. But that does not make him the landlord. He can be the caretaker for the next 50 years but that does not change the title deed to his name. Similarly, everything about you is a gift from God. You own nothing. You are a caretaker of God’s bountiful blessings.
Dick Rasanen writes: “Dear God, I find it so easy to try to be the one in charge. I find it so painful to realize that I am not the one in control. Help me to know when saying “I just work here” it’s a confession, and not just a way of evading responsibility.”
Your life is not about you. Your money is not about you. Your job is not about you. Your children are not about you. Your relationships are not about you. They are all given to you by the Almighty God to be used for His glory. It is in this context that we shall now focus on your body.
And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7.
The prototype body was formed from the ground by God. Therefore God made and owned your body originally. Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, you and I were sold to the sin market. It was from this market of sin that Christ bought us back unto God. This is why the Bible says, “You were bought with a price”. Christ paid for your sins with his life and blood. Now He owns you, body and all. Not only does Christ own us, we are His body parts.
Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ? ……….1 Corinthians 6:15a Amplified.
You are Christ’s hands, eyes, mind, legs and heart. That is your eyes, hands, feet, abdomen, etc are Christ’s eyes, nose, hands, feet, and abdomen. Your eyes should not look at that which Jesus would not approve. Your hands should not touch anything abhorrent to the Master. You feet should not go to anywhere that will grieve His Spirit within you. If you need to fast, so be it. The grumbling stomach is His and He can do whatever He wishes with it.
Whatever unions you enter into, if you are also in union with Christ, those unions should meet with Christ’s approval. They need to be pleasing to him. If you are in union with Christ, a sexual union with someone who is not your spouse is totally unfitting.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:15-18.
Your body is not your personal possession. It is not to be used and abused a t your discretion. Always remember that it is not yours. The dignity of the temple is derived from who dwells in it. When we defile the body, we sin against the Resident of the body (Holy Spirit). When we defile the body, we sin against the Redeemer of the body.
“Drink water from your own well – share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don’t share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving doe, a graceful deer. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, with an immoral woman, or embrace the breasts of an adulterous woman? For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes” (Proverbs 5:15-21, NLT).
We live in an age of loose sexual relationships. God created sex and we should listen to Him and not to the society in the last days.
“…do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.
The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “fornication” as “consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.” Sex is unacceptable before God outside of marriage. Fornication and adultery do not come cheap especially to a Christian. Proverbs 6:32. Satan has trivialized sex in order to populate hell. Don’t fall for his deceit.
Your Eyes
The use of our eyes is an issue especially for men. A man’s sexuality is visual, a woman’s sexuality is relational. Men are therefore more easily affected by what they look at. It is easy to commit fornication or adultery just by what and how you look. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus:
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28-29.
Sexual gratification for a man should come only from his wife, not from others scantily-clad ladies, billboards, magazines, advertisements or pornographic media. Your eyes are not yours. Dedicate them to the Lord. Follow the example of Job, described as blameless and upright in his days
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Job 31:1
Impurity is a habit. Purity is a habit as well. When you eyes bounce toward a woman lustfully, they must bounce away immediately. Initially this is not easy and you may fail to arrest those filthy thoughts on many occasions. But as you keep at it, you will gain mastery especially if you persist for 3 weeks or more.
How you treat your body affects your destiny. It can be a source of selection or rejection.
No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:27
Your body is not your master. As the caretaker, you are the master. Your body was made for you, not you for your body. The desire of your body must be controlled by you. You are responsible for how your body is used and what it’s used for. Learn to discipline your body so it does not lead you to sin.
Do not let sin control you puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God – every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes. Romans 6:12, 13 (TLB)
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. As God’s house, your body is a prayer house.
It is written," he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' Mat 21:13
Always remember this when you don’t feel like praying or you want to avoid a prayer meeting or all night prayers. The admonition, “pray without ceasing” is not for pastors and bishops alone. It is for all believers.
Your body is a worship factory. You ought to bless the Lord at all times and let His praises always be in your mouth.
Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. Heb 13:15
Secret Weapon of Satan
You need your body to fulfill your destiny. Just as Christ could not become our Redeemer without His body, you are of no use to God without a sanctified body. Heb 10:5. Your authority over Satan partly depends on the sanctity of your vessel. This is why the enemy does his very best to defile, pollute and desecrate our temple, making us unfit for our Master’s use and powerless towards him.
Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
God knows who belongs to him. Spurn evil, all you who name God as God.
In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. 2 Timothy 2:19-21 (Msg).
Ministry
Your body is a ministry tool, an anointing carrier and a healing vessel.
And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
So that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Acts 19:11-12
They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well. Mark 16:18.
Conclusion
Give your body to the Lord. Dedicate it to Him. He made it, bought it from the sin market, sanctified it and wants to glorify Himself with it.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1
How you treat your body either qualifies you for the Master’s use or makes you unfit for any work of righteousness.
In order to lay a foundation for this exposition, please note that every human being is made up of spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). These three parts of us are not ours; they belong to the Creator. Therefore one can categorically say that your life is not yours. Your spirit, soul and body are not yours. They are God’s.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The Bible says that Christ is our life. (Colossians 3:4). This makes the Lord Jesus the hub of our life around which everything revolves. You are not your own; you are a caretaker of yourself. Imagine that you own a rental property and you appoint a caretaker to manage the property for you. The caretaker may collect the rent, pay the mortgage and taxes, carry out necessary repairs on the house etc. But that does not make him the landlord. He can be the caretaker for the next 50 years but that does not change the title deed to his name. Similarly, everything about you is a gift from God. You own nothing. You are a caretaker of God’s bountiful blessings.
Dick Rasanen writes: “Dear God, I find it so easy to try to be the one in charge. I find it so painful to realize that I am not the one in control. Help me to know when saying “I just work here” it’s a confession, and not just a way of evading responsibility.”
Your life is not about you. Your money is not about you. Your job is not about you. Your children are not about you. Your relationships are not about you. They are all given to you by the Almighty God to be used for His glory. It is in this context that we shall now focus on your body.
And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7.
The prototype body was formed from the ground by God. Therefore God made and owned your body originally. Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, you and I were sold to the sin market. It was from this market of sin that Christ bought us back unto God. This is why the Bible says, “You were bought with a price”. Christ paid for your sins with his life and blood. Now He owns you, body and all. Not only does Christ own us, we are His body parts.
Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ? ……….1 Corinthians 6:15a Amplified.
You are Christ’s hands, eyes, mind, legs and heart. That is your eyes, hands, feet, abdomen, etc are Christ’s eyes, nose, hands, feet, and abdomen. Your eyes should not look at that which Jesus would not approve. Your hands should not touch anything abhorrent to the Master. You feet should not go to anywhere that will grieve His Spirit within you. If you need to fast, so be it. The grumbling stomach is His and He can do whatever He wishes with it.
Whatever unions you enter into, if you are also in union with Christ, those unions should meet with Christ’s approval. They need to be pleasing to him. If you are in union with Christ, a sexual union with someone who is not your spouse is totally unfitting.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:15-18.
Your body is not your personal possession. It is not to be used and abused a t your discretion. Always remember that it is not yours. The dignity of the temple is derived from who dwells in it. When we defile the body, we sin against the Resident of the body (Holy Spirit). When we defile the body, we sin against the Redeemer of the body.
“Drink water from your own well – share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don’t share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving doe, a graceful deer. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, with an immoral woman, or embrace the breasts of an adulterous woman? For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes” (Proverbs 5:15-21, NLT).
We live in an age of loose sexual relationships. God created sex and we should listen to Him and not to the society in the last days.
“…do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.
The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “fornication” as “consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.” Sex is unacceptable before God outside of marriage. Fornication and adultery do not come cheap especially to a Christian. Proverbs 6:32. Satan has trivialized sex in order to populate hell. Don’t fall for his deceit.
Your Eyes
The use of our eyes is an issue especially for men. A man’s sexuality is visual, a woman’s sexuality is relational. Men are therefore more easily affected by what they look at. It is easy to commit fornication or adultery just by what and how you look. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus:
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28-29.
Sexual gratification for a man should come only from his wife, not from others scantily-clad ladies, billboards, magazines, advertisements or pornographic media. Your eyes are not yours. Dedicate them to the Lord. Follow the example of Job, described as blameless and upright in his days
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Job 31:1
Impurity is a habit. Purity is a habit as well. When you eyes bounce toward a woman lustfully, they must bounce away immediately. Initially this is not easy and you may fail to arrest those filthy thoughts on many occasions. But as you keep at it, you will gain mastery especially if you persist for 3 weeks or more.
How you treat your body affects your destiny. It can be a source of selection or rejection.
No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:27
Your body is not your master. As the caretaker, you are the master. Your body was made for you, not you for your body. The desire of your body must be controlled by you. You are responsible for how your body is used and what it’s used for. Learn to discipline your body so it does not lead you to sin.
Do not let sin control you puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God – every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes. Romans 6:12, 13 (TLB)
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. As God’s house, your body is a prayer house.
It is written," he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' Mat 21:13
Always remember this when you don’t feel like praying or you want to avoid a prayer meeting or all night prayers. The admonition, “pray without ceasing” is not for pastors and bishops alone. It is for all believers.
Your body is a worship factory. You ought to bless the Lord at all times and let His praises always be in your mouth.
Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. Heb 13:15
Secret Weapon of Satan
You need your body to fulfill your destiny. Just as Christ could not become our Redeemer without His body, you are of no use to God without a sanctified body. Heb 10:5. Your authority over Satan partly depends on the sanctity of your vessel. This is why the enemy does his very best to defile, pollute and desecrate our temple, making us unfit for our Master’s use and powerless towards him.
Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
God knows who belongs to him. Spurn evil, all you who name God as God.
In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. 2 Timothy 2:19-21 (Msg).
Ministry
Your body is a ministry tool, an anointing carrier and a healing vessel.
And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
So that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Acts 19:11-12
They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well. Mark 16:18.
Conclusion
Give your body to the Lord. Dedicate it to Him. He made it, bought it from the sin market, sanctified it and wants to glorify Himself with it.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1
How you treat your body either qualifies you for the Master’s use or makes you unfit for any work of righteousness.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
What is life?
This is an important question for all of us to answer. What is life? The answer tells you what your life should be about. Different people have different answers. For some of us, life is about work, death and taxes. For others, it is to train till age 25, work till 65, and die at 80. Some may think life consists of milking their parents till 25, work and pay bills till 65, and then milk their children till they die. What about money, fun, movies, fun, sex, fun, vacation then more fun?
Conservative individuals may think life is about having moral values and raising a good family or being alive to see your great grandchildren. Some simply want to “make it”, whatever that means. A few will consider going to heaven.
If you really think about natural human life, it can be depressing. Why were you born? For what purpose are you here? Are you simply a product of 2 individuals with uncontrolled sexual urge? Does your date of birth have any significance?
"Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
Life's been nothing but trouble and tears,
and what's coming is more of the same". Jeremiah 20:18
There are two important truths to keep in mind whenever you think about your life: it is very temporary and it is empty without Christ.
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes". James 4:14
"We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard". Psalm 90:10
The human life is very short compared to eternity. If you are now 35, you have only 12,000 days left. That is a snap of the finger compared to eternity. The best way to live is to live with the reality that you will live forever and make decisions based on that principle. The expected duration of an assignment impacts planning for it. For example, if you need a car for 3 months, you probably will consider leasing. However, if you need a car for the next 6 years, buying one is preferable.
Many of us live our lives as if there is no life after death. We allow ourselves to be bogged down by issues of no eternal value such as paying bills, gossip, peer pressure, pride, sports, pleasure, financial accomplishments etc. This is the low life approach to living. You cannot understand life by looking around you. Your parents, neighbors, coworkers, friends or relatives may not know the answer to life. Government and human institutions cannot help you either.
"So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,
Act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground,
Absorbed with the things right in front of you.
Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective". Colossians 3:1-2.
The best way to live is to first realize your life is not about you. Your life does not consist of your wants, needs, desire, pleasures, personal goals, ambition, and preferences. Life is not about things. It is not about net-worth.
"Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot". Luke 12:15
"What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?" Mark 8:37
Every time you and I focus on “stuff”, our lives become stuffy. Clogged. Messy. Suffocating. Unfulfilling. Confusing. We are primarily spirit beings and spirits cannot be satisfied with natural things. Hear these words from the Lord Jesus,
"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax,
Not be so preoccupied with getting
So you can respond to God's giving.
People who don't know God
And the way he works fuss over these things,
But you know both God and how he works.
Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met". Luke 12:29-31
True life consists of letting go of you and letting God. You are not made to be self-made. You were created to be Jesus-made. Most of our anxieties, worries, sleepless nights, dissatisfaction and confusion come from the fact that we are the boss of our lives. We can’t handle the stress on our own but we are the master. We are no match for the devil, but we insist on being in charge. We have no control of our today but we remain the manager of ourselves. We do not know what will happen tomorrow but we try to do our very limited best. No wonder many of us require pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to keep us calm when awake and pills for memory and clear thinking!
"One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple". Luke 14:26.
Everyone has 2 types of life: the physical and the spiritual. Your physical life consists of your human body and soul. Your spiritual life is your real you. You are primarily a spiritual being living in a physical body. You are not an “it”, you are a person. Similarly, your life is a not an “it”. It is a Person. Jesus.
"......For the LORD is your life, ......Deuteronomy 30:20.
"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life" Col 3:3.
The Lord Jesus is my life. He is my interest, my passion, my goal, my orientation, my success, my future, my educator, my counselor, my teacher, my healer, my pastor, my banker, my insurance agent, my security, my helper, my protector, my employer, my supplier, my moral standard, my owner, my king, my lord, my master, my savior, my everything! He is not part of me. He is all of me and I am His. This is why I can say with Paul,
"Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.
My ego is no longer central.
It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you
Or have your good opinion,
And I am no longer driven to impress God.
Christ lives in me.
The life you see me living is not "mine,"
But it is lived by faith in the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave himself for me.
I am not going to go back on that". Gal 2:20
You were made for God. You will never find fulfillment without God. The human race was made to seek after God, not material things which will never satisfy the longings of our hearts.
"Starting from scratch,
He made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable,
With plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God,
And not just grope around in the dark but actually find him". Acts 17:26-27
In summary, life is Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6. Your life is Jesus. Your body, soul and spirit are his. “You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19. Let us stop stealing our lives from Him. He owns us. We are the sheep of His pasture. Life is meaningless without Christ. Give everything back to Him. Your past, present and future. Who you are and what you have. All are His, not yours. As you do this, you will begin to experience life at a level never before known to you. Let Him own your body. He is the Creator and the best Mechanic of it. Let Him own your mind.
"People with their minds set on you,
You keep completely whole". Isaiah 26:3.
Start your day with the Word of God. Meditate on His Word. Talk to God constantly. If you are born-again, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Maintain dialogue with the Spirit day and night. Stop running from pillar to post; you will never make it on your own. Stop running after things that should be running after you. Stop living a mediocre Christian life. It does not pay. You are neither useful to the devil nor to God.
“Father, today I declare I am yours totally, body, soul and spirit. My past, present and future I give to you. I dedicate all that I am and all that I have to you. Use me, mold me as you will. Take over everything from now and grant me the grace to remain yielded to you all the days of my life in Jesus name. Amen”
Conservative individuals may think life is about having moral values and raising a good family or being alive to see your great grandchildren. Some simply want to “make it”, whatever that means. A few will consider going to heaven.
If you really think about natural human life, it can be depressing. Why were you born? For what purpose are you here? Are you simply a product of 2 individuals with uncontrolled sexual urge? Does your date of birth have any significance?
"Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
Life's been nothing but trouble and tears,
and what's coming is more of the same". Jeremiah 20:18
There are two important truths to keep in mind whenever you think about your life: it is very temporary and it is empty without Christ.
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes". James 4:14
"We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard". Psalm 90:10
The human life is very short compared to eternity. If you are now 35, you have only 12,000 days left. That is a snap of the finger compared to eternity. The best way to live is to live with the reality that you will live forever and make decisions based on that principle. The expected duration of an assignment impacts planning for it. For example, if you need a car for 3 months, you probably will consider leasing. However, if you need a car for the next 6 years, buying one is preferable.
Many of us live our lives as if there is no life after death. We allow ourselves to be bogged down by issues of no eternal value such as paying bills, gossip, peer pressure, pride, sports, pleasure, financial accomplishments etc. This is the low life approach to living. You cannot understand life by looking around you. Your parents, neighbors, coworkers, friends or relatives may not know the answer to life. Government and human institutions cannot help you either.
"So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,
Act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground,
Absorbed with the things right in front of you.
Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective". Colossians 3:1-2.
The best way to live is to first realize your life is not about you. Your life does not consist of your wants, needs, desire, pleasures, personal goals, ambition, and preferences. Life is not about things. It is not about net-worth.
"Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot". Luke 12:15
"What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?" Mark 8:37
Every time you and I focus on “stuff”, our lives become stuffy. Clogged. Messy. Suffocating. Unfulfilling. Confusing. We are primarily spirit beings and spirits cannot be satisfied with natural things. Hear these words from the Lord Jesus,
"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax,
Not be so preoccupied with getting
So you can respond to God's giving.
People who don't know God
And the way he works fuss over these things,
But you know both God and how he works.
Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met". Luke 12:29-31
True life consists of letting go of you and letting God. You are not made to be self-made. You were created to be Jesus-made. Most of our anxieties, worries, sleepless nights, dissatisfaction and confusion come from the fact that we are the boss of our lives. We can’t handle the stress on our own but we are the master. We are no match for the devil, but we insist on being in charge. We have no control of our today but we remain the manager of ourselves. We do not know what will happen tomorrow but we try to do our very limited best. No wonder many of us require pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to keep us calm when awake and pills for memory and clear thinking!
"One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple". Luke 14:26.
Everyone has 2 types of life: the physical and the spiritual. Your physical life consists of your human body and soul. Your spiritual life is your real you. You are primarily a spiritual being living in a physical body. You are not an “it”, you are a person. Similarly, your life is a not an “it”. It is a Person. Jesus.
"......For the LORD is your life, ......Deuteronomy 30:20.
"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life" Col 3:3.
The Lord Jesus is my life. He is my interest, my passion, my goal, my orientation, my success, my future, my educator, my counselor, my teacher, my healer, my pastor, my banker, my insurance agent, my security, my helper, my protector, my employer, my supplier, my moral standard, my owner, my king, my lord, my master, my savior, my everything! He is not part of me. He is all of me and I am His. This is why I can say with Paul,
"Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.
My ego is no longer central.
It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you
Or have your good opinion,
And I am no longer driven to impress God.
Christ lives in me.
The life you see me living is not "mine,"
But it is lived by faith in the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave himself for me.
I am not going to go back on that". Gal 2:20
You were made for God. You will never find fulfillment without God. The human race was made to seek after God, not material things which will never satisfy the longings of our hearts.
"Starting from scratch,
He made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable,
With plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God,
And not just grope around in the dark but actually find him". Acts 17:26-27
In summary, life is Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6. Your life is Jesus. Your body, soul and spirit are his. “You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19. Let us stop stealing our lives from Him. He owns us. We are the sheep of His pasture. Life is meaningless without Christ. Give everything back to Him. Your past, present and future. Who you are and what you have. All are His, not yours. As you do this, you will begin to experience life at a level never before known to you. Let Him own your body. He is the Creator and the best Mechanic of it. Let Him own your mind.
"People with their minds set on you,
You keep completely whole". Isaiah 26:3.
Start your day with the Word of God. Meditate on His Word. Talk to God constantly. If you are born-again, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Maintain dialogue with the Spirit day and night. Stop running from pillar to post; you will never make it on your own. Stop running after things that should be running after you. Stop living a mediocre Christian life. It does not pay. You are neither useful to the devil nor to God.
“Father, today I declare I am yours totally, body, soul and spirit. My past, present and future I give to you. I dedicate all that I am and all that I have to you. Use me, mold me as you will. Take over everything from now and grant me the grace to remain yielded to you all the days of my life in Jesus name. Amen”
Saturday, May 1, 2010
What is your worth?
What is your self-worth? Your net-worth is not your self-worth. You are much more more than the sum of your bank accounts, check balances and investments. You are worth much more than all those. To understand your real worth, take a look at what God has done for you.
1. You existence on the earth was preplanned by God before the earth began.
“Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ”. Eph 1:4-5.
You are not an after-thought at the end of the 6th day of creation. Your coming was predicted and planned.
2. Not only did God plan to create you before the foundation of the earth was laid, He also predetermined your race, nationality, tribe, parents and birthday. You had an appointed time in history to be born to your specific parents in a locality that determines your nationality.
Acts 17:26 (Today's New International Version)
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands”.
Your race and nationality are no accident.
3. Your conception was a product of divine intervention. God is responsible for the union of egg and sperm that brought you into being. Psalms 139:13-16.
“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.”
4. After you were born, the Lord Almighty continues to be your pillar of support all the days of your life. He upholds, carries, makes, bears and delivers you.
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Who have been upheld by Me from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Is 46:3-4 (Message).
5. Why are you here?
You are wherever you are today by the will of God. You are alive because He wants you to live. All your past, present and future achievements are because of Him. You talents, gifts, abilities, opportunities, skills, positions, standing and status all come from Him. There is nothing that is yours that did not come from Him.
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11 (KJV)
Whatever your current position in life is, it is posting of the Lord. Just as the army has military posts, so have you been posted to your current location by Him.
“Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this." Esther 4:14b
You are the sum of your personality, abilities, talents, education, temperament, interests, experiences, passions , body, soul, and spirit.
No other human being is exactly like you. You are one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece and only you can be you. There is no copy of you in the universe. You are custom-made. You are as unique as your thumbprint and DNA. See yourself as God sees you.
“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” Eph 2:10.
In the world to come, I shall not be asked, "Why were you not Moses?" I shall be asked, "Why were you not Sola?”
Violent Prayers
You are made to dominate this world. (Genesis 1:26). It is God’s will for your life. You cannot do it without God. You cannot do it by working with the devil. Dominion is knowing that you can do what God said you can do, have what God said you can have and be what God said you can be regardless to what things looks like, seems like, sounds or appear like.
You were made by God to be like Him. You were created by God to be god to your sphere of influence. We were created in God’s image to rule on this earth in His place. We are God’s ambassadors. We represent His interest, not ours. However, we are not omnipresent, omnipotent nor omniscient.
Each human being was created to have dominion over a particular realm of influence. Our task on earth, aside from knowing and loving God, is to faithfully steward and transform our particular area as if we were God over that realm. Such an area may be your family, your neighborhood, your workplace etc.
Why are we not exercising the control as described in Genesis? Man’s sin.
Adam and Eve committed sin, thus ceding their dominion to Satan who now rules this world. And for that same reason, Satan even ruled us before we came to know Christ. The Scriptures describe the devil as follows:
John 12:31b describes Satan as “the prince of this world.”
Ephesians 2:2 says he is “… the ruler of the kingdom of the air…”
1 John 5:19 says “… the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
If Satan rules this world, how can you and I who are no longer part of his kingdom survive? This is why prayer becomes an indispensable tool in the life of the believer. Everything that was lost by the first Adam had been regained by the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore if you are in Christ, you are subject to Satan’s rulership. Rather, you can dominate just as God intended in the beginning. Christ modeled this for us when He walked the face of the earth.
The challenge is that many of us lack understanding. We allow the enemy to run over us because we think we think the only difference between us and our next door neighbor is heaven. The truth is spiritually, you deserve what you tolerate. I cannot dominate for you neither can your pastor, elder, parents or friends. You have to rise up, resist the devil and He will flee from you.
A person that prays has an advantage over the devil because the devil cannot pray. He can dance, sing, entertain, and preach but he cannot pray. He has no God to pray to. Even angels don’t have the privilege of praying. Out of all that God created, only born-again believers have this privilege. The devil knows this and will do all He can to prevent you from developing this essential spiritual discipline.
When you spend time with God in prayer, it is the most useful thing on earth. Therefore, the most important pre-occupation of the devil is to keep you from praying. The man who can really pray has nothing to fear. Prayer makes us benefit from everything that God wants to do in our lives. There can be no fresh anointing without a visit to the school of prayer. It is prayer that converts the 1260 promises of the Bible to performance in your life.
The Bible does not say: “Preach all the time” But pray all the time” 1 Thesalonians 5:17, “pray always…”Ephesians 6:18, “men ought always to pray…” Luke 18:1.
The other grace we advised to engage in all the time is praise. Praise all the time. Heb 13:15. Praise and prayer go together. Praise opens the gates of heaven unto us (Psalms 100:4, 95:2). Praise is prayer-carrier. If you want your prayer to rise up unto God as a sweet incense, pray with thanksgiving. Philippians 4:6.
There are 3 levels of receiving from God. The 1st level involves receiving because you are on this earth. God sends His rain on the just and the unjust. You don’t need to do anything to receive the rain, sunshine, snow etc. The 2nd level of receiving is because you are in Christ. Certain blessings come to you automatically because you are in a member of the kingdom of God. The 3rd level of receiving can only take place if you ask. Most of the things that you need to fulfill your destiny require asking before you receive them. You have not because you ask not. A prayerless Christian is therefore unable to please the Lord because of substandard living.
There are 3 heavens. The 1st heaven is the sky or firmament. You can see it with your physical eyes by looking up outside your window or house. The 2nd heaven is the residence of evil spirits. Remember, the Bible talks about spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. This is the headquarters of principalities and powers. Eph 6:12. The 3rd heaven is God’s throne. 2 Corinthians 12:2. Prayer becomes hard sometimes because it has to pass through the first and second heavens, before it gets to the third heaven; and evil forces try their best to prevent it from passing through to the third heaven.
The 2nd heaven is often a checkpoint of darkness. The devil sets up a checkpoint at the second heaven such that answers to prayers are prevented from reaching us on earth. Daniel 10:12-13. Many good things belonging to the children of God are confiscated at evil checkpoints and stored in satanic warehouses. For example, success, children, money, prosperity, wedding gowns, breakthroughs, health, etc. Everything that comes down to us from God passes through the second heaven. There is a spiritual border there with satanic immigration and custom officers. It is at this point that a household strongman stays.
Daniel prayed for 21 days on a particular issue: he refused to give up until he received the answer. His answer was held up at the 2nd heaven by the prince of Persia. He just kept praying until after 21 days when the angel of the Lord came to him and said: “Daniel, since the first day, the Lord answered but when I was bringing the reply, the prince of Persia met me and has been fighting with me.” Daniel 10:12-13.
The Bible says that no man enters into the house of a strongman and plunders his goods except he first binds the strongman. The strongman himself does not have any personal goods, what he guides is what he confiscates from people. Matthew 12:29. We must learn to pray like Daniel without giving up on our prayers. We must learn to pray until we have an inward confirmation that our prayer is answered.
Be ready for change. Be ready for the next level. You either change or harden. It is a terrible thing for you to allow the enemy to harden you. The mystery about change is this; No change is made without inconvenience. It is not convenient to shout; it is not convenient to stay awake and hold night vigils. It is not convenient to fast and stay for days without eating or drinking. But beloved, you cannot get a problem solved, at the same level of the awareness of the power that created it.
It is time for violent praying. Be ruthless in acknowledging sin. Be thankful always. Remember prayer is a prayer-carrier. Pray with all your heart. Persist until you get confirmation. Profess victory until you see the manifestation of your prayer.
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