Victory!

Victory!

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. ROMANS 8:37 AMP

Nowhere does God promise his children smooth sailing through life. There will be bumps on the road; hurdles to cross, mountains to climb, seas to cross and battles to fight. In all of life's experiences, the only thing that is certain is the certainty of God's Presence and Power in the midst of the experiences. Depending on your allegiance, it may be all you need.

In the midst of all the things referred to above, a thread emerges: I am called to a fight, a war, a battle. It is a battle for my soul and its eternal destination. The conclusion of the battle has already been decided long before I was born; all I can do is walk in and hold on to what Christ has secured for me. Victory is that conclusion, but there is a process to that concluson, and that is where I come in. There is nothing else I can do to improve on what Christ has already done, but what I can do is to let His work be made manifest in and through me.

This victory is only possible through Christ. Man has come and gone, but none has been able to provide an appropriate response to the questions of life. Man will keep running and pursuing relevance, but until and unless he finds the Truth, he's likely to keep running. Jesus calls himself the Way, the Truth and the Life, meaning he's the answer to whatever questions you may have. His life is a fitting testimony to what has been tested and found to be valid. When I trust Him with my life, I have already secured the victory promised.

So, the question remains: who do you know? All I get from life is a function of my ownership, not my possessions, intellect or family background. None of the latter can secure eternity; only a knowledge and personal experience of God can. Do I know God that way? Does He know me as His own? His time of favour is here.

Equal Measure

Equal Meaaure!

“Do not judge [others self-righteously], and you will not be judged; do not condemn [others when you are guilty and unrepentant], and you will not be condemned [for your hypocrisy]; pardon [others when they truly repent and change], and you will be pardoned [when you truly repent and change]. LUKE 6:37 AMP

Today's extract seems to lay down a simple yet fundamental statement: what you do has an equal and similar reaction. Both the laws of God and the laws of man underscore this statement. We hear of things like karma and we wonder where the world gets its theories and ideas from, but when you look into God's Word, you find the answers to all of life's experiences in there.

I am asked not to judge others, simply because no other person reports to me or is answerable to me. I am asked not to speak and act like someone who doesn't make mistakes or who doesn't need mercy. When I realise and acknowledge that all I am and have is a function of God's grace, I am careful about the conclusions I draw about other people's lives. I am asked not to condemn others, because I have no idea what they have been through, where they are now, and where God is taking them. I only see the present and though the present is so visible, it looks nothing like the future God is preparing for all He has created, only if they trust Him with their lives.

I am asked to forgive others because in that lies my own forgiveness. Offence by people is a regular process of life, and people will generally step on your toes, sometimes unknowingly. It is important that I remember what I have received by the blood of Christ, so i can extend the same grace to other people. All these commands remind me of one simple truth: my relationship with men is a mirror of my relationship with God. Everything I do down here reflects what I should also expect from God.

If God were to make a demand on my life today, what would I tell or show Him?

Right Match!

Right Match!

For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous--being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation. ROMANS 10:10 AMP

Today's extract simply addresses the process and consequences of salvation. What does it all mean? It is simply a meeting or agreement between my heart and my lips; my inner and outer man, my confession and my profession. Nowhere is there a reference to anything valuable I must bring; or anything I must do to deserve the prize made available; all that is required is a believing heart and a confessing mouth.

Why is a believing heart important? It is because that is the seat of all lasting decisions. Unless and until I believe in something so deep, it is likely that the next big thing can sway me off my feet. But when I am certain of who I have come to know, staying focused is easy. It is in the heart where a conviction of sin occurs; and it is in there that the life decision must be made.

Being made free of the guilt of sin happens right there in the heart, and it is there that the work of regeneration starts, when new priorities and pursuits are birthed in me. The mouth is the outward manifestation of the inner conviction, and I believe that is why it is mentioned last. I make confessions on what I have come to believe, and it is a testimony that the world will take notice of. When my priorities change, the world will note it, when the things I take as important also change, the world will take note.

When both are aligned, salvation is sealed. There is no price tag; no drain on material resources. If there was a price, maybe the rich of the world would kill to get it if they knew its eternal consequences. God makes it all free: freely given to us, and every one will be held accountable for whatever decision s/he makes. The choices are made clear; I must choose right. His time of favour is here.

The Password 2

The Password 2

Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Psalm 37:4 AMPC

As usual, David speaks here out of a personal encounter with God. A man's public testimony is a major reflection of his private life of devotion and encounter to and with God. You can't fake it; it is either you have it or you don't. The world has its delights, and it seeks to make them appealing to the people in the world.

The world defines success and impact by those delights, and natural man craves those things, and would sometimes sacrifice the eternal for the sake of temporal and earthly pleasures. The charge here is to delight in God, not anything else. When God is the delight, every other thing loses significance. When God is the focus, all other things pale in comparison or in importance.

What does it mean to delight in God? Could it mean that God is the only priority and focus of my life? Could it mean that I crave his word, his touch, his gentle voice? Could it mean that I strive to serve others through the gifts He has given me? When God takes over a heart, he leaves room for nothing else. If I am able to 'serve' God and still serve the world, then maybe what I hold isn't the real thing after all. The blessing of delighting in God is also made obvious. When your inner life loves the things of God, God sorts out the issues of your outer physical life.

When God is my only priority, God takes care of my life's priorities. When God is the focus, my heart will always seek after the things God loves and desires. If all I pursue are things I can see and spend, God has no place in my heart, and he will not share my heart with anyone or anything else. I must sort out the demands of my heart and know the difference between the important, the necessary and the absolute. God is the absolute; every other thing is secondary. His time of favour is here.

Revelation!

Revelation!

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’ JEREMIAH 33:3 AMP

This message came to Jeremiah, at a time when he was locked up in the king's prison simply for speaking the truth as given by God. There is absolutely no guarantee that being sent by God automatically makes the path ahead smooth. As long as God's divine message remains unpopular to the mind yet to surrender to God, you will find violent opposition to the Word of God. The issue for consideration will be whether I am ready to bear whatever comes in the course of serving God.

God's message to Jeremiah is simple: 'call to me'. It is as simple as that. He is found on the highest mountains of joy and ecstasy, as well as in the deepest valleys of despair and disappointment. All I need to do is call out, and he has promised to hear and heed. He has not put a time or place limit on the call; it is an open invitation. An assurance of a response by God is also provided, which means that when I deal with God, I deal with someone with a clear purpose about what he wants from me. He wants to talk with me, wants to show me the great things that are ahead, he wants to define where I fit in those plans.

The secret things belong to God, and he decides who to show them to. If I learn to sit at his feet, to call out to him on a daily basis, to search out his Word on a regular basis, I will discover great things about God. God's greatest treasures are not found on the surface, where you discover them by accident; they are products of a sincere, deliberate and continuous search, where an hunger for God will not be filled by anything else, except that God himself.

Can this be said about me at the moment? Can God entrust the deep, secret, precious and amazing plans of His into my heart? His time of favour is here.

Facts; Truth

Facts; Truth

For the Lord is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations. PSALM 100:5 AMP

3 statements in today's extract; 1 central Truth, and supporting statements. The Lord is good. There are situations in life that may make you question the truth of that statement, but it does not take anything away from its truth. Nothing I believe, say or do can change that truth, and nothing that happens to me in this physical, earthly realm can change that truth. It does not mean that 'bad' things will not happen, but it depends on whose perspective you are looking at life from. If I focus on what I think, then it will be difficult to see the good God can bring out of what I call bad, but if I see from God's perspective, there is no doubt that nothing ends up bad, if it is committed into His hands.

His mercy and loving kindness are everlasting. God's blessings are always generational, as He has too much in store not to be able to outlast anyone or anything.  When I read through the Bible, I see ordinary men and women who through simple faith, sealed mercy for their generations yet unborn. David, Abraham and Joseph are good examples. There are things man will do to deserve judgment, yet God will give second chances, only because he's not interested in the death of a sinner. When I am tempted to think there is any good in me, or that I am blessed because of the good i have always done, I need to remind myself that I stand only by the mercy of God.

His faithfulness endures to all generations. It is his nature to be faithful, and he doesn't depend on any man to be who He is. It is his nature that guarantees that I can face the future with hope that all will be well. It was a reminder of God's faithfulness that made Abraham leave the known for the unknown, because he knew better things were ahead. The same God still calls for men today; men who will hold Him at his Word and nature, and see Him do mighty things. He longs to show his power, because only then would the world know the difference, but how does he do anything, if those who should show him off don't even know what they have in and through Him?

Do you know this Lord? Does he know you as His own? His time of favour is here.

Owned!

Owned!

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19‭-‬20 KJV

I have heard this argument several times: 'nothing I do with this body matters; after all, the body is going back to dust.' People who make this assertion want to have a defence for how the body is used. Unfortunately, human diseases are the loudest testament to the fact that it really matters how the body is used. If this is true about regular daily life, imagine just how true this will be for the spiritual life, and today's extract is both a statement of fact and a question in that light.

In case i have forgotten, and I believe the lie of the devil that I own my life and can do whatever I like with it, I am reminded again that everything in me was given as an investment. It was never mine in the first place, and I am bound to give account of all I have been given. Today's extract talks about the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit. Take a picture of the old temple, it was the physical structure that God chose to inhabit; it was His Presence that made it no ordinary place. However, when sin came into the land, Babylonians came and completely destroyed the temple, carting away all its treasures. It does matter what I do with this body.

A price was paid for me to stand where I am now; this new life is a continuation of God's original plan. His breath was given and his Spirit imparted into me, and I am mandated to glorify God through my body and spirit, which belong to God. If God says my body belongs to Him, who else can say otherwise? If God makes a demand on my life now, and says I should come for judgment, can I truly defend the things I have been doing? Fortunately for me, it is never too late to return to the original plan; with God, the door of mercy is never shut. I may be living with the consequences of my past decisions, but they should not define my present walk and my future. God wants to take charge and direct my life, so that the purpose of the life He gave me would be fulfilled. His time of favour is here.