Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Is The Finished work of Christ effective in your life?

Text: Galatians 5:3-5, Collosians 1:20-22

Man that is born into this life that depends totally on God's favor and omnipotence to survive, because the earth, it's fullness and all that is therein  belong to God.(Psalm 24:1).Favor of God distinguishes men and nations.It is righteousness that exalts a nation, sin (the debts owed God) is a reproachto any people(Proverbs 14:34). By strength shall no prevail(1 Samuel 2:9).

The children of Israel prevailed in all their sojourn through God's favor.(Exodus 12:36, Psalm 44:3).What qualifies us for favor is our right standing with God(righteousness), which is made possible when we pay the debts we owe God due to our sins.the psalmist says in Psalm 5:12 that God will bless the righteous and compass him about with favour like a shield.

Since the fall of man, God hath concluded every man a sinner so that He may have mercy on man.(Romans 11:32).We cannot pay the debts of our sins to God  and be in right standing with God to receive and enjoy God's divine favor, through circumcision or obeying the ten commandments and over 600 other laws(that is we cannot be justfied by works or obedience to these laws and commandments).

If we choose obedience to these laws  and circumcision as a means of paying the debt we owe God to be in right standing with Him and enjoy His divine favor, we have to obey ALL the laws and commandments without failing in any one of them, which is impossible.The bible say if we fail in one we fail in all.(James 2:10).And our text tells us if we go via the route of  the works of the law, we make Christ of no effect in our lives and are fallen from grace.

Howbeit if we place our trust and belief solely on the vicarious death of Christ on the cross of calvary and the shedding of His blood to atone for our sins and  as complete and final payments for the debts we owe God due to our past, present and future sins against God(that is justification by faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross and faith in the blood of Jesus) we will be in right standing before God to receive His favor that would unleash immeasurable blessings into our lives through our Lord Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit. Under these circumstances, Christ and His grace is made effectual in our lives and we start enjoying the benefits of the Cross of Christ.

Our text tells us that what is therefore needed now is only our faith in the blood of Jesus as sufficient payments of the debts we owe God and activating this faith through words, thoughts and deeds of  love because faith works by love to enjoy right standing with God to receive His favor.(Galatians 5:6).

The resultant effect and impact of grace on our lives will be walking in the newness of life and holiness; and abounding in goods works by the help of the Holy Spirit.(Romans 6:4,22;Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 9:8)

Our consciousness of this basis for our justification creates a flow of God's blessings, inspiration and direction into every area of  our lives, and we are transformed into the same image of Christ from glory to glory as by the Spirit of God.(2 Corinthians 9:8)

May the Holy Spirit give us more understanding in Jesus Name, Amen.

The Christian is part of the seed of Abraham-Jesus Christ

Text:EphesiaRomans 4:13, 8:17, Acts 17:28, Galatians 2:20

From our text, God before the foundation chose every man in His Son,Jesus Christ to be holy and without blame before him in love.We are only accepted by God in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit baptised us into Christ when we became born again(1 Corinthians 12:13,Galatians 3:27), and we have put on Christ as the clothing of our spirit man and therefore should not make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof.(Romans 13:14).

The Christian is a member of the body of Christ, of His flesh and of His bones(Ephesians 5;30,
1 Corinthians 12:27).

God sees the Christian inside Christ chosen before the foundation of the world. So on the cross, the christian was inside the loins of Christ spiritually just like the jews were in the loins of Abraham.(Romans 6:3,Hebrews 7:5). On the cross our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed,that henceforth we should not serve sin, but rather be servants of righteousness and servants to God(romans 6:6,18-22), and bear fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.

God had sworn and made Abraham and his seed the heir of the world through the righteousness of faith which speaketh(Romans 4:13, 10:5).Isaac is like the Christian, a part of the seed(Galatians 4:28), in Christ are heirs according to the promise.

The promise to be the heir of the world was made to Abraham and his seed, and not to seeds as of many, but as of one seed.Abraham had one seed. Jesus Christ is the only seed of Abraham(Galatians 3:16).

Isaac, the Jews and all believers are joint heirs with Christ and therefore seed of Abraham and are seen as part of Christ by God, the Father. Therefore the whole world belong to Christ; and also to the Jews and Christians baptised into Christ; and in and through Christ, the believer receives, takes and enjoy God's bountiful blessings. Jesus Christ is our Source , and God, the Father is His Source.Alleluia.We are complete in Christ.(Collosians 2:10) As He is in this world so we are in this world(1 John 4:17).All things are ours; we are Christ's and Christ is God's.(1 Corinthians 3:21-23). In Christ we are righteous, redeemed, sanctified, full of wisdom, full of knowledge, anointed and full of power.(1 Corinthians 1:24,30).

That is the way God sees us. That is the way we get our needs met-in and through Christ. That is heaven's protocol for the Christian.All we need for life and godliness are in Christ. God demonstrated this during the sojourn of Isrealites to and from the promised land. The manna they ate, the Rock Moses struck that gave water which they drank from were actually Jesus and Jesus crucified.

Through the Cross of Christ where we receive mercy through the blood of Jesus and help from the Spirit of grace from the throne of grace. God sees us in Christ. All that is Christ is ours. The more we are conscious of this truth and behold Jesus Christ through prayers, praises, scripture reading, study, meditation, confession, seeing the word of grace in our minds as pictures and listening to the instructions of the Spirit of grace and promptly obeying and confessing or declaring the rhema word from the Holy Spirit seen in our minds, the more our needs are met and we are transformed from glory to glory(Genesis 13:15, 2 Corinthians 3:18, 4:18)

Alleluia, glory to God in the highestSshalom. May the Holy Spirit give you understanding, give you the grace to make the right choices and bless you richly, Amen

Monday, April 9, 2012

Harvesting Seed Sown:Puting Pressure on the Seed to Produce

Text:Genesis 8:22, Galatians 6:7, Romans 4:17,  Hebrews 4:2

From our text, God had put down a spiritual law to guide every area of life for all  mankind- the law of seed time and harvest:'Be not deceived, God is not mocked:what soever a man sows , that shall he also reap;"........ seed time and harvest shall not cease as long as the earth remaineth.....".

Jesus Christ our Lord is the Seed of Abraham(Galatians 3:16).God sowed His only begotten son as seed (Genesis 3:15).God put pressure on the seed sown by continually declaring the word of promise through the mouths of His prophets and servants until it became a reality,when the word was made flesh-Jesus Christ(John 1:14)

The Bible is a book of seeds.The seed is the word of God(Luke 8:11). The  sower soweth the word(Mark 4:14)

Every word spoken, something thought about, or action  or deed done are seeds sown into that situation or circumstances.

If the word , thoughts or deed align with the word of God(that aligns with the word of God-"He hath said,..........that we may boldly say", something thought about or meditated on that gives us a picture of what we need) : that is sowing to the Spirit(John 6:63, Ezekiel 2:2, Ephesians 6:17) then they will produce abundant life, peace and life everlasting or if sown to the flesh(contrary to the word of grace and works of the law), they will produce hardship and corruption.

So we put pressure on the seed we have sown by continually declaring the word of His grace or divine promises concerning the seed sown until manifestation.

You have been giving tithe and offerings and you have not reaped the harvest: continue to thank God for the harvest and put pressure on the tithe and offering seed sown by declaring Phillipians 4:19 until the word becomes abundant and is manifested into a harvest.

You have prayed for healing and you have not received the healing:continue to thank God for the healing  and put pressure on the prayer seed sown by declaring either of 1st Peter 2:24, or  Isaiah 53:5, or Matthew 8:17  until the word becomes abundant  and is manifested into a harvest.

Summary: Plant the seed(word, thought or action in alignment with God's word) and continue to pressure the seed by thanking God and declarring the word of grace pertaining to the seed until the harvests manifest.

Shalom and God bless you richly. Alleluia.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Power of the Cross

Text:1 Corinthians 1:18, 2:2

Our text tells us that the preaching of the cross is the power of God to them that are saved and foolishness to them that  perish, that is the unsaved. When we are preaching the cross, power is evidently released to manifest the blessings of God in the life of the believer. The Cross is the place of exchange of unconditional love for hatred and wickedness,eternal death for eternal life, curses for blessing, sickness and disease for wholeness and good health, poverty for riches, shame for glory, rejection for love, defeat for victory, failure for success, captivity and imprisonment for freedom and liberty, lack for abundance and prosperity, barrenness for fruitfulness, darkness for light, short life for long life etc, etc.

No wonder when Paul came to the Corinthians  church , he was unequivocal in tellling them  that all he was interested in  knowing among them was Jesus and Jesus crucfied.(1 Corinthians 2:2). There was a lot happening in this church:strife, fornication , all sorts of division and different types of sinful acts.Paul was only concerned about their focus on Jesus Christ and Him criucified. Why? This is because, the root cause of those problems was their lack of attention and focus on the Cross of Jesus which will release power to overcome the spirit of iniquity plaguing the church.((2 Cor.2:11, 4:4,11:3). The happenings were symptoms of the fact that their minds and hearts were focused on lying vanities, resulting in them forsaking God's mercy and grace to live right.(Jonah 2:8). The Cross of Jesus depicts the pure amazing grace, love  and mercy of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures say  in Romans 6:14 sin shall not have dominion over us, because we are under grace and not under the law(doing right or doing wrong). So focusing on the happenings in the Corithians church would have brought Paul ubder the law and made Christ of no effect, God forbid.(Galatians 5:3). You are controlled and limited by what you focus your mind and attention on; and if on the  Jesus Christ(the word of grace) and the cross of Jesus, then we are under grace, and if on our performance and effort, the good things and the bad things we do or not do, under the law. So beware.

Also Apostle Paul in Galatians 6:14 said the only thing he glories in , is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to him and he unto the world. The cross of Jesus represents a climatic exchange of heavens good for the evil of the earth that crosses out the world out of our minds and brings inti our heart affection for heaven and the King of kings.

So spend time to think and imagine the beatibng of Jesus with stripes for your healing and the shedding of Hios blood for your righteousness that requirement for anserwered prayers  and for the flow of the covenant blessings into your life.

May the Holy Spirit give you understanding in Jesus Name, Amen.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

What do you see before or around you?

Text:Proverbs 15:30, Titus 1:15,Phillipians 4:8,1John2:4-6 Some people see good always around them, while others see nothing but only evil.The difference comes from what we expose our minds to, either thinking and meditating on the finished work of the cross and thinking and meditating on the word of grace and allow the Holy Spirit to control our minds or focusing and giving more attention to the world and it's allurements.(Matthew 6:22-23).If our heart is pure and believing, we will see all things as pure.If our heart is defiled and unbelieving, we see everything as impure.Our mind and conscience filters all that we see around based on whether our heart is believing or unbelieving.What we choose to fill our minds with or think about determines how we perceive things and the way we act.Phillipians 4:8 tells us what to think about:should be excellent , praiseworthy and be of good report. When we turn our thoughts to God and His word, we will discover more goodness even in situations that seems contrary.Such minds have little or no room for what is evil. From Titus 1:16 we see that our conduct reflect what we believe.Our lifestyle speaks about what we value in life and whether we have ordered our lives around what is important in the kingdom of God. By watching our lives, people will know about God and about our faith. Set your affection and mind on things that are above that is spiritual things than on physical things we see that are temporal and subject to change. God bless you as you read.

The one single solution of God to all your problems and challenges

Text:1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 2:2.

Man born into this world is encumbered with many problems.As different as our faces so are our problems and challenges.Varied as the problems may be, God has only one sufficient solution to the all the problems of mankind:the cross of Christ.The basic universal problem of all humans is that we have all turned our backs on God and gone our own way.(Isaiah 53:6).The bible calls this iniquity and the punishment or evil consequences of iniquity.Jesus Himself was not guilty but the iniquity of all of us was laid upon him by the Father because of His love for humans. Jesus loves the Father and loves humans and willingly gave his life and took all the judgment, condemnation and punishment we deserve by his suffering, crucifixion, rejection from God, painful and shameful death , burial and resurrection.He literally took our place and exchanged it divinely for His own righteousness, holiness, blessings and riches, wholeness and all the blessings of abundant and eternal life.The evil due us came upon Jesus so that the good and blessings due Jesus might be offered to us who believe from the amazing grace and love of God for us . As we focus our mind and thoughts on the finished work of Christ seeing Jesus being beaten and striped for our healing and the blood being shared for our righteousness, we receive our blessings of wholeness and righteousness. Our prayers are always answered because they come from the righteous.Righteousness is now a gift exchanged for our sins on the cross(2 Cor.5:21).Our righteousness is irreversible.We should always acknowledge and confess our forgiveness of sins through the fountain of the blood of Jesus which continually cleanses us 24/7 (1John 1:7) and that we are always the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Set your mind always on the finished work of Christ on the cross.Power is released every time you do this and the devil is always defeated.(1 Cor.1:18).Your thoughts on the finished work on the cross and the resurrection creates the realities of your righteousness and releases your healing and prosperity. The battle is in the mind.The stronghold of iniquity and sin in the mind is overcome by the stronger hold of the blood of the eternal covenant(2 Cor.10:3-5,Zechariah 9 :11-12).That is the key to good health and prosperity in your life.Remember when the Jews had challenges, the Prophet was directed to cut a tree to find the mixing axe;to remove the poison from the poisonous meal, to heal them from deadly bite of fiery serpents by focusing on the bronze serpent representing finished work on the cross. It is like shining light to every dark area of our lives.The bronze represent the judgment due us laid upon Christ on the Cross,and the serpent being a cursed creature by God represents  Jesus who became the curse for us so that we might be blessed.(Galatians 3:13-14). You are always the righteousness of God. It is irreversible because it is a gift , and the gift of God are without repentance.God says in Hebrews 8:12 that your sins and iniquity he will remember no more .That means he will not visit you with your iniquity and sins like in the Old covenant, but will convict you of who you are by the Holy Spirit and empower or engrace you to live righteously.That is God's grace and His amazing love.
God bless you richly and give you greater understanding in Jesus Name, Amen.