Tuesday, 5 February 2013

SINCE YOU KNOW BETTER PROCEED



look up to Jesus

I like the fire and the “umph” in the fellow brethren from my village. Well am not quite sure what the motivation is but it must be of course the hope they have in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever witnessed how they do their weekly meetings, prayers , testimonies…etc; Praising Jesus after every sentence, for instance
 Njitagwo Pauline, mwathani agochwo, na ndimuhonoku, mwathani agochwo, nyumite murang’a mwathani agochwo.
My name is Pauline, praise the Lord, and am saved, praise the Lord, am from Murang’a, praise the Lord.
The Revered of the church has a default prayer style. Hold the Bible with your right hand, hold it against your chest, pivot yourself with the toes and start swinging, your eyes are tightly closed, lean forward a little and call on God with all your strength.
In one of those weekly fellowships, brethren gathered together for prayer. The church at that particular moment was facing a lot of challenges due to the rampant persecutions by the non-believers.

The leader of the prayer meeting urged everybody to call on God since that is where they anchored their hope. All were in tears. ”Dear Lord help us! Save us from all these battles! Fight for us”, is all you would hear from the believers. They knew that the weapons they fight with are not carnal, but mighty through God in bringing down strongholds that set themselves against God.
Conclusion time
They all gathered in a circle holding hands as a sign of unity. The leader requested one of the new believers to conclude the prayer for them, that is, to make a common prayer of unity.
He begun with a loud voice..

New Believer: ”Father in the name of Jesus… ”
Crowd: “Yeees”
New Believer:  “ We are before your presence today…”
Crowd: ”Ameen”
New Believer: ”praying that as you made the sun to stop when… this man prayed, aaaaam mmmmm”

The new believer could not remember the name of the man who prayed to God and the sun stopped. He is now scratching his head trying to remember. The prayer has come to a halt and everyone is wondering whats happening. One man decided to save the day.
The man:”its Joshua..”
New Believer:” now since you know better proceed with the prayers….”



Hey friends'
does any one identify with me?

Mt 19:5, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
I feel it is my time to leave my father and mother and join my wife, as a matter of necessity.
1Co 7:36 ¶ If any one thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry--it is no sin.
I think my passions are strong, as you are saying preacher; I want to pick your advice and do what is proper and honorable to God. I have no intentions of behaving improperly towards my betrothed.
1Co 7:37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.
I am under necessity, in that regard. However, I am firmly pivoted at heart to trust God. In the contrary statement, does it mean a loss of self-control.
 38 So that he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.
In that case, I better do well not better. Ha ha.
Exercising Self Control
Dictionary:
The act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses
The trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior

Ac 24:25 And as he argued about justice and self-control and future judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, "Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity I will summon you."

Paul condensed God’s requirement as being constituted in justice, self-control and future judgement. He makes a point, in this case, of self-control, in the life of a believer, as being fundamental for godly living.

1Co 7:9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

1Co 9:25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.
Paul uses an athlete’s analogy to make a case for self control: that an athlete runs exercising self-control. Though, he has an option of running the race his own way or even give up under various pressures, the athlete considers his crown important for the run. Similarly, self-control, in light of a Christian life requires that one walks as the Lord Jesus has marked out: through the guidance of his word which spells out the winning formula. All this, of course, is under the awesome influence of God’s Spirit.
Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23 gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
2Ti 1:7 for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
Paul presents the supremacy of God’s Spirit as the Chief implement of God’s end in a believer. He is the key ingredient and recipe in the ‘manufacture’ of self-control. (Don’t quote me).
2Pe 1:5 ¶ For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
Self-control as needful of our active participation as believers. God has committed His seed in us and through our willingness, surrender and the practice of His word and the inclusive biddings,  self-control is birthed and/or grown. 

HahaAh!

Monday, 4 February 2013

What did the LORD say?


 Thus says the LORD
The presentation of the word of His grace .
Note that the delivery of this piece has been fully paid, procured and
secured by and in the blood of Jesus.

…………………all for His glory and honor…we are his; we are his people (Ps100:3b)

We may not know a lot about the future, but we know the most important matter about it: Christ will be with us in the future. Indeed, our greatest advantage as Christians is not in the tradition of the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening: it is in the surety of the presence of Christ in our affairs, even to eternity.
We meet God when each one of us has his own version of how things should be. Even our values have been set. The God with the original design of us encounters a people who already have a design of the working of affairs. And thus an unsaid/unvoiced/silent conflict looms. Well, who shall carry the day?
Many things today do not exist in their original form, whether by default design or by artificial input. Man has sought to change the items in his environment to suit his comfort. The danger of it is man wanting to change himself to be what he thinks befits him plus the urge to change what God instituted as all-age unchanging to fit into the life of his desire.
Of course
Objective – to present God and His Word as true and infallible. To present Him as accurate and as well meaning in His instructions to us. To appreciate the word of God as unchanging in all ages, all generations as God intended it to be. Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
.. .The ever unchanging Redeemer working through His all season word.
…The Word that works the way it is: without need of modification.
…Has Christ changed with time, situations..et al. Or is there need for us to modify Christ or is He still relevant to us the way He was in the beginning.

The benefit of understanding/capturing what God has said about a matter and walking in light of His whole counsel.
To arouse us to the likelihood of our own departure from the unadulterated truth of God to the fashionable secondary message the devil propagates.
Call everyone to desist from all forms of God-Word/voice-mutilation and make an invitation for us to intently search what God has said.



Reading, Gen3:1-7
The constant ambition of the enemy to
Ø  Present himself as God’s ambassador/angel – as the one to channel God (or His message) to us. 2Cor11:14. The devil presented himself as a friend to Eve.
Ø  Consequently misconstruct godly meaning and ‘misrepresent’ God and His truth.
The deception through distortion
Deception - A misleading falsehood
Distort - Make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story
                Alter the shape of (something) by stress
               Twist and press out of shape
God desires to Shepherd us and lead us alright. The enemy desires to mislead, and constantly so.

1.       God was (and wanted to be) clear to Adam concerning His expectation and his responsibility. God gave him his job description. The reason God desires to be clear to us is because He has plans for us on how we ought to live. Sadly, the devil also has a ‘competing’ idea of how things should be. Secondly, cannot recall/repent or even divorce His word. The word of His clarity. What He says is what He means. What He has not said, He has simply not said.
Because He watches over His word, Jer 1:12, " for I am watching over my word to perform it.".
1Sa 3:19 ¶ And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
The question is whether Adam got God clearly. It would be good to ask Adam: ‘Adam, what did the LORD say?’ or ‘Adam, what did the LORD say?’
Have you been walking in the clarity of God’s voice and word?
Don’t you know it is possible for God to be clear to you every time. He is not a strange God, He will not engage us with a strange voice. We are His people.
God will never be himself to be associated with confusion.
The challenge of our time, as has been all-age, is not in the unwillingness of God to speak Himself to us. It is in our reception.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
All things are clear in the presence of light and dark in its absence. Or what can’t we see in light.
2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Christ came in a manner that is humanly possible: He came as a person like everyone of us.
Heb 2:4 ¶ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,  15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.
The clarity of God is in His complete/full/unlimited understanding of the state of man: even as a High Priest.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (KJV)
2.       The voice and word of God [should] precede his commission and is present during the real execution. If He has to send, He gives instruction. The word of God in every matter is the evidence of His stamp/permission and authority: indeed His presence. He told Adam what to do with and in the garden. If God had not spoken, then Adam would have the right to ask God what to do. But because He had already spoken, Adam just needed to retrieve the word of God and obey it. Indeed, He just needed to stand with the word of God even at the appearance of the enemy.
What did God tell you when you got born again? Have you been true to it?
Or even when you got married?….r u still trusting that which God said? Or when He called you to serve in the church? In your place of work...what did He tell you?
Abraham moves at the God’s word.
Moses moves to Pharaoh at the Word of God.
Christ commissions His disciples for ministry.
The word was present ahead of all things. The word was/existed before any situation and hence qualifies as supreme before all other things.
3.       The serpent more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD had created. The devil as the highest authority/mastermind of deception. Indeed he is the source of all evil. When dealing with him know that he is good at what he does: deceive.
Subtle [KJV and RSV] -Difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze.
           -Able to make fine distinctions.
           -Working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way.
Cunning [Gideons] - Showing inventiveness and skill.
                              - Marked by skill in deception.
                              - Attractive especially by means of smallness, prettiness or quaintness.
He is the reason the world is corrupted: broken families, murders, hatred,
4.       The serpent is a creation of God. He should not be assumed, yet his appearance should not be over-stretched to win him credit, even through fear.
5.       We see God creating man and giving him instructions. We understand the devil’s presence/awareness of the instructions when he tempts Eve. Therefore we know that he was created before man. The devil’s motive was to ‘soil’ God’s instructions and hence separate man from the good pleasure of God concerning him.
6.       God created the ordinary trees (for the food of man) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man wasn’t supposed to touch the latter. God knows why: for His own pleasure. Suggestion: God desired that from the beginning man would live under the authority of His word. God knows why He has created things the way He did-walk in His instructions.
7.       God has given us a word: the basis of our relationship with Him. The knowledge and obedience of it is the platform upon which our progress is pegged. There was a word attached to everything that God created-how man was to handle it. 2vs16-17: the LORD commanded man. It was a command, meaning God would not change His mind about it. Our standing is pegged on leaning on the word of God.
8.       God put a distinction between what man would do freely and what he would be prohibited. 2vs16-17. God set boundaries. He was the one to command the boundaries of man. The command of God is the source of or freedom for it clearly spells to us the way of life.

It is not about entertaining the talk/dialect of the enemy, it will come in various options. However, she engaged the enemy in her own words. She forfeited the word God had left.
When you forsake the Word God has spoken, you lose on godly authority since it is attached to that word and consequently give yourself to the influence of the lie.

At what point did God speak?
The devil’s desire to rob man the word/ discredit God’s message to man – sower parable
Jeremiah and the false prophet
The voice of God – the voice of one crying in the wilderness
God emancipating a people, He lifts up people through whom He can accurately (though they be weak, 2Cor4:7) convey all godly instructions. Similarly the devil appoints his pointmen/delegates/agents thru whom he propagates demonic agenda. The appointments are scarcely through an open declaration but more by encouraging ignorance and misconstruction of God’s voice.

Jer 26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
Do not hold back a word

Friday, 1 February 2013

Authentic Christianity



THE MESSAGE OF THE LORD TO HIS BELOVED CHURCH
AUTHENTIC CHRISTIANITY; INCREASING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
COLOSSIANS 1:9-12
And so, from the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
INTRODUCTION
We all like what is original (genuine). In the recent past there has been so many counterfeit items including mobile phones. One is usually disappointed at realization that he/she has been keeping a fake item. The reason being that a fake item doesn’t last long, it usually has a lot of problems and it’s unable to perform as expected.
Authentic means original, genuine, not counterfeit, conforming to the fact hence worth to believe.
What then is authentic Christianity?
COLOSSIANS 1:9-11
Let us go through this text together, this will help us understand the topic.
The book of Colossians was written by Apostle Paul while still in Ephesus. He was with Timothy and probably other brethren during the instance of writing this letter.
He wrote it for many reasons including warning them against the false prophets. Though Paul was not the spiritual father of this church he felt responsible to give them helpful information about the Christian faith.
This was a young church and they were all growing in their walk with Christ. Epaphrus (the spiritual father of this church) reported to Paul and the brethren of the faith of these people and the love they had for all the saints.  They had hope of the second coming of Jesus who would take them with him to heaven, and that hope sprang in them faith and love.
There was a problem, even with all this faith and love for the saints: the people of Colossae were being swayed and tossed in their beliefs. They were not rooted and hence many teachers would come with false teachings and confuse them. The only prayer then that Paul made for them is verse 9.
That God may fill them with the knowledge of His will. This then means that when we know the will of God, we are able to follow it. So then it’s our obligation to make sure we know the will of God. This can be done through reading of the word, since it’s His word and His mind in writings. We also pray in order to know the will of God.
They were to be filled through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.                    In 2 Cor 2:10….God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. It’s only the Spirit that can reveal to us the will of God. We therefore depend on Him for guidance.
In verse 10, Paul clearly states that the reason of him making such a prayer is so that after the above has been accomplished in them, they may live a life worth of the Lord and may please Him in every way. I believe a life worthy of the Lord is an authentic one, its genuine, according to God its worth living. This then yields to one pleasing God in every way; not some ways but every way.
Bearing fruitful in every good work. A genuine Christian is able to perform as per the maker (God), that is bearing fruit and not anywhere else but in every good work. All this will be sustaining by a continual growth in the knowledge of God.
Through the knowledge of Christ we receive strength: strength to say no to sin or any appearance of sin. Have you read about some men of faith in the Bible who have said NO to sin?
MOSES:
At the instance when Moses was called by God, we see him as a fearful man. In fact he had gone there to hide from Pharaoh. When God tells him about his assignment to deliver the Israelites, he starts to give excuses. He had not known God! Moses was not aware that when God says “I will be with you”, He exactly means that. (Exodus 3:4)
Interestingly, in chapter 33:14-15, Moses seem to have known who actually God is and its recorded in verse 15…And he said to him, "If thy presence will not go with me, do not carry us up from here. Moses cannot afford to make a step without God. He has now increased in the knowledge of God.
JOSEPH:
Genesis 39:9……….he is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" 
I love the way Joseph puts it: ‘and sin against God’. As much as the order was from Pharaoh that Joseph shouldn’t touch his wife, sinning against God was the first consideration for Joseph. Till this far Joseph had become a friend of God, they had walked together through dreams, rejection and he knew it’s only God who can never leave you. So how could he then do such a thing and sin against God?


SHADRACK, MESHECK,ABEDNEGO
Daniel chapter 3, also describes another scenario of 3 men of God who refused to bow to idols. The situation in which they were in (in exile as slaves) was not the best such that one can claim they were in comfort and therefore they would boldly go against a kings command. Quite a number of us sin and say “I was forced by circumstances to lie”. We have good examples with us.

Time and space will not allow me to write all the men of faith, but the above will act as an example.
CONLUSION:
As Paul had told the Colossae we have seen that through the increased knowledge of God we are able to be authentic Christians.(them that become what God called them to be.
Be ye Holy as am Holy. That is the call of God, to resist the devil and to flee from him. To embrace Christ and His teachings.