Apostle Joshua Selman is a Nigerian televangelist, instrumentalist, and chemical engineer. He is the founder and Senior Pastor of the Eternity Network International (ENI).
The (ENI) has a gospel fellowship called Koinonia, which meets regularly in Samaru, Zaria, Kaduna State, and Abuja, Nigeria.
The word Fasting in Greek is nesteia which means to suspend the craving for food.
It equally means to deny yourself of all forms of bodily nourishment.
Furthermore, it entails avoiding all forms of distraction and focusing your mind and body on spiritual thoughts and concepts. Joel 2:12-13
The Advantages of Fasting
Fasting has both spiritual and physical benefits. It is important that we understand the spiritual benefits of fasting in order to avoid doing it in ignorance.
1. Fasting strengthens prayer:
The goal of fasting is to draw you closer to God. Its purpose is to add vitality to prayer.
It does this by first conditioning the heart to pray effectively, and proceeding to condition our prayers to be aligned with God’s will.
The fast in itself is not responsible for this, it is the activities done during the fast that does this.
During a fast, the heart is fixed on the revelation of God, this revelation gives us the faith and insight required to have effectual prayer.
2. Fasting helps us access God’s thoughts:
The human mind is constantly a beehive of activities. With thoughts from different sources flooding it frequently, it is difficult to know when God is speaking to us. We silence these thoughts in fasting.
Meditation, which goes along with fasting, enables our heart to receive God’s thoughts seamlessly.
3. Fasting Gives You Access To Power:
The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem, fasted, and were given power. Many people want power but do not want to fast.
Paul had fasted for 14 days just to declare that there would be no loss of life. Jesus spent 40 days fasting before he got into ministry and the Bible tells us that He returned in the fullness of God’s power.
4. Fasting feeds your spirit:
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 33:13.
Your spirit is the center of your being, the Holy Spirit came to tabernacle in your spirit to write God’s law in your heart.
Fasting allows the Holy Spirit to freely express himself in your Spirit. It equally makes you experience his divinity through your soul.
A true fast subdues the desires of our flesh and engulfs our soul with passion for the things of God.
Don’t fast until a crisis happens, Fast because you want to have an intimate relationship with Christ.
Green-Hills Emmanuel Amarayahweh
The Bible is God’s tool for building His Saints. It must not be approached as an ordinary book.
The Bible is a spiritual book that can only be understood by spiritual men.
THE REVEALER OF TRUTH
“But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [complete truth]. For He will not speak on His initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future].” John 16:13 (AMP).
The mysteries in the scriptures are subtly hidden from the knowledge of a carnal man. It takes the revelation of the Holy Spirit to unveil that which is hidden in God’s Word.
Anyone can read the Bible and to an extent, understand its message. But to be able to relate with the scripture and profit from its richness, we need the help of the Holy Spirit.
APPROACH TO STUDYING THE BIBLE
1. Meekness:
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which can save your souls.” James 1:21.
In order to be properly taught by The Word, the Saint must be ready to let go of his/her preconceptions and previous mind-set. He must come to God’s Word with an open heart, willing to accept its reproof and obey its instruction.
The Saint must approach the word as a student approaches his teacher. He must acknowledge that he knows nothing and he is capable of knowing nothing outside what The Spirit of Truth teaches him.
2. Consistency:
Spiritual Growth happens not in the quantity of time we spend in God’s Word alone, but also in how consistent we are in studying God’s word.
The Saint must not be lazy and sluggish in his approach to the Bible. It must be a daily habit and necessity. It must be cherished like the material food and must be mused on morning, noon and night.
Psalms 1:2: “….. on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.”
If the hardest of mathematical equations and formulas written by men cannot be fully understood in inconsistent and unserious studying, how much more a book written from the inspiration of God?
The Saint who will profit from the Word must be habitual student of it. He must be willing to devote at least an hour of the day and night to studying the scriptures.
MEDITATE ON IT
In order to apprehend the knowledge of The Divine, our minds must be conditioned into silent meditation.
It is in meditation that illumination is received. This great principle remains the secret of the wisest of men who have received the revelation of Christ.
In meditation, we ponder upon what we see in God’s word; we make it ours – we personalise it and apply it to our lives. Knowledge is processed from mental knowledge into conviction through meditation.
Meditation gives us insight into a knowledge. It opens us to a practical and real experience of Truth.
Meditate on God’s promises towards you. Ponder on His instructions;. Meditate on His wondrous works recorded in scriptures. The more you do this, the more God’s word becomes real to you.
PRAY-READ THE SCRIPTURES
Accompany your study of God’s word with prayers. Prayer deepens our understanding of the word and solidifies our faith to expect what the Word has promised us.
There are promises we come across in scriptures that we are to pray about and declare over our lives. When you come across such while studying God’s word, do not hesitate to instantly begin to declare it over your life and your family.
Conclusively, ensure you study your Bible with a pen and jotter, and desire to practice everything you’re learning from the scripture.
Love was one of the most powerful weapons God used in redeeming Mankind back to himself; and that weapon is still very much active today.
The Bible says in John 3 vs 16;
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his ONLY begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
Jesus was the only Son God ever had, yet, God was willing to sacrifice Him for the salvation of the world.
God gave Jesus out into the cold hands of death just because of you and I and in doing this, put both Heaven and Earth in Great danger.
Great danger?
Yes! Because the fate of both Heaven and earth depended on whether Jesus would fulfil or fail in His mission.
Jesus faced several temptations, yet, He overcame them all. He refused to be distracted in His mission to save mankind. Scriptures tell us that He prayed with so much fervency – not for Himself, but for you and I. (Hebrews 5 vs 7)
He had the power to disappear before even when the soldiers came to arrest Him at Gethsemane.
But He said, “Not my will Lord, but thy will be done”.
His great love for us made Him willing to sacrifice His freedom and dignity.
He even bore our curse;
Galatians 3:13 – “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
Folks, God’s display of love on calvary remains the highest display of love for eternity.
St. John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Even when we fall, He picks us up and wipe the stains of sin and guilt away with His Blood.
This is the incomprehensible love of Christ – the love that passes understanding.
If you ever feel like anyone hates you, remember that two thousand years ago, a Divine Being named ‘Jesus’ made the greatest love sacrifice on the cross.
Are you feeling hopeless or in despair? Look unto the cross and be strengthened.
If you ever feel like an outcast, Remember you have been adopted by God through Christ and you are now a part of God’s Household {Ephesians 2:12-13}
Rejoice and bask in the love of Christ! 😊😊
Written by Tolu-Taiwo Victor
Isaiah 51:2: “Look unto Sarah [that] bare you…”
In a world in which perverseness and wokeism has become the order of the day, it is imperative that believers are well taught and instructed in Bible culture and values, else conformity to the ungodly civilization will be inevitable.
We live in a society which has been taken over by the rise of radical feminist movements. These movements started in the early 19s as honest movements in nations with subjugation of the female gender; yet, they have deteriorated into movements that are against the pillars of marriage, especially in Christianity.
Thus, the Spirit is sounding a firm warning to the female gender in Isaiah 51:2; He says, “… look unto Sarah”. He does not say, ‘… look unto Adichie…’ or ‘…look unto feminism’, instead, He reveals to us who is His blueprint for Christian wives to conform to; Sarah.
Who was Sarah?
Sarah is the first wife of Bible’s Abraham. Her role as a wife, friend and partner in Abraham’s life can never be overemphasized.
Sarah was not the one God called, Abraham was the one called by God. Sarah was not the one who received the promise, it was Abraham. But when Abraham shared it with her, she supported Abraham by choosing to go with him in his journey towards destiny. Here, Sarah shows us that as a wife, you must be ready to support your husband in his pursuit of his God-given vision. You must be ready to make sacrifices for him; you must be ready to displease yourself to see to the fulfillment of that great dream.
Imagine how difficult it was for Sarah to leave her home, country and comfort to go with Abraham to an unknown land. It shows how much she loved Abraham and how far she was willing to go to see to his success in life. Sacrifice is a great necessity in building a strong marriage.
Sarah’s love and sacrificial heart made her consistently follow Abraham even as he wandered from one place to another. She was selfless, and truly devoted her whole life to supporting Abraham’s vision.
If we could get more wives like Sarah in Christian marriages, certainly, we would get more men like Abraham; because the success of Abraham, to a large extent, was tied to the supportive role of his wife.
1 Peter 3:5-6: “For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.” (NIV)
Sarah was a submissive wife. In several places in the book of Genesis, she called Abraham ‘her lord’. The Hebrew word for ‘lord’ in that context is ‘Adonai’ and it means an owner or a master. Thus, Sarah recognized Abraham’s lordship over her. She recognized the fact that in that marriage, she belonged to Abraham. She recognized Abraham not just as her husband, but also as one who rightfully owned her; and she proved this by her unfailing devotion to serving Abraham.
When Abraham was entertaining the three strangers in Genesis 18:6, he instructed Sarah to bake bread and she promptly obeyed his instruction. In the two events in which Abraham instructed Sarah to hide her identity as his wife, Sarah obeyed perfectly. Folks, this is the reason God had to appear to Abraham and tell him to listen to Sarah and send Hagar away from the house.
Sarah is an epitome of true strength in marriage. She reveals to us, that as a wife, the way to getting a strong home and respect from your husband is not in fierce opposition or constant disobedience to his instructions, but in love and submission.
Beyond religious beliefs is the Bible authentic?
Beyond being a Christian by birth or whatever means, Is the Bible true?
Why should we believe that the Bible is true?
I am a Christian. I was brought up to believe that the Bible was the word of God.
In early life, I accepted it as such upon the authority of my parents, and never gave the question any serious thought. But later in life, I found myself face to face with the question, “Why do you believe the Bible is the word of God?”
This was a crossroad to me.
All I knew was that it is the word of God. But the How and why, I knew not!
I became curious and answers-conscious to the quiddity of the Bible.
This curiosity led me to pray fervently for an experiential knowledge of God.
It is in knowing God experientially that one can get to know the authenticity of things pertaining to Him.
Through many mediums; experience, theory, observation and by revelation, I arrived at some proofs that the Bible is the word of God.
These include {but not limited to};
1. The Holy Bible is God’s Revelation to man and not a mere Human imagination.
2. There is absolute accuracy and inviolability of the Old Testament which is in union with the new Testament.
3. By the unfailing manifestations of what are written there. Examples include the transforming power of the word, the working of miracles, the fellowship with the Holy-Ghost, etc.
4. On the ground of the testimony of Jesus Christ.
5. On the ground of its fulfilled, definite, explicit, and verbal prophecies before and after the Messiah, which was written hundred of years ago.
Invariably, man could not have foreseen these improbable events lay hundreds of years ahead, but God could, and it is God who spoke via these men.
6. On the ground of the unity of the books in the Book despite the disparities of men who wrote it. In all this wonderful conglomeration, we find an absolute unity of thoughts.
7. On the ground of the immeasurable superiority of the teaching of the Bible to those of any other books.
This can be seen factually in three points:
I. The Bible has in it nothing but the truth, while all other books have truth mixed with errors.
II. The Bible contains all truth. i.e there are no moral or spiritual subjects, which upon deep search, are not found within the Bible.
All other books ever written have their principles gotten from the Bible.
III. The Bible contains more truth than all other books. This is because the Bible is not man’s book, but God’s Book.
8. On the ground of the history of the book. This can be seen in its power to save men, and purify, gladden and beautify their lives, than in all other books put together.
9. No other book has the power to elevate not only individuals, but communities and nations has accepted it.
10. On the ground of its victory and its over the hatred and persecution of men.
11. On the ground of the character of those who accept and those who reject the book.
12. On the ground of the influence of the book.
13. On the ground of the inexhaustible treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
14. On the ground of the fact that as we grow in knowledge and Holiness we grow towards the Bible.
15. On the ground of direct testimony of the Holy-Spirit.
Undoubtedly, the Bible is one of God’s gifts to Humanity for transformation of lives, and drawing men closer to God.
The Bible is true.
The Bible is God’s gift to humanity.
The Bible is the way, and its gives life.
If you still doubt the authenticity of the Bible being true and the only way to knowing God, you are only making issues worse for yourself.
The solution is get into the book yourself and study it.
Just surrender your will to the will of God. No matter where it leads you, and you will put yourself in such an attitude towards God that when you read this book, THE BIBLE, you will experience Its powers and wonders.
Stop searching for God through the wrong sources , the Bible is all you needed.
MYROSE SAVIOUR LILY.
Jesus told the story of a father who had 2 sons. He said to one, go work in my vineyard. That one said “I will not”, but later he went and did the work.
The man had said the same to the other “Go work in my vineyard”; and that one had replied “Yes Sir, I will”, but he did not go.
Jesus then asked those whom He was talking to “Which do you think was the better son?”, and they answered rightly – forget what each son said, the one who did the father’s will – was the better one.
Jesus then told those to whom he was talking; those who ruled and who had the people’s ear – congress and the media, or the pharisees and the sadducees, that the prophets of the Lord, or John; came and showed the way of righteousness and those regarded as sinners – prostitutes and tax collectors believed him and stood with the church, but they after they had heard, still refused to believe and carried on with their ways.
He then told another parable and ended it by referring to a stone which the builders rejected, which had become the chief of the corner.
This is a parable to a nation where those don’t say what you want to hear but do what is right are rejected over those who say what you want to hear but do what is left.
We hope someone is listening. It is well.
Ebele UzoPeters
Soil Thy Lips
Hurtful words
From unbridled lip, Let them never.
Friendship is too sacred for a moment’s reckless foly.
Thus, to dissonate and mar.
Let your tongue be soft and sweet..
Let them be full of courage
Let them always edify
Soil thy lips.
Nkemjoy
Image Source: Klipfolio
2 Corinthians 4:18: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal”
This world we live in, is a material world, which will surely fade away someday. If this world has a beginning in time, then certainly, it will have an end. Hence, the Apostle calls it a Temporal world.
Due to this, even while we go about our daily endeavours, our sight must be set on the things which are not seen. Our sight must be set on the realities of eternity, and not the materialism of this world.
Years ago, I asked someone for the secret to living in ardour and piousness on Earth. I did not receive a satisfactory answer. For many years, I sought for the answer to this question. It was until I came across 1 Corinthians 4:18, that I discovered this answer.
A man’s destination will be determined by his focus. If you are journeying Eastwards, yet, your eyes are set on the West, your journey will be futile. We are Pilgrims in this world, who are on a journey to Eternity and Immortality. If we will arrive at our destination, our sights must be set on it.
Now is the time, when we must look beyond the economy of the nation wherein we dwell. The Pandemic has taught us that even the economy of the nation is unreliable. We must look beyond the wearing of masks and gloves and Covid protocols (even as we give strict adherence to them), unto the Eternal and Unseen creator.
Now is the time for us to realign our sights. For many years, believers have been too engrossed in the affairs of this world, that we have almost forgotten that there is a world to come.
Colossians 3:3 “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand”
In the aforementioned text, two things are revealed to us; a reality, and an Instruction. The first is that we have been raised to new life with Christ. This is probably the most powerful of gospel revelations.
It is the revelation that we have been raised into a new life with Christ. The Life we live now is a higher brand of life. A life which is higher than the life of the world. The Life we live now is the resurrection life; when Christ resurrected, we resurrected with Him.
We have been raised above sin, carnality, misery, sickness, shame, pain and reproach, unto a new kind of life. The Apostle called it ‘new life’, because this kind of life has never been in existence in the world.
It came into existence after Jesus resurrected from the grave. It is God’s kind of life. This is the life that we have, and that we live. It is a life of faith in the eternal realities of God.
The Instruction: set your sights on the realities of heaven.
There are realities of heaven. Immortality, divine health, prosperity, divine wisdom etc. these are heavenly realities. Our gaze must be on them.
Though one might not be able to see them physically, yet, with one’s heart, one can continuously gaze on them and picture oneself living in them.
As you walk on the face of the Earth, let there be a picture of eternity in your heart.
Even when things seem to be tough, with your heart, look beyond the physical. The pain, the pandemic, the lockdown, no matter how long these things might seem to be, they will surely pass away.
But one thing that will never pass away, is the Eternal Word of God. His Word abides forever. So why fret yourself over the visible but temporal things. Open your heart and look in anticipation of the salvation of your Redeemer.
Set your gaze on the realities of God found in His Word.
Fix your thoughts on His Promises to you and your family, both here and in Heaven. See them happening in your life.
Do not let your vision be blurred by circumstance! Instead, let it be guided by your faith in God’s word.
God bless you!
Growth is one of the vital characteristics, which is needed in everything we are doing, including in our relationship with God. He expects that our relationship with Him, must not be stagnant.
God understands that as a child, when you newly came to Christ, you are not all that strong and firm.
A baby starts its growth process from crawling. It is not abnormal for a baby to fall while trying to walk, but it becomes a problem if the child continues to crawl at the time he or she should be walking.
This is also applicable in our walk with God.
1 Peter 2:2 (AMP): As newborn babies, LONG FOR (thirst for, earnestly DESIRE) the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may GROW.
From the scripture above, we will discover that God does not want you to remain a crawling child, He desires that you GROW unto maturity, unto a greater knowledge of who He is and who you are in Him.
You can’t remain a weak and falling child forever. At the first stage of your christian walk, your weakness is understandable, but there has to be a change and improvement in it daily.
There should be a daily increase in the time you spend with Him, there should be a daily increase in the depth of your love for Him and for His word. Daily change is expected in the way you pray.
“As newborn babies, you should DESIRE….”
This is where we begin to find our solution to growing in Christ. You should desire, crave, thirst, and long for His undiluted milk, that’s the basic thing to do in order to GROW.
God’s Word by the Spirit gives us the secret to how we can access more of our Father in Heaven; desiring growth, craving for more.
Take for example, that moment when you were with exciting family and friends; having the best of fun, then you realize it is almost time to go home.
At this point, if it were possible, you would literarily pause the hands of time, you would desire that there should be extra time to spend together.
That’s DESIRE!
Most times, when true desire comes, it doesn’t look at the impossibilities, it only sees the possibilities of what it desires. Hence, your desire to grow, is what actually starts growth itself.
Are you satisfied with the current level of your relationship with Jesus Christ?
Don’t you think you could step up in your quiet time with the Holy Spirit?
There’s got to be more to God than what you have now.
A DESIRE and a CRAVING will begin the journey!
The place of desiring a change and growth, starts it all. You can’t take actions if there’s no desire, neither will you make decisions if there’s no desire.
So from today, stir up a desire to grow in Christ from now on. Stir up a desire to increase your time with Him, your time with His word, your time in His presence.
Ignite a desire to do more than the norms, because there is always more you can do!
Truly, desire without deliberate actions, will not yield sufficient results, therefore, in the part 2 of this teaching, we will consider the action to undertake, so as to grow in our walk with God.
Precious Wilfred
Wealth, Riches, Power. These things are necessary for the success and continuous development of every nation.
Yet, if one is not careful, one might be tempted to lose faith and trust in God and begin to depend on the abundant resources of the nation
In this post, Bishop TD Jakes exhorts both American and non-American viewers on the consequences of pride.
KOINONIA ART 