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GENERAL, Holiness and Grace, Spirituality

What does it mean to be the salt of the Earth?

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Frankly speaking, cooking is the last on the list of things I like doing. I don’t like cooking and for that reason, I’m can hardly be found in the kitchen.

However, things changed when I rented my own apartment and started living alone. I had to compel myself to cook my own lessons. One of the foods I quickly mastered is Beans and Plantain Porridge.


One day, I prepared it so delicately with the spices available. When the porridge was cooked, I was so pleased with its scent and outlook.


But the grin on my face quickly faded was I tasted the food. It tasted bland.

Then I recalled that I hadn’t put salt in the food. This realization struck me – the realization that in spite of all the spices I added to the food it remained bland until salt was added.


As soon as the salt was added, the taste was restored and it was edible again.


This invaluable significance of salt is the reason Jesus used it in describing believers.


When He described us as the Salt of the Earth, He meant we are the ones that will restore God’s original nature and flavour to humanity.


1. Salt adds taste


Just as salt is used to add taste to food, Jesus expects believers to add value to people’s lives.


Jesus expects us to be the source of hope and joy to troubled hearts. He expects us to be motivation to a depressed world. He expects us to be instruments of edification.


Believers ought to be fountains of hope for folks of different races to come and draw from. We are supposed to be so endowed with heavenly graces and fragrance, that no one spends time with us and remains depressed or down casted.

Instead, by conversing with us, men receive inspiration to pursue that which God has called them to do.



2. Salt gets rid of corruption


Salt is used to preserve food and prevent its corruption. Likewise, God expects believers to be instruments to get rid of the corruption prevalent in men through the preaching of the Gospel.



In Romans 12:1, we are admonished to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. This simply means that God desires for men to live for Him here on Earth. However, God will not accept the life sacrifices of men that are full of corruption.



Thus, in Mark 9:15, Jesus said, “every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.”


The only way we can make men presentable and acceptable to the Lord is salvation. We must make it our duty to bring the good news of Christ to people.



Paul described the Gospel of Christ as ‘the power of God’ unto salvation. This mighty power of God is the only antidote against sin and moral decay that exists in humanity.


It is through preaching God’s Word that we dispense our seasoning to the world.


CAN A SALT LOSE IT’S TASTE?



This is one of the strongest metaphors in scriptures. It seems quite difficult to understand because in literal sense, a salt can almost-never lose its taste, because it is the taste that makes it salt.



However, Jesus as a warning to believers for us to lead holy and God-fearing lives to avoid being like a salt that has lost its flavour.



A believer can lose the divine flavour and influences in him if such believer continually lives in sin. He can also lose it if he decides to live in carnality. Such believer is not useful to the Kingdom.

Jesus said such believer will be trampled upon – this means he/she will be a slave to the wishes of the world and Satanic agents.



Believers are meant to be rulers and folks with authority to trample over serpents and scorpions {representing satanic and his cohorts}.

However, if such believer casts off Divine influences and conforms to the world, he will lose his usefulness in the kingdom and become an easy prey.



Jesus’ metaphor further reveals that there are two kinds of salt,
– The useful one
– The worthless one


Which do you desire to belong to?


What differentiates a salt from every other spice is its flavour. When this flavour is gone, the salt will lose its uniqueness.

Thus, Jesus was also trying to teach believers to hold onto the lifestyles and beliefs that makes us unique and distinct from the world.

Paul reiterated this in Romans 12:2 when he instructed the Church to avoid conforming to the world’s pattern.


If we adopt the world’s morally debased system of living, we will lose the divine flavor that makes us separate and unique amongst them.

The conclusion of this is that the consciousness of our salt-like nature and responsibilities must never leave our minds. We must live with it and live by it.



You are the salt of the Earth ❤️

Holiness and Grace

Shall we continue in sin? Scriptures that caution against carnality.

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In the old testament, the Israelites often received immediate punishment whenever they transgressed the law.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for homosexuality; Achan was stoned to death for stealing, witches were killed, Zechariah was struck with dumbness when he doubted etc.

However, Jesus came to put a stop to this and introduce a new system in which our sins can be forgiven.

He not only became the sacrifice for our past sins, but also our defender for any sin we may commit in the future.

1 John 2:1: “But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (NIV)

Thus, the believer can be rest assured that sin is no longer a problem. It is no longer a hedge between him and God. God no longer punishes us whenever we sin because of the blood of Jesus.

However, this truth can be taken beyond the divine intention by an immature believer – one who is still carnally minded.

Since the Blood of Jesus cleanses us of all our sins, why can’t we cast off all restrains and live a life of sensuality.

Here are scriptures that admonish us against such;

1. Ecclesiastes 10:8 “… whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” (KJV)

Even though we have been free from the obligations and demands of the old testament law, we are still subject to the commands of Christ in the New Testament as well as the instructions of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

There are sins which a believer must never engage in. Engaging in these sins, especially intentionally, will expose such believer to the attack of the enemy.

There is no protection for the rebellious or the disobedient.

Smokers will always have lung problems no matter how much of Christ’s blood was shed for them.

A fornicator will always be prone to STDs and HIV; a liar will definitely have a lot of business losses; a believer who delves into homosexuality and transgenderism will definitely experience a lot of regrets at the end of his life.

When a believer wilfully decides to live in sin, he has rebelled against the commands of God and will be prone to the assault and abuse of Satan.

Thus, we must learn to live in obedience to the Spirit of God and His commands in scriptures. They are not meant to keep us in bondage, but to liberate us.

They are not meant to make our lives boring, but to keep us within the reach of God’s mercy, away from Satan’s territory.

2. Hebrews 12:1: “… let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” (KJV)

The Christian life is like a race run till eternity. However, to prevent us from reaching the finished line, Satan distracts by getting them entangled in their fleshly desires. No believer can make true progress in piety while living in sin.

Living in sin makes one lose focus on God. It brings guilt and shame upon the soul of a believer; making it difficult for such believer to sense the presence of God.

Thus, the Bible admonishes us to mortify our flesh and flee lusts, because these things have very negative consequences on even our faith.

The beginning of apostasy is wilful sinfulness. So we must avoid it at all cost.

3. 1 John 2:5 “But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.”

The truth is that one cannot claim to love God while living in disobedience to God’s word.

Love and disobedience do not go hand in hand. Instead, true love for God will inspire awe in our hearts and cause us to live holy lives.

A child who claims to love and respect his parents will definitely not do whatever will offend his parents or taint their honour.

The evidence that we really love God and honour the sacrifices He made for us on the cross is that we present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice and live holy lives.

One who lives in sin willfully has no love for God, and those that do not love God have no place in His kingdom.

Therefore, dear believers, let us abstain from sin and carnality. Though it seems pleasurable, it’s only poison hidden underneath ecstasy. Stay within the boundaries of God’s moral law.

However, God isn’t a wicked God. He isn’t a God without mercy and pity on those who sincerely want to be free from their carnal desires.

And that is why He has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us and help us live holy life.

A true believer desires freedom from sin and not freedom to sin.

GENERAL

HEART MATTERS 1: Engaging God with the Heart

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We have a physical heart as well as a spiritual heart. This is evident in the case of the tangible ears and the ears that exist within these ears, as well as our brain and mind. This intangible heart is the essence of man’s being. It is the center of our existence.

The heart is the link between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. Through the heart, we connect to/with people around us, as well as to God.

“…. discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12. The heart is the epicenter of our thoughts and our motives for whatever we do.

This spiritual force is the most powerful of all the structures that comprise man’s metaphysical realm. All inventions, innovations, and ideas originate in the heart. It is the inner proving ground for human innovation.

Throughout this series, we will learn how to train our hearts and increase their capacity to generate creative, superhuman ideas and innovations. But this post is about the most important thing we need to learn as Christians: how to engage God with our hearts.

James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”

When the Bible tells us to draw near to God, it does not mean that we should do so literally. This is due to the fact that none of us can be physically close to God.

God cannot be seen in our physical world unless He opens the spiritual eyes of men to see Him on rare occasions. God, on the other hand, is very close to us, even closer than we expect. James’ admonition to the Church to draw near to God is motivated by God’s proximity to us.

However, many of us are unaware of this, which explains why humans, including believers, frequently experience feelings of fear, abandonment, and despair.

The Heart is God’s House within us

We can reach out to God through our hearts. Nothing can frighten you when you develop this close heart-to-heart connection with God. You gain the courage of a lion. This intimacy with God is what gives hope for a better future even in difficult times.

This intimacy has an impact on our emotions as well; it causes us to rejoice and live in joy because we can feel God no matter where we go. Jesus had a heart-to-heart connection with God. It was so strong that it inspired and influenced everything He did.

He wept in grief when He lost this connection on the cross because it was His main source of strength and fortitude. There are three steps towards enjoying this strong, unbreakable connection with God;

1. Awareness:

The Church needs to go beyond looking for the Presence of God to being aware of the presence of God. The Presence of God is not locked up somewhere in Heaven as many think. His Presence is within us – our heart is the tabernacle of God’s glory and presence. But due to either ignorance or being busy, very few believers enjoy this presence.

Moreover, it is almost impossible to be aware of God’s presence almost twenty-four hours with the kind of turmoil we’re experiencing, but awareness of God is like an art that can be developed and mastered.

  • – See God both inside and outside of yourself.

Psalm 23:4: “….For You are with me…”

We pray because we are aware of God’s indwelling presence. It inspires us to worship. Furthermore, God is said to ‘fill the universe’ in the Bible (Ephesians 1:23). God, as the creator of the universe, has left His imprint on all of His creations.

In fact, everything God created is intended to bear witness to Him and reflect His attributes.

Therefore, let us see God’s glory in the brightness of the sun; let us see God’s grace in the raindrops, His beauty in the lilies, and His creativity in the mountains.

It is very simple and practical to accomplish this feat. Prepare your daily schedule and set aside an hour, thirty minutes, or even fifteen minutes to focus all of your heart energies on being conscious of God’s presence.

When you’re in trouble or confused, instead of trying to mask your feelings by drinking or having a good time, be still and know that God is with you. Although this state will not solve the problem, it will bring peace and joy to your soul.

You’ll have a strong sense that God is working out something good for you. You’ll even get the strength and faith you need to bring the issue to God in prayer.

This is something I do a lot when I’m too tired to continue my studies due to financial constraints. It works!

  • Worship creates awareness

I don’t think there’s anything that awakens the awareness of God’s presence like music. Playing cool worship songs and meditating on the song lyrics can help you feel God’s presence both inside and outside your home.

Allow the lyrics to reach the depths of your soul. Don’t just listen with your ears; listen with your heart as well. Connect to the music’s words; they are the wings that carry the soul to God and the antenna that connects the heart to God.

Being aware of God is one level of engagement; being able to relate to Him as God is an entirely different level, and it is one that every Saint must achieve. Why not talk to God while He is with you?

Being aware of God without attempting to engage Him in conversation is akin to knowing your mother is sitting next to you but ignoring her as if she were a stranger. You will never benefit from God’s wisdom if you do not communicate with Him.

Unfortunately, many believers wait to hear God’s voice before responding to God; however, this is not how it works.

Remember how James stated that when we draw near to God (through our hearts), God draws near to us. Thus, we will begin to recognize God’s voice when we choose to converse with Him as our Father and Friend.

How do I start?

This is the question that many Christians ask when they are told to pray to God. There is no definite way to communicate with God. But it is best to begin by praising Him, thanking Him, and admiring His glorious works.

Here’s an exercise for you:

Visualize God sitting beside you. This requires a lot of inner effort, but it strengthens the heart’s spiritual muscles. After that, begin to thank Him in the same way you would thank a sponsor or a helper who has done something good for you.

Remember to keep your mind on the fact that God is present with you. After thanking Him, go ahead and pour out your heart to Him. Talk to Him about everything you can think of.

This is one of the most effective ways to pray; however, communicating with God can also be done informally, particularly by those who have mastered the art. Here’s one more:

– Begin practicing whatever you see here as you read this post on your device. Simply tell God how much you appreciate Him.

This is one of the most effective ways to pray; however, communicating with God can also be done informally, particularly for those who have mastered the art.

Here’s another exercise: while reading this post on your device, start practicing whatever you see here. Simply tell God how much you love Him, how much you want to be close to Him, and so on. Keep doing this; it will strengthen your flow with God.

3. DO WHAT HE SAYS

Our relationship with God is harmed by disobedience. It is the highest type of dishonor, though ignorant defiance is far more dangerous. The majority of us are unconsciously disobedient. When you ignore a leading to preach to others, enter a trade, make friends with someone, or do something else, you are simply disobeying the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Probably you’ve been feeling an inner pull leading you towards a certain decision, and you are fully convinced that this is not your mere emotions playing a trick on you.

You can seek counsel from spiritual leaders in your Church, and if you remain convinced that it is God’s leading, go ahead and do it!

The more we do what God says, the more we know what God says. Likewise, the more we do what God wants, the more we know what God wants.

Every morning, we’ve been taught to tell God how we want our day to go, but we’ve never been taught to ask God how HE wants our day to go.

The latter is the way of absolute surrender. It is the highest form of worship, and it is what makes God to take abode in everything we do.

It takes more than a trial to develop heart-heart relationship with God. These activities must be done intentionally and must become an integral part of our daily lives. If you practice them daily, you will be in awe at how real your fellowship with God will become.

Written by Nwodo Divine

Spirituality

Crucified with Christ

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“I am crucified with Christ.”
Galatians 2:20



The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people.

Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins.

The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it.

He believed that by virtue of Christ’s death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God.

Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, “I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ.”

But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature.

When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, “I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them.”

Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead.

Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, “Nevertheless I live.” He is fully alive unto God. The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle.

No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life!

Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!

Source: Charles Spurgeon Gems

GENERAL

AN ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE

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Resolve, by God’s help, to shun everything which may prove an occasion of sin.
It is an excellent saying, “He that would be safe from the acts of evil, must widely avoid the occasions.”

There is an old fable, that the butterfly once asked the owl how she should deal with the fire, which had singed her wings; and the owl counseled her, in reply, not to even look at its smoke. It is not enough that we determine not to commit sin, we must carefully keep at a distance from all approaches to it.

By this test we ought to examine the ways we spend our time–the books that we read, the friends that we visit, the part of society which we interact with. We must not be content with saying, “There is nothing wrong here;” we must go further, and say, “Is there anything here which may cause me to sin?”

This is one great reason why idleness is to be avoided. It is not that doing nothing is of itself so wicked; it is the opportunity it affords to evil and empty thoughts; it is the wide door it opens for Satan to throw in the seeds of bad things; it is this which is mainly to be feared.

If David had not given opportunity to the devil, by walking on his house-top in Jerusalem with nothing to do, he probably never would have seen Bathsheba bathing, nor murdered her husband Uriah.

This, too, is one good reason why worldly entertainments are so objectionable. It may be difficult, in some instances, to show that they are, in themselves, positively unscriptural and wrong. But there is little difficulty in showing that the tendency of almost all of them is most injurious to the soul.

They sow the seeds of an earthly and sensual frame of mind. They war against the life of faith. They promote an unhealthy and unnatural craving after excitement. They minister to the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.

They dim the view of heaven and eternity, and give a false color to the things of time. They take away time for private prayer, and Scripture reading, and calm communion with God.

The man who mingles in them is like one who gives Satan an advantage. He has a battle to fight, and he gives his enemy the help of sun, and wind, and hill. It would indeed be strange if he did not find himself continually overcome.

Young men, endeavor, as much as you can, to keep clear of everything which may prove injurious to your soul. People may say you are too conscientious, too particular, and ask where is the great harm of such and such things? But don’t listen to them.

It is dangerous to play tricks with sharp tools: it is far more dangerous to take liberties with your immortal soul. He that would be safe must not come near the brink of danger. He must look on his heart as a barrel of gunpowder, and be cautious not to handle one spark of temptation more than he can help.

What is the use of your praying, “Lord keep me from temptation,” unless you are careful not to run into it and “keep me from evil,” unless you show a desire to keep out of its way? Take an example from Joseph–Not merely did he refuse solicitation to sin from his master’s wife, but he showed his prudence in refusing to even be “with her” (Genesis 39:10).

Take to heart the advice of Solomon, not only to “Not set foot on the path of the wicked,” but to “Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go your way” (Proverbs 4:15); “Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!” (Proverbs 23:31).

The man who took the vow of a Nazarite in Israel, not only took no wine, but be even abstained from grapes in any shape whatever. “Hate what is evil,” says Paul to the Romans (Romans 12:9); not merely not to do it; “Flee the evil desires of youth,” he writes to Timothy; get away from them as far as possible (2 Timothy 2:22).

Oh, how needful are such cautions! Dinah just had go out among the wicked Shechemites, to see their ways, and she lost her virginity. Lot just had pitched his tent near sinful Sodom, and he lost everything but his life.

Young men, be wise with your time. Do not always be trying to see how near you can allow the enemy of souls to come, and yet escape him. Hold him at arm’s length. Try to keep clear of temptation as far as possible, and this will be one great help to keep clear of sin.

~ JC Ryle

Holiness and Grace

Freedom from Lust

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Every man born of a woman, has in his mortal body, the foremost enemy of God, the nature of the Flesh.

Lust dwells in every man, both Christian and Unbelievers. It is called the fleshly nature. Being Born Again does not automatically remove the flesh from you.

However, regeneration, subdues the power of the flesh in you. It subdues it and renders it powerless, such that it is unable to take control of you without your permission.

Romans 6:14: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (KJV)

You can only willfully yield to it, but it can no longer exert control over you.

If this is true, then why are several believers still enslaved to lustful desires?

Colossians 3:5: “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry”(KJV)

Colossians 3:5: “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God).” (AMP)

Apostle Paul first tells us in Romans 6, that our flesh was crucified with Christ. But now, in Colossians 3, we discover that he is admonishing the Church to mortify and put to death, the flesh and its desires in us. This is to tell us that mortification is a continuous and repeated process.

The flesh is not supposed to be subdued and left unattended to. The carnal desires are not supposed to be defeated initially, and then left unattended to. These desires are like weeds that sprout up whenever they want, in the most unwanted areas. A lot of believers are still enslaved to lust and its desires because they failed to understand how to mortify such desires whenever they sprang up.

James 1:15 ‘Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is full-grown’, bringeth forth death.’

The word ‘conceived’ in James 1:15 also means for something to be tolerated or allowed to expand and grow.

I have had quite a lot of experience dealing with teenagers and youths struggling with problems related to lust; and from my experience with them, I have observed that their enslavement to sin, began with their tolerance of the inner fleshly desire.

A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION OF THIS FACT

Let’s assume you discover that you’re beginning to have ‘funny’ dreams, and that whenever you see beautiful girls presently, all you think of is handling the sensitive parts of their body.

At first, you shake it off. But the thoughts and imaginations keep coming. After a while, you begin to tolerate it, you call it a ‘weakness’, and you say it’s just a mere thought.

What you just permitted is the first stage to Enslavement. It’s called Conception.
Now that you’ve allowed the fleshly nature within you to inspire carnal thoughts into your mind, you will find those thoughts increasing.

That single tolerance you gave to the flesh was like an open door, that allowed the torrents of carnality, flow unhinged, into your mind.

They grow from strength to strength and even begin to choke up the word of God within you.

One day, you had a flood of carnal thoughts rushing into you. Your body was on fire with lust, you felt like an animal on heat. This is the Birthing stage. Lust has been conceived and it’s about to birth sin.

Satan comes and whispers to your ears that once you watch porn once, the desires will calm down and won’t torment you again.

‘Just meet its demands so that it’ll let you rest’, he says to you.
But you’ll never discern that it’s his voice because his voice is aligned with what you’re experiencing.

You open your phone and begin to open the porn website. As you’re opening it, you ask God to speak to you if what you’re doing is wrong.

Lol.

You won’t hear any voice because the thorns of the flesh have choked up your pure conscience which was supposed to be the Voice of truth within you.

The website opens and once you watch pornography, boom… Lust has given birth to sin.

You love what you see, you even masturbate while watching. But afterwards, you feel downcast and guilty, this is because the fleshly desires have been temporarily satisfied, so they’ve become calm again.

Despite your feeling of guilt, that little sin will cost you severely. Sin from the outside looks as tiny and fragile as a little spider’s web, but when you fall into it, its cords are as thick as a cart rope.

It holds you tightly and influences your mind to believe that a spirit of lust has possessed you and that you are in need of deliverance from it.

That single act you called a little sin, will lead to several recurrences. This is what it means to allow sin to grow into its fullness. It is the GROWTH stage.

From watching porn weekly, it becomes a daily thing, it becomes an hourly thing.

By satisfying your fleshly desires, you are feeding the power of sin and you’re strengthening its grips over you.

If you don’t find solution fast, it can lead to the last destination, spiritual DEATH!

But God never left us hopeless and helpless. No matter how deep you’ve fallen into this kind of enslavement, there is always a way out.

OBTAINING FREEDOM FROM LUST AND ITS DESIRES

  • Genuinely Repent: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9 (NIV)

If you want to be truly free from enslavement to lustful desire, then you must open up to God. Do not try to hide from God; do not try to conceal your sin, neither should you excuse it. When you open up to God, He will purge you and cleanse you totally. Repentance is the first key to freedom.

  • Get in touch with a Mentor: Proverbs 15:22: “Without counsel plans fail…”

In every stage and sphere of our lives, we need mentors. We need people who we can be accountable to. Mentors are symbols of authority, discipline and instruction in our lives. Don’t be so proud that you feel you can break out on your own, without anybody’s help. You need the prayer of a higher spiritual figure; you need the experience of an elder to learn from. Get in touch with your pastor, or Christian leader who you can relate with in person. Narrate your ordeal, and submit to their instruction.

  • Get rid of the Flesh-feed:

Stay clear of the company of friends whose conversation only incite your flesh. Get rid of those videos, pictures and literature that feed your flesh and make it gain influence over your mind. The more you starve your flesh of these things, the more it dies.

  • Create an Atmosphere of Spirituality:

2 Cor. 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Create an atmosphere around you filled with God’s presence. Pray in tongues, in your spirit, and out loud as much as you can. Declare God’s word daily. Let your heart be full of singing to God daily. Get in fellowship with believers around you. Love God, and watch how your life will transform for the better.

Holiness and Grace

BE YE HOLY

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James 4:4 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

We live in a world where darkness is being celebrated over light in the name of civilisation.

Immorality is seen as the norm and standard of living, while morality is seen as extremism. In a world like this, the believer is tempted to conform to the culture of darkness.

He is tempted to conform, because, if he doesn’t, he’ll be persecuted.
He wants to imbibe the world’s culture, because if he doesn’t, he’ll be ridiculed and denied certain offices.

Hence you see believers, who once began as Gospel musicians, filled with the Spirit and addicted to God, but as they journey to fame, they start sliding into secularism as well as making close companionships with worldly musicians.

The temptation to conform to the standard of the worldbis what will make a young, beautiful saintly lady, put on a dress tht exposes the sensitive part of her body, and still show it off proudly.

Dear Reader, we are in the Season where many shall fall away. The love of God shall wax cold in the heart of many.

But God’s word remains the same and God’s standard remains the same.

God has called us out of darkness into Light. We are different from those who live in the world. We have a different culture from them, we belong to an entirely different kingdom.

We cannot make the culture of the world our culture!

The word, Church, means called out. God called us out of sin unto righteousness, out of living in rebellion, onto living in Holiness unto the Lord.

God called the Israelites out of Egypt. But He didn’t take them to the Promised Land at once. He led them through the wilderness.

For years, all God did with the Israelites was to give them commands and instructions through Moses. But God’s intention was to imbibe His own culture into the Israelites.

The Israelites had left Egypt, but they still had the Egyptian mentality. In order to get them into the Promised Land, God needed to reshape their mentality and refine their culture.

Take a good look at this:

Leviticus 20:26: “You must be holy to me, because I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from all other peoples to be my own.”

This is God speaking to the Israelites. God separated them; He severed them from the other nations. He placed a line that separated them from other nations (metaphorically).

This is a type of God’s dealings with the New Testament Church. We were delivered from slavery to sin (Rom. 6:7) and we’re Pilgrims (1 Pet 2:11) on our way to the Heavenly Canaan.

God is saying to us today, in the thick of the rise of Satanic civilization in the world, be Holy and separate from them.

WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

The World believes in Homosexuality. The world believes there is nothing wrong in gay and lesbian marriage.

The world believes there is nothing wrong in gay and lesbian lifestyles. They believe in sexual perversion, all in the name of Human Rights.

It is wrong for a Christian to accept such. We are not governed by the opinions of the world, but by the Instructions of God. This is the truth that every genuine Christian must stand for.

Leviticus 18:22 “Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin.”

Leviticus 20:13 “If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing”

God detests Homosexuality. He was against it and He is still against it.

The opinions of the world, will not change this!

What about those Saints who are struggling with living contrary to worldly culture?

If you find yourself in such situation, where you find it difficult to live as a Christian and very easy to live as an unbeliever.

Do the following consistently,

1. Study God’s Word and Declare your Identity daily. Let a consciousness of who you are be formed in you. When this Consciousness is ever active in you, it will restrain you from following the path of the world.

2. Filter your association. In your professional work, relate well with as much people as possible, whether gay, lesbian, good or bad, but be careful those who you allow into your private space. Thy have a way of greatly Influencing your lifestyle.

3. Hate sin. See it as what it is. A pollution of the mind and defilements of the spirit.

4. Filter what you watch, Read and Hear. In every human, Christian or non-christian are lustful propensities and desires.

But the Christian has his own mortified by the power of the Holy Spirit, while the unbeliever has his own, fully developed by the working of the spirit of disobedience.

Yet, a Christian can also get himself enslaved by lust if he keeps feeding those desires by consistently exposing his mind and eyes to pornography.

Expose your mind and your eyes instead to godly content such as this, and in time, you’ll be free from being ruled by lustful desires

Spirituality

Grieve not The Spirit!

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Eph 4:30 (KJV) ‘And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’

Of recent, I’ve been studying the works of great Puritan authors such as AW Tozer, AW Pink, Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Watson, and it’s actually given me a kind of rethink and perspective about how we preach about Sin and Grace in the Church.

You see, while trying to avoid the snares of legalism, one can end up falling into the pit of Abused-Grace doctrines.

I see believers, who in the name of preaching Grace say,
“Your sin doesn’t matter to God anymore. He doesn’t care about it”
“When you sin, instead of confessing your sin, confess your righteousness”.

These things are false!
Sin might not separate you from the love of God but sin will definitely separate you from fellowship with God.

And I’m not just talking about unintentionally making a mistake, I’m talking about intentionally living your life as you please, without the restraints of the Gospel and the Scriptures.

Sin is a pollutant of the spirit.
A believer living in sin is like mud being poured into clean water, such Believer will have a polluted and darkened spirit, and he’ll lose the fragrance of God’s Presence in his spirit.

Paul wasn’t exaggerating when he said we FLEE FROM ALL APPEARANCES OF SIN

Don’t try to negotiate your way out of it.
Don’t try to pervert scriptures to justify it.

FLEE FROM IT!

A believer who comfortably lives in sin is just like an angel who prefers the Darkness of hell to the pleasures of Heaven.

I’ve never seen a place in the Bible in which masturbation was outrightly condemned, neither have I seen a true believer who masturbated and was happy.

It has a way of bringing your spirit under condemnation and accusation or the enemy, and nothing weakens ones spiritual senses like condemnation especially when it arises from a sin you committed.

It is even more wrong to assume that God understands why you’re sinning.

What is there to understand in why one who professes love for God will do the things God hates?

What is there to understand in why one who professes Christ as His Savior, still refuses to accept Christ as His Lord?

What should be understood to excuse a child going to mess Himself up with mud, just after his father gave him a whole bath?

Stop tolerating sin!

It Grieves the Holy Spirit!

Many of us have grieved the Spirit, but because we’re so used to sin and we barely commune with our hearts, we do not even know that He has been grieved.

Such a person will become like Samson, who quenched the Spirit at the laps of Delilah.

When the Philistines arose against him, he woke up, and shook his body and probably said, ‘I will arise and fight against them’, but he didn’t know that the Spirit had left Him.

Many Christians are slowly losing the Influences of the Holy Spirit.

They still feel goosebumps during worship. They still smile in church, but they’ve lost fellowship with God

The flow is no longer there, because they’ve grieved the Holy Spirit.

Grieving the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean He’s a weak, petty, emotional being as many people present Him these days.


No!

Grieving the Spirit is much deeper than that!

It’s like looking at your Father and spitting at his face.

It’s like rebelling against your mother, (we’re told in Proverbs that a rebellious son is the grief of his mother).

My dear reader, I beseech you to chose the path of Consecration and Holiness.

True Holiness isn’t Legalistic.
True Holiness is divine.

The believer who lives in Holiness has a soul that glitters like the stars and radiates like the sun.

Holiness is the glory and beauty of our souls.

Finally, I beseech you once again, that you flee ALL APPEARANCES OF EVIL.

Do a heart check today and ask God to reveal to you, those bessetting sins that have been weighing your spirit down.

For some, it is Malice.

Malice..

Unforgiveness…..

A believer living in malice is like a bag, full of stones and hard rocks that keeps it one place and prevents it from being moved and directed by the influences of the east wind.

Let go….

Learning how to forgive was a difficult task for me, but I spoke to my soul, and I told myself I would let go, I would forgive.

If I still keep in mind the number of times I’ve been mocked and betrayed and insulted by even those I called my own, then I wouldn’t be here today.

For the sake of your fellowship with God, let go of the hurt and the malice.

Lay aside all bessetting and entangling sin that ye may run and finish this race with a prize with a prize.

Shalom!