THE BATTLE WITHIN June 8, 2009

In a book called What’s On Your Mind by Merlin Carothers of Prison to Praise fame, there exists a statement, though not jotted down that shouts at everyone who reads the book. That statement says, “Beware of what is on your mind. It is just but a premature action.” (I read this book in 1997, and this is a book I would recommend everyone to have on the shelve of his or her home library).
I have come to the conclusion that one of the greatest battles we will ever have to win is the battle of our mind. For us to harness our mind we will have to take deliberate decisions and actions that are obviously unpopular.
The mind is not the brain. In computer systems there is the hardware and the software. The software is the logical part and the hardware is the physical. The software part is the one that drives the hardware part. Small wonders that most of the softwares are called drivers while the hardwares are called drives.
In the same way the mind is logical part of the mental system of the human being. It is the one that drives the brain to process the thoughts that you are thinking right now.
In the Bible we find that human beings have five different kinds of minds. There is the natural mind, the reprobate mind, the carnal mind, the soulish mind and the spiritual mind. Let us go ahead and dig a little deeper as we endeavor to elaborate more on these different minds.
The natural mind is the one that everyone is initially born with. It develops by gaining information and making decisions upon the information it has garnered from the natural world. The tragic thing about this mind is that it cannot receive the spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14).
The reprobate mind is the basest kind of mind. It is given as a punishment to those who want to have their way. Somebody said that sin is man telling God “leave me alone. I want to go it my way”; and hell is God telling man “you can now have your way. There will be no more interference.” If that is the case, then the reprobate mind is having a little hell on your mind (Romans 1:28-32).
Carnal mind is the mind that dares to care about the things that are sensual more than the spiritual things. The whole issue about the carnal mind is that the actions it exhibits are mostly selfish and therefore childish. Its main concern revolves around “me, myself and I”. For example, I may be called upon to go and preach and I start arguing about how the people will take me because of some speech impediments, and I end up not going. Apostle Paul explained the confusion that revolves around the carnal mind in the service of God in Romans 7. Try counting the I, me, myself, my in that chapter, and you will get the point I am putting through. The problem with this mind is that it poses as an enemy to God and His affairs, including His blessings and His calling (Romans 8:6).
The most intricately cunning mind is the soulish mind. In Genesis 2:7 we deduce that the soul is the link between the body and the spirit. The soulish mind therefore tends to take the divine things and twist them to fit the selfish desires and/or use them for its gain. My heart goes out to those who are currently caught up in this shrewd mind. You may not be able to discern this mind, if it is in you, until you understand and come to embrace the fact that we have a battle between the will of God and our ambition, and the will of God is, actually to win us over to His mindset, which is the spiritual mind.
The spiritual mind is the mind of Christ. Philippians 2: 3-7 gives us some of the features of this mind. The first thing we find is humility, the second thing is concern for the other person and then we have submission.

This mind is also characterized with simplicity. This is portrayed by the way a person behaves when s/he is elevated to a place of higher responsibilities and where s/he is living in more prestige than before. Let us have a look at what the Bible says concerning this in 2 Corinthians 11:3. “…But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ.”

This is a mind that chooses to trust God for anything and unquestioningly obeys His commands daily, not for its gain, but in the knowledge that by this it is glorifying Him, which is its main purpose. It is a mind that knows that it has power that is work within (Ephesians 1:19). It is also a mind of positive progress (2 Peter 1:5-7).

It is also the overcoming mind that was with Caleb and Joshua in Numbers 14. This mind muses something like this whenever the enemy takes control of the inheritance of the children of God: Can I ignore the giant sons of Anak and go on to possess the inheritance from my Father? The Lord has promised me victory concerning everything that is mine. Therefore I must deal with the enemy nice, fast and square and move on to take the inheritance. They don’t belong to him; they belong to me.

It is imperative to note that the mind operates like the computer processor. They say “Garbage In Garbage Out”. The Bible admonishes us to “set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.”(Colossians3:2, World English Bible). If we care to be feeding our mind our on the things that are true, honest, right, pure, lovely, virtuous, of good report and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), we will win this battle.

In conclusion let us endeavor to have the spiritual mind, because only then will we be able to have full access of the mind of God through the Holy Spirit. The soulish and the carnal mind can only have partial access to the thoughts and plans of God, but for the spiritual, only God can limit the access according to His will. Let us do away with anything that defiles our mind, since it is Central Processing Unit of our whole being. In other words, watch out what you watch and think about what you think. It will help you manage and tame your tongue (James 3:2-12).

Remember that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7a).

God Forsaken? Never! April 2, 2009

Just the other day, I overheard someone say, “Let’s face it we are already forsaken by God.” Judging by the points she had just highlighted, you may have justified her comment.
This got me into serious thinking, prayer and meditation on the Scriptures. Would we say that just because we are going through hard times God has forsaken us? Prophet Isaiah proves such a notion wrong. In the book that is named after him, he declares under the anointing of the Spirit thus: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flame kindle on you. (Isaiah 43:2)
The first fact that we need to get clearly is that God through the prophet is informing the audience that there will come a time when they will go through tough times. That is why both of the sentences do start with the word “when” which is unconditional and not “if” which is conditional.
Also the Lord says that He will be with us at that time. He will pass through whatever us are passing through together with us, making sure that the water won’t drown us and the fire won’t consume us. Hallelujah! Just imagine God Himself, with all His majesty and glory going through the fire with us.
However He doesn’t promise us that we won’t feel the heat, neither does He promise that we won’t get wet, hence be strong and live on.
This gets us to another scenario. Israel is in captivity. His majesty the King of Babylon has ordered a huge monument be erected which people will have to worship. This irks most of the Jews but they find that they have no alternative but to adhere to the command of the King lest they are put in a furnace of fire (Daniel 3).
However there are three young dudes from Israel; clever, wise and virtuous. They have been highly favoured by the king in captivity, together with Daniel, because they are sharp and can understand not only the mysteries of dreams, but also the Babylonian system of governance, having been through the Babylonian education to the highest level.
Grapevine has it that these three men are a rebellious lot. They don’t obey the king’s decree. It reaches the king’s ears and, he promises to teach them a lesson. They are going to worship the golden image in the presence of the king, failure to which they are going to be roasted alive.
However, the king is in for the surprise of his lifetime. These guys decide to defy his majesty’s order in front of everyone else. They decide that might is not always right.
In a demonic fit of fury, the king orders that these young men (who do they think they are anyway?) be bound and thrown in the furnace of fire, which he has incidentally ordered it be increased seven times so that they may roast there right and proper in sight of everyone who cares to watch the drama.
Little does the king know that this is just a setup for another surprise. The only things that burn are the materials they have been bound with. And then here comes the mother of all amazement. They threw three men in the furnace and now the king is seeing four men, and the fourth man looks like the son of god (to the eye of the king) and the way they all appear, they could as well be taking a stroll along the streets of Babylon; not bothered by the hot flames in the furnace. You ask yourself, how would you have reacted to such a crazy sight?
You see, this is what God means when He say that He will be with us in the fire. He will see us through. We will not be stuck as long as He is with us.
On the same vein, we are referred to approximately the same scenario. The children of Israel are in captivity. They are serving the seventy year sentence in slavery. At one time they are being chided and tormented by the Chaldeans who were their masters. The Lord uses Jeremiah the prophet to declare something akin to a vow upon His people. Let us hear how Contemporary English Version puts it: “…You’ve heard foreigners insult my people by saying, “The LORD chose Israel and Judah, but now he has rejected them, and they are no longer a nation.” Jeremiah, I will never break my agreement with the day and the night or let the sky and the earth stop obeying my commands. In the same way, I will never reject the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or break my promise that they will always have a descendant of David as their king. I will be kind to my people Israel, and they will be successful again… “(Jeremiah 33:24-26, CEV). In other words the Lord is declaring that, as long as the sun continues rising in the east and setting in the west, He has not yet forsaken His people, and the plan He has for them still stands.
The Lord is in control, we don’t have to panic. Who brings the rain? Who brings drought? We are not forsaken. The Lord is still with us. We have a promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us. We are not orphans, neither are we destitute.

The only one thing that God requires of us is to turn away from our wickedness since Israel had been taken into captivity because they had rebelled against the LORD their God, and done evil in His sight. They had been warned, but didn’t take heed. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:19).
In response to the call we can only appeal to one another: “Come and let us return to Jehovah. For He has torn, and He will heal us; He has stricken, and He will bind us up” (Hoseah 6:1). You cannot afford to be left behind in the wilderness.

TOWARDS EMOTIONAL MATURITY March 25, 2009

Well, how about diverting a bit thus…
Scenarios
Jayne, a tutor in computer at a college in the city, is always singing “I will never fall in love again,” whenever she is alone. Of late she has been turning down dates from her many admirers. She has been heard muttering something like “Surely men are beasts. Dirty, dirty beasts.”

Well, Jayne must be having some genuine reasons for all this. Three years ago, she was joined to Ian in a holy matrimony. However they are no longer together. They fell out citing irreconcilable problems. She, together with her former husband, has been a devout Christian in a Pentecostal Church, but nowadays she is not sure of anything about it.

Ian has his own side of the story. He claims he was not to blame.” How can you live with someone who is always complaining?” he asks. “I tried to hold it together but it couldn’t work”.

Ted has become a workaholic. Over a year ago, he wed a beautiful Joanne in one of the famous churches in the city, but now they are divorced. What happened? “We couldn’t put up with each other,” says Ted.

Joanne on her part says that Ted is the kind of person one can’t trust with one’s life. She adds that Ted and her were incompatible. “We were like water and oil. The things I felt when we were together were rather burdening, and so I didn’t have any other alternative but to walk out of his life. Thank God I didn’t conceive.”

>Cold Hearts
This is what is happening in the lives of many young people nowadays. The situation is deteriorating by the day. Sometimes ago I heard a young chap saying,” If this is what marriage life has to offer then I wont marry.” The hearts of many have waxed cold. Why?

As well as marriage life being not a bed of roses, it does not have to be such a rough ride of life. Unfortunately, to some the situation is almost hopeless. God made us simple but we have made ourselves so complicated that it is almost impossible to get rid of the complexes in life.

Look Before you Leap
Personally, I reckon that most of us jump into relationships without first considering their emotional maturity. Usually, we are not sure whether we can look right down in our hearts and examine our feelings. It is true that we Christians should be led by the Spirit, but let us look at the components of the heart. The heart contains the soul (human spirit) and the spirit (whether evil or holy). The soul contains intellect (power to know and think), will (power to choose), and emotion (power to feel). Allow me to major on the emotional part. How do I know that I am progressing emotionally? These are some of the guidelines.

Sawing Sawdust
Deal constructively with reality. Don’t saw sawdust. There is no need to mess with things that are already messed up. One should know that there is always a chance to complain about the nasty reality around him or her, but he or she is mature enough to meet the situations with what he or she has and what he or she can do. Learn to live without being overwhelmed by the anxieties around you. If fate offers you a lemon make it lemonade.

Have the Capacity to Change
The irreconcilable problems often come from irrational view of life. Always have the capacity to change. Remember that we are living in a world different from the way it was yesterday. One should have in mind that he or she is not too mature to change. Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing of your mind. Sometimes it is good to change your emotional frame-up to accommodate your friend or spouse.

Tension and Anxiety
Let us be free from unnecessary tension and anxiety. All of us have neurotic evasions in form of unreasonability, irrationality, illogic, aggressiveness, passiveness, fear, lonesomeness, or blaming someone else. It is justified to have a little ’noble discontent’ or ‘righteous indignation’ or the anxiety to do things when we feel they ought to be done, but when these things climb to an unreasonable point there is a maladjustment which should be sorted out and solved. Even Jesus Christ got angry and flogged the money mongers out of the temple of Jerusalem but He didn’t use any angry word.

Giving
Find more satisfaction in giving than in receiving, as it is more blessed to give than to receive. We started our lives as receivers but for those who are mature have learnt the power and joy there is in giving. You don’t have to give materials only. Giving a grieving friend a shoulder to cry on can be satisfying. However, the most important aspect in giving is the attitude. This always gives the motive a foundation; whether weak or strong. If the attitude is positive then the foundation is strong also.

Be Social
There is so much learning in relating to people. This is where one finds the difference between liking and tolerating. Usually we can acquire the combination of honesty and fairness, dependability and willingness by sensing and hopefully trying to assess them within ourselves when we are relating.

Dealing with offences
In relating with others it is important to note that the one with whom one is relating with come from different backgrounds and hence they have different priorities and attitudes. In such case they are bound to offer differing opinions over some virtues which one holds dear.
Most of the time one is going to be disturbed by the things that one hears or overhears other say about him or her. I, for instance, may do something wise and someone will be quick to say that I am wise. The next day, I may do something else that is stupid according to another and he or she opines that I am stupid. The point here is: whose report will I believe?
Offences occur when we believe in other people’s opinion over us. People’s opinions, as we have seen, fluctuate as they are influenced by the actions of the person in question.
The way out of this is to treat critics with love as if all of them mean good, although some may be there to harm your emotional frame up, and then weigh your action according to what they are saying about you. If there is something that needs to be done on your part, do it, but don’t always be influenced by their opinions, especially if all they have a habit of ranting against you.
Moreover let us be influenced by the report of the Lord (Isaiah 53:1). Also let us borrow a leaf from our Lord Jesus Christ. At one time Jesus went to Jerusalem and did some mighty miracles, such that many people believed in Him. But He was not of the kinds that are flattered. He knew people; mostly they are influenced by the actions. The most important thing is: hear them out, examine your motive, but don’t believe their opinions on you. Know what God has called you to do, do it, and move on. Time is too short to whine over others’ opinion over you.
Hostile Feelings
All of us were born with hostile feelings. If we recognize these feelings we stand a better chance to handle them. When we have guilt feelings it is because we have been forgetful, nasty, thoughtless, or outrageous towards someone. This is called self-defeatism. Often we refuse to let ourselves succeed by holding to the guilt feelings. Frequently we turn our hatred to ourselves or our families, friends, colleagues at work or bosses without being aware of it. There are many disguises of this hatred and hostility such as shunning responsibilities, negligence, rejection, thoughtlessness, unfaithfulness and forgetfulness. We may control these hostile impulses by forgiving others and ourselves and keeping in our mind that a soft answer turns away wrath. In case of some friction it is always good to aim at ventilation and not conquest. “Be a light generator, not heat generator.”

Love
How big your heart is is determined by how unconditionally you love. Our Creator has given us love and He expects us to share with others. Christ said that we love one another so that we may prove that we are His disciples to the world. If love covers a multitude of sins the way Scriptures record, then we will not have so much family break-ups. However, the genuinety of love varies from relationship to relationship. That is why instead of covering the weaknesses of our loved ones most of us expose them. We have become troubleshooters, majoring more on the problems than on the progress.

However, all is not lost. Everything can be taken away, but one thing- the last of human freedom- to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance and to choose one’s way out. If you have chosen the “I-want-to –improve” attitude then you are on the right path. Right attitude always precedes right actions. You can now start working on your emotions. Consider that it is God who wants us to mature up in all things.

GOD IS SO GOOD; HE PUNISHES SIN March 19, 2009

A misconception is being peddled all over the world. Many Christians are being hoodwinked by some unscrupulous folks that the Lord cannot create people and destroy them. That is true to some extents. Whenever the wrath of God is kindled it does not come to destroy the people, but the sin in the people.
However, woe unto you if your life is so much attached to the sin that you cannot let it go. When the wrath builds up, it explodes, blasting away all the sin, and those people who are attached to the sin. The good thing about His wrath is that it takes a lot of time to build up.
Meanwhile the LORD is so merciful that He sends His servants the prophets to tell the people how He is feeling about the filth of sin, and what He is about to do, and how they can do to avert the impending wrath.
An example is found in 2 Chronicles 36:11-21. Zedekiah becomes the king at the age of 21. He does all that is evil before the eyes of the LORD as if to provoke him to anger. As if that is not enough, the priest in the house of the LORD and the people of the land become totally rebellious to Him. The LORD in His ever unfailing mercies sends His servants the prophets, Jeremiah among them, to warn the people, but they won’t hear a thing; in fact they mock them.
A time comes when the patience of the LORD is overridden by His highly explosive wrath. He tells Jeremiah not to pray for the people since His patience has reached the limit, and if he prays he will be doing so against the will of God (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14; 14:11). The reason behind this is because He wants to destroy the filth of sin, but the people are attached to the sin so much that they can hardly let it go.
Then the LORD does something that looks strange to those who think that He is just a toothless lion. He employs Chaldeans to come and destroy His desecrated temple and take His own people captive. O the shame they suffer for seventy years, serving a heathen nation.
I don’t know about you, but I believe that God can repeat the same thing in our days. He has been sending prophets in our midst, but all we have been doing is deriding His servants and despising the oracles of the LORD, claiming them to be doctrinally unsound.
O modern day Pharisees! Who has bewitched you, not to obey the truth? We say that we are free from condemnation, yet we don’t want to walk in the Spirit. “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” (Jeremiah 7: 9, 10)

The LORD declared something to Jeremiah concerning the nations that would dwell together with Israel in Jeremiah 12: 17 that is a bit troubling: “And if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith Jehovah.”

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for being so much attached to the sinful habits that they couldn’t even discern the servants of the LORD who had been sent to come and destroy the sin.

I believe the only way forward is to detach ourselves from the sin and the sinful nature, so that in case the wrath of God explodes it won’t blast us away together with the sin. Those secret habits you hold dearly will destroy you if you don’t let them go.

Lord, I am stuck. UNSTUCK ME! March 16, 2009

The following is an excerpt from Let’s Arise, my yet to be published book. This excerpt, I believe is going to be of help to many who are stuck in “analysis paralysis”. Read on…

… Don’t Let Anything Hold You Down

When he was young, an elephant was tied to a peg. He tried to pull the peg off but due to his feebleness he couldn’t. Now he was grown up, but still felt he couldn’t set himself free. Though he had grown stronger and more bulky he had given up any attempt to break free because he was still banking on the past. He was beaten once and rendered shy the rest of his life. The great jumbo stayed tethered there because he thought he wouldn’t be able to break his way to freedom, just as he hadn’t when he was young.

Most people are like that elephant. We dwell on the past failures and fail to see the future that God has prepared for us. One of the things that Jesus promised was tribulations (derived from the word troubles) in this world, but He urged us to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world. We face so many challenges, and we ought to keep our sights on God. Purposeful people focus not on what they are going through but where they are going to. There are times when we feel defeated. Defeat is a temporary condition, but giving up is what makes it permanent.

A story is told about a man who caught a bird and tied a string on its leg. Whenever the bird tried to fly away the man would pull it down. Don’t let anything hold you down when you want to fly away. God changes the saying ‘Once beaten twice shy’ into ‘Once beaten twice strong’.

Gospel of John 5:5-7 records a dramatic lesson for us. The man is giving excuses for not being healed. For thirty-eight years, the man has stayed there reassuring himself that time and chances happens to everyone, and so his time has not yet happened.

When Christ appears to him he starts reasoning with his predicaments unaware that his time to walk again has just happened. “Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool when the water is troubled.” In other words, he is claiming he can not be healed because he has no helper.

The second thing he says is that while he is about to step in the water another one steps down before him. What he is trying to express is that he is not as qualified as others to receive the healing.

Those excuses blind the man from perceiving that his miracle is just a “Yes” away from him.

However, Jesus tells him to rise up and walk. Despite all the excuses, he is to learn the lesson of obedience as the only way to activate his faith in God. If he had stood his ground and said, “You have eyes to see that I cannot” the Bible would have recorded another thing altogether. But thank God that the man obeys and thereby receives his healing.

Problems and weaknesses are not excuses to your pursuit of your dream and destiny in Christ. Look at Paul in prison. He is in chains, yet he says the Gospel is not in chains. He is in pain yet through him God heals many. He is in wants yet he makes others rich. Yes, you can overcome! Yea, you can win, despite being widowed, orphaned or maimed in the recent political crises (in Kenya and Zimbabwe).

Breathe, can you? That means that you have a future. The reason why they call it past is because it is exactly that, passed. We have no control over it, but we have control over our future. And it starts here: with the next step; next breathe; next beat of your heart; next turn of your head; next thought that is crossing your mind right now; the next word you are about to read… Focus on it in Christ.

When the Jews were on the great trek to the Promised Land they followed God’s cloud as their diurnal guide and a stump of fire as a nocturnal one. If anyone was left back by the cloud during the day he would be scorched to death by the sun in the desert. If anyone was left back by the fire stump he would freeze to death in the cold of the night. In other words there was no excuse from following the Spirit of God if anyone wanted to see the Promised Land (Exodus 13:21,22).

Now that we have an even better covenant with God through the blood of Jesus I feel that there is nothing on earth, in heaven or under the sea that can separate us from God, and His promises. The excuses given by the man by the pool of Bethsaida are no longer reasons enough. This is because we have the Helper with and in us, the Holy Spirit, and all things are possible with them that believe. Apostle Paul expressed this kind of faith when he said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

In Acts 27 the boat that Paul was travelling in was almost capsizing in the storms. There was so much confusion in the small vessel that in a frantic effort to save themselves, those who were travelling with him had started throwing their belongings overboard. Only Paul seemed to be in control and at peace with the situation. Why? Because he knew that this storm was not going to take anybody’s life. An angel had appeared to him and told him that he must appear before Caesar. There was no way he could appear before Caesar when he was already dead. So he knew that his and the others’ lives were safe. There is no way you are going to perish before you reach the destination, which God ordained for you. Don’t let anything rob from you what God has apprehended you for.

There is the saying that is common with people that the only person who does not make any mistake is the one who does nothing. Mistakes occur in our working environments, at home and almost every place. Most people often embark on a pity party, while others start a blame game once a common error has occurred, thus failing to learn from their mistakes and move on with their lives.

A story is told about an engineer who used to work with IBM in America. At one time he made a mistake which cost the company quite a huge chunk of money. On realizing the mistake, he went to his boss and tendered his resignation with the reason that he was not worthy to work in the firm anymore. However, his boss refused to accept the letter of resignation and said, “Look here, pal, you have just learnt quite a dear (expensive) lesson. How can we let you go?”

Don’t let those mistakes hold you down. Admit them, learn from them and get away from them and move on with life. Your life is not tied up on your mistakes but on the grace that is upon you. Apostle Paul once understood this spiritual principle when he scribbled, “Brethren, I don’t consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 3:13, RSV)

Diseases and disabilities may plague our potential and cripple our talents. It is a pity that most of us cannot do the things that God has called them to do because of their physical and heart conditions. However if only we can know the uniqueness in ourselves and take advantage of our disabilities we would be in a better position to accomplish our purpose in spite of our conditions.

The story of Helen Keller is one of the most inspiring accounts of one who defeated her own disabilities to live a full life. Born in 1880, she got down with an illness (they call it spinal fever but I think it was meningitis) at the age of thirteen months that would claim both her hearing and eyesight. But her determined heart would not give in to pity party and she went on with life to become a lecturer. And O, you should have watched her dance to the vibrations of the beats of the music. Among her greatest quotes are “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision” and “the best and most beautiful thing in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart” It is amazing that a person who was both deaf and blind could utter such profound and sobering words.

You, too, can become the person God created you to be in spite of your disability. There is a common adage that disability is not inability. Apostle Paul had a “thorn in the flesh,” yet was convinced that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. You can also rise to the occasion and do something for the glory of God. Don’t let disability hold you down when you want to fly! “Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down …: loose yourself from the bands of your neck.…” (Isaiah 52:2)

However, one thing the enemy hates is to see us moving in the right direction. He employs unbelievable craftiness, artifice and deceit to keep mankind from knowing the truth and acting upon it. If I have a million dollars in my bank account and I am persuaded that I don’t have it, and make no overt move to use it, the money in the bank does me no good at all, and I remain poor₂.

The devil knows the promises of God towards you and I, but he would feel cheated and let down if we acted upon them because it would be to his own downfall. The only remedy for this is to prove the devil a liar by not only believing in the Word but also acting upon it so that you may prosper, be strengthened and established.

Heartaches occur leaving us high and dry after a relationship has gone sour. We are left struggling to heal ourselves from the inflicted emotional wounds. Normally we tend to blame ourselves for having fallen into such a “stupid trap” and vow never to attempt such a “worthless endeavour”. We embark on a bumpy ride of either being overcautious or offensive in every way possible in order to protect ourselves from losing our sanity. In this bid some of us either try being workaholic or relax into our lonely cocoon, where we are sure that nobody will break in and hurt us again.

In the long run, most of us find the futility of the whole idea, and eventually get either morally loose or suicidal. The feeling of “emptiness inside” gnaws one’s soul until one is left with no purpose to live for. One starts feeling that he/she is living just because his/her heart is beating, walking just because he/she can place one leg in front of the other and breathing just because his/her lungs need air. In other words s/he is alive just because s/he is not dead yet! (I have been there and know what it means).

Sadly, they don’t know that this is a scheme of satan to pin them down and have them do him some favour. Once the devil has depleted their hearts he comes with his folks and make an abode on the hapless soul.

Funny thing about this is that, while we are struggling with all this, God is still present. I have found people who are offended by even God Himself. Normally they ask where God was when they were getting into all this mess.

While it may not be possible to answer such questions, the Lord loves us and cares about us as His sons. Just as he was concerned about Job’s emotional wounds, which incidentally had been inflicted on him by his own trusted friends, He is concerned about ours too. He cares for not only our intellect and will, but also our emotions. Just let Him have your wounded, shredded and defiled heart and you will be amazed at his expertise on such things. Never allow yourself to loose the will to live, love and be loved again, when Jesus is still alive.

Sometimes we may face discouragement and start questioning God. I hereby take this opportune chance to inform or remind you (whichever the case) that every discouragement comes from the devil.

At one time in hell, so I am told, the devil called an impromptu meeting to discuss ways of winning souls back to his fold. One demon suggested that he would show the people the pains there are in staying virtuous, and another one came up with the idea of showing the congregation of Jesus the luxuries there are in sins, but both of these suggestions were rejected as having been used. However, when another imp said that he would win men and women of the Faith by discouraging them, the chairman, Lucifer, said, “Good, let us try this and see what will crop up.” And so the meeting was called off.

Never allow the devil to preach to you and keep your focus on Christ Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Resist all his false ideas, accusations and heresies and don’t let him get you down.

Problems arise, even to the believers (and who cheated you that you are immune to them?). David once said “Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him from them all.”(Psalms 34:19). Don’t look back just because you are going through tough times. Tough people outlast tough times. God is in control of everything. He turns pain into gain and shame into fame only after you go through them. Remember that gold is purified through fire. Mark you that Isaiah 43:2 starts with “when”, which is unconditional and not “if”. Don’t let the small and big problems in your life hinder you from reaching your destiny. Your life is more precious than those problems. No one can kick a dead horse .The magnitude of the troubles shows that there is a sign of life, strength and uniqueness being recognized by the enemy.

Conclusively let us have a close encounter with our barriers. What is it that has always prevented you from the blessedness of flying without being held down? David decided that he wouldn’t cry and fast any longer after the death of his son. In other words he chose not to be held down by grief and went on with life despite the painful loss of his beloved son. You, too, can choose to do the same. Live on!

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 66:12 thus: “You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.”-World English Bible.

Another version records: “You sent war chariots to crush our skulls. We traveled through fire and through water, but you brought us to a land of plenty.”-Contemporary English Version.

The road to the land of plenty is not always smooth. In fact, it is on the contrary rough, full of crushes, fire and water. Be strong. Encourage yourself and push on!

It is not time to moan our loss. God always has a reason for everything. Can anybody touch the center of your eyeball without you being aware of it? The scriptures declare loudly that: “For thus says the LORD of hosts: After the glory has He sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of His eye.”- (Zechariah 2:8, NKJV). I wish to repeat this; nothing takes God by surprise. Absolutely nothing!

Let us learn from the psalmist by repeating these Scriptures in Psalms 42:5 “Why am I so sad? Why am I troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise Him.”- (Good News Bible)

One time Winston Churchill, the famous British statesman was called up to give a lecture in the University of Barrow where he had studied. The theme of his lecture was to be ‘How to succeed in life.’ Here is the whole lecture: ‘Never give up. Never, never, never give up. Never, never give up. Never give up.’

I can only echo his words. He was terribly right.

APOSTOLIC JURISDICTION March 13, 2009

I feel indebted to submit this to you. I also feel like I should not be writing this argument to you since I am not called to be an apostle. But if I don’t, then who will?
I have for quite a long time been saddened by the misunderstanding of this grace of apostleship or the apostolic grace. This has caused many of these men of God to go under different title, claiming that titles do not matter to them, what matters is the ministry that has been bestowed on them. Whether it is the title or the office that matters is a matter of attitude and I leave it to you to judge.
Apostolic jurisdiction is simply the kind of audience the apostle is sent to. Paul was an apostle sent to preach the message of grace to the Gentiles while Peter, together with the other apostles were sent to the Jews, according to Galatians 2:7-9.
We need to understand this because, if we don’t, we will be addressing the wrong audience unawares. They, in turn, will rise against and start claiming us to be erroneous and cultic. Some may even get confused and stay away from the salvation if they don’t understand what we are preaching.
This is what happened to Peter. He had been sent to the Jews, but because of his headiness he, at one time sneaked into Paul’s domain and started preaching circumcision to the Gentiles, and also found that he couldn’t cope with the Gentiles lifestyle, having not acclimatised himself with their way of life. That doctrine (of circumcision), though sound to the Jews, was heretical to the Gentiles. That is the reason why Paul had to publicly rebuke him in order to contain the confusion that he, Peter, had caused (Galatians 2:11-14).
That is the essence of knowing our boundaries or jurisdiction and walking in them. It would be a lot better, if you are called to be an apostle, to know and understand your position in God and your jurisdiction in the people of God.
Otherwise you would be giving pearls to the pigs (I can hear you musing something like, “Now that is too strong a statement.”).
Also, and this is very important, in this era where there are many ministries, it is very important to ask God in prayer to direct you to the Church ministry where you are going to be fed with the right food and grow thereof. He knows what you need more than you, and if you care to ask Him, you will be answered. At least you have a promise you can stand on.

RESTORING THE LISTENING EAR March 9, 2009

“I am listening to what the LORD GOD is saying; He promises peace to us, His own people, if we do not go back to our foolish ways.”( Psalms 85:8, GNB)
We are living in one of the most stressing ages ever. Folks are in for quite puzzling mazes of existence and the clamor of making ends meet. The world economy is waning. The world peace is getting a thorough thrashing as the nations’ propaganda machines get into their work of trivializing the main things and blowing cheap gossips into major things.
In such a time it is not difficult to be distracted from the Creator to the creations. The imperative task of listening to our Creator fades in the melee of trying to collect anything that is worth its salt. The “Get- Rich-Or-Die Trying” craze gets on our minds and strangles the sense of devotion towards God and cuts off the channels through which we can hear what He is saying to each one of us.
In such moments it is not abnormal to hear someone claim that you are super-crazy when you tell them that you heard the voice of God.
However hearing the voice of the Lord should be our normal lifestyle. John 10:27 says “…My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…” For the voice to be heard someone must be listening. The difference between hearing and listening lies in the attitude. Normally no one relishes hearing noises. So chances are that no one wants listens to noises. Hearing is engaging our audio sense in proper use. Listening is wanting or desiring to hear.
It goes without saying that the LORD does not speak to someone who does not want to hear. Samuel had to hear his name three times before the LORD could speak to him. It was not until the Lord got his attention, and until he was aware of who was speaking, that he was able to hear what the LORD desired to tell him.
I used to tell people that in Jeremiah 22:29 the LORD was speaking to the earth, not the world. Then I would pose this question to the audience: If God can speak to the earth, then how much more eager can He be to speak to the world? Most of the time they would raise their appetite and desire to hear the speech of God.
Wisdom dictates that it is important to listen than to talk. Ecclesiastes 5:1,2 says the same thing. Personally I don’t know where this trend of talking to God came from. Praying is and should be a two way communication. I strongly believe that I haven’t prayed if all I have done is to talk and talk without desiring or yearning for a response. Do you think God is a dumb servant who is always eager to do the things you have ordered?
How I wish we would know the blessedness of hearing from the LORD on our own. Proverbs 8:34 says, “Blessed is the person who listens to me, watches at my door day after day, and waits at my doorsteps.” (GNB). The choice is virtually ours whether we want to continue being a bunch of religious hecklers offering God meaningless diatribes or the prophetic generation of Samuel walking under the blessedness of the assurance of direction and knowledge that we are doing the right thing in the right way.
James 1:19 is a verse that we have hitherto thought and applied in relationship with one another, but it should first be applied to the LORD. I call it the law of intimacy. It says: “Remember my dear brothers and sisters: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and should not get angry easily”. (God’s Word)
The point is: You can only listen to the one whom you feel is important to you. Otherwise it will be always accidental hearing.
Prophetic people have an intimate connection with the LORD, to whom they are always all ears.
Are you ready to become one?
Towards the end of last year (2008) I heard the LORD confide in me that He is raising a Samuel generation. Disturbed, I prodded Him to elaborate more on this. As a rule He has a way of explaining things to me.
I got this: Samuel generation is a generation of Kingdom prophetic priests who have learnt to submit to the authority and have known the power of real worship. They have apostolic reverence towards holiness and shun all forms of wickedness.
They are to turn the nations back to God and to prophesy and witness the transitions of governmental authority both in the Church and in the nation from self-worship to the true worship of the living God, from celebrity craze to celebrant lifestyle, from Saul to David. They are to take the banner of holiness back to where it belongs – in the temple (in the bodies of believers). Their intimacy with Christ will be judgment to the nations and to the lukewarm passivity in the Body of Christ.
I don’t know about you, but I am ready to become a part of this generation.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION March 5, 2009

WHAT IS ALL THIS BLOG ABOUT?
Born out of a burden to engage Christians in a worthwhile discourse on the net, this is probably the first Christian weblog with a prophetic touch.
We are living in a perilous time. People are engaged in all kind of discussions, some of which are detrimental to our generation and the generations to come. Politics has taken the center stage of most people’s mind. And, you know what politics tend to give us is a sense of frustration that the governments are not doing what they are meant to do. Frustrations almost always breed hopelessness.
In such times when world economies are going down the drains, the social aspect has been thrown to the dogs, the politics of the day are singing dirges on our ears and the religions are bringing no light to the dark world, one is left to wonder: Is there any hope left for us to cling on?
This blog is hereby meant to give hope and reality by making some of the biblical principles come alive to the contemporary world.
We are hereby welcoming any comment and suggestion from all of you who will read this blog.
We are committed to WRITE TO IGNITE as our motto.
royalvoice

RISE ABOVE THE STORMS March 4, 2009

In Revelation 7:1-3, we find the four angels witholding the four winds from entering the world and destroying the whole earth and sea. Just before the angels release the winds another angel appears with a seal on his hand and cries out for the other angels to restrain from releasing the winds. the seal of the Living God is put in the foreheads of the servants of the Living God. Is it a grammatical error that the seal is ‘in’ not ‘on’ the foreheads? Certainly not. the seal of the Lord is the Holy Spirit, with code 777 unlike antiChrist with 666.

what are the four winds that are used to destroy the whole earth and leave the ones with the seal of the Living God still kicking and alive? they are the four influences which are affecting the whole earth currently. these are religious, economic, social and political influences that are even bombarding the Church and threatening to take over the arena.

As Believers, we are supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit, the seal “in” our spiritual foreheads. that is the only way we are going to survive these influences. Salt must have a different taste from the food for it to be effective.The Church must arise and be different from the religion, politics,economy and society for it to be effective. Let us go back to the old time tradition of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. we are being influenced by thunders, lightning, and earthquakes, but the still small voice is not being listened to.We are called to ride over these storms of life.

THE SHREWD SPIRIT OF AHAB March 4, 2009

We need to fight against the spirit of Ahab. This is the spirit that nests Jezebel spirit. Jezebel cannot operate where Ahab is absent. This spirit is so shrewd that it has been operating in the Church for a long time without ever being unmasked. If we are not careful, observant and discerning, we may not be able to identify and thereby cast it out.

This spirit is characterized by what is called illegitimate union, hatred of real prophetic voices and passive authority. These are some of the things the Church has been condoning, some to the peril of their ministries and some to the peril of their own lives.

Initially the root cause of Jezebellic authority is illegitimate union. In 1 Kings 16:31, we find Ahab marrying Jezebel, a Zidionian princess, something that breached the covenant of Israel with the Lord even further. This is apostasy of high order since the Israelites had been warned against the intermarriage with heathen community (Read Deuteronomy 7:3, 4). And to find the king himself setting such a bad example was not just a mistake.

In 1 Kings 18, and 2 Chronicles 18, we find the second characteristic of this spirit being manifested. In the first instance, on meeting Elijah, the king insults the prophet calling him a trouble maker. In the second instance we find the same king again expressing his disgust on Micaiah. This spirit tends to always downplay the prophetic voice, because mostly it has other “soothing prophets” on its side and on its payroll. It even tend to tie the authentic prophetic voice and ministry with Matthew 24: 24 in order to justify its stance.

We also find this spirit rearing its hideous head in the New Testament in the life of Herod (Matthew 14:3-12). Without Herod, Herodias wouldn’t have asked for the head of John the Baptist. Because Herod despised the prophetic utterance of correction and imprisoned John, Jezebel, the spirit that was operational in Herodias found a way of silencing the moral guide by demanding the head of John after Herod’s drinking spree.

In 1 Kings 21 we find the passive authority, which is driven by greed, coming out strongly as a characteristic of the spirit of Ahab. Ahab is in a fix. He wants Naboth’s garden, but Naboth has refused to even sell it to him. He is troubled, and it is apparent even by the look of his face. His wife, Jezebel, comes into the scene and offers a solution to the dilemma. She is left to go scot free by her husband. After all, he is the king, and it has served his purpose.

We need to know this: Jezebel did not have any law governing her conscience, having come from a heathen monarchy. The only thing she knew was how to get around a problem using any means possible; whether good or evil. It was Ahab who was supposed to manage her boundaries and tell her when she was wrong and make assertive decision on what was supposed to happen based on the Decalogue. But look at what he did. Nothing can justify delegation of authority to the wrong person for our selfish gain.

Unless we fight this spirit, we don’t have any hope of defeating Jezebel. Let us learn from the fact that Jezebel outlived Ahab, and so Ahab has to be defeated before Jezebel is annihilated.

We have to fight Ahab out of the Church. Our Lord has given us this mandate of casting out any unclean spirit, and granted us the authority and power to execute this divine task. We cannot afford to wait until it is too late.

The case in the Body of Christ is like the captain of a ship who was admired and adored by his crew. Each time they would see him, they would all shout “Hail the captain” and bow down at his feet.

At one time he saw another ship that had struck an iceberg, and was almost about to sink. He drew near the wrecked ship and ordered his crew to take lifeboats and rescue the crew from the other before it sunk.

But all that his crew could do was bow and drool at his feet chorusing the “Hail the captain.”

God is calling for an all out war. How dare we not fight His battle, knowing very well that provided He is our captain, victory is ours?