New Year, New Thinking, New Heart, New Life
A time to make bold resolutions and predictions for what might unfold in the next months and years to come. Happy new year to you! Let this year be a great year for you by receiving the greatest gift from the greatest of all. Your greatest victory of this year is to say yes to Jesus Christ. Conversely, your greatest defeat of this year is to neglect such a great salvation. Christ wants to make you new in this new year. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Cor 5:17). He is willing to make you a brand new person if you will allow Him to do so. If you desire to have a new life today you can surely have it through Christ our Lord and saviour. In fact, He will give you a new heart to enable you to walk in His ways. He will take your hardened, rocky heart and give you a new one. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them (Eze. 36:26-27). URGENT!!Reader: Do not neglect so great a salvation The good news of the gospel is greater now than any time in history, so embrace it. Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him (Heb. 2:1-3). Know the truth about your soul. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mat 16:26) It’s more than 2000 years ago since Christ died on the cross and rose again to cleanse us from our sins. Yet many haven’t received Him as their Lord and personal saviour. But Christ did not come to save a selected few. He came to give Himself as a ransom for many and yet many still don’t know the truth about Jesus, the only way to heaven. Know this truth and be free. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) The truth is the person of Jesus Christ. He Himself said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Grace and truth came through Christ. Without Christ you cannot know the truth. He is the only one who takes away sins. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29) This is not a decision for the next few years but a decision that would change your life forever, it is the greatest decision you can ever make. Saying yes to Jesus means your sins are forgiven and you inherit the kingdom of God. He can take any sinner, a prostitute, a drunkard, a thieve, a murderer or whoever you may be, and make you lead a holy life and lead you to heaven. Christ died and rose again so He is alive right now and He is ready to forgive you. It doesn’t matter what you have done in the past, He died on the cross for every sin you have ever committed and will ever commit. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). He died for every sinner including you and me. You are secured in Him if you say yes to such a great salvation. Some reject this great offer but many receive and become the children of God. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name (John 1:11-12). You are adopted into His family where you can cry out Abba Father. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father (Rom. 8:15). The decision to receive or reject Jesus is so important because it matters to all of us. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23). He doesn’t want sinners to die in their sin so He is at the door of your heart knocking for you to let Him in (Rev. 3:20). Invite Him into your heart today. Christ Jesus has borne the sins of the whole Human race on the cross and carried all our sorrows so put your trust in Him. Reader, start this year with a life in Christ by saying “yes I put my faith in you Jesus Christ” and have the joy of salvation. You who are genuine believers in Christ, from this year, let the message go out from Jesus to everyone, seize every opportunity to share the gospel, He said: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name
The Christian Life Is Like An Athletic Program
After salvation, God sets us on a race of life. So, when we get saved He say’s, “this is the direction I want you to live your life”. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10). This should be your goal, to walk in the good works that God has set for you. Be in the race set for you. “1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2). In this race of life, we have encouragers. Being in the race set for us is fulfilling the purpose for which God created us. The Bible is saying there are encouragers in this race, some pioneers have come and with their good works following them. There is a purpose for which God created every one of us and until a person accomplishes that, or is in the process of doing so, he or she will never be living an abundant life. He or she will never be living a life worth living. He or she will never be living a fulfilled life. You may have all the money you want, or all the relationships you want, but you wouldn’t be living the purposeful life that God gave you as a believer if you are not in the race of life set before you. That is, if you are not living in the will of God, or seeking to obey Him, you will never find fulfilment. If you don’t walk in the good works that God prepared before the foundation of this earth, you will never be satisfied in life. You will never be able to fill that void with anything in life than walking in the will of God. We need to walk in the good works that God prepared for us and not to walk away from them. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Now the race of life becomes more personal when we read Hebrews 12:2. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”. It’s not a matter of speed but a matter of being able to last. It’s about being able to run the whole length. In our Christian lives, we also have those things that impede and hinder our walk. Anything that hinders our keeping the pace of God is a distraction. It must be laid aside and you need to turn away from it. We are to lay aside those things that hinder and distract us in our Christian walk. As we are living in the will of God, anything that hinders, or gets our attention, and leads us away from the will of God must be dealt with. That can be a habit in our lives. Some sport or even watching TV. Anything which is being over emphasised in our lives could be a distraction. That means, something we give special importance or value to. It may even be doubt or fear, action, attitude, or relationship. Anything that hinders, impede, slows us down, or gets us out of the will of God may have to be removed. We have to look in our own lives and say, ‘what is it in my lifestyle that hinders me or keeps me away from focusing on my God given goal, following His will or allowing Him to work His way in my life’. We all have to examine ourselves and lay aside the sin that ensnares us. Sometimes, it’s not easy to identify. We may have some habits in our lives that have been there for years and we may think, that’s just the way I am, but it may be retarding your spiritual walk. Sometimes it could be just a little doubt that lingers on in our lives. We may think, does God even care or have a plan for my life? We sometimes make decisions and then ask God to bless us. But do we ask the mind of God before we make those decisions? There are many areas of life that can hinder our race and walk with the Lord. So, we must first examine ourselves to see what’s hindering us. Secondly, we must decide to deal with it and thank the Lord for showing this to us. It may not even be deliberate or a known willful sin. But we must acknowledge that it’s hindering our walk and make a conscious effort to lay it aside. You may be holding on something that’s keeping you from the good works that you are supposed to walk in. Whatever it may be, put it aside, walk away from it, turn away from it and make it right between you and God. That’s easily said than done, but you must depend on the Holy Spirit to help you deal with it. Lay aside those things that impede and hinder your progress in walking in the will, timing, and pace of God. Anything that gets your attention and divert your course is a hindrance. ‘The sin that so easily entangles us’. What does the Bible mean by that? It may be a weakness such as doubt, finances, lust or whatever it might be. Something you keep struggling with, something we know to be deliberate willful choices of disobedience to God. We fall into this sin most frequently or most easily. We must deal with those things if we want
Resolutions For A Life Worth Living
Resolutions For A Life Worth Living: Attainable Aspirations Inspired By Great Humans Of The Past Life-tested wisdom on how to live from faithful servants of God whose faith were tested and proven. Living wisely is the art of learning to live at the centre of God’s will. This is where the wisdom of lives that have already been lived can be of immense aid – a source of forward-facing resolutions, borrowed from people who have long died, having lived, by God’s standard, honourable and generous lives. Lives full of hope and substance, irradiated by their faith and ideas that have endured across the ages to make other lives more livable. Here are few such ideas that make for life-expanding resolutions. The Bible records the events of the lives of some Old Testament Saints. To understand and learn from them, we, as believers must appreciate the truths as beauty in the stories themselves. Some of you may say these were Old Testament figures. I just want to show you the importance of learning at the expense of other people, so you are not to figure everything out on your own. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 10:6-11: 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. So twice in verse 6 and verse 11, it says: 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. All the things recorded in the Old Testament are recorded for our benefit so that we can learn through them. This is one reason so many people find themselves in a mess today. Their life is out of control because they don’t know what the word of God teaches, so God uses the examples of the Old Testament people so that through them, we can learn things. These lessons are not about people who lived four thousand years ago and they have no applications to us today. These scriptures were written for us today so that through them we can learn not to commit adultery, not to do the wrong things that they did and to do the positive things that they did so as to gain lessons that we can apply to ourselves (see 1 Cor. 10:6-11). We can learn through the people in the Bible Hebrews 11 records those Old Testament Saints as cloud of witnesses to follow. They have been tremendous and awesome examples to us. The chapter refers to the lives that they lived, the challenges, difficulties, troubles, and hardships they faced. We are to look at the trials they went through and how they responded as well as what God did in their lives. It’s been fascinating, reading about the lives of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David and Daniel. Men whose lives I can relate to something like my failures and successes. Seeing how God worked in their lives, and thinking God, my situation is slightly similar, I look at how God worked in the lives, and the principles have not changed. He will work the same way He worked in those Old Testament Saints lives. I’m inspired by reading and researching on how God worked in the past and the more I do this, the more encouragement I get. I say “God, the way you worked in their lives the same you will do for me”. You may look at your situation and say, “God this is unfair to me”. But look at Joseph who was falsely accused and imprisoned. He could have said, God where are you? But He was faithful to God. He came from no hope as a prisoner and became the prime minister of Egypt. And so, when I look at how things have been unfair to me and my loved ones, I recall and think about Joseph. I think about how the race of life can be rough and full of troubles, then I think about David. How many times he ran from one cave to the other escaping from Saul who was determined to kill him. Then I think about the short cut Moses took by killing an Egyptian and what he went through – living in the desert as a result. He took a short cut for the plan for his life for the nation of Israel. Once we discover God’s will, that’s not the end of the story; now we have to walk it out. One of the hardest parts about following God’s will is moving in His timing. Moses tried to bring God’s will to pass when he moved in his own strength and killed an Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-12 and Acts 7:24-28). Attempting to rush God’s timing actually set Moses back thirty years (Gen. 15:13 and Ex. 12:41)! David is one of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of the good things to do and at the same time the bad things to avoid or not to do. David was one of the best in many ways and one of the worst in many ways. Every person learning about David will find something in his life that you can apply to yourself. If you don’t study the word of God and learn these things at somebody else’s expense, then you are destined to fall into the same mistakes yourself. We can learn, for example, how David’s sexual sin with Bathsheba affected his family and
Living without Sadness, Regret, Disappointments, And Anxiety
In life, every one of us is going to experience sadness, regret, disappointment, and anxiety, no matter who you are and where you live. These are the realities of this broken world, but we know they never come from God. Where do they come from? Sometimes we experience sadness and disappointment through regret. Regret is sorrow or guilt over something that has happened or something that we have done. Regret can also be a sense of disappointment over what has not happened, such as regretting wasted years, because of what you should have done or shouldn’t have done. There are other reasons why we experience sadness, regret, disappointment, and anxiety. It could be the loss of someone, a personal failure, an unfairness or injustice, or a tragedy of life. We’ve all been there. Everyone is on some level of sadness, regret, disappointment, and anxiety. It seems that we all made mistakes in our past. There are things that we did that we shouldn’t have done, and there are other things that we didn’t do that we should have done. And so, sadness, regrets and disappointments affect us all. And this is where many times we face regrets. When you are changing seasons in your life, or when you are going through a transition, it’s natural to look back. If you are completing school or college, or you are graduating from university or are about to marry, or you are transitioning from being married to being single, or going through a big transitional change in your life, it’s natural to look back and think you could have done things differently. Probably, you could have studied better or done things better, but learn to live without sadness, regret, disappointments, and anxiety. What I’m doing with this message is applying the redemption that Jesus has provided for us to the soul, which is where sadness, regret, disappointments, and anxiety will be. You get saved and forgiven of your sins. You get spiritual rebirth for your spirit. We believe that by His stripes we were healed, and we apply that to our bodies, but also the soul is part of man – and that’s where regret, sadness and sorrow, disappointments, anxiety and grieve reside. But know this, we can apply what Jesus did to our soul so we can be totally free from these emotional experiences just like we are free from guilt. When you apply the word to your past sins, then you are free from sin and guilt. We can apply what Jesus did to our past mistakes, experiences and whatever has happened in our past and be free from any kind of emotional distress. There may be areas in your past that when you look back on them, you may say oh, I’m supposed to feel that way because I think it’s going to be a scar on my life and it’s never going to be completely go away. God is not going to let your past affect your future. We are not going to be sorry for anything for the rest of our lives. The reason God can do that is because Jesus has already paid the price. We can apply these truths now and be happy. You can be happy again no matter what has happened in your past. You can take the word of God and apply it and be happy and be filled with joy. You have to get over the past if you want to go into the future that God has for you. Are you mourning? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mat. 5:4 NIV). In this text of scripture, Jesus gives a beautiful promise. ‘They will be comforted’. He doesn’t want us to be sad. He doesn’t want us to mourn and have sorrow and regret as part of our thinking for a long time. In the Bible, God repeatedly promises us that when we experience sorrow, He is going to give us comfort. God sees you in your sorrow, He knows your tears. God is with us and He wraps His love around us. In our darkest night God gives us hope. Psalm 30 says ‘weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning’. You can be comforted today when you experience sorrow. When you mourn, God will comfort you. God sees those who mourn, and He promises to comfort them. He will bring healing to your heart when you grieve or experience disappointment or regret. He gives hope to those feeling hopeless, and strength to anyone feeling overwhelmed. He is so close to you in the midst of your sorrow, regret and disappointment. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). If you allow the Holy Spirit, He can provide strength when you are lacking it. God will give you unexpected strength. You are the only person who can control your joy – don’t give that power to anyone else. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; nor be discouraged” (Deut. 31:8). Trust that the Lord will guide you out of any difficult situation. Are you depressed or anxious? How do you stop anxiety from remaining with you? How do you minister to someone who has anxiety? I will always refer them to Phil. 4:6-7. 6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”. So, that peace will replace anxiety. Notice, He gave us some actions. He says pray about things causing you anxiety. Therefore, we get proactive. If we are neutral on regret, anxiety, sadness, depression, they wouldn’t change unless we get proactive. Things will begin to change when you
Holdfast Onto The Faithful Word Of God
Let me refer you to a scripture that reminds us of the importance of God’s word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mat. 24:35 NIV). No matter what happened last year or even last night, God is faithful to His word. Therefore, have faith in His word and hold onto it. God’s word is not going anywhere. God’s word was with us last year, it was with us yesterday, and it’s with us today and forever. There can be many things that can go on in the world around us, we can face many trials, many things can happen in our lives, but all of these things will come and go, but God’s word will be with us forever. Therefore, hold onto it. That means have faith in His word. A lot of times we try to depend on things of this world, things of this culture, but they are not the most reliable things to stand on. They sometimes fall through as you may say, but do you know something that will never fail you? Something that’s always reliable, and will always come true for you when you need it most? It’s the word of God. That’s why I encourage you today to have faith in God’s word and hold onto it. Has God given you a word? Yes, He has. So, hold unto it. Have faith in His word. Has God told you that He will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus? If He did, then stand on that word and don’t consider anything else. Don’t let anybody tell you that you will struggle to afford food. Don’t let anybody tell you that you will struggle to afford your essential needs, (Mat. 6:33; Phi. 4: 19). Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it (Phil. 4:13). Your faith should be in the promises of God. Your faith should be in the word of God. Have hope in God’s word and hold onto it. So many people are hopeless today because they are not dominated by the word of God. God gave us His word so that we can have all that we need to live out this life that He has called us to live. That’s why it’s important to get into the word of God every single day. That’s where our strength will come from. That’s what we can rely on to go into anything that we might face, whether throughout the day, throughout the week, or throughout our lifetime. So, I encourage you to trust that everything else will pass away, but God’s word will remain. It will not pass away. His word is here to lead, guide and direct your life. Hold onto His word. Put your faith in the faithful word of God. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so, through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20 NIV). Renew your mind with God’s word. This means put your trust and faith in Jesus and God’s word above everything else – above your feelings, what you think, what your circumstance may look like, and what others say or think. This is so important because everything we receive from God comes to us by faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). One of the ways to walk in faith is to renew your mind through the word of God. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2 NIV). God has already given us His word and His promises. All you have to do is to renew your mind and appropriate what has already been provided. This doesn’t mean God has already provided so you’ve got nothing to do. I assure you one of the difficult things to do is to renew your mind. It takes effort to renew your mind, and if you are sitting in front of the television, watching ungodly things, and things that will take up your whole time, then you are not renewing your mind. You have to learn to spend some time in the word. How much time have you spent studying the word of God since you became a born-again Christian? We need to keep learning. One of the hardest things to do is to unplug from this world and the ideas and philosophies that this world is giving us, and to start acting and thinking according to the word of the Lord. It’s not going to happen if you are a passive Christian. You have to be an active Christian; you have to be a determined Christian. Most of us spend so much more time in the world system, thinking the wrong things than we do the word of God. You need to get the word of God and hold onto it. You need to renew your mind. The word of God is so available today. Statistics show that the average person spends 4 to 5 hours a day watching television, and on their phones, making phone calls and looking at social media. You can cut out all the bad stuff you use your phone for. If you are to add to that, how many hours do you spend on your phone texting and reading things? You could come up with 6 or 7 hours a day. You can renew your mind if you want to. But we just put more importance on what we hear on the news or what someone is saying on social media. If you want to renew your mind, you will have to put priority on the word of God. Some Christians have allowed the fake news of this world to flow through their mind. No wonder
Do It Today. Do It Now
Do It TodayTake possession of what grace has already made available. It’s very easy when the call of God comes upon our lives to think of a lot of reasons why we won’t respond to it at that moment. There will always be excuses about things we think we will need to do first. But it’s a wonderful thing to be sensitive to Almighty God when it comes to receiving His gift of salvation or serving Him. This is so that when He speaks to us, we will hear His voice and respond, and not delay, but take immediate action. Be conscious about the need to obey God’s command ‘now,’ and immediately. The word that is dear to the heart of God is the word “today”, but Satan’s favourite word of all words is the word “tomorrow.” Today is one of the greatest gifts God has given to mankind. There is a moment in our lives when God speaks. 2 Cor. 6:1-2 says it this way, “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:1-2). Do you understand the message of this text of scripture? There’s a time when God speaks, a time when his voice is being heard. It’s at that moment that you need to respond. When God, by the Holy Spirit, speaks to our hearts, that’s the moment we respond, not tomorrow, not tonight, but now. Today, don’t harden your heart while you hear his voice. Today is the day of salvation, tomorrow is not the day, yesterday wasn’t the day, but today. Tomorrow can be a dangerous word, for tomorrow has robbed many people of their dreams. It has robbed students of educational achievement and career opportunities. It has kept more people from coming to Christ than any other word in the dictionary. Let me remind you that tomorrow will rob you of opportunities to serve Almighty God. What’s the first thing that a man needs to fulfill his God given purpose? What’s the first thing that a man needs to live the abundant life that God created us for? It’s a day, it’s today. As simple as that sounds, every day is a gift, and it’s so precious. God gave us structure, He gave us a day, He gave us weeks, months, and years. He also gave us seasons and they all begin with a day, and that could be today. This is God’s provision for our purpose and so the first thing that a man needs to fulfill his purpose is a day. Sometimes, it’s something so simple as forgiving someone, or something so simple as giving a gift to someone. It can be giving an offering to God, or something so simple as praising God when you don’t feel like it. It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine. Something so simple as just the small things that the Spirit of God is leading you to do and the things you know you must do. We may think or say I’ll do it tomorrow or I’ll do it next week or I’ll do it next month and before you know it, we’ve wasted a month, we wasted a year. You see, the day God put something on your heart is the day you should start working towards that thing. So, don’t worry if the progress is slow. Forget about what you haven’t been able to do up until now and just be willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as he leads and guides your life. Do It NowA day is extremely important because you become what you do every day. Your life takes on the shape of what you do every day and so your future is never going to be what you want it to be unless you start with today. Your future is never going to be what God has put into your heart unless you start moving in that direction today and continue moving in the same direction every day until you eventually get to that place. “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). Each day is the day that the Lord has made, therefore, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Every day is perfect, and every day comes with opportunities. It cannot be improved; it’s perfect the way it is. I can’t change it because it’s perfect. So, the Psalmist says this is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. We will have to rely on every day to accomplish our goals. I need to structure my day according to what God has put on my heart so that I govern my day, take control of my day and live my day the way God wants me to live it. I’m not going to live my day in fear, I’m not going to live my day being anxious, I’m not going to live my day worrying about tomorrow. This is the day which the LORD has made. A new opportunity has appeared. It’s a new day that the Lord has made for mankind. It’s a perfect day, it’s a blessed day to rejoice and be glad in it. A day made and ordained by God for us to achieve our purposes in life. Every day you wake up, remember that it’s a perfect day the Lord has made for you to do great things to glorify His Holy name. We will rejoice and be glad in it. What else can we do? I’m not going to live my day intimidated, I’m not going to live my day cowardly, I’m going to live my day boldly and I’m going to live it with courage and purpose. In Luke 9:59-62,