Do you express your love to God by serving Him and others?


4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern Cali...

4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern California provided by LivingWaters Ministry. Obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone” Mark 16:15 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you express your love to God by serving Him and others?

 

 

 

A life worth living

 

 

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 7:19

“For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.”
NLT

Friend, you have unique talents and abilities that God wants to use for His glory. Your act of love for God is expressed when you serve and keep His commandments. Don’t be dissatisfied with your giftings, but obey God and walk in them.

Serving God with your gifts and obeying his commandments should be a high priority in the life of the believer. This is not to say that you are under the law, but because of His amazing love for you, you can respond in love by serving others with your talents. While you are not trying to earn your righteousness, you should desire to be obedient to Him. Not because you are earning your salvation, but because you love Him.

1John 5:2-3 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” NKJV

You are to love God with all of your heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37). Serving and obeying God should not be burdensome because He loved you first. When I take flowers to my wife, I do not do so because I am married. I do this out of love. In the same way, show your love and affection for God by being committed to witness, read the Bible, pray and love others.

Do you express your love to God by serving Him and others? Remember how God told us to discover a life worth living? Feel safe and secure in the arms of God’s redeeming power and undeniable love. Step out in obedience to Him and share the hope and love of God to this cold, dark world that does not have anything worth living for and sure does not offer anything worth dying for.

 

 

 

Life Lesson: Serving and keeping God’s commandments is not only a commitment but an act of love as well.

Dear Father,
Thank You for Your love that sets me free when I ask you to forgive me of my sins. Thank You for allowing me to come to You. Lord, I thank You for the talents and abilities You have given to me. Forgive me where I have envied someone else’s gifts while neglecting to use my own gifts. Help me to be grateful for the call You have for my life so that I can discover purpose and meaning the way You intended. Lord, thank You for Your patience with me. Help me bring hope to a lost and dying world. In Jesus Christ Name, Amen!

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Acknowledged by Our Lord Jesus Christ


Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

Acknowledged by Our Lord Jesus Christ

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and
I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will
confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Revelation 3:4-5
The Bible is the book of life. Your name is in this book. If God has to
say “I will not blot out your name out of the book of life,” that must
mean that your name can be blotted out, that you can lose your
salvation. Just because you were once saved doesn’t mean you’ll go up
in the rapture. He is telling this church that their lethargy and
religion could cause them to become totally backslidden and return to
the ways of the world. This is not easy to do, especially with the
mercy, long-suffering, and grace of the Lord, but it is possible. You
don’t want to be the dead church.
But look at what God does for those who are overcomers! The word
confess means to acknowledge; if you’re an overcomer, Jesus will
acknowledge you before His Father and before His angels.
When you have the Father manifesting or appearing, going before your
point of need, your point of need is not going to be there very long!
The power of God will show up and show out. God will acknowledge that
power in front of men. We see that in Psalm 23 where the Psalmist says,
“I will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies.” In
other words, “I am going to show everybody that you belong to me by
what I do. The table is set in front of you and in front of your
enemies.” God wants to manifest Himself to you and through you.

Prayer for Today

Father,
I confess that I am an overcomer through Your sacrifice! I confess that
I am an overcomer through Your power! Thank You for manifesting Yourself to me and through me time and time again! In Jesus Christ Name,
Amen!

Think on These Things

Revelation 19:8
Matthew 10:32

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

The Spirit and Jesus


Detail - Glory of the New Born Christ in prese...

Detail – Glory of the New Born Christ in presence of God Father and the Holy Spirit (Annakirche, Vienna) Adam and Eva are represented bellow Jesus-Christ Ceiling painting made by Daniel Gran (1694-1757). Post-processing: perspective and fade correction. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Spirit and Jesus

 


Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there
are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all
in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to
profit withal.

 

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

 

There is only one Spirit, but there are many different manifestations
of the Spirit. There are gifts. There are ministries. There are
operations of the Spirit. The book of Isaiah says that a number of these expressions are upon the Lord Jesus. And indeed, we read in John
14:16 that the Holy Spirit is called a Comforter (Counsellor, Helper,
Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby) (The Amplified
Bible).

 
Isaiah 11:1 talks about the Spirit that was on Jesus. Acts 10:38 tells
us how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost. Jesus had
the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of
counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit
of the fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is God.

 

 

Prayer for Today

 

 

Father,

 

I give You praise for the awesome, amazing gift of Your Spirit. I
magnify Your wisdom, Your understanding, Your counsel, and Your
knowledge. I choose to walk every step of my day in the fear of the
Lord. In Jesus Christ Name, Amen!

 

Think on These Things

 

 
1 Corinthians 14:12
Romans 12:6-8

 

 

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Free Gift Of God


Cover of "The Gift of Forgiveness"

Free Gift Of God

 

 

 

 

Acts 21:21

 

 

“but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.”
NKJV

What are some of the traditions you hold that keep others from Jesus? In the verse above, you see the Jewish and Gentile conflict within the church and the traditions that the Jews wanted the Gentile church to follow. Although they rejoiced that God was at work among the Gentiles, they slipped in the word ‘but’ revealing their ‘religiosity’. They were concerned for the traditions set within the church.

It is important as you walk in relationship with others to speak leaving out the ‘buts’. Often, you’ll hear that word come up as you talk to others. We all are in danger of saying it. Have you ever said.

“I like the way you did this ‘but’.”
“It’s a great church ‘but’.”
“I would show love to that other person ‘but’.”

Many times you can find yourself saying something and then filling in reasons why you don’t approve of something. Tragically, it’s the same thing that has put walls between the unbelieving world and personal relationships with Jesus Christ. On one occasion, I remember a guy who stopped by the parking lot of our church asking if it was okay for him to enter the church dressed as he was. The church down the road told him that he couldn’t come in unless he dressed more respectfully. This man was simply wearing a t-shirt and pair of jeans. It was okay to come to church ‘but’ he wasn’t dressed nicely enough to be welcomed in. When God forgives us, there are no ‘buts’. It is a free gift. When you are called to extend forgiveness to others, the Lord wants you to forgive them in the same way.

Maybe you are carrying around a number of reasons why you don’t want to show God’s love to someone else. If this is you, turn to the Lord right where you are and ask Him to help you purely embrace and show the gift of forgiveness to others as He has shown you.

 

 

Life Lesson: We do not earn forgiveness it is given to us, it is a gift.

Dear Father
Thank You for the free gift of Your forgiveness that You’ve shown to me by dying for my sins. Please give me the strength to extend the same gift of love and forgiveness to others. Keep me from putting up walls that hinder others in having a real relationship with You. In Jesus Christ  Name, Amen!

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Stay Away from Jezebel


Resurrection of Christ

Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Stay Away from Jezebel!

 

 

 

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou
sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to
teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her
fornication; and she repented not.

Revelation 2:20-21

This is written to Thyatira, a corrupt, self-promoting church. Jezebel
is a self-promoter who calls herself a prophetess, but the Holy Ghost is the real promoter. If you are always trying to promote yourself, to
get to the pulpit, or to do something that gets you noticed, you will
not get very far. The Holy Ghost gives you the gifts. He gives you the
talents you have. He gives you favour where favour is necessary. Your
responsibility is to do what your hands can find to do, and do it with
all your might.

God gave Jezebel time to repent. The book of Romans says it this way:
The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance (Romans 2:4b). Just
because the hammer doesn’t fall when you are doing what you shouldn’t
be doing doesn’t mean that you are getting away with anything. God may be giving you time and space to come to your senses and understand what
you are doing.

It matters not only what you do but also why you do it. You can do
things to be seen. You can do things to get yourself in line for
something you want. Jezebel’s motives are absolutely wrong, and those
who have her spirit are wrong. You have to watch who you hang around
with, because you will soon start becoming what they are. If you hang
around a Jezebel spirit, you will become a Jezebel.

Prayer for Today

Father,
I am dependent on You to show me my heart and my motives. I want Your
Will to be done above all other things. I desire only Your favour and
Your blessing. In Jesus Christ Name, Amen.

Think on These Things

Jeremiah 8:4-6

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

God Knows Best


Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglica...

Father Knows Best

 

 

1 Corinthians 7:21-22

“Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ‘s slave.”
NKJV

We often think our circumstances in life are our problem. Whether it is our job, friends or family situations, we often think these are the source of our issues. Life can be uncomfortable at times, but friend, if you are a Christian, God has allowed circumstances in your life because he is forming Himself in you.

God is trying to help you in your circumstances and trials. By allowing you to go through difficult challenges in life, you can grow to be more like Him. Sometimes, trials can be painful. Is there anybody in your life that God is trying to use to remove what does not resemble Him in your life? You are precious to God and He loves you. He wants to grow you through your challenges. As you mature in the Lord, you should ask Him what He wants you to learn through them and allow Him to change you.

Consider a clay pot. The potter forms the clay to create a beautiful masterpiece. Once he forms it, he fires the clay to make it hard and usable for the tasks for which it was created. What if the potter pulled the clay out too soon? It would be half-baked and the clay pot would not be usable. The potter would then have to break the pot, re-wet it, form and fire it again. Life is a lot like this clay pot. Who wants to be a half-baked Christian? When we do not learn a lesson that God is trying to perfect in us, we have to go through it again and again until He forms Himself in us.

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” NKJV

Friend, God has called you to serve Him. He is using your circumstances to free you from the bondage of the shame, guilt and sin that separates you from Him. Whatever is going on in your life–trust Him! God is willing to do whatever it takes to reach you. He wants to set you free.

 

Life Lesson: Our circumstances are usually not the problem; it is our response or attitude to the circumstances that is the problem.

Dear Father,
Thank You for loving me. Thank You for the opportunity to go through circumstances that form me to be more like You. Lord, You sentenced and punished Yourself for me so I could be forgiven. I thank You that You were willing to pay such a high price for me. I choose to walk in the incredible plans You have for me instead of the plans I have made. Help me to be faithful in the small things by listening to You. You are my hope, my love and my peace. Help me to hear Your voice and to discover my own call and adventure in life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Hell Is Real


William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The F...

Hell is real


And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works.

Revelation 20:12-13

This is the great white throne of judgment for those who are not
overcomers, those who have not made the decision to receive Jesus Christ and stay true to Him. He said the books-plural-will be opened.
There is a record of everything you have done in your life: every
thought, action, intent, and word is recorded. The Bible will judge
your hearts, your actions, your motives, and your words.

Calling every molecule back together and fitting it all in a human body
is no problem to God. There will be, and there are now, people in hell
who will stand before this judgment in Revelation 20 and be given a
full picture of why they are in hell. There are some popular teachings
across the country that say there is no hell, that the loving God would
never send any person to hell.

God is love. Hell is not created for man; it was created for satan and
his angels and anybody who decides to follow him. If you turn away from
the living God and get satan’s judgment, you have chosen hell for
yourself. Make a decision for the Lord and reject satan. Hell is a real
place, but it is not the end.

Prayer for Today

Father,
I humble myself in Your presence, knowing that You know me inside and
out. You know my every thought and deed, my every word and action. My
desire is to glorify You in my life. In Jesus Christ Name, Amen.

Think on These Things

John 11:25

Acts 24:15

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Blessed Above All People


Česky: Kříže - symbol utrpení Ježíše Krista a ...

Blessed Above All People

Deuteronomy 7:14 says: “Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.” Notice this verse says you will be blessed above all people. Look around you. Do you see blessed people? Even those who are not in the Lord? Do you know it is God‘s desire to bless you more than the richest man in the world? You might say, “But riches are corrupt.” No, they are not corrupt in and of themselves. When we serve God and obey Him, worshiping Him and putting Him first in our lives, God withholds no good thing from us. Once He sees where our heart is, He knows He can trust us with this world’s riches. Be encouraged today that no matter what you see around you, God’s will is for you to be blessed. Rise up and begin to say with your mouth, “God has blessed me above all people. God is multiplying me. He is increasing me. He is blessing the fruit of my womb, the fruit of my life, my land, my corn, my flocks, and my household, Amen!.”

You are blessed of the Lord!

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves


The Last Supper of Jesus Christ

The Last Supper of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.

 

Micah 3:1

And I said: “Hear now, O heads of Jacob, And you rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to know justice?”
NKJV

Today’s society is fast paced and full of busyness. But what are we busy doing? Is it trying to live life with a mission to better ourselves? Any of us who have tried to live this kind of life know that we are never satisfied even when we achieve our goals. Friend, if we have a relationship with Jesus, is it not for us to know justice? If we claim to be a follower of Jesus, we have a responsibility to live a Godly life everywhere we go. God has showed us that life is not about us, it’s about knowing Him, loving Him and loving others. If anyone should know that, it is the body of Christ–those who have been forgiven of their sins. Now that God has blessed us with His forgiveness, He desires that we share His love with others. The world needs us to be an example of living the Bible so that they too are drawn to Christ. They need answers, and for us to say we are “Christians” and live our life in pursuit of personal gain would only be a contradiction to who we say we follow.

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.” NKJV

Friend, let’s stand before God often and ask Him to reveal things in our life that are not pleasing to Him. As we do that, the world will not have any stones to throw. They will be drawn to Jesus and living their life for Him just like we should.

 

Life Lesson: The world is looking for answers, not for hypocrites.

Dear Father:
Thank You for loving me. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins. Help me to live a disciple’s life wherever I go. Please remove those things that are not pleasing to You so others are not confused. Thank You Lord, for using me to change lives for eternity just like you changed mine. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!

Never ending Love


No Greater Love

Never ending Love

 

 

 

1 Corinthians 13:8

“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”
NKJV

Have you ever thought about love in the light of eternity? One day all that we know here on earth will be changed. When Christ appears in all His glory, heaven will come to earth and our lives, homes, bodies and relationships will change forever. Yet, there is one thing that will never change. That thing is love. When we see Christ face to face, we will no longer need faith. As we glimpse the realities of heaven all around us, we will no longer cling to hope of a better day. But love will never disappear. The love that created the world and gave life to humanity will still sustain the saints in heaven. The love that walked out of heaven and went to the cross is the same love that prepared a place for us for all eternity. And, the same love that strengthens us in this life is the same love that welcomes us into the next. This love never fails, never wavers and never grows weary. This love is the love of God.

1 John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.” NKJV

Because this love will always remain, let us begin loving even now. We will spend eternity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, so why not love them now? As we love each other with the love given to us through Christ, the world will see it and desire the same. When they do, we can point them to the never-ending source of love, Jesus.

 

Life Lesson: Love releases the power of the Spirit in our lives and in our churches.

Dear God,
Thank You for the love You have shown me. Help me to love others in the same way You have loved me. Use me today to share the love of God with someone I see. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

May the LORD bless Nigeria, American and Israel and take care of us; May the LORD make His face shine upon us, And be gracious to us; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, And give us peace, In Jesus Christ Name, we pray! Amen!