The Power to defeat fear and activate faith


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

The Power to defeat fear and activate faith

It’s Easter month again! What a joy to celebrate the selfless love of a wonderful Saviour. The spotless lamb who gave His all for us to live a life of freedom. Freedom from sickness, bondage and pain. Freedom from poverty and loss and freedom from all fear! Fear has the opportunity to creep into our hearts and minds in just about any circumstance to situation but its source is always the same. Fear comes from the pit of hell with the sole purpose to paralyze our emotions, render our reasoning inactive, immobilize our faith and just plain destroy us.

This is pretty much what Timothy was battling with when Paul was writing him in 2 Timothy 1:7. When Paul wrote to Timothy, it was a very difficult time for the early church. The ruler over the region in that day was the mad man Nero. Now Nero was truly insane and a large part of his insanity resulted in the most severe, cruel and gruesome persecution of the believers, wherever his power reached. He would have every believer hunted down, caught, hideously tortured and killed. He showed no mercy for anyone. At this time, Timothy was a pastor of the church of Ephesus, a town that was completely under Nero’s evil control. Timothy knew that Nero’s secret police would take special pleasure in killing him in some barbaric way if they ever got their hands on him.

Now Timothy was having to deal with a spirit of fear, threatening to discourage him to the point of giving up his calling and turning away from one of the greatest revivals the church of Ephesus would experience. Paul told Timothy, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

The phrase (sound mind) comes from a Greek word that suggests a mind that is delivered, rescued, revived, salvaged and protected and is now safe and secure.

This means that even when your mind is tempted to succumb to fear, like Timothy, you can allow God’s Word, by the Holy Spirit, to work in you to deliver, rescue, revive and savage your mind. This means your rationale; logic and emotions can be shielded from the horrible, ridiculous, fearful thoughts that have tried to grip your mind when you face challenging circumstances.

It works like this: The more time we spend meditating on the word of God, the more truth we invest into our minds and spirits. So when fear knocks at our door and tries to take control, the Holy Spirit reminds us of the truth that we have stored inside and that truth overrides the fearful thoughts. God’s word rescues us; it protects our minds as it replaces the thoughts of fear and brings us peace and hope. The word of God causes our minds to become safe and secure in the midst of trouble as we focus on His truth instead of the fearful thoughts. Pretty soon the word of God is speaking louder than fear filled thoughts and faith comes! Faith is that powerful, life giving force that makes the impossible and changes every unfavorable circumstance to line up with the promises of God.

No matter what we are faced with today, let’s decide to take Paul’s words to Timothy to heart. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. A mind rescued, revived and protected from the talons of fear and is safe and secure, focused on the truth of His word. Just remember that it’s the word of God inside of you that has the power to protect and work for you. So don’t waste a moment on the truth of God’s word and build up the greatest investment of your life – the power to defeat fear and activate faith!

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!

Staying in Faith


4 days of Evangelism Training in Southern Cali...

Staying in Faith

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many
days
Ecclesiastes 11:1

Staying in faith through the entire process is critical to receiving
your harvest. It’s like being on a job and having your boss promise you
that you will soon receive a promotion. You are excited to go to work
the next day, but eventually you get discouraged if it takes a long
time to happen. If you stop going to work, however, you won’t be able
to go into the boss’ office one day and ask, “Where’s my promotion?” It
doesn’t work that way. If you are going to get the promotion, you must
stay on the job.

Likewise, if you are going to receive the harvest God wants you to
have, you must stay in faith. You can’t just say, “Thank you, Father,
for my harvest,” on Monday; “Thank you, Father, for my harvest,” on
Tuesday; and then get to sleeping’ on your reaping’ for the rest of the
week. You must stay in faith. You’re invested!

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!

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water


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Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water

Hebrews 10:22

My dog Salty knows he isn’t supposed to get into the trash. But let the house be human free, and the dark side of Salty takes over. If there’s food in a trash can, the temptation is too great!

That’s what happened the other day. I got made, but I got over it. I cleaned up the mess and forgot about it.

Salty didn’t! He kept his distance. When I finally saw him, his tail was between his legs, his ears dropping. He thinks I’m mad at him. He doesn’t know I’ve already dealt with his mistake.

Somewhere, sometime, you got tangled in garbage…and you’ve been avoiding God. You wonder if you could ever feel close to God again. The message of his torn flesh on the cross is—you can

The door is open. Don’t trust your conscience. Trust the cross. You’re welcome in God’s presence!

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!

Being faithful in the little things first


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Being faithful in the little things first.

 

Matthew 25:23 “His Lord said to him “Well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Sometimes we get so focused on doing great and mighty things for God that we forget about being faithful in the little things. Our faith grows as we serve in the little things and that prepares us for the bigger things God has for us. He is watching and if you are faithful in doing good and doing it with a pure and excellent heart, God will reward you in due season. Remember that God has placed you where ever you are now, for a season. I want to encourage you today to stay hopeful, do not get discouraged in doing good and always stay faithful in the little things.

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 are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled


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)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

Matthew 5:6

Healing begins when you do something. God’s help is near and always available, but it’s given to those who seek it. Healing starts when you take a step. God honours radical, risk-taking faith.

When arks are built, lives are saved. When soldiers march, Jerichos tumble.

When staffs are raised, seas still open. When a lunch is shared, thousands are fed.

And when a garment is touched by the hand of an anemic woman in Galilee—Jesus stops!

He stops and responds.

Compared to God’s part, our part is minuscule—but necessary. We don’t have to do much, but we do have to do something! Faith with no effort is not faith at all!

Write a letter. Ask forgiveness.

Call a counsellor. Call a mom!

Visit a doctor. Be baptized.

Feed a hungry person.

Pray. Teach. Go.

God honours radical, risk-taking faith. And He will respond.

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!

Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones


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)

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Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones
Luke 16:10

Faithful in Least, Faithful in Much

This Scripture doesn’t say, “He that is not faithful.” It says, “He
that is unjust.” If you are not faithful, you are unjust.

God is not going to give you a bonus if you are mishandling what He has
already given you. Many people are living in houses they should not be
living in, driving cars they should not be driving, and wearing clothes
they should not be wearing. They are trying to look prosperous or be
prosperous, but they are doing it the natural way instead of doing it
through the power of God.

If you are working two and three jobs to keep up the appearance of
prosperity, you need to downsize. If you are not being a good steward
over the goods God has given you now, you are preventing God from
making you rich.

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!