Don't Look Back!

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Some of us have done somethings we are not quite proud of. It could be out of peer pressure, ignorance of the Word of God, or just mere stupidity. So along the line, you realize that you could have done better and you got wiser. Maybe you just got born-again (giving your life to Christ) or you got to know God a lot better and started taking the things of God more seriously and you start feeling bad about your sins. It's okay to have regrets over your mistakes.  The most important thing is realizing you have sinned, acknowledging them and confessing your sins to God. Then you must believe that He has forgiven you all of them and has washed you from those sins with the blood of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
However, your mind may still plague you, remind you of your mistakes and make you feel bad, in fact the devil can make you feel like the reason why you are going through some challenges is because God is punishing you for your sins, that is not true!

Our God is a very merciful God, and He loves us very dearly. 1 John 3:1-2 says, "...and if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for also for the whole world."  Note, the Bible said not just for us, but also for the whole world. This means, this letter was written for the church, you that is already a Christian.  Don't dwell on your past! Don't let the enemy keep you there, God wants you to move forward. There's so much to do, so much to gain and so much to achieve.  God does not want us to sin, He does not want us to go about living anyhow and committing sins anyhow...but peradventure you do, He already made arrangement on how to handle that through the precious blood of Jesus Christ His Son. All you need do is to receive your forgiveness and move forward. Believe that God has forgiven you, God is not a man that He should lie, He stands by His Word. It doesn't matter that your heart may condemn you, The Bible says in 1 John 3:20, "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."   Let's be like Paul in the book of Philippians 3: 13, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."
Remember to stay in the Word of God, feed your mind always with His Word. Give no place to the devil and learn to trust God. You can't trust who you don't know...but the more you study God's Word, the more you know Him and definitely the more you allow Him become all He wants to be in you.
Hebrews 12:1 says, "...let us lat aside every weight, and the sin which easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith!"
John 8:36 NLT, "So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free."   So tell yourself  I AM FREE! God is not mad at us at all, He loves us so much and His opinion is what really matters...but He wants us to agree with Him so we can enjoy this glorious life He has called us to enjoy.

God bless you!

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Praise Attitude!

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A Christian should always have a joyful heart, a heart of thanksgiving irrespective of what you are going through.  You do not have to wait to see your problem solved before giving praising God.  A heart of praise and thanksgiving is a heart of faith. True faith does not loose heart, or consider the circumstances.  The only way you will not be able to consider your circumstances is if you are rooted and grounded in the Word of God. Your five senses will try to rule you, to tell you why you should give up on God...if you are able to look unto the Word of God and stand your ground, maintain your faith confessions of the Word and top it all with thanksgiving..you will definitely come back with a testimony! 

One of the guys that inspire me in the Bible is Pa Abraham, I mean when it comes to the type of faith that does not give up no matter what I see.  Let's look at Romans 4:17-22, "...God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who(Abraham), contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.  He did not waver (stagger) at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.  And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness"  Remember Abraham and Sarah had Isaac in their old age and it took sometime before they had that baby even though God had promised him that child much earlier.  Abraham was human like us and must have had negative thoughts about the promise, he must have known that his wife had passed the age of child-bearing etc..But here the Bible said Abraham refused to consider the physical evidences and kept his faith by giving glory to God. 

So next time, when you are walking in your faith and you feel like giving up, don't!  Remember God is able to do what He said He will do, refuse to stagger, refuse to change your confession..because that's what the devil wants you to do, he wants to remove you from the Word of God by making you believe that it does not work so he can defeat you. Don't Give Up! Don't Give In! 
Give your praises to God, remember Shedrach, Mishach and Abednego. (Read Daniel Chapter 3) They were not moved by the King's command of throwing them into fire for not bowing down to him.  They refused to bulge and see how God vindicated them.
Isaiah 43:1-2, "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob(Put your name here), and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

Therefore Take No Thought Saying...

The Word of God  is not magical, it is practical.  The Word of God has standards and principles that we are to observe in other to enjoy what has been freely given to us by God.  A Christian is not supposed to be ignorant  of the devil's machinations.  Many people blame God for overwhelming situations that they encounter because they are yet to understand the Biblical principles of living a good life.  It is also important to note that we all grow in Christ, we don't know it all in one day, but there has to be some visible growth in your life as a Christian.  Like most people, I have encountered situations that I didn't like and I used to ask God, 'why me?',  but I soon had to get rid of that thought because it didn't change my situation, neither did my lamentations, tears, complaints, bitterness, worry etc bring any change to my situation. Only God's Word can change things.

One of the steps we must take if we want to change situations is paying attention to our thoughts. The mind is the battlefield for every man. If you are going to be successful in life, it starts with your mind. The devil attacks the mind with horrible, negative, destructive thoughts of defeat, hopelessness, helplessness, anger,  fear, unbelief etc. However, we must learn how to occupy our thoughts with the Word of God, resist the devil, cast out negative thoughts by meditating on God's Word and by speaking the Word!  If you don't do that, these thoughts will become a stronghold that will direct the outcome of your life. This is because sooner or later, you will say what you think. "...for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, Mathew 12:34."  And soon as you say it, it becomes a reality for Jesus said, "For by your words thou shall be justified, and by your words, thou shall be condemned." Matthew 12:37.    

Even though we are not responsible for the negative thoughts that come into our minds, we are not supposed to accept them. This is because we can unconsciously accept these negative thoughts and make them our own..How? When we say it/give it a voice,  hence; Jesus said, "Therefore take no thoughts, saying..." Matthew 6:31.  Never allow negative words come out of your mouth! If you are a mother, no matter how annoyed you may be with your kids, never say anything negative..don't call them names like 'stupid', and don't let anyone call your kids any negative name either.  Words are powerful. Refuse to dwell on negative thoughts and fill your thinking with the Word of God, let His Word be the only dominating force in your mind.   Remember, our fight is not physical it is spiritual.  "For our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (ideas); casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ..." 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5.
    

What Has Feelings Got To Do With It?

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus.  I have been doing lots of meditation and studying on love and faith. Today I want to discuss faith as the Spirit will lead.
The Bible said that faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God...Romans 10:17. The Bible also said that Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith...Hebrews 12:2.  Also, Romans 12:3 says that God has given to each of us the measure of faith.  So from the above Bible verses, we see that faith is a gift of God. God made man to have faith and each of us have faith within us, it's like the faith button God put inside of us comes alive when we hear the Word of God and as we continue to hear His Word.  Our faith is however made stronger when we put the Word of God to work.

A Christian cannot do anything outside the realm of faith. In fact, without faith, you cannot please God! Hebrews 11:6.  Man was created to be completely dependent on God, although we are free moral agents(meaning we are free to choose to serve God),  yet we can only get fulfillment in life if we serve God.  For instance, if you take the fish out of water it will die, because fish was made from water, to live in the water. Likewise, a Child of God is born of the Word of God and can only abide by the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23).   God is a Spirit likewise Man and we can only relate with God from the spirit and this can be easily achieved if we learn how to separate feelings from spiritual things.  To apply your faith, you have to leave the realm of feelings, your feelings will always contradict faith because faith is the only tool we have to receive from God.  On the other hand the enemy can only get to you through your feelings. Here you are maybe you feel some headaches, and you start declaring the Word of God, 'By His Stripes I Am Healed' next thing, "the enemy will start asking you if you are really really sure you are healed and how come you still feel the headache even after praying? Don't you see that God didn't hear your prayer 'cos you don't really have faith?"  See, this is when you stand your ground, cast that thought out, reject it in the name of Jesus and refuse to consider how you feel, just lift up your hands if you can and start thanking God for your miracle.  Don't wait for the physical manifestation of your request before you start thanking God, if you do, the enemy will have you locked down on your feelings and you may never receive from God that which you desired.   Romans 8:8, they that are in the flesh (feelings) cannot please God. 

Take your feelings far away from the Word of God if it is not corresponding with the Word of God.  The enemy thrives in feelings but you are a Spirit being and the Spirit should rule the physical.  Never relate to God with your feelings, God does not dwell there, He dwells in your spirit.
 I will stop here for now..we will continue on this topic again.   God bless you and I do hope you are blessed reading this.

To Love Is A Decision!

As I continue to grow in Christ, I find myself seeing things differently. As we mature physically, God expects us to grow spiritually too, enhance our relationship with Him. He expects us to rise above the ordinary lip service and actually be about His Word.  The center point of our Christian life is LOVE and it has been a subject of great interest to me. "I John 4:8, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."  If we are created in the image and likeness of God who is love, then we also are love-beings and God expects us to walk and live in love.  Romans 5:5, "... the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost."  This means, we all have the ability to love, and there's a Biblical description of love, click here to read it. 

See God told us in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that these there remain, faith, hope and love, the greatest being love. Love is the greatest commandment and the devil can't stand an atmosphere of love...1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear."  Now, we all wanna love..I know I do and it's not hard to love, but the flesh will try to fight you when you try to walk in love. The flesh will give you reasons why you should not, why it should be all about you first..but that is contrary to God's Word. You see, LOVE IS A DECISION! To love means to give yourself.  Faith receives, Hope expects, while Love gives.  Love is sacrifice! Jesus Christ gave Himself for us as a love sacrifice and He told us in John 13:34, "A new commandment i give you: 'Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.'"

 Love is that decision to forgive irrespective of how you feel, deciding not to think evil of others, a decision to believe in God, forgive yourself, a decision not to envy others, not to be prideful. Love is not easily provoked and endures all things.  To be honest with you, I am also a work in progress in some of the points mentioned 1 Corinthians 13.  I realize that I must try and be conscious of walking in love, it's not enough to just say I love you and I love God. We have to show it.  Jesus wasn't too excited about the experience He was going to undergo during the time of His death, but He still died for us and is alive today, Glory to God! Likewise, we may not feel like doing some of these things listed in 1 Corinthians 13, but we have to do it anyways. Besides, Jesus Himself said in John 14:21, "he who has My commandments and keep them, it is he who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  I don't know about, you but I really would like Jesus to manifest Himself to me..(literally too).  We can do the love thing you know. Let's ask God to give us the ability to continuously walk in love everyday, despite any contrary situation.  God bless you in Jesus name.