General

We are God’s Property

Psalm 24:1 says “the earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein”. Understanding this Scripture gives you awareness that nobody owns anything on earth. We don’t own ourselves and we certainly don’t own our property. Thus, if you find yourself becoming puffed up over what you have or how good you look, consider that God can separate you from what you think you have. Canaan for instance seemingly belonged to the Canaanites, but God told Moses “Send men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel”.  Don’t form an attachment to things on earth. They don’t belong to you. Instead form an attachment to God because we belong to Him. It is when we form an attachment to God that He will give us the things that we need. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”-Matthew 6:33.

Treat Critics as a Flower Treats a Bee

In Genesis 12:1-2 we read “and Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it”. From this verse we see that many a times people complain or criticize you not because of the work that you but because of some underlying issue that they cannot admit publicly without betraying their prejudices. It is very important when you face strident criticism from people not to take their criticism at face value, but to find out the underlying cause. In any case, the best response to critics is not to even respond to them. Critics are drawn to great people just as bees are drawn to flowers. Without the flower the bee can’t survive but the flower can survive without the bee. Flowers don’t respond to bees. If you watch flowers, they open up when light comes in the morning and close up when darkness comes at night. As for the bee, the flowers simply ignore them. Open yourself up to light and close yourself up to darkness and you will continue being a flower beautiful enough to attract bees.

Quench Your Spiritual Hunger With Christ

It is so silly when I hear people asking me how the death of a man who lived in the flesh 2 thousand years ago can affect them to the point of giving them salvation. But, if a man plants an orange tree in 1970 and he dies in 1971, does the orange tree die with him? If course not! As a matter of fact, if anybody is hungry today and goes to eat orange from that tree, he will be filled even though the planter is no longer physically on earth. Jesus said “verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit”-John 12:24. Jesus is that grain of wheat that fell to the ground and died alone. But after He died, He brought “forth much fruit” and just like you can eat that orange from the tree planted in 1970 and quench your physical hunger, you can eat the fruit of Christ planted 2000 years ago and quench your spiritual hunger.

Steps Ordered by God

Psalm 37:23 says “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delights in his way”. Many read this verse and think that the “good man” referred to always hears an audible voice or maybe an angel appears to him to direct his footsteps. But the things of God are rooted in simplicity. Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”. The Word of God, The Holy Bible, is by far the surest way to have your steps ordered by God. It may happen, but don’t wait for angelic visitations, dreams and visions before you hear from God. Open His word, The Holy Bible, read it and do what it says and your life will be ordered by God.

Satan’s Trap: Ever Increasing Desire for Ever Diminishing Pleasure

Satan controls this world with the rat race which simply put is a law of Increasing Desire and Diminishing Pleasure so that from cradle to grave you spend your life pursuing after unattainable things. An example is fashion. Why do you think fashion always changes? Because it is unattainable. The moment you buy that $1000 Louis Vuitton bag, it is no longer fashion. The $1000 is gone and your next preoccupation will be to find another $1000 for next year’s bag that would no longer be fashionable as soon as you buy it. This is the same for cars, movies and power. If you are into football, your team cannot be champions for ever. You are either rooting for them to be Champions or your rivals are rooting for them to fall. The human appetite for change can never be satisfied which is why satan has used it to divert our attention from the ONLY thing that never changes-God and His Word. So, if you have fallen for satan’s rat race of ever increasing desire and ever reducing pleasure in life understand this-“The thief comes not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”-John 10:10. And how do you get the John 10:10 life? “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”-Matthew 6:33

The Kingdom of God is Within you. Simply Work it Out

What Jesus mean when He said “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”-Luke 17:20-21. Colossians 1:27 says “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Colossians 2:9-10 goes further to say “in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him”. These verses make us understand that you have everything that you need dwelling “in you”. But you may ask, why am I not living the John 10:10 life that Jesus physically promised? The answer is that while God through Jesus had put everything you need inside you, it is still your job to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”-Philippians 2:12. And how do you “work out your own salvation”? By applying what you have read from The Bible and what The Holy Spirit (which is the tangible embodiment of “Christ in you”) reveals to you as you abide in God’s love. Every information that does not lead to applied transformation is entertainment and The Word of God is no entertainment!

God Forbids ALL Idol Worship.

No one knows what Jesus looked like during his physical incarnation on earth. Also, no one knows what satan looks like? So since we do not know the difference in their physical appearance and since The Bible in 2 Corinthians 11:14 already warns us that satan can transform into an angel of light, how will you know if someone makes an image of satan and calls it an image of Jesus and ask you to worship it? How do you know this is not being done as we speak in churches and places that erect images of someone they allege to be Jesus when God expressly told us in Exodus 20:4 that “You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”.  Both God the Father and Jesus His Son are in heaven and the command is that we are not to make any image of ANYTHING that is in “heaven above”. An idol is not just an image of a beast or inanimate object. An idol is any image because “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth”-John 4:24.

Tomorrow Will Resolve Itself

Try to think about God today. Do it deliberately. The cares of this world will try to attach to your mind. The attention you give them is what gives them power over you. Proverbs 4:23 says all your issues flow from your heart.

So if you use your heart (your mind) to meditate on your bills and your worries, that is what will manifest in your life. Instead, think on God’s promises of provision such as Ps 37:4 and Matthew 6:33. The more you think on those things the more they manifest in your life. For instance, many times we think or talk about a person or a thing and they walk through the door and we say ‘I was just talking/thinking about you’.

Don’t marvel about such occurrences. They are just an actualization of Proverbs 4:23. Some people even say ‘talk of the devil and the devil appears’. Why not reverse that mentality and say instead ‘talk about Godly things and Godly things appear’. It is a principle. It works for good as well as for evil.

Spend so much time thinking about improving yourself through God’s words that you have no time left to think about the cares of this world or criticize yourself and others. You may then-what will happen to those cares if you don’t think about them? Hear Jesus’ answer-“do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself”-Matthew 6:34.

Your Mind is Your Child

Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”. This verse is not just limited to children. Your mind is like your child. If you don’t like the issues in your life be aware that they flow from your mind. Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV).  Perhaps you were not properly trained as a child in the way of The Lord and you are facing challenges as an adult, you don’t have to settle. You can reparent yourself using The Bible as a your guide. Read Scripture, read books and above all seek knowledge. ‘Train your mind in the way it should go and when it is old, it will not depart from it’.

Receive Times of Refreshing from God

Acts 3:19 says “Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”. What an amazing Scripture! We learn from this that our sins are like dark clouds which block the rays of the sun from reaching us. There have been occasions when we wanted to go out but we had to change our plans because we saw very dark clouds hovering in the skies. There have been times when we have been in airports ready to take off in a plane but the flight was cancelled because of dark clouds hovering in the horizon. All such hindrances can be a thing of the past when we repent and are converted because God has promised to wipe our sins away so we can sing like Johnny Nash (and later Jimmy Cliff) “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.”