General

Restraint Is Not Weakness

Your conscience will never ask you ‘what can you do’? That is your carnal mind. Your conscience always asks ‘what should you do’. That you have the power to do something does not mean you have the right to do it. That you restrain yourself does not mean you are weak. This is the basic difference between satan and Yeshu’a. When satan thought he had power at his reach he said “”I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly”-Isaiah 14:13. Placed in the same position, Yeshu’a responded differently. His response was capture in Philippians 2:6 thus “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to”. Are you willing to do only those things you should do, or do you believe that the end justifies the means? In every man there is an ego and a conscience. Which one you feed determined whether you act like Yeshu’a or like……

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.

Forget Yourself

In English there’s a word called self control. This alone should alert us that the self is something that should be controlled. If you have to apply self control, common sense dictates that some being other than the self must do the control. That alone alerts you to the fact that you are not your self. You are a spirit and the self (your personality, feelings and mind) is something God gave you to aid your journey on earth. If you allow the self lead you, it is like a horse riding a man. Lead your self, don’t be led by yourself. Talk to your self, don’t listen to yourself. You do not have a spirit. You are a spirit. It is the body and the self that you have. But the spirit is what you are. “But there is a spirit within people, the breath of the Almighty within them, that makes them intelligent”-Job 32:8.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.

Follow Me as I Follow Christ

Jealousy is not necessarily a bad thing. It is a sign of love. When you are in a covenant relationship between you and someone to the exclusion of others there ought to be jealousy when third parties break that bond. A husband who isn’t jealous when a man starts to spend extended time with his wife does not really love her. God loves us and is in a covenant relationship with us. He gets jealous when we try to share His glory with others. He told us through Yeshu’a in Matthew 23:9 “do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven”. This Scripture is very unambiguous. Apart from your biological father, no one on earth is deserving of the title Father or other acronyms for father such as daddy, papa or what have. This is why The Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our Father”-Matthew 6:9. Respect men of God. Honour them. But do not violate God’s commands to please pastors or other men of God. No matter how large their congregation or anointing may be, the highest any one should ask of you is “follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”-1 Corinthians 11:1. Don’t alter Scripture to fit your Church, rather, alter your church to fit Scripture.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.

What It Means To B Peculiar

Too many children of God have been so caught up in this system of things by the enemy that we whom the Scriptures call a “peculiar people” are alarmed when we don’t fit in in the world and amongst worldly people. We want to be considered normal and usual. If you are living in an insane asylum and you are considered normal, what does that make you? Man’s natural habitat is a paradise called Eden, this world is an insane asylum under a god called satan. If there is no difference between you and the children of this world then you must consider whether you are in the faith.

You think Yeshu’a was considered normal while He was on the earth? This is what His family said about Him “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind”-Mark 3:21. When Moses was born this is what his parents said “they saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command”-Hebrews 11:23. So don’t be alarmed when you stand out and are thought to be unusual in this world. It ought to be so. You are described as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people”-1 Peter 2:9. Therefore “do not conform to the pattern of this world”-Romans 12:2.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.

Don’t Look Down On People

Don’t look down on people because in your estimation you are more righteous than them. It is impossible to have water that is a little dirty. Water is either pure or impure. Can you imagine a cup of water with just a little impurity laughing at a bucket of muddy water because it is undrinkable? They are both undrinkable! Humans are water and our sins have made us impure. The bottom line is that we are all undrinkable! As The Scriptures says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”-Romans 3:23. It doesn’t matter how short you came if you do not make the grade. Don’t look down at people. Sometimes the muddiest water is even better than the one that looks pure but isn’t for the simple reason that its need for purification is apparent while the other can stay a lifetime without knowing that it’s impure! None of us is made righteous by our acts. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 teaches “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.

Measuring Success

Dr. Louis Binstock, a Jewish Rabbi, and author of the book, The Power of Faith, said “when all is said and done, success without happiness is the worst kind of failure”. So, be careful who you call successful because of fame and fortune. More Hollywood celebrities have committed suicide than those living in beggar communities. Google ‘List of Countries by Suicide Rate’ and shockingly you will find the richest countries at the top and the poorest countries at the bottom. Wealth is good, but contentment us better. Solomon, probably the richest and wisest man other than Yeshu’a ever said “give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread”. You may ask ‘how will God give me my daily bread’? Solomon answered this question. He said “to the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God”-Ecclesiastes 2:26. Just learn to please God and leave the rest to Him.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God. 

The Earthquake and the Whisper

Turn On The Word Before The World

There are devices called surge protectors that businesses and homes use to protect their electrical and electronic equipment from power surges. For the surge protector to work, it must be put on before the device is put on. In the same vein, Yeshu’a warned us that “In the world you’ll have trouble . But cheer up! I have overcome the world”-John 16:33. Now, this verse makes us understand that Yeshu’a is our Surge Protector from the world. Just like with electronics, the only way this Protection works is if we put turn on our Surge Protector before we turn on our daily lives. When you wake up in the morning, don’t turn on the world before you turn on The Word of God. Yeshu’a is The Word of God. Before you answer a phone call, read newspapers or do anything that pertains to this world make sure you have turned on The Word by first reading Scripture and praying. Only then can you “overcome the world”!

With Faith in Who?

The word of God says “the whole world is under the control of the evil one”-1 John 5:19. However, it also says “His banner over me was love”. This is a word with deeper meaning than is apparent. The definition of God in The Bible is that “God is love”-1 John 4:8. Since His banner (a big umbrella) over us is love, this means that God covers those who believe in Him from the effects of living in a world that is under the control of Satan. To understand what is going on here we need to go to the root of the Latin word con-fidei which is expressed in English as confidence. Con-fidei means with (con) faith (fidei). Therefore the word confidence is incomplete. With faith in who? In yourself? In others? Or in God? To activate God’s banner over you, you need to consciously have faith in Him as you go about your life and when you do the world which is under the power of satan may rain around you, but it will be as if you have an umbrella that protects you from the rain. The rain might be expressed via wars, Ebola, recession, joblessness and other ills in the world, but your Banner will protect you from them.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God. 

The Root of Happiness

Let us do an experiment that will bypass the devil’s manipulation of our minds. Close your eyes and think of the happiest person you know. Then think of the saddest person you know. If the happiest person you know is not the richest person you know and the saddest person you know is not the poorest person you know, what this experiment would have proven to you is that happiness and sadness are not as connected to wealth as they are to attitudes. The deciding factor for happiness and sadness is something called contentment. Contentment will make a poor man feel rich while discontentment will make a rich man feel poor which is why Paul advised Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:5-6 to avoid men who suppose that “Godliness is a means to financial gain” and to understand that “Godliness with contentment is great gain”.

Reno Omokri is the pastor of the Mind of Christ Christian Center and the author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God.