Welcome to June: Our Month of Great Grace

 Acts 4:33 and Zechariah 4:6-7

“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.” Act 4:33

“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying. This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Who art thou, o great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone there of with shoutings, crying. Grace, grace unto it.” Zechariah 4:6-7

Grace is not only unmerited divine favour it is also unmerited divine ability! Where divine favour separates you for preferred benefits, divine ability makes it possible for your preference to be justified. In other words, favour helps to open doors of access to the good things of life to you like opportunities to prove your worth, divine ability helps to enable you deliver with excellence on the opportunities you have been given.

This month, God has determined to bless us with great grace. I believe that this is for a purpose. The purpose is seen in our text scriptures. In the second text, God had a building project going and He wanted to use Zerubbabel to make it happen. So He made it very clear that the project would be accomplished without any hitch by Zerubbabel depending absolutely on the help of the Holy Spirit. Further in the text in Acts of the Apostles, we are told that the apostle bore witness to the gospel with great power and that great grace was upon them all.

Clearly, the reason God is granting us great ability and great favour this month is to enable us to effectively bear witness to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is so that more people would be taken from darkness into light and be set free from the power of Satan to God for the forgiveness of their sin and inheritance in the kingdom of God. See Acts 26:18. We also have the responsibility to nurture those we are instrumental in bringing into the kingdom until they become established in faith and begin the cycle to also do the same for others. The result is that what others are dying to get will become ours cheaply. See Matthew 6:33.

In light of the foregoing, beginning this month, we shall believe God for the salvation of 1% of the world’s population drawn from among the Lost based on His promise to us from Psalm 2:8. In response to our commitment, God is set to bless us with double what we are long due for. See Haggai 2:3-9 and Isaiah 61:7. Also, we have to come to terms with the fact that what God has promised us can only be accomplished by his hand, so let us rest in this truth; great grace is actually God working out His perfect plan for our lives! 1Kings 8:15

However, if you are yet to make a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have to do so to be able to partake of this great grace as it would be of no use attempting to benefit from a covenant to which you are not a party. If you will do so right away, please say the following prayer out loud and you will be born again:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I repent of my sin and embrace Jesus Christ as my savior and Lord because He died for me and on the third day, He rose from the dead for my justification.

I reject Satan and his fatherhood and make an eternal commitment to honor you forever in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. 

WELCOME TO MAY OUR MONTH OF UNSPEAKABLE JOY 1Pet.1:8, Ps.16:11

Several years ago, as the Lord was concluding His time on earth, while passing on his legacy to His disciples, He left them this very important one in John 16:22-24:

“…but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

His desire from this text shows us that God not only wants us to have joy, but to be joyful; in other words, to be full of joy. In our text for the month in 1Pet.1:8, it is clear that this desire of the Lord was fulfilled as one of his disciples in his inner circle shows us in these words:

“Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:”

Why is joy so important for the believer? Several reasons for this can be gleaned from scriptures and the life experiences of people like us who believe the word of God. For instance, in His letter to the Church quoted above, Apostle Peter gives us an insight from the word of God why joy was necessary for the believer. He shows us that joy proves the reality of our faith in Christ. The believers he was addressing here have never seen the Lord physically yet they believed in Him and the proof of their faith was joy unspeakable full of glory.

Another truth is seen in Peter’s testimony here and that is the fact that the kind of Joy he was talking about does not rank at par with happiness which is usually controlled by positive physical experiences we have. This joy is controlled by the revelation of the heart of God to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. This revelation is usually imparted to us by what he says to us personally. In John 15:11, the Lord said: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”  Clearly, it is evident that the legacy of joy the Lord left us with is not controlled by physical circumstances but by what He tells us. When we put this together with Apostle Paul’s testimony to the Romans in Romans 10:17, we cannot deny the fact that our faith comes from hearing the word of God which in turn releases joy into our heart.

Another reason for joy is that it eliminates dryness which usually presents in lack of momentum in the believer. When there is no joy, the believer would become unproductive and therefore not fulfill their God given purpose which is to bear much fruit. See Joel 1:12, Jn.15:8 where fruitlessness is traced to joy being withered away from the sons of men. In other words, whatever succeeds at stealing your joy can cause you to become barren and unproductive in every area of your life including your spirit, soul, body/health, finances etc. This was clearly understood by the prophet Habakkuk who said in spite of every negative circumstance around him, he would exercise his will to rejoice in the Lord. He caught this revelation and I believe it paid off for him big time; which is why his name is included in the most important book: the bible. See Hab.3:17-19.

Joy can also mean life to the lifeless and health to the sick. When we put Proverbs 15:13 and 17:22 together, we can reach this conclusion.

Finally, joy in the heart to overflowing levels of unspeakable joy is an indication that God is present with the one who has this kind of joy. The reason is given to us in Psalm 16:11 where we are told that in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy.

In summation therefore, this month of unspeakable joy, God has decided to grace us with his manifest presence to overflowing measures such that we would experience all the energy we need to be and do all He has called us to be and do.

However, this joy is meant for only those to whom He left this legacy as we have seen so far. If you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this is not attainable to you because it is meant for the redeemed. However, if you choose to enjoy this grace, you can do so right away by receiving His invitation to unspeakable joy. If you opt for this good life please say this prayer out loud to the Lord and receive his mercy:

Father in Heaven,

I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your word says in John 6:37 that you will not cast me out when I come to you. So I thank you that you will take me in.

You also said in Romans 10:9-10 that if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that you raised him from the dead, I shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe that he died for my sin on Calvary’s Cross and was raised from the dead for my justification and I confess him now as my Saviour and Lord.

I believe that I have now become your righteousness in Christ whom you made to be sin for me on Calvary’s Cross.

Thank you father that I am saved from this day in Jesus’s name!

If you just said this prayer, congratulations! Welcome to the family of God. Please send me an email at flourishinggirl@gmail.com.  This will enable me send you an e-copy of our “Believers’ Guide to Growth” to help you start out well on your spiritual journey.  

For more information and our resource materials, you can visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and my blog at:

www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com & www.jointheirsfamily.blogspot.com.  You can also become a fan of our page on face book by logging on to www.facebook.com/khmii2015. www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl & liking: healing & Restoration time with Pastor Alero Nanna.