Welcome to the month of June 2018: Our Month of The Holy Spirit

Welcome to the month of June 2018: Our Month of The Holy Spirit

I will not leave you as orphans [Comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn, helpless]; I will come [back] to you. Jn.14:18 (amp.)

On one occasion when the Lord Jesus Christ was rounding off His earthly ministry in time, he was encouraging his disciples in our above quoted text in the amplified version of the bible. I chose the amplified version here because it brings out the picture of what the Lord was saying here clearly. He told them that He would come back to them in another form. He was referring here to the promise of the Holy Spirit which God had before promised through His holy prophets that He would send into this world so that the day would come when God will dwell in man here on earth.

In the book of Ezekiel 36:24-27, God promised Israel that a day would come when His commandments would be written by His Spirit in the hearts of men and no longer on the tables of stones as existed then. This day was what the Lord was referring to here. I call it a day of the ultimate intimacy between God and man. A day when people will so become one with God that man’s heart will beat as one with the heart of God concerning the plans and purposes of God for man and in general for God’s world.

The prophet Joel also prophesied of this time in Joel 2:28-31; which Apostle Peter said in Acts two that the day had come to pass. By this, Peter was referring to the tail end of the latter days in which we now live. All these signs have come to pass and we are all awaiting the soon return of the Lord. But before that great and dreadful day of His return, the Lord promised the outpouring of His Holy Spirit which He said could be received by all flesh. By this He was referring to anyone who wills after hearing this gospel, can receive the promise of the father. See Acts 1:4, 8; Jn.14:15-17; Jn.16:7-13 and Acts 2:16-20.

Apart from John the Baptist, no one was ever filled with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. The first time people were filled with the Holy Spirit was when they received him at the upper room on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4. The people around on that fateful day also received the gift of interpretation of tongues for they heard them speak in their own tongues.

The reason for the outpouring of the Spirit is to enable the believers receive the power to testify of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth is that this reason was actualized beyond human comprehension. For instance, in just the space of two years, the then entire Asia heard the gospel. See Acts 19:9-10; 5:12-16 and 13:7-12.

In light of the prophetic word for this month, we shall be studying this very important subject of Understanding the Ministry and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. We shall by the grace of God, be looking at the person of the Holy Spirit; who He is, why He came, what He came to do and how we can take advantage of His ministry and gifts.

It is however noteworthy to understand that before we can enjoy the best of the Holy Spirit, we must take the first step of expressing faith in God to be born again into the family of God. This is the only means of access back to God because the gift of the Holy Spirit can only be received by believers in Christ. If you desire to do so, you can do it right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be born again at once:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.

The Enemy of great grace

Messages for May 2018: Our Month of Great Grace

Message for Sunday 27^th May, 2018

Theme: Understanding the heart of man in relation to the grace of God

Topic: The Enemy of great grace

Introduction:  So far in this series we have seen what great grace is and what the right heart is and we also saw how we can enjoy the grace of God with the right heart. Last week, we concluded with engaging the grace of God. We were able to see that it takes grace to do everything right in the Kingdom of God including all the steps we need to take to cultivate the grace of God to start the race of life and remain in the race until the end.

The enemy of great grace:

However, in the race of life there is an enemy that threatens the quality of life we live to honor God. This is what I call the enemy of great grace because God has given us eternal life and great grace to enjoy it.  This enemy comes to rob us of these graces so that instead of running our race with ease to the end, it tries to stop or hinder us from doing so. The best description of this enemy is found in this statement of Apostle Paul in Romans 7:19-25 thus:

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” 

The flesh the enemy of Great grace: This is what Apostle Paul calls the old man. See Eph.4:22; Rm.6:6 and Col.3:9. For us to be able to understand this enemy, we need to know that the means by which we live for God as new creations is the grace of God which we already defined as divine favour and divine ability to do what we cannot do naturally.

As natural men before we got born again and became new creations in Christ, we were controlled by the flesh and lived as natural men. The flesh is a thought pattern that is essentially selfish. The natural man thinks of himself and his interest and puts them above God and his interest.

The manifestation of a flesh ruled man even if they are born again: These manifestations are listed by Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:18-20 as follows:

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control); idolatry; sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, dispute, dissention, factions (that promote heresies). Envy, drunkenness; riotous behaviour and other things like these.

Note that we learn from Gal.5:21 that people who practice these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The New Creation Man: On the other hand, anyone who truly repents and is converted to the faith, is called the new man in Christ. They bear the following fruit as proof of their new creation status:

The result of His presence within us is Love (unselfish concern for others); Joy (inner) peace; patience (not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law against anyone living this way.

The Law of the Spirit of life and the Law of sin and death:

When we are saved there are two laws at war in our individual lives contending for our souls. Our spirits are saved because that is what is born again. [Jn.3:1-7 and 1Jn.3:9] Our souls and bodies remain the same. Thus a person is only delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God at new birth. The soul and the body remains the same except the person takes the responsibility of the new creation person to save the soul and submit the body to the spirit. See Col.1:12-13; Jn.8:31-36; 3:8-11 and Rm.8:1; 5-8.

How to save the soul:

1.     Read the word – 1Tim.4:13; Deu.6:6-8 and Prov.4:20-22

2.     Believe the word – Mk.5:4-7

3.     Do away with all filthiness – Jas.1:21

4.     Receive the word with meekness – Jas.1:21-25

5.     Meditate on the word day and night – Jos.1:8 and Ps.1:1-3

6.     Do the word. – Mt.7:24-27

You now have the power to put off and to put on: When you get born again, you become a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a new creation, you are now a living spirit with a soul and body. Your spirit is your real you and God expects you to be ruled from your spirit. So your soul is expected to take orders from your spirit instead of your body as it used to do. When your soul is ruled by your spirit, you will be described as walking in the spirit. The result is that you will not fulfil the lust or desires of the flesh. Then you can bear the fruit of the spirit listed in Gal.5:22-23. When this is your case, then you can easily put off the old man just like you undress from a dirty cloth to wear a clean and better one. See Col.3:8-11 and Eph.4:22-32.

The battle of the new creation man is actually the struggle for the spirit to control the soul while the flesh desires to maintain the status quo before salvation. This I the real war we fight – we do not war it against flesh and blood even though flesh and blood may be instrumental in the hands of the devil to further the devices of the enemy of our soul – the thief! See Eph.6:10-18; Jn.10:10, 27-28. We can make it because God gave us mighty weapons to win. See 2Cor.10:3-6.

We shall close with this encouraging text from what the Lord said in John 10:27-29:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” 

If you are yet to become His sheep, this is your opportunity, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you can come into the ark of safety with Him at once and receive the power to live for him and win in the race of life all the time as you cultivate an intimate relationship with Him:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.

Engaging the grace of God

Messages for May 2018: Our Month of Great Grace

Message for Sunday 20^th May, 2018

Theme: Understanding the heart of man in relation to the grace of God

Topic: Engaging the grace of God

Introduction: So far we have seen what great grace is and what the right heart is. Last week we saw some benefits of the grace of God and the right heart to enjoy them. Today we shall continue our series by looking at engaging the grace of God. Here you will quickly find out again that doing this is impossible without His grace. This is because engaging the grace of God is not just a mechanical thing that you do not need God to deliver. Remember, any good we do without involving God will be condemned under the work of the flesh; the best of which are not acceptable to God. [Isa.64:6].

What does it mean to engage the grace of God? To engage the grace of God is to take advantage of the grace of God to the point it becomes obvious to us and others around us that the grace of God is at work in our lives. When God gives us grace, He does so in seed form. We are expected to cultivate the grace of God so as to be able to manifest it in our lives. We cultivate the grace of God the same way we cultivate our spirits to grow up enough to be able to take on the responsibility of spiritual adulthood. We desire the milk of the word, feed on it and grow there by until we begin to take on the meat and the strong meat of the word for our spiritual exercises. At this point, it would be obvious to all around us that the grace of God is working in our lives. When we give first place to the word of God in our lives, it enables us to live the grace life otherwise we would be experiencing the constant struggle of the flesh against the spirit and vice versa.

Some steps to take to engage the grace of God for our lives: The following are some steps we can take to engage the grace of God in our lives:

1.     Get saved: The first function of the grace of God is to save every sinner who repents. After the sin of man in Eden, he lost access to God; to bridge this gap, the Lord Jesus Christ came and gave His life as a ransom for our redemption. However, for us to be able to take advantage of his work, repentance is the demand. Sadly, many people are not repenting and are becoming lost as a result. When we are able to repent, we must be thankful to God for the grace because it was His grace that made it happen. The first manifestation of the grace of God in our lives is seen in our ability to repent of sin and turn to the saving knowledge of the Lord. This is the foundation on which our faith is built. Without salvation, there can be no manifestation of the grace of God in the life of anyone. See Eph.2:8-10.

2.     Put God’s word first place in your life: This means to prioritize the activities of your life putting God’s word first. If you do this, you will read it first thing in the day before reading any other literature. The result would be mindboggling especially for someone who has stopped reading the word of sometime due to distractions. Then you will let it govern the decisions you make; you will only make decisions that have divine approval on it. As a result, you will always grow in grace and enjoying the grace of God would be your life experience. See 1Tim.4:13-15 and Ps.1:1-3.

3.     Meditate on the word of God day and night: To meditate is to concentrate your thought in a certain direction. In this case, God wants us to concentrate our thoughts in His word because the more we meditate on his word, the more we conform to it which means the more we are prone to do it. This is because meditation helps to renew your mindset to the one God wants you to have. For you to get the things of God, you have to think like Him. When you think like Him, you will be meek like the Lord and God gives you more grace then. See Rm.12:1-2; Jos.1:8; Pr.4:20-22.

4.     Do the word no matter how uncomfortable it may seem: After all said and done about the word, only the doer of it get to enjoy any benefit from it. Because the word of God tells us that it is not the hearer but the doer of the word that is blessed by it. One cannot become meek just by hearing the word, they must do the word and it is only to the meek or humble that the Lord gives more grace. Jas.1:21-25; 4:5-6 and 1Pet.5:5-6

5.     Cultivate the virtue of humility and eschew pride at all cost: If you want to receive and maintain the grace of God in your life, you need this grace called meekness that enables you to be docile to God. You cannot be proud and receive the grace of God. If you already have the grace of God and become proud, it would strip you of the grace because God would personally resist you while giving more grace to the humble. See Jas.4:6; 1Pet.5:5-6 and Prov.3:34.

6.     Embrace and live the mind of Christ: Apostle Paul enjoins us to let the mind which was in Christ be in us. He said even with all His rights as the only begotten of God, he stripped himself of every reputation to obey the father even to the point of having to die the most painful kind of death so that the will of the father would be done. The result was extreme grace that is responsible for His great name in time and throughout all eternity. See Phil.2:5-11; 1Cor.2:16. Let us look at some qualities the bible mentions that we find in the mind of Christ here:

§  The mind of Christ shuns ungodliness: We learn from the letter of Apostle Paul to Titus that the grace of God has appeared to all men teaching us to shun ungodliness among other things. Now the grace of God being referred to here is referring to a person which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the grace of God manifested in the flesh and the bible calls Him the wisdom and the power of God as well. In Mt.11:28-29, he enjoins all those laboring and are heavy laden to come to him and find rest for their souls thereby demonstrating the grace of God that has appeared to us. See also, 1Cor.1:24 and Titus 2:11-13.

§  The mind of Christ shuns worldliness: We learn from the letter of Apostle John a very close disciple to the Lord to the Church that anyone with the Love of the father cannot love the world at the same time. I believe this is the mind of Christ we can glean from the relationship this precious saint had with the Messiah. A look at the Lord’s lifestyle will tell us that this was so because his daily schedule discloses to us that the first few hours of His day is spent with the father and when he gets down from the mountain, he knows exactly where to go and minister. This was how He lived for the father day by day until He was done and gone. See Mk.1:35; Mt.24:35 and 1Jn.2:15-17

§  The mind of Christ lives Holy and soberly: This was the lifestyle of Christ so much so that the bible tells us that He knew no sin in 2Cor.5:21 which is why He qualified to become sin for us. See also Heb.12:14.

§  The mind of Christ is meek towards God: Meekness is such a priceless virtue before God that it has the ability of taking someone from wherever they may be to where they ought to be. God recognized the meekness of Moses and up till today, refers to him as the meekest man on the earth in his generation. Meekness makes us pliable in God’s hands. The Lord said of Himself that He only does what He saw the father do and that it was the father who told him what to do and how to do it. See Num.12:3; Mt.11:29; Jn.5:19 and 30

§  The mind of Christ is Humble and restful in God: Here is what the Lord had to say about Himself in relation to being humble before God which gives us an idea of another part of his personality which is His aura of restfulness. He said if we come to him, He will teach us meekness and humility which has the capacity to take us into the rest of God. See Mt.11:28-29.

We shall draw the curtain on this series here this week thanking God for what light we have been able to glean from God’s word so far in relation to the grace of God and the heart of man.  If you are reading this blog and are yet to be born again, I have good news for you; you can be born again right away by saying the prayer below in faith and out loud and you will be saved:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.