Products of Grace and Mercy Part 2

Messages for June 2016: Our Month of Grace and Mercy
Message for the 19th June, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Grace and Mercy of God - Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18

Topic: Products of Grace and Mercy Part 2

Introduction: Last week we began to look at the products of the grace and mercy of God. While we acknowledge that they are numerous, we are looking at some of them to provoke us to personally research God to find out more of these his products to enable us take advantage of them for our benefits and that of others.

Products of Grace and Mercy (continued)

Divine Revelations: In the gospels, there is the account of the Lord seeking to find out from His disciples if they really knew who He was. In Matthew 16:15-19, we read:

Mat 16:15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Mat 16:16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mat 16:17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Mat 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

From this account we get to understand that revelation knowledge is one of the greatest product of the grace and mercy of God to us. In fact, the entire Church of the Lord Jesus Christ was founded and built by the revelation knowledge given by God to man. When Peter declared who Jesus Christ was with the help of the Holy Spirit to the Lord, he did not do it in his own strength. By the grace of God that revealed the Lord to him, he declared accurately that Jesus was the Christ; the Son of the Living God. The early Church built their lives on the Apostles’ doctrines. See Acts 2:42

We are saved by grace through faith. The grace that saves us together with the faith is a gift from God. This is why it would take God to reveal himself to us through the preaching of the gospel for us to be saved. Every time a sinner hears the gospel preached, and gets saved, he has received the grace and can take advantage of all that it offers. If the sinner however refuses the grace of God, he remains lost and unable to benefit from it because the acceptance of or denial of grace is a question of the choice we make.

Many people make the wrong choice because of the blindness on their minds. To solve this problem therefore would require that we intercede for the lost before approaching them with the gospel. We would have to pray that God would open the eyes of their minds to see the truth and to touch their hearts with the conviction of the Holy Spirit so that they can turn to the saving grace of God otherwise, they cannot be helped. See Jn.16:7-13; 2Cor.4:3-6; Eph.2:2; Titus 2:11-12.

In addition to bringing us salvation, revelation knowledge does the following for us:

Unfolds our purpose to us: Jer.29:11; Ps.25:12 and Jn.16:13

Shows us how to run in it to fulfill our destinies – see Mt.16:18-19; Hab.2:1-3.

Delivers the keys for our victorious living to us: Jesus told Peter that based on knowledge revealed to us by the Spirit of God, we are given access to the keys of the kingdom. With these, we are able to bind and lose here on earth and receive divine support in heaven while so doing.

Divine helps: These are assistances that God gives to us to enable us fulfill our destinies. Whereas each of us is born for a specific purpose as determined by God; the fulfilment of that purpose is not automatic; it can only happen with the help of God [Jer.1:4-5; Matt.1:21]. God’s helps presents in the following ways:

Divine opportunities: This can come by God blessing us with favour before the right people. When Israel was to relocate from Egypt, God gave them favour before the Egyptians which enabled them to spoil the Egyptians who had enslaved them for four hundred years so that they did not leave Egypt empty. See Exod.3:21-22 and 12:36. This is a clear example of the grace of God being demonstrated by God. If they stopped at the favor; there is no guarantee that they would receive a complete miracle. They had to take the action of borrowing from the Egyptians even though God knew that the Egyptians would not be alive to request for the debt. That favour given to them by God was their opportunity. Their action of faith in requesting a loan of the Egyptians was their action that enabled them to take what God’s opportunity has offered them.

Divine ability imparted to us by the Holy Spirit: A good example of divine ability imparted to a person by the Holy Spirit is the case of David bringing down Goliath in 1Sam.16 and 17. In the previous chapter, David was anointed King. By that anointing, he received the divine ability to operate in the office of a King. For him to do this successfully, he must go before the people to fight their battles and bring them victory. As a youth, he successfully justified the favour he received of the Lord to stand in the office of a king when he defeated Goliath to bring a resounding victory for Israel against the Philistines with a sling and a stone. This was divine favour and ability meeting together to establish David as a leader over the Israelites by his influence rather than by a position. See 1Sam.18:6-7.

We shall stop here for today. While more can be said on this topic of the products of the grace of God, I want to leave it open to each of us to find out from the word of God more of these products and learn to take advantage of them with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Meanwhile, if you have never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and you wish to not frustrate this great grace of God, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will commence this glorious journey of faith that will take you from glory to glory:

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.   

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Frustrating the Grace of God

Messages for June 2016: Our Month of Grace and Mercy
Message for the 26th June, 2015
Theme: Understanding the Grace and Mercy of God - Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18
Topic: Frustrating the Grace of God
Introduction: Last week we left off our topic of the products of grace and mercy so that we can conduct our personal research of the word of God to enable us learn more and benefit from this great message of the grace and mercy of God. Today, we shall be concluding this series by looking at how we can benefit from these great treasures of grace and mercy without frustrating God’s plan.   In Gal.2:20-21, we read:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
On a daily basis, men and women around the world frustrate this great grace of God in many ways and therefore make the death of Christ in vain in their lives. God is very sad about this because he wants to look down on earth at the travail of His soul and be satisfied because people are taking advantage of it for the purpose He made it happen.
What it means to frustrate the grace of God: From out text of Scripture above, Apostle Paul shows us clearly how we can frustrate the grace of God by declaring that He allows the Lord live His life through him recognizing his identification with Christ in His crucifixion. If this is not the case, he would have neglected the work of the Lord on the Cross and continued to try to live by a set of rules in his own strength. Therefore, to frustrate the grace of God means two things. First to refuse the invitation to embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour based on what he suffered for us on Calvary’s cross. Secondly; if we get saved; we prefer to obey a set of rules in our own strength; without the help of the Holy Spirit in order to attain to perfection. When this is the case, we would not walk in the spirit but in the flesh and instead of bearing the fruit of the spirit, we would end up fulfilling the lust of the flesh and doing the works of the flesh. See Col.2:8 and Gal.3:2, 5 and 11.
Three ways people frustrate the grace of God:
Refusal to be saved after hearing the gospel: If we refuse to be saved, the only option open to such a person is damnation. Anyone dammed has frustrated the grace of God because the purpose for which Christ died from them is not accomplished. Of them, the Lord cannot look upon the travail of His soul and be satisfied because they refused His salvation. This is a very pathetic case and it is happening every day all around us. See Jn.3:16-19 and Mk.16:16.
Refusal to do the word of God we have heard after getting saved: when we refuse to do the word of God after we are saved, we frustrate the grace of God. This is because the entire purpose of Jesus’ coming is to bless us. When we do not get blessed because of disobedience, we frustrate His grace and that makes God sad as the best of us cannot be fully expressed that way. See 3Jn.1:2, Jas.1:22-25
Turning away from the leadership of the Holy Spirit to the leadership of mere men based on our fear of man: This is the very reason why many people are not saved today. They think of what people would say. Some, who are saved, compromise their godly standards and end up as cultists in the process just to be accepted by mere men because of what people would say. This is a very pathetic situation where people who would have been really blessed inside out have their lives cut short by this foolishness. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What can a man give in exchange of his soul? Sadly, in our walk with God, he never tampers with our will; so we reap the fruit of the choices we make. May the Lord help us to always make the right choices before it is too late. See Rm.8:5-9; 14-16; 1Cor.2:14; Gal.5:16-17 and Prov.29:25.
How to take advantage of the grace of God:
When you hear the gospel preached at any time and you are convicted in any area, act on what you hear immediately. For instance if you hear a message of salvation and you are not saved, get saves. If you hear a message on healing and you are sick, do whatever the message teaches you and take your healing. The list goes on and on. When you do this, you prove that you believe and that is faith. See Jas.1:22-25; Heb.11:1 and Jn.3:16-19.
Faithfully serve in the house of God. When you do, God would bless you and yours and cause all his promises regarding service in his house to find expression in your life. See Ex.23:25-26, Mt.6:33
Whenever an opportunity presents itself to serve God with your money, time, skill or anything God has graciously given to you, jump at it. Do not consider any sacrifice as being too much for God as that service can save you from untimely death. 
Serve him with your tithes and offerings at the location where he would accept it. While every tithe and offering is accepted by the Church, not every tithe and offering given to the Church is accepted by God. For instance, God sees your motive in bringing it, your method, and the source from where it came. He also sees what he has given to you and what percentage of it we brought to him.  We would never receive beyond the measure with which we give to him. See Gal.6:6-10; 2Cor.9:6-7; Mal.3:3-4 and 8-12.
As we conclude this series, if you have never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life and you wish to not frustrate this great grace of God, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will commence this glorious journey of faith that will take you from glory to glory:
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.   
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Products of Grace and Mercy

Messages for June 2016: Our Month of Grace and Mercy
Message for the 12th June, 2015
Theme: Understanding the Grace and Mercy of God - Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18
Topic: Products of Grace and Mercy
Introduction: Last week we saw man’s need of forgiveness provoking the mercy nature of God and we went ahead to examine grace and mercy as twin character traits of God. We saw that it is God’s nature to be gracious and merciful and that man’s inadequacies provoked God to demonstrate this nature of His. Today, we shall start looking at the different ways God demonstrates His grace and mercy. For our purpose here, we shall be taking grace and mercy together as they usually work together and both of them require that we make choices for them to be activated in our lives.
Products of Grace and Mercy
What do we see around us that demonstrate the grace and mercy of God and its availability to all of mankind? They are many, but we shall be looking at some of them which I will list as follows:
Forgiveness: As we all know; God is a Holy God and His eyes are too pure to behold evil. This explains why sin caused the separation between God and man in the first place. For man to gain access into God’s presence again he needed to be forgiven and he could not pay the debt of his sin. In his infinite mercy, God became man in Christ and died for the sin of mankind. Then it became necessary that in order for man to have access to God, he must be forgiven his sin. When he repents, he receives forgiveness of sin and in His demonstration of his nature of grace, God declares man not guilty afterwards and begin to relate with him as a son. As man cultivates a relationship with God honoring and serving him faithfully in obedience to all his word, He comes to make his abode with man in a more intimate way than man received at New Birth. All these are made possible by the grace of God that has appeared to us all. Sadly, many would not receive this great grace of God and would therefore be eternally lost even though they could have averted their destruction through repentance. See John 3:16; 14:23; Rm.5:9; 8:30; Titus 2:11 & Heb.8:11-12.
Love: God so loved us and blessed us with the ability to walk in love because love is the nature of God. The entire salvation plan was love motivated. It is also God’s intention that it is sustained by His love. To help us do this, in his mercy, He engraced us with the ability to love by shedding His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. When we are born again, we are sealed with His Holy Spirit as a proof of our redemption. If we make choices that honor God, His love will become more and more evident in our lives as all our motives would be inspired by his love within us. This is God’s help to enable us live the good life which he has planned for us from the foundation of the earth. It is the love of God that makes this world a place worth living in. without love, there can be no good life and there can really be no fulfillment. Love is required in all our dealings towards God; ourselves and each other. See John 3:16; Rom.5:5; 1Jn.3:1; 4:7-8 and Eph.1:13.
Joy: This is the energy that only heaven can give to you. Some months ago, we took the time to look at what joy is in detail and we learnt that joy is different from happiness in the sense that it is not based on physical experiences to manifest. It is based on divine revelation empowered by a good relationship with God. Joy enables us to be able to draw from the wealth of God’s revelation. We are told in Isa. 12:3 that joy is the rope with which we can draw water from the wells of salvation. This is access to the voice of God that would help us overcome in the battles of life always. Joy is a fruit of the spirit that must be cultivated by the believer. Therefore, we would need the grace of God to cultivate it. Grace gives us divine ability to cultivate the fruit of joy and when we cooperate with the Holy Spirit to do this, we would experience joy unspeakable that has the ability to cast out every seed of depression from us. See 1Pet.1:8, Gal.5:22; Isa.30:30-31 and John 15:11.
Time: This is a resource that God has given to every man equally in terms of each day. However, not everyone will live the same length of years but for every day we live, each of us is entitled to twenty four hours; your time Zone notwithstanding. The beauty of time is that it is convertible depending on how we use it. In our use of time, we are either spending it or investing it. Time spent is time wasted and would not yield us any good fruit. On the other hand, time invested is time rightly converted and can result in our fulfilling God’s desire that we prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper. The time you invest to develop yourself justifies your excellence in the delivery of your assignment. Nothing happens by chance; everything is designed to obey the law of seed time and harvest. The best illustration I find in the word of God about the use and abuse of time is the parable of the pound in Luke 19:12-26. We shall all give an account for the use to which we put our time in relation to the fulfillment of our destinies. As long as we are on earth, every time we live is the grace of God being extended to us to make the best use of our time for the fulfillment of our purpose. The length of life a man has is not as important as the quality of life he has lived within that time. We ought to live with eternity in view ensuring that we live ready to give account of the contribution we made to the glory of God when we eventually come face to face with our maker. Let us not live like the rich fool who lived to acquire things for himself and was not rich towards God. Let us therefore see time as the grace of God given to us to enable us fulfill our purpose if rightly used bearing in mind the truth that we shall one day give an account of our lives. See Gen.8:22; Gal.6:6-7; Eph.5:15-17; Heb.9:27 and 3Jn.1:2.
We shall stop here today for want of time and space. We shall continue on more of the products of Grace and Mercy that heaven has made available to us next week. Meanwhile like we have seen while looking at God’s grace and mercy in relation to forgiveness let us understand that God would never forgive a sinner who refuses to repent. Being hypocritical and feigning salvation when one is not saved is a very great example of a life that has been given over to perdition. If you have been postponing your salvation also, you are playing with time instead of investing it. This too is very destructive as you cannot begin to pursue a noble destiny without first making a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to make that decision now, please say the following prayer out loud and you will commence the noble destiny journey you so much desire:
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.   
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

God’s Twin Character Traits

Messages for June 2016: Our Month of Grace and Mercy

Message for the 5th June, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Grace and Mercy of God - Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18

Topic: God’s Twin Character Traits

Introduction: why are we looking at this theme this month? Most of us know that the end is near and we want to be on God’s side as He closes the age. However, for us to not only be on his side, but to be established in the faith that will take and keep us there, we must learn to know Him. This is why a study of this truth is not optional for anyone who wants to be on God’s side. We cannot claim to be ending up in eternity with God if we do not know him. From the experience of the heroes of faith we learn of in Hebrews 11, it is clear that God has reserved a city for those who know him. This explains why these people were strong and did exploits. See Dan.11:32. Today, therefore, we shall be looking at the twins called God’s mercy and grace. 

The Character Traits of God called grace and mercy: In the book of Exodus 33:11-19 when Moses prayed to God requesting that God should show His (God’s) glory to him, what he was asking of God was that he wanted to really experience God in his life through a divine revelation of God’s character to him. This is because God’s glory is all that God is and has. It is his personality. In answering Moses, in Exod.34:6-7, God replied in these words among others: 

“The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”

These texts of scriptures reveal the character of God so much that we cannot miss it as he starts by introducing his name as: “The Lord, The Lord God”. We can also observe here that he is first merciful and then gracious before any other traits. His mercies far outweigh his judgements. He visits mercy to thousands and iniquity to only three to four generations.  

Lessons from the above text on the nature of God:

1. God is merciful and expects us to be merciful also. See Matthew 5:7

2. God is gracious and expects the same from us towards people. This is a fruit of the spirit also known as kindness and we are expected to bear this fruit. Only the truth abiding in us makes this trait possible to manifest and that is why God is abundant in goodness and truth. See Jn.8:31-32 and Jn.17:17

3. God is longsuffering and expects his children to also bear this fruit. See Gal.5:22.

4. God is abundant in goodness; not stingy about it at all. We are also expected to be generous in our good nature. See Ps.112:5, 9 and 2Cor.9:8-9.

5. God judges sin and iniquity for which forgiveness is not sought. If we however genuinely repent and seek forgiveness, he will pardon as this scripture says. See Rm.6:23.

For us to be able to walk in all of His traits as stated, we must walk in the spirit because if we walk in the spirit, we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh. In addition, the desire to please God always would be our life pursuit and this will cause God to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. See Gal.5:16-17; Rm.8:1, 5-9 and Philippians 2:12-13.

What is Mercy and what is grace? Mercy is simply when God pardons iniquity and transgressions. Iniquity refers to inherited sin while transgressions refer to acts of disobedience to God. By His nature, God cannot stand sin and therefore as the just judge He is, He must punish it. However, because he is merciful, He has found a way to mitigate his judgment on mankind by his Character of grace and mercy. Mercy happens when we are not given the punishment for sin we deserve. The word of God tells us that the wages of sin is death and that the soul that sins shall die. See Rom.6:23 and Ezek.18:1-5. This is actually what we deserve for both iniquity and transgression which make up sin. However, because of God’s character of mercy, he has chosen to forgive our sin and not remember them. He put a structure in place to make it possible and that is the sacrifice of His only begotten Son on the Cross to take our place in the punishment by going to hell on our behalf to suffer in our place. When the demands of justice were fully met, He rose from the dead for our justification so that if we believe in Him and embrace his truth, we shall enjoy his grace. This takes us to what the grace of God is. Meanwhile, see Isa.53:1-5 and Heb.8:12

Grace on the other hand means to receive the benefits we have not earned or do not deserve; for example the forgiveness of sin. We learn in John 1:17 that grace and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the mystery of redemption. When we repent and receive by faith the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us on Calvary’s Cross, we are blessed with the grace of God. Grace is in two parts. It is divine favor and divine ability to do what we cannot do naturally. God’s favour grants us access to opportunities and His ability enables us to not abuse the opportunity but to fulfill the expectations of that opportunity. For instance, the thieves crucified on the cross with the Lord on the same day were both open to God’s grace – divine favour, but the choice each made determined whether they were able to take advantage of the opportunity offered or not. The one on the left hand did not take advantage of it and ended up eternally lost. The one on the right hand took advantage of it and was saved from damnation. 

As the world approaches the end, God is offering this same opportunity to as many as would receive it. If you will hear his voice today and not harden your heart, all that is required for you to live the great life that would set you in the right place at the right time for your divine fulfilment has been made available to you if you will believe and receive this great salvation. If you say you want to turn your back on all others and serve the Lord in spirit and in truth, please do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud and you will be born again:

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_nannaand on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirlwww.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.    

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

Welcome to the month of June 2016: Our Month of Grace and Mercy

Text: Ex.33:19; Ps.103:8; Jer.31:34; Heb.8:12 and Romans 9:15-18
In John’s account of the crucifixion of the Lord, we are told about two thieves who were crucified with Him; one on his left hand and the other on his right hand. Whereas the one on the left hand mocked him asking that if he is really the Christ, he should save himself and them. The other thief however, reprimanded the one on the left hand telling him that he should fear God because they both deserved what they got because of their lifestyle but that the Lord was innocent and therefore, his situation was unjust. After he said that, he made a request to the Lord that he should remember him in his kingdom. The Lord promptly answered him that that day, he would be with him in paradise thereby cancelling all his disqualifications from entering into paradise. 
This story is one of the greatest demonstrations of the display of the Grace and Mercy of the Lord towards mankind. The thief on the right hand recognized first that he had sinned and was deserving of judgement and the penalty he got. Secondly, he recognized that the Lord was righteous and reserved the right to keep him in the predicament that he found himself based on the law of seed time and harvest. That law states that everyone shall reap what they sow. He had sown the evil lifestyle of robbery and reaped the death penalty. However in that defining moment on the Cross, he had his destiny of eternal damnation changed by simply trusting in the grace and mercy of God.
What then is grace and what is mercy? Grace is when we receive the benefits we do not deserve while mercy is when we do not receive the judgement we deserve. This is what happened to the thief on the right hand of the Lord on the Cross. They were both given the opportunity to be identified with the Lord in his death as they became known globally for being crucified with the Lord on the same day and their story is an eternal one. They both each had a choice to make for eternal life or death. They had both heard the message of mercy and grace as the Lord preached in their streets. One believed and took advantage of it. The other disbelieved and was dammed.
In these last days, the same opportunity is being presented to us in this generation more than ever before. I believe the Lord gave us this word for this month to avert destruction from the lives of all who are presented with this choice and would make the choice for life. As the world approaches its tail end at this time, God wants more people to know of his grace and mercy and is willing to extend them to whosoever will receive them. This month, God is set to release an avalanche of His grace and mercy on the earth to save as many people as possible so as to enable them avert the crises that is coming upon the earth at his time.
To this end, this month, we shall be learning about these twin blessings of grace and mercy in a series I title: “UNDERSTANDING THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD”. From the account of the thieves on the cross, we can see that we would either benefit from this message or not by the choice we make in relation to this message.
Someone reading this right now may be asking, whether God really wants them saved or not. My response to you is that he does if you want to be saved. If you will take my challenge, then, you can say the following prayer 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.   
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

How to Receive and cultivate Divine Presence Pt. 1

Messages for May 2016: Our Month of Divine Presence
Message for the 15th May, 2015
Theme: The wonders of Divine Presence
Topic: How to Receive and cultivate Divine Presence Pt. 1
Introduction: The bible is replete with promises of God being with us. We are told in Matthew 28:20 that God would be with us always even to the end of the age. We also learn in Joshua 1:9 that the Lord would be with us wherever we go. Moses also brings to light in Exodus 33:16 the truth that the proof of God being with a people is His presence with them. So it is very clear that the presence of God with us is God’s promise to us that can graduate into a covenant as we believe and embrace the demands of it. However, we must be properly positioned to not only receive the presence of God but to also cultivate and enjoy it to the fullest. Today we shall begin looking at steps we can take to activate the promises of God’s presence with us and how we can cultivate and enjoy it to the fullest.
The New Birth: In the beginning, after Adam sinned against God in the Garden of Eden, he lost his place with God and was banished from God’s presence. See Gen.3:22-24. Since then, those who enjoyed the presence of God were those who exercised their choice to walk in the ways of God. For instance Enoch was said to have walked with God until God took him without his having to experience death. See Gen.5:21-24. Sin made the demand of the new birth absolutely necessary so that God could raise a new breed of people born of His word and his Spirit [Jn.3:3-7]. This was made possible through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Gen.3:15 became a promise kept from the day of the death of the Lord on the Cross until the day of Pentecost when the early Church fathers first got filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time and up till today. From that day, anyone who makes the choice of embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord is admitted into the family of God and therefore is granted access to this grace of enjoying divine presence. See Matt.28:20; Eph.2:18-19.
Cultivate a relationship with God: How much of God’s presence you enjoy however, depends on your willingness to cultivate a relationship with him. There are three parts to cultivation; they are planting, nurturing for proper growth and harvest [Mk.4:26-32]. When we make a decision to embrace the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for us on the Cross of Calvary, we are sown into God’s Kingdom as seeds. From the time we hear the gospel until our departure from time, we are constantly presented with choices either for a glorious destiny or a woeful one. When we choose the Lord, the next choice we would have to make is whether we want to grow up to be spiritual or not. If we make the choice to be spiritual and meet the demands, we would grow to become fruit bearing believers in Christ [1Cor.2:12-16]. As long as we remain bearing fruit, God would personally prune us to bear more fruit until our harvest from time. See Philippians 2:12-13; John 15:1-5, 8 and 16. The more we bear fruit to God, the more intimate our relationship with Him would become and the more of His promises would find expression in our lives. When this happens, it is proven by His constant presence with us. So many have confused God’s presence for glamour and material blessings. This has led many astray and many who were on track with God feeling less of themselves and allowing themselves to be deceived into error. A look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ and His legacies would show us exactly what it really means to have God present with one. See Jn.8:16 and John 16:32.
Walk in the Spirit: Another great choice we would have to make to maintain God’s presence with us is to walk in the spirit. God is a Spirit and it would therefore require spirituality to access His presence all the time. To be spiritual is to walk according to the dictates of the word of God and the Leading of the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul makes us understand that if we walk in the spirit, we would not fulfill the lust of the flesh at the same time. Thus to walk in the Spirit is to exercise your choice to walk in God’s presence. See 2Cor.3:16-18; Gal.5:16 and verses 22-23.
We shall stop here for today, next week we shall be looking at how to walk in the spirit as the second part of this message.
Access to this grace was freely available to man until the devil came in to mess things up by luring man into sin which resulted in his separation from God [Gen.3; Rm.3:23 and 6:23]. Thankfully, the Lord Jesus Christ already came to solve the sin problem for us. However, we are required to embrace His sacrifice by believing in Him and receiving God’s free gift of salvation through faith. See John 3:16-18.
If you have not yet received this free gift, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you shall 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.   
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!

How to Receive and cultivate Divine Presence Pt. 2

Messages for May 2016: Our Month of Divine Presence
Message for the 22nd May, 2015
Theme: The wonders of Divine Presence
Topic: How to Receive and cultivate Divine Presence Pt. 2
Introduction: Last week we saw that we can receive divine presence first by being initiated into God’s family through the new birth experience and then we can start cultivating it by walking in the spirit. Today, we will begin to look at what it means to walk in the spirit and how to do it.
To walk in the spirit: As the term indicates, to walk in the spirit is to be spiritual or to live in a way that one is controlled by decisions made based on the word of God and the Leading of the Holy Spirit. The book of Deuteronomy 30:29 gives us this key when God instructed the children of Israel through Moses to make a choice for life by choosing to be controlled by His word. In the 20th verse of this scripture, God made them understand that His word is their life and the length of their days. This truth is resonated throughout the bible. For instance, in Jos.1:8, God made Joshua understand that the key of good success is to live by His word meditating on it and doing it. In Ps.1:1-3, God said through the Psalmist that the greater life is one that is ruled by the word and God’s counsel. When Jesus walked the sands of time, He also taught that the flesh would bring us no profit but that His word would because the words He speaks to us are Spirit and life. You would find this in John 6:63. Finally, Apostle Paul said in 1Tim.4:13-16 among other things that it is in meditating on the word of God and giving ourselves wholly to it that our profiting would be evident to all.
To walk in the spirit is therefore that key to accessing the presence of God where we can hear His voice, be taught and led by His Spirit. You would have observed so far that the extent to which we can enjoy any relationship with God is our choice determined. This is the glorious life everyone yearns for. However, not everyone can attain to it because not everyone would make the choice. Even among those who make the choice some are going to give more to it than others. The question therefore, is what are the demands placed on us by God’s word that would enable us actualize this grace of walking in the spirit or being spirit ruled as opposed to being flesh ruled?
Live a prayerful life: Prayer is the means by which we speak our hearts to God and rightfully expect and receive His response. The importance of prayer cannot be overstated. The Lord commanded us to pray always and not to faint or give up. See Luke 18:1. He even went the extra mile of teaching us how to pray by laying out a pattern we should follow for us in Matthew 6:9-15. Apostle Paul also teaches us in 1Thess.5:17 to pray without ceasing. He said we should even pray all manner of prayer in the spirit. See Eph.6:18.
Why is prayer so important? It is because it is the legal means by which we can access the supernatural realm to get things done on earth. Prayer is the means by which we get heaven to hear our voice. When this is done, then we can expect to hear God’s voice in response and this also brings us closer to His presence. It is through prayer we cultivate an intimate relationship with God that enables us to enjoy His presence all the time. See Ps.65:2; Hab.2:1-2; Jer.33:3; Mt.7:7-8 and Mk.11:24.
Fasting: The Lord taught about fasting. Interestingly, some people are of the erroneous belief that since the Holy Spirit is now with us, we need not fast because the bridegroom is now with us through the Holy Spirit. Let us see what Jesus really taught. In Mat 9:15, we read: “And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” We observe here that Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom. This distinguishes Him from the Holy Spirit’s ministry of being our helper in Jn.16:13. As our helper, He would take from the bridegroom and the father and show to us. Therefore, the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth today is to fulfill a different role than the role the bridegroom or Christ on His return would play when He returns. 
Further, in Matthew 6:17-18, Jesus said: “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. …” this presupposes that we must fast; and that fasting is not optional. When we fast means we must fast and not “if we fast” supposing that we may fast or we may not fast. In other words, fasting is not optional; it is a mandatory requirement in the kingdom of God for getting things done God’s way! There are times when the issues confronting us would only respond to fasting and prayer. This is because fasting is one of the principal helpers of our prayer lives. See Mt.17:21 and Mk.9:29.
Why is fasting so important? Certain issues cannot be truly dealt with until the flesh has been thoroughly subdued and fasting is a major means for subduing the flesh. For examples, some devils will not bow to an individual who they consider to be flesh ruled in the area they seek to dominate the devils. In addition, the attitude of pride would never leave a person until the person humbles himself with fasting. See Ps.35:13; 1Kings 21:27-29 – God showed mercy to Ahab here when he humbled himself with fasting before the Lord.
Giving: This is the third part of the requirement for getting things done in the kingdom of God. Jesus taught about prayer, fasting and giving. You will find this in Matthew 6:1-18. To find out why giving is so important, let us visit Isa.58 where God commanded Isaiah to proclaim a message on how to fast and what to expect when we do. In verses 10-11, we learn that giving to the hungry will cause God to hear and answer us and make the cry of our hearts to be heard in heaven guide us continually. No one can be truly great without divine guidance. When God guides, the best of us would come out. This is triggered by giving to the hungry. So you see; it is impossible to get things done in the kingdom without this triplet of a combination of prayer, fasting and giving. In Matthew 6:1-18 when the Lord was teaching about prayer and fasting, He also included giving. A study of God’s word would reveal to us the different levels of giving. The first is the tithe of your income which is also called the first fruits. It is the Lord’s. See Lev.27:30; Heb.7:1-28. The second is offering and we are commanded to bring these to the Lord. See Mal.3:8-12; Deu.26:12; Prov.3:9-10. There are also the giving to the needy which we saw in the previous paragraph in Isa.58, giving to your parents which guarantees that you truly honor them and therefore protects you from untimely death etc. see Ex.20:12 and Eph.6:2-3 and Mk.7:10-13. And so many other kinds of giving. Each of these givings does something good for you. You just need to find out from God’s word what you stand to benefit from giving and do it. 
We shall stop here today for want of time. Other steps you can take to cultivate and sustain God’s presence include thanksgiving, praise and worship, obedience to God’s word and service in the kingdom. We would do well to do our personal studies of these demands in the word of God.
You may be reading this material and wondering whether you could take advantage of this grace. My answer to the question of your heart is yes if you are born again. In case you are not and desire to be, you can say the following prayer out loud and you will be welcomed into God’s precious family:
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.   
Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!