THE REAL THING ABOUT YOU

 What is the real thing about you?


But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

One day, the body will return to dust but your spirit will continue living hereafter in the Kingdom of God with our Lord, Jesus Christ. So, the real thing about you is not your body or flesh but your spirit. If the real thing about you is your spirit, then you are supposed to give more attention to your spirit. Faith is not of man’s body or flesh but of man’s heart or spirit. In the Bible, the spirit and heart are the same. Pay attention to God’s Word by meditating on it because God’s Word is Spirit and life. The Word of God has the ability to develop a spiritual force in the heart or spirit of man called faith. Faith is what makes you one with God and only faith pleases God.

PRAYER POINT: O Holy Spirit,create in me a pure heart and a right spirit within me that I may focus on You at all times.

We tend to spend more time and attention in taking care of our bodily needs and forget that the body is just a vessel for the real us. The real you is your spirit, when we leave this world, the real us will go away but the body will be left here on earth; to go become the dust it originally was. If we take this into thought, then we will realise that we need to spend more time taking care of the spiritual  more and more.

Let us nurture our soul, make it more comfortable for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and have fellowship with us.  

I will liken the soul to the engine of a car, the, no matter how good looking the body of  a car is, a professional driver is always concerned about the engine, the engine runs the car. Admit that in the  series The Fast and The Furious, most of the cars used are not the most fancy looking ones, you could see that  the guys were more concerned about the engine. Be more concerned about your engine which is your soul.

Your clock is just a box without the engine, so is your toaster, water heater, stove, bicycle, the casing of your pen without the ink, these and many others make us better appreciate the importance of our soul. The well-being of our soul should never ever be compared with that of our body, a fulfilled soul is better than a perfectly kept body.

Stay blessed.

HURT? ASK YOURSELF WHY?

HURT? ASK YOURSELF WHY

Are you hurting? Does bitterness and anger rise in you when you remember one thing or the other? Have you been hurt in the past? Does the pain still remain today? Do you hold onto the past by harbouring resentment and bitterness against those who have offended you? What you may fail to realise is that the person most hurt by unforgiveness is you. An unforgiving attitude not only destroys our relationships but also poisons our soul.

An unforgiving attitude eats us up and destroys us from the inside. Jesus said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). Being unwilling to forgive shows that you have not understood or benefited from God’s forgiveness. If you fail to receive forgiveness and fail to forgive those who sin against you, you will also find yourself in a torture chamber. What is the meaning of a torture chamber? Your spirit will not be free or available for God. Instead, it will be bound, burdened and useless. You may smile on the outside while crying on the inside.

Don’t allow this to happen to you. Ask God for the grace to release forgiveness to those who have sinned against you and by faith, receive forgiveness from God for your own sins. Remember, because of Christ, you are redeemed, free and forgiven. In the same way, because of Christ, forgive your neighbour.

THERE IS NO NEUTRAL REWARD

Today, nearly everybody lacks self-fulfillment. Some believe that the reason they are not fulfilled is because they got married to the wrong person. Others because they have abandoned their own dream to follow somebody else’s dream; while some others blame their family background as the cause of their failure in life. 
Some people believe they will fail even before they set out. Very pessimistic, they believe they are bound to fail.
But the Bible does not say that we are created to be a failure or unfulfilled! The Bible says that we are created to be a success!

For you to be fulfilled and successful, you must live your Christian life the way you began it, because the beginner is not the owner but the finisher. In Revelation 2:4-5, the Bible says, "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place".

The problem we have today is that we accept the name of Jesus Christ, but not the life of Jesus Christ and when we are not satisfied with our Christian life, we begin to complain. No one can do like Jesus Christ unless he lives like Jesus Christ. Everything in your life is a reward. You are either rewarded for your righteousness or for your sin. There is no neutral reward!

FURTHER BIBLE READING:
2 Timothy 4:6-8
1 Corinthians 9:24
Job 8:6-7

Walk Away and The Way of Obedience

 

1. WALK AWAY

The decisions we make today create our tomorrow. We are the architects of our own fate condition because we are free moral agents; we can choose to walk away from wrong opportunities. You can either yield yourself to God or the devil. All of us who have fallen made a decision. All of us who have not fallen faced similar temptations but made a different decision.

Matthew 6:25-33 - “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

God knows our needs and will provide for them, although He may not provide all we want because human wants are unlimited. We do not know how to satisfy the needs of our life but He does. Therefore, when we approach God, we should humble ourselves in our requests, realising that He is God and I am not, He is a Father and I am but a child, He is the Shepherd and I a straying a sheep. What we want may not be what God wants for us at that particular time or what we need. We should therefore not interpret God’s silence as rejection; even when He seems silent, He is still saying something.

Therefore, when you are next faced with a decision or a temptation, ask yourself what the consequences of that decision or falling to that temptation will be.

Don’t be tempted to choose temporary pleasure over permanent gain.

PRAYER: In the moment of decision, ask God to give you the inner grace to choose as Christ would have chosen, in Jesus’ name.

 2. THE WAY OF OBEDIENCE

Obeying God at first seems hard until we come to see that all He asks is for our good and makes life full and free. Why is it hard at first? It is hard at first because it involves making a u-turn. I mean a turning point against our usual way, against the popular will of our friends, relations and peer groups who want you back in their fold. If you must resist them, you must be ready to face persecution and attack from them. But relax – He will not leave you without victory. The way of obedience is the way of blessings; the way of obedience is the way of a bright future.

For you to reach that future, the question you need to ask yourself is – do you have a vision? If you don’t have a vision, others would become your role model - you would be looking to others for direction instead of looking to the Holy Spirit who is our Guide.

Because of that, you would strive to receive the approval of people and be ready to compromise your faith and disobey God’s instructions to please the crowd. However, if you have a vision, you would not look to others for direction; you would wait on God. Your vision has to do with where you are going. If you don’t have a vision, you can never be focused in a direction and therefore, never fully obey God’s instructions. When you know where you are going, whatever happens to you midway cannot change your focus or push you into disobedience to God’s Word.

PRAYER: Ask God to give you an obedient heart, in Jesus’ name!

By Prophet TB Joshua

keeping your salvation

Is it possible for a Christian to lose his salvation because of sins he commits?

The question of losing one’s salvation is one that is a matter of great controversy within the household of Christian faith. There are many Christians who live in mortal fear every day of losing what they have found in Christ because the Bible gives serious warnings about falling away, and Paul himself says that he has to be very careful lest he himself become a castaway. There are biblical warnings about what would happen if we turn our backs on Christ after we’ve come to a knowledge of him.

On the other hand, there are also many Christians who believe that we will, in fact, never fall away, and I’m numbered among that group. I’m persuaded from a study of Scripture that we can have an assurance of our salvation not only for today but for all time. But the assurance that we have, or confidence in our future estate in salvation, must be based upon the right foundations. In other words, if my confidence that I will persevere is based on my confidence that I will not sin, it’s on very shaky ground. One thing the Bible makes clear to me is that even though I am a redeemed person, I will in all likelihood, and inevitably, continue to sin to some degree. If it were up to my strength to persevere to guarantee my future salvation, then I would have very little hope of persevering.

But I’m convinced that the Bible teaches that what God begins in our life, he finishes. Paul teaches, for example, in Philippians, “He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the end.” My confidence rests in the fact that Jesus promises to intercede for me daily as my Great High Priest. My confidence for my future salvation rests in my confidence that God will keep his promise and that Christ will intercede for me and preserve me. Again, if it were left to me, I would obviously fall away. I like to look at it this way: I’m walking the Christian life with my hand in God’s hand. If my perseverance depended upon my holding tightly to God’s hand, I would surely fall away because at some point I would let go. But I believe that the Scriptures teach us that God is holding my hand, and because he is holding my hand, I don’t have to fear that I will fall ultimately and finally.

Now that doesn’t mean that Christians don’t involve themselves in serious sins and what we would call in theology “serious and radical fall,” but the issue we’re discussing here is whether a Christian will ever fall totally and finally. In the New Testament John tells us, for example, that “those who went out from us were never really with us,” and that “Christ does not lose those whom the Father has given to him.” So my confidence again rests in the intercession of Christ and God’s ability and promise to hold on to me. In and of myself I am capable of sinning even unto the loss of my salvation, but I’m persuaded that God in his grace will keep me from that.

Dr Gawande's story: Importance of Mentorship

Gawande, a distinguished Harvard surgeon and author, argues that everyone needs a mentor. After working eight years as a surgeon, he realised that his operating room success had slowly reached a plateau. Soon after that realisation, he attended a medical meeting, and because he had the afternoon free, he tried to track down someone to play a game of tennis with. Finally, he went to the local tennis club and was told that he could practice his ground strokes only if he paid for a lesson and hit with the club pro. Gawande writes what happened next:

"He was in his early twenties, a recent graduate who'd played on his college team. We hit back and forth for a while. He went easy on me at first, and then started running me around. I served a few points, and the tennis coach in him came out. "You know," he said, "you could get more power from your serve." I was dubious. My serve had always been the best part of my game. But I listened. He had me pay attention to my feet as I served, and I gradually recognised that my legs weren't really underneath me when I swung my racquet up into the air.

My right leg dragged a few inches behind my body…. With a few minutes of tinkering, he'd added at least ten miles an hour to my serve.

Not long afterward, Gawande was watching tennis star Rafael Nadal playing a tournament match on TV. The camera flashed to his coach, and the obvious struck me as interesting: even Rafael Nadal has a coach. Nearly every élite tennis player in the world does …. But doctors don't. I'd paid to have a kid just out of college look at my serve. So why did I find it inconceivable to pay someone to come into my operating room and coach me on my surgical technique?"

One of the most underrated business and career principles of success is the importance of having a mentor. According to a survey by the American Society for Training and Development, 75% of private sector executives said that mentoring had been critical in helping them reach their current position. Mentors can guide you on particular projects, aid you in identifying and deploying resources, and refer you to other mentors that could help you on your path.

Professionals from various fields can attest to the important roles mentors have played in their upward climb. According to Lisa, “I once worked for a very large, global company that was very male-dominated. One of my mentors was a woman several levels above me whom I greatly admired. She helped me learn and then navigate through the layers of company politics so I could gain more support for my projects, prove myself, and then be considered for larger and more difficult jobs. Navigating the political labyrinth at work would have been almost impossible to accomplish without the help of my mentor.”

There are people who have succeeded in your chosen field of endeavour. Their experience, knowledge and referrals could be the bridge between where you are and where you want to go. Also, more businesses are also embracing mentorship as a pathway to organisational development and this is contributing significantly to efficiency, productivity and transference of organisational culture and leadership from one generation to another. As a career person, finding a mentor is a critical survival mechanism, and as a business owner, instituting mentorship programmes in your organisation will definitely be an added advantage. The Lord will open great and effective doors before you in this regard this week, and always, in Jesus’ name.

The Fort Benning story

In 1967, a veteran at Fort Benning, Ga. taught the impact of mutual mentoring to a formation of young officers: “The venerable, steely-eyed veteran told us the next nine weeks would test our mettle as it had never been tested,” one of them recalls. “The sergeant said many wouldn’t make the grade - it was just too tough. (Turned out he was right, of 287 in the formation that day, only 110 finished the nine weeks).

“I can still hear that raspy voice cutting through the morning humidity like a serrated blade. ‘We are here to save your lives,’ he preached. ‘We’re going to see to it that you overcome all your natural fears - especially of height and water. We’re going to show you just how much incredible stress the human mind and body can endure. And when we’re finished with you, you will be the U.S. Army’s best. You will not only survive in combat, you will accomplish your mission!’

“Then, before he dismissed the formation, the hardened Ranger sergeant announced our first assignment. We’d steeled ourselves for something really tough. But the veteran’s first order caught us off guard.

He told us to find a buddy. 'This is step one,' he growled. 'You need to find yourself a Ranger buddy. You will stick together. You will never leave each other. You will encourage each other, and, as necessary, you will carry each other.'"

It was the Army’s way of saying, "Difficult assignments require a friend.... You need someone to help you accomplish the tough course ahead."

Mentoring is not entirely a vertical affair. It is sometimes horizontal. Trusted companions can be a great source of encouragement and counsel. We find examples of some form of mutual mentorship in the lives of David and Jonathan. David, under persecution from Saul, received timely counsel, encouragement and comfort from his friend, Jonathan. Paul, whose conversion to Christianity was viewed with suspicion by the leading lights of the church at the time, found in Barnabas an encourager who not only vouched for him in Jerusalem, but got him started on his first mission in Antioch.

It is important we cultivate peer to peer relationships that facilitate mutual growth in every area of life. We are often at varying levels of experience and knowledge in life. Trusted peers can complement our lack of knowledge and experience in certain areas, and can be effective sounding boards and accountability partners. We need peers that can run alongside us in the race of life. We need peer-to-peer mentoring. Take time today to strengthen such relationships in your life, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in building one, if you do not have any. God speed!

Speed with God by Sinclair Ferguson

When Sereno E. Dwight included the seventy resolutions in his biography of his great-grandfather Jonathan Edwards, he added the arresting comment: “These were all written before he was twenty years of age.”

Doubtless the resolutions display the marks of relative youth — references to God are frequent, while references to Christ and to grace are noticeably infrequent. Edwards’ sense of the need for radical consecration was then greater than his ability to show how such devotion would need to be resourced in Christ over the long haul. While this is not wholly lacking, there is no doubt that introspection dominates over divine provision. That notwithstanding, the “Resolutions” provide a very powerful illustration of an often-repeated divine pattern: those the Lord means to use significantly he often deals with profoundly in early years.

Edwards stood in a great puritan tradition of resolution-forming and covenant-making. Both are lost spiritual arts, substituted at best by life-plans that tend to focus on the externals. Edwards, by contrast, was deeply concerned with the internals. He early grasped the value of a deliberate binding of the conscience to a life of holiness and of expressing such commitment in a concrete, objective, and also very specific way. Thus for him, the practice of keeping a journal (in which half of his resolutions are found) was not merely an exercise in narcissism but a careful guarding of the heart against sin. In addition, Edwards was conscious from his teenage years that dealing with indwelling sin (“mortifying” it in the older terminology) meant a commitment to deal generally with all sin, and also repenting of — and mortifying — “particular sins, particularly” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 15.5; Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5, 8–10. Indeed, these words of Paul form the unwritten backdrop to a number of the resolutions).

What can we learn for Christian living today from the resolutions themselves? Here are only three of many outstanding lessons:

Life is for the glory of God. Resolution 4 epitomizes this: “Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.”

These words have a Daniel-like ring about them (Dan. 1:8). When coupled with Edwards’s further principle that we learn from Scripture how God is to be glorified in our lives, this is both a life-goal statement and a life-simplifying one. The question, what will most tend to the glory of God in this situation? asked against the background of growing biblical wisdom wonderfully simplifies and clarifies the choices of life. In a world full of apparent complexities, this is an invaluable litmus test to use — not least if, like Edwards, you are a teenager.

Life should be lived in the light of eternity. This was, of course, a dominant perspective throughout Edwards’ later life. But it was already powerfully present in his late teens. He sought to relate the whole of life to its end (in both senses of the word). In pain he reflected on the sufferings of hell (resolution 10). He lived from death and judgment backwards into the present (resolution 17), and endeavored to do so as if each hour might be his last (resolution 19). He sought to make future happiness a central goal (resolutions 22, 50, 55). Thus, if living for the glory of God simplifies all of life, living in the light of eternity solemnizes all of life and enables one increasingly to give weight to every thought, word, and deed.

Life is lived best by those who guard the heart. Edwards guarded his emotions and affections — and his verbal and physical expressions of them — with great care. This emerges in several resolutions (including 31, 34, 36, 45, 58, and 59). Particularly noteworthy is resolution 25. Here he stresses that, if he wishes so to live in a holy manner, he must be “resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.” Whether consciously or not, Edwards here recognized a cardinal element in the original temptation — to malign an this garden and forbidden you to eat of all the trees?” see Gen. 3:1).

As early as the age of nineteen, therefore, Edwards recognized that if he lost a sense of the greatness and generosity of the divine love, there would be no resources of grace to motivate the life of holiness to which he committed himself in his resolutions. Therein lay wisdom far beyond his years.

When he penned his final series of resolutions in the summer of 1723, Edwards appears to have been reading through Thomas Manton’s sermons on Psalm 119. He refers to the idea of being open to God found in Manton’s exposition of Psalm 119:26 (sermon 27 in a series of 190). There Manton had given directives for those “who would speed with God.” Edwards was certainly such a young man. Great intellect though he was, he recognized that to “speed with God” was a matter of the heart. That is why all of us — teenagers included — can still aspire today to share the devotion to God he expressed so powerfully in his resolutions.nd thus destroy a sense of the generous love and goodness of God to Adam and Eve.

Eternal Security: Have you gotten yours?

“When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD” (Josh. 4:6b–7a).

- Joshua 4:1–9

Disagreements about the security of salvation persist within Christendom. Roman Catholics and Arminians consistently maintain that genuine faith can be lost and that few if any Christians can be assured of their salvation. Reformed Christians vigorously assert that true believers will persevere in their faith and that all true Christians can be sure of their salvation. Since several biblical passages might call the Reformed understanding into question, we will now look more closely at the doctrine of perseverance by using Dr. R.C. Sproul’s audio series Eternal Security as a guide.

“Perseverance,” not “eternal security,” is the traditional Reformed term used to convey the truth that a true Christian will remain true to the faith. The term perseverance takes seriously the fact that the Christian life is a struggle. We struggle against sin and doubt over the course of our lives in order to remain in faith. The term perseverance is also less susceptible to perversion than eternal security. Many believe eternal security means that if a person has confessed faith at anytime in his life, that person is saved even if he later falls into unrepentant sin or repudiates Christ. This perversion denies Jesus’ teaching that if we love Him we will obey Him (John 14:15).

An advantage of the term eternal security is that it reminds us of our existential need for stability. The changes associated with human existence create in us a desire for security. Undoubtedly, salvation is the arena in which we most need to feel secure. When professing Christians fall away, we often fear that the same will happen to us.

In the end, any confidence in our security has to come from the One who does not change. In Joshua 4:1–9, the children of Israel have just crossed a flooded and deadly Jordan river because God had caused the waters to divide (Josh. 3:14–17). Joshua tells them to erect two pillars of stone, one in the river and one at Gilgal so that they would be reminded of God’s mighty work. God knew that the troubles ahead might cause them to doubt His promise to preserve them. In times of trouble they could look at these monuments and remember how God had fulfilled His promise to save. And just like the Israelites, when we remember how God has fulfilled His promises in the past, we can be confident that He will do so in the future.

Coram Deo

God promises that those whom He foreknew and predestined He has also glorified (Rom. 8:30). God’s mighty acts of redemption show us that when God promises something, He always fulfills that promise. Remember the ways in which God has been faithful in your life, and thank Him for giving signs that He will be faithful in the future.

Passages for Further Study

Gen. 28:10–22

Judg. 6:11–24

2 Tim. 2:8

Heb. 12:1–2

Finding Forrester

The movie, Finding Forrester, tells the story of a reclusive Pulitzer winning writer named Forrester (Sean Connery). After his bestselling first novel, Forrester locks himself in his apartment and away from the outside world. He lives off his royalties, reads, and writes an occasional article. To the children playing outside, Forrester is simply referred to as, the 'Window.' One day, Jamal(Rob Brown), a high school student, breaks into Forrester’s apartment and accidentally leaves his backpack behind.

Forrester opens the pack and discovers that Jamal is a budding writer. He edits several of Jamal's writing journals and later throws the backpack with the journals inside out the window as Jamal passes below. An unlikely relationship is struck. Forrester helps transform Jamal from a person with great potential into a person of accomplishment. Jamal similarly transforms Forrester.

As Forrester helps Jamal progress as a writer, he gave him some of his old essays to rewrite (with conditions attached of course). Jamal helps Forrester end his self-imposed exile.

Because of Jamal's encouragement, Forrester has the courage to go outside alone, ride his bike again, and even travel to visit his homeland, Scotland, before he dies of cancer. It is largely due to Jamal's friendship that Forrester writes a second novel just before his death. The final scene shows Jamal reading a letter from Forrester, who has already died.

Forrester writes: "While I may have waited until the winter of my life to see the things I have seen this past year, there is no doubt I would have waited too long, had it not been for you." Forrester spurred Jamal to become an accomplished writer while Jamal spurred Forrester to live his life fully. Mentoring goes both ways.

This is a movie worth watching next time you want to watch one. There are many interesting parts not added here due to our subject matter.

Moral of the story.

We are designed for relationship, and God grows us through the people who help us and through the people we help. By choosing to mentor others you enhance your own leadership skills and leave a legacy that will outlive you. The truth is, few things are as important and as fulfilling as pouring your knowledge and experience into another person such that it makes a huge positive difference in their lives.

Some of the specific benefits that accrue to mentors, researchers have found, include:

1. An enhanced sense of health and well-being; a sense of feeling valued, appreciated, competent and accomplished.

2. A sense of spiritual fulfillment; a deeper understanding and appreciation for one’s own children; and the satisfaction that comes from giving back to the community. Indeed, “he that waters will himself be watered.”

3. Retaining your value and relevance in your profession and also leave a legacy.

 As you make concrete efforts to mentor others, the Lord will continue to replenish your store of wisdom and knowledge. He will grant you the grace to be a successful mentor and bless you as you do so, in Jesus’ name.