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Day-by-Day-Word
Vol. 4
Mthobisi Dladla
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FALLEN ANGELS & DEMON SPIRITS
2 Peter 2:4(NLT)
For God did not spare even THE ANGELS WHO SINNED. HE
THREW THEM INTO HELL, in gloomy pits of darkness, where
THEY ARE BEING HELD until the Day of Judgment.
There are so many questions that we have about how heaven
operates and the beings that occupy it. John speaks about
seeing four living creatures in the realm of God's throne
(Revelation 4:8), Ezekiel also speaks about seeing some kind
of living creatures(Ezekiel 1:10), Isaiah talks about seeing
seraphim and cherubim (Isaiah 6:2) which are beings that
God created. There are so many accounts in the bible aboutcreatures that occupy heaven's space where God's throne
dwells. In one instance Micaiah talk about seeing "all the
MULTITUDE of heaven standing on God's right hand and
left"(2 Chronicles 18:18). That means that even as we are
reading this, there are creatures of heaven moving up and
down in heaven, these creatures God has made for a specific
purpose. The creatures of heaven that we are well
acquainted with or most familiar with are ANGELS. By the
grace of God some who live today have even seen angels and
witness of the reality of their existence. Nonetheless there
appears that at some time ago in the hearts of heaven,
some angels SINNED and fell, Satan being one of them, and
God threw them into hell (Tartarus), where they are being
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HELD until the Day of Judgment. This is true because even
Jude spoke concerning them saying "And the ANGELS which
kept not their first estate, but LEFT THEIR OWN
HABITATION, he hath RESERVED IN EVERLASTING CHAINS
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."(Jude
1:6). Because of what Jude wrote, we can understand the
type of sin they committed. He says "they left their own
habitation", now why would they do that & how did they
that? We will try and attend to each question as best as we
can and with reference to the word of God. There are
different kinds or classes of angels, and they have different
responsibilities and duties and they have different ranks. In
Daniel for instance, Michael is called a chief prince (Daniel
10:13), and Jude calls him the archangel (Jude 1:9) because
of his rank, there are angels like Gabriel who convey
messages from heaven (Luke 1:19), there are angels whoguard cities and countries (Ezekiel 9:1), Paul calls them
"ministering spirits"(Hebrews 1:14) and so on and so forth.
Lets come back to the questions. The angels who fell left
their HABITATION for one particular sin, according to
Genesis. In Genesis it says "...when the SONS OF GOD came
in unto the daughters of men..."(Genesis 6:2), for the longest
time we have confused the term "sons of God", for people,but "sons of God" in Genesis are actually angels, who left
their natural habitation and married women in earth. In the
book of Job, reading from the New King James Version, it
says "the SONS OF GOD came to present themselves before
the LORD..." however in the New International Version, it
says "the ANGELS came to present themselves before the
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LORD,..."(Job 1:6), which shows that for some time the bible
writers refereed to angels as sons of God.
There is a power that God has given to one class of angels,
which allows them to transform themselves into terrestrial
beings, to look and become like humans, it is that kind that
visited Lot in Sodom and the men of Sodom wanted to "know
them carnally"(Genesis 19:5). A part of that kind of angels
had relations with daughters of men, and God judged them
and sent them to hell. This is just one class of the so called
FALLEN ANGELS; there is another class that doesn't have the
ability to transform itself into human beings. The ones that
are cast in hell do not have the power to walk on earth
because they are HELD BY CHAINS OF DARKNESS reserved
for the Day of Judgment.
So then what are these other spirits, known as DEMONS,which we have known for a long time to be fallen angels?
Satan is also a fallen angel however he can walk on earth and
that is evident when he says to God he has been "roaming
throughout the earth, going back and forth on it."(Job 2:2).
Lets talk about demon spirits. Demon spirits were not
originally demon spirits, they were spirits that God formed
who also followed Satan in his rebellion. They were able to
follow Satan since they were under his authority. Since Satan
was an anointed angel (Ezekiel 28), he had spirits that were
subject to him; in one of our notes called Demonology we
share about that in detail.
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These spirits, unlike the class of angels we mentioned above,
have the ability to possess terrestrial bodies of any kind and
cause inspirations of different sorts. For instance Jesus drove
them into a herd of pigs and "they came out and went into
the pigs"(Matthew 8:31-32). They can literally posses almost
any living thing. They are very famous for possessing human
beings and if a person is possessed by a demon they need to
be delivered and Jesus gave us the authority to cast them out
(Matthew 8:10). There can be more than one of them in one
person, like in the case of the boy with the legion that Jesus
delivered(Mark 5:7-9) and Mary Magdalene(Mark 16:9) . In
the bible there are so many accounts of spirits and these
spirits are known to have the POWER TO INSPIRE. For
instance when Ahab and Jehoshaphat planned to go against
Ramoth Gilead, Jehoshaphat insisted that they should seek
the word of the Lord, and the prophets (400 men) told themthat they would prosper in their mission filled with a lying
spirit, however there was another prophet, Micaiah by name,
who tells of a vision he saw and he says "I saw the LORD
sitting on His throne with all the multitudes of heaven
standing on his right and on his left, and the LORD said,
'Who will ENTICE Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth
Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this,and another that. Finally, A SPIRIT CAME FORWARD, stood
before the LORD and said, 'I WILL ENTICE HIM' "by what
means?' the LORD asked. I will go and BE A DECEIVING
SPIRIT in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said..."(2
Chronicles 18:18-21). This spirit that came forward was NOT
AN ANGEL, these form of spirits have the ability to INSPIRE.
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They can inspire lies, lust, selfishness, evil motives, sadness,
distress, and they are not from God. This spirit that Micaiah
talks about was not a spirit that was in heaven, in fact its a
spirit that came from Satan, because he is the father of lies
(John 8:44), his spirits are liars like him. There is also a spirit
in the bible that is mentioned, it is that spirit that distressed
and troubled Saul King of Israel after the Spirit of the Lord
left him, the bible calls it a "DISTRESSING SPIRIT"(1 Samuel
16:14). Let us clarify something in the case of Saul because
the bible says "it was a distressing spirit from the Lord", and
that is not so. First of all we can refer to a note I wrote some
time ago called "DARK WORKS", which will explain clearly
about why the bible would say, it was a spirit from the Lord
and secondly lets look at the example of Paul. Paul says
"even though I have received such wonderful revelations
from God. So TO KEEP ME FROM BECOMING PROUD, I wasgiven a thorn in my flesh, A MESSENGER FROM SATAN TO
TORMENT ME and keep me from becoming proud."(2
Corinthians 12:8-9). He says he was given a thorn in his flesh,
who gave him that thorn? The answer is God, because God
wanted to keep him from getting proud. Satan would have
loved to see Paul becoming proud and guilty before God, but
God kept him from pride by giving him a thorn in his flesh, AMESSENGER FROM SATAN - that's the key point. That thorn
in the flesh or that ailment WAS FROM SATAN, it was a spirit
from Satan that God used to chasten Paul. All evil spirits are
under Satan's authority; they fell with him and shared in his
sins. They move under his anointing, therefore since his
anointing became corrupted it was superficial that his
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spirits become corrupted as well. All the violence you see in
the world is inspired by them, the hatred, the wars, and all
evil. They also have the ability to cause sickness by taking the
form of whatever sickness they want to cause. Jesus often
delivered people who were mute and deaf from what the
bible calls "dumb and deaf spirits"(Mark 9:23). There are so
many of them and these are the creatures that are referred
to as DEMON SPIRITS. These are the spirits that in Revelation
are called "foul spirits"(Revelation 18:2) they are unclean.
They are as wicked as Satan.
There is another type of evil creatures which are called
"PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS"(Ephesians 6:12), they are
also knows as RULERS OF DARKNESS"(Ephesians 6:12), this is
a class of fallen angels that we mentioned above, who do not
have the ability to turn themselves into terrestrial beings,
amazingly these ones were not BOUND BY CHAINS IN HELL,
(they are the first to fall, since they fell together with Satan
in the beginning but the ones who had relations with
women fell later, after Mankind had been created) however
they have fighting powers, their main duty is to fight the holy
angels of God, that minister to God's people. We see this in
the book of Daniel where an angel comes to give Daniel an
answer to his prayer, however he lets us know something
that happened to him on his way to Daniel, the angel says
"the PRINCE of the kingdom of Persia WITHSTOOD ME 21
DAYS; and behold Michael ONE OF THE CHIEF PRINCESS,
came to help me..."(Daniel 10:13). God had answered
Daniels prayer 21 days before the angel came, but he
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couldn't get it because a PRINCIPALITY had stopped the angel
for 21 days. They are the ones that will fight against Michael
and his angels according to Revelation (Revelation 12:7).
These were the type of angels who were meant to guard
countries but they inspire them to commit evil. They
prevent blessings and open doors for demon spirits to
oppress and possess people. However glory be to God,
because for us who are in Christ, the bible says "He
DISARMED PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS..."(Colossians
2:15). We need not worry about the principalities because
they are defeated. There is so much to be said about this
topic but we will leave it here and give ourselves time to
understand all these things. It is time we recognized
sicknesses for what they really are, a thing that doesn't come
from God, "every GOOD AND PERFECT gift comes from
above..."(James 1:17), sickness is not from above.Father weask that you give us understanding of these things".
God Bless You.
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FOOD FOR FASTING
Nehemiah 9:1-3(NKJV)
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of
Israel were assembled with FASTING in sackcloth, and with
dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated
themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed
their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up
in their place and READ FROM THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF
THE LORD their God for onefourth of the day; and for
another fourth they CONFESSED AND WORSHIPED the Lord
their God.
Fasting is a great spiritual activity, if it accompanied by
prayer. In fact fasting is not a spiritual activity if it is done
without prayer. Fasting to a Christian should not be the same
as dieting. There is so much to be said about fasting and
prayer however in this note we will not discuss on the activity
but on how to do it effectively and in a way that will help
your spirit to remain in God the whole time. In our opening
scripture we see the children of Israel fasting to the Lord,separating themselves from foreigners and planning a
schedule on what to do in their day of fasting. 6 hours (one
forth) of the day was for confession and worship and another
6 hours for meditation on the WORD OF GOD, and the rest
for other things. The part we are focusing on is the 6 HOURS
OF MEDITATION. Truth be told I don't remember ever in my
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life meditating on the word of God that much during my
fasting time but for some reason the children of Israel
thought it was important for them to meditate on the word
of God for that much time during their fasting period. Well
there is one truth that doesn't change and that is "FOR
EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE PAST WAS
WRITTEN TO TEACH US..."(Romans 15:4). In our fasting time
we really need the WORD OF GOD to feed our spirits; we can
receive so much REVELATION from the word of God during
this time and also enjoy a richer fellowship with God. During
our fasting time our spiritual senses are enhanced and when
we read the word of God, we read it with the eyes of our
spirits. Even Jesus Himself when He was driven by the Spirit
to the wilderness (Mark 1:12) to fast for 40 days & 40 nights,
He had with Him the word of God, He afterwards told Satan
that "It is written: 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE,BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF
GOD.'"(Matthew 4:4). The word of God was His sustenance
in the wilderness, it was His food during His fasting - we need
the same food during our fasting. Another example of this is
Moses, who "was there with the Lord forty days and forty
nights without eating bread or drinking water"(Exodus
34:28) and the Lord was speaking to Him, telling Him aboutthe ten commandments for him to write them down in
tablets, and afterwards he goes down from Mount Sinai to
meet Aaron and all the Israelites not being aware that he had
a SHINING FACE because of the word of God. Some times
when we read the word during our fasting, we can literally
hear God speaking to us through His word, sometimes get a
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"rhema", sometimes see visions from the word of God -
these are some of the spiritual experiences that we have
when we read the word during fasting.
Even when Jeremiah receives the word from God being a
prophet, he is asked by God to write the words in a scroll
(Jeremiah 36:2); being obedient Jeremiah asks Baruch the
son of Neriah, to write in the scroll all the words of the Lord
that He had spoken to him. Now Jeremiah being confined he
couldn't go to the house of the Lord and his reason for going
to the house of the Lord was to give the scroll to those who
were there so that they can here God's word. Now this is
what he commands Baruch, "I am confined; I cannot go into
the house of the Lord. You go, therefore, and READ FROM
THE SCROLL WHICH YOU HAVE WRITTEN AT MY
INSTRUCTION, THE WORDS OF THE LORD, IN THE HEARINGOF THE PEOPLE IN THE LORDS HOUSE ON THE DAY OF
FASTING..."(Jeremiah 36:6). AMAZING. He wanted the words
to be read on the DAY OF FASTING, and it was God who told
him to have the words read at that particular day of FASTING.
No wonder the multitude was able to remain with Jesus for
3 days without eating food (Matthew 15:32) because they
had been sustained by the word of God. When deciding tofast, we should give a great deal of time to the reading of the
word of God. If you are having a cooperate fast, have a
sharing session and you'll be amazed at the revelation that
people have.
God Bless You.
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GOALS HAVE TIME
Nehemiah 2:6(NIV)
Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me,
"How long will your journey take, and when will you get
back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I SET A TIME.
One of the factors of a goal that makes it sufficient as a goal
is TIME. You might have a goal but if you do not consider the
time factor, you will most likely be unsuccessful in achieving
it. God is a good example of how goals must be set. When He
created the heavens and the earth He had a SET TIME, He
understood how long it should take to create all things. "For
in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the
sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh
day."(Exodus 20:11). God is a great respecter of time and He
understands its role in doing whatsoever needs to be done,
therefore Solomon says "He has made everything
BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME..."(Ecclesiastes 3:11). The first
coming of Jesus for instance, was something that God
planned a long time ago and He set a time for it, a time He
understood by His wisdom to be the right time, as Peter says
"who verily was foreordained BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS
OF THE WORLD, but was MANIFEST in these LAST TIMES for
you," (1 Peter 1:20). God wants us to have an understanding
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of the times so that we can set goals properly, that we may
plan things according to His will and in doing so have good
success. Jesus said something very powerful when He spoke
a parable about His second coming and how we should
always be watchful, He says "but understand this: If the
owner of the house HAD KNOWN AT WHAT TIME of night
the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would
not have let his house be broken into."(Matthew 24:43) -
The message that Jesus was simply conveying is
"UNDERSTAND THE TIMES. Just like "the sons of Issachar
who had understanding of the times"(1 Chronicles 12:32),
we need to have that same understanding. Nehemiah was a
man who understood how to set goals and because of that
understanding He was a great governor of the Lord's people.
When setting goals, it is crucial for us to ask God for
direction, hear from Him if it is the right time or not - and if itis, how long will it take for the goal to be achieved.
Personally, in my spiritual walk with the Lord, I always set a
TIME for my goals of growth in the things of the Spirit - for
instance reading the bible, I tell myself that in 2 months I
should have finished all the Books of Moses and ask God's
Spirit to help me achieve that goal. Time is really important in
achieving goals. When God created the world He knew thatHe had to do it in 6 days, so that he can have time to rest on
the seventh day. We need to have the same mentality that
God has, if we set the wrong TIME for our goals we might
miss perfect spiritual opportunities for success, Solomon says
"the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong but
TIME AND OPPORTUNITY happens to them all"(Ecclesiastes
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9:11). When Sarah is about to conceive Isaac God says to
Abraham "I will surely return to you ABOUT THIS TIME NEXT
YEAR, and Sarah your wife will have a son."(Genesis 18:10) -
From the verse we can see that God was very specific about
the time. Even in heaven when God sets goals for us, He does
it at the right TIME, HIS TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT. O how
bauetiful are the words to Zion, David speaks by the Holy
Spirit saying You will arise and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has
come. (Psalm 102:13)
God Bless You.
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FEAR CAUSES LYING
Isaiah 57:11(GW)
Who did you DREAD AND FEAR SO MUCH that you lied to
me? You haven't remembered me or cared about me. I've
been silent for a long time. Is that why you don't fear me?
Fear is a destructive element in our lives and we really need
to get rid of it. Jesus whenever He'll find His disciples in a
state of timidity, He would often say to them "peace be with
you"(John 20:21) or "fear not" (Luke 8:50). Fear is the
opposite of faith and the bible says "whatever is not from
faith IS SIN" (Romans 14:23). God is very mindful of how fear
can lead one into sin, that is why He has given us not "the
spirit of TIMIDITY, but the spirit of LOVE, of POWER and of a
SOUND-MIND"(2 Timothy 1:7). The opening scripture is very
profound; God asks the children of Israel "who has made you
fear and caused dread to you that you have LIED...", lying
which in itself is a sin that could lead you to hell (Revelation
21:8) is usually caused by FEAR. Fear in this case is in
different forms sometimes it comes as shame and
sometimes even insecurity or inferiority. Sometimes we lie
unnecessarily because we are trying to fit in. Sometimes we
lie because we think that people will judge us and all of this is
caused by fear. However we are not of this world (John
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15:19). Let's study the Apostle Peter for instance, in that
scenario where Jesus is about to be betrayed into the hands
of the Jews and Peter says to Jesus "even if all fall away on
account of you, I never will."(Matthew 26:33). However
Jesus being a Prophet had seen the event that would shortly
take place, where He is denied by the very man who had
opposed all possibility of ever falling away - and HOW SO? By
FEAR. When Peter is asked if he knew Jesus, he didn't
hesitate for a second, but first denied to be Jesus' disciple
and secondly went on to deny of having any knowledge of
Him, even went as far as making an oath, IMAGINE THAT
(John 18:15-27).. The bible says Then with curses and oaths
he said, I have no knowledge of the ma (Matthew 26:74).
Peter feared the consequences that came with being Jesus'
disciple at the time and the only way out was by lying and
denying having any knowledge of the Lord. But we look atanother man in contrast, Joseph of Arimathea (as the bible
will have it) who "gathered up courage" (Mark 15:43) O if
we could gather up courage. We need to be courageous, we
need not LIE.
There is another account which one really needs to study, it
is an account whereby God is visiting Abraham together withangels and Abraham prepares a feast for them and they eat.
Now while this was happening God says to Abraham I will
surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah
your wife will have a son. (Genesis 18:10), now Sarah
listening in on the conversation suddenly laughs at what God
said, and God says to Abraham in response to Sarahs wife
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Why did Sarah laugh and say, Will I really have a child,
now that I am old? (Genesis 18:13); after this the bible
records (reading from the NIV) Sarah WAS AFRAID, SO
SHE LIED and said, I did not laugh.But he said, Yes, you
did laugh. (Genesis 18:15) Its powerful, because it actually
tells us that she lied because of fear not because of anything
else. God was not going to be offended because she was
AFRAID however since she didnt know who God is, she was
afraid. Fortunately for her, unlike Ananias and his wife (Acts
5:3), she did not die from lying to God
David says "Whoever of you loves life and desires TO SEE
MANY GOOD DAYS, let him keep his tongue from evil and
his lips from speaking LIES."(Psalm 34:12-13). IMAGINE, for
you to see many good days just keep yourself from lying;
easy as that. Most importantly DO NOT BE AFRAID, because"greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world"(1
John 4:4). Let us learn to speak faith and bridle our tongues
because that is what God wants from us, as even Paul says
"do not lie to one another" (Colossians 3:9).
God Bless You.
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NOTHING UNCLEAN IN ITSELF
Romans 14:14(NIV)
I am convinced, BEING FULLY PERSUADED in the Lord Jesus,
THAT NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF. But if ANYONE
REGARDS SOMETHING AS UNCLEAN, THEN FOR THAT
PERSON IT IS UNCLEAN.
We thank the Lord Jesus Christ for what He did at the cross.
He once and for all freed us from sin, "for we know that our
old self was crucified with Him SO THAT THE BODY RULED
BY SIN MIGHT BE DONE AWAY WITH, that we should no
longer BE SLAVES TO SIN."(Romans 6:6). How can we beslaves to what we were freed from? That sin that once
mastered us Jesus delivered us forever from, and made us
alive to our God and Father He being Master and Lord of our
lives, not sin. However even in freedom, many of God's
people in their minds are kept captive in the realms of sin,
being conscious of it and not of the freedom that was bought
by the blood of Jesus. Not that we are saying that we should"use our freedom as an excuse to do evil."(1 Peter 2:16). The
greatest challenge that many believers face with regards to
sin, is the misconception of what sin is. Sin is not what men
say it is, it is what God says it is. Jesus once defended the
things done in the Sabbath, declaring greater revelation than
what the Pharisees had by the Law of Moses saying "havent
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you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the
temple DESECRATE THE SABBATH AND YET ARE
INNOCENT?"(Matthew 12:5). Truth be told, in the law of
Moses, it was "unlawful" for priests to desecrate the
Sabbath, however Jesus says in their doing of that unlawful
act, they were found INNOCENT. We are not sharing about
what sin is in this note (we will share that broadly in the blog)
but what many believers think sin is. The opening scripture is
too big not to look at in greater detail. Paul says "I am
convinced, BEING FULLY PERSUADED in the Lord Jesus, THAT
NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF." - What does this mean?
Apparently there is nothing wrong with sexual relations,
generally, but there is something very wrong with sexual
relations before marriage (one of the cases) - it is a sin. There
is a difference between a married couple and an unmarried
couple, and the person who set that standard is the AlmightyGod Himself.
There is something else we need to look at. When God made
a man, He didn't put clothes on Him and likewise when He
made a woman, the bible says "God saw all that He had
made, and IT WAS VERY GOOD."(Genesis 1:31). So the
nakedness of Adam and Eve was good in God's eyes, there
was nothing wrong with it, even to themselves because the
bible says "Adam and his wife WERE BOTH NAKED, AND
THEY FELT NO SHAME."(Genesis 2:25). However when they
ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "the
eyes of both of them were opened, AND THEY REALIZED
THEY WERE NAKED; so they sewed fig leaves together and
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made coverings for themselves."(Genesis 3:7), WAIT A
SECOND! After they realized that they were naked they
covered themselves, but God had known from the time He
made them that they were naked, why did He not cover
them? The answer to this question is extremely simple but
very long; therefore we will get to the point. There was
nothing wrong as far as God is concerned with them being
naked - because they were covered with the GLORY OF GOD,
but it became wrong the moment they thought or realized
it was wrong when the GLORY LIFTED BECAUSE OF SIN . Ever
since that day, NAKEDNESS has been associated with shame.
When Isaiah prophesies against Babylon, he says "Your
nakedness will be exposed and your shame
uncovered."(Isaiah 47:3) But at some point Adam and Eve
looked at their naked bodies and were not ashamed, but
after they ate the fruit they became ashamed of each othersnakedness. That is what Paul means when he says "But if
ANYONE REGARDS SOMETHING AS UNCLEAN, THEN FOR
THAT PERSON IT IS UNCLEAN."(Romans 14:14). There are so
many things in the world that we call sin which are really not
sin in the eyes of God, but since we have considered them as
sin, the glory of God is lifted up from them, and they
become sin from our doing. We constantly invent sinwithout being aware of it and that itself is sin. When Peter is
in a trance after prayer, he sees a vision whereby "he saw
heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let
down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of
four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a
voice told him, Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.(Acts 10:11-12).
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Now it was always unlawful to eat these kinds of animals by
the regulations of the Law of Moses, so Peter being taught in
the Law responds by saying "surely not, Lord! I have never
eaten anything IMPURE OR UNCLEAN. and the Lord again
said "do not call anything IMPURE that God HAS MADE
CLEAN."(Acts 10:13-15). What had happened to the Law?
How did God make the food clean? By the blood of Jesus. The
point is that nothing is unclean by itself, there is something
that makes it that way, and we cannot say anything is sin just
because we don't understand it. In Haggai God asks the
priests "If a person defiled by contact with a dead body
touches one of these things, does it become defiled? Yes,
the priests replied, it becomes defiled."(Haggai 2:13).
Anything that becomes unclean is made unclean by its
source, it wasn't created unclean, since God created all
things. Satan's job is to defile all that God created, since hecannot create anything himself. Have you ever thought why
the Ten Commandments came? Where did the people of God
learn all these things that God shunned? Why do you call this
thing that you are doing SIN? What makes you think it is SIN?
Some of us say "well since it doesn't feel right, it is not
right", the question is what if it feels right but it is not right?
John says "if we condemn ourselves God is greater than ourhearts and He knows everything"(1 John 3:20). When we
share our lives with the Holy Spirit we understand what sin is
and what is not FOR US, because something that is sin to one
person might not be sin to the other. Some things are not sin,
per say, but they hinder our fellowship with God even Paul
says "I HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO ANYTHING, YOU SAYBUT
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NOT EVERYTHING IS BENEFICIAL"(1 Corinthians 6:12) -
therefore God doesn't want us to do them.
However there are things that are sin for everybody because
they defile the spirit - these are the things that can even lead
a Christian to hell. If we allow anything in our lives, let them
be beneficial for our growth in the Lord, and not for our
selfish desires. If we approve anything in our lives, we
shouldn't let those things condemn us afterwards, Paul says
"BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO DOES NOT CONDEMN HIMSELF
BY WHAT HE APPROVES."(Romans 14:22). Solomon also
shared his wisdom on this matter when he said "It is a snare
for a man TO DEVOTE RASHLY SOMETHING AS HOLY, And
afterward to reconsider his vows."(Proverbs 20:25). A lot of
us say we will do this and that, there is nothing wrong with it,
and then afterwards we are condemned by our consciences.
Let us desire more the things of Christ, things which bring
about edification. People have the power to name(we will
talk about that in another note), and what they name
becomes, that's why a lot of us have named things as sin, and
they have become sin as far as we and the Holy Spirit are
concerned. There will always be things that seem good to the
Holy Spirit and not us or things that seem good to us and not
the Holy Spirit, until we get to know the Holy Spirit.
God Bless You
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KNOWING GOD
John 17:3(NIV)
Now this is eternal life: THAT THEY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY
TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, whom you have sent.
This Lord Jesus is both Lord and God. He is the Word of God,who was in the beginning, "...and the WORD WAS
GOD"(John 1:1). It appears that in the heavens at some point
God decided that in Jesus all things should consist, that our
fellowship; which is a gateway to knowing Him, should be in
the Son of His love. There is not one lovelier than this one,
"God is faithful, who has called you into FELLOWSHIP WITH
HIS SON, Jesus Christ our Lord."(1 Corinthians 1:9). We get toknow God more the more we fellowship with Him, the more
we open our lives to Him, the more we live for Him, Paul says
"for Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that
one died for all, and therefore all died. AND HE DIED FOR
ALL, THAT THOSE WHO LIVE SHOULD NO LONGER LIVE FOR
THEMSELVES BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED FOR THEM AND WAS
RAISED AGAIN."(2 Corinthians 5:14-15). The blood of Jesus
became the price paid for our fellowship because at some
point in time we were unable to approach God at all. What
had broken man's fellowship with God was sin, it was that
disobedience that Adam committed which resulted in the
fall of all those in his likeness - therefore we were unable to
know this God and enjoy His fellowship. Even to this day our
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constant inconsideration for God's Holy Spirit, our vexing
thoughts and grievous words that hurt Him are what makes
us ineffective in knowing God better. The thing is, the only
way we can get to access God is through His Spirit, "for
through Him(Jesus) we both have ACCESS to the Father by
one Spirit."(Ephesians 2:18) and also He is the one who has
the deepest knowledge of God in Himself, "even so NO ONE
KNOWS THE THINGS of God except the Spirit of God."(1
Corinthians 2:10). If we harm the Foundation by which the
fellowship is built, how then can we build it, does He not say
"If the FOUNDATIONS are destroyed, what can the
righteous do?"(Psalm 11:3).
What is the meaning of these things? What does knowing
God mean? Jeremiah prophesies something speaking by the
Holy Spirit, something we should look at for our answers; He
says "Did not your father have food and drink? HE DID
WHAT WAS RIGHT AND JUST, so all went well with him. He
defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went
well. IS THAT NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW ME?
declares the Lord."(Jeremiah 22:15). Well it makes a lot of
sense. Knowing somebody means knowing first the
important things about them; what pleases them, what
offends them, what they like, what they don't like. That's the
foundation that every person needs to develop a good
relationship upon. Amos says "Do two walk together unless
they have agreed to do so?"(Amos 3:3). You cannot be a
friend with someone who constantly hurts your feelings, you
can be that person's friend but he will try to avoid you as
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much as possible. Knowing God is based on the foundations
that you know the things that please Him and the things that
displease Him, Jesus says "You are My friends if you do what
I command you."(John 15:14). There is a difference between
a RELATIONSHIP and FELLOWSHIP, you can have a father you
see once a month nonetheless that doesn't change the
biological stand point you have with him even though your
relationship will be weaker because your fellowship is little
since you don't see him much. A relationship is strengthened
by the amount of fellowship a person has with the other.
However fellowship is the more sensitive of the two,
anything that disturbs the fellowship automatically disturbs
the relationship, and it is the same with God. The Holy Spirit
is in charge of the fellowship and if we vex Him, the
fellowship becomes disturbed, that's why Paul says "And do
not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way youlive."(Ephesians 4:30 - NLT). The bible teaches us what
happened to the children of Israel when they grieved the
Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:9-12).
Our lifestyle can really affect our fellowship with God and will
in turn affect our learning of who God is. John says "we know
that WE HAVE COME TO KNOW Him if we keep His
commands."(1 John 2:3). The highest level of knowing God, is
to understand what pleases Him and what doesn't please
Him, its to be acquainted with His nature. Jesus also said
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I
say?"(Luke 6:46). Paul's writing to Titus demonstrates what
the Holy Spirit recognizes knowing God to be because Paul
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says "they CLAIM TO KNOW GOD, BUT BY THEIR ACTIONS
THEY DENY HIM. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit
for doing anything good"(Titus 1:16). The greatest level in
any relationship is when you know what the other party
doesn't approve and RESPECT IT and never find yourself
doing it. Even if we did things that are hurtful by mistake, we
ask for forgiveness and move on. We learn from those
mistakes and try not to repeat them because as Solomon
says "whoever repeats the matter SEPARATES CLOSE
FRIENDS."(Proverbs 17:9). Let us learn to appreciate God and
get to know Him more, Hosea said "Let us know, Let us
pursue the knowledge of the Lord..."(Hosea 6:3).
God Bless You
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THE LIBERATING SPIRIT
2 Corinthians 3:17(NKJV)
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
THERE IS LIBERTY.
This experience that the Apostle Paul is speaking about in ouropening scripture is an experience that God has preordained
for every believer that has inherited His Spirit. The Spirit of
God is A PERSON. He is the one that carries the Presence of
God; no man has ever felt the Presence of the Almighty
without the Holy Spirit. Was it not that same Presence that
Moses asked for, saying "If your Presence does not go with
us, do not send us up from here."(Exodus 33:15), couldn't ithave been easier for Moses to say, "Lord if you do not go
with us, we will not go."? But he understood that the
Presence was sufficient in Itself. As long as a man is
restricted, a man is not free. If a man has limits and
restrictions in his finances, psychology, spirituality, physically,
emotionally, or in any other area that man is not free.
Because even though that man might desire to come to a
certain level, he will never attain to it because of the
boundaries and the restrictions that are imposed upon him.
Until a man experiences freedom, a man will never
experience the FULLNESS OF LIFE. Jesus had to free us from
the slavery of sin, from the fear of death, from every
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bondage and chain that Satan had bound us with, in order
for us to experience the LIFE that God predestined for us.
But even in our freedom, the greatest feeling of victory could
only come after the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There
is so much to be recognized in the Holy Spirit, so much to be
adored, but we will not get into that now. How beautiful are
those words, that say "where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE
IS LIBERTY.", there is not an object on earth that could buy
the price of total freedom, but one said "where the Spirit of
the Lord is, THERE IS LIBERTY.". We are challenged by God to
experience this LIBERTY free of charge by His Spirit. If only
we could learn to let ourselves go more in the Spirit, we
could enjoy this liberty.
It was Samson who was arrested by the Philistine where he
put them under an oath to swear to him that they would notkill him. In that agreement they bound him with two new
ropes. Now what happens next is too extraordinary, this is
how the bible captures the scene, "when he came to Lehi,
the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the SPIRIT
OF THE LORD came mightily upon him; and THE ROPES THAT
WERE ON HIS ARMS BECAME LIKE FLAX THAT IS BURNED
WITH FIRE, AND HIS BONDS BROKE LOOSE FROM HIS
HANDS."(Judges 15:14) - Glory to the Highest. Is it not that
same Spirit of the Lord? It says HIS BONDS BROKE LOOSE
FROM HIS HANDS, when that Liberating Spirit came upon
Him. When the Spirit came upon Samson, he had to be made
free because "where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE IS
LIBERTY". How can children of God be possessed and be
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bound by devils of all kinds when they are filled with the
Spirit? Does not Jesus say "it is by the Spirit of God that I
drive out demons..."(Matthew 12:28). The Holy Spirit
liberated those who were demon oppressed and possessed.
A believer that is truly filled with the Spirit cannot
experience bondage, even if that same believer binds
himself to something, as long as he is filled with the Spirit,
He will be made free. I remember three men in the bible
who had refused to bow down and worship a gold statue
(god) of a certain King Nebuchadnezzar and because of their
disobedience they had to be thrown to a furnace, heated a
seven times hotter than usual. The King had them TIED and
thrown into the furnace, however after a short while the
King looks in to see if these men had been consumed with
fire, at the surprise of what he saw, he says "did we not cast
three men BOUND into the midst of the fire? I see four menLOOSE, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not
hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of
God."(Daniel 3:19-25). A fourth man had entered their midst,
LOOSED and LOOSENING the rest - brothers and sisters, that
Son of God there is the representation of the Holy Spirit, that
came to LOOSE Shad-rack, Meshach and Abed-Nego. If only
we could experience the freedom that the Holy Spirit gives,David said "in thy Presence is fullness of joy..."(Psalm 16:11).
Imagine experiencing the FULLNESS OF JOY, Paul says "the
kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but
of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."(Romans
14:17). Its time we got the Holy Spirit involved in every area
of our lives, so that we may experience that freedom in those
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areas, if the Holy Spirit was in our relationships we wouldn't
feel like we are BOUND to them, if the Holy Spirit was in our
finances there wouldn't be a feeling of shortage or lack,
there would be total freedom. Where He is there is LIBERTY,
it doesn't matter where we are, all that matter is where He
is. He was with Peter that night he was thrown into jail by
Herod, where he was directed by an angel to come out,
thinking he was asleep, when they came to the IRON GATE
which the bible says it "opened to them of its own
accord..."(Acts 12:10) - nobody had to open that gate or tell
it to open, IT OPENED AT ITS OWN WILL. If there's an iron
gate in your life, its time you introduced the Spirit to the
matter and see if it doesn't OPEN ON ITS OWN ACCORD.
God Bless You.
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BY CHANCE
2 Samuel 1:6(NKJV)
Then the young man who told him said, As I happened BY
CHANCE to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on
his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed
hard after him.
Brothers and sisters, if we have known God at all and the
principles of the heavenly places, we should know by now
that there is nothing in this existing world that HAPPENS BY
CHANCE. Probability is a system of this world, it is a lie that
Satan has made up to try and blind us from the reality, and
the reality is that each and every man's life is PREDESTINED.There are three wills that play a part in a man's life, God's,
Satan's and that man's. God's in this way as to Jeremiah:
"Before I formed you in the womb I KNEW YOU (Jeremiah
1:5), Satan's this way as to Peter: "Simon, Simon, Satan has
asked to sift all of you as wheat."(Luke 22:31) and a man this
way: "Many are the plans in the mind of a man..."(Proverbs
19:21). We as people have many dreams, many aspirations
and many goals, but are all these things that we desire in line
with the will of God? It was with the children of Israel that
God through the prophet Isaiah said, speaking of their
schemes, "Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
who take counsel, but not of Me, AND WHO DEVISE PLANS,
BUT NOT OF MY SPIRIT, that they may add sin to sin;"
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(Isaiah 30:1). We find ourselves all too often in the position
of doing what we think is right without asking for the
guidance and counsel of the Holy Spirit, He is called the
Counselor (John 14:26) for a reason. God was angry with the
children of Israel, even called them rebellious because they
formulated plans which are NOT OF HIS SPIRIT. Lets go back
to the opening scripture. If we read further on about this
young man's story in our opening scripture, his end is not so
pleasant because HE DIES.
This young man was seen by Saul passing by, Saul then asked
him to finish him off as he was wounded and realized that he
could not recover. When the young man reports these things
to David, he asks him, "how was it you were not afraid to
put forth your hand to destroy the Lords anointed?"(2
Samuel 1:14) - What a question. Then David instructs one of
his young men to execute the young man who had killed Saul
(2 Samuel 1). This young man was at the WRONG PLACE, AT
THE WRONG TIME and his end was death. Who knows where
this young man was going, he could have been going to visit a
friend, relative, anybody, and however he didn't make his
destination BECAUSE OF CHANCE. We need to stop being
at places BY CHANCE, we need to have our lives and our
decisions governed by the Holy Spirit. We need to start being
sensitive to the Lordship of Jesus, David was a man who
ALWAYS inquired of the Lord (1 Samuel & 2 Samuel). When
a believer does anything without hearing from God, he places
himself at the mercy of the enemy because Satan will always
use our worldly ambitions for his purpose. Nonetheless we
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who are matured are not ignorant of HIS DEVICES (2
Corinthians 2:11).
Jesus was a Man who was so yielded to God's will that He
even said "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do."(John
5:19). God teaches us to walk in His footsteps, to follow His
guidance; all we need to do is to be yielded to Him. God only
wants the best for us and we need to realize that more and
more, Solomon says a man "will not dwell unduly on the
days of his life, BECAUSE GOD KEEPS HIM BUSY WITH THE
JOY OF HIS HEART."(Ecclesiastes 5:20). It is time we started
yielding to His will. Our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8),
Solomon also said "THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO
A MAN, BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH. (Proverbs
14:12) - This scripture is too powerful. There is a way for
every man; David says Who, then, are those who fear the
LORD? HE WILL INSTRUCT THEM IN THE WAYS THEY
SHOULD CHOOSE (Psalm 25:12). Maybe you are about to
take a job offer that you think is right, or about to commit to
a relationship with someone you believe is right for you, or
even about to go to town now, don't make decisions hastily,
consult with the Counselor and ask if its the right way and
the right time. When Noah was in the ark because of the
flood he sends two birds a RAVEN & a DOVE to see if the
water had dried up, the raven goes and never comes back,
going to and fro on the face of the earth. Now the bible
speaks this way regarding the DOVE, "the dove found no
resting place for the sole of her foot, and SHE RETURNED
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INTO THE ARK TO HIM, for the waters were on the face of
the whole earth. SO HE PUT OUT HIS HAND AND TOOK HER,
AND DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF. (Genesis 8:9).
The DOVE represented the Holy Spirit, who goes out to see if
the "COAST IS CLEAR", who checks if it is the RIGHT TIME TO
GO OUT. Glory to God. But the RAVEN represented our
humanly wisdom that goes to and fro, mastered by Satan
who himself said in Job when asked by God where he was
"going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and
down in it"(Job 2:2). When Noah puts out his hand and took
and DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF that symbolizes
the fellowship or the yielding to the Holy Spirit, powerfully
said by Moses "AND DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF".
We need to start drawing the Holy Spirit to ourselves, getting
closer to Him. A friend of mine likes to say God is a master
Communicator, there is a special way that He communicateswith all of us, it might not be an audible voice or a vision, it
could be that deep sense in our spirits, that compelling
feeling to do something, that little voice in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit - it could literally be anything. Jesus said "My
sheep KNOW MY VOICE..."(John 10:27). The sons and
daughters of God are led by His Spirit (Romans 8:14), and
that's the ONLY VOICE we should be looking out for andlistening to.
It might seem like God is leading us places where we don't
know or we don't understand; Abraham "when called to go
to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, OBEYED
AND WENT, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE
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WAS GOING...for he was looking forward to the city with
foundations, whose architect and builder is God."(Hebrews
11:8, 10), even Jesus had "the Spirit drive Him into the
wilderness."(Mark 1:12). It is high time we obeyed the Holy
Spirit. The consequences of living BY CHANCE are too severe,
lets learn from the young man who killed Saul.
God Bless You.
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WORKS AND GRACE
Romans 4:4(NKJV)
Now to him who WORKS, the WAGES ARE NOT COUNTED AS
GRACE, but as debt.
What is grace? There is really no definite description, there is
no conclusive definition, but it appears to be along the lines
of UNDESERVED FAVOR. There are so many men in the bible
who FOUND GRACE in the Lord's sight and consequently
found FAVOR. The first appears to be Noah, who is the father
of us all, who in the days of increasing unrighteousness,
FOUND GRACE in the eyes of the LORD."(Genesis 6:8).Because of this grace that Noah obtained from God, "he
WALKED with God."(Genesis 6:9). Long after Noah another
man comes about MORE blessed than Noah, more lavished
with GRACE and his name was Abraham, the FRIEND OF GOD
(James 2:23). Abraham, who was formerly Abram, was
chosen by God from his family even though his father, Terah,
served other gods according to the words of God by Joshua,"your fathers, including TERAH, the father of Abraham and
the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in
old times; and THEY SERVED OTHER GODS."(Joshua 24:2),
therefore it was not because of the WORKS of his father that
he was chosen but because of GRACE. How could he have
been chosen since his father was serving other gods? But
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Paul does speak this way, "so too, at the present time THERE
IS A REMNANT CHOSEN BY GRACE."(Romans 11:5). What
grace does, works cannot achieve, and therefore works are
not grace. Solomon says "Do you see a man who excels IN
HIS WORK? HE WILL STANDS BEFORE KINGS; He will not
stand before unknown men."(Proverbs 22:29), a man who
excels in his WORK, even though he stands before kings will
never exceed a man who stands before kings by GRACE,
because unlike the man who works, the man of grace does
not have to do anything to achieve what the man of works
does. One man of God once said "favor is not fair" and that is
the truth.
In the old times men had to attain to righteousness by the
WORKS of the Law but we have attained to it "...by GRACE
through faith."(Ephesians 2:8), because works cannot be
grace. We thank God, nonetheless that we have all been
given some form of GRACE through Christ because God
shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). Anything that we do for
God that He rewards us for, can never be counted as GRACE,
but as debt according to our opening scripture, but that
which he does for us, without us moving a finger on His
behalf is GRACE. The day we stop thinking that we receive
things from God because He owes us, will be the DAY we
understand GRACE. Let us look at such a great salvation
which is the RICHES OF HIS GRACE that we never had to work
to receive. Paul says concerning this salvation that, we have
been "justified FREELY BY HIS GRACE through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus."(Romans 3:24) and also
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"for it is BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, through faith--
and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--NOT BY
WORKS, so that no one can boast."(Ephesians 2:8-9). We can
never BOAST about the GRACE of God, maybe about our
works but NOT ABOUT GRACE. Paul says to the Corinthians
"...what do you have that God HASN'T GIVEN YOU? and if
everything you have is from God, why boast as though it
were not a GIFT?"(1 Corinthians 4:7), this will make you
realize that even the ability to WORK is because of God's
GRACE, even Paul says "no, I WORKED HARDER THAN ALL OF
THEM--yet not I, but the GRACE OF GOD WAS WITH ME."(1
Corinthians 15:10).
If we could learn to appreciate such GRACE that God has
given to us and learn to walk in it, to walk in HIS FAVOR. To
tell you the truth, there is nothing in this world that we could
ever BOAST about, because all that we have is from Him,
"every good and perfect gift is from above"(James 1:17) and
also "a person can receive only what is given them from
heaven."(John 3:27). No matter what we do for God, we will
always be proud unless we RECOGNIZE the GRACE OF GOD
at work within us. Sometimes I look at the people that live in
the streets, without homes and I look at myself and I see how
much GRACE God has given me and I didn't work for it, and I
remember the Master's words "as YOU HAVE FREELY
RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE"(Matthew 10:8) and I realize that we
have a responsibility to the world and if we do not carry out
that responsibility we will be judged by God. God's GRACE
can easily reach others through us if we would open our
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hearts to those who are suffering.
God Bless You.
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WRONG COMPANY
Isaiah 6:5(NIV)
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! FOR I AM A MAN OF
UNCLEAN LIPS, and I LIVE AMONG A PEOPLE OF UNCLEAN
LIPS, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
As we journey through life we meet different kinds of people,
all special in their own way. In the process we cannot deny
the natural tendency to have some of them as a regular part
of our lives, we develop a personal relationship with them
and they become at FIRST OUR FRIENDS. These people seem
to have a way around us; they influence us in so many ways -they help us when we are in need, support us, take care of
us, laugh with us, cry with us, etc. However as good as it all
sounds NOT ALL FRIENDS ARE GOOD FRIENDS. If a person
can inspire you for good another person can INSPIRE THE
BAD out of you, depending on the kind of person they are.
Truth be told, there is a standard that God wants us to
maintain with regards to the friends we keep, because Heunderstands the kind of INFLUENCE friends have over us.
Paul puts it this way "Do not be misled: "BAD COMPANY
CORRUPTS GOOD CHARACTER."(1 Corinthians 15:33), its
important to realize that he says "Don't be mislead",
sometimes we are not mislead by people but we mislead
ourselves into believing that we can influence the WRONG
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COMPANY around us into doing right, but that is not the
point. If husbands don't have the assurance that they can
save their wives, and wives likewise their husbands, like
Paul puts it "how do you know, wife, whether you will save
your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you
will save your wife?"(1 Corinthians 7:16), then HOW DO YOU
KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS?
Influence is a very powerful thing, and the environment of
people that surrounds you can easily change your character.
The bible says "a little leaven leavens the whole
lump."(Galatians 5:9), a little of the BAD and the whole
crowd is corrupted.
The opening scripture is quite significant to the point,
because if you turn a little away from Isaiah and look at the
people HE LIVED AMONGST, you'd realize that they were
also "PEOPLE OF UNCLEAN LIPS", like he was. The greatest
contribution to the state of his lips was the COMPANY he
lived amongst. Imagine living with people of unclean lips
every day, will that not affect your speech as well? If a person
goes to a country that speaks a foreign language than his, in
due time, eventually, he will learn the language because its
the medium of communication. Do we not see this among
the youth who listen to music and watch these films with
vulgar, swearing words and foul language, they become so
influenced by what they hear and see that even their
character changes - it works the same way with COMPANY. A
born again Christian has to really be careful of the kind of
FRIENDS he/she keeps like Solomon said "the righteous
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CHOOSE THEIR FRIENDS CAREFULLY, BUT THE WAY OF THE
WICKED LEADS THEM ASTRAY"(Proverbs 12:26), we need to
choose our friends carefully, there is really no excuse for
keeping wrong company around us. We have NOTHING at all
in relation to BAD COMPANY, we might have when we were
still unsaved but its different now. Peter says "YOU HAVE
HAD ENOUGH IN THE PAST of the evil things that godless
people enjoytheir immorality and lust, their feasting and
drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of
idols, of course, YOUR FORMER FRIENDS ARE SURPRISED
when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and
destructive things they do. SO THEY SLANDER YOU."(1 Peter
4:3-4) - Powerful stuff. Your former FRIENDS that do the
things that you don't do anymore, ARE FORMER, as harsh as
it sounds, it is however VERY TRUE. "Do not be yoked
together with unbelievers. For what do RIGHTEOUSNESSAND WICKEDNESS HAVE IN COMMON? Or what fellowship
can light have with darkness?"(2 Corinthians 6:14). The only
thing we can do for our friends who are still unsaved is to
pray for them, intercede for them, then preach Christ to
them - if the Lord wills.
A lot of us like to say "if I don't preach to my old friends
whose going to preach to them?", well the thing is, that's
not for us to decide, because it is "not by works BUT BY HIM
WHO CALLS--she was told..."(Romans 9:12), was it our
FORMER FRIENDS who preached to us, if it was why then are
they not saved? Are not our CURRENT FRIENDS the one we
received the gospel together with? Its an easy thing really
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as Solomon puts it "WALK WITH THE WISE AND BECOME
WISE; ASSOCIATE WITH FOOLS AND GET IN
TROUBLE."(Proverbs 13:20). If you've ever been in trouble
you would know that the feeling of being in trouble is not a
nice feeling, so God gives us a choice, "walk with the wise
AND BECOME WISE", however if we associate ourselves with
FOOLS, we will find ourselves in constant trouble. Now a fool
according to David's revelation in Psalm is this way "the FOOL
says in his heart, THERE IS NO GOD... (Psalm 53:1), a fool is
someone who thinks there is no God, so he doesn't consider
the things of God, he is ungodly. We need to be careful of
whom we mingle ourselves with and trust God to bring the
right friends for us - its the only way.
God Bless You.
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WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH
Romans 14:23(KJV)
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth
not of faith: FOR WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN.
The second part of the opening scripture (the one in capitalletters) is very straightforward, quite self-explanatory. For
whatsoever is not of faith is sin; simply meaning that
anything done outside of FAITH is SIN - how so? Faith has two
ways by which it functions, there appears to be FAITH that is
working in the human spirit by the ability that God supplies,
in this way "...GOD HAS DISTRIBUTED A MEASURE OF FAITH
TO EACH ONE."(Romans 12:3) and there is a kind of FAITHthat works by LOVE in this way "for in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, BUT
ONLY FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE."(Galatians 5:6). It is
possible for a man to have FAITH and not have it WORK BY
LOVE, since Paul also says "... if I have a FAITH that can
move mountains, BUT DO NOT HAVE LOVE, I am nothing."(1
Corinthians 13:2), so Paul is letting us know that there can
be a man with such great faith that he can move mountains
but still WITHOUT LOVE and that man IS NOTHING, even
though he possesses such GREAT FAITH. When Jesus came
the bible lets us know that "having ABOLISHED in His flesh
the enmity, even the LAW OF COMMANDMENTS contained
in ordinances."(Ephesians 2:15), SHOWS that the LAW is
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gone; also "Christ IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR
RIGHTEOUSNESS to everyone that believes."(Romans 10:4),
then how is SIN determined by God without the LAW? Since
the LAW showed us what was right and what was wrong and
since the LAW is gone then how is SIN recognized as SIN? In
this manner it is described "On the contrary, I WOULD NOT
HAVE KNOWN SIN EXCEPT THROUGH THE LAW. For I
WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN COVETOUSNESS UNLESS THE
LAW HAD SAID, YOU SHALL NOT COVET.(Romans 7:7).
Again now with the LAW gone, how does one know what is
right and what is wrong? Nonetheless God has brought forth
another REVELATION of what SIN is determined by.
In the New Testament there are two definitions of SIN, one
by Paul according to the opening scripture, another by James
when he says "so IT IS A SIN FOR THE PERSON WHO KNOWS
TO DO WHAT IS GOOD AND DOESN'T DO IT."(James 4:17).
James' definition is easier to understand since for a person to
do GOOD, he has to know the difference between the GOOD
and the BAD, so in a way that PERSON has THE RULE to live
by, which brings us back indirectly to the LAW. Paul's
definition is quite the one on point since "THE JUST SHALL
LIVE BY HIS FAITH."(Habakkuk 2:4), so we live by FAITH and
"WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN."(Romans 14:23).
Why doesn't Paul say "whatsoever is not of LOVE is sin?"
since Jesus gave us ONE COMMAND that "we LOVE ONE
ANOTHER as He loved us"(John 13:34) - that actually means
that the kind of FAITH that Paul is talking about in our
opening scripture is the ONE that WORKS BY LOVE. Let us
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analyze. He says to the Romans, "one person's FAITH
ALLOWS THEM TO EAT ANYTHING, but another, whose
FAITH IS WEAK, eats only vegetables."(Romans 14:2), so that
means there's a person who can eat anything because he's
level of FAITH ALLOWS HIM and there is another whose
LEVEL doesn't ALLOW him, because his WEAK IN FAITH.
Therefore if he sees me eating what he doesn't have FAITH
TO EAT and he is INSPIRED to eat because HE SEES ME
EATING, he will be wounded in his conscience when he eats it
because he BELIEVES IT IS NOT RIGHT to eat that thing. Then
Paul says "If your brother or sister is DISTRESSED because of
what you eat, you are no longer ACTING IN LOVE."(Romans
14:15), so the conclusion is that "if food makes my brother
stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother
stumble."(1 Corinthians 8:13). So this man has FAITH but
once his faith causes his brother or sister to stumble, he isnot WALKING IN LOVE - that's the FAITH that doesn't work
by LOVE.
Anyway what does it mean that "WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF
FAITH IS SIN"? Let us look at Nehemiah for instance who was
in-charge of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, when the
opposition planned to kill him because of the work he was
doing, a secret informer by the name of Shemaiah went to
him and said Let us meet together in the house of God,
within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple,
for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will
come to kill you.(Nehemiah 6:10) but Nehemiah responded
by FAITH and said Should such a man as I flee? And who is
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there such as I who would go into the temple to save his
life? I will not go in!(Nehemiah 6:11) and the bible records
"Then I(Nehemiah) perceived that God had not sent him at
all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason
he was hired, THAT I SHOULD BE AFRAID AND ACT THAT
WAY AND SIN, so that they might have cause for an evil
report, that they might reproach me."(Nehemiah 6:12-13).
Now Nehemiah says "THAT I SHOULD BE AFRAID AND ACT
THAT WAY AND SIN", so its FEAR that was going to cause
him to ACT THAT WAY AND SIN - powerful. But we thank
God that Nehemiah walked by FAITH. Fear is the opposite of
FAITH.
The best way that Satan causes children of God to SIN these
days is through FEAR, he locks them up in that box of FEAR
and they become DOUBTFUL of God and SIN. We see this
when "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take
a census of Israel."(1 Chronicles 21:1), remember that God
had said to Abraham that his descendants will be as the stars
of heaven, UNCOUNTABLE, so by COUNTING Israel it would
mean that David didn't BELIEVE or HAVE FAITH in the WORD
that God gave to Abraham as even Joab said "Why should
he(David) be a cause of guilt in Israel?"(1 Chronicles 21:3) -
He knew anyone who took a census of Israel was GUILTY of
SIN. There is another man, Saul who sinned in this manner of
fear, when God commanded Him through Samuel to "attack
Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and not
spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and
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nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."(1 Samuel
15:3) however Saul disobeyed the command and his reason
for disobeying was amazing. He explained to Samuel "I have
SINNED, for I have transgressed the commandment of the
Lord and your words, BECAUSE I FEARED THE PEOPLE AND
OBEYED THEIR VOICE."(1 Samuel 15:24). Saul is telling
Samuel that it is BECAUSE OF THE FEAR for the people that
he SINNED. If only he had FAITH. Is this not the same thing
that happened to Pontius Pilate when he gave Jesus to the
hands of the Jews? Fear is the reason for most of our lies,
for our lust, theft, if we had FAITH that works through
LOVE, we would have no sin. We lie because we are afraid of
what people would say about us, we want to be in the world
and do things in the world because WE FEAR not being
accepted by society, but "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS
FAITH." No man walking in FAITH by LOVE can easily fall intosin, John says "THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE. BUT PERFECT
LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR..."(1 John 4:18). Let us live by LOVE
and by FAITH, and have HOPE for "now these three remain:
FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE. But the greatest of these is
LOVE."(1 Corinthians 13:13).
God Bless You.
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GRACE GIVEN
1 Corinthians 1:4(NIV)
I thank my God always on your behalf, FOR THE GRACE OF
GOD WHICH IS GIVEN YOU BY JESUS CHRIST.
In older times, more specifically in the times of Moses, the
grace of God was not something that everybody partook ofbecause of the LAW. God revealed this very reality when He
said to Moses "I will make all my goodness pass before thee,
and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; AND
WILL BE GRACIOUS TO WHOM I WILL BE GRACIOUS, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy."(Exodus 33:19),
meaning the grace of God was not something that everybody
experienced but only those who found grace and favor inGODS SIGHT. It was a matter of whom God calls that the
same He gave grace. That is evident when God calls Jacob
instead of Esau saying to Rebekah the OLDER SHALL SERVE
THE YOUNGER (Genesis 25:23). However when Christ
comes, a deeper revelation dawns and the purpose of the
grace of God is revealed and Paul testifies it to Titus when he
says "FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGS SALVATION
HAS APPEARED TO ALL MEN"(Titus 2:11), meaning that the
very same GRACE that was shown to those who were called
in FORMER TIMES is now, THROUGH JESUS, SHOWN TO ALL
MEN. Now every man in Jesus Christ is a partaker of this
heavenly grace of God and since "God was pleased to have
all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus),"(Colossians 1:19), it also
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PLEASED God that through Jesus GRACE should be GIVEN.
Moses according to Hebrews "was faithful in all His(God's)
house as a SERVANT, for a testimony of those things which
would be spoken afterward,"(Hebrews 3:5), but even with
that he was not entrusted by God to bring GRACE "but Christ
as a Son over His own house"(Hebrews 3:5), was the ONE
given this privilege by God to be the GRACE GIVER . And John
says "for the law was given through Moses, BUT GRACE
AND TRUTH CAME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST."(John 1:17) -
Jesus is the ONE that brought the GRACE of God to us, He is
the ONE that allowed the GRACE of God to appear to ALL
MEN and also bring the Gentiles who were formerly cast out
from the GRACE of God into that same GLORIOUS GRACE
that the JEWS were looking forward to.
The opening scripture is directed to the Corinthians that Paul
was writing to and its amazing that he shows us that GRACE
was given to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ Himself. He HAS
BECOME and ALWAYS will be THE GRACE GIVER, John also
says "of His fullness WE HAVE ALL RECEIVED, AND GRACE
FOR GRACE."(John 1:15) - HOW MARVELOUS, "WE HAVE ALL
RECEIVED" - Glory to Jesus. Each and every person who is in
Christ has received GRACE of some sort and our
responsibility is to make use of it and as one man of God likes
to say "GROW IN IT". It is that grace that ALLOWS us to serve
God completely SOLD OUT to Him because that very GRACE
"teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present
age,"(Titus 2:12). As we have mentioned It is by Jesus that
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GRACE is given to us by God, salvation is the very proof of
that, because SALVATION is given through believing in Jesus,
"for it is by GRACE you have been saved..."(Ephesians 2:8).
There is a statement that Paul made to the Ephesians that
personally transformed my life and I feel located me to some
point where God needs me to be, Paul says "BUT TO EACH
ONE OF US GRACE HAS BEEN GIVEN AS CHRIST
APPORTIONED IT."(Ephesians 4:7) - There is so much to
notice in this scripture to such an extent that I feel like the
whole CONCEPT OF SALVATION is described in this scripture.
"TO EACH ONE OF US", meaning to all of us, "GRACE HAS
BEEN GIVEN", meaning WE HAVE GRACE ALREADY because
of the tense of the statement, "AS CHRIST APPORTIONED
IT", meaning as Jesus has distributed BY MEASURE. There is
no one in this WORLD who is in Christ who is left without the
GRACE of God - EVEN IN HARD TIMES THE GRACE OF GOD ISAT WORK. Remember Paul who had trouble with a thorn
brought to his flesh, a messenger of Satan, and he mentions
how he pleaded with the Lord three times that it may be
removed from him? But a DIVINE RESPONSE comes from
Jesus saying "MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, for my
power is made perfect in weakness"(2 Corinthians 12:9) - OH
HOW GREAT IS JESUS, He says "MY GRACE". Jesus is enoughbecause His GRACE is enough. We need to go to the GRACE
GIVER, and we are INVITED by Him to come WITH
CONFIDENCE when the letter to the Hebrews says "LET US
THEREFORE COME BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, that
we may obtain mercy AND FIND GRACE to help in time of
need."(Hebrews 4:16). He's letting us know that if we come
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BOLDLY by FAITH we will FIND GRACE. We cannot access the
grace of God apart from FAITH, even Paul says "also WE
HAVE ACCESS BY FAITH INTO THIS GRACE IN WHICH WE
STAND, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."(Romans
5:2).
God has sat Jesus at the THRONE OF GRACE, because He sat
Him at His right-hand, and we are partakers of that THRONE
in the Spirit since He "raised us up together, AND MADE US
SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST
JESUS,"(Ephesians 2:6). If we are partakers of the THRONE,
we are by DEFAULT partakers of the GRACE. Live a live with
the consciousness of the GRACE of GOD in you, ALL OF US
HAVE IT, no man or woman in Jesus is without GRACE. How
powerful is that prayer that we pray when we say "LET US
SHARE THE GRACE", "May the GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you all."(2 Corinthians 13:14). Its amazing that
in that PRAYER we are ONLY "SHARING THE GRACE", the
GRACE of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.
God Bless You.
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