For the Glory of God

remain at the cross

Our actions generates celebrations from one of two kingdoms. “Do things for the glory of God” is not for God’s benefit, as God is already all sufficient. Operating for His glory is a benefit to us. When we do or say something that His kingdom can rejoice in, we welcome Psalm 91:11 in our lives.

On the contrary, when we do or say something that the enemy and his kingdom can rejoice in, we reject God, and join the company of the enemy and his bandwagon.This saddens God because He knows the enemy has nothing but death to offer us. And God’s desire for us is to have life through Him the life giver, and have that life in abundance.

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31

No Substitute for God

1sam2-2I often hear people say that God created us with a longing to be with Him. Perhaps, but I think it is the mere fact that Jesus, who is God, declared to be life (John 14:6) itself is the reason why every human being on the planet needs their Creator. God put the breath of life within us, and apart from Him, there is no other source of life. Just like the physical body cannot survive without water, in the same way, the spirit of every human being cannot survive without fellowship with God. That’s why many folks try to fill themselves with something as a way of trying to overcome the void. Many found no fulfillment in the earthly riches or accomplishments obtained. Wish at the end of the day, folks would realise that there is no substitue for God, since He is God, and there is no other like Him.

“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides You; there is no Rock like our God.” – 1 Samuel 2:2

Be blessed in Jesus’ name.

God is in control

God is in controlHappy new year everyone! I hope you’re stepping into the new year with Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If you have not made that decision as yet, I pray you will surrender to Him and leave the burden of sin behind with 2013. If you don’t see any reason to follow Jesus, I want to remind you that your rejection of Him does not void His sovereignty. God is in control, why fight against the One who loves you the most, the Creator of all things? Do not move forward with that burden, that losing battle. Let go, and let God.

I have been really been blessed by the following sermon (James MacDonald – God is in control), and just wanted to share it with you.

The main points of the sermon are:

1. God is in control even in your suffering

2. God is in control even at mid-night

3. God is in control even when your faith is weak

4. God is in control even when the wicked seem to prosper

Watch the sermon and be blessed!

 

Trust and Obey

Trust and ObeyGod is abundantly more than good, abundantly more than great. I think I can grasp a little bit what He meant when He said, “I AM that I AM”. God can only be described with His own self because there is none like Him.

A financial struggle really can shake someone up, atleast for me, these past few months was really a walk of endurance.

What do you do when you are sure God told you to do this but the storm is so wild in that moment that you wonder did God really say this? Well, in short, you trust and obey.

Easier said than done because there are many activities involved in trusting and obeying. For one, we cannot accomplish either without praying. We must be in constant communication with God. From my experience, whenever I’d allow my mind to wonder when I could spend that time in prayer or even meditating on the Word of God, I’d find myself in trouble. The trouble is really a lack of joy, lack of faith. We run into problems when our focus changes from God to the magnitude of the problem. Our Elder Peter got in trouble because he started to look at the waves and took his eyes off Jesus. Bad idea, and today many of us continue to focus on the problem and not focus on the One who is constant, never changing in strength, ability and faithfulness. When sailours are in a storm, the way to find land is not looking at the waves, but looking at that unchanging object. In the same way, if we render our eyes not to the right nor to the left but straight to His throne of grace, we can overcome the trial. God never allows His children to go through more than they can bear. We can be certain that His grace is sufficient. Our struggles is not a lack of His love. We must always remember that planet Earth is diseased with sin and thus nothing on this Earth is perfect, so trials will come. The hope is that Jesus will come again to take us from all of it, but until then, we must trust and obey.

 The God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my Shield, and the Horn of My Salvation, my High Tower, and my Refuge, my Saviour; Thou savest me from violence. – 2 Samuel 22:3

Tremble Because He Lives In You

love-GodAt fellowship today, a brother said something that indeed reached to my spirit. He said that we should tremble at the thought or knowing a Holy God wants to dwell in us. God promises His Holy Spirit to all those who believe in the Name of Jesus Christ. It is truly a privilege to be chosen by God. As another brother puts it, it is unfair for us to go to heaven because we are all wretched sinners who deserve to go to hell, but God in His abounding mercy redeemed us! Praise Him, praise His Holy Name!! 🙂

 

Reference: Romans 9, 1 Peter 1:1-2, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30 et al (too numerous to list)

Get There, Be There

hand-heart

I haven’t come across anyone who’d prefer their friends to keep troubling matters to themselves. We often want a person to feel comfortable in confiding with us; opening up their hearts to let us know their deepest hurts. And many times it may be something that we ourselves are going through or went through. But what if it’s not? What if your friend comes to you and says they lived in an abusive home, drink to sleep because of the grief caused from the past; what do we say then? Sometimes, there’s nothing we can say. If a friend is telling us of a loved one who has passed away, sometimes it’s just best to listen. But many other times, that friend is looking for answers, and we ourselves better be open to what God wants us to say to that person.

What I’ve noticed is that often times we tend to try to give solutions to the symptoms without listening to God for a solution to the core problem. So let’s say you have a friend who says they want this and they are not going to be happy if the particular want doesn’t come to pass. What do we say then? Do we offer books or guides on how to be content with not getting that particular want? I think that’s giving a “solution” to a symptom of a greater problem. If we listen to that person carefully, they’ll reveal things to us about their relationship with someone else, often someone from the past, like a mother, father, and other relatives or maybe even a close friend. Either way you can be sure that this great desire to fill up a void was intensified due to some broken relationship. So we don’t offer the person solutions to the symptoms. Let me give a real life scenario. Say a friend says he wants to find a girl and get married. He says he will not be happy if he doesn’t have a wife to call his own, he has been praying to God but “no answer”. Let’s not be quick to offer “be content while single” guide books. Let’s not only say: “Trust in God, He loves you, He’s there for you”. While that is the truth, it’s hardly helpful if the person thinks that they are doing just that. Keep listening, that friend will surely reveal the underlying reason for this “I will not be happy without it” want. Almost always it is because of a want to feel loved, accepted. And that desire to be loved is now stressed as a result of something painful from their past or possibly, present life. Let me say that we all want to feel loved, but when we start thinking that “we must have and will not be happy without” we’re setting ourselves up for hurt and disappointment. So when our friends start talking like this, know that what they think they want is hardly the issue. We know it’s God they really need, but there is something that’s preventing that relationship from happening or blooming. So find out if this friend has any grudges towards anyone who might have hurt them. Let the person know that we must forgive and let go; that true forgiveness comes without condition. It doesn’t give the offender licence to continue hurting us, but it frees us and allows us also to be forgiven by God (Matthew 6:14-15). Depending on what was said, we’ll also want to let the person know that God is NOT a vending machine; that we can’t expect Him to do things on our terms and in our time. Remind the friend that we don’t get Jesus to have as a personal genie, we get Jesus because we are in need of a saviour, because we need His righteousness to wash us clean from sin (all rebellious actions against God; fornication (sex before marriage), homosexuality, lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, prostitution, murder, covetousness, drunkenness, slander, blasphemy (like using God’s name as a curse when trying to express disgust) and the list goes on). Also, that we need to seek Him, and the other godly desires of our hearts will be given us. Of course, in everything we do we petition to God in prayer. We can offer to pray for the person, and ask God to reveal things to that person, but I think we should also offer ourselves to be even more used by God on behalf of that individual. Here’s why. As a believer, if I’m going through a particular struggle often times I’m too consumed in the problem to actually realise that God has already answered me. I often need another brother or sister in Christ to bring me revelation from God. It will then occur to me that this was actually shown to me already.

So let’s be a lot more there for each other. There are times when we talk to God, He answers us and we know He answered. But when someone’s too consumed with the present problem, they often miss out on the answer from God. So at times we really need to get as involved as the Spirit will allow us to. Let us also get to the problem and not give solutions to symptoms of. The symptoms help to confirm our Spirit given suspicious of the real problem. May we pray that God gives us the wisdom and discernment to speak words that the Holy Spirit will use to get to the person’s heart.

We want to be used by the Spirit to get to the problem of heart; we want to be used by the Spirit to speak the Word to the heart. We need to get there, we need to be there.

Just Stop and Think (Francis Chan)

A short video that will inspire the highest ideals, the clearest and most noble biblical values, and which do so with a commitment to holiness.  This is the salvation message and you got to get it!

Visit their website: http://juststopandthink.com

The Great Commission

Wake up! So you say that you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, wonderful! You sing songs “I have the blessings of Abraham”. Hey, did you know that Abraham when called by God just obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going? Many of us just tap our feet, clap our hands and think that’s about it. We pray: “Father, raise up labourers to preach the word to the lost souls.” Guess what, you’re that labourer that God has called. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you should know now that you have work to do. It isn’t just about gathering, we need this to equip ourselves, for encouragement but do not forget why we gather, and what task that Jesus has left us with. While Jesus was returning to the Father, He could have said many things to us, but we can safely say that His focus was on setting us off to continue the good work.

Matt 28:19Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”  Jesus left us with this work. If it were just for the people of that time He would have probably said to make disciples of these nations. Instead Jesus said all nations which we can see to mean as all people, all generations. I remember not too long ago my own self feeling drained out in my walk; I then prayed to God to draw me closer to Him. He sent one of His servants that has brought me to know the same thing. The Great Commission still very much applies to all believers today. We must do the work of Him who sent us, while it is still day, for the night cometh when no man can work. Do not be like that wicked servant that hide his mina in a piece of cloth, God has given each believer a gift. Put your gift to use and seek after the lost sheep. The Father is not willing that any one soul be lost (Matthew 18:14). Currently, there are billions still not reconciled through the blood of Jesus. Be a witness for Jesus today; the rich man begged Abraham that Lazarus would return to his father’s house to warn his 5 brothers of what is yet to come, the eternal fellowship with God in heaven or the eternal torment in hell with the devil and his demons. Abraham said no, they have Moses and the Prophets. Today, we are the ones whom this applies to. How can the lost believe in Christ without having heard the Gospel (Romans 10:14-15)? God’s word must be fulfilled, He said that His word shall be preached to all nations and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

Worried that you will face persecution? Well, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16). We have to be willing to lay down our lives. To die preaching this Gospel of Christ is one that we must all be prepared to face. There are no buts, ifs and exceptions about it, Jesus said to go! So go!

We want to be like Jesus? Here’s what Jesus said: “I must do the work of Him who sent Me while it is day, for the night cometh where no man can work.” –  John 9:4. We ought to have the same attitude towards sharing the Gospel with others. Anything otherwise is just plain disobedience. I now know this, you now know this. No excuses.

James 4:17 “To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

May the Holy Spirit continue to convict our hearts, may the church wake up, there’s work to be done; the Great Commission.