Do You Know God as Love?

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Do You Know God as Love?

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 4
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

The message God sent to the world through Christ is to get the world to know Him as He is. God is fundamentally and essentially love personified.

This love isn't such as has been experienced by man since the fall of man when man was introduced to the knowledge of good and of evil.

Jesus Christ came preaching that love and showing God to man in His real nature.

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 5
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

When God made man in His likeness, it was the likeness and image this kind of love that was shared... But man lost it and became savagery, wicked, selfish and self seeking.

Jesus Christ came to restore that image in us by showing us how God is Love and how God desires and has made arrangements as to how we can become like him to mirror that image.

Until man sees God as love, it's not possible for man to know Him.

This kind of love is such that pray for enemies, the kind of love that's not self seeking. The kind of love that wouldn't hate opposition.

But Jesus also knew that many won't accept that. The thief will always come to steal, kill and to destroy and he will bear that appellation of a thief by wanting to steal God's image to make God looks as if He is the one doing evil...

But the clear reflections of God is seen in Christ.

[My Offline Bible] Hebrews 1
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Jesus Christ announced to the world

[My Offline Bible] John 3
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus Christ came so that through His love we might acquire that same unconditional love and be saved... He didn't send Him to condemn the world. The world is condemned already...only a reconnection to God can save the people within it which is provided for in Christ.

That's the best available to mankind.

Jesus Christ could have cursed those who arrested Him and killed Him unjustly, He could have escaped to deprive the world the forgiveness that's in His blood, He didn't. He could have taken the position of an earthly king when He was about to be forcefully made one, He could have ridden upon His popularity at a time and use the political powers that follow to wage a physical war... He could have called fire down...to kill all His 'enemies' He didn't!

[My Offline Bible] Luke 9
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

He prayed for those who crucified Him and for everyone who supported that till date, that God should forgive them because they did it in ignorance...

Do you know that he'll fire wasn't created for man? Yes men will go there but by their own volition, he is a free moral agent, he can choose wherever he wants to go...including going to hell...

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 25
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

But God wouldn't want that... He doesn't rejoice in the death of sinners, He'll rather save them from the impending danger... God is Love..

If you are yet to see God as love, who loves sinners and would want them to come to repentance and be saved, not imputing their sins against them or seeking that they perish, then you are yet to know the true God.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 5
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

If the pictures of God you see is one sending men to kill His 'enemies', one who is burning with vengeance and who is being appeased not to destroy the ungodly or who is empowering his 'people' to destroy those who are not his, then you are yet to meet the true God...

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 4
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Look around you, you'll see that man needs God and needs His love. Man must recognize God enough to imbibe His love nature and Christ Jesus has been sent to let the world see God in His true nature... Without man seeing that love and enjoying it by faith, he can't be saved...the wickedness of man will eventually destroy mankind...

Will you see Him?

Perspectives to Christian Giving: Giving or Trading?

Perspectives to Christian Giving: Giving or Trading?

Our repercussion mentality conflicts with the principles of God's grace we have in Christ Jesus. Every time we speak of giving, we readily shift from the grace principle to the repercussion mentality.

We love to pay for everything we have to be able to gain the sense of possession. We even often preach paying prices for things offered freely by grace. The sense of possession and ownership is one of the greatest enemies of giving and it is acquired by the sense of personal achievement outside of grace.

That's why we think more of what we may reap when we give and not just the mere goodness of giving.

We want people to earn our gifts, because we believe we have earned all that we have and most people who need what we have don't have the capacity or the opportunity to earn the gifts, if they had, we will actually be useless to them.

Our gifts and giving make us relevant and valuable, being attached to our purposes of existence.

But we don't always think that way. We think of the loss we suffer when we give and we see the hope of reaping as palliative to that suffering and in utmost, we see reaping as the rewards or the restoration of what we lost in giving. Giving is never a loss...what we give aren't ours per se...

[My Offline Bible] 1 Corinthians 4
7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Many won't even go that far, when they think the good they have done must be paid back somehow by the same person who enjoyed it. An expectation is immediately created as soon as the 'gift' is given that binds the receiver to the giver as a debtor and the receiver loses his freedom to be anything other than what the giver wants or is pleased with...

And we hide all these under a principle we call sowing and reaping.

God recognizes giving and He becomes unjust and unrighteous if He forgets our labor of love that we show to people. Every good act is rewarded. But the reward isn't the reason otherwise it becomes a trade or merchandizing. Giving isn't a trade. It isn't an investment like we invest in the Stock Exchange. Giving is giving. The reaping is of God's goodness and faithfulness not the reason for giving.

When we give because we expect something in return we lose the essence of giving. We lose the goodness of giving. When true giving of grace is done, we find a sense of satisfaction, fulfilment and joy beyond any physical rewards. It's something givers enjoy. The rewards is at the prerogative of the faithful God. But we have the moment to enjoy.

Sowing and reaping is a fundamental principle but isn't same thing with grace.

In grace, others sow while we reap.  God planted a garden East of Eden for Adam to eat after having made all things for him before he was created.

Jesus died so we can live. He became sin so we can have righteousness, He was wounded for our transgressions. He paid the price so we could be free... That's grace. We enjoy what we don't have the capacity to earn as needed.

Giving is grace. It is the grace we share with God in partaking of His divine nature. Giving is being a conduit, a vessel or a channel of grace from God to the needy. We give and we are supplied to give the more.

Two verses of scriptures described this so explicitly.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 8
9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 9
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

The first tells us that our prosperity isn't based on what we gave but on what Christ did.

The other tells us how God gives us and  we give and God gives us more so that we can give even much more. It tells of us being pipes connecting and transporting God's abundance to those who need it and not a collecting, dead, stagnant, smelling un-flowing lake.

These lessons need be learned first before we engage the seed sowing and reaping principle otherwise we have a greed feeding system of spiritual lottery and God doesn't feed our greed, neither does His grace cover for our covetousness.

Our gift becomes a seed when we operate by the seed of God within us, the New Creature born again in God's image. That's what we see in 1 Corinthians 13.

[My Offline Bible] 1 Corinthians 13
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

We see how possible it is to give without first loving and for ulterior selfish reasons. And how impossible it is to be profited from giving when not so motivated. And love in this context is agape which seeks not her own. This kind of love is a result of the divinity we share with God through Christ.

When we thus give, our gifts become viable seeds that bring eternal blessings.

[My Offline Bible] 1 Timothy 6
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

[My Offline Bible] Galatians 6
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

We shouldn't give as if we are trading. Trading isn't wrong but both parties must know and be aware of the transaction, able to negotiate the terms and make decisions without coercion. It's not of Christ to give only to have trading behind the scenes without the receiver knowing what to pay back, how, with what and when... We don't give without total release of the gift, when we attach strings it is yet to be recorded as gifts...

Christian giving is motivated and sustained by the nature of  God's love within us which we share for our New Birth and it must be seen as an end in itself which makes it a seed sown, reaped as we continue without ceasing in doing good.

The seed is a gift given by God and released into the lives of those who need it while creating space for a bigger 'harvest' from God to reach more people as seeds in a romance of faithfulness between man and God in the divine nature. And anything of divine benevolence can be seed and those negative attitudes inspired by the flesh.

When we give, we are only staying true to our divine nature. When we permit selfishness we deny the nature of God within us. When we give outside of that nature we lose purpose, we trade instead of giving and the results can't be the same.

Good morning.

Perspectives to Christian Giving: More Blessed to Give

Perspectives to Christian Giving: More Blessed to Give

[My Offline Bible] Acts 20
35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

We love to receive, that's the enjoyable part. Except for pride and some fears, we hardly are ever so reluctant of receiving. But receiving isn't supposed to be the focus of the believer, that's common even if not always good. There are conditions where we must be careful receiving, in situations like what the book of Proverbs portrayed here...

[My Offline Bible] Proverbs 23
1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.

6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. 8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.

But basically when people give we are quick to receive...but receiving isn't as loving as giving though sometimes it takes love to receive from some people.

The nature we share is more eager to give. More eager to serve than to be served. More eager to make sacrifices than to seek to be preferred. Ready to suffer being defrauded than to take advantage of others. That's Christ's nature and not the other side.

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 20
28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

[My Offline Bible] Romans 12
10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

[My Offline Bible] 1 Corinthians 6
7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

No matter what we lack, the giving nature we inherit from God supersedes the the needs we have and the motivation to receive when we can give. Our nature overcomes us, that's the way to prove the presence of whatever nature any living thing carries. That's why as poor as many of Christ's followers may be, they are ever on the lookout for needs to meet with the little they have...

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 8
1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; 2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; 4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

It isn't Christ-like to be greedy and expect the giving system of the kingdom to feed our greed. It isn't Christ-like to seek to take advantage of those who have allowed the nature of God within them overcome the envious and covetous nature of Satan that we inherit in Adam. It isn't Christ-like to do nothing either in the ministry or in the secular only to live on those who are ready to give in response to the new creation nature. Only the flesh will do that.

Our nature is more towards giving than receiving. It's a sign of carnality and spiritual childishness when we see ourselves caring more about receiving than giving, seeking more to be loved than to love, seeking more to be blessed than to be a blessing, seeking more to be favored than to show favor, seeking more to be honored than to honor others, seeking more to be served than to serve, seeking more to be cared for than to show care.

We always have something to give, no matter how small, either financial, material or otherwise, even a little show of affection if that's all we have and the poor we always have around us, we will always have someone to give something to.

The fear of people when we speak of giving is this. People are always either afraid or cautious of being robbed or taken advantage of when giving is being preached or taught. We sometimes feel somebody somewhere who isn't ready to make money is out to rob us through giving.

While we can't rule that out. Particularly people who invest their moneys only to live off the gifts of others. Some spend their own moneys on such pleasures their givers can't even afford and keep expecting other to bear their profligate attitudes. These attitudes aren't Christian, we have not so learned Christ.
But we need not fear or permit those to discourage us. Such are enemies we feed with what God has given us and they heap coals of fire on themselves. Annanias and his wife Sapphira are examples. People may not be dropping dead like they did but their judgments are not different. But it isn't ours to judge them...but to teach and correct if we have the opportunity.

As for givers, God protects and defends them. God wouldn't want some to be eased while others are burdened, he doesn't desire that some will live in stupendous affluence while other live in penury and abject poverty.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 8
13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:

God is calling us back into faith in the divine nature we share. And not just to believe in it but to yield ourselves to its influence so that we would always project God's eternal life, love and light in this stingy, dark, hating and dying world.

We must constantly remember that it's more blessed to give than to receive. We may not always have money or materials to give and those may not always be needed but we'll always have something to give when the opportunity comes to meet a need.

We have been wired to always be ready to overlook our own needs to meet those needs that demand our gifts...

May the grace for the God kind of giving arise from within us to make us become more like Christ at this time...

God's blessings. More grace to you... Good morning!

Perspectives to Christian Giving: Unconditional Giving

Perspectives to Christian Giving: Unconditional Giving

Giving isn't natural to man, particularly after the fall. Adam and Eve covered from each other as they lost the nature of God to gain the selfish nature. Self protection, self centeredness and individuality stepped in. Each was blaming someone else for his and her actions and no one wanted to take any responsibility of his and her deeds.

The selfish thing just continued and spread from there. Man began to fight to win to himself what's already more than enough. He will hold on till death to what is of no use to him. He forgot that he came naked and would leave here taking nothing.

He will always have reasons not to give. He would demand certain qualifications from the receiver before giving. The truth however is that it's hardly possible to be qualified for any kind of grace either from God or from man and if giving is based on perfection to enjoy such, none would ever be qualified and so it won't happen among men.

And then Jesus came!

Jesus came demanding us to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. Oh! That should mean never touching anything called sin, yes but the perfection He came to show us is particularly tied to the nature of God's unconditional giving.

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 5
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

This is what Jesus called perfection, being the child of God, being perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. I know this isn't in the realm of man. Human nature won't take this and even those who 'believe' in Christ will still argue it.

And it is understandable. The nature of God we received at our submission to the Lordship of Christ that gave us the new birth and the new creation carries the capacity to make us live like God. But human nature has no such capacity at all, as compassionate as we expect motherly love to be, it can still forsake her suckling child under certain conditions. You don't teach a child to be selfish, it comes naturally and it's only 'outgrown' in Christ.

So the burden of transformation is on renewing our minds to accept Christ in this regard.

Jesus Christ gave a parable of the judgment seat. Where He would tell people how they didn't feed Him when He was hungry, how He wasn't clothed when naked, how He wasn't visited when sick or in prison and how people will wonder when they saw him so and didn't help.

Now, the reason why we see the naked, the hungry, the prisoner and overlook them not knowing Christ is in them is driven home in the prisoner's case.

He has issues. He was a thief or a criminal of another sort. He deserves to be in prison. His character isn't nice, so he missed his opportunity. He was stubborn, he wouldn't listen to instructions and training, he deserves much more than he's even getting. We are therefore justified not giving him.

But Jesus would have none of our excuses. He wants us to shine our sun and cause our rain to fall on both the good and the bad even in our judgment.

And He has a right to demand such grace from us since He worked to earn for us grace. Grace to be like God our Father. Today, we brag of the same eternal life we got by grace but we find it hard to yield to the Lordship of that divine nature. Meanwhile to whom we yield our members to obey the same is our master. We have power today to yield to whosoever, it won't be by the compulsion of either the flesh or the Spirit...we have such freedom.

He has a right to demand of us such grace because He did same for us. He didn't wait for us to come to Him, He clothed Himself with frail humanity, as the songwriter said. We had no capacity to love Him first, he had to love us first in order for us to be able to love Him.

While we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly...He gave Himself to a non deserving world. He died for those who will even reject Him through eternity... That's the nature the believer shares from Christ.

[My Offline Bible] Romans 5
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The human nature at its best will give to someone 'qualified' in its judgments and that's even scarce but never for an ungodly man.

Jesus Christ knew we would still struggle with this while He told the parable of the unforgiving steward. The steward was forgiven of an enormous amount he owed, he couldn't extend the same gift to someone owing him some stipends. We have been offered eternity through the grace of Christ, something gaining the whole world can't be good enough for an exchange but we wouldn't show the same magnanimity towards men on material things that perish with the use.

I know this doesn't make any meaning to a world ruled by Caesars economic system. It won't work in a world where only the strong wins bread for himself. This can only be received by those who have been overtaken by the spirit of the kingdom of Christ where the New Creation rules... It won't work in a religious system devoid of the compassion of Christ and it's understandable.

But we who calls ourselves children of God should understand this being beneficiaries of the same grace and of the nature of divinity...

Let's shine the light...and be the salt in a decaying and dark world...

Good morning, More grace to you!

Perspectives to Christian Giving

Perspectives to Christian Giving

Giving is a purpose thing that forms the foundation of the Christian life and it's reason of being.

We were created unto good works. Good works may have no capacity to save us but we were saved to do good works. The good works we do is a sign of the new life within us.

[My Offline Bible] Ephesians 2
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

[My Offline Bible] Titus 2
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 3
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

The power of the new life shows in our love life and our love lives show in our giving lifestyle.

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 3
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

We were equipped with the love nature of God to fulfill the purpose of doing good works. The world works to gain what their selfish desires crave, we work to satisfy what the new nature desires.

The divine nature is as powerful as the preaching of the Word in winning souls if engaged.

1 Peter 3:1-4 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. (The Message)

Our love lives is the basic manifestation of divine eternal life and nature the believer received to become born again. We can't prove a church goer is born again if his bowel of compassion remains shut and His selfishness and self protection takes the larger size in his life...

This is where Christian giving is motivated from. It isn't about the largeness of possession but the largeness of the nature in us, such nature that has conquered self pleasure in order to manifest Godliness and fulfill God's purpose.

Giving isn't something a believer should be forced to do. It isn't something he does for reasons other than to fulfill purpose,  meet needs and express the divine nature.

He isn't giving to be seen, known or appreciated. He is just being alive unto God and living the life...and meeting needs in relevance.

Giving in love is definitely profitable but we don't give because of the profit. We have been blessed before we gave, we give because we are already blessed. The teachings that makes it looks as if we get only because we gave is not in sync with God's nature. God gave Adam everything he needed before he was made, He even went ahead to plant a garden for him... We can only love Him if He had loved us... We have no capacity to love or give Him first.

God would have all He needs to complete a project before starting... He counted the cost of our lives purpose fulfilment and had everything ready before we came... He loved us first.

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 4
19 We love him, because he first loved us.

We however have the tendencies of personal pride, that makes us think we can do or give enough to impress God. So we attach whatever we get and have to our own efforts in giving and not to  God's first loving us and giving to us.

This selfish mentality has so influenced Christian Giving in the last thirty years. People aren't being motivated by love and compassion in giving again but by what to get from it and so lose the power of divine eternal life that produces grace to give like God.

We have developed all sorts of philosophies alien to Christ to control giving. Now, we frown at people asking us, except when the man on the pulpit asks. If he asks it's not begging, but if a brother asks after service, it's begging and thou shall not be...

We judge people who don't have much and justify their poverty based on their inadequacies and failure. We don't care if we shame those who have not... After all its their fault, since our own blessings is our fault too and not about God

[My Offline Bible] 1 Corinthians 11
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

We therefore discourage giving to brethren in favor of giving to our religious institutions. It's always the fault of those who don't have amongst us and so we don't have responsibilities towards them so long we give to church.

We erroneously and subtly let people think giving to God is all about giving to church . And to give in love is to love God in giving to church. While that's not totally wrong it's also not the whole truth. How do we love God who we don't see when we do not love His people that we see said the scriptures.

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 4
20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

We care more about how people treat our children in our absence than how they treat us when they see us, I'm sure we got that from God...

We won't fulfill God's purposes for our lives if we won't go back to scriptures and rightly dividing it to learn the ultimate reason for giving and to follow it.

It's against Christ, His character and teaching to see people in need and not to share what we have. We go to church and everyone tries in hypocrisy to look good and so we don't know who is hurting and dying in lack, and that becomes our excuse for not giving but when they ask, we say they don't have faith and should go read motivational books and work and shouldn't beg!

Such people sooner or later get their needs met and move on in life by God's providence but with a bad lesson that affects their relationship with God and with the poor.

We shouldn't for selfishness lose our essence as believers. We were redeemed for good works, we partake of divine nature to give in love like God. Without giving we lose purpose and relevance, the whole cross becomes a waste... He gave His best to a world that don't care about Him, we have His nature to do greater works of love for Him... Let's do it!

Good morning, happy Sunday, it's a great week!

Perspectives into Deliverance

Perspectives into Deliverance

When we speak of deliverance concerning a believer today, it has to be put within scriptural perspective and be differentiated from casting out of demons.

We have been delivered from the powers of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son... The Kingdom of darkness can't lord it over us again when we have Christ as our Lord...you can't serve two masters...

But these demons and devils of darkness possess unbelievers and influence people who submit to them through the works of the flesh, even believers to create physical evils around us and against us...

The problems, sufferings, hardships, troubles, temptations, hindrances and so on, that these demons inspire people to cast on our ways require of us to cry out for help in faith unto God...and whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved... He saves when we call... He is greater than whatever or whoever we need deliverance from including the repercussions of our own mistakes...

The  Bible teaches that he that is born of God keeps himself that the evil one does not touch him... 1john 5:18...either to make him sin or to hurt him...

We do this by praying aright for deliverance...

To say because we are delivered from the powers of darkness and so we wouldn't pray will be an error...and to say we believers are demonised or possessed and would need deliverance for that is another error...

That however excludes our spiritual warfare not against humans who we perceive as enemies but against the host of demonic world of darkness waging war against the will of God coming to pass in out lives...a warfare not done by physical or carnal weapons...

We must put the issue of deliverance in proper perspective. Studying scriptures on this goes a long way in creating proper and balanced perspective to it.

Perspectives is a major issue in spiritual maturity... Let's work with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God in order for the eyes of our perspective to be enlightened by grace...

Let's study and meditate on these scriptures..

The long and mighty hand of divine deliverance shall manifest in your favor today against every hardship and evil in Jesus name...

Good Morning!

[My Offline Bible] Psalms 34
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous:
but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

[My Offline Bible] Matthew 6
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

[My Offline Bible] Romans 15
30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; 32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 1
10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

[My Offline Bible] 2 Thessalonians 3
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Timothy 3
10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

[My Offline Bible] 2 Timothy 4
17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

And then this....

[My Offline Bible] Colossians 1
12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Defining Manhood

One of the greatest scriptures about manhood to me is in 1 Corinthians 11:3

[My Offline Bible] 1 Corinthians 11
3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Of course we know that this speaks of a marriage situation but it also highlights the place of being a man.

Being a man isn't primarily territorial and 'libidorial', these are things in the animal kingdom that brings aggression and man copied that after the fall...

We fight to win bread to keep the herd. We fight to gain the females to expend our libido, we fight to take territories to propagate and perpetuate... That's what animals do...

But we were made in the image of God particularly in the new creation. We transcend the animal life and also the that of the mere man, we live in the realm of our Father God...

We feed on His table...we don't need to fight to win bread...

We share in God's nature, it is self propagating we aren't defined by our libido and our sperm cells...that's not where out manhood come from... Our manhood is not in our penis...

We don't do territorial and we don't strife, Jesus had won us a Kingdom we only fight the fight of faith in the Spirit to maintain it...we don't wrestle with flesh and blood...and our weapons aren't carnal... We aren't natural men but supernatural and spiritual...

So where is our manhood...?

The head of every man is Christ!

We aren't more men than our recognition and submission to the Lordship of Christ and of God.

We aren't more men than our ability to receive instructions of wisdom from Him alone...

We aren't more men than our yieldedness to the leading of the Spirit as He orders our steps and carries us by His winds in the path of righteousness...

We aren't more men than our ability to die to self and be alive unto God and so allowing Christ to manifest His life from within us in grace...

It's only when the head of the man is Christ that the male becomes Man...

It isn't mere macho, proving to be a hard guy, who can't be bullied,  who seems to be able to protect and provide while he is a whimp within...

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity...

Our women are being deceived by the peacock syndrome in men. They show beautiful colored feathers but are too big to fly...when flight is needed...the feathers are too heavy with paint...

Many discover too late that the beauty that they see attract others also...many others...

But there are beauties within a man that only compatible eyes can see...the beauties of the Lordship of Christ...

The beauties of eternal life that can't be subdued...we are born of God...!

There are muscles within that don't bulge in the arms and chests... The strength of the Spirit of God and the strength of His grace and Omnipotence...

But only the eyes of faith can see... Every other eyes can see the macho body build and the flashy cars...things that perish with the use... But only the eyes of faith can see through into the eternity of the Lordship of Christ...

The head of the man is Christ... How can you be the head of a woman successfully when you have no head in Christ?

When Christ isn't your head how do you love your wife and lead her in the way of success and protection?

Are you a man yet?

Where lies your manhood?

Are you copying the animals where you have to be aggressively violent up to inflicting injury or death on those who love you to take care of your family?

Learn of Christ...who instead laid down His life not having to kill or destroy to maintain His wife... That's a mystery...

We have to die so that Christ can become the head of our homes...

But we learn that in being a man before becoming a husband... Not the other way round...

Good morning...