If you are here looking at this adorable joy filled and hope giving Blog..you're definitely in the right place! Welcome to Spekky for Spectacular...I'm special you're special but we don't always know the depth of our uniqueness...Spekky by God's grace will help you discover the Spekky in you, bring out the Spekky in you and make the Spekky in you eradicate the Un-spekky in you (we all have those..and they keep us mindful of God's grace.).....Be Spekky be Spectacular :)
Yup! Still on love :)!
Please be blessed by this song! It places emphasis on absolute love fueled obedience, and that it what our heavenly father wants from us (John21:15). Give him your obedience lovingly and cheerfully after-all He has your best interests at heart(Jer29:11).
[hook] If you tell me to go I'm gonna tell you I will, Cause I love you that much If you tell me to stay and be still I will, Cause I love you that much Tell me what to say even if I'm afraid I will, Cause I love you that much It doesn't matter, whatever, whenever I will, cause I love you that much
[verse 1] Nowadays everybody wants to be in control Tryna be leader when they've never even really followed Got no information and no direction and way too much pride When it ain't that hard to just ask the lord to be your guide
[hook]
[verse 2] One love and one heart, one god who gives it away Most folks they don't wanna believe that today But I'll take your love and I'll give my love all to you completely cause I trust in you and I believe that you know what's best for
[hook]
[bridge] I will always trust in the fact that You got me in the palm of your hand Use me how you will No matter how I feel Cause there's no way that I could know you put the sun in the sky I could know you hung the moon for the night Well that wouldn't be right so I'm saying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av1omSNOFwE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
For the first time ever in my life I have seen clearly the priority of love in this season! As I wrote in yesterday's post, I knew vaguely but this year my eyes were opened by God to see it much more vividly, and I am all the more grateful for Jesus!
So in sight of all this love, what are we supposed to do?
When our loving is intact? (For God first and then for others) our lives before God are totally perfect.
From 1Cor13 its obvious that anything done outside love is not counted by God. Love for God and for others has to be the fuel for every single thing we do!
Why do you want to stop sinning? Is it because you you want to be able to be boast about how holy you are? Or because you love God and know He can't stand it? Cos you know the price He paid to reconnect you to Him?
Why do you want preach? So people will say "hmmm deep"? Or because you love Jesus and you know He wants you to feed His sheep so that as many as can be will be saved.
Why do you give to Charities and the like?
Is it so people will add "Philanthropist" to your name? Or so they'll say "ooo..such a kind hearted soul".
All these motives might do some good to the recipients, but all you will ultimately reap from it will be vanity! And that would be a tragic waste.
Just like Jesus did with Peter, He will only endorse you to handle the things most important to Him, when your love for Him is without question. And...when you love Him you will definitely love His sheep!
I will be totally honest...over the last year God has been asking me "Toluwani, do you love me". The question was coming so often that I started feeling that I was imagining things, so I started ignoring the question!
Then on one afternoon a friend of my mum's sent me a message telling me that God asked her to tell me just like peter.."lovest thou me".. I cried and realized it was God all along! ?
Now everything is falling in place because truthfully not everything I did was fuelled by my love for God or for others..a lot of it centred around me even though I thought it was the other way around.
So now my prayer now is "Father plug me into you unlimited source of love, because I can definitely not do it like You do it without You".
I truly am excited about the transformation I know God will bring.
Please join me in this Love Baptism journey, I can already see how amazing it will be!
Please read and meditate upon the scriptures below. Unlearn everything you know about love and life and let Him teach you line upon line and precept upon precept! (Isaiah28:10)
Luke 10:27 NIV
He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
John 21:15-17 NIV
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
1 John 4:7-12 MSG
My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
On Sunday during my family fellowship time after service, I was reflecting on the entire "Toward Christmas Series" and the things God had revealed to me during the process of writing it. Things that I had been blown away by. Then God whispered to me "Love is THE reason". At first I was like "Father..I knew that already..."especially considering the fact that I memorized John3:16 since I was a child.
He then explained to me that I hadn't gotten the point He was emphasizing.
He told me that He took me from the "Fall of Man" through the other things that were shared during this series right up to this point of John3:16 in emphasis so that the gravity of man's fall could be clearly seen (i.e everything we lost) and as a result clearly see the solution Jesus coming would bring to the World.
So yes! Jesus needed to be born to restore our sanity, to take off the burden from off our backs, to take that same burden that we could not carry upon Himself, to show us that through the Spirit of God perfection is possible in our mortal bodies, to serve as Gods sceptre of mercy and to ultimately save us from everlasting death by making us more than champions through His resurrection!
But....
The fact is (in Nigerian terms) "He took Panadol for Man's headache". His life did not depend on our salvation, His being God was not changed by our fall. Our lives depended on His benevolent and love inspired intervention!
God could very well have called a meeting in Heaven and said "Let us allow man run their presently miserable course of existence till they get to the ultimate point of perishing for all if eternity. Afterall they where warned about the consequences of their sin beforehand".
But He didn't
He could have washed His hands off our case just like Pilate did in Jesus' case (Matt27:24).
Pilate would not put himslef on the line for an innocent Jesus, but God put Himself on the cross for guilty me and guilty you to redeen us (John3:16)! Why???
Well, the reason is unfathomable yet simple. The reason is LOVE (1John3:16)!
John 3:16-18 MSG
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have
John 3:16-18 MSG
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
Love is the reason for the season (John4:16), and there is no greater love than this. I still can't wrap my head around it because of how unfathomable it is. The world and the devil can never love you or me like this, it is impossible for them.
I may not be able to fathom this love, but I receive Jesus, the gift of God's love and all that His coming as restored and brought to life with open arms (1John4:16, John1:12&13).
1 Corinthians 13:1-10 MSG
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
This is the God kind of Love! Jesus' coming and His ultimate sacrifice was fuelled by love!
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian. The boots of the warrior and the uniforms bloodstained by war will all be burned. They will be fuel for the fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
The slavery and oppression that sin brought was thriving because the Dominion that God had given man was sold by man to the devil. So Jesus' coming was to legally (according to Gods standards of legality Rom8:1-11 ) place dominion back into the hands of the rightful owners (Isaiah60:1).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqHd4j5TbY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This is why there is so much emphasis on the kind of rulership this child born and this Son given (Is9:6) would bring. Him taking over by by putting to death the flesh and raising us up together to sit with him (Eph2:6) was our redemption! Is our redemption! Power changed hands and our slavery to sin was absolutely abolished praise God!
“...so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Like a Cancer the things we have discussed so far where the symptoms of the ultimate end the whole of Mankind would face, and that was everlasting death! The verses above say it all.
Please go through all the previous episodes of the series up to this point and observe how each and every form of restoration He gave was ultimately a restoration of life! What an amazing God we serve!
Ever wonder why everyone goes crazy about lights when its Christmas? I used to. God opened my eyes to see the significance of the lights. Thing is most people don't even know why they put those lights up or why it makes them soo excited. I believe it is because God never wants us to forget the Light of Life that Jesus' coming brought into the World (John 1:5). It is so amazing because I do not know of any other festive season that is as brightly lit. "And the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea". Please enjoy the following article by Adrian Rogers tajen from http://m.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/read/articles/the-light-of-christmas-13805.html
Jesus The Light of Christmas!
No matter where you turn in God's Word, you’ll find that Christmas is aboutlight, for Jesus is the Light of the world! We love to sing "Silent Night, Holy Night," but this great carol is not about night or darkness. It's about the light. "Son of God, / love's pure light / Radiant beams from Thy holy face, / with the dawn of redeeming grace."
When we sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," we say, “Hail the Son of righteousness! / Light and life to all He brings, / risen with healing in His wings."
We sing at Christmas because we have something to sing about! Light has come into the world, and we need never walk in darkness again. John 1:1-5, one of the richest passages of Scripture, explains why.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. 4In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness overcame it not.” (John 1:1-5)
Light Is A Wonderful Picture Of The Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus Is Pure Light
Jesus exposed sin, but He was never contaminated by sin. He could touch sinners, but sin never touched Jesus. He was undefiled. When the Bible calls Jesus the "light of the world," it's a reminder of the sinless, stainless purity of the Son of God.
The Bible says He was "in the world" (John 1:10), but He was not of this world. Jesus did not have His origin here. Think about this: His birth in Bethlehem was not the beginning of His life! For in eternity past, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit always were. There was never a time when “God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity…” did not exist. He has no beginning and no end.
Because Jesus was not of this world, He is the pure, incorruptible Light. Jesus was the only Person who could look others in the face and say, "Which ofyou convicts Me of sin?" (John 8:46). The baby born in Bethlehem was the "true Light" (John 1:9), the pure light of heaven.
Jesus Is the Constant Light
In the natural world, the speed of light is a constant. Albert Einstein said the reason he was able to construct his famous Theory of Relativity was because there is one thing in the world that is constant — the speed of light. Everything else is relative.
Jesus Is Our Constant in the Spiritual Realm
The sun will not shine for eternity. Its energy is slowly being used up. Even the sun will one day cease to shine, but the light of Jesus will illumine heaven throughout eternity!
Jesus Is the Source of Light
What will be our light source in the Holy city?
“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did illumine it, and the Lamb [the Lord Jesus Christ] is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:23)
We’ll have no need for light switches, fuses, batteries, or utility companies, for He Himself will be our source of light. We will bask in the direct rays of His glorious light forever.
Jesus Is the Vital Light
“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”
Light and life are inextricably interwoven. You cannot have life without light. When God brought life out of chaos in Creation, He said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), and the seas began to swarm with life. The seeds of earth began to bud and blossom. Light — photosynthesis — causes plants to produce food. Life itself is built on sunlight. Without it, our world would become cold, dark and dead.
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He came to give us life. When the Holy Spirit shined the light of the Gospel into our hearts, a divine photosynthesis took place, producing life where before there was only death.
“The entrance of Your words gives light.” (Psalm 119:130) Jesus is the Light.
Do you know that everywhere Jesus went during His earthly ministry, He brought life? Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
Let Jesus Bring His Light — And Life — Into Your Christmas
Praise God for the changeless, constant light of the Lord Jesus Christ! No matter how cold and dark your world may seem, it can be brought back to life when the glorious light of the Son of God shines into your heart. There is no life without light.
The life and the light went out of Adam's race when he sinned in the Garden of Eden. But Jesus is the Light of the world. When we make Jesus Christ both Lord and Savior, the One who entered time and space as that little Babe in Bethlehem comes in, turns the light on, and life begins for us. He gives eternal life.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The enemy cunningly started by making Eve question the Word of God. In her first reply she corrected the his questioning by telling him exactly what God said and did well by doing so. However, slipped once she took the devils word for it (Gen3:4).
The devil literally polluted the Word of God, and man fell because he started living according to the wrong word.
One could say they didn't have enough words to tackle the enemy, but the truth is the Word God had given them was more than enough. When the serpent said "you shall not surely die" They could have replied, God said "...for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"...all they had to do was to keep repeating the exact thing God had said, and stand firm on that, but they didn't.
Now see how Jesus handled a very similar situation.thousands of years later.
Matthew 4:2-11 NIV
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQahEXwH90k&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The devil again in Jesus' case attempted creating a word contrary to Gods Word by saying "if You are the Son of God...".. because there is no where in the Bible that God ever said the proof of being His child was turning objects into things that would gratify bodily desires.
Romans 8:13-14 NIV
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
The above doesn't say those who are led by the devils suggestion of what should be, but those who are led by Gods spirit.
The Holy Spirit led Jesus to be tempted and so was leading him through out the situation. Truth is at this point Jesus was remedying the point at which Adam fell..it was the very first thing he had to do after being baptized and endorsed by God (Matt3:16&17).
The devil attempted to up his game by using Gods word, but using it wrongly...and still Jesus was more than ready..He did not make it personal, He just stuck to what "is written". The devil finally got directly to the agenda he had been pushing all along when he tried to make Jesus worship him and Jesus sent him away again using the Word..Its like Jesus was saying "You shall worship the Word your God and only Him shall you serve...END OF DISCUSSION".
The devil had been pushing the agenda of Jesus worshipping him from the first temptation.
He did the same for Adam and Eve by deceiving them that they would be their own gods, and as a result they became slaves to their cravings and fleshy desires.
So once Jesus dealt with the crux of the matter, he sent the devil packing.
Jesus had to be born in The Flesh but of The Spirit to show us how the flesh being led by Gods Spirit in using His word and His wisdom, can overcome and deal with all the deceitful methods of the enemy which are aimed at turning one away from worshipping God! He was born in the flesh but of the Spirit to show us how to do what (Eph6:10-17) instructs.
This is extremely exciting..many of the things written in this post are things I only truly became aware of through the Holy Spirit as I was writing..God is super amazing! Thank you Father!
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
I had often wondered why exactly Jesus had to be born in the flesh, but not of the flesh. I knew on a broad scale it was because sin dominated the world because of the actions of one man (John3:14), but then I still knew there was more and I desperately needed an answer.
God graciously explained to me that Jesus being born in that way was to show mankind that perfection is absolutely possible, when one is born of God and then in sight of this birth, lives on "every word that comes out of the mouth of God (Matt4:4).
Hebrews 4:14-15 NIV
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Truth is with Christ in us we have the power to be perfect before God, but instead of using the grace He sacrificed His life to give, we use it as an excuse to stick in sin. This we do by NOT living on every word that comes out of Gods mouth. ( Rom6:1, Gal5:16, Gal6:7&8).
Romans 6:1 NIV
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
He explained to me the above through an analogy.
He showed me that continuing in sin for grace to abound, is like putting a Generator on and refusing to switch to the power source..or having electricity and putting all the appliances that need it off..then you start groping around in the darkness, tripping over things etc when the electricty bill has already been payed or fuel for the gen has already been bought. What a waste!
Tomorrow we will delve deeper still into this by looking at the difference between Adam (The man sin came through) and Jesus (the Man through which righteousness came).
God's Power is not for a feel good boost, or for bragging rights. His Power is for getting things done in accordance to His will. (Luke10:19, Matt16:19, Eph3:14-20, Jude1:24).
We apologize for the pause with respect to the publishing of posts. By God's grace we will commence in earnest on the Wednesday the 17th of December.
Please keep on praying for this Blog, and most importantly for the body of Christ as a whole. We need to keep feeding on Gods word and stepping out in faith in line with God's will. The World is earnestly yearning to see God's glory manifesting through us (Rom8:19). Christ's life in us is the only light that has the victory over darkness. We are their only hope and if we do nothing we are useless (Matt5:13)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ifuvuRsv60&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Wake up and and let God use you maximally! I personally have been doing a lot of sleep walking thinking I'm awake but not realizing the reality in the part I was created to play in ensuring that God's will is done on earth through Christ in me (Colossians1:27) !Totally hand over the wheel to Him, you will be absolutely mind blown by the things He will do in an through you! Let your light SHINE!
In as much as grace is a gift flowing from Gods mercy and love, it is not an impotent gift that keeps us shackled to sin.
After the king raised his sceptre to Esther, Haman (the enemy) was ultimately dealt with and hung on the gallows that were intended for Mordecai.
In the same way Jesus (who had never sinned) became sin (2Cor5:21), and was hung on the cross in our place hence destroying the power of sin.
Then the king proceeded to endorse another decree that empowered the Jews to fight against those that desired to annihilate them, and they were totally victorious. (See Esther 7-9)
Christ's death destroyed sin and then His resurrection and ascension brought His Spirit into our hearts Who daily empowers us to live in accordance to the will of God (Phil2:13), He is the testimony of us being God's children! (Rom8:12-16).
Christ had to be born to stop us from being victims of sin, and transform us into conquerors of the same. (Rom8:37).
Please do meditate on the quotes below and allow your mind to be renewed by the power of Gods Spirit. The times I have fallen prey to sin despite Jesus' sacrifice, have been because I kept the knowledge of the power available to me by His spirit at the back of my mind by being slack about what Rom12:2 instructs.
Let us work in sync with the Spirit on a daily basis and never be victims to sin again (Gal5:25). His grace is sufficient (2Cor12:9).
"May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2Cor13:14 NIV)
A while back, He showed me the similarity between the story of Esther and that of Jesus.
An enemy had caused a decree to be made which would destroy all the Jews living in the kingdom over which Esther was queen.
In the same way the law of sin and death had been man's destruction since the fall.
Because of Sin, man could no longer enter into God's presence, and as a result sin had the upper hand and we couldn't fight back.
In the book of Esther, she is hesitant to go before the king because "All the king's servants and people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except to the one whom the king holds out his golden sceptre, that he may LIVE"(Esther4:10&11).
Similarly in the old covenant the holy of holies was a no go area for all apart from the high priest, and even he could only go in once a year compulsorily with blood to offer for "himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance."(Heb9:7). He could not just waltz in whenever he felt the urge to be in Gods presence. If he did, he would surely die.
After Esther was warned about the consequences that would befall her if she refused to help the Jews, she and all the Jews fasted for 3 days and nights (Jesus resurrected on the third day :) ) and said "so I will go to the king which is against the law and if I PERISH, I perish".
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever beleiveth in him shall not PERISH, but have everlasting LIFE.
Esther had seen perishing as the consequence of approaching the king without him bestowing his mercy, but he raised his sceptre, and she lived and was ultimately bestowed with the power to deal with her enemy Haman, which in this case is the power over sin.
Jesus was the Sceptre God raised up to shine His mercy upon us. He had to be born for the mercy of God to have full effect upon those who had been barred from coming into Gods presence, He had to be born for Gods mercy to be bestowed on the whole of mankind!
Tomorrow (by God's grace) we will delve deeper into the power over sin made available to us once we are in favour with the King, which is yet another dimension to the reason Jesus had to be born, and why His birth is always a cause for intense jubilation.
"When Jesus, God's Son said, 'Let this cup pass from Me' (Matt26:39), the Father could have done so. God could have said, 'I will not bring all the sin of fallen humanity on the One righteous person who has walked the earth since the Garden of Eden.' However, His mercy and enduring compassion was greater than what was about to happen to His son.
Mercy overcame." (Extract from the book "Mercy: The Divine Rescue of The Human Race" by Kenneth Copeland).
Yesterday morning during my family fellowship I shared about the things God had been teaching me on Jesus' coming and how humbled I am about Jesus' sacrifice. I sang the song shared below. Before I got to the end, I broke down weeping, the significance of everything Jesus did struck me in my spirit and I cried in intense gratitude. Please be blessed by the song which was originally sang by Cece Winans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUz2_oXCUuc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
God's mercy put up a fight for me, even when I couldn't be bothered... I do not know what else to say. The thing about mercy is that the recipients of it are totally undeserving..its so amazing.
By Gods grace we will go into it in greater detail tomorrow.
Here is a message that hits the nail on the head with respect to the reason for the season. Thank God for using people like Dr Tony Evans, like you, like me, like little children to spread His truth. Be absolutely blessed! I can already see this Christmas being the most powerful I have experienced, because in as much as I had an idea of the truth of Christmas, I had never truly spent time meditating on it for more than a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0jdrtwQSRw
The more He reveals, the more excited I get about the gift of Jesus (I hope you're excited too) . Believe you me, I am no expert. The things I share and write are not based on my intelligence or eloquence, but on the things that the Holy Spirit freely and graciously reveals. There are many time's I'm like "What!" So Father that's what you were really talking about" and I am absolutely blown away! Its truly amazing and exciting. He came to mend the broken pieces that had been impossible to put back together. Thank you Jesus for being born!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpsnqAyY1NA
I am still looking forward to people sharing the things God has shown them about this season. The "Towards Christmas Series" will be far richer because there is nothing that can substitute the place of fellowship (Heb10:24 & 25), God bless!
I had an absolutely wonderful time taking in these reflective quotes on Christmas made by men that were used by God to manifest His glory on Earth. I believe they will bless you greatly too :). This is still towards Christmas!
Yes, He came into the world to give us rest (like we read in Matt11:28 yesterday), but in doing this he had to be the undeserving carrier of the labour and the burdens that He gave us rest from (Isaiah53:4&5).
The thing is man had tried so hard to bear
the burden, to break free from the chains, but the harder we tried, the deeper into sin we went, we just could not free ourselves (Isaiah59:9-16).
He had to be born to die so that He could destroy the works of the devil (1John3:8). He came to swallow the ticking bomb of sin that had been placed on our backs and He was blown up in our place.
This is more than a big deal...our Christmas celebrations have to have much more depth! When we know why we are celebrating, our celebration will be unending! Have you seen the jubilation of a slave that has been set free or of victors in war?
What Jesus' coming did was an incomparably greater feet than anything ever heard of or seen by all of
Gods creation (Luke 2:9-14)..new creatures in Christ? A clean slate? all because God himself who we had betrayed time and again died for us His creation! He rescued us even though we were absolutely undeserving..this love is unfathomable. Thank you Jesus for being born!
The fall of man apart from disorientating Man's? psyche, brought a curse of all round miserable hardship upon him (Gen3:16-19), it resulted in everything being wrapped up in sorow.
Child birth which was meant to be a thing of pleasure although still pleasurable became much more painful. The wife who was created to be the help meet (A companion to compliment Adam e.g Manager & Deputy Manager) became her husband's servant (Gen3:16). The blessing of work, transformed into the curse of toil, freely eating (Gen2:16) turned to eating bread in the sweat of one's face (Gen3:16).
Mankind was indeed a shadow of his former self and slave bound to the consequences of sin.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
This is the abundant life He was born to give (John 10:10). Come to Him and take a load off, you can finally exhale.
The barriers God puts in place in our walk with Him are not to bind or imprison us but to protect us. Its like the difference between the walls surrounding a house, and the walls surrounding a prison. (Rev22:14&15)
God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Mankind's debate with respect to this instruction is direct evidence of exactly why God gave it.
Before Adam and Eve ate of that tree, the only wisdom they had access to was God's perfect wisdom and therefore everything was in sync. But as soon as they ate from the tree, the battle between obeying self and obeying God began.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil."
They ate from tree and as a result got an understanding that was contrary to the wisdom of God. They became wise in their own eyes and as a result could not live on the level God had predestined them to live at.
Rom 1:22&23
"Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made by corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
The devil by successfully tempting Adam and Eve introduced a fatal virus to Mankind's Psyche, a virus that absolutely corrupted man's original and perfect design, as a result placing man in bondage to sin i.e doing things according to his perception of good and evil instead of doing things in accordance to Gods will.
For this reason Jesus came with the message "Repent" (Matt4:17)
Repentance is a change of mind accompanied by regret and change of conduct, "change of mind and heart", or,"change of consciousness".
The law dealt with a change of actions and as a result could not give a true solution, but Jesus came to give us His mind 1Cor2;16, which connects us back to Gods perfect way of being and thinking (Rom12:1&2).
Today and everyday let us consciously allow Him put the pieces back together (Phil 2:13).
Let us be transformed by renewing our minds with the Word of God so that we can be in perfect sync with the will of God. Thanks to Jesus our minds have been restored.
Celebrate people!
We are in a new month praise God. It is December, the last month of the Year, and God has been with us all through. Another awesome thing about this month, is that it's the month that has been dedicated to celebrating the Birth of Jesus, who is and will always be Gods greatest gift to the World. He came so that we might have life and have it in abundance (John10:10). So this month Spekky for Spectacular will be going through the time before Jesus' birth (The reason why he had to come, the prophecies before His coming etc) and then His actual birth and its true significance.
Its so easy to get carried away with Christmas decorations, parties and presents and as a result forget the true significance of Christmas. I truly look forward to an interactive month during which we all grow together in a deeper revelation of the true reason for the season. God bless you beyond measure, have a wonderful day and an amazing month!
Vision is the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom while Ambition is a strong desire to do or achieve that vision.
What is your vision, what is your ambition?
Personally I have had several dreams since I was a child. At first I wanted become a doctor so I could find the cure to HIV/AIDS, then a little later I wanted to become an Architect because I was good at Technical Drawing so I went into T.D Class and honestly didn't feel fulfilled. Truth be told I never sought Gods will in going there, I just imposed my desire on Him and asked Him to bless it.
After being miserable for a while there, I cried out to God for help and in an unusual way, one which did not seem to be a blessing at the time (Will talk about this in detail in another post), He made it possible for me to switch to The Arts, which ultimately made it possible for me to study Mass-communication for my Undergraduate Degree and then Film and Television Studies for my Masters.
However in as much as this was in line with His will, I did not discover my true vision and ambition until when I was doing my Masters. It was then that God opened my eyes to see that He was the One I was truly seeking all my life. Yes I had things I wanted to achieve, but deep down inside I wanted to achieve those things to make Him proud.
I had achieved success before but they never gave me the satisfaction I somehow knew was meant to be the satisfaction for true success.
On a particular morning, God took me in hindsight through my whole life and showed me how he had been there for and with me, even at times when my still growing mind could not perceive it.
Looking back, I could clearly see His hand upon me, His love, I could see how He carried and shielded me even when I when I did not have the intellectual sophistication to request for His presence in such a way. Then He explained Matt6:33 to me in yet another way. He told me that He had cared for me in totality even when I could hardly grasp what that meant. He had provided everything I needed even when I did not know what my true needs were, had revealed Himself to me even when I did not know exactly Who I was seeking, and that in sight of all this I should give myself over completely to seeking Him, following hard after His will because "I've got you". In other words don't let all those ambitions occupy your mind, I have taken care of them all..Let Me be your ultimate..You will be who I created you to be (Psalms25:12), just stay focused on Me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aurILJtBA4U
The song for today says it all. I was introduced to it by my Parents who used it to dedicate their Marriage to the One who instituted the institution. "Be Thou my vision" is my constant request to God, because there are many times I loose sight of what is truly important and my World is in a mess, but then He focuses my gaze and everything is alright once again.
"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings , becoming like Him in His death, and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead."(Phil 3:10&11)
Looking for that 'something' that is missing in your life? Focus your gaze on Him, and that dissatisfaction will be taken care of.
"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."(Psalms 150:6)
Breath check 1..2,
Inhale...exhale..1...2
Blocked nose? Open your mouth...inhale...exhale 1....2
Oxygen mask? Are you suffocating?No?...1....2
Do you have breath? Yes? Then PRAISE THE LORD!
Breath here signifies life (Gen 2:7). The verse above does not say let everything that has a car, or a job, or everything that has never been disappointed or maltreated, or everything that has had an absolutely perfect year "Praise the Lord". No. As long as you are alive praise God. When there is life there is hope.
"Everyday is another chance to get it right this time" Lauryn Hill sang this line in the song "I've gotta find peace of mind". There she shared about how the enemy had convinced her that she would never find peace of mind because she would be forever be chained to him..but then she found God to be her peace of mind "You are my peace of mind, that old me is left behind" and she could clearly see the height of Gods mercies in the way every new day He gives us the chance to live right, to make Him proud, to bear fruit that will last.
"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassion's never fail. They are new every morning great is Your faithfulness (Lamentation 3:22-23).
This year many of us at different times have done things that we know are not pleasing to God. But because of His mind blowing mercies we are still breathing, we are still alive, we have a future and a hope, we have breath!
Today and everyday, acknowledge His mercy and praise Him. Acknowledge His love, His compassion's that never fail and praise Him. "Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."(Ps150:6)
