God will maintain your right and your cause

1 Corinthians 15:57

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Yesterday I ended on the note that when God has given you the victory, then your response is to praise Him and thank Him for what He has done. This perfectly is in order as you stand on the threshold of a new year, to end a year with the voice of thanksgiving and praise and at the same time to enter a new year

The reason for your victory

1 Corinthians 15:57

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you know that right now you have the victory. Yes you have it. You see God speaks ahead of our lives and tells us what will be before things actually happen. What God wants me to tell you right now is that you have

Faith of fear?

Mark 5:35-36

“While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.”

Faith or fear, which is reigning in your heart right now as you inch closer towards the new year. It is easy to know, the same way faith comes so also fear and they work by the same principles. These are diametrically opposite forces, that is why where

Seeking God

Jeremiah 29:11-14

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord…” NIV

The fourth thing that enables you not miss God is in what God said Himself in our text; “…You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I WILL BE FOUND OF YOU…” (emphasis mine). Did you see that?

Discovering God’s plans for your life

Jeremiah 29:11-14

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord…” NIV

We are still on discovering God’s plans for your life.

The third thing that enables you not to miss it in the goals you set for yourself in the new year is if you also engage in what David

The coming year

Jeremiah 29:11-14

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord…” NIV

The year will soon come to an end and right now there will be a flurry of activities both in the natural and spiritual, one thing that will be uppermost in people’s minds is what the new year holds for them. The other thing that you will going around is talk about goal setting for the incoming year. Let  me encourage

It's Christmas!

Matthew 2:1-2

 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

Today is celebrated the world over as the day Jesus was born, it’s Chrstmas day! So we continue our faith lessons around one of the most significant events of the Christian calendar. Now let us not split heads over whether Jesus was actually born in September or not, that does nothing to our faith. The Magi saw

Lessons of faith

Matthew 2:1-2

 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”

Let us take more lessons of faith from the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. We use to have bumper stickers that read, “wise men still seek Jesus”. It is not just wise men that seek Jesus, it takes faith to

Righteousness Consciousness

Romans 5:17

“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

Let me show you today some things you will begin to enjoy when you become more righteousness conscious.

Firstly, you become more bold.

Object of Redemption

Romans 5:17

“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

We are still continuing our meditation on the above scripture. Someone said righteousness is the object of redemption. I cannot agree more, why? It is because by making us righteous God brought man back to the place where we have access into his presence and could fellowship with Him like Adam

Understanding Righteousness

Romans 5:17

“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

One of the things that affect the faith life of God’s people is their understanding of righteousness or the lack of it. So let me help you gain some understanding today because when you do your faith walk will be stronger.

Firstly, it is to understand what it is. It is to have a right standing before God, which means being able to stand before the

Faith in God never fails

Luke 2:21-30

“And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation…”KJV

We are still looking at lessons of faith from the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and the events surrounding His birth. Here is the story of a man called Simeon who the scriptures say had a word from God that he will not

More lessons of faith

Matt 1:1-6

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

Let us take some more lessons of faith from birth of Jesus today in consonance with the season we are in. Did you notice in the genealogy of Jesus Christ that there are at least four women mentioned whose background under

The birth of Jesus

Luke 2:1-16

 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Let us learn another faith lesson from the birth of Jesus from our text above.  God’s ways are different than man’s ways. People expected the Saviour to come as a king but He came as a babe born in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Too many times people are expecting God to come through for them through some predictable means and so miss out

The power of agreement

Matt. 18:18-20 “Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” 

It is important to know the power that is involved in coming together to do things, in the congregation of the house of God. When we come together to permit or agree on something it shall be done. Amongst other things it also shortens the time of waiting for manifestation. What does it mean to agree? It means to be

There is a lifting up

Luke 13:10

“And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.  And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.   And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” 

The bible says this woman was bowed down, bent over completely, so much that she could not even look up or lift up herself, in other words she was cast down. Jesus said “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity” these words of Jesus had power and was enough to heal her, but then the bible says He laid

Faith in your faith

1 John 5:4

“…This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” NIV

“For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.” NLT

Do you have faith in your faith? You better do because according to our text for meditation, it is your faith that is used to overcome the world. The New Living Translation makes it clearer, it says every child of God

Some faith lessons

Matt 1:18-23

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us." NIV

As Christmas approaches let us learn some faith lessons that  God walked in to bring to reality the birth of our Saviour. If God obeyed His own laws of faith in other to give substance to His desire, then you and I cannot do any less. Firstly, note the highlighted sentence, “all this took place to

Have the God kind of faith

Mark 11:22-25

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

It is said that literally verse 22 can read “have the God kind of faith”. So I want you to see some important things about the God kind of faith.

Firstly, it is released through the mouth. Faith not

Highest form of faith

Matt 8:5-13

“And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 

For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 

And I say unto you, That many shall

Walking by faith

2 Cor 5:7

“For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.” AMP

There are a lot of activities happening in these times around us calling us to pay attention to them rather than the word of God. If there is a need to live by the above scripture more than ever before , it is now. I mean this times call for us to live by faith and not by sight or appearance for the things that we see were

God is coming out 2

 Eph 3:20 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think according to the power that worketh  in us…”

Let us examine this issue of allowing God to come out of the box in your life one more day

You have to change whatever perception you have of God so that you are not putting your God in a box because God is an exceeding God.

1Cor.2:9 “But as it is written eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which god hath prepared for t

God is coming out of the box

Gen 15:1” After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision saying Fear not Abraham, I am thy shield and your exceeding great reward”

You must accept God as an exceeding God; you must see Him as an exceeding God. You need to know whatever image you have of God, He surpassed that image, He exceeds that image, He can outdo that image, He is above and beyond that image He is an exceeding God.

Why would He come to Abraham in this way?  Why would He say this? Obviously Abraham is afraid of something. What could He be afraid of?  In the earlier chapter; the Bible shows to us Abraham had just won a great battle, He had a great spoil, great material possessions, and He gave tithe of the spoil, and gave everything back to the people that have it. It is after these things that the word of the Lord came to Him saying Abraham; Fear not: 

That was Abraham’ situation, what is your own situation? In what area have you obeyed God that it seems as if you are lessened rather

You can have faith in God and your faith will not fail

Heb 6:16-19

“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us

Two parts to breakthrough

Gen 27:39 “…and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke off your neck”

Heb. 11:20 “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come...”

There are two parts to having your season of breakthrough come upon you. The first part is the blessing that comes through the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the second part is living consistently by the word. The second part sets you up for the first, and it is the two together that brings the breakthrough season upon you and makes it your own.

Living consistently by the word 

“ …by thy sword , you shall live and serve your brother but the time shall come when you will grow restive and break loose and you shall tear his yoke from off your neck.”Gen.27:39 amp.

Esau was a hunter who use bows and arrows; his father

Worship

John 4:20-24

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Worship has been defined as

1.              The reverence, honour and homage in thought and feeling or action paid to God, men or angels

2.              Evolved from “worthseipe’ a word which means to give worth to someone or something.

3.              To esteem the worth of and to make a suitable response to that worthiness- what is God worth in your life?

4.              It is the human response to a gracious God.

5.              It is the surrendering of our nature to him. It is the submission to His will and His purpose.

6.              It is the deeper than human emotion, the response of our spirit to that of God’s – an attitude of the mind.

7.              It is a loving attempt to pay our unpayable debt to God.

True worship is when men agree that God should not sit on the throne of the universe but also on the throne of their lives that is why worship is a matter of the heart.

Worship is not having a day off work, it is not religious singing of songs, it is the way you are and the way you live that counts to God. Worship is much more than what people’s mind has reduced it to- a location.

Your worship must guide your spirit in the pursuit of truth and the truth is in Jesus;  anything out from that is pure religion.

If your walk with God does not put a fire of desire , commitment and dedication to God in your heart , then you are a worshipper of Baal.

The most important thing God requires from us in our relationship and walk with Him is our worship, so we should give Him the wholesome worship He requires and deserves.

You cannot say you are a worshipper and it does not take something from you because

               Worship is obedience. Constant, continuous obedience to God Hebrews 11:8; Rom6:16 there is no worship without a life of obedience John9:31 you won’t have problems serving God if you are a worshipper.

               Worship is sacrificial – worship is costly; it will not always be convenient worshipping God – you must let go what you are holding on to.

               Offering is worship – let God be the judge of your offering, listen to God in giving; because it is an indication of what you think He is worth to you.

               You are a worshipper when indeed Jesus is Lord over your life

               If you are doing things for the sake of the glory of God you are worshipping Him.

               Mark 12:28-30 “And you shall love the Lord your God  out of and with your whole heart and out of and with your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the principal first commandment”. This is WORSHIP! And worship is the highest expression of faith in God.

Love is a debt you owe

1Cor.13:1-3”Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. 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”.

For In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything but faith that worketh by love. If love is absent you cannot enjoy overwhelming victories. Your faith can only work when it is accompanied by love.  If you are still working things outside of love you will not get the result you ought to get because it is love that hastens things, quickens things and put speed to things. When love is absent, you are slowing your life down.  God has done everything He will do for us, we are the ones to determine when or what will happen to us and at what time, and one of the things that determine this thing is this love walk.

Praying in tongues by the help of the Holy Ghost is one of the potent forces that a believer has in bringing victory to his life, but when it is done without love, it becomes noise making. That means the thing that is supposed to bring victory is not working because there is no love

Fellowshipping together - an outflow of love

1John 1:7 “ But if ye walk in the light, as he is in the light , we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus  Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

1John 2:10”He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion for stumbling in him.” 

Heb. 10:24 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”

There is something that is inextricably linked to loving our brother and sister with the love of God. It is fellowshipping with our brother and sister.

“If we want to deal with God the right way we have to learn to love the right way. If we want to love the right way, we have to

deal with God the right way. God and love can’t be separated! “[Introduction to epistles of John in the message bible]

The reason God and love cannot be separated is because God is Love. Let me rephrase that: God and loving our brother cannot be separated. Therefore loving our brother and fellowshipping with them cannot be separated. Therefore when we run away from fellowshipping it means

i.               We are in darkness or darkness is in us

ii.              Our love is not complete.

“But if we walk in the light (love), we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin”.

“But if we [really] are living and walking in the light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestation”. (Amp)

Fellowship with God exhibits and proves itself by fellowship with other brethren. We are made to relate not only to God but also to others. “It is not good for the man to be alone…” ……..So God created man in His

Covered by His Love - I'm Protected.

Songs of Solomon 2:4 (amp)

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love (for love waved as a protecting and comforting banner over my head when I was near Him).”

There is a lot fears right now hovering around in the atmosphere what with the incidence of bombing going on in the country and the attacks going on in some parts of the country. Added to this is the already prevalent issue of armed robbery attacks and the like.

All these however are in line with what the scriptures foretold:

“But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear] 2Timothy3:1 (amp).

Though this is what the scripture say. Does it mean God’s children are left at the mercy of the elements or the devil? No absolutely not. You

Fear not but be strong - Rev.Ekine

Josh.1:5-9 “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whither-soever thou goest.”

In this passage, Joshua was about to step into the shoes of Moses, he was faced with what seemed to be an uphill task of possessing the land for God’s people, but God comes and tells him as he faced the high walls of Jericho“…do not be afraid.” In the same way God is telling us not to be afraid, because He is with us.

Isa.8:11”Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 

We shouldn’t allow the things we hear to frighten or dismay us because we have His word; this is the only thing that takes away

Do not be afraid

Fear not but be strong- Rev.Ekine

Josh.1:5-9 “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

In this passage, Joshua was about to step into the shoes of Moses, he was faced with what seemed to be an uphill task of possessing the land for God’s people, but God comes and tells him as he faced the high walls of Jericho“…do not be afraid.” In the same way God is telling us not to be afraid, because He is with us.

Isa.8:11”Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 

We shouldn’t allow the things we hear to frighten or dismay us because we have His word; this is the only thing that takes away fear. Then He says “…be strong,” once we are afraid we’ll not be strong.  What strengthens

Do not be afraid

Fear not but be strong- Rev.Ekine

Josh.1:5-9 “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

In this passage, Joshua was about to step into the shoes of Moses, he was faced with what seemed to be an uphill task of possessing the land for God’s people, but God comes and tells him as he faced the high walls of Jericho“…do not be afraid.” In the same way God is telling us not to be afraid, because He is with us.

Isa.8:11”Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 

We shouldn’t allow the things we hear to frighten or dismay us because we have His word; this is the only thing that takes away fear. Then He says “…be strong,” once we are afraid we’ll not be strong.  What strengthens

Experiencing Overwhelming Victories through Overwhelming Love - 2

                    

 Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good”

We are continuing our meditation on the above text and theme.

God’s way is love, we can only have God’s kind of result if we do things God’s way, Love is the answer of God to the world.

Looking down through the ages, God has always answered through love. For instance, when man sinned against God in the Garden of Eden God killed a lamb and clothed their nakedness to cover man up. God does not answer tit-for –tat, an eye for an eye. His way is the way of love. You must choose to answer life with love. Unless we make this choice, things will become more and more difficult for us.

Brethren, you have been wired to respond in love, any other reaction will not bring victory. You have to train yourself to live this way. You must readily adjust yourself to love. The onus of this love walk is not on the other person but on you.

If God was supposed to respond any other way towards us, guess what? You and I will not be where we are today.

1Peter 2:18” Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward….”

“Bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you” 

You must learn to leave your case in the hands of the one who judges fairly (God). The reason some of us don’t see God answer for us in our situation is because we have answered for ourselves. We have taken the matter into our own hands.

1Peter3:9 “Never return evil for evil or insult for insult…” when you do good, good comes back to you. Every single time you obey God on this, you always come out victorious, untouched, and unscratched.

There is big time winning waiting for you in this season we are in and you must ask yourself: Do you want to get it your way or God’s way? It’s only going to happen if you choose God’s way - the way of love. You have to determine and deliberately choose love.

Gal 5:6 “…for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.”

The world’s way is not going to solve our problem. We believers had better wise up and start training ourselves the way of love. Paul says” …..I show you a more excellent way” (1Cor.12:31) . Faith with love is like having a turbo engine attached to your canoe as opposed to paddling a canoe manually. Folks, what should take you days may take a year without love. Walk the walk of faith through love.

You don’t kill your enemies, you love them. In loving them you remove the case from your hands and you put it in God’s hands. If we are going to have victory God’s way, we must learn God’s way. Stop relying on the arms of the flesh. Every other way apart from God’s way is the arm of flesh and by the flesh shall no man prevail. The Bible says we should be like Jesus that when he was reviled, He reviled not.

Love is not self seeking. We live in a self seeking generation. A selfish world that does things its own way.

 Let us overcome everything that’s not love by love and then see what God does with it.

You have to determine that this is where you are going; the result you want to see is of a greater price than what anyone can do to you.

Love is to unreservedly give yourself to another. If love stops then we know it’s not love at all. If love find barriers with a person’s peculiarity, looks or gifts then that love was merely an enchantment or lust.

Genuine love will never give up.

Experience Overwhelming Victories by Overwhelming Love

Rom 12:21 “Be not overcome with evil but overcome evil with good’

The word overcome means ‘to get the better of’ it means to overwhelm, gain superiority or upper hand’

There is a way to overcome and overwhelm evil. God’s way is the way of love and it’s the winning way.

1Cor.13 tells us that “love can endure everything without weakening. Love never fails or fades out or comes to an end”.

How would you like to be on the side of something that never fails at all times? If you stay on the side of love you will always win, whether against the devil or human beings.

Natural human beings don’t have an answer to love. Please know that God is not punishing us by asking us to love our neighbours but rather He wants us to win all the time. You hurt no one but yourself for not loving and you also put yourself at a disadvantage. Instead of doing tit-for-tat with a person who’s done you evil, you sputter the person with good. When you do that you will always win, because love never fails, never fades or becomes obsolete. There’s no weight that can crush love.

What gets us defeated is that we want to show the person doing evil to us that two can play the game. It’s your own responsibility not to let evil conquer you but conquer evil by always doing well. So, when evil is being thrown at you, you do good, that’s practical love.

You have to decide if God’s way is worth it or not and then make a decision. The worse the days get, the higher the demand for the walk of love, it’s the only antidote to this world. The flood of adversity cannot quench the force of love. No matter how fierce the opposition is, love will bring it to its knees. You want to have overwhelming victories, walk in love like you have never done.

We Christians do not seem to have problems loving unbelievers but believers, why? We think he/she should know better. We begin to reason things out. But reasoning is never spiritual, they are fleshly and canal. Stop using your own maturity to judge others. We must let God’s love flow from us. I must not have offence over people or walk in bitterness towards them; but rather overcome evil with love. Jesus says “pray for your enemies that you may be children of your farther who is in heaven”

Eph5:1 says “Be ye imitators of God as dear children”

There will always be opportunities for strife and contentions. It is not being weak to move away from situations that will cause strife and bitterness.  As you sense those things coming, you must choose the side of good rather than the side of strife.

1Peter 3:9 says “Never return evil for evil, insult for insult”.  It’s about time we start doing the word of God and stop allowing the flesh to get the better of us, as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone, never avenge yourself but leave the place open for God. Be quiet says the Lord.

When I pay evil for evil, insult for insult, I have lost the right to take blessings from God. What will you rather lose? The blessing, happiness and protection of God or just that moment of showing flesh?

 The way to overwhelming victory is the way of love. Choose to love. Apply yourself to love. Let love get the better of you.

Do not be overwhelmed

Philippians 4:6 (AMP)

“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ( definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”

We are at the season of the year that there is a lot of activities both in the physical and in the realm of the spirit. It is also a period when there is a lot of anxiety in the hearts of people. This is why I want you to meditate on our text for today. You see you cannot be in faith and entertain anxiety or worry at the same time. Where faith is present, anxiety and worry take a flight out of the window and vice versa is also true.  

Our text for meditation says to not allow anxiety in your heart under any circumstance or over anything, this means God is saying to you He can meet you at the point of your need. 

So, rather than allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the many things you need to do or accomplish before this year ends, turn it over to God and rest in Him. 

The Scriptures say, “He is able to keep to the uttermost that which is committed to His hand” and also that “faithful is He who promised, who also will do it”. Lastly, Jesus said:

“So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.” MATTHEW 6:34 AMP

Faith as a Shield

Ephesians 6:16 (NIV)
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

1 Tim 6:12-13 (NIV)“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

Taking a cue from our meditation some days ago where we saw that Jesus brought the use of faith to two main things, which were to get rid of stuff we don’t want and to bring in stuff we want, I want to point out to you today two other uses of faith.

From our first text for meditation, you can see that faith is used for defensive purposes because it is symbolized as a shield. A shield is for defending and the Scripture says if you have your faith in place you will not be hit by ANY fiery arrow thrown at you by the enemy. Yes, you heard me right, YOU WILL NOT BE HIT BY ANY ARROW OF THE DEVIL. I can hear someone asking, is that possible? Well let God be true and every man and every experience of man to the contrary a liar. 

The word of God said it, I didn’t say it. To use faith as a defensive weapon means you use it to protect or defend your territory and all that is therein. Put the shield of faith around you, your family, your business and all that is connected to you. Someone may ask, how can I do that? Through the words of your mouth because faith is expressed through words.

The other use of faith is offensive. Offensive is when you take the battle to the enemy’s territory, and you do that to take what the enemy has stolen from you or take from him what hitherto has been his all along. Faith as an offensive weapon makes the believer to make advances against the enemy. 

I believe this should be the primary use of faith. You don’t wait to be attacked to defend. Rather you advance towards the enemy and claim territories. These territories were yours in the first place, but they were stolen. So advance today and take back what belongs to you.  

Faith is a man’s grip on God

Luke 5:17-20
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.”

Where God’s word has been preached or taught, power is present. Where the Holy Spirit is also power of God is there. But you will notice that even though the power of God was present to heal, nobody got healed until someone came who had faith. Faith is what is used to take hold of the power of God to heal, deliver or prosper. So until a faith connection is made with the power of God, nothing happens even though the power of the Lord is present.

I believe this is why someone said that faith is a man’s grip on God, this is because faith is your hand in the realm of the spirit with which you take hold. The way you make the faith connection with the power of God is by speaking it with your mouth. This is what you see with the woman that had an issue of blood.(Mark 5:25)   

The Scriptures said she kept on saying, “if I may but touch the hem of His garments, I shall be whole”. Then there was the case of Blind Bartimeus, who also shouted when he heard Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. I want you to know today that God’s power is hovering over you today, speak out and make that connection with the power of God and receive your miracle.

The use of faith

Mark 11:22-24

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

It seemed like Jesus broke the use of faith down to two major things: Firstly, it is to get stuff you don’t want but are already in your life out, “…that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed…”. Secondly, it is to get stuff you want in, “…what things soever ye desire, when ye pray…” 

Some people will feel guilty that that is all their faith is for but there is nothing to be guilty about because these words came out of the lips of Jesus. Faith will get things out of your life, this means there is nothing that the enemy brings your way that you cannot get rid off. Be they bad habits, sin, sickness, failure, poverty and lack and it does not matter how long or complex such things have been, you can get rid of them. 

Now, it is interesting that when it comes to getting rid of things, Jesus said you should just speak to those things and they will obey you. Now when it comes to getting stuff that you want, whether they are spiritual material, physical or financial, Jesus said you should pray to Him, come and ask him for it. James said people receive not because they ask not, and Jesus said some where else ask and receive so that your joy may be full.

What comes next to obedience?

Romans 4:12

“And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.”

One more thing on walking in the steps of the faith of Abraham. After righteousness has been established in the heart as the heart is changed and the fear of God is implanted in the heart, it enables obedience. Now look at what comes next to obedience:

“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Hebrews 11:11 KJV

What comes next to obedience? You receive strength to do whatever you have been asked to do. But that is not how we want it, we want to receive strength first before we obey. But the word shows us that you have to step out in obedience first before you find the strength you need. When you understand that with God He counts willingness of the heart as though you have obeyed, then you will realise that firstly what God is looking for is that in your heart you have said yes.

“For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” 2Corinthians 8:12

“Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands.” THE MESSAGE

This needs to be understood because once you understand it, it takes away the hesitation you feel in responding to the pull of the Spirit of God because you are thinking you don’t have the strength to carry it out.  The ability to do comes after the willingness of the heart to do. This is where faith comes in, faith is of the heart, so it is through faith you make your heart willing. Nothing needs to be on the outside for you to become willing to do by faith.

CONFESSION: I DECLARE BY FAITH RIGHT NOW THAT I AM A WILLING CHILD OF GOD. I AM WILLING TO DO ALL THAT GOD WOULD HAVE ME DO.

Faith is in Steps

Romans 4:12
“And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.”

The Scriptures say that we walk by faith, so faith is a walk and if it is a walk then it is in steps. We live and walk by faith in steps, one step after another. Abraham the father of faith, his faith walk was in steps and the Bible says he is the father of us also who walk after the same steps he walked. In looking at Hebrews Chapter Eleven, we can glean the steps that are involved in the life of faith. 

We have looked at them separately but I want to bring

Faith increases our capacity

Hebrews 11:11
“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.”

Sarah bears witnesses to us that faith brings into the life of the one who has it an increased capacity. Faith increases our capacity and enables us to do more than we normally do. I like the way the Message Bible expressed our text:

“By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant…”

She that was barren was able to become pregnant! Even though the context has to do with fruit of the womb, we can apply it to fruitfulness in every area. So you may seemingly be barren of ideas to move your life, your business, etc. forward but if you allow your faith in God to have it’s expression, you will be amazed at what will come forth from you. This is because faith comes from God and it is also faith in God. 

That is why a man who had been blind from his birth could come to the place that he begins to entertain the thought of seeing like everybody else. Or a woman who had suffered at the hands of doctors for twelve years could express hope of living a life free from that issue that had been part of her life all these while. 

When Jesus wanted to liken a man who hears His word and does not do or does them , He said such a one is likened to one who builds a house. Why liken to one who builds a house? It is because faith in God brings to the one who has it an increase in capacity, you have the capacity to build, to grow, increase and enlarge. No more barrenness , no more unfruitfulness and no more stagnation. You have received strength through faith to conceive and to bring forth.

CONFESSION: I believe I have a greater capacity through faith. I can generate fresh ideas.

PRAYER: I pray for you today, that you receive a fresh baptism of ideas from on high in Jesus name.

Reverential fear of God

Hebrews 11:7
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Let me go back to the lessons we have been learning from the Heroes of faith in Hebrews Chapter Eleven. We see today something else faith brought to Noah which we easily skip over also because it does sound like a faith word. It is fear. The Scriptures say, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear…”. It is easy to skip over this when teaching faith but it is clear by faith Noah moved with fear. 

This however is not the fear that brings bondage, but the reverential fear of God, which is a health fear. This fear is a necessary fear in the life of every believer because it makes you not to take God for granted or get overtly familiar with God that you do not respect Him. 

The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10; KJV)

“For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every kind of understanding”. (Living Bible)

What is wisdom? In it’s basic definition it means the application of knowledge. It means knowing what to do in a given situation. Now the Scriptures say the fear of God is basic to that, which means without the fear of God, you probably will start out on the wrong foot. Now you can understand the sequence of our text for meditation. 

Noah did not just go out to prepare the ark because he had faith, no, after the faith came a fear of God that also guided him in knowing what to do. Don’t just move out because you have faith, balance it with a fear of God, and you will never miss with God.

You have enough faith

Matt 17:20
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Mark 4:31-32
“It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”

Have you ever prayed that God should increase your faith because you believe your faith is too small to get the job done? Let me encourage you today and say you have enough faith in you to get the job done, have your needs met, heal you of that infirmity. How can you say that; you ask?
I did not say it, Jesus said it. He said if you have faith as small as mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, remove hence to yonder place. 

Jesus said, the mountain will move! He did not stop there, He went further to say something more incredulous to believe: He said, “and NOTHING shall be impossible unto you”. Now do you know the size of a mustard seed? It is said it is so small, hardly can it be seen with the naked eye. Now how small do you think your faith is? 

No matter how small, Jesus said even if it is so small that you hardly feel you have got it, with that size of faith if you will say to the mountain be removed, Jesus said it will move! Let me proffer some reasons why such faith will move mountains.

Firstly, because it is a faith that is rooted in God and is directed towards God.

Secondly, it is because, the scripture says that when that mustard seed size faith is planted, it does not remain the same size, it grows and becomes greater than what it is planted against. 

That is, when you put your mustard seed size faith against the mountain, it keeps growing until it becomes larger than the mountain, and that is when the mountain moves. But when you keep looking at the smallness of your faith and because of its size you do not put it against anything, it remains small and never gets anything done. So, take your faith today and speak to the mountain in your life, and watch it obey you.