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Go and Die!

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Discussions or muses centred around death, in some culture and circle, is seen as a taboo; and you can’t help but wonder why. It is sheer absurdity and carelessness to leave an aspect of one’s life to chance in which death is a major aspect. If at all, we were all unconscious or oblivious of the circumstances surrounding our birth; thank GOD we are grown now. It’s absolutely a mark of responsibility and maturity to have an inclination of how one’s death would be perceived and perhaps even predetermining how it would be {C’mon that would be a glorious endeavour}.

Apparently, if we’ve been advocating that life must be lived intentionally. Taking some minutes to ponder about our death and the life after it wouldn’t be a bad idea. No fears!!! This contemplation is aimed at putting the different categories of death in perspective.

Really, it pains to miss a loved one, and it equally grieves to be missed by your loved ones. Quickly on life after death, never forget that, one, “it is appointed for all men to die just once”. Two, death is an inevitable debt. However, three things I believe are most essential here: _Prosperity_ of your soul; _Posterity_ of your impact; and the _Progeny_ of your loins. The first talks about the afterlife of your spirit – ETERNITY; the second talks about the afterlife of your soul, your ideas and ideals – LEGACY; the third talks about the afterlife of your body – OFFSPRINGS {Biological}.

1. ETERNITY: No guess work about it. You need to be sure of where your spirit is spending the life after death. I am a believer and I believe in the concept of Heaven and Hell. I believe _Heaven is real_ as much as _Hell is real_. So it’s a question of, “In which of these two places would you spend your eternity?” If you have Christ, a believer in Jesus who has confessed the Lordship of Jesus and walking according to His principles and power here on earth, Heaven is sure. If otherwise, hell is the destination. But it’s worthy of note that hell wasn’t created for man.

It is GOD’s desire that no man reject Jesus and choose hell. So the clarion call has always been there about coming to the saving Light of the Gospel. If you’re not saved, its about believing in your heart that JESUS came to the earth many years ago, lived as human, died for the sins of the whole world (including you and I), crucified on the cross, buried and He resurrected to life on the third day and STAYS ALIVE FOREVER MORE. Having believed that in your heart, You subtly confess that to you. And there you are – YOU ARE SAVED. All you need to do now is to walk in that knowledge of your salvation by joining a church with sound doctrines of your new realities in Christ. That’s all! No need talking about the contrary – Hell. The preceding is your best route to the *Prosperity of your soul*.

2. OFFSPRINGS: If you are a parent or when you become one and physical death sets in, you must or should have lived such that proper structures are in place to cater for the needs of your biological seeds. A good man leaves inheritance for his children’s children. Such inheritance are not what the _hand_ can grasp. It’s bequeathed to the _heart_.

Hence, preparing for your transition must start the day your offsprings come of age. A heart-to-heart connect is what guarantees a viable and lasting impact! Connect with the heart of your offsprings early enough. This same pattern should govern spiritual or mental offsprings – Your proteges or spiritual seeds. Bequeath wealth of knowledge, experience, impact, modelling to their hearts. Never forget, *create the COMMUNITY, then CONTRIBUTE!* Your family is a community already, contribute spiritually, mentally, physically, socially and materially.

3. LEGACY: What you earn while still alive is _reputation_, _legacy_ is what people think of you long after you’re gone. *Legacy is an imprint, not just in the publications of the newspapers or the organisation you led or the books you wrote but in the heart of the lives you have touched positively*. Real leaders don’t wait till they are about to die before scripting their epitaphs. They write it before they even start the journey of life. Then they tread it!

So may I ask you if you have written your obituary already? What would people say about your ideas and ideals? What would they say about your generosity? Your impact? Your compassion? Your commitment to growth and excellence? Your unreserved love for all men? Your passion to see changes? Your drive to be the best you? Your acts that inspire them? What confessions of your existence would be made when you’re gone? Which one person would say, “Your existence made the whole difference in his or her life?”. What would be said of your sacrifice? How many deaths would they say have experienced you, before physical death released its venom on you?

You should be a ‘dead man’ living. A _dead man_ deaf to the destructive criticism of people. A _dead man_ fully focused on his dreams. A _dead man_ who dies daily with portions of his daily regimens. A _dead man_ who would, all the way continually dies, just to see life manifested in people. A _dead man_ continually going poor just to see many rich under him. A _dead man_ living for something BIGGER than him. A _dead man_ who fears the Lord and is passionate about reaching the world for Christ. A _dead man_ always ripping himself off unwanted webs and excesses just to stay fit for his assignment and mandate. A _dead man_ who continually drills to make himself lighter just to travel far. A dead man with _largeness of heart_ who can accommodate the plight of the downtrodden and with _vastness of insight_ to proffer solutions to economic and national matters.

Why disturbing yourself with the ‘mundanes’? Why wasting the abundant oxygen in the cosmic space when there’s more you can do than just exist? Why struggling to stay alive when you can dash fear a fair blow and jab? Why grappling with success when you can _be and stay_ significant? Why be an element of social statistics when your inventions and creations can be known to have changed the dynamics of operations here on earth? Why haven’t you yet experienced death in many compartments of your life before the great physical death come lynch you?

It’s *TIME TO DIE!* Time to LIVE and DIE for _something_ bigger than you. Time to die for a higher _worth_ and _purpose_. It is a principle of life – dying to live; dying to catch a fresher breath; dying to propagate ideals that would positively impact generations; dying to see people transformed; dying to see hope rekindled; dying to yet capture a grin on the chin of the have-nots; dying to set am effect in that would ripple for ages.

Stop wasting oxygen, nations depend on your _death_. Can I just plead with you to make some rooms for your _death_? Can I beg you to please *GO AND DIE* so that you, me and others can find a *CAUSE TO LIVE AGAIN*?!

Keep raising the edge!!!????????⚡????

*@femitiamiyu*

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PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY AND TRADITIONS OF MEN

by Damilola
written by Damilola

“Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Matthew 15:2,8 (NLT)

A story was told of an event that happened a long time ago in an army garrison. A concrete memorial was erected for fallen heroes and in the night some animals came there and trampled upon it, seeing that it was still wet the slab fell and every time it was being replaced and this continued for a while until the General in charge thought it wise to assigned two recruits to guard the slab until it was dried, In the process, this general was transferred and the new general continued this tradition without knowing why it was so and this continued for years until one general whilst checking through the archives saw the original reason why soldiers where assigned to such assignment which was way passed its usefulness.

This illustration aptly describes the situation where Jesus found himself in his dealings with the Pharisees as echoed in our text and also in seventh chapter of Mark’s Gospel, The scribes have practiced a tradition which was for a time and it had long passed it effectiveness (Acts 13: 39), despite Jesus coming to show them the way (John 14: 6), they in their stubbornness chose not to adhere thereby making the word which is Christ of no effect to them (Gal 5: 4).

Jesus Christ obviously didn’t come to abolish the law (i.e Moses) but on the contrary to fulfill it which means bring it to completion and had they leveraged on this premise they would have ceased from their many excessive labours;

Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them. Matt 5: 17 (Amp)

And this simply means we as believers need not go through the same ordeals of taste not handle not to become accepted by the father other than to enter into the rest Jesus has obtained for us (See Col 2: 20-23).

On another hand our text could also be a pointer to the usefulness of the dealings of God in our lives per season (Ecc 3;1) and we risk making it a tradition if we don’t seek a fresh dealing every time and thereby we risk running with a stale instruction which makes us lack true knowledge and inevitable leads us to being destroyed (Hosea 4: 6).

Most instructions from the Lord as pertaining our love walk is always time based and the reason for this is so that we can learn the sacred art of dependency and trust in him rather than leaning on our own understanding (Prov 3: 5) and this is the pathway of sons (Rom 8: 14).

Orji Charles

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Line Up With The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Friends. I trust your weekend went well. Today, we will be considering a simple but profound truth in the Word of God. Our Christian faith isn’t a carnal one but a spiritual one, therefore the weapons we use in this journey are spiritual ones, with the chief weapon of the believer being the Word of God.

2 Cor 10:4-5 (KJV) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

Hebrews 4:12 (KJV) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Eph 6:15-16 (KJV) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Today, I just want to encourage you to line up your life with the Word. Many believers line up with the words of men. When a man calls them “useless”, they repeat it with their mouth and thereby reinforce the power of that word in their lives. When the Doctor tells them they’ve got cancer, they’ll Google and get all the information about cancer, the survival rate, its symptoms and thereby saturate their heart with the dread of the disease. This way, they could never overcome the sickness. The Devil has been destroyed (Rendered impotent, inoperative and harmless to the believer) according to Hebrews 2:14, 1 John 3:8 and Col 2:15. However, the chief weapon of the enemy against believers is Deception; making a lie look so real and then he allows the believer use the power of his/her own mouth to reinforce these empty realities until they become true. The devil cannot harm any believer any more than an earth worm would kill a king cobra.

When we worry and are anxious about what other people and the world say about us so much that the words of men mean much more to us than the Word of God, then we create the realities of what we focus on. Check your heart today, do you get overly reactive to the words of men more than the Word of God? When God says you’re healed according to His Word, do you believe it as much as you believe the words your boss says about you? How do we line up with the Word? By repeating it and reinforcing its power in our lives. We confuse our hearts when we say things that our hearts don’t believe. The results in our lives are a product of the fusion between our mouth and our hearts. Our salvation was delivered to us on the basis of Faith in our heart and Confession in our mouth. Every other thing in Christ is accessed by these timeless and eternal spiritual twin forces.

Romans 10:10 (KJV) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Col 2:6 (KJV) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

The same way we received Christ is the only way to walk in Him. You don’t receive Him by Faith and live by works. You received salvation by faith and you ought also to live by faith. Hab 2:4, Gal 3:11, Romans 1:17, Heb 10:38. This kind of Faith that we are talking about is a speaking Faith and we owe it to ourselves to line our lives up with the Word of God. God’s Word wouldn’t work for you until you release the Power inherent in it with your mouth. So the next time you hear a derogatory statement by anyone in your direction, don’t be moved with fear and line up with that word, be provoked unto faith and line up with God’s Word. The most vulnerable man in the world is the man without God’s Word in his heart and his mouth. He has no counter active force against the deception of the enemy. The good success promised us in Joshua 1:8 is dependent on the Word of God in our heart and on our lips of faith. There are no hard and fast rules about living a life worthy of the ZOE. We must learn to work the works of Jesus. What were the works of Jesus?

John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Jesus equated speaking the Word of God to doing the Works of God. This is the meat of the Christian Faith. How much of a hard worker are you? And I don’t mean the dead works of the law. The labour in the Word is the only legitimate labour we ought to labour in Grace. Hebrews 4:11-12. When you line up with demonic words spoken over you, your realities will be demonic in nature. It was not God that caused the realities to happen in your life, you were the one who lined up with those words. Shouldn’t you rather line up with the Word of The One who says He has good thoughts of peace and not of evil for you? Learn to put God’s Word in your heart and your mouth. Speak it as often as possible. Let His Word saturate your entire being and you will be shocked at the results your life will begin to birth. Every thing produces after its kind. Your mouth is the womb of your realities and your words are the seeds it carries. Put God’s Word into that mouth and begin to speak it with conviction and you’d see that the Word will make you into what it talks about. Have a great week ahead.

Hebrews 11:3 (KJV) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

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Earners or Receivers?

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Friends. I trust you had a great weekend. This morning I’d like to share with you a thought God laid in my heart just recently. I was reading through the book of Romans and I got to a point I couldn’t move past. I’m sure that must have happened to you before… I checked it again and bam God began to teach me some real good “stuff” from that portion of scripture. I realised while meditating on His WORD that the primary reason why folks have found it difficult to receive the message of Grace and His righteousness is simply “PRIDE”. I was convinced beyond every shadow of doubt that indeed, the only reason anyone would want to stick to his or her own way of “feeling” righteous and neglect the ultimate giver of perfect righteousness is just sheer blatant pride. I hope your heart remains open as we go through the juicy details of this post. I trust that this will rejuvenate your appreciation for the sacrifice of Jesus and reinforce your love for the Father.

Romans 10:1-3 (EasyEnglish) My Christian friends, I want God to save Israel’s people, who are my own people. I want that very, very much. I pray to God that he will save them.
2 I can say this about them, which is true. They really want to be God’s servants. But they do not understand the correct way to make him happy.
3 They did not want to know the way that God accepts people as right with himself. But instead, they tried to make their own way to become right with God. And so they refused to obey God’s way that would have made them right with him.
Vs 3 (KJV) For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, HAVE NOT SUBMITTED THEMSELVES UNTO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.

Here you will notice that Zeal isn’t the same thing as Knowledge. Many times in the Christian Faith, we are too quick to assume that simply because someone has passion and zeal, then it means he or she has got the knowledge of God. Apostle Paul made it clear that the Israelites had zeal quite alright, but it wasn’t according to knowledge. What sort of knowledge? The knowledge of God’s righteousness and how it operates. I’m about to make a statement that took all the boldness in me to write down… “No one can KNOW GOD beyond his/her understanding of God’s righteousness”. Anyone who says he or she knows God and has never come to understand His Righteousness, hasn’t even known the least bit about God. I don’t care zealous you are about the things of God, if you haven’t understood God’s system of Justification and Righteousness, you haven’t known Him. Paul’s prayer for Israel was that they become saved! Can you really imagine that? Zeal won’t get anyone saved any more than sleeping in a garage would turn anyone into a car. The best zeal can make out of you is the SAUL OF TARSUS, but the Grace and Righteousness of God has the power to turn you into PAUL, the most remarkable Apostle in the cannons of scripture. Israel had zeal, but not according to knowledge and that describes the state of many believers today. We want to please God, we want to do His will but we also want to do it our way; LEGALISM. We want to please Him on our own terms when all He requires of us is simply faith in His own Gift of Righteousness to us. What struck me the most in these verses of scripture is the fact that the Bible says Israel went about to establish their own system of righteousness and by doing so, they haven’t SUBMITTED to the Righteousness of God. Isn’t that amazing to think about? The primary reason they went about establishing their legalistic way of pleasing God was simply “Pride”… That is the unwillingness to SUBMIT to a superior way, opinion, power or authority.
Every time we find ourselves trying to earn our way to receive things from God, we’ve gotten into Pride. To God, this is the chief amongst all expressions of Pride. That you would think that it is your tithe, offerings, Holiness and Church attendance that earns you God’s goodness is just the height of dishonour to the Nature of God. God says you must submit!!! You must submit to His Righteousness, and how do we do that? By Faith! Glory to God. Not by works, but by Faith… ALONE. However in Faith is the Works of Righteousness. But here is my point, stop trying to earn what you ought to simply receive by Faith. There are those who want to earn everything God would ever give them so they can make their boast in it, and there are those who are simply humble receivers. No wonder Grace is strongly attached to humility and pride is the human posture against the Grace of God.

1 Pet 5:8 (KKV) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
James 4:7 (KKV) But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

You want to see more expressions of the divine flow of Grace in your life? Then SUBMIT to His righteousness by Faith. What does this submission do for you? It gives you God’s Righteousness and thereby gives you access into EVERYTHING God represents; His Power, His Wisdom, His Grace, His Anointing, His Holiness, His EVERYTHING. I am about to make another startling statement; Every problem of carnality among believers is a Righteousness Understanding deficiency problem… Every last one of them. You CANNOT understand God’s Righteousness, submit to it and remain carnal. This post is to whet your appetite for God’s Word and get you into that zone where you want more than just the drudgery of religious routines, self designed to please a God who is already eternally pleased by His Son and simply seeks those who will honour that sacrifice and receive it by Faith. This is why Faith pleases God, because it magnifies Jesus and dethrones self. So ask yourself this all important question… Am I an Earner or a Receiver? Every earner makes his boast in his labour, but every receiver makes his boast in the giver of the gift. Which are you? Have a blessed week ahead.

Phil 3:9 (EasyEnglish) I can be united to him, so that I am completely right with God. If I obeyed all God’s rules completely, I could never become right with God. Only God can make me right with himself, because I believe Christ.

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There’s Got To Be More

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Friends. I trust you had a great weekend. Today I wish to just unburden my heart. There comes a time in a man’s life when he comes to terms with PURPOSES. He begins to ask questions like Why? What’s the essence? What good is this? To what end is this thing I am doing? Philosophers in their shallowness try to use theory sized concepts to fill a God sized vacuum. When we begin to think of the essence of our salvation and redemption, an informed mind will definitely come to the conclusion that There’s Got To be More! The Father carefully orchestrated the plan for redemption for over 4,000 years and eventually threw in the joker the devil never saw coming; God became man! This changed the game completely. The sin of the world must be judged and rightly so, in fact to its fullest extent as the righteous God must Himself do righteousness. Every man couldn’t pay for his sin as that defeats the LOVE God intended to demonstrate and no one would have been an accepted atonement die to their imperfections, so God sends God to take the place of man on the couple of sticks on Calvary’s hill. For the death and sufferings of diety for 72 hours is far more in worth than the sufferings of all humanity for all eternity. It was in these sufferings that the demands of justice were sufficiently met.

This is my point folks; The materials God wielded in the Redemption of man were eternal and had eternal consequences. Jesus’s Blood, His Flesh, The Cross, Hell… These were not used in order to thrill our imaginations and create phony pictures of the essence of our salvation. Eternal substances were used because our salvation is a big deal and has eternal value. We cheapen salvation when we make it all about the things we can see, taste, smell and feel. The Blood of JESUS has got to be worth more than Healed Bodies, Miracle Babies, Church Buildings, Big Offerings and Fat Account Balances. Paul revered the essence of the gospel too much to make his boast in his material wealth, if he were to boast in the flesh, he confessed to have more to glory of. What did he glory of instead? the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ His saviour.

Phil 3:4 (KJV) Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

I’d rather know Jesus and the depth of His Love for me revealed in the tapestry of the Redemption plan drawn by the Father, than have all the things the world chases after and lose sight of the centerpiece of the universe; Jesus Christ. For He is before all things and by Him all things consist. Col 1:17. Am I saying we should not desire the fame, success and recognition of this world? No, but I say still that there ought to be a more compelling conviction behind our actions and inaction, and it should be the eternal value of our decisions. God will make a success out of you faster than you could orchestrate by your own whims, if you simply submit to His Lordship. Make no mistake brother, don’t get it twisted sister … There’s Got To Be More! There’s got to be more about this great salvation like Apostle Peter called it. Would Elders who Hebrews say have obtained a good report, stand in the corridors of heaven and applaud our lives today or in contemporary terms, simply “smh”? Yes, today we are reaching more people through media in decades than we ever did in all of 2 Millenia. Yes we have much larger auditoriums for our services today than Jesus’s little boats could compete with. Yes we know infinitely more today and have more on our iphones than the whole scrolls in Jerusalem could hold. So yeah it seems like this is the “MORE” season, but I challenge us for much more. Eternal substances must in essence demand eternal results. Years down the line, we would realise that God needs no Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to compute the dynamics of the Book of Life and Bill himself will have to stand before the throne and God to answer, not organisational questions or bottom line and marketing strategies but eternal questions that will determine his eternal abode. Do we realise that the whole essence of Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection was so that the eternal souls of men would not have to experience the teeth gnashing anguish of hell? Do we? Do we realise that Love is the whole essence of the Gospel and that must be communicated to this lost and fast dying world. Jesus’s love is the only answer the souls of men really yearn for. We have the answer to the myriads of the world’s problems, but we would rather seek the denominational glory of our “ministries” than exalt the name of the only Superstar of all time; JESUS.

The song writer said “I’m tried of the status quo, there’s gotta be more than this… There’s gotta be more, gotta be more, ‘s gotta be more than this…” I quite agree. Let’s live our lives with eternity in mind and Heaven’s agenda at the fore of our consiousness. Yeah you will get married and get a good paying job, buy a big house, go on vacations and paint your street red… but while you’re busy planning how you’d do that, could you pick up that old dusty ZOE you carry within you and critically alarm… There’s Got To Be More than this?

I wrote this to charge someone out there, whose heart beats for the kingdom of God more than it seeks growth for his own empire. Every man wants to create a name for himself, but who are those that want to make His name glorious? He is eternally “limited” to the human body and carries about the trophy of His atonement; SCARS, just because of the sacrifice He made Himself to become for us. We ought to live in the confines of His will for our lives, constantly seeking and pursuing Him. Picking up His sighs and signs in order to turn them into burdens to fulfil. Yeah, this doesn’t quite sound like the kinda post that gets you all jumping, “hollaing” and excited, the last I checked, the Word of God ought to also help us in the departments of Rebuke and Correction as well. This has also helped me and I do hope it did you too. Next week we will be sharing on “Eternal Seeds”; seeds you can plant in time but are bound to bring you a harvest in both time and eternity… There’s really got to be be more about our salvation than simply living, getting blessed and making heaven.

Have a remarkable week ahead.

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The God Kind Of Results

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Friend, I trust you had a great weekend. A lot of literature has been written about the subject of faith and it almost feels like we have been saturated by the Faith Message. Today I’m glad to provide an alternative to the Faith Message we have always heard; “Some More Faith Message”. Oh yes! There is no other alternative to the Faith Message except for some more of it. The whole essence of the message of faith is for it to be heard as repeatedly as possible. As believers, we should never get tired of hearing that message of life. Romans 10:17 makes it clear that the God Kind of Faith that has the capacity to move mountains only comes by hearing and hearing. Like one of my instructors said, Faith leaves by having heard. The moment you think you’re having too much of a truth, you actually begin to lose your grasp of it. You get too familiar and begin to lose the power inherent in it. The purpose of this post today is to remind you of this like precious faith that was delivered unto us. It is by it we overcome the world, it is by it we glide over the vicissitudes of life and produce results after the God kind.

Mark 11:23 (KJV) 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.

This is one of the most profound and authoritative words that ever escaped the lips of Living Jesus. It is so absolute, the conditions so clear and the expected result so predictable. WHOSOEVER, SHALL ASK WHATSOEVER, AND SHALL NOT DOUBT, BUT SHALL BELIEVE, SHALL HAVE are the absolutes you find in this ageless verse of scripture. Why would Jesus speak with such confidence and put his integrity on the line over such a declaration. I want to believe it is because He only lived by such a kind of Faith. The Faith business was no longer a venture he explored whenever he faced a brick wall; it was a life style for Him and rightly so… Heb 10:38, Gal 3:11, Romans 1:17 and Hab 2:4. We are going to consider these absolute variables and discover how they can be combined to produce results after the God kind. These are the kind of verses that knock religion down to its wretched face.

1. WHOSOEVER: God has never been racist, partisan or discriminative as many of our religious clergy have represented him. He is the WHOSOEVER kind of God who literally does not care who you are, where you’re from or what your past looks like and doesn’t consider them in relating with you. Even at the time when Jesus was sent only to the stock of Israel, He still had some time to attend to gentiles; The Centurion, The Syrophenecian Woman. He had time for the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the possessed, the mad and even the dead. The rich, the poor, the publican, the politician, etc. Jesus gave audience to whosoever under the old covenant, talk more of now that in Christ Jesus, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, where all are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise Gal3:29. Whosoever shall call upon the name of The Lord shall be saved, Romans 10:13 and this “whosoever” can receive anything from God at any time using the right access codes. Do you qualify to be called “whosoever”? oh definitely! Then you can get the God kind of results and wrought righteousness in this kingdom.

2. SHALL ASK WHATSOEVER: Jesus used the mountain as an example here in this scripture, but in actual sense he meant whatsoever. It may be anything; a child, promotion at work, a car, a house, money, a spouse, etc. it could be anything. However this “whatsoever” must be provided for in the Grace of God. Whatsoever Grace has not made provision for cannot be accessed by Faith. Now this is where some folks become more catholic than the pope and say things like “what if it is not the will of God for me to have this or that?”. Let me answer that with this logic; Jesus died for our health which is all encompassing of all kinds of sickness or disease. If I peradventure have a cold and need healing for that, do I need to ask if God wanted me to have my cold healed since it was not expressly stated in scriptures that God wants my cold healed? God covered EVERY kind of sickness when He took those stripes on the cross, so I simply reach out and get my healing. As long as I am asking if it is God’s will to heal my cold, I will remain sick of it. In the same vein, if we desire anything His prosperity has provided for through Grace 2 Cor 8:9, then we can have it. What we must consider however is our motive for asking. Is it to consume it on our lust or we are asking for it because we truly need it just like a child would need good food to grow healthy and strong? God loves us and wants the best for us. He doesn’t always scrutinize our desires as long as it lines up with His Word. The beautiful thing about God is that when we fellowship with Him to a degree, His desires become ours and we would not ask anything that is outside the perimeter of His will for our lives. WHATSOEVER means WHATSOEVER. Remove the limitations in your mind, He has promised to provide for all your needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. Just reach out and get it.

By God’s Grace, next week, We would continue with the remaining 3 variables in this passage of scripture. When we understand this really profound truth of God’s Word, results will begin to answer to us after the God kind. God wants you to have His kind of results and that’s why He has revealed this truth to us in His Word. God bless your heart and have a productive week ahead.

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Who Are You?

by Damilola
written by Damilola

When you hear the word ‘identity’, what comes to mind? It could be who a person is or what characterises a person, no wonder an identity card tells a little about a person. There are a number of definitions I have come by ranging from identity being ‘the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity’, ‘the fact of being who or what a person or thing is’, ‘a close similarity or affinity’ to ‘a transformation that leaves an object unchanged’, ‘who a person is or the qualities of a person or group that makes them different from others’. Looking closely at the latter definition, it encompasses all there is about the word ‘identity’. It talks about who a person is, the qualities of a person and most importantly what stands a person out i.e. DIFFERENCE.

Identity provides us with the means of answering the question ‘WHO ARE YOU’? In other words your identity is who you are. However overtime, there has been a problem of identity in the Christian world today. Most identities have been determined by circumstances, culture, public opinion, family background and so on and this has given the devil a pathway into many lives. One thing to note is that as Christians, our identity is in Christ Jesus, we are who He says we are; a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, peculiar people, called to show forth His praises. One may ask ‘why is identity so important?’ I’ll tell you.

Luke 6:43-45(MSG) You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree.

The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. IT’S WHO YOU ARE, NOT WHAT YOU SAY THAT COUNTS. Your true being flows over into true words and deeds.”The health of the apple tells the health of the tree not otherwise, in other words, the most important thing is the tree and not necessarily the apple because the tree determines the nature of the apple. Hence, if the tree is bad then the apple is bad but if otherwise i.e. if the tree is good then the apple is good. If you see an apple, you’ll know that the tree from which it stems is an apple tree, likewise an orange fruit or a banana. “…figs are never gathered from thorn bushes and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes” A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart and what is in your heart is as a result of your understanding of your identity; i.e. who you are. It follows therefore that it is who you are not what you say or do that counts. Therefore WHO ARE YOU?

Many times when this question is asked, people start by telling their names, status, if students they tell their department and level, if working class they give their job description and so on. However, I believe the question is far beyond the answers that have been given overtime. The same way in an interview where the interviewer asks the question ‘can we meet you?’ or ‘can you please introduce yourself?’ of course the name is important but then they expect more than just the name, they want to know who you are, what makes you different from others; your identity, that distinct personality of yours. And from the explanation above, it is quite easy to tell who a person is. (By their fruits, we shall know them). You might be thinking what all of these has to do with your life, but I must say it has a whole lot to do with it. Our identity is very important because who we are goes round to determine all about us. It is your knowledge of your identity that influences your words and actions. A man who doesn’t know about his identity will walk the earth like a purposeless person and would gladly wear any identity thrown at him by situations and circumstances. A man who is identified with Christ and walks in that knowledge can be easily spotted and the same goes for one who is not. Don’t give room for circumstances around you to define who you are, don’t let friends or family members define who you are because if they do it would affect your world sooner or later. Be identified with Christ and be who He says you are.

Romans 12:3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. THE ONLY ACCURATE WAY TO UNDERSTAND OURSELVES IS BY WHO GOD IS and by what he does for us, not by who we are and what we do for him.” Our identity is locked up in Him.

I’m sure we’ve all come across the quote which says “watch your thoughts they become words, watch your words they become actions…” Matthew 12:34 (AMP)…for out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. Now you might want to ask yourself some certain questions; what am I full of? What fruits do I bear? What kind of tree am I? All of these are expositions into the importance of a person’s identity and that is why a person who does not know who he is or what he represents lives a confused life. A prince who does not know his rightful place as an heir to the throne shouldn’t be surprised if treated less than who he is or ought to be. When you know who you are and you are confident and
certain about your identity, you won’t lose sight of your destination. If people possess knowledge of who they are and who God is, if they know their rights, their privileges and their dominion, they won’t be destroyed. Be confident of who you are and what you possess. Hebrews 4:16 (AMP); Let us FEARLESSLY AND CONFIDENTLY AND BOLDLY draw near to the throne of Grace…
Blessed be God for I know who I am and what I represent. I am designed and crafted by God, created in His own Image, I represent Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:8 (MSG);“…Believe me, I am quite sure of my standing with Christ…” We need to live up to the full potential of what belongs to us in Christ Jesus. God made us the same class of being that He is Himself, He has made us as much like Himself as possible.

Psalms 8:4-5 (AMP) What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of (earthborn) man that you care for him? Yet you have made him but a little lower than God (or heavenly beings), and you have crowned him with glory and honour.

Don’t forget who you are; don’t forget who He is, don’t forget what He has done and who He has made you. Ephesians 2:2-6… So, WHO ARE YOU?

If you learned a few things from this post, please do not keep it to yourself. Do well to share. God bless you.

Olanike.

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New Creation Prayers (12)

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Divine Perspective Readers, I believe we had a fun filled weekend? God has called us unto Glory and Virtue, and we are meant to be partakers of His divine nature here on earth. Let’s not wait to get to heaven before we begin to express the God kind of life in every situation of our lives. Jesus was never perturbed about any circumstance whatsoever. Whether it was lack, or death, or sickness, He simply superimposed His authority over such circumstances… That’s what glory and virtue look like. We are still on the New Creation Prayers and it’s been very insightful, it’s fast becoming one of my best series so far. Many times I hear a lot of people ask me questions like “how do I know for sure what God’s purpose for my life is?” But I believe the quest to discover our God ordained purposes starts with this understanding… “God is much more interested and passionate about me fulfilling His purpose for my life than I could ever possibly be”. Sometimes we just think and act like we are the ones with “plenty” passion and urgency about fulfilling purpose. As though God needs some incentives from us in order to be faster with revealing our destiny to us. We must understand that God is far much more passionate about us fulfilling His call upon our lives than we could ever desire. No painting is more eager than the painter in getting the painting to the exhibition. We are God’s workmanship and God is sooo willing and passionate about exposing us to the world. He wants to display His many sided wisdom and dexterity through us to the world.

2 Tim 1:9 (KJV) Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own Purpose and Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

So if God is more passionate about me fulfilling purpose than I could ever be, why is it so hard for Him to just tell me what to do? It’s simple, the reason is because there is a preconceived notion about what we actually want to do, and we are looking in the wrong places for God’s leading. Our desires have been shaped by what we see on the tv, hear from friends, family and preachers alike. We want our purpose to be something we like, something we enjoy doing, something we have talent for, so somehow we have “boxed” God into a cage of options. We list out our talents, strengths and abilities and figure out the range of our options. This automatically shuts God out, He doesn’t work where human factors are being considered. Pay attention to the verse we put up in 2 Tim 1:9. Bible says He did not call us according to our works, in other words, God did not consider our unique abilities and giftings (which He gave us) as the only basis for His calling for our lives.

1 Cor 1:26(KJV) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; 28 And those base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh may glory in His presence.

This might not be the popular trend of thoughts on the subject of purpose, but it’s fundamental for the believer to understand on how God ordained His purpose for our lives to be run. We will look into the place of our personality, abilities and talents in the next post, but we just understand this first. Because no matter how far God takes us, we must never think it was about our talents and giftings. He wants it such that all the glory reverts to Him. Thank God He didn’t choose Moses based on eloquence, then Aaron would been the obvious choice. Moses really then had to depend on God since he had no ability of his own. He called us basically according to His own purpose and His own grace. He is the Director not our talents. From these verses, we see the resume of those GOD works with; the weak, the ignoble, the unassuming, etc, if you belong to that category, then rejoice… God is interested in using you. Are your talents, giftings and abilities connected to your purpose? Most definitely, but are they the decider of your purpose? Certainly not. I realise that the most gifted people are about the most confused when it comes to discovering God’s call for their lives and it’s understandably so, they have a lot of things they can do, but don’t know which is the grand purpose. Here’s my bit on this;

Romans 11:29 (KJV) For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.

Many folks have taken this verse out of context and induced many meanings from it, one of which is that once God gives a gift He can not retrieve it… That is not the context in which Paul was writing here, He was referring directly to the house of Israel who had been irrevocably called by God. I’m not saying the inferred meanings are not true, but we must learn to stick to the context of scriptures, so we don’t get conned…Hehehe. Context is King. I made a quick deduction from this verse however… if you check the verse properly, you will realise that “gift” is pluralised while “calling” isn’t. I’m heading somewhere, please follow me closely. Our calling is One, like we discovered in the last post, we need to be distinct in order to be clear and impactful, we can’t be about many things and be as effective in all areas. However we might have so many gifts to accompany the calling but they do not replace the calling. Our calling is One, our gifts could be diverse. If we use our gifts as cursor to find our calling, we will get confused, we must seek our calling first as though we had no gift. That is, we seek our calling in God, blinding our minds to the preconception our gifts may offer. Our calling is just one thing, but the beautiful thing is that, nothing fuses ALL our gifts into one productive unit like our calling would. Your calling will maximise your life. Just like the palm tree, when we’re in the place of our call, every part of our lives becomes useful and purposeful, we are not clueless, confused or caged. Discovering God’s purpose for your life is one of the most liberating experiences you will ever have, stress will fly out of your life, fulfillment and satisfaction will take abode in you. Greed, comparison, jealousy, envy and every evil tendency will lose its hold over you. You will know that the marking scheme of your life is different from others and you will mind your own business fulfilling God’s plan for your life. Notice that 2Tim1:9 makes it clear that immediately after getting saved, being about the father’s business in fuelling His purpose for our lives is the next most important step in the right direction. There’s really no time to waste. The best time to discover God’s purpose for your life was “before” you were formed in your mother’s womb, the next best time is NOW. How do you do that? You seek the caller, so you know His designation. Seek Him with all your heart, take your mind off your gifts and talents and focus on the one who called you. Don’t be so fixated on the tools (talents) that you lose sight of the assignment. He’s got bigger dreams for you than your mind can capture and He’s more than willing to let you on in on them as long as you’re yielded to Him. It’s the easiest thing to do if you do it right. God is a gentle man, He won’t undo your thoughts and capture them to reveal His purpose to you, you’ve got to yield to Him.

Eph 1:18 (KJV) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling…

You see why it’s such a powerful prayer? Your provision is connected to your calling, at the very least, if you get this right, your petitions will reduce drastically. If all God wanted for your life is for you to get saved and be with Him in heaven forever, then He wouldn’t have bothered sending you down here in the first place, which was a risk. He would risk the possibility of you rejecting Him after landing on earth because you’ve got your free will. Being in heaven with Him would have guaranteed your abiding with Him forever… But His purpose for you was strong enough to deserve such a risk. If all He wanted was for you to keep His company in heaven, then every believer ought to be killed immediately after getting saved so they can get to heaven on time. We’re here on earth to carry out His agenda and not ours. That’s why the prayer Jesus taught us to pray is “thy will be done on earth (through us), as it is in heaven”. We are going to go to a step further in our discussion on The Hope Of his Calling in our next post. Have a purposeful week ahead… 🙂

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Acting On The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning DPF, it’s another beautiful week ahead of us. We’re about entering into the second half of the year, I mean… I still remember the first day of the year,*sighs*. So if you’re like me, you’d have reflected on how far the year has gone so far. For me, it’s been eventful and fulfilling. One of the remarkable things that happened this year, was the fact that I met you. Yes YOU!!! Post after post, you didn’t stop following Divine Perspective and i don’t take that for granted. I do hope it’s being a blessing to you. I’ve been doing this for about two months now, and I trust God for Strength and Grace to continue.

Today we’d be continuing on our Word Series, but zoom in on Acting On The Word as the topic. Christians are generally referred to as believers, and so somehow in our subconscious, we just have this notion that whether we’re actively doing anything about our faith towards God or not, we’re still “believers”. That’s true, only if our faith towards God is just all about getting saved and remaining saved, but if you have a hunger for more manifestation of the supernatural in your life, if you thirst for an experience of God in your daily routine, if you want to live an extraordinary life here on earth, then you have no other way of doing that apart from believing God’s Word and acting on it. Believing is an active word, it’s not passive at all. When you believe God’s Word, your spirit, soul and body are all involved. As believers, we need to take God’s Word as the final authority on any matter and then go a step further by acting on the Word, that is to DOing the Word.

James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

When you say you believe God’s Word, check your actions, are they in sync with your belief? This is usually where Christians find a disconnect between their pronounced promise and the reality of their promise. That God said it, makes it true already, whether or not you believe it to the point of acting on it. However, for that Word to be true in your life, you would need to give God’s Word the authority over your own life, by acting and agreeing with the Word. I know I might have lost you there but let’s see it in the Word.

Romans 3:3-4a For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4 God forbid…

We need to know that we have more authority over our lives than God does. I’ll repeat it again so it would sink. You have more authority over your life than God Almighty, the All Powerful God does. That might shock you, but it’s the truth, and one thing about God is that He respects authority. We need to understand this so we can understand how important acting on God’s Word is to our lives. Jesus as powerful as He is, would never badge into any man’s heart, He would knock, not just because He is a gentleman, but also because He doesn’t have the authority to just enter into any life uninvited.

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

God needs your cooperation with Him before He can ever work in your life. God gave us the will to decide and make choices, that is an authority He has given us and will never violate. That is why in Romans 12, Paul was beseeching the Romans to submit themselves and present their bodies a living sacrifice unto God, God couldn’t take it over from them if they didn’t submit it to Him. We have a lot of authority on earth, because God gave man the earth to rule, dominate and subdue, and for God to work in any life on earth, that life must give God the authority to work in his/her life by acting on God’s Word. Our body is what gives us authority on earth, anyone without a body has no authority on earth. So demons have no authority except a human being yields his/her body to them to possess and take over. That’s why if a possessed person doesn’t want the demon to leave, no man of God can cast it out, however anointed. God gave man authority over demons, animals and things in the earth, but not over another human being.

All these is to establish to you the import of acting on God’s Word. If God’s Word says you’re healed, if you never act on it, by using your mouth to speak to decree the Word and your body to act upon it, then you’re not yielding your body as a living sacrifice to God, and hence you’re not giving God the authority to live out His Word through you. Whether you yield to Him (The Word) or not, God’s Word is settled in heaven, but you must cooperate with Him (The Word) to bring the promise to pass by acting on the Word. Let me show you something:

Matt 18:18(Amp) Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.

Matt 6:10(kjv) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

You can’t make happen what God hasn’t made happen, but that God has made it happen in heaven doesn’t automatically give you entry into its reality on earth, you’ve got to act on the Word, else you run the risk of deceiving yourself. Don’t say you believe God’s Word until your body cooperates with you in doing that Word. Until Abraham believed God enough by praying to God to heal barren women in the house of Abimelech in Gen 20, he didn’t have a child, but when he acted indeed like the father of many nations by praying for a barren household, he got his own seed in the very next verse… Gen 21:1. If in Gen 20, Abraham had refused to act on the Word he claimed to believe, he would not have seen Isaac in Gen 21. Smith Wigglesworth was narrated to pace the floor of a meeting for several minutes, shouting one phrase; FAITH IS AN ACT!!!

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Praying The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning. I believe your week was productive? Please do well to have a restful weekend. We’ll continue along the lines of The Word this morning, but settle on the premise of Praying The Word. Like I wrote in The Pauline Prayers (my first book in print), Prayer is one of the most mystified concepts in Christendom. People are just not sure what best way it is to pray and get results. For example, it is not impossible, especially in this part of the world, to find more emphasis on Prayer Points and Prayer Mountains and Prayer Churches and Prayer Prophets, instead of the emphasis being on the Word. I know some of you are like, “well those prayer points, churches, prophets and mountains have their place o, because they work for some people who seek help from them”.

Acts 17:30 Though God has overlooked those times of ignorance, he now commands everyone everywhere to repent.

God is telling you to repent! Put in another word, God is telling you to change your mind and turn around. The focus of your prayer should not be a point and the drama that accompanies it. I think we try so hard to mystify God, and then we say He’s too hard to understand. God is very simple, and all His ways that you need to know are very predictable and contained in His Word. Proverbs 25:2. The first series I did on Divine Perspective was tagged “Simplicity”, I taught extensively on how simple our God and the gospel are, and how simple our relationship with Him should be, (you can check out that thread of blogs in your free time). I believe that’s the platform of understanding upon which every believer must start his or her fellowship with God, else he/she will cover up a God who was bare and open to him/her, and tag Him “Mysterious”.

So how exactly do we pray? I still feel like killing some sacred cows though, but I’ll just go straight into our discussion today before I end up only debunking prior erroneous doctrinal strongholds. I have realised in my relationship with God, that the most potent and effective Prayer is the one offered in a consistent tenor with the Word of God. Now there are different kinds of Prayer, which I’m not about to go into, as it’s not the subject of our discussion today, but in order to effectively pray for situations and circumstances and get results, we have to have our prayers, punctuated and laced with God’s Word.

Is 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

I know many people are not very familiar with that passage of scripture. Your like “uh, how can we command God?” Well, God said you should. Some other versions actually found this truth too hard to translate, so they kinda covered it up by making it look like God was asking a rhetoric question. Listen, God is bound by His Word, whether you command Him or not, He is self commanded by His Word. God will never go beyond the provisions of His Word, for anyone or to do anything. The most honoured personality in all eternity is The Word of God.

Psalms 138:2b …for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

If God exalts His Word above His reputation, what has He not exalted Him above? Yeah, you got It right, NOTHING!!! The man who knows The Word is the one certain of victory in prayer. You must get this, the core of what your prayer life will be about is this:

2Cor 10:4-5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Our most lethal weapon in prayer is not gymnastics (head shaking, belly holding, pillar grabbing, neck twisting, rapid eye opening and closing , etc) our most lethal weapon is God’s Word. The bulk of what you will deal with in prayer are imaginations and wrong thoughts, that exalt themselves above the knowledge of Christ, and you deal with that using God’s Word. Can you pray according to the Word? God is obliged to respond in accordance to His Word. Like He said in Isaiah 45, concerning your life if you’re a son or daughter, concerning any situation and circumstance, you can wield the authority of heaven and make declarations by Faith in God’s Word, and see answers in no time.

I remember the ebola saga, where churches were filled with medical personnel, speaking about ebola, its symptoms, what to do when observed, and all the preventive measures. It was necessary to be enlightened, but we already heard all these from the news on tv and radio, we didn’t need that in the Church! I was in a Church where it happened, and the fear in the atmosphere was very palpable. The Church is a place where the Word of God is given maximum honour and preference above medical reports. Members needed to hear about the blood, about the Word, about psalms 91, how no plague will come near our dwelling, and how the name of Jesus is a strong tower, members needed faith founded upon The Word and then pray with it to release power, not consultants coming to expound on the lifecycle of the dreaded disease.

…But I know a man and others, who went into their closet, prayed, rebuked and cursed ebola from its roots, because it’s included in the categories of ALL things Jesus Christ rules over, Eph 1:21, Col 1:17 and should not torment a whole nation. Ebola left Nigeria not primarily due to our medical advancement and approach (there were too many loopholes, with people escaping quarantine everywhere). Then it (ebola) went into a more developed country which was better equipped for it. This was because some people took the Word of God, prayed with it and rebuked that foul spirit spreading fear and torment and told it to go in Jesus’ name. God doesn’t answer prayers emotionally, so quit trying to twist God’s hands by crying, know the provision of His Word concerning a matter, and then “command” Him.

P.S: If you’re yet to download your copy of my new book: Beautiful Scars, please do well to download and share the link with friends. God bless your heart.

http://damioguntunde.com/download/beautiful-scars/

 

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Inject The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

A very good morning to you this morning… Lol. I believe we had a great weekend? I thoroughly did. Still on the Word Series today we will examine what I tag “Inject The Word”, and like I said in the last post, so say I again now… Please if you didn’t start this series with US, you should go back to “Your Mouthed Staff” and the subsequent ones, so you have a full grasp of our subject. Today’s post intends to deal with the fallacy that says; “as a busy person, it’s difficult to study the Word of God and apply it in our lives”. As tempting as it is to agree with this thought, it’s very far from the truth. You can be the busiest person on earth and still spend quality and quantity time with your Father through the Word and Prayer. There’s really no excuse for anyone. To tell you the truth, God didn’t design our spiritual lives to be nurtured by a 50 minute sermon on Sunday, 45 minute charge on Wednesday, and a bi-weekly blog on DP. If that’s all you feed on every week, your spiritual thermometer reads “low”, and that’s malnourishment.

Devotionals are good, DP is a variation of devotionals in some way or the other, however I’m not deluded to think devotionals can adequately nurture a believer’s huge appetite for the intimacy his/her spirit seeks with Divinity. Devotionals at their best could just be appetizers or deserts as the case may be, they should never replace the main course of direct individual relationship with The Word. So how can the super busy corporate guys, who have to deal with waking up early, sleeping late, meeting deadlines, and any little free time they have, they invest it into rest, how can they spend some good time with God amidst tight daily schedules? The answer to this peculiar challenge is simple: Meditation! The demands of God are not grievous at all, whatever He asks us to do, is very achievable. If God expects us to live productive lives, He won’t tell us to stick our nose into the Bible all day and have no time for other also important areas of life. Prov 4:20-22 says

20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. 22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.

Notice the progression, the ultimate reason you must keep your ears and eyes on the Word (Listening to the Word, and Reading the Word) is so that HE can enter your heart. Trust me, if you ear and read the Word all day and it never enters your heart, it can NEVER change your life, it won’t give health and life. The reason for the eyes and ears, is the heart. They are simply the gates that lead to the residence. Nobody goes to a place and fellowships with the gate, you go beyond the gates to the courts. We might not be able to read and hear the Word all day, but we can meditate on the Word all day. How do I know this? Because I’ve been in love before, maybe i still am…lol And if you’re reading this now, you must have at least crushed on someone before. I don’t care how busy you are, if you’re really in love, you will squeeze out every ounce of time you have to think about the one you love. You will practically meditate on her, her physique, her smile, her hair, her eyes… You can even do that while working, driving, writing or even speaking.

You can’t be so busy that you have no space for the one you love. As believers we must learn to pour our love on God. We can meditate all day long. Ever wondered how David; A king, a soldier and military strategist, a musician and patent to musical instruments, an administrator, husband to wives, leader to millions, and father to children, had enough time to pour out his love on God. Psalms 63:1-3,

Psalms 143:5: I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 119:148 Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

Just keep God at the center of your most dominant consciousness and that’s all He seeks from you. Meditate on Him with every chance you get. God’s signature is written all over creation. Romans 1:20, Psalms 19:1-3. Don’t wait till you have all the Bible in your heard before you attempt meditating. Start with John 3:16, and muse over that. That’s why we memorise scriptures, so that we can meditate without necessarily going back to the bible every time we want to meditate. Keep God’s Word in the midst of your heart, memorize a verse a week, and keep increasing as time goes on. Don’t intimidate yourself, God just seeks a sincere heart that longs for Him. Meditate on the Word daily, that way you’re INJECTing IN The Word of life and you will experience a richer relationship with God.

Jer 9:23-24a:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me…

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Your Change Is In The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning DPF, I believe we all had a productive week. Today we continue on the Word Series, with the topic being; Your Change Is In The Word. If you’re yet to read any of these series, I’ll advise you start with Your Mouthed Staff, which is a few blogs away, and as you do so, I trust God for increased revelation knowledge for you in Jesus name. Many believers seek change everywhere but the Word of God. They sure believe that if “an anointed Man Of God” lays hands on them, their desired change will come. They will rather go to a supposed prophet to seek “fortune telling” (which I don’t see as any different from seeking divination from mundane oracles). This is by the way, but a necessary juncture; Every Prophet must primarily reveal and show Jesus Christ. Any prophet that only reveals details of individual lives and the fore telling of the future hasn’t quite caught a grasp of his ministry.

Luke 24:27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Every prophet must primarily reveal Jesus Christ. For example, any prophet that didn’t foretell of Jesus in the scriptures wasn’t regarded as a prophet. That was even in the old testament, talk more of a new testament prophet. Your knowledge of a person’s phone number and house address doesn’t quite edify anyone in the church, it does more of mesmerize them or perhaps amuse them. A prophet is not an object of amusement, he’s an epitome of instructions and prophetic declarations of God’s Word, able to move a person or a group of people to a place of establishment and prosperity. Be careful who you allow prophelie or sorry, prophesy into your life. That they are saying a true fact has no bearing on their authenticity, the young damsel following the apostles in the book of Acts said accurate facts, but she was demon possessed at the same time. Any familiar spirit can know the amount in your pocket and the meal you ate last. Beware!!!

What ministry gifts must do however is to establish men, by the instrumentality of God’s Word. John the Baptist was declared by Jesus to be the greatest of all men born of women, and the greatest prophet ever known in scriptures, primarily because he always pointed to JESUS. His fulfilment was hinged upon the increased followership of Jesus. He had no agenda of his own, he pointed every man to JESUS. He always announced about the coming of Jesus, and how much change He will bring along. John the Baptist directed men to God’s Word, because that’s where the real Change is. It doesn’t matter which man of God laid hands and feet on you, if you don’t sit down with God’s Word and put it in your heart for it to produce change in your life, you might well experience miracles every once in a while, but such a person can not be marked by a visible change and transformation.

2 Cor 3:18(EasyEnglish)
18 But all of us are like people who have no cloth over our faces. Like mirrors, we shine with God’s bright light. And he is changing us so that we become more and more like him. We become brighter and brighter as the Lord’s Spirit changes us.

To understand what this mirror or glass (as other translations have it) is, we must check

James 1:22-25(EasyEnglish)
22 But do not only listen to the word of God. Do what it says too. If you do not, you will be making a mistake.
23 You will be like a man who sees his face in a mirror.
24 This man looks at himself and then he goes away. And he immediately forgets what he is like.
25 But the person who continues to look into the good law of God will be free. That is, if he obeys it. That person will not forget what he hears. He will do what it says. And so God will bless that person in what he does.

Notice verse 24 says, he looks into the mirror to see HIMSELF. The Word of God reveals your true self to you. Your change is not going to come from listening to every news on tv, every headline on the dailies, every report from people, it will primarily come from God’s Word. There is no shortcut for the change you seek, if you want lasting change in your life, you want to experience, more joy and peace in the Holy Ghost, more directed activity in your work and business with little or no margin for error and much more, then you must get ready to stick your nose into the Word of God and discover the hidden treasures, not hidden from you, but hidden for you. Make the Word of God a priority in your life. You’re far better than what you see yourself to be right now. You’re just THE WORD away from your most fabulous state. Get into the Word and get into effortless change.

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Living By The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning DPF, it’s another beautiful week unfolding. I hope we had great services yesterday? I for one had a fabulous weekend. So today we continue on the Word Series we started a couple of blogs ago. We shall be considering the topic; Living By The Word. It’s not unusual for a Christian to find it difficult to see in parallel terms, the correlation between his normal daily life and his “Christian faith life”. Many people haven’t actually understood how to live by the Word. They come to church and hear things like, “You must act on the Word, the Word works, the Word is all you need, leverage on the Word… Etc”, and to be fair to them, some just don’t know how to do so.

2 Tim 3:16-17(Easy English)
16 Everything that the Bible says comes from God’s Spirit. And we can use the Bible to teach what is true. We can use it to tell people when they are doing wrong things. It shows them what is right. Also, with the Bible, we can teach people how to live good lives.
17 As a result, a person who lives for God can know how to live properly. He will have everything that he needs to do every kind of good work

The Word of God is the pathway to living a successful life. We see here that with the Bible we can teach people how to live good lives. How does your knowledge and application of God’s Word directly impact your normal daily life? Hmmn… I think the problem begins with people compartmentalising their lives. For example, you will hear people say things like, my spiritual life, my academic life, my emotional life, my relationship life, my corporate life, my family life, my social life, *still thinking o, which other life do we have again?*, etc… I mean, all these “lives” in one man’s life? I don’t get, and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t either. You’ve got only one life, and it’s a spiritual one. Because you’re primarily a spirit, all other areas of your life take root and source from your spirit. Your spirit impacts upon every area of your “one” life.

Abraham had a covenant with God, and it made him a prosperous business man, an astute entrepreneur,  a human resource consultant, a military strategist, an international affiliate to nations, and even an adviser to top Government officials. Some of you are like “uhn, where is all that written in the bible?” It’s all there in the Word if we read in contemporary terms. His relationship with God had a direct impact on every area of his life. Abraham didn’t have an agricultural life, and then a political life, and then a business life, etc. He had one life with its root and core in the spirit, but that impacted every other thing. We can say the same of David who was a king, musician, military personal, warrior, father, husband, shepherd, who also functioned as a prophet and a priest.

Rom 12:2(Easy English)
2 Do not let yourselves be like the people who belong to this world. But instead, let God change how you think. Then you will become new people. You will be able to understand what God wants you to do. You will understand what is good. You will understand what makes God happy. And you will understand how to live completely as God wants you to live?

Living by the Word simply means having your mindset shaped after the order of the principles of the Word. That is what it means for you not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How the Word of God grows in our hearts germinates, and eventually impacts every area of our lives is a mystery we might not totally come to terms with on this side of heaven.

Mark 4: 14, 26, 27 (kjv)
14 The sower soweth the word.
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.

Here we see that the seed is the Word, but how the Word brings forth amazing fruits, the one who did the planting doesn’t quite know or understand, his responsibility however is to simply do the sowing. I don’t fully understand how our study, meditation and acting on God’s Word impact every area of our lives, but I know they do. Joshua 1:8, says they give us good success, 1 Tim 4:15 says they make our profiting appear to all, Psalms 1:3, says they will make us prosper in all we do and produce results everytime, James 1:25 says they bless all the works of our hands, Prov 4:22 says they give us life and health. Yours is to do the sowing, sow the Word into the earth of your heart, feed it with meditation and application. Let it govern your perspective to life, let it be your guide in decisions, whether at work or at home. If you do this, you will definitely realise how fulfilling it is to live by the Word. God doesn’t always demand understanding before action, sometimes, He just needs you to start acting on the Word, and then you will understand later that indeed, living by the Word ALWAYS pays.

Till we meet again on Friday, do well to live by the Word,*of course, you should continue after Friday* and I’m sure you will have testimonies. Remember that I love you and I’m praying for you.

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The Person Of The Word

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning DPF, how was the week? I trust it went well. We started a Word series from the last post, and we are to continue today with the theme; The Person Of The Word. In the last post we learnt about the Word of God being in our mouth for a requisite change to happen. I have realised however, that believers hardly relate to their bibles the proper way they ought to because they haven’t perceived “it” correctly. The moment we realise the true nature of the Word, we would naturally gravitate towards it for understanding. The Word of God isn’t just a compendium of God’s divine thoughts, it isn’t just a compilation of ancient scripts, it isn’t just a body of law written to curb erring humans… The Word of God is the fullest expression of the person of God; JESUS!!!

Rev 19:13
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood:and his name is called The Word of God.
Heb 1:3
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

The Word of God is a Person, not a concept, not a creed, not a body of laws like other religions have. What you hold in your hands or perhaps allow lie bare and dusty on your shelf is the fullest explanation of the Godhead. You can’t know God beyond the allowance of the Word of God. We need to pay more attention to the Word of God. We live in a dispensation, where focus is a distraction (I really hope you get that). We are about the most distracted generation ever to have lived, and the tendency to constantly keep the place of The Word at the lowest ebb of our priority list keeps growing as we advance in economy, technology, industry and development.

After the resurrection of Jesus, the next biggest blow God dealt to the kingdom of darkness was the documentation and availability of the Word of God. The Word is our way to good success and fulfilled destiny. Without the Word, we are bound to conform to this world, but transformation will be far from our grasp. God doesn’t promise conformation, fitting into the mold and just sustaining status quo, God promises transformation. A total radical change from inside out by the absorption of Word contents into our hearts. Nothing beats the Word of God. Jesus is that Word of God.

Jn 14:8-9
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

God is not apart from His Word. Sometimes we Christians must admit that we prefer spooky to normal. If Jesus had said, “Oh you want to see the father? Abrakadabra… FATHER SHOW FORTH!” I’m pretty sure Phillip would have found it impressive and much easier to believe. But in plain terms, Jesus simply said, if you can’t see the Father and encounter Him through Me (His Word), I can’t help you any further, because I’m the only reality of the Father you will ever get. Col 1:15 calls Him the Image of the invincible God. Jesus is the picture of The Father. If you take a selfie of God the Father, what you will find on your device would be Jesus. And this Jesus is The Word. We must not get familiar with the Word of God. Perceiving the Word correctly has everything to do with how we believe and act upon it.

Jn 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The entire bible has only one central character; Jesus Christ.

Luk 24:27
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

You see, we can find Jesus in ALL the scriptures, starting from the Law to the Prophets. He is the ONLY message of the bible. You see why it is wrong for us to preach doctrines and traditions of men on God’s pulpit? The only one there is to preach about is Jesus, because all scriptures speak of Him and His finished Works. Whoever preaches The Word wouldn’t have time considering messages about externalism as Col 2 warns. The next time you hold your bible in your hands, realise you’re holding what holds all things together, right there is the primary force of existence, for without HIM, was not anything made that was made. God wants to fellowship with you through His Word, that’s the best He has to offer because that is all He has to offer. By God’s Grace, we will continue along the lines of THE WORD in our succeeding posts.

P.S: I would be grateful if we could help with the publicity of my new book titled BEAUTIFUL SCARS, slated to be released before the end of the month. Simply “like” the /beautifulscars page on facebook. God bless your heart.

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Your Mouthed Staff

by Damilola
written by Damilola

I came across a quote by Pastor ‘Poju Oyemade of Covenant Christian Center lately. He said that crisis doesn’t destroy anybody, but what does are the careless statements people make in crisis. I couldn’t agree any further. It’s amazing what happens when a man aligns his mouth to speak God’s Word over his situations. From our previous posts we established the place of understanding who we are and being confident in the Father’s love for us, in order to contain our condemner. That being addressed, I realise that the man who will not speak God’s Word is a man that will sacrifice his destiny on the alter of convenience.

Putting our mouth to war is about the most lethal spiritual engagement we believers will ever undergo. The devil is not scared of a man who goes to church, he won’t be intimidated by a man who pays tithe and offerings, but show him a man who knows God’s Word, and speaks it boldly, then you just announced his biggest threat to him. Your mouth is first for speaking God’s Word, before it is for eating. I know some of you are like “uhn?”. Yes, your mouth if filled with Word of God is your biggest asset in the kingdom of God. The mouth that is too busy to speak the Word of God, will eventually be too preoccupied with regrets

2Co 4:13
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;

The proof of your faith is to speak the Word of God. A believer who hasn’t exercised himself to speak God’s Word with boldness will not walk in all that God has in store for him in life. Speaking God’s Word is the active force of faith that appropriates all that Grace already made available. Many believers today pay no attention to God’s Word, thinking it’s simply a waste of their precious time, but nothing could be farther from the truth. God’s Word saves you stress, money, time and resources. It makes you wise unto everything that life throws at you. Psalms 19:7, 2 Tim 3:15. Not only is it necessary to know the Word, you must speak the Word. An unspoken Word is as powerless as an unwritten Word. The force of power locked up in the Word, is released at the frequency of speech.

Several years ago, I was diagnosed with hepatitis B+ at the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital, Ogun State, Nigeria. A terminal disease that affects the liver and causes its inflammation, it’s a viral infection which kills its host in months. I was being managed and my diet was reduced to a very dry and boring menu. If you’re going to die eventually, at least die eating correct meals that you enjoy, not pepper without oil, fish, meat or any such thing. I was given food like yam, vegetable and some other really boring meals. The idea was so that I don’t take protein so it doesn’t stress my liver during metabolism. I became jaundiced, my urine was very coloured, I was weak in my body receiving drips all day for about 3 to 4 days, then God showed me a verse of scripture;

Isa 50:4a
4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:…

I realised that in that situation back then I was both the weary and the learned, so I began speaking life into my body, into my liver, into my organs and into my blood. I’m not too sure of the exact time, but I became as strong as a mule in about 5 minutes. I believed the report of the Word, and spoke it into reality. I knew I was healed at that moment, because the Word was all the proof I needed, but others needed some extra months, after which I was diagnosed again and medically confirmed negative. The doctors had no answer to it, all the years of medical research hasn’t found a cure for it, but God’s Word did it in minutes.

It’s been 7 years since the hepatitis saga, and I’m whole, hail and hearty, thanks to the Word of God. The Power is in the Word, the Trigger is in your mouth. Your staff of authority is simply a Mouth yielded to God’s Word. Don’t complicate your life with careless words. God’s Word in your mouth is as powerful as God’s Word in God’s mouth. You must begin to appreciate, value, and gravitate towards the Word of God. Let it gain dominance in your consciousness and you would notice a vivid change in levels in your life.

Pro 18:20-21
20 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Job 23:12b
… I have esteemed the word of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Food is necessary, but God’s Word is even more necessary, so put your mouth to better use than just eating and gisting. We will continue in this series about our relationship with God’s Word, for it is the foundation upon which the Christian faith must be built. As you go into the week, do well not to neglect your study of the WORD. Enjoy God’s unmerited favour this week by His divine Grace in Jesus name.

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Containing The Condemner

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning Divine Perspective followers, I believe you had a great week. Thank God it’s Friday! So Let’s delve quickly into today’s theme: Containing The “Condemner”. If you read the last post, you will realise its central focus was to explore the freedom an uncondemned believer has, to fulfil his divinely given purpose. I remember narrating a story about a King, His Son and the Head Slave. If you’re yet to read that post, I’d advise you do so before going too far with this, because this is simply a continuum of that, and it would help a great deal in your overall understanding. I left off at saying that the king eventually returned from his long journey, what happened when he finally did?

Gal 4:1-2
1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

This is one of the most powerful and graphical illustrations Paul engaged to convey his message to his followers. In this context, if you read on, Paul uses it to compare our former states under the Law with our present reality under Grace. However, that opening thought is true even literally. An heir is in reality not any different from a slave, if he doesn’t know who he is. In fact, an hier can live all his life like a slave, not having a clue of his royalty and pristine heritage.

Ecc 10:5, 7
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler:… 7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
Psa 82:6-7
6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High… But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

Don’t be deceived, there can be a switch of roles. Don’t think because you’re blood washed, tongue speaking, demon casting, heaven bound and justified, you can’t live like absolutely none of the aforementioned happened to you. Yes you can! Is it normal? No, the bible says it is evil, it’s an anomaly, but it sure can happen. Will a prince fall as a slave? No, he would fall still as a prince. His identity is intact, but his reality is a contrast.

… So his father, the King finally returned and was appalled at the state of his son, he was upset and hurt. He left him the staff of authority so none of these would happen, but it eventually did, he couldn’t quite understand. So he called his son, and asked “where is your staff of authority?”, the son meanwhile is fidgeting, and stammering not knowing how to tell his father the whereabouts of his staff, then he finally pronounces the name “Olori eru”, which means the Head Slave. The most shocking thing in this story was the response of the Father upon hearing the name “Olori eru”. I would have thought the father will call the slave, demand the staff and give it right back to his son, but he didn’t.

God does no such thing. God has no business with the devil in dealing with His famil, He simply gives His family all they need to deal with the devil. So the king tells his son to go and get back his staff. God can’t give you more than He already has given you. He can’t give you more Authority, more Power, more Grace than He already has, it’s only a question of use, are you using what He already gave you? God is too big to engage the devil in a bout of authority, the diminutive wimp stands no chance. God can’t help a son to recover his lost “staff”, the son must do it himself.

How does the son contain his “condemner”? So the king tells him something like;

Luk 21:15
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Mat 18:18
18 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.
Luk 10:19
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

…And many more like that, then the son is energised and fired up by the Words of the father the king, he goes to “Olori eru”, and puts him where he really belongs. Beats him silly and sends him out of his kingdom. The strategy to contain the devil will never change, it’s always by THE WORD. Jesus contained the devil with it. You don’t negotiate with the devil when he brings condemning thoughts to you, you don’t become open to suggestions… You rebuke him, cast him and contain him. I said so much I wish I had time to expand upon, but I trust the Holy Spirit to condense it into a format compatible with your heart. We should consider “Your Mouth, Your Staff” in our next post. Enjoy God’s unmediated favour this weekend. I love you.

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Uncondemned and Uncontained

by Damilola
written by Damilola

A very happy new month to all DP followers, I trust God this month will be for you a month of increased revelation knowledge of His will in your life. Still along the lines of Redemption Realities, today we will be considering the topic I tag “Uncondemned and Uncontained”. This isn’t an attempt at cooking up a rhyme, but if you consider these two concepts properly, you’d find a striking connection, especially when you put it side by side with the realities of scripture.

The devil’s primary entry point into any believer’s life is condemnation, and the reason isn’t far fetched; to slow down your pace in the race of destiny. No-one who is condemned, feels free to pursue his God ordained purpose in life. Whenever you feel condemned, the devil’s ultimate aim is to make you contained. There’s this liberty of the spirit that exudes from sons who are confident in their father’s acceptance of them. Have you ever wondered why God’s approval and endorsement of Jesus came ever before he even went into the wilderness? Way before his first miracle or ministry assignment?

Mat 3:16-17
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water:and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

God expressed His pleasure in Jesus before Jesus had to chance to even earn it, because ultimately, you don’t earn acceptance with God, it’s a gift, you can only receive it. Jesus was so confident of His father’s acceptance and approval of Him that He carried out his purpose with so much boldness, knowing He had the backing of heaven. So Acts 10:38, didn’t say He went about seeking approval from God and men, NO! He went about doing all God has purposed Him to do on earth; doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil… For God was with Him. 1 John 3:8b

…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil

The devil is aggressive about making you feel condemned, because only then can he get you contained. He sure knows he can’t contain anyone who knows he has a right standing with God. For you to do the will of God as it has been written of you in the volume of the books, you must believe strongly in God’s pleasure in you. The devil can’t contain a man who KNOWS he’s not condemned.

I remember acting a stage drama a while ago, where I was given the role of the head slave (the devil), the king (God) had traveled and had given his son (You and I) the staff of authority over the whole house including all the salves, he was now to act in the King’s stead. One day I caught him killing his father’s duck for food, he did it in hiding so I knew he wasn’t confident in the knowledge that all the father had was for him, so I capitalised on that. I startled him and I saw the fear in his face, then I told him I would report him to his father upon arrival, and that I’m sure his father will disown him.

He was so scared and he begged me not to tell his father, after threatening enough to know I was serious, I agreed not to report him, but only on one condition; he would give me his staff of authority (I, knowing that whoever has the staff wields the power and authority in the house and even kingdom at large), but he was ignorant of it, so he gave me, (he thought; what use is a piece of wood to me now? I need to cover my errors and maintain acceptance with my father), not knowing his father was already as pleased with him as he would ever be.

The moment I grabbed hold of the staff, (notice i did not take it, he gave it to me; the devil can never strip you of your confidence, you most often than not, give it to him. Heb 10:35) I knew levels had changed. I became the the king’s son (functionally), and he became the head slave (functionally). He began living a life below the purpose and calling of the king for his life. I usurped his authority and boy! I made him suffer. He did all kinds of work; from washing, to sweeping, to cleaning, to running errands and all sorts.

Before long I started staying in his room, eating his kind of food, wearing his clothes, looking all chubby and well fed, and he on the other hand was already in rags, looking wretched and miserable, under his own roof, in his kingdom, in his terrain. What makes a slave out of a prince? Lack of an understanding of his acceptance. What contained him this much? Condemnation!

After a long while, his father returned… You want to know what happened when his father returned? Then watch out for the next post. Never lose sight of your acceptance in the beloved, because therein we find liberty to fulfil to the length, our God given divine purposes.

Eph 1:6
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Whenever you feel contained, ask yourself, do I feel condemned? God’s for you, He loves you and will NEVER condemn you. Romans 8:1

P.S: We had an outreach to an orphanage on the 7th of May, you might want to check out the pictures at the Gallery section on the home page.

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You Are Dead

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Good morning DP followers, and for the Nigerians among us, I wish us a very happy new era. I pray that the glory of this latter dispensation of administration shall greatly surpass the former. It’s a good day to be alive, especially as a Nigerian. However, today we’ll look at the fact that you’re DEAD. Understanding this spiritual principle is the primary key to living a holy and victorious Christian life. Like I have mentioned in past posts, Grace is not a license to sin, rather it’s an empowerment to live above sin. This reality of living a holy life will not be achievable without having an understanding that we are actually DEAD to sin.

Rom 6:6-8
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

We must know, believe and reckon that we are dead to sin. If we know and believe that, then it becomes impossible to live on in sin. A dead man cannot respond to stimulus, he can’t get angry, he can’t be aroused, he can’t sin, simply because he is dead. The bible tells us that we also are dead to sin and cannot be tempted by its elements. He that is dead is freed from sin, like verse 7 declares. The resurrection of Jesus gave us the empowerment to live above and beyond the reach of sin.

There should be a holy pride within us, which resists us from submitting ourselves again to our old slave master. If you have been set free from him, how dumb is going back to him to keep serving him? This is what many believers do not know, sometimes we see believers calling themselves “sinners saved by Grace”, you can’t be a sinner and be saved at the same time, once you got saved, you ceased to be a sinner, it’s not humility to say such spiritual schizophrenic statements. You’re either a sinner or you’re a saint, but blessed be God for we have become saints through Jesus Christ.

So why do believers get tempted to sin, even now that they are saved, if indeed they are dead to sin? Very intelligent question. The answer is simple but might be confusing, but I trust you will get it. It is because the body of sin is yet to be destroyed. The old man in the body is totally dead, very dead, couldn’t be “deader” than he already is because he was crucified with Christ several years back. But he left a body, which won’t be destroyed until Jesus returns, that’s the body we must train ourselves out of obeying its lust. So vs 11 says;

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You must “consider, count and impute” yourself to be dead INDEED unto sin, that’s what the word “reckon” really means. Believers must understand, believe and behave this reality, else the believer, though saved, sanctified and purified would keep obeying his former master as though he was never made free. Sin has its natural, physical and societal consequences, and it’s just simply stupid to continue sinning believing there are no consequences. You go about sinning and it won’t be long before you realise how grave, the consequences of a sinful lifestyle can be. You’d end up in heaven, but spend more time in jail on your way there. Sinning is stupid, especially for a believer, but God still loves you stupid and is patient enough till you get this understanding. It’s like a millionaire’s son living under bridges because he wants to be “humble”, that’s not humble, that’s silly. I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just speaking the truth in love. You’re better than living a sinful life and covering it up in the name of Grace. God expects more from you.

I know this article hasn’t quite tickled your fancy as much, however its purpose is not to excite you, but to enlighten you and get you out of that middling mindset of “Grace will cover up for me”, awake unto righteousness and sin not. You are sinless, perfect, sanctified and holy in your spirit, bring out that reality into your life and begin living a very victorious and holy Christian life. Let me quickly make a quick address to the verse of scripture in Hebrews 12:14;

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

Overtime, this verse has been interpreted to mean that if you’re not holy (sinless) in your lifestyle and actions, you won’t make heaven. That can’t be true, or else, no one will ever make it there. However, it means only by holiness will men see God through your life. If you say you’re saved but continue to live in sin, men can’t see God through you, because God is not sinful, He is holy. God is peaceful not a trouble maker. Remember the beautitide?

Mat 5:9
9 Blessed are the peacemakers:for they shall be called the children of God.

This scripture goes right along with Heb 12:14, it says they shall be called children of God by men, that is men will see God in their lives. If you’re a true ambassador you will live a life worthy of the citizenship of heaven, so that men will see heaven in you. Without holiness indeed, no man shall see the Lord, ok! If you make mistakes and fall into sin, the focus should be on your advocate, 1John 2:2, and not on your sin, else you will keep repeating it. You can only reproduce what you’re conscious of. Understanding this will get you living a holy life accidentally (unintentionally), more than you have ever tried to live on purpose. I hope you’ve learnt something new today. It’s been fun and fulfilling writing these posts on Redemption Realities these past weeks. God bless you, God bless NIGERIA!

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The Accident Of The Cross

by Damilola
written by Damilola

Hello Divine Perspective followers, I trust you’ve had a great week so far, and by great week, I simply mean hope you’ve had no trouble getting fuel for your cars and generators? Distressing moments for Nigerians are fast becoming synonymous to humorous moments, with several memes designed for social media platforms, to capture the desperation in the air. Sometimes I wonder if God has a specially built compartment in every Nigerian called “The Coper”, since we seem to be able to cope under any given circumstance. Hmmmm, like the religious cliche goes… “It Is Well”.

Today on Divine Perspective, we shall consider the topic I tag The Accident Of The Cross. Someone might ask, what accident? when did the accident happen? Who had the accident? Well, by simple definition, an accident is any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause. For God, the Cross was the crux of an eternal build up. The whole of heaven anticipated the day when Jesus would dangle between horizons as he hangs on the stake of a couple of sticks, serving as our propitiation for all time and dispensations. The Godhead and angels anticipated it, not because of the gory scenes of the slashings, cuttings, spearings, swearings and piercings, they abhorred that as much as Jesus endured, but they couldn’t wait to see many sons come into glory, they couldn’t quite wait to crown Him Lord of all, for on the day of resurrection did He become the first begotten from the dead.

God waited for such a time as Calvary! He longed for it, wrote about it. Every prophet in scripture spoke of Jesus and His works, God couldn’t quite keep mute about it, He was practically obsessed with the idea of Jesus redeeming mankind, He inspired ALL the Law and Prophets and spattered the signature of Christ across all delineation and lines of revelation. So for the kingdom of Light, it was pay day. It was the day The old but evergreen prophesy in Genesis would be fulfilled, the seed of woman was about to bruise the devil and bruise him bad.

1Co 2:7-8
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew:for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

For Heaven and God, it was the biggest HEADLINES in all eternity, every action was carefully thought and prophesied aforetime, JESUS acted perfectly in sync with the eternal clandestine script. He didn’t open his mouth because Isaiah 53:7 said not to, they couldn’t break his bone because psalms 34:20, said it couldn’t be. So God was aware of what would happen on that day, as a matter of fact, that day was in His memory, because He declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah 46:10. However, for the kingdom of darkness it was an ACCIDENT. It wasn’t part of the plan, they didn’t see that coming. The devil thought he had dealt with his sworn enemy. He thought the seed was Moses, so he killed too many babies just to be sure he killed him, when Jesus was born, he tried killing him too, instead, he ended up killing much more babies, then after a long wait of about 33 and a half years, the devil thought he finally had God.

He failed to realise his mission and God’s mission were one and the same; KILLING JESUS! but just that God controlled the timing of the blocking in this historic drama piece. They both wanted Jesus dead, for the devil it would hopefully end his misery and struggle for man’s dominion, but for God, it would begin the best era in all dispensation of mankind; GRACE. The devil killed Lazarus with a disease, and then Jesus allowed him remain dead… at some point in the progression of the story, you couldn’t tell the difference between their missions, but read till the end of the chapter and realise Jesus’s master plan. He had resurrection in mind. I’d choose resurrection above healing a thousand times over.

You might be going through a dark season of your life at the moment, and you’re probably asking God “why me”? Just so you know, God still directs the drama. The piece doesn’t end here, if you’d just move on a bit, there’s some bend ahead. Your life is a deliberate statement God is making to all creatures. You’re his workmanship, he’s more particular about you than you are about yourself. He has you covered. The devil is about to encounter an accident concerning you. Something totally unexpected, he wouldn’t see it coming. Don’t give him too much credit than he deserves, he doesn’t have the slightest inclination what God’s up to, and that’s why he watches what you say like a quidnunc, to prey on you. If he couldn’t outsmart the plan of God with Jesus, it’s an assurance he’s failed with you already. You’re not alone.

Heb 13:5-6
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have:for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

He’s a bad driver, and he’d always have an accident!

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Hell; The Ultimate Proof Of God’s Love

by Damilola
written by Damilola

I know some of you are like “seriously! What sort of a topic is this?”, just relax ok! For me as a person, this question has always been very top on my “questions to God” list, and it boggled my theology to think that a loving God would send anyone at all to hell. It didn’t make loving sense to me… If you get what I mean. I must also say at this point, that not all these “questions” are worth wasting our energies on in finding answers to, as some lead to endless genealogies and unending questions. Beware of such questions that never end but generate more and more questions, and it’s rather unfortunate there’s a religious sect that only focuses on such questions, quite frankly, those supposed answers never edify anyone. They reduce the gospel to intellectualism and philosophy. Questions like where do babies and animals go when they die? what happens at the end of the world? Any question that has no root in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not worth our time.

1Ti 1:4
4 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith:so do.

However, this question about why a loving God will ever put anyone in hell, boarders on our understanding of God’s true nature and how we appreciate the work of redemption Jesus came on earth to do. I asked myself: Is there any human being, senile enough, who deserves to be in hell? Yeah you might say Adolf Hitler, but it simply shows you have no idea how inhumane the condition of hell is, no human born of a woman should find himself there. But on a second thought, would God allow every and anyone come to heaven, whether or not they received the sacrifice of Jesus? That was far more unthinkable for me, God loves Jesus too much to allow His sacrifice on the cross go to waste, and that’s why those who end up in heaven wouldn’t get there by their works, but by faith in His finished works, and those who end up in hell, wouldn’t get there by their works either or evil deeds, but by sheer rejection of the sacrifice of the lamb.

Heb 10:28-29
28 He that despised Moses ‘law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Here, the bible is saying that there’s no hell deep enough, hot enough, or miserable enough, to adequately punish anyone who has despised and rejected the sacrifice of Jesus. Many of us glory in the fact that God loves us, hey… The real deal is more about how much God loves Jesus. Just that right now, we’re IN CHRIST. To properly estimate how much God loves us, we must consider the price for our exchange; JESUS. He’s the true worth of our salvation. A product is only as expensive as the worth exchanged for it. We would never know how much He loves us, until we know how much He loves JESUS and how much JESUS is worth to God, but guess what? He was willing to let go of JESUS, just to have you. That is exactly how special you are.

Rom 8:32
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Jn 3:16,18
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

We must go back to the price tag, to determine our true worth. So what did you think? That after JESUS had suffered the most humiliating death (death on the cross), been beaten by the most inhumane soldiers on earth (Roman soldiers), went to the most horrifying place of all time for 3 days (hell), and then anyone who rejects such a lofty sacrifice will get a stroll to heaven and a pat on the back? Oh no way! God loved us so much, He gave His son, what does that tell you? God Himself must have said “God help anyone who rejects this”?lol And so, anyone who rejects Him is condemned already. Hell was a provision of God to prove to Jesus, how much He loved Him. God allowing anyone apart from those who believed in His son, to Heaven, will be the biggest despise to His son. Hell doesn’t question the love of God, it further proves it.

You had better start telling everyone you know about the true Gospel of our Lord Jesus, He is the ONLY way to the Father. Our Dead Works will NEVER be, Morality will NEVER be, only Faith in HIM would suffice. There’s a Heaven to gain, and a hell to shun. There’s no love without an absolute hate for whatever could harm what you love. You see a man trying to molest your daughter, that’s when you know how crazy angry you can get at another human being, except you don’t love your daughter. God is Love, He has always been, He would always be. Never doubt that! I trust this has blessed you. Pls do well to share with friends and loved ones.

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