Why am I like this, constantly repenting from my sins and still finding in me the will to sin? Why like a dog do I constantly return to my vomit? What is wrong with me? Why can’t I keep permanently clean from sins fast grip: the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life? I have confessed these sins severally, yet, I find myself still caught in the web of hatred, bitterness, envy and gossip. Why am I like this? Why like a pig do I keep falling back to the filth? Why can’t I keep clean 24/7? What is wrong with me? I have fasted, kept away from people, done everything within me to escape from sin, yet, I am bound steadfast. How can I be set loose? If this is your testimony, then listen carefully. You are in a trap, like all natural human beings; a trap of Satan and sin. “How?” You may ask. Now listen to this.

First, you need to know that since the fall of Adam, man has inherited a nature that knows no other thing than to sin. Every man is born with it. Could you watch a two year old child pick what is not his own, beat the mother or spit at adults and you will stand convinced that he needs no trainer hence, Romans 3:23 states that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God?  Rom 3:9b &10 reports that all are under sin and there is none righteous – no, not one. It is this sinful nature then that makes you do all that you do. Sometimes the deeds may appear good, yet, the motive and the foundations are wrong. You may confess all the sins, make New Year resolutions, lock yourself up, fast, pray etc. Yet, you find yourself committing sin again. I tell you however, before you are through with confession, your feet have gone back to the mud. The truth, my friend is that you have an inward inclination to sin; there is a power within that draws all “natural” men to sin. Thus, as soon as the power stirs up, you just find out that you must commit sin. Even if you struggle against it, the truth is that something is wrong within so you can’t do otherwise – you have the nature of a sinner. Except you are delivered, your life goes on in a vicious cycle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again.

Then, what is the way out? You need forgiveness for what you have done, but far above that, you need deliverance from your lower nature – the natural self that loves sin. In Romans 6:2-4, we are told that the power of sin over our lives gets broken when we become Christians. “How?” This is a likely question. Ultimately, when we come to Christ, we become Christians. We become a part of Jesus Christ and through his death, the power of our sinful nature gets shattered. When he died, our old sin-loving nature also died and gets buried with him. When he resurrected and was brought back to life again, we were given his wonderful new life! Romans 6:6-7, confirms that our old desires were nailed to the cross with him. That part of us that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that our sin loving body is no longer under sins control, no, we no longer need to be slaves to sin. We are deadened to sin, hence, we are free from all its allure, and its power over us is dead! It is no wonder then that the Bible says in 2 Corinthian 5:17, “If any man is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, old things are pass away, behold all things are new”. The cross of Christ has settled my debt and his blood has cleansed and evacuated the old nature.

What is my own duty then? As a justified person who has been declared not guilty (Rom. 3:24-26), I am expected to walk in the spirit daily so that I do not fulfil the desires of the flesh (Gal.5:16). Moreover, to avoid being condemned, I must remain in Christ and not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit (Rom. 8:1). This is a daily requirement.

The question then is where have you failed and not made progress since you believed? Well, check your life today and rededicate your life to Christ. Remember that he who puts his hands on the plough and looks back is not fit of the kingdom (Luke 9:62). Stop now and make a mend before it is too late.

V. C. Onu

Have you heard of the popular story about the two professional fishermen and the two amateurs?  It was a still night; there was no moonlight to light the sky and shine on the river. These two    fishermen went on fishing. With a great prospect of a good weather, they hoped for a great catch. Unfortunately however, throughout the night, these people could not pick even a dead crab. Early next morning, as they were paddling their canoe back to the base to dry their nets and rest for the next turn, they saw two young boys fishing with hook and line. It was incredibly amazing. In a shallow turbulent water, these young boys were making a great catch. The fishermen could not help but draw close to the boys to understand the secret.

“Hello boys, we’ve fished in this river throughout the night but we could not pick even a dead crab” the two fishermen chorused, “having seen you make a great catch with your hook and line is really a mystery, can you tell us the secret?” The two young amateurs innocently turned and pointed at a rotten wood behind them and said, “There we found some worms that are used for bate”. Upon drawing closer to the rotten log, these fishermen quickly learnt that the worms were really a brood of vipers newly hatched. These fishermen ran back to the boys and asked them to show their hands, and really, these little vipers have given these boys some bites, but since the venom was not yet devastating as that of a big viper, they never understood the damage. Moreover their catch convinced them that there was a success.

The fishermen without any delay explained to these boys the implication of what they have just done and rushed them to the hospital. By the time they got to the hospital, the hands have started swelling up and the doctor further explained that two more of these bites could have equalled the venom of an adult viper. These boys were treated and saved from dying.

Intriguing story! Yes, nevertheless more of an intriguing experience, perhaps your experience. It may not yet have occurred to you that the little manipulations you do to pass your exam is equal to poking your hand in a rotten wood to pick a small viper for a catch. If you don’t realize it now, it is the venom of this sin that will one day kill you and there will be no one to enjoy what you call success (Jn 8:24).

You wonder why some people have passed through the office you are in now without making great riches. You are set out to explore it by all means and display affluence. Have you ever imagined catching a life viper to turn into a bate on your hook? You may eventually make a catch, but think of what will happen to you in the next 24 hours.

My beautiful young lady, your patrons have gingered your swagger and you are feeling on top of the world. You become so sophisticated and you are looking larger than life; more than your lecturers, classmates etc. You are in fact, the bread winner of your family now, so no one can dare correct you. You attend all manner of parties, drink, fornicate and smoke. You go to the church with less reverence to God, and dance your night stress out through the great beatings and melodies of the band. Probably going to church has become one of the social obligations so, right in the church; you still give some holy kisses. If I am to be sincere to you, I would say, “you are a joker.” Begin to think right now of what you are doing to your life. Some of you use holy language to cheat and steal. You wear flagrant dresses to church on Sunday and give testimonies even about things God did not give you. Can you have a rethink with these scriptures 2Timothy 3:1-9?

You may choose to merry yourself to the fullest, as you may call it, but remember Solomon’s conclusion about life (Eccl 11:8-10).They may have promised you prosperity, popularity and protection. Good! All these are mild ways of using vipers for bate but the truth still remains that if you don’t realize it now, your tomorrow will be in a messy state. What will you gain by exchanging your life with these things (Matt 16:26).

In the case of these young boys, they were fortunate to be discovered by people who understood well the implications of their folly. Moreover, the boys were ready to cooperate: they sincerely revealed their secret and accepted to be taken to the physician.

How I wish you won’t turn down the offer of help now that you have understood a little of what you are doing to yourself. Or would you still be obstinate and behave like a man who exchanged his legs for the most costly pair of shoes and never again had the legs to wear shoes? The choice is yours now. Jesus said in Rev 3:20. “Here I am! I stand on the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Will you now forsake your ways and accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour? Right!

Confess your sin to God in heaven and pray this prayer: Lord Jesus! I’m a sinner, but I have come to you today. I forsake my old ways and accept you as my only Lord and Saviour. Accept me in your father’s kingdom. Please remove my name from the book of death and put it in the book of life. Wash me in your blood and I will be clean. Lord God, thank you for hearing my prayers, in Jesus name.

Amen.

V. C. Onu

Morning all, this write-up is one that is dear to me and yes, it was inspired by the movie: “FACING THE GIANTS “.

” FACING THE GIANTS ” I must admit is one of my favourite movies till date. And before you guys eat me up I must let you all know that I’m not here to talk about the movie. Nah! I definitely won’t be doing that rather it’s the message that the movie passed across to me.

For those that have watched the movie, it has two major characters; “Coach Grant and David” these were two individuals who were facing different challenges and were backing out or should I say were on the verge of quitting but after a divine intervention things turned around for them and their school football team.

Well the message isn’t actually that things turned around for them but the reason why things turned around for them, the major reason is the “G” factor, that is the “God factor “. When it seemed as though the entire world was going to crash on their head they handed it all over to God and HE showed them why He is God.

There is a song by Deitrick Haddon that says “stand still and know that HE is God, there’s no need to fight, for the battle is not yours, the battle is the Lord’s “. They handed it over to God and that’s the reason but mind you, they didn’t hand only their challenges but also themselves to God for God to have worked.

I don’t know how many of you are faced with such a situation or facing your own challenge(s), there is a way out and that’s the way the “coach and his team (David inclusive) ” took. HE’s always there for you. All you’ve got to do is just hand yourself and problem over to HIM. HE’s always ever-ready to help you.

A friend of mine will always tell me that God will only help when you’ve lost all hope and also that the worst comes just before the best. So for those of you already giving up, HE’s there for you, just give it all to HIM, your challenge(s) and life, but most importantly “your life “.

And if you’ve not seen the movie, I advice that you go see it now, it will definitely bless you. And for those of you that have seen it before, please make out time to see it again, just did some days ago and you can’t imagine how much it blessed me.

GRACE!

Morning all, as I write this I actually have a lot running through my mind that I don’t even know how to express it the way I truly feel. That’s why the title is quite weird  I must admit.

My devotion today talked about the consequence of not striving hard enough in the Christian faith, that is serving HIM for so long and giving up when it matters most, that is at the tail end of their service or when they are about to be rewarded by GOD for their service on earth. The love of many have and are really waxing cold, several that have toiled in the vineyard have and are still missing out on Heaven and the only reason for that is ???? You answer it yourself.

Men and brethren we really, really, really have to wake up and realize this ‘cos the earlier we realize it the better. Casting crowns said in their song “Slow fade ” that “people never crumble in a day, families never crumble in a day” and I tell you our faith, believe and hope in Christ does not crumble in a day. Let us all be careful and cautious.

Also, recently I saw the obituary of a young man and it brought me back to what I talked about earlier. This young man died in an accident, but I didn’t come to tell of who died and who didn’t, rather it was more or less this young man’s rapture that took place then and

Did he plan for it?
Was he ready for it?
Did he make it?
Where is he now?

If the answer of the first three questions are yes, what of the last one? That one I definitely can’t give an answer as I don’t even know the person in question personally. What I am just trying to say is that Heaven and Hell are very real and the earlier we start preparing, the better.

For those of us that say we are Christians, what have we done or what are we doing towards bringing the rest who don’t know HIM to a realization of the truth? Remember Mark 16:15, that is a direct instruction from the master (Jesus) himself. We have a lot on our hands as the World is coming to an end and most importantly; JESUS IS COMING SOON.
PEACE!