I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your congregation are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed.

Don’t Walk Out on God

There are a lot of smooth-talking charlatans loose in the world who refuse to believe that Jesus Christ was truly human, a flesh-and-blood human being. Give them their true title: Deceiver! Antichrist!

And be very careful around them so you don’t lose out on what we’ve worked so diligently in together; I want you to get every reward you have coming to you. Anyone who gets so progressive in his thinking that he walks out on the teaching of Christ, walks out on God. But whoever stays with the teaching, stays faithful to both the Father and the Son.

If anyone shows up who doesn’t hold to this teaching, don’t invite him in and give him the run of the place. That would just give him a platform to perpetuate his evil ways, making you his partner.

I have a lot more things to tell you, but I’d rather not use paper and ink. I hope to be there soon in person and have a heart-to-heart talk. That will be far more satisfying to both you and me. Everyone here in your sister congregation sends greetings.

Revelation 22: 9
Maybe I am wrong, but you have to help me clear this from the shelves of my heart. It has stood in the corner of my heart’s library like a rock ledge, happily taking the space I’d use for important stuff. I tried to move it but it was more than a road block; it never permitted my forward movement and I don’t want to keep going back. So, I am fixed on this spot waiting for a superman that would take it away. I can’t describe what this bag of confusion that has decided to keep me perpetually at the state of pulling and pushing without ever recording any progress is. I went outside the house only to be greeted by men as feeble as I. I called them in their numbers to help me but their strength failed us to move this small looking mass that seemed glued to the spot. We consulted big libraries; Library of Congress was our first port of call but none of the books or images we saw was close to what I have in my reading room. I travelled back time to the time of Eden only to be looked at by Adam as a fool that has got nothing realistic to say. My heart was beginning to skip beats. I wondered if what I had with me was nothing other than an instrument of destruction – I mean God’s instrument of destruction.

Maybe my record of sins in heaven has stretched longer than River Nile? May be the accusations leveled against Job was the truth in my own case? Maybe I have left the faith like Samson and the Philistines have made away with my eyes leading to my inability to even identify what I have in my reading room? But it was not only me your brother that thought the stuff in my room was a complex structure. Great professors and librarians confirmed my observation and were as confused as I was.
So, when I got tired of seeking answers to this alien occurrence, I resolved to live with the unanswered question. I decided to sacrifice that spot in my reading room that I had planned to devote to my new reading gadget to this trouble I can’t be set free from because there was no truth to set me free. That was when he entered.

He was to me as beautiful as Narssisus, face perfectly line as though it was chiseled from precious stone. He was nothing less than the description of Narsisus as Greek mythology told me, but, he was more than handsome. No human beauty could match him; he was more handsome than Narsisus and still he was not a snub figure. He was not consumed with his own cares. He knocked on my door and quietly allowed me to interrogate him like a robber yet his temper remained calm. So when I was convince to a point that he was not one of the roaring lions seeking whom to devour, I allowed him into my heart. He became, ( with confidence), to tell me the about the thing inside my room in detail without missing any part of the description. I was not intimidated by his knowledge, after all, a lot of people have paid homage to the tourist site I now have as my reading spot. Probably, he had done enough research and is now here to extort money from me. I didn’t allow him to finish his unsolicited sermon before I told him I knew where he was going to land. He looked at me and I was sure he was not lying or he have grown too big in the art of lying that he could lie and it would look like the truth. I said volumes of unkind words to him thinking that it would make him to give up the game and allow me to rest in peace – I mean in pieces with the trouble in my reading room.
So, after the whole accusations, he turned and continued his teaching. He told me how to take away the burden in my reading room as though it was just a feather. I had no other option but to try and there it worked perfectly. His theory had no limitation. I could not face him. I remembered my journey through despair in the bid to get this same thing off my room. He was glad that I accepted his help but I could not face him. So, I turned my face to the ground and fell flat on my face, my tears were doing the majority of the talking. He lifted my head and told me that he did it in behalf of me (not on behalf of me), because I am his brother. In tried to doubt him. He  knew my heart more than I could imagine. He confirmed his assertion by pointing me to the scripture and then he left me with one instruction: never to hide the secret from my other brothers. Yes, I was faithful to that course but today, I see my younger brothers who knew not where it all started seeking to be praise for sharing the insight he made available to us and when they want to feel too important, they hide it from others. This has kept my heart bleeding for years. This is what I have against the Church today.      

The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more.

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message.

MIRROR LIES. #OnDeathToSelf
Sometimes, we find that we are extremely attracted to people simply because in many ways than one, they remind us of ourselves.
  It’s often not a surprise that emotions begin to build up because it’s like only Someone who is like ‘You’ in certain ways can really understand you…
This fallacious view in its positive form often comes with the over flogged notion ‘we have so much In common’.
   This is infact a part of the tests we overcome, Having given up ‘Yourself’ to God, it is even more tempting to pick ‘you’ back up in another person. Where ‘YourSelf’ comes to life and embodies a man, would you choose ‘You’ over christ?
This brings us to the simple truth, that desiring ‘Self’ dosnt stop, until we yield fully to being transformed into the image and likeness of christ. Internally and externally.
In Us and in Others…
2 Corinthians 3:18.
” And we all with an unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit.

“Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life (Proverbs 4:13).

Imagine that you’re a student, and prior to your exams, your teacher gives you all the relevant textbooks and materials to study, points out the very chapters you should focus on, and even the questions to expect. What do you think of the student who says, “I really want to pass this exam, but I don’t have enough time to study?” He has set himself up for failure.

Likewise, in Christianity, we’re in life’s exam; the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, has given us the Word, and He’s shown us how to use it. He’s told us that every problem that’s going to be solved, and every question that’ll be answered, is in the Word. Nothing outside it is coming your way; therefore, study it, understand it, live by it, and you’ll be a success.

However, if someone says, “I want to please God, and do His will. I want to be everything He destined me to be, but my problem is that I really don’t have the time to study the Bible.” That’s like the student we described earlier. Only one outcome can result from such an attitude: failure. You must study and give the Word of God attention in your life. How would you please Him, and be a success in life, if you aren’t acquainted with His Word?

The Word of God is God’s instruction manual for an extraordinary life of glory. It’s the only dependable material to build you up, and sustain you in the transcendent life. So, don’t neglect the Word. The best way to serve God, and be an extraordinary success in life, is to function in, and live according to His Word.

Jesus said, “…he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). If you’ll diligently and meditatively study the Word, you’ll know the mind of the Father; His heart will be unveiled to you, and by walking in His light, you can always please Him.

|| Proverbs 8:10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. ||

|| 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. ||

|| Acts 20:32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. ||”

EXTRACT FROM: Rhapsody of Realities Daily Devotional

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There is no substitute for The Word of God. Yet I daresay, Abraham didn’t have a bible yet he walked with God, so did Enoch, Noah and a bunch of others.

Even with the scriptures the Pharisees were far in seeing The Truth even when he stood right in front of them.

Its faith…

Do you believe God loves you and wants to fellowship with you, talk with you, reveal himself to you?

Yes? Then the Holy Spirit is the voice of God who has been waiting for your decision. The Bible is a textbook for your subsequent courses of action, to check if what or who you’re hearing is God.

If you rely solely on men’s teachings without the Spirit’s voice, you won’t end well…the letter kills.

God is love, and Love wants you free…everyday.

Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ (HEBREWS 8)

Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.

“I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”

John 6

Romans 12:6
As a young boy with this terribly awful voice that could scare life out of any living soul, I always felt that God was never interested in me so he would never be pleased with my songs of praise. I did think ‘it all ends’ on the stage where the lead chorister lifts up her hands into the empty space above her head and starts to pass this chill that made us shiver under the influence of her angelic voice. I tried to pitch like them and ended up creating chaos in the paradise of holy saints who were eagerly waiting to be led into ‘the throne room.’

I tried to train my voice but the more I tried to convert the noise I made to melody, the more distinct it became that I am the master of cacophony.

I looked at those dancing – I mean those involved in pantomime and all hope was lost. I was a definition of rigidity, so…no need trying to twist my body like these rubber-cops of praise. People were always glorifying the father for their sake and when they turn to find me seated quietly in a corner mourning my uselessness, they made my predicament worse by giving the look called, “your mates are making heaven proud and all you do is seat like an effigy and watch. Shame on you!”

I felt lonely even when the religious crowd were all around me. I wondered why God would create me and earmark me as the only creation that would never bring him praise, better said, “Glory”.

I wished…that I was Don Moen and that my voice was as melodious as that of Cece Winans’. I looked to see the choir growing in number, many that were as untalented as I was in singing braces up to the challenge of hitting the drums as their solace yet I was still tying up the lace of my shoe, thinking hard on what next I’d do. Of course music was never my thing so I tried out the bible club only to succeed in reciting Genesis 1:1-5, and that was the end of my bible story movie directed by the bible club.

I became the living dead, the definition of a useless vessel. The phantom story you wished you never heard – that was me. I was nowhere close to being in the clan of this holy saints who told me that all the activity groups that heaven would ever have is Gospel Singers International and APC (Adonai Praise Choir) and the only rendition allowed would be Choir Ministration. I had to make my conclusion, “heaven would certainly be a boring place” so no need striving to enter through the narrow gate. I wondered what Milton, my good friend, would be doing in heaven when all he ever did was expose the scripture in poems. Though Paul sang with Silas but he was more like Apollos, so tell me how he’d enjoy heaven with David the Psalmist. Heaven became a lost cause, God can take all their praises for all I care, and he can keep his heaven too. In short, He is a joke to think he’d play with my emotions so expertly.
But then this love song was heard, it was his heart song. He loved me so he gave his only begotten son. He’s never interested in my striving to have an angelic voice; he is only interested that no distance becomes a barrier to my voice. So, here I stand doing his will; not in songs but in writing.

Do you read him?