WWF-What Is The Source Of Your Fear Of God?

July 6, 2016July 13, 2016Leave a comment

Isaiah 29:13
KJV:Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men
ESV:And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men
NIV:The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
AMP:And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips but remove their hearts and minds far from Me, and their fear and reverence for Me are a commandment of men that is learned by repetition [without any thought as to the meaning]

It is surely a terrible thing for one to have God’s fear as a result of man’s precept. Fearing God mainly by reason of man’s presentation of Him may not be helpful, and can be so detrimental. Let your fear of God be based on your personal encounter with God, while you are genuinely sincere with and cherishing the experience from your heart. That way you can always go on with the Lord through thin and thick, shine and rain, without necessarily having any brethren around you to cheer you on.

If all the fear of God you’ve known so far in your life is as a result of what man has told you, you are not doing yourself a good job. Honestly, you are not trying at all. When you will be up against boisterous storms of life, you might not be able to withstand with such knowledge. It takes personal encounter with the Lord to stand the test of times continually. Take your Christian race serious, and get into series of encounters with God continually. Let it be daily renewed. Believe the Lord Jesus Christ by what you also directly hear from Him (and not just what you know of Him from somebody), and make sure you are sincere with yourself from your heart in all things.

Remember God tries the reins. He searches the heart, to know the truth thereof. Do not try to hide from God. Many that do such are deceiving themselves into the awaiting destruction. See these:

Isaiah 29:15
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Isaiah 30:1
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin

Coming back to our study:
Hear what these people said to the person that preached to them.

John 4:39-42
39
KJV: And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
40
KJV: So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
41
KJV: And many more believed because of his own word;
42
KJV: And said unto the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

But somebody may be thinking, I wish I could hear Jesus Christ directly like this people. Yes, you can. In our time, by faith, we hear Jesus Christ directly by meditating on God’s word for ourselves daily. Though sometimes the Lord may choose to reveal Himself to the individual in different kinds of visions, yet it is as He wills. So, don’t be praying for such visitation. Satan may transform himself and visit you. Anyway, let’s take a cue from the Bereans.

Act 17:10-11
And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures DAILY, whether those things were so.

This is exactly how we go about it in our time. Remember Jesus Christ knows all about your whole life more than any man can. And most times many study God’s word with their own personal glasses on, and not Holy Spirit’s. And such may not perfectly present God to you. Of which we have many like that today. I say, therefore, meet with Jesus Christ directly for yourself, via His word, and by the help of the Holy Spirit. Reverence and fear Him for your personal encounter with Him, for surely, our God is a consuming fire. You are surely in the safest place knowing Him directly with all sincerity and genuine desire from your heart.

Shalom.

-Adebayo Funmi

TWS-FIRST HURDLE PASSED!

July 4, 2016Leave a comment

I have come to believe that life is a race. As a matter of fact, the race starts even before life on earth begins. What am I saying? I am talking about the race that happens before one is born. The fiercest and most abrupt race ever.

Picture this:

A race involving sixty million athletes and only one has to win. It is fierce as the rest of the athletes, who did not win, dies. There is no second chance to compete in another race.

Well, if you are reading this, then you won that race. I want to congratulate you for making it into the main tournament. You passed the first hurdle.

It would have been safe to say that if you won that race, then the main tournament should be a piece of cake. But no, you are now in a race where the rules are extremely different. It is the main tournament. Brace up for the challenge.

We are going somewhere.

Stay blessed.

#REHAB

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

JUST DIE (MY LETTER TO THE STRUGGLER)

June 27, 2016Leave a comment

Dear Struggler,

This is going to be a long letter but I beseech you to read every word of this. I am trusting God to use it and help you.

Easter is one remarkable season to Christian faithfuls as it commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Over the years, preachers and writers alike have done phenomenal jobs telling and retelling the story that can be referred to as a very important biblical folklore. This story took on a somewhat wider reaching dimension when it was told using motion pictures. One of those movies was “The Passion of The Christ”, which you must have watched.

Moving forward, I particularly at some point was a little concerned with the way this story was told over the years and its intended effect. At one time, this story becomes so compelling that it calls for sober reflections. At another time, it is told in a way that it scares people away from its true essence. I guess it must have covered you with goose pimples when it was told. Howbeit, this is the greatest story ever told.

I will not bore you with details because I assume you are conversant with this story; from the betrayal, to the arrest, to the denial, to the trial, to the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. You really did not need to have been born again to be able to tell that story. So I will not dwell here, I will move this thing forward.

Like you, I thought I was used to the story and all of its significance. But God set to show me a part of this love story that swept my feet off the ground. I never really paid attention to this part, but God took me there. It is found in Matt. 27:54 and I will quote from the New King James Version:

Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the son of God.

I will come back to that text but, let me take you a little back in time to a board meeting Jesus had with His disciples in- Matt 16:13-19. By this time Jesus had done a lot of miracles at different times and places. He had taught the people things that were not conventional with the way the teachers of the law taught them. As a matter of fact, by this time, He had not told anyone yet who he really was. However, he knew (possibly by instinct) that people were saying a lot of things about Him. Here He was, trying to know who people are saying that He was.

This situation may not be a stranger to you. You do your best to keep abreast with the personality you put out with every rise in popularity. As you carry out your assignment and carry yourself as a Christian, somewhere in your mind you hope that people are seeing you for who you really are. You take out time to check on what people around you are saying about you. I am not saying it is a bad idea, even Jesus found Himself in that place where He wanted to know what people are saying about Him.

Well, Jesus’ survey showed that people where seeing him, not for who he really is but in the light of what they see him do. They saw Him as a prophet because they were used to prophets performing all manner of signs and wonders. They did not see Him as The Son of God. As a matter of fact, He was addressed as The Son of God on two occasions prior to this board meeting: The demons that possessed the Man at Gergesenes and the disciples when they saw Him walk on water. Outside the disciples, no other person saw Jesus as The Son of God (Even John, the Baptist, doubted the son-ship of Jesus at some point). When He declared it before the high priest, He was tagged as a blasphemer (Matt. 26:63-65). While on the cross, people mocked Him with it. His declaration of the truth that He was The Son of God was not enough to make the people other than His disciples believe it.

Let me take you back to the text. As I dwelt on this part of the greatest love story ever told, I could not help but ask:

WHY DID PEOPLE WAIT FOR JESUS TO DIE BEFORE ACKNOWLEDGING HIM AS THE SON OF GOD?

Is it not interesting that the Centurion and the other people around declared Jesus The Son of God just after He gave up the ghost?

I simply wrote this long letter to submit to you that your place in God can only be relevant to humanity if you can JUST DIE to yourself and be alive in God. That way, you neither need argue with people about who you are nor do a survey to know if people really get it that you are a Child of God. Jesus had to die to His flesh, when He gave up the ghost on the cross, for men who are without to come to know him as The Son of God that He is. I do not doubt that you have been born again, but yet people cannot identify you as such. JUST DIE to your flesh and be alive in Christ (Rom. 8:13-14, Col. 3:1-6).

As I drop my pen, I want to ask that you pass this letter to other people when you are done reading it. Understand that you are not the only one struggling right now, there are billions of people that needs this letter.

Thanks and God bless you.

Your friend,

Ibeh Uche Sam

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

THE REFINER’S FIRE…

June 20, 2016Leave a comment

Because he knows the road on which I travel, when he had tested me, I’ll come out like gold

Job 23:10 (ISV)

Everything I have been talking about in this series revolve around the above scripture. Each time gold or any precious metal is mentioned, it takes me back to what it has to go through from when it is mined to when it is refined. I really wish I can get a real interview, I really do have a couple of questions for them. I believe if that was possible, they will tell me that the path to being valued so highly is not a palatable one. What we see in museums and jewellery stores are refined articles. They went through the refiner’s fire, and trust me, it was not a walk in the park.

The Hebrew word for REFINE is tsäraph which also means to test. So if God wants to test you, He takes you through the fire. This He does, not to burn you up, but to purify you and make you valuable and great. It is going to be uncomfortable and hot. You will lose some of the fleshly values you have given yourself, it will be a hot and tough process to go through, but it promises to make you better.

God has not said the path to greatness will be an easy one, but He is faithful enough to be with you through the fire. He has that pedigree and if He did it for one, He can do it for another. Trust in God and you will be just fine. There is greatness on the inside of you that is waiting for expression, just endure the heat of the fire and it will manifest when your test is over.

When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you, when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze

Isa. 43:2 (ISV)

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.

©TRANSFORMING WORDS SERIES
(Transforming the World through the Word)
http://www.transformingwordseries.wordpress.com

BE REFINED…

June 14, 2016Leave a comment

From The Christapoet Team: We sincerely apologize for the late posting of this episode of The Transforming Word Series. Thanks for your patience.

A few years ago, God showed me some interesting things about fire. I made an article out of that and has subsequently developed it into a book (It is yet to be published). During that study, I saw the beautiful aspect of fire. I saw fire as a wonderful object in our walk with God and journey through life as a believer.

The concept of fire is one that has different effect depending on application. One application makes it an object of destruction, another application makes it a refining object. For what this series is intended to achieve, I will dwell on the latter application.

The process of refining is one that is a crucial one. This is where God fine tunes us to meet His standard. This is where we trade our filthy, dirty and disjointed nature for His pure, holy and righteous nature. This is where we are made vessels unto honour. This is where self is burned up and the glory of God, as a consequence of His Spirit, shines through us.

In the next episode, I will look at the role of fire in the refining process.

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.

BUILD CAPACITY

June 7, 20161 Comment

I did a little study on the dynamics of child birth and I postulate that pregnant women fall into four different categories during delivery. The first category includes those who experience seamless delivery. These women can almost not feel the pain during delivery, not for the absence of it, but it becomes insignificant to them. The second category includes those who feel excruciating pains during delivery but somehow manage to push through to delivery. The third category includes those who feel excruciating pains but do not have enough strength to push through to delivery, but enough to stay alive to probably conceive again. The fourth category includes those who cannot bear the pain of delivery and hence throw in the towel.

Two things find commonality among these groups; Ability to conceive and Birth pains. For you to get to your PUSH point, you must have conceived and by consequence anticipate delivery pains. What determines the category you fall in is the capacity you have built during your pregnancy period. What you do during your pregnancy period plays a key role in your delivery period.

If you must have a safe and sound delivery of the greatness that is inside of you, you have to build capacity. Your pregnancy season should be a season of capacity building. I know you hope to be on the big stage tomorrow, build the capacity you need today. Don’t just loaf around and wait for the big stage, make use of the little ones you see now to build the capacity you need for the big stage. Without capacity, the big stage will swallow you. Capacity gives you strength to PUSH through to delivery.

I know your big stage is yet to come. I know you have those big ideas growing in your mind and yearning for expression. But I want to challenge you today to invest in capacity building. Study, read books, attend seminars and workshops, listen to people who will help you expand your ability to think, and strive to acquire relevant skills. Go for knowledge and information that will equip you for the big stage. Delivery becomes seamless for the man who has built enough capacity.

“If you faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” Prov. 24:10 (KJV).

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.

PUSH!

May 30, 2016May 30, 2016Leave a comment

I want to start by saying that nothing great comes on a platter of gold. It is not enough to conceive a great idea, you must also work towards birthing it. If you must birth that great idea, you must first travail.

I must first apologize however for the break in posting in the last few weeks. It really feels good to be back on the job. So let’s move on…

Your pathway to the greatness that God has prepared for you is not going to be without thorns and thistles. There are pains to deal with and battles to fight. You cannot afford to have a miscarriage of your dreams and ideas.

For there to be delivery, there has to be a push. You cannot relax and expect your ideas to deliver greatness to you, you have to travail and PUSH. You have to look beyond the immediate pain and push your way through to the gains that lie ahead.

You have not received grace to be lazy and lousy, it is an aid as you PUSH your way through to all God has designed you to be at conception. God did not say there will be no pain, but He soothes the pain so you can PUSH!

If you conceive an idea, and you do not PUSH your way to delivery, you will definitely have a miscarriage of ideas.

“Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” Isa. 66:8 (KJVL).

#THE PROCESS

Please share with others and let it bless them as it blessed you

Stay blessed.

DISAPPOINTMENT (IfeJesu)

May 28, 2016July 2, 2016Leave a comment

I have been disappointed before. I know how it feels to pray and fast day after day for something and not get it. I know what it means to want something so bad, to hope for it so much and even start preparing for its arrival and nothing happens. I know what it feels when our “faith” fails (more like presumption because faith never fails when we believe God for what He said he would do). I wondered why He didn’t answer until I stumbled across some passages that pointed out the reasons I didn’t get what I want.
First, James 4:2 says “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” Have you gotten on your knees to pray for what you’re so bothered about and if you have, James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” What are your motives? To show off? To please other people? Or just because others are asking and you don’t want to feel left out? What are your motives?
1 John 5:14 says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Note: According to His will. When we ask God for something and He does not give us because it is not according to His will, we start to blame Him and make Him seem wicked. He wants the best for us. We should ask God to help us to pray according to His will. 1 John 5:15 says, “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. Remember Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please God…” We should rely on God totally without having any Plan B. Did I just say that? Well, yes, I did because a Plan B means God might fail. GOD DOES NOT FAIL. He should be the first one we run to when we have crisis and not an uncle we believe has money to give us or the drugs at the pharmacy or a friend for advice.
So, if we pray about our issues with the right motives, according to God’s will, believing He has heard us and that He will answer in His time, there will be no room for disappointments.