SALVATION BY GRACE

Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Grace is the goodness or kindness of God towards us. Grace is Gods free and undeserved gift to mankind and all he expects from us is to recieve it with gratitude. Salvation by grace thus is Gods free gift of sanctification and justification for us. He sacrificed his son JESUS on the cross so that we may be saved from our sins and have eternal life. Salvation is purely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We do nothing to earn it, and nothing to keep it.

We are all concieved in sin which we inherited from our forefathers ADAM and EVE. Until Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, sin ruled mankind. In the old testament, God gave the law so that sinners may become aware of their sins and change. Back then the worshippers of God sacrificed bulls, goats and other animals, to make atonement for their sins,but they were still not made pure and were contineously bound by sin. The law brought conciousness of sin but grace brings conciousness of righteousness. Grace is taking off the burden of self and accepting the free gift of the father with gratitude.

Christ death on the cross is God’s saving grace, Grace is the reward that we dont deserve. Grace is the cross and until you rest in the finality of the cross, you will never experience the reality of the cross. Jesus laid down his life for me, so he could give his life to me, so he could live his life through me. John 5:24

We grow in grace by knowing the lord Jesus better. 2Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. Grace displays the love of God for us and the more we learn about His abundant grace , we don’t wanna sin and grief the Holy Spirit. SOME people confuse grace with mercy. Mercy is not giving me the punishment I deserve.

Lamentations 3:22-23 —

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

GRACE on the otherhand is giving me the reward which I do not deserve. Romans 5:.20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, . THUS in conclusion, Grace is the cross and we cannot know the truth or WORD before grace. We know grace first, then the truth about JESUS.

John 1:14–The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

LAW & GRACE

God is often rightly portrayed in the old Testament as King of the Jews and all men. Over the years he has ruled his people in two principal ways, by the Law and by Grace. GOD gave the law to Moses on mount Sinai to govern his people while grace came through His son Jesus Christ’s obedience and sacrifice on the cross.

When God ruled by the law, his children did not know him personally and intimately because of their sins and disobedience. So God spoke through prophets and used his priests as mediators between him and the people. God used judges and kings to govern the people and they were all under the law. Anyone who loved God and wanted to please him back then had to keep all the laws and regular sin offerings were offered by priests when people disobeyed God and broke the law.

God’s rule by law ended with the birth of his son Jesus Christ who brought the ‘Kingdom of God’. Christ is the word of God that became flesh and he is our great high priest who rules with Grace and Mercy over all who believe and submit to his authority.

There is a huge difference between God’s rule through the law and by grace. The law was a sort of mirror that man could use to see the condition of his relationship with God. To be accepted by God , we have to be holy , perfect and righteous. The law clearly exposes how far we are from being Holy perfect and righteous. But while the law exposed our sins and drew us away from God, grace on the other hand brings us closer to God. We are humbled when we know that we are righteous and perfect and holy before God not because of our works or good deeds, but by Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrificial death on the cross. We can now have a perfect and intimate relationship with God the Father and come boldly before Him anytime we want.

In conclusion; God’s rule by grace is all about love and mercy while the law was about judgement. The law was out to expose man’s selfishness , imperfect and sinful nature while Grace exposes Gods loving, kind and perfect nature. Under the law man tried to do it all by himself, but under grace, man surrenders to God which is the natural order of things.

 

FAITH OR FEAR?

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for,  the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1) 
                  
When you hope for something,  you know exactly what you’re  hoping for because you picture it in your mind and what you visualize actually shapes what you will become. Therefore faith is the manifestation (or the evidence) of whatever mental pictures you build up in your mind.        

Now dear friend  what is your mental picture?  Power,  love and success or fear, failure and depression? Believe it or not,  there are only two kinds of spiritual forces in the world- those that are for God (for good) and those that are for satan (for evil) as  Christians we know the importance of guarding our minds and most make the crucial decision of which spirit to allow in our minds daily. The spirit of God or the spirit of fear?  Take note that whichever side you permit to control your thoughts,  that side will control your entire being. ( Romans 6:16) says ” know ye not , that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,  his servants ye are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death or of obedience unto righteousness?”

We pray for  Savior and chief priest Jesus to intercede for us and for God to give us the continual grace and strength to guard our minds and keep our thoughts on whatever is pure and good and holy.  Philippians 4:8.  GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

TESTIMONY FROM AN EX-MUSLIM

I WILL REJOICE FOR HE HAS MADE ME GLAD

Our God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. no one can be likened to Him. He watches over the affairs of men and His love and mercy endures forever.  I will enter His  gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice for He has made me  glad., I will lift up my voice and sing to my God, the great God Jehovah, for His mercies endureth forever. Children of God lets praise this great God together.  He is a great God , the God that maketh impossibility to be possible.  We are saved and covered by the blood of the Lamb. Whom God gave the world out of His abundant love. When others are cast down, we rejoice because our God is always with US. He blessed the work of our hands, our families and gave us prosperity.  HE is God and He will never change.  Jehovah Jireh , only you is our God, ONLY YOU ARE THE ANCIENT OF THE DAYS, only You are the one and only God, only You are the creator of Heaven AND EARTH,, ONLY You are the God of Abraham, ISAAC and Jacob,  only You are Prince of Peace and there is no other name where by we shall be saved,  except by the name of JESUS who died on the cross of CALVARY JUST TO SAVE US.

Those that wait on the Lord and are called according to His purpose are filled with His Spirit and also the fruits of  His spirit which   is   love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

      The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.   Psalm 23 -NIV.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

HUNGER FOR GOD!!! GOD’S WILL FOR OUR LIVES

HAVE  you ever wondered what God’s will for your life is?   Its very simple, Gods will for your life is that you be in good health and prosperity always.

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 1:2.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosperyou and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

This Message is part of the teaching of  ”HUNGER FOR GOD” by my dear Pastor Wilberforce OF CITY CHURCH INTERNATIONAL STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN. The teaching is VERY BROAD, BUT I WILL TRY TO SUMMARISE I AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Matthew 6:33  says  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Hunger for God is powerful and it changes a man’s life for ever.  What all great men and women of God from the bible days and our generation have in  common is Hunger for God. When you thirst and Pant for the Word of  God as a deer pants for breath when it drinks water,  you will be filled.

Gods wants us to walk in the power of His truth and His   word is the lamp that leads us and gives us direction in this dark world. Prayer , praise and thanks giving will always bring lead us to His presence.  GOD’S  Will is to BLESS, HEAL and PROSPER us when we are in intimate fellowship with him.

1 Peter 5:7 says  ”Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you”

God wants to bless us financially, contrarily to what many people think.  Deuteronomy 28:12  says ”The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

ITS God’s will to bless us with marriages .The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18  .       proverbs 18:22 says ” He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord”.
    GOD Wants us to be fathers and mothers. psalms 127 :3 says. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Healling is also part of God’s  will for our lives. He says in Exodus 15:26 ” I am the Lord who heals you.” 

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  ISAIAH 53:5.

God wants us to sleep well at night and look strong and well. He wants us to look good and dress well. He wants us to work out and keep our bodies fit like good stewards because our bodies are the temple of God. He wants you to look your best and smell good always.

Friends, God’s will is to  bless us abundantly in all areas of our lives if we seek Him first.  what do you seek most in your lives today?  What are you most hungry for? . Remember God holds  your tomorrow in HIS hands. He knows the end from the beginning. HE knew you before you were formed in your mama’s belly.  Don’t worry about carreers, money,  what to eat or  wear, but instead seek him first, thirst for Him, and He will add all these things to you. IN other words SEEK THE BLESSER AND NOT THE BLESSINGS.  Every good gift comes from God. God’s anointing in your life will definitely make you an excellent person to be envied just like Abraham.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

GENERATIONAL CURSES

                                                                                                                             

Our ancestors sinned, but they have died–and we are suffering the punishment they deserved!  Lamentations 5:7

 

    Have you ever wondered why certain parterns are associated with certain bloodlines?  For example your  great grand father died of cancer, your  grand father, and your father  also died of cancer, and you deffinitely know and accept the fact that you are also gonna die of cancer. ?  For some they never marry in thier family, great grandma was a single mom so was grandma, so was your mom, and now its your turn, you already have two kids with two diffrent fathers. Some never get rich or break through. No matter how hard they work, they are always trying to survive. 

 

Its called Generational Curses. Generational curses are  mostly unrepentant sins commited by our ancestors. Just like God blessed Abraham and his decendants for ever, He can also  visit the sins of ancestors for many generations.  Friends, there’s nothing God hates more than sin and especially witchcraft and idol worshiping. Check Exodus 20:4-5 below

 

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,     Exodus 20:4-5

 

        Major indicators of Generational Curses are

– Mind problems, depressions, suicidal thoughts, scattered minds or thinking.

-psychosomatic or an illness that we develop from worry, unforgivenss, shame and it eventually manifests itself in our bodies as a disease and the doctors usually have no clue whats wrong because they can’t diagnose it.

-Lack of finance, you work hard, you are wise, but you just cant breakthrough, the spirit of poverty is upon you.

-Spiritual slumber, you  dont care about the things of God and you cant pray or study.

-Barenness, inability to concieve for both men and women.

-Sudden death, Violent death.

– Compulsive behaviors.

     THE  God News is that Generational curses can be broken if we recognise them. Contact your Pastor if you attend a Spirit filled church or pray for yourself.  Renounce your blood line and ask God to forgive the sins of your ancestors that is affecting you. Partake of the Holy Communion, the Flesh and Blood of Our Saviour Jesus Christ. There is power Mighty power inthe blood of Jesus to break any curses. Thats why He Died to set us all free. Do not let yourself be punished anymore for the sins of your ancestors.

GOD BLESS YOU  ALL.

WALKING IN LOVE!!! THE REAL MEANING OF LOVE

I have written many times on Love, but the Holy Spirit always brings it to my Spirit. Love is not just loving your family or friends or  those who are kind to you.  Love is not just doing good deeds or giving to charity. Infact many today give not out of love but so that they may be glorified by other men.

So what then is real love? and why dose the bilble say in 1Corinthians 13:2  that ”If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”
ALSO 1 John 4:20 Says  ”Whoever claims to love God but hates a brother or sister is a liar”

So what kind of love is God talking about ? ITS simple , AGAPE LOVE   For God SO loved the world that He gave up His only beloveth son to die for our sins  so that we may have Eternal life.    

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  John 15 :13  

We can only love God  because God loved us first. 1John 4:19
         Walking in love is loving  the world like God dose, He loves all His creation dearly and wants us to do the same, we cannot go around hating and judging people for what they do or for what they are. If we really love them, instead of hating them we should try to tell them about the love of God for them, Jesus sacricifice and the promise of Eternal life.  Remember God hates sin but loves the sinner. God hates sin because it destroys us first and secondly takes us from Him, His BELOVED children.

IF you walk in love you cannot habour unforgiveness . A heart that is filled with love cant be full of unforgiveness also, its impossible. Its normal to get angry sometimes,  but Ephesians 4 :26 warns that  “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, . … this is very important because if you die with unforgiveness and sin in your heart, you will deffinitely not see God because God is love.
            SO it dosn’t really matter if you are a pastor or the  greatest preacher in the world, God is not interested in the works of man and no one that habours bitterness in his heart will enter the Kingdom of God because God is love.

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.    1 John 4:8

Do yourselves a favor and forgive , if you don’t remember all those you habour grudges against, ask the Holy Spirit for help, He will tell you. Walk in love, don’t despise the hommosexuals , the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the thieves or obnoxious peeople in your community , LOVE them because God loves them dearly.  INSTEAD share the love of God for them and Christ the hope of Glory.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Death, Grief, Sorrow and Pain

There’s nothing that hurts more than loosing a loved one. It hurts really bad , so bad.  But the more you dwell in that pain , the more you focus on your grief and feel sorry for yourself, the more it  hurts and will eventually  destroy you.

There is no pain that the love of God cant heal, no grief or sorrow that God’s love can’t wash away. God says in Isaiah 61:3

To all who mourn in Zion, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.  Psalm 30:5 says

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning

Jesus Himself had lots of cmpassion for suffering and pain while He lived on earth. When Lazarus died, He wept ..eventhough He did raise  lazurus from the death,  He wept because of the pain Lazarus’s death caused his loved ones.

All pain , death and sorrow comes from the devil,  John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Thank God for the blood of the lamb that has liberated us from death, grief, pain and sorrow.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

DOING GOOD

And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore as we have opportunities, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:9-10

The apostle paul in galatians 6:9 admonishes us to always do good and never complain or get tired, for our Father Who is in heaven sees our good deeds and will in due season reward us. He goes on in the verse 10 to say that we should do good at any opportunity we have, especially to our fellow christians.
You don’t have to wait to have it all, or all the money in the world to be able to do good. Start with what you have, it may just be helping that old woman orman climb some stiff steps, or just smiling and greeting other people, just showing them love.
You can do good and love other people with your words, material goods and even with your thoughts. There are those who speak rashly, like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Proverbs 12:18). Words have a tremendous impact on our lives, don’t speak words of judgment, criticism and failure to people. Like ugly, stupid, clumsy, failure, incompetent, hopeless, but speak words of life like attractive, intelligent, hopeful, blessed, creative, talented and anointed.
Do good and love people with your material goods. 1 John 3:17-18 says “But if anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live in him and remain in him? Little children, let us not love only in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth”
The verse says it all, help people or do good by giving and blessing them with money or material goods everytime you get the opportunity.
We should always do good or love people with our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. Thoughts not only affect us, they affect others too. If we think unkind thoughts, we become unkind and if we think kind thoughts we become loving. If we think angry thoughts about people we become angry at them.

Pray that God should fill you with Love.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL