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Leadership
While we known that the body of Jesus Christ is His Church, which He purchased by His precious blood, it is important to know that God does not do things haphazardly; He does things in an orderly manner and ensures order in His church. The church is not a social gathering where you do what you like, neither is it a place where you join anytime or anyhow. To begin with, you cannot even join the church of God, you can only be born into it by God’s Spirit. This means that, if truly you are born of the Spirit, you cannot retract from the body of Jesus Christ. However, because there is the possibility of having your name out of the book of life, it is imperative that you hold your faith with reverence and submission to God’s will. And that is the reason for this topic; ‘Leadership‘. The church of God is not a disorganised body, (and God will never leave it without a leader), seeing it is the kingdom of God. I plead with you to read through with awe to learn from God.
Text: Psalms 23:1-6, John 1:18, Exodus 33:20, Numbers 27:15-22, Deuteronomy 31:2-3, Exodus 2:1-6, Exodus 3:1-6, 2Samuel 7:1-17, 1Kings 17:1, 1Kings 21:17-25.
David once talked about God leading him beside the still waters, for His name sake. The still water is the church of God where he could hear the word of God and it’s still the same till date. Just like to David, God is more than a Creator, more than a Redeemer, or a Savior to a true child of God; God is a Shepherd, and Shepherd means a Leader.
Some other points to note are:
– God being invisible always gives a physical leader to His people, through whom He will lead them.
– God is unique in His leadership, because God’s leadership is different from man’s.
– A true leader sent by God, leads God’s people by the word of God, nothing more! And such leaders are a Guide.
Take note of those points because they’ll help you thrive in knowing His paradigms. God would always hide Himself in human flesh to lead His people. Before God would start a church for Himself, He will first prepare a leader. In order to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, Moses had to be born.
No leader, no church! That’s God’s way. God does not have sheep without a Shepherd, otherwise, they are no sheep, (goats don’t have leaders). And because God is the ultimate determinant here, He will choose a leader by himself, and not what you want.
There were about 2 million people that came out of Egypt, but when God was to choose a leader for Himself to lead His people, He chose Joshua – in who is the spirit. Of course there is no one without a spirit, but this verse only explained to us that God would build and train a man, before He would entrust His people to him to lead. God can train you for 10 years before He will entrust some responsibilities to you, because He knows everyone. You cannot deceive Him, He knows what you can do. So be careful of your motive. Because God will train everyone that He is going to use, thereafter, he will test you. And if you fail, He will drop you because He doesn’t manage.
There’s a need to iterate that humility and patience are vital in the training process of God, because man has a tendency of wanting to do things in a hurry. Meanwhile, a leader that God is breeding must also be under leadership. In the case of Joshua, although God chose Him, He was to be submissive, patient and humble and remain under Moses for Moses to put his honour upon him (Numbers 27:20). If you can’t be obedient, you can’t be in the body of Jesus Christ. True sheep don’t have the capacity to lead themselves, they need a leader. And you must be dependable for God to use you.
If you want to be blessed where God has placed you, here’s a solemn plea – respect your pastor! Every true man of God is representing God, and being annoyed with them directly means that you’re annoyed with God. Don’t let any carnal thing you have make you “flex muscles” before men of God. Success is not measured by how much you’re able to acquire on earth, all of those things don’t give you future. In this kingdom of God, you measure success by your growth in Spirit and in Faith. Likewise, if you don’t train your children in the way of God, they have no future, regardless of what level of education they get.
Let me throw you some questions: who is your mentor? Who do you consult when you’re about to take any step? Do you follow God’s leadership or you only invite Him in the middle of your own way?
A true follower will not despise his leader in whatever he wants to do. You don’t consult your God given leader when you’re done with whatever you want to do. Man is fond of going without God and calling Him in the middle of the way when trouble comes. It’s idolatry, and God hates it, (Ezekiel 14:1-5).
King David had a good intention to build God a house, but being a true follower, he consulted the prophet about his plans and God was pleased to give him directives. If David had carried out his plan without consulting God; though a good intention, it would have been unacceptable by God, and thus, would have been in vain. More so, consider that David, though a king, was still given a leader. His leader was the prophet Nathan, whom David consulted, and subsequently brought the word of God back to the king as regards his intention.
In 1Kings 17, we also saw that King Ahab had Elijah as his leader, likewise for Jezebel, but she rejected God’s leader, and was going about her own will. Her end result was terrible, her flesh was fed to dogs – if you reject God’s leadership, your success will not last! What was the success of king Ahab? Nothing!
Brothers and sisters, they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Make sure you follow the leadership of God. You have no future without Jesus Christ.
Shalom!
The Way of God
Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Brethren, it’s indeed so wonderful to dwell in the presence of the Lord, there’s no place we’ll rather be. Today, we looked at ‘the way of God’ and we know from the scriptures that the way of God is far from that of a natural man. It’s only natural that 2+2 should give you 4 and that’s the way that man reasons. We try to make things work by reasoning, using head knowledge and working with natural laws, but if we try to study how God works, we’ll see that indeed, the way of God is higher than the ways of man. Man can be carried away by the ‘moment’, but God looks beyond the ‘now’, into the future; he knows which way is best because he knows the end result of every step.
The Process Matters
Psalm 37:23-The steps of the righteous are ordered by God.
Proverbs 16:9 NIV
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Steps connote process. God truly desires to give us an expected end, but God is not only interested in the end result, the process also matters. There is a way that God has predetermined for every man and you must go through that process in order to be tested and purified.
We see how God dealt with Abraham after all the promises he made to him; God told Abraham to count the stars (the number of the stars are the number of his children), yet God gave Isaac to Abraham in his old age, saying that his covenant was with Isaac. This same God told Abraham the future of his son, Isaac in the next 400 years that his children would sojourn in a strange land, see. God simply told Abraham that his children would sojourn in a strange land, he didn’t tell him every part of the process. God knew where he was taking his children, and that was to the promised land. But God had to take them through Egypt, a strange land, in order to train them, after which he would bring them out of that strange land to a promised land.
If you pay close attention, that Promised Land was a land that Abraham had been in; it was the land that God told Abraham to leave his father’s house for, a land supposedly flowing with milk and honey, a desert.
Every phase in your life as a child of God is a process. God is not moved by the moment, he looks beyond the peripheral because he sees the end of a thing from its very beginning. Do not think that because you know where God is taking you or because you know what he has for you, then you can get an immediate response from him. You cannot get the goal because you desire it; just because you see it, doesn’t mean it will happen ‘now’- it doesn’t change the process. God is not moved by your present situation.
That you know where you’re going doesn’t mean you will get there; if you breach the process, you cannot get the desired result. Many of us think that because you’re hungry ‘now’ means that God should provide ‘now’ but that’s just simply your calculation, that still doesn’t cancel the process of God.
There is blessedness in affliction brethren; all the while that the children of Israel were going through the process of God, they had their terrible times. Within the process of God, there are times that you will be squeezed. At some point, you might just want to give up on God; you think because you’ve been praying about a situation, there’s no need praying again. Truth is, God is not moved by your emotions, nor by your present situation. Therefore, do not make a permanent decision because of a temporary problem.
If you don’t understand the way of God, you cannot get anything from God.
Trust the Process
Cease to choose circumstances over the Word of God. If you make a permanent decision because of a temporary problem, you will not get to the goal; if a moment of agony makes you draw a conclusion on life, you cannot go far with God.
First, ask yourself “When you came to Christ, what was your motive?”
Learn to ask yourself questions. The quality of questions you ask yourself, the quality of challenge you throw to yourself, determines the quality of life you live.
God wasn’t taking the children of Israel through that process because they had sinned or because he wanted to punish them, but because they had to be tested and purified. God could choose to make us pass through the process of justification, sanctification and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on the same day and then we’re raptured, but there is a process that God has designed that we must pass through to be purified and all he asks is that we trust the process. Most of the time, what God has promised you doesn’t even seem like it and that pushes you to believe circumstances over the Word of God, but it shouldn’t be.
Take a look at Peter. He had stayed all night trying to catch fishes, using the normal methods which are reasonable, scientifically tested and proven theories that should work, but it failed. Then Jesus came on the scene, one who supposedly had no knowledge on how to fish, and said, ‘cast your net on the right side’ (against the protocol for fishing) and Peter got the result. Peter said, ‘At thy Word’- not because I know it, but because you said it and I trust you. God simply wants us to exhibit faith even when it doesn’t appeal to reasoning.
Abraham chose to believe God over what his eyes could see. Abraham saw a desert but God saw a land flowing with milk and honey and Abraham chose that way- the way of God. The way of God is not the way you reason. Most of the time, the way of God is not exciting to the flesh- when your flesh is excited about a certain thing, you need to check it with a spiritual thermometer, it is not always God’s. God is not in a general opinion!
As Christians, we need to avert our attention from the world and stop letting people tell us the kind of life to live- how to dress, how to be relevant, what is trending, what we need to do to get a desired result, etc.
You are not of the world and the things that work for the people of the world cannot work for you because you are of a different frame. Many of us try to conform to the world for complex reasons but the sooner we realize that we are oddballs, the easier. We’re talking about what happens in the kingdom. You don’t begin to study how things work for the people of the world and use that as a standard for yourself; what they do to succeed, you will fail while doing. We do not operate on the same level as unbelievers.
When God called the children of Israel out of Egypt, he gave them law. Do you know that the children of Israel were not the only people living in the world at the time? But God gave them a law to guide them, because he was about to take them through a process. God told the children of Israel his mind, because he wanted a people for himself. The law which the children of Israel operated by, was different from that of other nations, different from what men had coined out, because they were a chosen nation.
God dealt with the children of Israel differently and right from the time of Moses, God ruled them through his prophets. But at some point, the children of Israel got tired and requested for a king like the other nations (1 Samuel 8:5) because they began to mix with the other nations and wanted to be like them. They had forgotten that they were a different people and so they rejected God. If you read further, in verses 10-18, God in his mercy, was still trying to show them the end result of their decision but because sin is a sugar-coated bitter kola and they were only moved by the glamour of that moment, they disobeyed God.
Brethren, let us not get to the point where we will get frustrated in the process God is taking us through, such that we will not get to the destination.
Don’t rush the process- Failing effectively
We’re quick to condemn the children of Israel when we hear the story of their ingratitude despite the countless miracles that they had witnessed, but the truth is we shouldn’t be quick to condemn them. When God sent Moses to the children of Israel, God didn’t deliver to them the process, Moses didn’t tell them that they were going to go that long, didn’t tell them they had to pass through the wilderness…all he told them was that they were going to a promised land. Eventually, they had to spend 40 years on a journey that could have simply taken about 30 days, all because God wanted a purified nation.
Within the process of God, there are certain things that we must go through and that is the reason why we need to learn how to fail effectively and what to do with failure.
If you think that all your life, it’s going to be a success all through, you’ve been deceived- you are sure to fall at some point. There is a purpose to why you were born, and every time you go on doing trial and errors to see which works, you keep wasting time.
Another question you’ll need to ask is “Why are you here on earth? What is your purpose?”
It is in that purpose that God will meet with you. You need to know that you cannot do everything; you cannot be everything.
You can delay your stay. When the children of Israel kept making mistakes through the process, they delayed their glory because in life’s process, if you skip any step, you will come back to it.
If you do not start now, you’re delaying the goal. It’s never too late to start; never too late to determine to serve God. Every time you make a decision, it’s not always a convenient time; oftentimes, the process God is taking you through doesn’t look like what he actually promised.
There’s every tendency that we fizzle out in the times of trials but if we have the mind of Christ, the Word of God will see you through. Humans are quick to forget and that was the problem of the children of Israel. Cultivate the habit of jotting down the goodness of God so that in the days of adversity, you can refer to them; if God had done this before, he can do it again.
You don’t need to rush the process, just trust the process. You need not try to help God fulfil his promises over you, the time is not in your capacity. Only begin to make decisions that will sustain you through the process.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Trust God! He promised you an expected end, a future and a hope, not a smooth process.
The ultimate goal of God is not to make you rich in this world but to harvest you, so whatever will take you from God’s radial, he will not give to you. The reason why all that God has apportioned to you cannot come to you, is because God cannot trust you. God will take you to any length if he can trust you. However, if you prosper in evil, then it is a sign that you are not a child of God.
While you’re going through the process in life, don’t allow anything to distract you. It’s not the time to start feeling among.
Part of the way to enjoy the process is to engage God. You should make sacrifices, wake up at night to pray, believe God, believe in your prayers, be persistent, stop reasoning, get rid of anxiety, tell yourself that you do not operate on the same level as unbelievers, take a stand, find peace through the trail, enjoy the process; where God is taking you to, begin to act as such. No matter how hungry a lion is, he will never eat dead meat; it is not pride but it’s the way it’s formed. So if you are a Christian, don’t begin to walk as though you’re not; don’t stoop so low to the order of the world.
Brethren, let us be certain of God and be certain of your purpose.
There’s a vacuum in every man that yearns for the extraordinary, it’s what pushes others to use drugs and some commit suicide. But when you find purpose, you find fulfillment; fulfillment is in the will of God. That is why you see a farmer, filled with joy because he has found purpose.
Begin to devise means that will sustain you through the process, know who you are, stand firm, stand on purpose, take charge of your life by the Word of God. You will surely fail, but make the best of your failures, learn from them.
Finally, don’t give up on God; trust him! Press on brethren, it won’t be very long. May the Lord help us!
The Power That Is In The Name of Jesus
Today, we approached a new teaching, “the power and authority in the name of Jesus”. It is a blessing for us to have a powerful tool to fight the devil, provided we have the knowledge of this tool and how to use it. Brethren, we need to have an understanding of the power in the name of Jesus for us to overcome every threat of the devil; failure to do that, we’ll be unfortified to stand his fiery darts. Approaching this teaching from the perspective of prayer, there are traditions in form of habits while praying that have been adopted by denominational churches, which are not biblical. And the bible in Colossians 2:8 warns us to beware of these traditions.
TEXT: JOHN 14:13, COLOSSIANS 2:8, PHILIPPIANS 2:8, ACTS 4:8, COLOSSIANS 3:17, ACTS 3:1
We can see how various religious sects have been involved in one or two religious praying habits, which have produced results for them, and by so, they feel they are on the right path. For instance, the muslims keep praying in the name of their prophet, thinking their ways and practices in prayers are acceptable. Brethren that’s a big lie. God is not answering them because of their prophet, at all!!! He’s only answering them because He created them. It is because of this drift away from the Bible, God sent us the Prophet, William Marrion Branham; to restore us back to it. Listed below are some of the traditions adopted in prayers which we must do away with as believers:
- Celestial church prayer by the Name of Angel (Michael, Gabriel)
- Roman Catholic Church prayer using rosary
- Roman Catholic praying to Mary; thus, neglecting the need of using the name of Jesus.
- Praying using Holy Ghost fire.
- Carrying of crucifix during prayers or protections.
- Praying with “the blood of Jesus”.
There is no other name a believer can pray with outside the name of Jesus. Any prayer you’re involved in and you’ve not called the name of Jesus Christ, is as good as null. What you have done is just an exercise of your body. A prayer is only effective if you have taken time to mention the name of Jesus.
Reading through Philippians 2:8 – 11; a clearer understanding was revealed on the powerful name of Jesus: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
Brethren God has given us a name that is above every other name on earth, and that name is the Name of Jesus. It’s a pity we believers don’t know what we have, and that’s why we are not maximizing the authority in the name of Jesus.
Instances in the Scriptures Where the Name of Jesus Stood Out
Acts 3:7 – 16 (Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate)
The apostles, Peter and John, exemplified the power and authority in the name of Jesus. The scripture recorded that they had nothing to boast of, rather they trusted a powerful name that could bring dead things to life, and that name is Jesus Christ. This name is to be hallowed and reverenced, we are not to misuse the sacred name of our Lord Jesus Christ as believers.
It’s high time we took the name of Jesus Christ wherever we go, make declarative decisions, proclaiming the name of Jesus, fighting situations that life bring to us, maximizing the authority in that name.
May God increase our Faith.
Shalom!
The Mystery of Demonology II
For a true church of God, she is guided by the Holy Spirit, and every new page that opens before the church to operate in, the Holy Spirit is the Orchestrator. And that is why you should never let your problem make you lose faith in God, because He alone has the solution to your problem, and at His right time, will come for your deliverance. Amen! So we welcome you into the review.
See Also: THE MYSTERY OF DEMONOLOGY I
TEXT: Revelation 3:7, Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 2:22-24, Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28: 14, Revelation 12:3, 2Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6, Exodus 1:8, Exodus 5:1-2, Romans 9:16-22, Deuteronomy 18:10, Exodus 8:16, Luke 8:1-3, Acts 8:2-24.
Today, we continued with our sermon, “The Mystery of Demonology”, and it’s important we go through this topic because as deep as God is, so is the devil; and the devil’s subtlety sometimes are not usually obvious to our literal understanding –a demon possessed person is not only the one that flies at night, this is why it is a mystery, only the Holy Spirit can reveal it. The purpose of the sermon is to purge His church from every traces of darkness, and also to equip us with the word so that we becomes free indeed. There are two major aspects the servant of God dealt with today: the iniquity of Lucifer; and the foreknowledge of God.
THE INIQUITY OF SATAN
Ezekiel 28 talks about the makeup of Lucifer, his decorative precious stones which God adorned him with. His beauty made him exalt himself, and began to imagine iniquity. When we got to Isaiah 14, we found out what the iniquity was –he wanted to be like God.
When Lucifer purposed this evil thought, he didn’t just stay at the thought level, he also carried it out. That is why he was able to, with his craftiness (tail) draw one-third of the angels to himself, and they all sinned by that (we found that in Revelation 12:2-3). That is why God did not spare them. 2Peter 2:4 reveals this to us. These fallen angels are the ones that became the demons of today.
Brother, rebellion is a sin to God, you should not be. In the church where you belong, don’t be a rebel, don’t twist the word of God when you go out. More so, do not allow your first zeal to die, let it continue, and increase, it has reward; you should not be celebrating past victories and zeal, whilst growing cold at the moment. The angels that the devil was able to draw to himself did not keep their first estate according to Jude 1:6, and by this laxity, the devil was able to get them. We should be careful because the devil is looking for who to convert to himself.
THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD
The Bible made us to understand that God is an unquestionable potter who can make out of his clay whatever he wills for Himself. He could decide to make out of his clay a pot suitable for use, while he disposes the other. To make it more plain, not everyone on earth is of God. God has his own in the world. Yes, God is the Creator (the devil did not create anyone, he can only pervert), but we must understand that in the garden of Eden, the worship seeking devil crept into the garden and was able to infuse his seed also in Eve. And that is why God placed enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. (Gen. 3:15).
In the womb of Rebecca, when she went to enquire from God regarding the trouble she was experiencing whilst in conception, the Lord said to her that ‘two manner of people’ shall be separated from her bowel. Wow! So God has His own in the world!
Well, fashioned in God as part of His attributes is “longsuffering”, He doesn’t destroy anyone until first, He has warn. So even to those who are not His, he still extends His love and longsuffering towards them. But the caveat to this is alarming! Because you cannot become contrary to what is sowed in you. So eventually, there was no way Pharaoh could have repented! Because God created him for the purpose of destruction. God knew Lucifer will turned Devil, he knew the third part of angels would become demons –He created them for that purpose. We can only pray to be vessels that God wills to show His divine mercy to salvation, however, the bible says there are people that have been fitted for destruction. (Romans 9:22) Who are we to condemn God? In the book of Revelation, we found a woman who called herself prophetess, Jezebel. Despite her evil and spiritual fornication, God gave her space to repent, but she did not, she can’t after all.
This is not to scare you, you have been made a vessel unto God’s mercy. Just ensure you submit yourself under the mighty hand of God, and cooperate with Him. Humility is so necessary for you if you must walk close to God. God only exalts humble people. In Luke 8: 1-3, there were people of high dignity in the time of Jesus that were delivered from demon spirits and infirmities, they were not offended that they were being ridiculed by Jesus. If your husband was Peter and you were in the church the day Jesus called Peter Satan, won’t you be offended?
God does not disgrace brothers and sisters. But we have to learn His ways and humble ourselves, and God will be faithful to purge and keep us blameless till His coming.
God bless you brethren!
You can visit our YouTube channel to follow up with sermon video.
The Mystery of Demonology
We bless the Lord for His great work, we can indeed testify to it that Pentecost is not ended yet, because amongst the bride of Christ, God is still being made manifest. With the experience we had in our local assembly, God decided to take us through another dimension, revealing to us the mystery of demonology. So please, endeavor to read through.
Text: Isaiah 14:12-14, Genesis 1:1, Matthew 13:11, Genesis 6:1, Ezekiel 28:13-16, Romans 11:33-34, Ephesians 3:8, Romans 9:10-17, Genesis 1:31, Jude 1:6, 1Peter 2:4-9, Isaiah 60:1-2, 9, Revelation 12: 1-4, Psalm 23:4, Acts 16:16
The Purposes of God and the Creation of Lucifer
First, it is necessary to know that God is mysterious, He only knows the purpose for which he creates whatever he created, and these purposes are hidden in mysteries, and can only be revealed when he wants to, and to whoever He wants to reveal it to. And that is why Jesus said that it is given to a certain group of people to know the mystery of the kingdom. You cannot question God, He is the Creator. So, in creation, there is the purpose of God.
God created the angels first, and they had their world which we referred to as the pre-historic world. Lucifer was the head of the angels, he was created by God to stands before Him and bear His light, to carry the message of God to the angels. However, in the book of Isaiah, we realize that this Lucifer fell through pride, wanting to be like the Most High. In his world, despite his position, he still wanted to be God, to ascend to the Most High. The very meaning of Lucifer means “Light Bearer”, but God disappointed his ambition by casting him down, it was when he was casted down that he became the devil. It then becomes obvious to us that one attribute of pride is –uncontentment! Be careful of your thought, brethren. Learn to think right. Lucifer was a perfect being, flourished and created with precious stones, but iniquity was found in him, and right in his thoughts, iniquity was present.
A question can then sprout within us, that “didn’t God know that he was going to fall?” He did! So why did He created him? This is the mystery we want to reveal today, because for sure, he had his purpose, and God knows the end from the beginning.
Also, it is needed to know that Lucifer is masculine and not feminine, but most of his captured followers are females. If we should look at the devil in the Garden of Eden, he went to meet the woman, and not thee man. (Genesis 3). In Genesis 6, we found the serpentine lineage among man called the ‘daughters of men’, who artificially adorn themselves, having the beauty of the devil. Brothers and sisters, God does not shine, He glows in His divine glory and strength, and if you are a child of God, you will not be seeking the artificial beauty of the world to adorn yourself with to dishonor your God, but you will with shamefacedness, and a consciousness to glorify God beautify yourself in a modest way.
After the fall of Lucifer, he became the head of every demons being the devil (do evil).
Now, brethren, God in his unsearchable wisdom decided to create enemy by Himself for Himself! Well, you can’t fathom that by your intellect, but that is the mystery behind the creation of Lucifer. If God is the Light, He will need darkness to show His value and essence. You cannot know the power of God without the devil.
Looking at the example in Egypt, the Bible made us realize that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that He can have a forum to show how mighty He is. The stubbornness of Pharaoh led to the power of God in Egypt. Without the unbelief of Pharaoh, we will not read of the miracle of the red sea. It’s amazing that God who cannot be defeated, decided to create enemy for Himself, just for the purposes of His mysterious will. The miracle of the red sea made every other nation that heard about the people of Israel to fear their God. God does not do anything without having what to achieve out of it, He is Wisdom!
To come from another angle: everyone who commits a sin, or make any mistake, will attribute it to the devil, saying “the devil deceived me.” The question I like you to think about is, “who deceived the devil?” [Selah]. Brother, God knows about it all.
How we ought to be grateful if God saved us, it can only be by the grace of God. It shows that in Himself, ever before the world began, He had chosen you. He does things at the according to the purposes of His Will.
The devil can only pervert
Except Adam, and Jesus Christ, there is no one who has not been perverted by the devil. The devil did not even create himself, so he cannot create anything. He can only pervert. That is why it is needed to have a second birth if we must stand with God at the end.
The devil also succeeded in forming a coup with a third part of the angels against God. In prosecuting his iniquity, he communicated to some angels who believed him, these angels failed to keep their positions, (James 1:6), and the devil was able to pervert them to himself –they are the ones that became the fallen angels (demons) of today, because God casted them down.
The bible tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with principalities, with powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places –these are the perverted angels that the devil succeeded over. The conspiracy brought about their fall, and they all turned to become the enemies of God.
Will it not be wise for us to so keep our salvation with serious jealousy, because if the devil could succeed over angels to pervert them, how much less man?
We are fighting today with demons, but know that no mortal man is a demon, we are flesh and blood; these demons are spirits, they possess people. However, you can be delivered ‘if you want to’. If you surrender yourself to God, He is able to make you a vessel unto honor.
Demons operates in various ways, they can be in physical realms, or as religious spirits or enticing spirit. And like we said that the devil is a spirit, he can both possess male and female. When you see a man who is perverting the word of God to suit his fleshy desires, he’s possessed by the devil.
The tricks the Devil Uses in Possessing People
Learn wisdom friends, we are in a spiritual world full of mysterious things, and every day, we are fighting battles, that is why you should be very careful. The devil is wild! It is not everywhere you can go, it is not everything we can do.
The devil can possess anyone at any age, be careful with your children, you don’t allow them to do whatever they want, and it is not every birthday party they can go. Don’t because of friendship sell yourself or children to the devil. You should not be careless. Sometimes, the way we trivialize things shows that we trust the devil, don’t take things literal as they appear. Demons can possess people even from birth. Be spiritual enough to know when to pray, do not take for granted the presence of God, because that is your security. Don’t play with the word of God.
In the Bible, Paul had an encounter with a damsel who was possessed with the spirit of divination, and she was bringing much gain to her mistress. A damsel is a lady who is less than 16 years of age, yet, was so possessed of the devil.
Brethren, God is not in abnormality! When things or someone is growing too intense or smarter than necessary, watch it; God is not a magician. The damsel for many days was following Paul screaming, and although what she was saying sounded good, she was possessed of the devil, and Paul casted that spirit out of her.
The Grace of God Will See Us Through
In past generations, people that walked successfully with God were only able to do so by His grace, and it’s this ‘grace of God’ we also rely on in this generation to see us through. From a biblical perspective, Grace means: “divine help“, (which is the help that comes from God), “approval“, and “unmerited gift (favor)”.
TEXT: 1 PETER 5:10, ACTS 15:11, REVELATIONS 17:1, MATTHEW 23:14,27-39, MATTHEW 24:1-8,25, JOHN 1:11, ACTS 13:46, ISAIAH 64:6, ROMANS 10:3, EPHESIANS 2:8, GENESIS 11:31, ROMANS 9:16, MATTHEW 24:11-12
The world is in such shambles, so much so, that no mortal man can fix it. Our collective strength and intellect channeled towards the betterment of our nation, and the world at large, over time, have been futile. And now, it should be clear to everyone that no human wisdom can salvage the situation we find ourselves in. For instance, think about the drive we have when elections are fast approaching, to go out to vote, with the hope that the new regime would be better, but the reverse has always been the case. Brethren, we should not be ignorant of the fact that we are living in the last days, and that we are faced with the manifestations of the fulfilling of the prophecies of this peculiar time, as prophesied by our Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 24. And except you want to deceive yourself, you know that nothing can change God’s words from fulfilling – They must come to pass! So, I can only encourage you to rely on the grace of God to succeed through these times.
The grace of God is given to children of God
You cannot have the grace of God unless it is made available to you, and if you’re a child of God, you will not reject the grace of God. Because, it is possible for one to reject the grace of God. In the time of Jesus, there were five sects of denominations of which the Pharisees were the strictest. Yet, Jesus kept declaring woe upon them, because they rejected the grace of God. The Pharisees were not idol worshippers, they were also carrying the Bible, they believed in self-righteousness, and turned down the word of God, just like many people do today.
Dear friends, the grace of God does not cover your unbelief, but the grace of God covers your weakness and mistakes. A child of God who is filled with the Holy Ghost will not deliberately sin, neither will a child of God turn down the grace of God.
An unbeliever is one who turns down the grace of God and is therefore, not covered (Ephesians 2:8). Because the grace of God is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Word of God, whom you turned down.
The Pharisees, though strict with the laws of Moses, rejected the grace of God. Outwardly, they were beautiful and could be called Christians. Jesus compared them with ‘a white sepulchre’. A white sepulchre is a tomb painted white, that appears beautiful outward but within, full of dead men’s bones. When you turn down the grace of God, no matter how religious you may be (by taking off earrings, going to church regularly, putting on long and free dresses, etc.), you are still not different from the Pharisees whom Jesus likened to a white sepulchre.
When Jesus called out his disciples, it wasn’t because they were better people than others; but the grace of God reached out to them, and they did not turn it down. They all became faithful stewards of the kingdom. When God chose Abraham over Lot, and Jacob over Esau, it was all the grace of God in action. The grace of God does not come by any human righteousness but is given to make one righteous, and this righteousness is found in Christ alone. Amen!
One way to prove that you’re a child of God is that you will not turn down the grace of God!
The Great Whore and Her Harlots.
Brothers, the word of God comes to us to make us brides of Jesus Christ, and chaste virgins. And if truly we’ve received the grace of God, and have been baptized into the body of Christ, then it can be said of us that we are brides of Christ. What makes us chaste virgins is the pure unadulterated doctrine of Jesus Christ. The church is a woman, and her bridegroom is washing her by His pure word.
In Revelations 17, we saw another woman (church) who claimed to be a virgin of Christ but the Bible calls her a great whore. She has intoxicated the world with the wine of her fornication, which is in her golden cup – looks good on the outside but the content is an abomination unto God. This means that although she claims to be a bride, and she is religious outwardly (which is her golden cup that looks good outside), the content of the cup, (Her wine of her fornication which symbolizes her wrong doctrines), is an abomination. The great whore is the Roman Catholic church and being a church, she gave birth to churches which are her daughters (a whorish church, birthing churches, like her). She has fed her children with her abominations (doctrines; including, Trinity, Christmas celebration, Ash Wednesday, etc.). These doctrines have become accepted and practiced generally by the church world(denominations). Both the great whore and her daughters will be judged.
Let it be known to you that when we talk about denominations, we’re not talking about the people there, but the system. And mind you, a true Church of God is never likened to a whore, they are the bride of Christ; and although there are foolish virgins amongst them, God will never call his bride a whore. The true Church of Jesus is likened to the heavenly Jerusalem, not Babylon.
Have you stopped to ask, ‘When Jesus was born and started His ministry, why didn’t he belong to any of those denominations of His day?’ It’s simply because God is not in denominationalism!
Every process through salvation takes the grace of God and the grace of God enacts obedience, humility, perseverance, endurance, faith, etc. Having known that no man can overcome without the grace of God, it’s then important that you embrace the grace of God now that it’s within your reach.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ see us through. Amen!