The revelation series 2

Introduction The Revelation Series 2 is the second edition of the Revelation of the series. This book contains several messages which encourages believers to help increase their faith in the Lord and also to lead nonbelievers to Christ as well.

It is my prayer as we enter into this new year we will have the desire to study God’s word and live by it so that we do as He will and not as we want to.

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Dedication

I dedicated the second edition of the Revelation Series to the Lord Almighty for giving the wisdom, understanding, revelation and strength to write this book.

Also, I then dedicated this book to my friends Opemipo Sunmonu, Wendy Anane-Forkuo, Yaw Debrah and Anna Kwofie for editing and reviewing this book. To the entire E A ministires and Christ in You group team and members. I also dedicate this book to everyone reading it as well.

May God bless you guys and continue to let you flourish under His love and making you to become more like Him and less like yourself.

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Table of Content Chapters

Pages

The reason why God loves you ........................................................................ 4-6 The love that gives eternal life .......................................................................... 7-8 Saved by Grace ................................................................................................ 9-11 There is only one way to God ........................................................................... 12-13 Don’t love what God hates and Don’t hate what God loves ............................. 14-15 Put God interest first abs your personal interest second................................... 16-17 The overwhelming Glory of God ........................................................................ 18-20 State of the mind ................................................................................................ 21-23 The christian race ............................................................................................... 24-27 The Great commission or omission ................................................................... 28-31 Receiving and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit ............................................ 32-34 Do not cling to worthless idols ............................................................................ 35-37 Spiritual blessings ................................................................................................ 38-40 Power of Prayer .................................................................................................... 41-42 The sustaining Grace of God................................................................................. 43-44 When you loose something, the opportunity to gain more .................................. 45-47 Prosperity through planning and hard work .......................................................... 48-51 The favor of God .................................................................................................... 52-53 What faith can do? ................................................................................................. 54-55 Flourishing under God’s unfailing love ................................................................... 56-58 Three things you always need ............................................................................... 59-61

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1 The Reasons Why God Loves You! My God loves me. His love will never end. He rests within my heart, for my God loves me.

Scripture Reference: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

My Message: A question, which is asked by most people, is why God loves man. When one considers how big the universe is and the fact that God created all of it, we find it diďŹƒcult to understand why ONE BEING, so great and so powerful would care about us. Today, we want to look at some of the very reasons why God loves us. Many times we hear that God loves us but we don’t seem to make meaning out of it. It is our prayer that this few points will open your eyes to see how important you are to God and what He wants to use you for.

1. He created you: Would you create something if you don't love it? Well, you will not. Bill Gates created windows because He loved to create an operating system for a computer.

God created man in His own image and likeness because He loves man and wants man to have dominion over all the things He created and out love He created man in His image

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and likeness. Scripture reference- So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27, 28)

2. He sent His only son to die on the cross for your sins to be forgiven: When Adam and Eve sinned against Him, God had remedy for us and that was why He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins to be forgiven and reconciled with Him once again. This sin sacrifice for our sake was done out of love. The bible says; but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8). Would you sacrifice your only child for other people's benefit? I don't think you would, but then He showed us love that is beyond measure, i.e. unconditional love. This shows why God loves you.

3. God loves us to give us eternal life: God loves us to give us eternal life. He loves us to bless us even when we are with Him in eternity. The bible says in 1 John 5:11 that, “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” We see that this whole point of God giving us eternal life is through His Son and this can only be done because of the love He has for us. John 3:16 is also one powerful scripture that supports this point. It says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God loves us with an everlasting love, and has therefore, drawn us closer to Him with loving-kindness.

4. God has a purpose and plan for your life: God never created anyone to be useless regardless of you being able or disabled. He has a purpose and plan for your life. Many people go through life feeling discouraged about themselves and thinking they do not have a purpose in life. But that's not true. Whoever you are, whatever your life experiences, tal-

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ents, physical ability or disability, or role, you have a purpose. We can only achieve that purpose if we obey Him and allow Him to direct us into our element fulfilling the purpose.

His love empowers us to fulfill our purpose. Out of His love, He gave us talents, purpose and plan for our lives. In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible says that “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” It means that God has already purposed us unto good works before He even created us. You must understand that God created you and you are not an accident. God has a plan for you. You have a purpose in life

5. God loves you because He wants you to know Him: Man is incomplete without God. You need Him for everything. God loves us and wants to place an inner desire within us, which would cause us to chase after Him. That’s why He keeps knocking on the door of your heart that you open up to Him. God loved you even when you opposed Him. You need God to help you live for Him because He gives help for growing in spiritual knowledge. He also gives help for effective Christian service, resisting temptation and following His Will, etc. God gives help for meeting life's needs as seen in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

The truth is that you may never totally understand why God loves you. Nevertheless, where would you be if He hadn't loved you? How long has it been since you expressed your gratitude and thanksgiving to God for his love? Begin to thank God for His love and compassion towards you and how far He has brought you.

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2 The Love That Gives Eternal Life O love of God, how rich and pure. How measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure. The saints’ and angels’ song. We thank God for a new day and giving me life to share His word of Faith and Grace with you.

Scripture Reference: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) John 3:16 is one of the most popular Scriptures we’ve heard and know of but if I may ask, have you taken your time to think about this Scripture? The definition, power and expression of love can be derived from this Scripture. This simple Scripture means a lot, and makes me to understand that it is because of the unconditional love He (God) has for you and I that is why He sent His only Son Jesus to die and saves us from our sins. Even regardless of all our sins, from the days of Adam it did not stop this love from reaching us but rather this love reached us for us to be saved. No man or woman can ever love unconditionally but God loves unconditionally. The only love that is not based on conditions is the love of God. I cannot sacrifice my only son to pay the price of someone's actions.

Would you? I don’t think you would ever do. This is why He is God and we are human.

Can you bear the pain to see your son being tortured and crucified for hours! No you can't stand such pain but God did for your sake.

If your dad sent you to pay the price of the sin of other people, would you? No you would disobey your father but Christ obeyed His Father and went through all this pain for your 7

sake! This is why it hurts God when fail to believe in His Son because it is just like "slapping His love back in His". We were condemned to die because of our sins but salvation was oered to us for through the love of God at the expense of His Son Jesus Christ, i.e. oering His Son as a sin sacrifice so that we may have eternal life (a life that will never fade).

Brethren, God has done His best to show this love no one, religion or god can show you, but is up to you to capitalise on this love to believe in Him and have that eternal life. Salvation is for the living and not the dead; once you are live you have chance. What you have to do is to believe in Him (accept Him as your Lord and Personal Saviour).

If you are ready to accept Him today so that you can have this eternal life, say this prayer but it is not the prayer that will save you but your believe. However, the prayer is to help you confirm your believe in God

Dear God, I thank you for the unconditional you showed me, I owed you nothing but you showed me this love. I accept your Son Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and I also repent from all my bad deeds. Thank you God for accepting me, and making me a new person. Amen!

If you are reading this and you are a saved, thank God for this love that brought salvation and life to you. Also, spread this message to your unsaved family and friends. Let's also pray for the unsaved to be saved.

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3 Saved by Grace (Grace bringeth salvation) Where would I be without Your Grace? I'd be lost without Your Grace. How could I live without Your Grace? The life that I have is by Your Grace. I am free, and I'm forgiven by your work at Calvary. You gave me a life worth living. Now the chains are broken, the chains are gone.

This message talks about is only by Grace we are saved and not by our works. I was led by the Holy Spirit to write this message to let us recognise the fact that we are saved by Grace through faith in Christ.

Scripture References: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– (Ephesians 2:8)

My Message For man did not receive salvation as a result of their works or living according to the law but rather man received salvation by Grace through Jesus Christ. What Christ did on the cross brought Grace for us to be saved but not what you did or I did.

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Ephesians 2:8 says, we are saved by Grace through faith, and the spiritual understanding I got from this scripture is that Grace gives salvation but faith makes it possible for us to receive this salvation. Through Grace, God has made salvation available and free to all men at the expense of His Son Jesus Christ but it is left to you to make that personal decision to believe and have faith in order to receive His salvation.

Ephesians 2:8 has an important elements of Grace and Faith. In order experience the proper Christian salvation; whereby, "through grace," we "are saved by faith", there must be justification and sanctification. By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin, and restored to the favour of God; by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God. Without salvation there is no way one can enter into kingdom of God. This reminds of a scripture, which says, in reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.� (John 3:3) For one to be born again actually means to be saved by Grace through faith. Jesus also put the saved by Grace through faith as to be born of water and spirit in John 3:5, (Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, and no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5).

Let no man deceive you with religion, works or living under the law as the way to receive salvation but rather have faith in His son Jesus to receive God's to be saved.

Brethren, salvation is important than riches and any other thing in this world. You need it.

Make this decision by having accepting Him (through repentance and faith) today to receive His salvation by Grace.

Let us pray:

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Father in the name of Jesus, I thank you for my life. I thank you for the gift of eternal life through Your Son Jesus Christ. I confess my sins unto you because you are faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me of all unrighteousness and receive Your Salvation. I ask that you O’ God will come into my heart and make me anew, in Jesus name I pray, Amen!

We thank God for His Word to do and all He’s doing in our lives. Remember, salvation is a free gift to all me. You just have to work for it by living your life right, just as the Bible says in that Philippians 2:12 that we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

God is at work in you; therefore you can work, ask for His Grace to overcome every sinful temptation. Everything you do if life must be done with the utmost earnestness of spirit, and with all care and caution.

We hope you have been blessed by this message. Share with others. Be a blessing!!

“We were chosen by grace, called by grace, brought to faith by grace, sanctified by grace, and will be glorified by grace-John Piper” “There is nothing horrible or sinful we can do that can affect the Grace of God but the Grace of God rather affects our horrible and sinful lives shaping us to become more like Him and less of ourselves”

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4 There is only One Way to God There’s only one way that this lost world may know. That Jesus for sinners hath died; To spread the glad tidings He’s bidden us go, And no other way doth provide. We thank God for giving me life to share His word of Faith and Grace with you. We also thank Him for His amazing Grace and deeper Revelation.

Scripture Reference: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6, 7) Religion makes it known to us there are many ways to reach God which is a lie but the bible makes it known to us Jesus Christ is the only way to reach the Father which is the truth! The Bible makes it very clear that all roads do not lead to God. And if you believe that just any and every "religion" is fine or that they are all basically the same, you are obviously not reading your Bible.

I will use the eyes as an analogy; without the eyes one cannot see, in the same way without Jesus Christ one cannot come to the Father. The eyes you have is the only way to sight and that's how Jesus Christ is the only way to reach God. Brethren, let us not to be deceived by religion, science and other false teachings that there are several ways to reach Jesus Christ.

This line in verse 7 ("From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”) makes me to understand that once you know Jesus Christ, you know God and once you have seen Christ you have seen God. The analogy and the sentence in verse 7 gave me a fresh revelation 12

about that scripture that Christ is the sight of God (once we have seen Him, we have seen God) Following religion, science and false teachings about ways to reach God is a waste of time. We need to follow the one who had no sin in Him but was crucified for our Sins, so that we may have life. We live in a world of many. There are many places to visit or live, many dierent styles of clothing and music, and many people from all walks of life with varied backgrounds and heritages. You have 100 cable channels with an assortment of programs to watch, and have all the money you want, but there is only one way and one correct choice concerning matters of the soul, Jesus Christ. You may think that sounds narrow, but that is what God has proclaimed. Matthew 7:13-14, says that "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." This life is the life God has called us into. Jesus Christ is the only way to reach God. Repenting and Believing in Him is the only way you can reach the Father.

Brethren, it is about time you stop practicing religion, believing in science and false teachings and make the personal decision to follow Jesus Christ who is the only way to the Father. Jesus is waiting warmly, graciously, and openly today for you to come to Him for salvation. Believe in Him as the crucified and risen Son of God. Bring your sins to Him in sincere sorrow for forgiveness and experience His welcoming you into the family of God and into the sure hope of spending a greatly glorious eternity with Him and with God the Father.

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5 Don't Love What God Hates and Don't Hate What God Loves David said, “I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord�, so am I glad to be in the presence of the Lord to share His word of faith with you.

I got this message on the coach to university, this message is urging us to do what is right and pleases God and not what is evil and displeases God. Scripture Reference: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9) My Message This message is really interesting. On my way to the university, I had a fellowship with the Holy Spirit on the coach and certain things were revealed to me out of which cometh today's message.

The unfailing love of God is sincere to mankind by making it known to us what God hates [evil] and what He loves [good]. The question is are we loving what God loves and hating what He hates?

Well, some of us are not. We tend to do the opposite of what God expects from us. Why is that happening? It is because we have made the flesh to be dominant than the spirit due to the inconsistencies in our spiritual growth. God is Spirit and God is Love so is His love spirit because every attribute of God is in a spiritual form.

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If we are consistent in building up ourselves spiritually that is when the sincerity of God's love will prevail in our lives to do or love what He loves and hate or not to do what He hates.

The only we can build up spiritually is for us to have that sincerity of love to do His will by reading His word, being obedient, prayerful, faithful, and etc.

Let us stop seeking for unnecessary things in this life and make God our primary focus. I can say that life is a puzzle and the missing piece is God. Those who find Him, and then add Him to their life, have all they’ve got need of in life. God is so precious and we must learn to seek Him above every other thing just as the bible says in Matthew 6:33 so that He will give us everything we need.

The only way to avoid God’s wrath is to seek Him and love what He loves and hate what He hates. It might be that you have done something that He hates, but there is a chance for you to renew your vows with Him. Confess unto Him your faults; remember He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. We are commanded in scripture to not love the world. We must be in the world, but we cannot be part of it. If we love the world then we will also take on a love for the things above that God hates. We must love what God loves and hate what He hates. He hates compromise with the world and its ways. We must do the same.

Always remember that, “God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).” To worship in truth and spirit is to do what He loves and hate what He hates.

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6 Put God’s interest first and your personal interest second I have come to realize we mankind are selfish, we like to seek for our personal interest and ignoring God’s interest which shouldn’t be that way. God has our interest first before His so we should have His interest first before anything comes after. We care about our jobs than God’s work; we care about watching football on Sunday rather than going to church, we do care about lots of things than God’s kingdom. This why the harvest are plenty but the workers are few as it says in Matthew 9:38 “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;” Ask yourself why are they few workers whiles the harvest are plentiful?

Well, I might say they are seeking for their own personal interest. This is very selfish because of His selfless love for us He came to die for our sins but for our selfish love we have putting His work second and our interest first.

Men and women of God like Moses, Esther, Abraham, the twelve disciples, Paul and timothy and etc. were selfless to His God’s work.

I know putting God interest first you have to make certain sacrifices but I want to assure you that sacrifices you made will benefit you in the future. The twelve disciples had to leave all they were doing to follow Jesus, they preach and suffered for the gospel to be heard but at the end they are seated on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel in heaven. Is worth sacrificing your time for God’s work. Everyone has a role to play in His kingdom, if you do not know yours pray for God’s direction which ministry you belong to and after you have discovered the ministry God has placed you to work hard to glorify

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His holy name and receive more blessings. “If you are not committed to His work, you will be omitted from the share of the harvest�

It is my prayer we put God’s interest first before our personal life interest in anything that we do in our lives. Be blessed.

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7 The Overwhelming Glory of God Abide with me; fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord with me abide. When other helpers’ fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Scripture Reference: Romans 8:18-30 “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[b] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.30 And those

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whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”-Romans 8:18-30 My Message There is no pain without any gain. There is no suffering that surpasses God’s glory. Brethren, I know we go through hard and painful times but God says in His word that His glory that is to be revealed to us (made manifest in our lives) is not to worth to be compared to our suffering. This gives us an assurance that, what is about (glory of God) to be manifested in our lives will be overwhelming more than the current pain or agony. We are all waiting for this time where it will be revealed to us and though we have not seen it, we hope for it. John piper also defines glory as,“The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God.” Therefore, God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of His manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.”

We all have been groaning in pain from the day we were born till date but we have been set free from the bondage and the corruption of this world through our hope because out of that we have received faith, which has saved us. I know we are all hoping for the future glory Paul talks about. I want to assure it’s just a matter of patience, because it is something we will receive and haven't seen yet. Therefore, we have to patiently wait for this glory though we go through pains. Most people couldn't wait for this future and looked for other alternatives when they were in hard times and missed it. Be patient with God and with yourself. I will use McDonald's as an example; sometimes we might be so hungry we need the food and we have order it as soon as possible but it takes time before you receive it. When you leave whiles waiting for it, you have missed it but when you patiently wait for it,you will receive your orders and that's how hope and glory works. The Bible says the Christ in you is our hope of glory. This is because once you have Christ dwelling in you, you hope for this glory you have not yet seen in your suffering, pain and weakness.

Remember, that glory overwhelms every pain, suffering, agony or weakness we go through just as when we are hungry and enter McDonald's, the food we patiently wait for, when served and eaten, surpasses our hunger. That's how God's overwhelming glory is like.

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We find ourselves in "job like" situations where we find hard to pray or let me say intercede for ourselves but Apostle Paul tells the Spirit intercedes for us in such situations according to the will of God because the Spirit searches in the heart and also knows the mind of our spirit. The reason why the Spirit intercedes for us is because in our groaning we are being made weak (the soul and the body) but the Spirit is stronger for the reason that our hope is in the Lord. One thing I have noticed is that when the soul and the body is weak, that is when the glory of the Lord takes precedence and through that, all things works together for our good because of our heart (love we have for Him) and the desire to do fulfill the purpose of His will.

The only way our love for God is being known or tested is in the times of weakness. I have been in groans for years but when the glory of the lord was being manifested in my life, it surpassed all the suering I went through. Those that He has called shall be predestined to conform to the image of His son, justified by faith and glorified as well by hope.

Brethren, wait for God's deliverance, as you wait for His bounty in providence. Stabilize your hearts. Take courage and do not sink under your trials. Let your hope be found in the Lord so that His glory will be revealed in your life, Amen. Have a blessed day!

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8 State of the Mind Scripture References: Romans 7:21-25 21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8:6-So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Psalm 94:11-The LORD knows people's thoughts; he knows they are worthless!

Romans 12:2-2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

My Message What is the state of your mind? Is it filled with good or evil thoughts? Well, there are two thoughts that go through our minds but they conflict with each other.

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Good thoughts: These thoughts feed the mind with goods ideas that help us to do the right things. These thoughts also prompt us when we are going wrong to get back on track. The sources of these thoughts are from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Evil thoughts: These are bad or unpleasant thoughts, which feed the mind in order for the body to fall for it to sin. It can also be defined as intrusive thoughts, unwelcome involuntary thoughts, images, or unpleasant ideas that may become obsessions, upsetting or distressing, and can be diďŹƒcult to manage or eliminate. These thoughts are from devil and the desires of the flesh. These thoughts come from the devil but not all of them. We do get some of these thoughts from what our eyes see or our ears hear and this can create those evil thought as well.

You can choose to let good or evil thoughts control your mind. It all depends on you.

Thoughts are like food, which you can choose to eat, or not. You can choose to eat good food and avoid eating bad food to be well or decide to eat junk food to be sick. What I mean is thoughts are the food for the mind, you can choose to take in good thoughts into your mind and live right or allow yourself to take in bad thoughts (junk) to be tempted and sin. Temptations start with your thoughts because when the devil defeats you with those evil thoughts, he will be able to defeat you anywhere because the mind controls the actions of the body. Whether you are a pastor, bishop, prophet or anyone evil thought will come but renewal of the mind is the only way one can use to combat those evil thoughts.

Why renewal of the mind is important?

Renewal of the mind is just like updating your anti-virus to fight new viruses because you cannot use out-dated virus to fight new viruses but you need new updates to fight new viruses. You need to update your mind with the Word of God to defeat evil thoughts. Renewal of the mind does not only let you defeat bad thoughts but also creates an atmosphere for holiness leading to purity. Once you have control over your mind, you will be able to live your life on purpose. The Bible isn't a rulebook, it’s a guidebook to keep you from sin and lead you to holiness. Let us renew our minds for good thoughts to control our mind and not evil ones.

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I hope you have been blessed by this message. It is my prayer we renew our minds daily because a little sleep and a little slumber gives room for the devil to operate.

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9 The Christian Race (Christianlethics-Christian Race of Fight the good fight with all thy might; Christ is thy Strength, and Christ thy Right; Lay hold on life and it shall be thy joy and crown eternally. Run the straight race through God’s good grace, Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face; Life with its way before us lies, Christ is the Path, and Christ the Prize.

God revealed to me during the Olympics games in His scriptures that we are in a race of faith. I wrote this message to let you know about the revelation I had from this scripture, how I can relate it to the Olympics and the Christian race.

Scripture Reference: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) My Message I believe during Paul's time, athletics did exist because of the scripture and how he relates a race to the Christian faith. The "race" Apostle Paul talks about here is the race of our Christian faith. He also put running the race of faith in a different way as "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses" in (1 Timothy 6:12). Paul says "everyone" running the race, which means both young, and old, the weak and strong are running 24

this race of faith. What does Paul mean by "the competitors are temperate in all things"?

Before you can compete a race you need to do certain things such as training, checking your diet, and you have to be committed and disciplined. Before Usain Bolt competes in any race whether being Olympics or world championship he does all of the above. When we bring it down to the race for our Christian faith what we need to do to be in this race is discipline, subjection and endurance.

Why do I need to be disciplined to compete in the race for faith? Usain Bolt said in one of his documentary that; He listens to what his coach (Glenn mills) tells him to do (guidelines) in terms of how he needs to train, what training he needs to do and what he needs to do when he gets on the track. Not only does he listen to his coach but he listens to but his personal assistant who makes sure He does what he is suppose to do and chef or let me say his dietician who tells him what he needs to eat and not to eat in order for him to be fit to compete. In this case, Bolt is disciplined because He listens and obeys everything he’s told and given to do.

Bringing it down to our Christian race, God is the coach, the guidelines He gives is the word of God and The Holy Spirit is the personal assistant making sure the right things are done and dietician advising on what we need to take in to be fit for the race of faith. We can be disciplined in our case as Christian is by listening and obeying God's word, also what His Spirit instructs us to do. Once we do this, then we will be disciplined. Discipline is not only obeying but also being chasten and rebuked when you go wrong. I know sometimes athletes are being disciplined when they go wrong. This does not mean their coaches or authorities do not love them or are discouraging them but rather they do that in order to improve them and bring the best out of them. This is done out of love.

When we apply this to our race of faith, the Lord disciplines us when we go wrong or astray sometimes so that we will be fit for the race of faith. He does that out of love for our own profit. Hebrews tells us more about the discipline of God and it's benefit to us "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not

despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.� If you 25

endure chastening, God deals with you as with son; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5-11)�

In this race of faith we need to discipline ourselves to be disciplined because when we are not disciplined, God disciplines us to disciplined in order to be fit compete for the race.

When one is disciplined it brings the body under the subjection of the holiness, power and authority of God. Colin Dye writes in his article "The race of faith" why endurance is important in the race. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

As in athletics, the secrets of success in the race of faith are discipline and endurance. We must keep pushing forward no matter how hard or tough it gets. The prize is none other than Jesus himself, who is urging us forward, step by step, ever closer to the finish line where he is waiting for us.

Jesus, as our forerunner has gone before us, enduring everything we have to endure – and so much more. His race meant embracing the pain and the shame of the cross, and his prize was us, the redeemed people of God. He totally triumphed in his quest and has accomplished for us eternal salvation. As both the author and finisher of our faith, he guarantees us an entry into the grandstand of his glory – heaven itself.

That should encourage us never to give in, fall back or disqualify ourselves from the race.

We can draw from him the grace to help us in time of need and the assurance of faith that is solid evidence of the reality of the things we hold dear. This race of life is real; it puts us

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in touch with the truth of who Jesus is – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Athletes compete to obtain a perishable crown (this perishable crown is Gold, silver and bronze). The bible tells us is perishable because which time it will have no value or will fade away. Paul tells us those who compete in the race of faith will obtain a crown that is imperishable. What is this imperishable crown Paul talks about? John piper Sermon on Olympic Spirituality in August 1992 describes the "imperishable crown" is the righteousness that finally fits us for heaven. We don't have it yet. We still sin. We repent. God forgives. But we fight and we run in the pursuit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:14). We hunger and thirst for righteousness with the confidence, Jesus says, that "we shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). We do not run in vain! He concludes his sermon saying "the Christian life is an awesomely serious affair and the stakes are infinitely high. What you do with your life— the way you run your race and fight your fight—will make the difference between sharing in the promises of the gospel and being disqualified. It will make the difference between attaining the prize of the upward call of God in Christ, or not. It will make the difference between receiving the unfading crown of righteousness or not. Life is serious business.”

We all watched the Olympic race and we have seen the discipline and endurance these athletes have shown on the track for a medal and also for country praise as well. It is my prayer we exhibit these things the athletes have shown on the tracks with our race for our faith. Brethren let us commit ourselves to the gospel, running the race of faith to receive the prize "imperishable crown" which surpasses and valuable than every medal won in the 2012 London Olympics. God bless you!

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10 The Great Commission or the Great Omission We give God all the glory and honour for a new day, His amazing Grace and deeper Revelation.

I was led by the Spirit to write this message to remind us as Christians the task that Jesus gave us before He departed to heaven. I realised most Christians have omitted themselves from the commission. This message is to help us put us back on track to continue to carry out the task that Christ gave us.

Scripture References: Matthew 28:18-20 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,

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as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sinner for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. My Message Are we committed to this great commission or are we omitting it? The book of Matthew tells us God has commissioned us to go and make the disciple of men, baptise them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. When I look at the way other bodies which are not of God is dominating this world, it makes me believe we are not committed to the great commission Jesus left us with. This is because if we were out there discipling others, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them the word of God, these bodies would not dominate this world. We are too busy with other things and omitting what God has commissioned us to do. When Jesus came to this world, He disciple twelve people and through that twelve, the gospel has reached our generation. If they were not embarking on this commission, would the gospel have reached us? No, it would not have but their zeal and commitment to the great commission made it possible for the gospel to reach us. With reference to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, we are ambassadors of Christ, we bear the image and the fullness of Christ in this world. An ambassador is someone who acts on behalf of His government and nation and also does what will benefit his nation. He also acts on the orders of His government. As an ambassador of Christ, we act on the orders of Christ, which is the great commission. I believe the main duty of the ministry of reconciliation is the great commission. I believe the first ministry we are called into and which every believer belongs to is the ministry of reconciliation as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, it tells us He made the reconciliation through Christ and He has appointed us as ambassadors to appeal this to the world. We can only appeal this reconciliation to the world only if we are committed to the Great commission. Just imagine you disciple twelve people for three years just as Jesus did and that twelve you disciple also disciple another twelve each. I believe if we were doing this within a decade the body of Christ will grow stronger and will have influence in this world than any other body.

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God has made our work easier by giving us all the power and the authority but we are not utilising them eectively. People fight for power but God has given it to us freely. If people can use the authority and power, they have to influence the world and others, which I term as worldly, power, how much more we that have the power of God? We can influence this world far better than they can. God knows how power and authority can influence others, and that is why He gave it to us to use it to influence others and lead them to Christ. Let us go find our disciples and influence them about God with the power and the authority that we have.

As I was mediating on baptize them in the name of the father, Son, and the Holy Spirit what the Holy Spirit made me to understand is; The baptism signifies the repentance and the forgiveness of sins with reference to Mark 1:4 (4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.) and through that baptism the Holy Spirit descends on that person also filling he/ she with the spirit with reference Mark 1:10 (10As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.)

When we make disciples, we need to baptise them so that they can be filled the whole the Holy Spirit to also go and make disciple as well.

Matthew 28:18-20 tells us to teach them to obey everything that he has commanded us.

Once they have been baptised and received the Spirit, the Spirit brings forth obedience.

Now is time to teach your disciple the doctrines of Christ, which they should be obliged to do all the days of their lives. I realised the mistake we have made in embarking on this great commission is that we preach and not teach. There is a dierence between teaching and preaching. Jesus preached to the many but taught His disciples. The people you are discipling others, you need to teach them the word and make sure they understand the doctrines of Christ and also be available to answer their questions. Jesus used parables to teach His disciples and through that, the disciples understood the doctrines of Christ.

They also asked questions, which He used parables as well to answer so that they will understand. He did this when He was with disciples only and not the crowd.

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God is with us as we embark on the great commission so we should not be afraid when we go out there to make disciples for Christ. There is a reward for this commission. “You will not be omitted from the reward if you are committed to the great commission�

It is my prayer we embark on this great commission and I hope you have been blessed by this message. Share with others. God bless.

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11 Receiving and the Manifestation of the Holy Spirit Receiving and the Manifestation of the Holy Spirit Scripture References: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (Joel 2:28, 29) “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17) “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2) My Message This is a message preached during the “Redefining Our Lives in Christ” Conference and I believe it is something that believers need to know about the Holy Spirit. The book of Joel in the Old Testament, talks about the pouring out of His Spirit. Paul talks about it in the book of Acts. The interesting thing here is Joel says it shall come to pass afterwards whiles Paul uses the same phrase but replace the afterwards with last days. Paul makes it clearer to us about what Joel meant about afterwards. In effect, he was referring to the last generation.

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I believe we are in the last days when you look at signs and what is happening now in our world both economic wise (recession) and social wise (war). God is a Spirit and that is why He created man in a spirit to be His image and gave us a soul and a body to live in. I will use a car as an example; man is the fuel, the engine is His soul; the car body is His body.

Joel and Acts tell us the effects of the pouring out His Spirit, which are young men and women prophesying and the young men seeing vision as well. The old men shall see dreams. This makes us to understand that He wouldn't only pour out His Spirit upon the youth but all flesh being old or young but the Spirit will take a greater effect on the young since they will be doing more (prophesying and seeing visions). Anything that is being poured out onto something contains a substance or it is a combination of something that comes to form one thing to be out poured. I will use water for instance; when pouring out water on the body, though water is a liquid but it is formed by hydrogen and oxygen.

The Spirit God going to be poured out on us is being formed by different Spirit. When that Spirit is being is poured out on us, each of them will begin to manifesting us.

Isaiah tells us in chapter 11:2 these spirits; they are spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord. When the spirit of wisdom and understanding is being manifested in you that is when you gain the mind of Christ to prophesy, also to be able make the vision also to become a reality. I will use the Olympics as an example; it was a vision but needed wisdom and understanding to carry it out, the spirit of counsel and might is also the Spirit that is able to champion others and yourself to accomplish a goal or a vision. When the spirit of knowledge revelation is being manifested that is when you are able to dream dreams and also see visions also get the interpretations of that dream or vision. Daniel and Joseph had the spirits knowledge to interpret dreams. You need the knowledge to interpret the things of God. The spirit of Obedient fear in the lord is also manifested in us and that is when we are able to gain wisdom from God because the bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, not only wisdom but be humbled and do what the spirit tells us to do. Without obedience one cannot prophesy, without obedience one cannot see vision 33

or dreams because God reveals and use those who are obedient and humble before Him. Obedience leads to humility. Through this spirit obedience, we are able to carry out the will of God. In conclusion, the manifestation of these spirits causes the eects of the Spirit.

It is my prayers that as we seek God and He pours out His Spirit upon us, it will manifest in us and enable us to prophesy, see visions and dream dreams. God bless you!

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12 Do not cling to worthless idols So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown.

Scripture Reference: “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (Jonah 2:8)I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD. (Psalm 31:6) My Message I have noticed in life that we cling to certain things that don’t have eternal value. These things could be cars, houses, money, alcohol, or even being so dependent on other people such as boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife and many more. We have these people and things like idols without them or it we feel we cannot survive. We tend to forget that survival in life is not determined by your possessions or by being dependent on others but it’s just by the Grace of God The bible tells us all these are worthless. These idols have become stumbling blocks for most people to receive God's blessings. This is because the moment one decides to depend on possessions or other people for survival rather than God we forfeit God's Grace.

Grace can only be accessed through faith in Christ (“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”-Romans 5:1-2) and not possessions or other people.

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Your relationship with God is one that has eternal value and you must resolve or decided to trust and chase after Him. My brothers and sisters in the Lord, it’s about time you pursue intimacy with God because He views the things that take your attention from Him as idols and I could call it adultery and cheating in your relationship with Him. Just in case you did not know, your trust in God is an act of worship proper and peculiar to a holy God. Nothing in creation should share in your trust in God, for it would become your idol. Your trust in God takes us off the doubts of all other assurances. We cannot trust God and be looking “elsewhere”. There must be one thing in our trust in God and that is keep trusting in Him no matter what the situation looks like. More particularly, we must not place a holy trust in anything besides God, whether within us, or without us. We cannot lean on our own understanding; it will lead us into a trouble. We cannot also trust in our own heart, because it is too deceitful. We must not trust in the abundance of riches; even in their fullest flow they are most uncertain and will not profit in the day of wrath. Those trusting in riches can never expect a portion in heaven. Put your whole trust in the Lord God Almighty.

Don't conform to the ways of the world because the pleasures of this world would not secure your place in heaven, but it’s living for God and doing His will that secures your place in heaven.

Brethren, be careful in what you put all your trust, let it be God and receive His Grace. Our dependency on God is determined by our faith.

If you have put all your faith in possessions and other people, it is about time you repent and believe in Jesus for you to receive His Grace and experience His love.

Let us pray:

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Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your ending Grace and mercies that are new every morning. We pray that You shall grant us the joy of Your salvation so that we will continually be empowered to live for You. Help us to trust that You are a safe place on which we can lean and that our help cometh from You alone. Grant unto us, the courage to say YES to You and NO to the world, in Jesus Name. Amen!

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13 Spiritual Blessings Spiritual Blessings

Great things He has done and greater things He will do unto the Lord be the Glory. We Thank Him for the fullness of His blessings, amazing Grace and also His deeper Revelation. Today’s message is about “Spiritual blessings� which the book Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 to 14 talks more about.

Ephesians 1:3-14 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:5 Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the

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gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

My Message Do you know there is a spiritual blessing? Well Ephesians chapter 1:3-14 tells us about the spiritual blessings of God. What is spiritual blessing? These are blessing that cannot been seen but it is being manifested spiritually.

What are these spiritual blessing Apostle Paul is talking about?

1.Adoption as His children; in our normal lives it is a blessing for one to adopt as their child because you are entitled all the privileges as their natural born child. In this His own son paved the way for us to be adopted through his death for the forgiveness of sins. I don’t think no one will die in order for His father to adopt someone who is not worthy of.

This makes us to understand it spiritual blessing (though you might not see it) for us to be adopted as His children.

2.Redemption through His blood; we were slaves to sins and death but His son used His blood to pay for us to be redeemed. Using the analogy of football’ if you are in a team and another team wants you that need to pay a price to have you. “We were once in a team of sin but Jesus paid with His blood as a price for us to be on the team of righteousness”.

3.Forgiveness of sins; Redemption through His blood our sins have been forgiven as well.

It is a blessing for someone to forgive you all the time you hurt them because even in our real life if people hurt us, we find it hard to forgive them. It is a blessing that we have received from God when we do sin he forgive us all the time.

4.Wisdom and understanding; The difference between one who lived a successful and one who did not live a successful life is wisdom and understanding. You cannot live according to God’s will for your life unless you have His wisdom and understanding otherwise such things will seem folly to you. 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. God gives instruc39

tions about how to live a purposeful life which leads success because without wisdom and understand you cannot obey that instructions, this is why God has blessed us with His wisdom and understanding to obey his instructions to live a purposeful and a successful life.

5.Inheritance; through adoption as His children we have received an inheritance according to counsel of His will. Whatever our father in heaven possess we are part owners of it since is our inheritance. If it was a house, car, business we are owners but the possession are great than those things. With reference to Psalm 50-10:12 (10 "For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. 11 "I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is mine. 12 "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.) God owns everything so do His adopted children as well. “ You will be part of His will of inheritance if you live according to His will” 6.Sealed with the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit seals these blessing assuring as of our salvation and God’s promises for our lives. The Holy Spirit is a proof or let me say a warrant we have received these spiritual blessings.

God gave us all these blessings according to His will, through His son and His Grace.

Through these spiritual blessings we have received physical blessings. “The supernatural has to take place before the natural happens” I hope you have been blessed by this message. Share with others.

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14 The Power of Prayer Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

James 5:13-18 The Power of Prayer 13 Are any of you suering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15Such a prayer oered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

16Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

My Message Do you know the power of prayer? Well, James 5:13-18 is telling us about the power of prayer. James 5:13-18 tells us no matter what we going through we should pray and not praying alone but also calling the church elders as well. Church elders are not there alone

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for church planning and counseling but also for anointing and praying with the church members. Verse 16 makes it known to us if we confess our sins to each other we will be healed, I believe sin is a disease, which mankind is suffering and the one who has the cure to it is God. If the curer is telling us to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other we will be healed then we should go ahead and do it. I know is hard to tell someone of your sins to pray for you but let us do it for our own benefit. I have tried it, worked for me and challenging you to do the same as well.

The bible tells us such prayer is a prayer of faith and has great power to produce wonderful results. Elijah prayed a prayer of faith and did not rain for three years and six months and prayed again and it rained. If the bible tells us He (Elijah) is like a man likes us then we can also pray for things to happen because our Lord is a lord of host. Let us stop crying and moaning about our problems and pray a prayer of faith to produce wonderful results. I tell people who come to me for advice about their problems “do not worry about anything praying about everything” which is in Philippians 4:6. I have a favourite quote, which goes “you cannot breakthrough unless you pray through” Now that we know the power of prayer, it is my prayer we pray a prayer of faith and see the wonderful works it produces. I hope you have been blessed by this message. Do not forget to share with others. God bless!

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15 The Sustaining Grace of God Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.

God revealed to me in His word what sustain us all the time is His Grace. This message is about the Grace of God that sustains us.

Scripture References: For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen. (Nehemiah 9:21) And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8).

My brother and my Sister in Christ, you don't need big cars, big houses, and all sort of worldly possessions to survive in life or live life. What you need is the sustained Grace of God. Sustaining Grace is the grace given at special times of need, especially during suering and adversity. What kept the Israelites going in the desert for forty years was the sustained Grace of God. The bible tells us He sustained them that neither did their clothes wear out nor their feet get swollen. Without that sustaining Grace of God, their clothes would have worn out or feet would have got swollen but because of God’s sustaining Grace that did not happen. What even amazes me is that they never lacked anything, which therefore tells us that the sustaining Grace provided them with everything that they needed from cloth to shelter and health. Wow! What an amazing Grace! Imagine yourself in a desert without lacking anything, neither your clothes getting worn out nor having your feet swollen, isn't that amazing Grace?

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I believe the Lord is still giving this sustaining Grace to His people so that they wouldn't lack anything just as He did for the Israelites if only we will have faith to gain access to His Grace. The bible says “through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2). The bible also says in Hebrews 4:16 that, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most”. Therefore the access to His sustaining Grace is through our faith in God and how boldly we ask Him for it. Your survival in life should not be dependent on material things but on the sustaining Grace which makes you not to lack anything. The sustaining Grace gives you a supernatural advantage over others. It puts you on top because what others do and they fail, you will do it and succeed and amazing thing is that you will never get weary. The earth is like a desert because we are born with nothing but we need His Grace so that we wouldn't lack anything. Hallelujah!

It is my prayer God's sustaining Grace abounds in your life and that you will not lacking anything from cloth to shelter, health to protection and wisdom to understanding. Amen!

God bless you!

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16 When You Lose Something, It Is An Opportunity To Gain More The Holy Spirit made me to realise that we should not cry over things which we have lost through trails but hope for the better things ahead of us, Job is an example of someone who lost everything though trails but it became an opportunity for God to bless him more.

I also relate this message to my life experience as well.

Story of Job The book of Job tells the story of an extremely righteous man named Job, who was very prosperous and had seven sons and three daughters. Constantly fearing that his sons may have sinned and "cursed God in their hearts", he habitually offered burnt offerings as a pardon for their sins.[3] The "sons of God" and Satan (literally "the Adversary") present themselves to God, and God asks Satan his opinion on Job. Satan answers that Job is pious only because God has put a "wall around" him and "blessed" His favourite servant with prosperity, but if God were to stretch out his hand and strike everything that Job had, then he would surely curse God. God gives Satan permission to test Job's righteousness.[4] All of Job's possessions are destroyed; the 500 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys carried off

by Sabeans, the 7000 sheep were burned up by 'The fire of God which fell from the sky,' the 3000 camels were stolen by the Chaldeans and the house of the firstborn collapsed, due to a mighty wind, killing all of Job's offspring, but Job does not curse God but instead shaves his head, tears his clothes and says, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: Lord has given, and Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of Lord."[5]

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As Job endures these calamities without reproaching God, Satan solicits permission to afflict his person as well, and God says, "Behold, he is in your hand, but don't touch his life." Satan, therefore, smites him with dreadful boils, and Job, seated in ashes, scrapes his skin with broken pottery. His wife prompts him to "curse God, and die" but Job answers, "You speak as one of the foolish speaks. Moreover, shall we receive good from God and shall not receive evil?"

God responds saying that there are so many things Job does not know about how this world was formed or how nature works, that Job should consider God as being greater than the thunderstorm and strong enough to pull in the leviathan with a fishhook. God then rebukes the three friends and says, "I am angry with you....you have not spoken of me what is right."

The story ends with Job restored to health, with a new family and twice as much livestock.

I learnt a lot from the story of Job and my experience as well, we are blind to see that when we lose something through trials it is an opportunity to receive more from God when we persevere. Job lost everything but gained more than what He lost. It is hard to lose certain things in life but we should let it go and have it in mind that if Job lost everything through trials and gained more than what he lost, we will also gain more than what we lost.

Do not curse God or question Him when you lose something because it is an opportunity for Him to bless you. I am a witness to that; I did not get into my university of choice, the one that I got into due to some issues but couldn’t get into as well but little did I know God was preparing me for a better university than what I applied for. I got into a university, which is far better than those two with no difficulties. I never understood why the bible says in James 1:2 “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” and until I had this experience, it made me understand that through trials God is preparing something great for me and through trails I can experience the mighty power of God. You might be thinking because you lost your job or your house or your education and any other thing, that is the end of you but I assure you today that it is an opportunity to gain more just as I did and Job as well. Do not worry because God knows your problem and He will meet your needs. God will provide for you!

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“Do not think about what you have lost, think about what you are about to gain�

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17 Prosperity through Good Planning and Hard Work “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.�Proverbs 21:5 Through this scripture the Holy Spirit made me to realise the only way we can prosperous in everything we do is through good planning and hard work.

Everyone wants to be prosperous in life but prosperity does not come as a one-day wonder or miracle. You need to tap into the uncommon ideas God gives you through the Spirit, have a good plan and work hard to achieve that then you will be prosperity. Prosperity is an activity that becomes a reality through good planning and hard work because God makes you to be part of it to have a feel and experience to be prosperous in life so that all glory and honour will be channeled to Him. You can pray, speak the biggest tongues or go to church and conferences to seek for prosperity but you will never become prosperous unless you have a good plan and work hard. God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant but you have to work towards it. Remember that it is God who gives us power to get wealth. So once you are able to tap into it, wealth will surely come your way.

Prosperity and poverty is a choice depends on how you plan and work towards and the first key to God's prosperity plan is that you must change your attitude.

The bible warns us about doing anything how, it tells us hasty shortcuts leads to poverty.

Have you realised people who are always finding shortcuts (i.e. others gods, crime, drugs) to be prosperous at the end find themselves to be poorer than they were. This is because they didn’t know what it takes to get there so they do things anyhow they feel like (foolishly). This is the analogy I got from the spirit; it is just like a builder building a house, start

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to build from foundation to laying of blocks and roofing without any strong pillars and lintel, the house will collapse in the short term because the builder missed the step of putting strong pillars then laying the blocks, lintel before roofing. The building will not just collapse but the foundation is being destroyed as well which takes us to the point I made earlier about people who try to find shortcuts to prosperity are made poorer than they were because you will lose the foundation you have due to the hasty shortcuts.

Prosperity starts with the uncommon ideas, good plan and hard work.

Why uncommon ideas?

You need uncommon ideas from God to be able to bring out something that is unique and would be prosperous in this world. Also without the idea the planning cannot take place so as the input (hard work). These ideas come from God and are being given to us through the Holy Spirit that lives in our spirit and transferred onwards to the mind, which is part of the soul where these ideas are being processed into a good plan with the wisdom of God. Ideas are always ideas but can be turned into success when there is a good plan and hard work. Your mind can decide to accept or decline these ideas depending on how thoughtful you are and channeled to God. Why a good plan?

Planning is assessing the future and makes provision for it. Many men of God spoke about the birth of Jesus in the New Testament before He was born this tells us God has already planned and made Jesus as a provision for our sins to be forgiven. That is why when you get these ideas you need to write it down, draw up a plan, assessing the plan based on both current and future trends. A plan will always be plan but that plan could become a success in real life only if provisions are made. Therefore after planning you need to make provision for it. The provision should be made up both physical and spiritually provision (the word, prayer and fasting). A good plan always brings forth success and prosperity Why Hard work?

You can drive a car to a destination unless you have fuel and the driving skills. In this case you cannot drive a good plan to success unless you put in hard work with discipline and 49

commitment. You can work hard achieve nothing unless you are disciplined and committed to the plan.

The don’ts of prosperity Let no one discourage you: people may discourage when you share your ideas with them, remember the one who carries the idea or ideas has a better insight of it than the one who is supporting it. Discouragement has miscarriage a lot people’s dreams. Surround yourself with people who will encourage. Those who will discourage you are the same person who will come back and tell you well done, that’s how nature is.

Don’t share your ideas with just anyone: Share ideas with close people who you trust not everyone wishes you well in life or have good heart and mind for you. Try to keep your ideas within.

Pride: This can drag you from prosperity to poverty. You need to humble in order to climb the ladder of prosperity without humility your vision and plan will die out. Proverbs 29:23 says A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honour. If Pride brought Lucifer from heaven to hell so can pride drive you to poverty because out of pride there is disobedience and foolishness. You need to be wise and obedient to be prosperous.

Procrastination: when you keep on procrastinating you should bear in mind you are delaying your own prosperity. That is why I said hard work with discipline is important The do’s to prosperity Faith: You need to have faith in God in order for him to help you by giving you the ideas, wisdom to plan and strength to work hard. Romans 10:17 tells us consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Reading the word will help you build that faith. Psalms tells us in chapter 1 verse 2 and 3; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

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Prayer and fasting: Most of these uncommon ideas can be revealed through prayers. You need to be prayerful in order to combat the attacks of the enemy as you climb the ladder of prosperity. In life as you climb up the greater challenges you face but you need to pray through to breakthrough to reach that height of prosperity God wants you to be.

Giving: Christians achieve prosperity through giving. When you give to God, He controls your finances. There's no such thing as a fixed income in the Kingdom of God. Your giving controls your finances. Christians grow prosperous through giving because God created a universe where it is impossible to receive without giving. Everything that God controls, gives and givers gain. You do not qualify for God's abundance until you give.

Perseverance: Road to prosperity is not easy you need to preserve to get to that destination, they would be up’s and down’s but how well you are able to deal with it will enable you to preserve to prosperity. (Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance-Romans 5:3) Change your attitude: Your attitude must change if you are to enjoy God's prosperity plan.

You must change your attitude about poverty. Your attitude when you apply God's principles makes the difference. You must change your attitude to money Write down every idea that is being given to you: Run with those ideas; if you do not want to be robbed your prosperity like how Jacob robbed Esau of His blessings then you need to act fast before get that idea and run with it.

What you should know Prosperity and poverty is the state of mind. The one who make good use of the ideas given to him and works hard is always prosperous but the one who sits ideal; waiting for prosperity to come on a silver platter will always be poor. Prosperity is what is being thought of and being worked for it. You can be prosperous in your mind but poor in life unless you have a good plan and work hard. Don’t forget to give thanks to the one who made you prosperous (God).

I hope you been blessed by this message and will work hard. Sharing is caring. Have a prosperous day!

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18 The Favor of God I'm walking in the favor of God, his grace and mercy has brought me this far. I will believe all that His word says about me.

Scripture References: Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. (Genesis 39:4) Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:4) My Message FAVOR is the special aection of God toward you that releases an influence on you, so that others are inclined to like you, or to cooperate with you. You don't need to have money, a great personality, good make- up or even expensive clothes to have favour in the eyes of God or men. Favour is a gift from God through His Grace. When one has the favour of God wherever he or she goes things begin to work together for their good. God’s favor can produce Supernatural increase and promotion as seen in the story of Joseph. Joseph was a man who received favor from God, and because of God's favour he found favour in the eyes of Potiphar and became his attendant being in charge of his entire household. Noah also found favour in the eyes of God and was saved from the wrath of God that was coming on His people.

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Jesus said that He came so that we might have a full, meaningful, purposeful and abundant life. God's favour is "yes" and "amen" in every promise of His Word. The favor of God will produce blessings in your life. I pray that all of you will have favour in the eyes of your employers, teachers and everyone that comes into your life. I end with this scripture in Numbers which says, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.�

(Numbers 6:24-26)

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19 What Faith Can Do? Blessed be the name of the Lord, He is worthy to be praised and adored.

Scripture Reference: Hebrews 11:30-40 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

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Why do you get stressed, depressed or worried? If you knew what faith could do, you will stop worrying, stressing yourself, or being depressed. The only solution for your problems is faith because through faith God will solve your problems. Faith is the foundational power of the twelve powers, which are the transforming agents of the one presence, and one power of God within you.If faith walls of Jericho fell down, are your problems greater than walls of Jericho? No! I don’t think so. You have been wandering around the walls of your problems for long; you need faith for those walls of your problems to fall down.

Through faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish in her sin but received peace. If you have faith in Him you will not perish in your sin but will receive peace and eternal life. If by faith, great men in the bible gained righteousness and God’s promises fulfilled in their lives, I assure you today that if you have faith and stop worrying about how God promises for your life will come to pass, it shall be well with you. It’s not enough to profess our faith. We have also to express our faith. And we express it through action, through activity. Faith is your ability to say “Yes” to God. Faith is your ability to draw your good from the invisible to the visible. Through faith, one was raised from dead. Let me ask you this; is your sickness greater than death? No! It is not. Have faith and receive your healing. You know what faith can do, it is about time you put an end to your unbelief and believe to receive your breakthrough. Faith will help you to experience God in a special way. We have to take the initiative. We must step out on faith; not just profess it, but express it and to express that power, it takes action. Let faith solve your problems and stop being stressed up or being depressed.

Re-Activate Your Faith It is my prayer we have faith in Him (God). God bless you!

“We walk by faith, live by faith, stand by faith, healed by faith, saved through faith and by faith we have access to Grace”

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20 Flourishing Under God’s Unfailing Love O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me is the current of Thy love, leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

Scripture Reference: But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever. (Psalm 52:8) In this world, it's either you flourish or perish. Those who choose to dwell in the house of God will flourish like an olive tree under His Grace and unfailing love but those who choose to trust in the world perish in sin.

Brethren, the only way we can flourish like an olive tree in the House of God is by putting our trust in His unfailing love, which brought Grace and salvation unto many. That trust needs to be forever and ever. Trust believes when reason tells us to doubt. Trust means staying when our senses tell us to flee for it’s not possible. Our obedience is not rooted in shifting circumstances, but it is built instead on the rock of God’s unchangeable nature. As David fled from Saul, he hid in caves, fields, and heathen cities, but his trust was always in God’s unfailing love.

Also, an olive tree cannot flourish if it does not trust the sun and soil for photosynthesis to take place. In our case, we need to trust God and His unfailing love for the process of flourishing to take place. This trust in God should be forever and ever which means whether in times of persecution, trials, temptation, happiness and all times in your life. I have put all

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my trust in the Lord and I have experienced His unfailing which is above every other love. It is full of God's Grace and goodness.

Dear Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner and I am in need of You and Your forgiveness. I want to turn from my sins and follow You completely. I

In all times, it is that love I trust in and it

believe that You are the Son of God who

has always flourished me like an olive tree.

died on the cross for me and all my sins;

No matter what the situation is, keep trust-

You were buried, rose to life again and You

ing in His unfailing love and at the ap-

are coming back. I accept the Father's gift

pointed time, He will flourish you just as

of eternal life through faith and belief in

He did for me because the Lord does eve-

You alone. I receive you as Lord and Sav-

rything He says He will do. God fulfils

iour of every part and area of my life for-

every promise He makes to us. Flourish-

ever and ever. Now Lord, fill me with Your

ing is always possible. Trust in His unfail-

Holy Spirit, in Jesus' Name. Amen!

ing love!

Once you have made the decision to make Brethren, if you haven't accepted Jesus as

Jesus the Lord of your life, if you are not

your Lord and Saviour. This is the time to

already a part of a Bible believing church,

make a personal decision to accept Him

search for a church family that will encour-

(through repentance and faith in Christ Je-

age you and help you grow in your new life

sus) to receive the gift of salvation by

with Christ.

Grace and experience His unfailing love.

In conclusion, I would like to say that flourLet me pray with you:

ishing is always God’s will for you. Trust Him and be sensitive to the many ways He will speak to your heart, reminding you

[Say this from your heart]

how much He loves you, speaking tenderly and gently to you, bringing correction

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when needed, giving encouragement and hope, which truly brings an awareness of His presence in your life. Experience God’s love because you are worth every nail that Jesus bore when He gave His life for you. He loves you with an amazing love. Flourish, thrive and grow in His love!

God bless you

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21 Three Things You Need Always Scripture reference: The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the presence and fellowship (the communion and sharing together, and participation) in the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (so be it). (2 Corinthians 13:14).

My Message.

Man needs food and water to survive. Food and water will not see us through in life and our walk with God but what we need is undeserving Grace, God's love and communion of the Holy Spirit. I will also put this in another way; when you are going to school, you need a pen or pencil, book, bag and maybe pack launch. In this case, as children of God we need God's Grace, love and communion of the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us with our walk with God. Paul asked for the Grace of God to be with the church of Corinth, so that in times that they are being made weak by trials and temptations, they will come out strong. Paul knew it was not an easy task to be a Saint because of the truth you know and the struggles that comes with it in life. This makes me to think deeper that if it was not for Grace that we are saved through faith referencing Ephesians 2:8, imagine if we were to work to receive salvation we all wouldn't have done half of it but Christ did that for us so that we would receive Grace from God to be saved and work out that salvation. It is by His Grace we are being saved to become saints. That's why we always need that same saving Grace to sustain the saints. When Paul was troubled, He prayed to God and God said my Grace is suďŹƒcient for you. This is because it was only Grace that saw Him through. We do struggle or go through trials as believers of God, what you and I need in such times is the sustainable Grace of God.

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Next is the love of God; God demonstrated His love to mankind by sacrificing His son for the atonement, forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with the Father (God). Romans 5:8 says But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us. Out of this love that sinners who believe in Him have been made saints. Paul describes the love of God in 1 Corinthians 13 and also teaches us to love that way as well. Paul tells us in verse 13 that the greatest of all is love. This is because the love of God is inseparable in our lives, that love makes us to be what God wants to be, protect us and also preserves us in every aspect of our lives and most especially where we face challenges. This reminds of a scripture in Romans which says who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39). The love of God is what we mostly need in life and our walk with God to survive. You need it, I need it and without His love poured out on us or showered on us, we are nothing! The only way to receive this love is to believe in Him. Lastly is the communion of the Holy Spirit. As Paul closes his letter to the Corinthians, his final prayer is that they will experience “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14). He wants nothing less than that. He wants them to experience the Holy Spirit’s presence, participate in his work, and partake of his fellowship—that they grow in relationship with the third person of the Trinity.[1] Pastors, as we follow Paul’s model for ministry, this must be our burden as well.

We must remain dependent upon the Holy Spirit, pursue His presence and power for sanctification and service, and grow in eagerness to experience His gifts as described in Scripture. Scripture does not permit us merely to affirm the existence of the Holy Spirit. Scripture calls us to grow in our relationship with him and our experience of his presence and work. (The communion of the holy Spirit section was taken from C.J.’s chapter in the new

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book For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper. C.J.’s chapter is titled “The Pastor and the Trinity).

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THANK YOU FOR READING AND GOD BLESS

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BIO About the author Emmanuel Amponsah is a student, web developer, writer, entrepreneur and founder of Truth4Life Radio, ChristInYou, and E.A. Ministries. He was born into a family with strong Christian values and ethics and thus Emmanuel developed a hunger for the things of God at a tender age. He began his journey of leadership at Trinity Baptist Church as a youth leader and has written several books over the years. Emmanuel is a true gift of God to the body of Christ in our generation. He and his team are selflessly working together as one body to help many young men and women pursue and fulfil their true calling and potential in the Lord. His advice to every Christian, especially those who have been called into the work of ministry is this: “Have faith in God” and never give up “for with God all things are possible”. Amen.

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Š eaministries 2014, www.eaministries.co.uk

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