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About The Author Tinei Shamu is an author speaker focused on transforming lives by changing mindsets. His book “Breakthrough is Imminent has received numerous testimonials from people whose lives have been impacted by it. Copies of this book are available at selected outlets including Innov8 bookshops, Best Books, The Fountain Bookshop, Wordwide, Rava Zimbabwe stands and other Christian bookshops. He lives in Harare with his wife Nomsa and their daughter Zoe.
Tinei Shamu
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Contents Introduction ........................................................ 4 What It Means To Be Born Again .................. 7 Why Jesus?....................................................... 12 The resurrection ................................................ 18 It’s By Grace ................................................... 22 The Power of The New Creation .................... 26 Dominion .......................................................... 31 Maintaining The New Life.............................. 34 Epilogue ............................................................ 38
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Dedicated to all the wonderful people that have just entered into God’s Kingdom through Christ Jesus.
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Introduction Now and again at crusades and other such church gatherings many people are convicted and convinced to give their lives to Christ. Many people have at some point given their lives but have no clue what that was all about. They have stood in front of that powerful man who delivered a powerful message and recited a prayer but that was the beginning and end of it. As Christians we are called to make disciples of all nations, not mere converts (Matthew 28:20). A disciple is a disciplined follower who studies and follows the ways, doctrines and principles of the discipler. This means that the idea is more than merely preparing people for an afterlife but equipping them with principles “Go to the people of all nations and make to live by in the current life. them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.� – Matthew 28:20-21
This however is not the prevailing perspective of most Christians. Most feel that they are meant to live a downtrodden life in the name of humility so that when they die they will be accepted into heaven. Others even think that they are not supposed to prosper in their lives on earth because their riches are in heaven. There are many misinterpretations of the Bible that people who have not taken the time to study the word of God use to misinform Christians.
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The process of discipling people involves a great deal of teaching. Without proper teaching, people cannot be effectively discipled. Time is required for people to explore the realities of the word of God in order for them to be assimilated into people’s thinking until it becomes a part of them. Reborn to Power is a short book that is aimed at equipping Christians with a few of the fundamental truths of the word of God that can lead a Christian to a victorious life if properly understood and applied. “For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12. As you go through this material, search the scriptures on your own to prove the ideas presented. I have written a few things according to my understanding of the word of God but you will need to take the time to read it for yourself to develop your own understanding around other areas not covered in this book. I trust that this material will form a strong foundation on which you can build a victorious life. I pray for you “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; And that having the eyes of your heart full of light, you may have knowledge of what is the hope of his purpose, what is the wealth of the glory of his heritage in the saints, And how unlimited is his power to us who have faith, as is seen in the working of the strength of his power, By which he made Christ come
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back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven, Far over all rule and authority and power and every name which is named, not only in the present order, but in that which is to come: And he has put all things under his feet, and has made him to be head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the full measure of him in whom all things are made complete.� – Ephesians 1:17-23.
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What It Means To Be Born Again The term “born again” is widely used in Christian circles but a lot of Christians do not quite understand what it really means to be born again. Some believe that it refers to being a religious church attendee, while others believe it is being a nice person who hurts nobody. Others yet believe that it is coming to a place where the phrase “things I used to do I do no more” applies. All these are good qualities to have and are often fruits of being born again but they are not the definition of being born again. In the first chapter of the book of Genesis we read the story of creation. In verse twenty six we see God’s plan concerning man. “And God said; Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth. And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.” – Genesis 1:26, 27. Everything that is made is made for a purpose. The manufacturer who makes the spoon makes it with a defined purpose in mind. It is not his intention that the spoon should be used in the garden or for beating drums. If it is a desert spoon, it is fashioned for desert; if a soup spoon then it is fashioned for soup. God made man in His image [for a reason] so that
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man would have dominion over everything else that He had created in the earth. Man was intended to be God’s image carrier in the earth and to be as God in the earth. Male and female alike were created for dominion (verse 27). In the second chapter we read of the Garden of Eden. “And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Genesis 2:16, 17. God’s word is true and is. In the first chapter we see the power of His word as He spoke all things into existence. Only man did He form out of the dust, but everything else he spoke and it was. When God says you shall surely die, you will surely die! I am convinced that Adam should have known that very well but he did not Jesus answered share all the truth with his wife Eve. So and said to him, Truly, truly, I say the result was that the serpent to you, Unless a successfully beguiled Eve. “And Adam man is born was not deceived, but the woman being again, he cannot deceived was in the transgression” – 1 see the kingdom of Timothy 2:14. This happened in Genesis God. – John 3:3 3:4, “And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die.” So she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave Adam to eat also. The result of this choice that the two made is what we refer to as the fall of man. Man fell from God’s
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primary intention for him: dominion. He no longer had dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. Moreover, they were removed from the Garden of Eden and God made sure they no longer had access to the tree of life for if they had partaken of it after the first sin, they would become eternal in their sin (Genesis 3:24). The sin that Adam and Eve committed was accounted for all that they bore; even you and I (Romans 3:23). The ultimate wages of sin was and still is death (Romans 6:23). The only way that we could pay for that sin was through death. In times past in the Old Testament people offered the blood of animals for the atonement of their sins, but they had to do it over and over again. There had to be a way to deal with sin once and for all; and God had a plan. God’s plan was the great plan of salvation. Man needed to be saved from the death penalty that was legally due to him. He needed to get born again. John 3:3 – “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “But what does it say?" The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart"; that is, the Word of Faith which we proclaim; Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
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mouth one confesses unto salvation.” – Romans 10:8-10. In this passage we get the means of salvation. In order to be saved one needs to confess [by spoken word] Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead. That is salvation. When one does that, they are born again, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16. If you had never heard of this truth or you are not sure that you are born again, you can say a prayer right now and get saved. Say this prayer from the bottom of your heart: “Father, I believe that you sent Jesus to this world to die for me. I believe that He is your Son and that you raised Him from the dead. I believe that He is seated with you and the right hand of the power. I receive Him today into my heart and confess with my mouth His Lordship over my life. Amen” If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, may I be the first to congratulate you and welcome you into the family of believers. You have now been restored to your place of dominion. The thing that remains is water baptism. It is what we do in obedience to Jesus’ commission to the apostles. “Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19. This is for people that have already believed and given their lives to the Lordship of Jesus. In view
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of this fact, baptizing babies does not quite make much sense. Only people that have believed with their understanding may be baptized. Those that are born again have relinquished the sinful nature and have put on a new nature. “So that if anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us.� – 2 Corinthians 5:17-19. As far as God is concerned, the person you used to be is dead and no longer exists. Read on to the next chapter to understand why it is Jesus and Him only that is the way to the Father.
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Why Jesus? You may be wondering why we say it is only Jesus that can save you. Firstly, Jesus is the only one who died for us for the remission of sins. That makes Christianity the only “religion” that has a permanent solution for sin. The rest are for condemnation requiring each individual to work towards atoning for their own sin. Some still practice the shedding of the blood of bulls and other animals for sins committed but through the blood of Jesus, Christianity offers a sacrifice that was made once and for all. “And to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” - Hebrews 12:24. The John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes have this to say on this verse, “To Jesus, the mediator - Through whom they had been perfected. And to the blood of sprinkling - To all the virtue of his precious blood shed for you, whereby ye are sprinkled from an evil conscience. This blood of sprinkling was the foundation of our Lord's mediatorial office. Here the gradation is at the highest point. Which speaks better things than that of Abel Which cried for vengeance.” Secondly, Jesus is the only one who rose from the dead. No other man ever rose from the dead of his own accord. We will reveal these first two in the coming chapters but the third one we will tackle in this chapter. So thirdly, Jesus is God! You might find that astonishing or even offending. Some people get very uncomfortable at this statement but it is truth.
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Jesus is God. Let us look at the attributes of God, or rather the characteristics that God should have. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
He must be the creator of all things He must be the origin of life He must be omnipotent (all powerful) He must be omniscient (all knowing) He must be omnipresesent (present everywhere at the same time) 6. He must be a master communicator
Now let us look at them one by one in relation to Jesus. 1. He must be the creator of all things. For anyone to be called God, He must be the creator of ALL things, not some things. That means even his own origin should be unknown. In John 1:1-3 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” In the fourteenth verse John reveals, “And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.” To get a full appreciation of this scripture I encourage you to read John 1:1-37. 2. He must be the origin of life From the last scripture in the book of John 1:4 we read, “In him was life; and the life was the light of
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men.” Again in John 14:16 we read, “Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by me.” Notice that Jesus did not say, “I am a way, a truth and a life” but “the way, the truth, and the life.” In John 11:25 we read, “Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live.” 3. He must be omnipotent. Matthew 28:18 says, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.” The Greek word translated authority in that verse is “exousia” which according to the Thayer’s Greek Definitions refers to power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases; physical and mental power; the power of authority (influence) and of right (privilege); the power of rule or government (the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed). 4. He must be omniscient. Omniscient means all knowing. For one to be God they must be the embodiment of all wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2, 3 says, “That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.” Jesus had so much knowledge that in the book of Acts 4:3 we read, “Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took
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knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” “He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.” – John 21:17.
5. He must be omnipresent. For one to be God He should be present at all places at the same time. Once while speaking to the Jews Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and He saw and was glad. Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I AM! Then they took up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went forth out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and passed on by.” – John 8:56-59. 6. He must be a master communicator. As you study the synoptic gospels you will notice the simplicity that Jesus had. He spoke words that all man could understand. He spoke to the teachers of the law, ordinary men, the Samaritan woman, all men and women with clarity. He went straight to the point and did not hide anything. Today He speaks to man in a voice that all can understand. Jesus fulfills all the criteria of Godliness. The apostle Paul in his first letter to Timothy wrote, “And
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confessedly, great is the secret [or, mystery] of godliness: God was revealed in flesh, justified [or, shown to be righteous] in spirit [or, by [the] Spirit], seen by angels, preached among [the] nations [or, Gentiles], believed on in [the] world, taken up in glory!” Only Jesus can save man from the wages of sin. God had to make an offering that was pure. Jesus came as the Son of God to be the Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice for the atonement of sin. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” In the Old Testament, people used to make offerings of animals for their sins to be forgiven. That era has come to a close. We no longer have to make those offerings because the ultimate offering for sin was made by God himself. “But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand.” Isaiah 53:5, 10. These scriptures were fulfilled in the life of Jesus here on earth. Isaiah 9:6, 7 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of
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peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. No one else has this kind of a profile among the greatly esteemed teachers whom man worship and follow. Jesus is the only one who was born of a virgin. He is the only one who died, was buried and rose from the dead. He is the only one who spoke the way “And I do not pray he did. He is the only one who for these alone, but ascended up into heaven. for those also who Nobody is like Jesus. He is shall believe on Me the same yesterday, today and through their word, forevermore. The book of that they all may be Hebrews speaks at length of one, as You, Father, Jesus as our high priest. John are in Me, and I in 14:16 says it clearly. He is the You, that they also may be one in Us, so only way to the father. that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” – John 17:20-21.
Unless one confesses Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, they cannot be saved. If at this point you had not said that prayer because you lacked clarity of who Jesus is and you feel you now know better I encourage you to go back to the first chapter and get born again. There is no other way to the Father. Heaven is waiting for your salvation. Go for it!
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The resurrection “And Jesus gave another loud cry, and gave up his spirit. And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end; and there was an earth-shock; and the rocks were broken; And the restingplaces of the dead came open; and the bodies of a number of sleeping saints came to life; And coming out of their resting-places, after he had come again from the dead, they went into the holy town and were seen by a number of people.” – Matthew 27:50-53 One of the critical pre-requisites of Christianity is belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Without believing in the resurrection, one cannot claim to be a believer of the Gospel of Jesus. The resurrection is a major event which denotes the victory that Jesus had over death and over all evil. If he had not been raised, he would have done only half the job. He would only have paid the penalty for the sins of the world. God does not take you out of one place and just leave you. He takes you out to bring you into a better place. When the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, God’s plan was to bring them into the Promised Land. He was not planning to just dump them on the other side of the red sea. It was the same with Jesus. He was not just going to die for us and wish us all the best. Something more had to happen.
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We have an idea of what happened during the period Jesus was dead. Colossians 2:15 says, “Having stripped rulers and authorities, He made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it.” In his commentary on this verse, John Wesley wrote, “And having spoiled the principalities and powers - The evil angels, of their usurped dominion. He - God the Father. Exposed them openly - Before all the hosts of hell and heaven. Triumphing over them in or by him By Christ.” Jesus emphatically triumphed over the principalities in Hades. The authority that the devil was exercising in the earth up to that point was stripped off him by Jesus. Remember that in the beginning, man was given dominion over the earth. Through Adam’s sin, he lost that dominion and the devil became the lord of this earth. This is the authority that Jesus took back with His triumph over the devil.
Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? – John 11:25-26
Having done these things, everything that was a part of the curse that came as a result of sin was stripped of its power. By the resurrection, Jesus became the first fruit of the resurrection. “But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in
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Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” – 1 Colossians 15:20-22. The resurrection is the evidence of the effectiveness of the work that God wrought through Christ on the cross. Death could no longer hold Jesus or the saints that slept. Death could not; nor can it now hold you and me as we are the righteousness of God in Christ. “Who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, through Himself cleansing of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” – Hebrews 1:3-4. “And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in whom also you were raised through the faith of the working of God, raising Him from the dead.” – Colossians 2:10-12. When He was raised from the dead, so were you. You rose up to a newness of life. It is no longer the life of the past. It is no longer the powerless life. It is the God kind of life. “Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – Romans 6:4. Thank God for the resurrection of Christ. It has brought forth a new dispensation of life, a victorious God kind of life.
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A life of power ordained through the authority of Christ.
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It’s By Grace “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” – Ephesians 1:6 Many Christians after receiving Jesus as their Lord and Saviour begin to devolve back to the law trying to qualify themselves by works. They start to look at other Christians and search for their faults. When they find that others are not perfect, they take on the role of “the accuser of the brethren”, putting on a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. That is not of God, it is of the devil. He is the accuser of the brethren. Most of these people who develop this attitude are really doing it because they have discovered that they are not perfect and now want to cover up by looking up other people’s faults. They look at the speck in their brother’s eye not seeing the telephone pole hanging down their own eye. I can speak confidently about this because I have been there. Struggling with alcoholism, I wondered how other people could be so “clean”. Because I was trying so hard and not succeeding, I thought it was impossible for others to be so much better than me. In some twisted way, I thought they must have something hidden that we all didn’t know about. Being with this attitude, I secretly felt better when I discovered another Christian with the same problem or any problem. That is not of God and thank God I grew from there.
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The apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians: O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you not to obey the truth, to whom before your eyes Jesus Christ was written among you crucified? This only I would learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, do you now perfect yourself in the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it is even in vain? Then He supplying the Spirit to you and working powerful works in you, is it by works of the law, or by hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that those of faith, these are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached the gospel before to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all nations be blessed." So then those of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are out of works of the Law, these are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them." But that no one is justified by the Law in the sight of God is clear, for, "The just shall live by faith." But the Law is not of faith; but, "The man who does these things shall live in them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone having been hanged on a tree"); so that the blessing of Abraham might be to the nations in Jesus Christ, and that we might
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receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. – Galatians 3:1-14. One definition of grace is God’s unmerited favour. Favour given freely to someone who does not deserve it at all (you and I). If we deserved it by our righteous living, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus. So God gives us His righteousness in Christ even though we did not deserve it. It is foolish to want to qualify our own righteousness when we got it for free. In Romans 6, Paul again talks about how the idea is not so much that we trifle with sin simply because we are under grace, but rather that we realize that we are dead to sin because we are baptized into Christ. Grace is also divinity at work in man. It is God’s righteousness unveiled in mankind. By grace, we are able to live a righteous life. Notice the order; it is God’s righteousness in us that enables us to overcome sin, not our ability to overcome sin that makes us righteous. Grace is given to us in Christ Jesus. John said of him, “And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace. For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” – John 1:16-17. Turning over our efforts to ourselves is falling from grace. “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” – Galatians 5:4. “But before faith came, we were kept in prison under the law, waiting for the revelation of the faith which was to come. So the law has been a servant to take us to Christ, so that we might have righteousness by faith. But now that faith is
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come, we are no longer under a servant. Because you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all those of you who were given baptism into Christ did put on Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, servant or free, male or female: because you are all one in Jesus Christ. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and yours is the heritage by the right of God's undertaking given to Abraham.” Galatians 3:23-29. Our gaze is to be fixed upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith and not upon people. Christianity is not proved by people but by the work of God in Christ. The failure of people is not God’s failure. I know of some people I used to fellowship with who for a while left the church and claimed Christianity was not genuine because they had seen one of the cell group leaders having lunch with a beer. The Bible says, “strike the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered” – Zechariah 13:7. The leader has the responsibility of the flock, but the flock should not be ignorant of the devices of the devil. “My friends, you are spiritual. So if someone is trapped in sin, you should gently lead that person back to the right path. But watch out, and don't be tempted yourself.” – Galatians 6:1.
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The Power of the New Creation The amazing reality of the new creation is the limitless power that has been given to us by God in Christ. We are not a powerless religious group trying to create a Sunday club where we can recreate and listen to motivational speakers! We are the reality of God at work in the earth. If that rubbed you the wrong way, just be open minded and objective and follow me as I take you through the word of God. We have all the power we need here on earth to do everything that God requires for us to do. Would it not be unfair for Jesus to leave us with the great commission but without the power to get it done? God knows what he is doing and Jesus is seated at the right hand of the power. “But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” – Acts 1:8. The word translated “power” in that verse is the Greek word “dunamis” which means: the dynamic ability to effect changes. The Thayer’s Greek Definitions defines it as: 1) Strength power, ability 1a) inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth 1b) power for performing miracles 1c) moral power and excellence of soul 1d) the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth 1e) power and resources arising from numbers
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1f) power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, your nature is changed into one that has inherent power. He gives you the power to perform miracles. He gives you excellence of soul (mind, will and emotions). He gives you the power and influence through riches and wealth. He gives you power and resources arising from your numbers in the body of Christ. He grants you power consisting in or resting upon the armies, forces or hosts of the Lord of hosts. You are a soldier in the army of the Lord, and He has generously given you the ability and weaponry to execute your duties in that army. Secondly, God has made available to you the full armour that you need to put on to obtain your victory. Put on the whole armour of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore take to yourselves the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the
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helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” – Ephesians 6:11-18. In this passage, you will notice that he starts with the belt of truth in describing the whole armour of God. The truth is the basis of all things. It begins with the confession of Jesus as Lord. Jesus declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6). In scripture the loins are used to describe the seat of power being recognized as the central point of the physical system. So, “having girded the seat of your power and your central point with the reality of Jesus as Lord, having on the breastplate of righteousness (For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation – Romans 10:10) and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel” would be a way of amplifying that verse. Above all, take on the shield of faith with which you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. Notice that it is you who shall (not might) be able. The shield of faith is not just for passive defence, but is also an offensive weapon. “Fight the good fight of faith.” – 1 Timothy 6:12. By the shield of faith we resist the lies of devil when we feel symptoms in our bodies that are not consistent with the word of God. Our faith stands on His word that says “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins; we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24. Notice that in this verse, our healing is in the past tense. We
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therefore stand on the reality that our healing was sealed a long time ago, and refuse to accept the symptoms of disease threatening to manifest in our bodies. Lastly, let us look at the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Greek word translated “word” is “rhēma” which is the spoken word of God. This makes a distinction from “logos” which is the written word. The sword of the Spirit is a declaration and not “So that if anyone is in Christ, that one is just a silent thought. In our warfare, a new creature; old we declare things just like our Father things have passed in creation spoke all things into away; behold, all existence. When we have believed, things have become we then declare that which is not as new.” – 2 though it were (Romans 4:17). This Corinthians 5:17 brings to manifestation the things that we declare. This is the main weapon of offense in our armour that we use to effect changes in the atmosphere into alignment with the word of God concerning us. That is our effective means of prayer in contrast to prayers in the heart. We speak it, and it becomes. Remember that life and death is in the power of the tongue. In Matthew 28:18-20 we read, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth. Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen.” Jesus was sending them, just as we are
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sent on the same mandate today, on the basis of His authority in Heaven and in earth. Just as a policeman in a state does not stop cars and make demands on account of his personal authority, so also we do not go about doing our Father’s business on our own personal authority but on the basis of Jesus’ authority. Jesus never lied to any man, and when He said “All authority is given to Me in Heaven and in earth” He meant exactly that. When you have come to assimilate this reality of the power that is given you in Christ, you will understand what Paul meant when he said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengths me.” – Philippians 4:13. He had learnt the secret to be filled and to be hungry and was thereby educated into an unwavering awareness of his ability to do all things through Christ. That is the power given to you to operate in. The authority of the believer in Christ.
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Dominion “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth.” – Genesis 1:26. God created man for man to have dominion in the earth. Anything short of that is under-performance. This dominion was exercised by Adam in the garden before the fall of man. After the fall, man was pretty much under the elements of the world, suffering disease, death and oppression from forces of darkness. Thank God for His great plan of salvation, Jesus came to restore our place of dominion and now we have that dominion. It requires for us to have an awareness of the benefits we have in salvation for us to take advantage of them. Unless we know we have dominion, we will likely not exercise that dominion in our various spheres. The first thing is to embrace the reality that God gave you dominion, then accept the reality that God is eager for you to take that dominion. Once you have developed that awareness, you are ready to take dominions. So what is dominion? The Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary defines it as: to tread down, that is, subjugate; specifically to crumble off: - (come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule, (-r, over), take. We are therefore
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expected to be the stewards of this earth, taking full dominion therein. Just as God has dominion in heaven, so He expects us to take dominion in the earth. This means that God wants to work in the earth through you and I. For as long as we are dominated by other things we are not fulfilling our role that God intended for us. We are the image bearers of God made in His likeness to do His business. Each of us has an area of influence. God placed in each of us diverse gifts to use to take dominion. “And God set some in the church, firstly, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers, then works of power, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, kinds of languages.” – 1 Corinthians 12:28. “But there are differences of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are differences of workings, but it is the same God working all things in all. But to each one is given the showing forth of the Spirit to our profit. For through the Spirit is given to one a word of wisdom; and to another a word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; and to another faith by the same Spirit; and to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; and to another workings of powers, to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to another kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues. But the one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing separately to each one as He
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desires. For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.� – 1 Corinthians 12:4-12. There are indeed many different gifts of the Spirit given to the Body of Christ. Our role is to make use of all these gifts in our areas of service in the market place. This means that those with the gifts of prophecy, helps, word of knowledge, administration are meant to use these gifts in their places of influence. Not only should they be used in the church but at those companies where Christians work, in their communities, towns, provinces, nations and ultimately to touch the world at large. If we remain enclosed, demonstrating power only amongst ourselves, then we will not touch the world the way God wants us to. Taking dominion means breaking out of the church walls and going into the world. As we take our place of dominion, we show forth the manifold wisdom of God. God empowers us by his grace to achieve more by our gifts than we could by our personal efforts. When we identify his unique purpose for our individual lives and step out to take dominion in those areas, we play our part in the body of Christ. The collective effort by all of us is the powerful work of Christ in the earth. It is the work of the body of Christ. Now that you are aware of the dominion we ought to take, make that deliberate effort to subjugate the earth just as Christ demonstrated through his dominion over all the elements and all powers.
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Maintaining the New Life Many people have given their lives to Christ in a public gathering or sometimes in private after watching or listening to a convicting message; yet far too often the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust for other things chokes out the very life out of them and they go back to live in the pig sty. It is such a pity that for some it becomes a lifestyle of falling and confessing. There is a way to maintain your life in Christ. It requires input on your part and a willingness to change certain things. Remember I said at the beginning that being born again is not “what I used to do I do no more”? That is because being born again is the beginning point. It is the first step to this new life we have been talking about in this book. The rest of the journey will involve a change of lifestyle. Ungodly habits will be severed.
My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. – Philippians
The very first step is to lead a life of prayer. Prayer breeds intimacy. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (CEV) Paul says, “Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.” Prayer is communication with God. It is talking with God. This means that you don’t just talk to God but
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He also talks back and so you have to listen. Spending time alone with the Lord in quietness is critical. In these moments He (The Extraordinary Strategist) will speak marvellous things to you. Just listen. You become intimate with the one whom you pray for, the one with whom you pray, and the one to whom you pray. Praying in other tongues allows you to pray for the unknown. You do not know what you are praying for but you do it by faith. Many times I feel so stirred up in my spirit as I pray in tongues and God shows me things I ought to pray about in my understanding. I also pray in my understanding to communicate with God what is on my heart. The second step is to surround yourself with people of like faith; other Christians. “Stay away from people who are not followers of the Lord! Can someone who is good get along with someone who is evil? Are light and darkness the same?” – 2 Corinthians 6:14. Again in 1 Corinthians 15:33 (CEV) Paul wrote, “Don't fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you.” Exposing yourself to people that live the same way you want to live builds you up. You minimise the chances of destructive conversations that can easily draw you back to the old way of life that you are moving away from. Don’t despair, you will hang out with your friends and the unsaved again but a time of building what you have found is necessary. The saints will speak life into you and encourage you in your areas of weakness. Many churches now have cell groups that meet regularly to fellowship during the week and not necessarily on Sundays. One log of firewood will struggle to maintain a fire but many logs can make a bond fire!
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The third step is to read the word of God; the Bible. Without the word, you will not grow. The word of God is the way that God will primarily speak to you. As you read the word, you begin to understand more and more what life in Christ is and you learn to understand God himself. All things that you will ever need are in the word. Every answer to every problem is right there in the word. The more you read it, the more you will understand this truth. It helps to be on a bible reading program that will ensure that you go through the whole Bible and not just the areas that you like. It also ensures that you regularly read the word and get into a routine. With these three steps, your life will become more exciting in the Lord. In my Christian life experience, I have come to notice that Christians that have the most serious problems are those that lack in one or more of these steps. Walking the walk on your own without others to fellowship with makes you like an isolated gazelle in the wild. You are prone to attacks from the enemy. Not praying is quite like disconnecting yourself from the power source. You may run on batteries for a while but you will soon fizzle out and the passion will die out. Not reading the word of God is like not eating. You will either not grow or you will start to grow thin and weak. The weaker you are, the less able you are to stand against an attack of the enemy. Discovering the truth daily and meditating on the word is the only way you will grow in your knowledge of Christ. Only then will you be able to
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take advantage of what you received in salvation. You will understand your righteousness. The Holy Spirit will enable you and empower you to do all these things. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, cultivate your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12-13.
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Epilogue Salvation is such a powerful experience leading to an amazing life. Christianity is not a religion but rather the work of God in man. When you get born again, you may not have a physical experience of inward transformation, but that is exactly what will have happened in your spirit. Acquiring knowledge of this experience and never stopping will give you a prosperous life in Christ. Hosea 4:6a says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Search for knowledge in scripture and Christian material. Do not forsake the meeting with others in church as some are in the habit of doing. You are precious to God and he delights in having a relationship with you. He wants you to know who you are, to take dominion and live a victorious life. I pray that the few words that I have written in this short book will take you to higher places in Christ, that you will do mighty exploits and never stop. Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father.” (John 14:12 CEV). You can do all things as long as you have Christ in you. Refuse the live the defeated life! Become the answer to the problems in the world because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. “I pray that the LORD will bless and protect you, and that he will show you mercy and kindness. May the LORD be good to you and give you peace." – Numbers 6:24-26. Amen.
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