The Christian character Part 1

A christian's life is not one of convenience or ease but a life of determination and keeping your eyes on the goal.
The christian life must be tailored on the example of Jesus Christ. Our life must be seen to live by the following characters

1. humility
2. fear of God
3. passion

Humility is a human quality that brings us low before God and makes us to not see ourselves as better than other people around us. The word tells that the "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." For us to have the grace from God we must put ourselves in that place of humility. Bringing ourselves low before God so that He can lift us up. 

Humility comes hand in glove with reverence for God. It is almost impossible to be a humble Christian believer and not revere God. Therefore right their after humility is "fear of the Lord". Our God does great things and fearful things. 

Having a strong feeling about and for something or someone is a character that is needed to succeed in any area of life and relationships. This strong feeling is passion.  A passionate person brings everything he has and feels into what he does. He is not bothered by challenges or the pains that may result from walking the path he has chosen. A Christian's life must be one of passion; we must be passionate about what we do for God and our fellowship with Him. 

As we go about our daily living in the next month we must do so with a humble heart, a life that reveres God and a passion that brings people to Christ. Let us live by the example that Christ laid down for us.

Blessings of God

"Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you." Haggai 2:19 KJV

When we want to know who God is, you need not look too far but into the words of life. Look unto Christ Jesus who is a direct image of God's person. If God is called a good shepherd therefore God must be a good God. 

The reason why God gives good things is because He is good. When God gives he would do so lavishly and freely without withholding anything back. Psalm 48 says God is beautiful for all situation and Mark 7:37 the word says that God has done all things well. 

The blessings of God lifts up His people. There is a phase in life when man is lifted above his brethren and another phase when man is lifted far higher unto a global level.  "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22 KJV"

In the beginning God blessed man Gen 1:28; after the flood the first thing God did was to bless mankind through Noah and his family. God kept speaking His blessings into the life of His children. 

In 1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez asked for God's blessing and he got it. The blessings of God didn't change the name of Jabez but instead changed his life so much so that his name became a symbol of blessing. 

The four things that God's blessing do

1. Places your life in the forward direction 2 Samuel 3:1 Ex. 14:15
2. Puts a hedge of protection around your life Numbers 23:23 Psalm 23
3. Amplifies your efforts Prov 10:22. What may seem difficult becomes easy for the blessed
4. It affects every area of your life

Who is qualified to be blessed?

Every child of God who believes in and accepts Christ is entitled to the blessings of God. Ezekiel 47 spoke about the different levels of blessings of God. Why is it that we are all believers but we enjoy God's blessings differently? The level of our relationship with God determines the level of God's blessing operating in our life. 

God's blessing is there and available to us all, however the blessings we receive is hinged on the level of and power that works in us. To enjoy God's blessings there are 3 triggers..... 

1. The first trigger for blessing is the lifestyle of man. Ps 119:1&59, Ps50:3. Draw near to God that he may draw near to you. The way we live our life is the first trigger to the kind of blessings that are available to us. Our lifestyle denotes our interests, opinions, behaviours, and behavioural orientations. 
2. Honour to your parents, to the elders. Ex 20:12 is the first command with a promise. Don't wait to honour your parents do it on time. In Gen 27 Isaac ask the son he loved to make him a meal so that he can bless him but Jacob honoured his father by bringing the meal and brought it on time. Honour your parents but do this while they are alive and with you. 
3. The people we walk with determines our level of blessing. 1 Sam 10:10. We must be selective about who we allow in our space. Be mindful of who your friend is. To overcome you must do load shedding of friends you move with. If it doesn't bless you do away with it. As good as Joseph was in the interpretation somebody had to recommend him. Our relationships can make or break us. 

God's blessing brings acceptability. When a man is blessed he would be good enough and his qualification and gifts would open space of acceptability to him. "Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well." 1 Samuel 16:16. Joseph was a dreamer and his dreams opened a door to him. He was brought out of the prison to interpret the dream of Pharaoh but ended up as been accepted into a position of the Prime Minister of Egypt. 

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Ephesians 3:20". Let God know that area of your life where you need his blessings. 

Silencing the voice of strangers

"And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones."~ Isaiah 30:30

The word of God says that He will reduce the voice of the strangers. Who are the strangers in the life of the children of God? These are all those things that are contrary to the goodness and graciousness of God in the life of the children of God

The enemy challenges every prophesy of God in the lives of the children of God. After Jesus Christ got baptized and the voice of God confirmed who Christ is "this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased", the enemy came up to challenge the son-ship. He tempted him by saying "if thou be the son of God".

The voice of the enemy is always there in the background to challenge every prophesy and promise that God has pronounced upon your life. However, as the child of God that we are, we must stand on our faith and trust in him alone who has pronounced the prophesy and promise. We must not allow ourselves to be distracted of moved. We must stand firmly and reply the enemy with the word of God in which there is power.

Like the example which Christ gave to us when the devil challenged his son-ship, Christ replied him with the word of God, because the power to silence the voice of the strangers in our life is in the word of God. If it is a situation it must have a name, and if it has a name it must answer to the name of Jesus Christ. John 1:1 says that in the beginning was the word and the word was God.

Christ is the word of God personified. Therefore the power of God in the life of man rest solely in Christ Jesus. What is power? Power is the ability to do. God has given us the power to do as seen in Genesis 1:28.

All strange voices that sounds in our lives or speaks against us, serves as a force in the lives of God's children. But the power of God will live up a standard against every strange voices in your life. Travel distance from a defined location to another is the same but travel time is not the same. The travel time is dependent on the power that works in us. Christ should always be the power that works in us, for at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

What is the purpose of power?

1. The power to carry out the God's work or assignment for our life. Power is the fuel that enables us to get to complete our journey in life and do it effectively
2. It takes power to overcome inertia. 
3. Power is to undo the works of the enemy. It is the enemy we can discern that we can disarm so we need the power to know the enemy so we can render it powerless
4. The power to prosper Prov 10:22; 3 John 1:2

There are 4 ways God prospers His children

1. God gives his people unusual favour
2. By giving them wisdom Eccl 2:3 (ability to discern and understand seasons and trends)
3. God gives knowledge to possess requisite problem solving skills that opens the door to prosperity
4. By giving them joy. The power of God gives us the joy to smile and peace when we are faced with adversary.

4 ways to receive/generate power that silences the voices of the strangers

1. To be a believer (born again)
2. To be spirit filled, empowered with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost expand the scope of your operation
3. The word of God. Luke 5:17; Acts 10:44
4. Through prayer James 5:16

"When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Prov 16:7. This is the end of the matter; that a man's way must please God so that his enemies would be at peace with him. Pleasing God in every area of our life through a complete reliance and trust in Christ is the ultimate and greatest power  that is available to man.

The fear of the Lord

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverb 1:7"

One of the greatest challenges today is that people do not fear God. Because of this, they lack knowledge and so do not have the ability to live a fulfilled life.

What is this fear of the Lord? This is a general sense of respect, awe, reverence and submission to the Lord. This fears also makes us a friend of God and lover of the Lord that walks to reflect the nature of God.

People fear men, institutions, governments, their parents, even the things they can see but we do not fear God. We think that God is so far away that His control and words have no meaning. The word of God says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

The fear of the Lord gives us the ability to know and understand. This fear was very evident in the life of Christians in the days of old. Hence the reason why we have so many inventions made by Christians and Jews.

The fear of the Lord makes us have the hunger to serve him, in serving God He will do great and mighty things for us and in our life. The fear of the Lord makes us questions our moves and action. We begin to ask ourselves, 'will my actions please the Lord?'

David feared God but the day he sinned with Bathsheba trouble began in his life. The day we begin to not fear God and to disobey him, their is a change in our life and everything starts to go downhill.

Most of the sufferings in the life of man comes from a lack of the fear of God. We think we can do anything we like and get away with it. It seems we get away with sin and lack of fear because their is no swift retribution. But like God said to Abram in Genesis 15:16 "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

The Lord is waiting and expecting us to have a fear of him and not of men and what this life on earth can offer us or take away from us. The love He has for us is making him hold back the hands of retribution. But we must realize that once our iniquity is full things we cannot explain begins to happen in our life. Let us prevent the peace of God from departing from our life by having a fear of God.

For our good and that of our generations to come we need to fear the Lord. If you are going to be a Christians, be a Christian. The fear of the Lord is not a place of hardship but the start of a wonderful relationship. It's a relationship with a loving father that makes knowing him and living after His likeness an easy one.

What foundation do you build on?

"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock." Mathew 7: 24-25

On what foundation have you built your life? Foundation is the principle, idea or the bedrock upon which one builds a thing. As believers, Christ Jesus in the principle and bedrock (foundation) upon which we build our faith and our lives.

Like buildings and homes, they type of foundation we have is dependent on the type of structure we want to build. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3. The foundation for a bungalow would be different from that of a 4-floors building. This is the same with the life we live. What is the vision that we have for our life? Do we see Christ in it?

God has a great plan for us which is why he said in Jeremiah "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end". At the beginning of our life, God had built it on the most solid and perfect foundation but sin remade the foundation which made the building (our life) shaky. This is the reason that whatever we build on it cannot stand the test of times. Once trials and challenges rear up their ugly heads, we become tested and begin to shake.

However, we have a very good news today, a promise directly from God who gave us a better and perfect foundation. The joy that once we have Christ as our Saviour accept him as Lord, God reworks and gives us a new and better foundation and this is why Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new". So to all believers who love God and live to reflect His nature, we are given a new foundation, one that the trials of life cannot shake.

Ask yourself today, what is your foundation? Are you a believer and lover of Christ? Is your life shaky? Seek God today and ask him to visit the foundation of your life and make it new again through Christ Jesus.

The Power of God

 And he said unto him, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us?” Exodus 33:16

The presence of God in the life of man is power and the existence of God is His power. God’s power is evident all around us. In everything we see and touch, everything we can feel. It is by His power alone that we are alive and standing here.

It was this power that changed the live of a poor man in the land of Israel during the reign of King David. As the ark of God was been accompanied back to the temple it shook and Uzzah thought to help so the ark doesn’t fall. The presence of God in the ark which could not abide sin gave an instant punishment. However, that same presence and power worked differently in the life of Obed Edom. When the ark was taken into his home instead of death it brought grace. Obed Edom enjoyed the grace that spoke for him and brought him before the king.

God’s power is found in the word and promises he has given to us. When we talk about the power of God; we talk about His presence and his grace that changes lives. The power of God removes from our life shame and fear. Which is why Paul said "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." For the power of is evident in the gospel of Christ. 

How do we assess the power of God?

• By prayer and fasting Matt 9:29
• By exercising our faith (you can only work in faith when you walk in faith) 
• Studying and meditating upon his words Joshua 1:8
• By serving in obedience and without complain
• By been consistent in or walk with and work for God 

When we work for God, He will give the ability to access and reflect His power and the reward that comes with been used as a vessel of His power. It is the power of God that works in us through Christ that will transform us from the ordinary into the extraordinary. 

Let your life Preach Christ

"Let us make human beings in our image, make them

reflecting our nature

So they can be responsible" Genesis 1:26 MSG

As Christians we ought to pray, In fact we ought to not just pray but we need to have a prayer plan and list. We need a list so we can pray about everything that affects us and affects the life of the people that God has brought our way. As we pray we must also ensure that our person evangelizes and preach Christ daily. The things we wear, the things we say, how we relate with people and our every day way of life must preach Christ to people around us. 

A little act that we do will affect the life of the person we do it to. Find a way to help people so that your ways can preach the gospel of Christ. There is nobody that bends down to pick somebody up that does not rise up themselves. When you lift someone up, you are also lifted up.

Wisdom for Life - The Secret Things

"These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of the wise and give guidance to the educated, so that they can understand the hidden meanings of proverbs and the problems that the wise raise." Prov 1:5-6 GNB

The book of proverb was written by King Solomon, the son of King David who was the friend of God. While David was about to meet his maker he imparted unto his son wisdom he had acquired over the years. He said to his son, "There would be a day that God would visit you and ask you for something. Whatever God asks give it to him. When God asks you to pick a thing, ask for wisdom to fulfill his will and to lead his people."

The words of God are a light to the wise men. They help you to understand the secrets of God.

The book of Proverbs is a book that is filled with sayings of wisdom and they are necessary for daily living because it helps us to:

1. Know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding
2. Receive the instruction of wisdom justice and discipline 
3. Give understanding to the simple minded people 
4. Give wisdom to the wise to increase learning
5. Understand the the secret sayings of life 

The world is shrouded in secrets, hence the reason for so many secret associations, cults and places of meetings that seeks to impart the secrets of the world to their members. People seek out the secrets of the world and in their search for the secret things find themselves in places of darkness. 

But there is a secret thing that brings light to those that find it. This secret thing belongs to the Lord our God, but the things which are revealed belongs to us the children of God. The revelation of this secret thing is released to us when we become his children through acceptance of Christ as Saviour and Lord.  Which is why God said in Isaiah 45:3 "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." 

However, God has kept the information that we seek in the secrecy of his words. God hides his things in secret for the following reasons.......

1. For the wise to search for it
2. So that there will be diligent seeking
3. So that we will first of all fear God before seeking it
4. So that we can appreciate the things we search for
5. So that we become a friend to God
6. Helps us to deepen our relationship with God (Psalm 42:7)
7. Because secrets of God are precious and anyone who seeks it must deserve to find it

Secret things belong to God; wealth is not cheap. Anyone who has prospered, someone has paid for it. Therefore as children we must pay the price of knowing the secrets of God's word. The greatest relationship to open the doors of secret things of God is to been a friend of God. 

Therefore as children of God it is left to us to search out those secret things. We must make it our sole responsibility to seek God's secret so that we may have that relationship that makes us a friend of God.