Love the Tool for an Excellent Spirit

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  1 Corinthians 13: 1- 2 KJV

Here, Apostle Paul was speaking to the church of God in Corinth but especially more to the leaders of the church and the nation. He says that love is a very important tool in Christianity and leadership.
What is love? We need to research it and it is there in the scripture. Love is the strongest tool that binds man. When we research it we need to constantly compare to the definition of love we have.

The biggest test of our Christianity is not a test of what we do or say but a test of what is in our heart. It is our thoughts, what are we thinking in our hearts towards our brothers, neighbour? We are used to thinking one thing and saying something else. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. Hebrews 4: 12-13 NET

A man who goes about praising people while they cure those people in their heart does not exemplify love. Love must begin from the heart; it starts with how we relate with people and those things we say and think about them when they are not with us.

Having love in your heart towards all of mankind frees you from pain and the shackles of pain, hate, anger, failure and lack. Today I implore you to open up your heart to love. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Mathew 22: 37 – 40 KJV. 

A life without regret pt.2

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 

Luke 16: 22-25 KJV

A lot of people might end up with one form of regret or another if we don’t know what we do at the end of life or where we would be when death comes calling.

People generally fall into 4 categories which are;

1. A group of people who never knew what life could be. They live in complete ignorance of what life is or what their life could be. (the lame man at the pool of Bethesda)
2. A group of people who see a bit of possibility but do not have the capability or think they do not have the ability, capacity or right spirit to make the best of it. A lot of people see them themselves as non-achievers
3. A group of people who have opportunity, see the opportunity and have the capacity to make the best of the opportunity but misuse the opportunity. What they use the opportunity for was not what it was designed to be used for. 
4. A group of people who through sacrifice, knowledge and understanding made the best of all opportunities in the best way possible. They can say I have finished the race

A lot of people would look back and say, “if I had known”. In the first part of this topic we spoke about people who were facing death but didn’t want to die as they do not know where they would go after death.

A lot of people don’t understand life and what life should be. We spend so much time building up a future that brings a burden and life of regret. Luke 16: 19- tells of a very rich man who had more than enough to eat; there was a poor beggar who looked to eat of the scrap left to the dogs. According to the rich man he lived a very good life. He sat very respectably over the city but at the end of that life he had regrets.

What kind of life are we living at this time of our life? Are you going to say at the end of your life that it was a great life, a well lived life or will you say it was a life filled with regrets? Will be on your bed and spend the end of your life thinking of all you could have done things differently? Do you care for the ordinary person you see on the street? Do you see a beggar on the road and help them? Do you consider other people and make their life a bit more brilliant? How many of you pick up a child and send them to school? How many of you see your friend going through hard times and help make his life better? How many of you know the name of your staff?

The rich man had wealth but his life was a failure. The other one was poor but the life he lived ended in success.

A life without regret

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12: 1&7 KJV

This morning we look at the subject “a life without regret”. We will start and continue it through a few more posts.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 tells us a little story written by the man who was considered the wisest, most profound and richest man in the world at his time. A man was promised by God that there was none as wise as he was and there shall be known as wise as he is.

He says, ’remember your creator in the time of your youth’. Remember the lord in the days when you have the wisdom and capacity to serve Him. As in time, sooner than we think, the end of life as we know it on earth will come for each of us and our spirit will return to God who has given it. Solomon was saying that in spite of it all, he has a few regrets. We shall not have regrets at the end of our life in Jesus name, Amen
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One of my favourite people is a doctor. He said in his career he has witnessed 3 categories of people that pass through the hospital

1. People who are in a coma with no knowledge of what is going on in life. They are in a vegetative state with no strength or power over their own life. Someone else or a group of people have the say or control over whether they continue to live or the plug be pulled to end their life. A lot of people go through this category of life
2. There are a lot of people struggling with life. They have tears on their face and they are begging the doctor to save them. They are so afraid to die as they have no idea what comes after death. They are neither prepared nor are they ready for life to end. Alas, there is no one on earth who will not die; death will come for each of us at any time. I have seen death leave the poor and take the rich; take the rich and leave the poor, leave the weak and take the strong.
3. Then there are those who are peaceful, comfortable, calmly reassured and seem to know exactly where they are going when they die. They look death in the face and say, “death do your worst for I know where I am going”. 

You need to be prepared for that day so that you don’t look back and have regret. What are those things in your past that when you look back you begin to regret. Today is the time you must make amends because no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

Some of us have wasted time on things that have no value, spent our life in anger and a lot other things that when we look back we would regret and wish we had done things differently.

We don’t want to wait till the time when we have to say I didn’t know that it would end like this, I wish I could tell you I love you, I wish I had not said those words, I didn’t know it would lead to death. Our prayer is that we would not live a life of regret so that in our old age we would be at peace with our past. Billy Graham said there are 3 things that science cannot solve

1. The wickedness of man
2. The suffering of the world 
3. The certainty of death

I don’t know how your life is going now. I don’t know if you are busy with the things of life, planning parties and thinking of how to look better than your neighbor; know this “Life will go on without you when you are gone”.

Jesus was speaking to Mary and Martha and He said Mary has chosen the most important thing “the kingdom of God”. But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10: 42 KJV. What part have you chosen?

You must redirect, refocus and reprogram your life and leave all the struggles of life. If you are a living being visit the hospitals and see human beings like yourself who can’t help themselves. The second place you must visit is the mortuary so that you can see one day exactly how you must end. The third place is the grave, go there and see your final resting place.

Talk to Jesus today about your life; God has given us a special gift of life and we must make good of it. If someone like Solomon can look back and regret, then we need to check our life.

If there is something in our life that we have done that we regret or did that we find difficult to tell to anyone else; I implore us today to talk to Jesus about it. If you know you haven’t been close to Jesus as you should be, put your right hand on your heart and ask Jesus into your life so that He can help you and show you His mercy.

Making it through times of difficulties Pt. 2

And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. 2 Kings 6: 24-25 KJV

Genesis 22: 21-22 let us know that hard times can repeat itself. Isaac wanted to use the old solution to the problem since it had happened before but God gave him a different solution and he was blessed. We read that Isaac sowed in the same land where there was famine and he yielded a hundredfold so much so that the people of the land where he lived envied him.

In Samaria during the time of famine, the solution came through a man that was not popular or loved by the ruling class of the land. The Lord spoke into the situation and it happened just as the man-of-God, Elisha, said.

Peter was a fisher man and they were at sea the whole night without catching any fish. In the morning a solution came in the form of Jesus using the boat first and when He was done asking them to set out. The fish they caught was more than they could handle.

We need to develop a nothing to lose attitude as seen in Esther 4:16. She was willing to lose her life in other to save her people. We must take a stand for Jesus today and every other day. When we take a stand for Jesus, He will stand for us.

Overcoming opportunities requires that we have faith. Move without expecting everything to be properly aligned. In life nothing is equal unlike the popular saying “all things being equal”.
We should learn to give our way out of our problems. It is when we are faced with challenges that we should give more. We are not only giving our resources or time. However, the most important thing is to give our life to Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself this simple question today as you face those good and hard times; “is Jesus a part of my life, is He in the boat of life with me?” If the answer is no, then you need to invite Him into the boat to help calm the storm.

It is not your business to figure out how God will do it; the solution and how it will come is in God’s hands. It is not our responsibility to figure out how; ours it to take action when He commands or tells us to. In Isaiah God says His words will not return to Him.

Making it through times of difficulties

And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. 2 Kings 6: 24-25 KJV

Samaria was besieged by the army of the enemy, subdued and facing starvation. It was so bad that they ate dung of dogs and some women boiled their children to eat. Times were hard in Samaria but whether we like it or not, hard times are part of life.

Never say a man is great until you see his end. The bible is very sure; we live in a fallen world. Hard times can come in different ways; financial, social, marital, emotional. But whatever we are going through now, it is not new. For there is nothing new under the sun.

When written in Chinese the word crises comprise of 2 characters; crises and opportunities. Therefore, each hardship is made of the crises and the opportunity that it brings.

The man Job in the bible tells us that, Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. Job 14: 1-2 KJV
However right Job may be, Jesus encourages us with these words; I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage – I have conquered the world.” John 16:33 KJV

If you wake up tomorrow and situations of life change, the world will continue to go on.
What are the reasons for hard times?

1. Lack of adequate preparation
2. Past mistakes based on wrong investments, relationships, choices and friends
3. Lack of understanding of the times (sons of Issachar understood the times)
4. Compromises we have made, cutting corners, bribery
5. Lack of spiritual discipline; no prayers, no fasting, no meditation on God’s words Joshua 1:8
6. We forget that there are opportunities during the hard times

Any situation outside what God ordains as an answer to the hard times will lead to frustration because it is a solution that will not last. In a lot of times the solution to that very great problem may just be a very small solution.

We need God to make it through hard times for He alone can make a way out of difficult situations in life. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43 : 16 -19 KJV. 

The Power of Praise 2018

 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Psalm 22:3 KJV

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 2 Chronicles 20: 20 - 22

The Lord inhabits the praise of His people.

When we gather together to praise God with a heart true and full of gratitude doors begin to open and chains holding us down are broken.

Just as Paul and Silas praised while they were bound in the prison and the chains, gates and all that held them captive broke open, we also gather today to praise God for 24 hours to open up the gates of success, and blessings.

Prayers climb up to God, however, the bible makes us understand that when we praise God comes down Himself to dwell and bask in the praise.